Undercover (Vino and Veritas)

by Eliot Grayson

  Alec groaned, and his hands went too tight around my hips.

  “Not today,” he said, and he sounded completely wrecked. I let out a disappointed little whine, words beyond my reach, but I knew he was right. “Come on.”

  He pulled back and started to maneuver us to my bedroom. I stumbled along with him, hobbled by my jeans, until he half-carried me the rest of the way, kissing my neck, touching me everywhere. I’d gotten half-hard again by the time he tossed me on my bed and went for the condoms, rummaging through the nightstand like a man on a mission.

  By the look of his cock, he was desperate. It stood out flushed and damp from the open fly of his jeans. My mouth watered, but I rolled over and got the rest of my own clothes off. Priorities. Having my legs half-pinned was kind of hot, but I wanted them over his shoulders instead.

  Alec stopped, the condom in his hand, and stared down at me as I wriggled out of my clothes. It wasn’t graceful. But it looked like it didn’t need to be. His mouth dropped open, and his dilated eyes glittered.

  “I have really good taste,” he said. “Really, really good taste.” And then he licked his lips and winked at me, and my face went so hot you could’ve fried an egg on it. “And so do you.”

  “Oh my God,” I moaned, covering my face with my hands. “I can’t believe you.”

  Alec laughed, and the rustles and thumps that followed told me he was stripping his own clothes.

  Okay, embarrassed and self-conscious or not, that I had to see. I peeked through my fingers. Alec’s shoulders flexed as he bent to get his shoes off. I wished I had a back view, but this wasn’t bad either. He stood, and I got a full frontal. Broad shoulders, muscular chest, hair and tattoo on full display. His cock, so hard it had to hurt. Long legs.

  I liked his legs. I couldn’t look away from his cock. At this angle it seemed even bigger than usual.

  Yes, please.

  Fuck self-consciousness. He loved the way I looked—and tasted, apparently—from the tips of my wavy pink hair down to my own long legs.

  I sprawled back, spreading them as wide as they could go, my feet braced on the bed. My cock hadn’t quite gotten there yet, so I stroked it, base to tip, giving the head a little squeeze, going down again to toy with my balls and lift them up, showing him what he was about to get.

  Alec cursed, nearly dropping the condom in his haste to rip it open. The lube bottle did tumble to the floor, after he’d poured half of it over his cock.

  And then he landed on top of me, and I lost the plot. Too much of him to explore, rough hair and silky skin and the rasp of his stubble against my neck and the insistent press of his cock between my thighs.

  I thought he’d thrust inside me all at once, but he pushed in excruciatingly slowly, stretching me nearly to bursting, inch by thick inch.

  “Can I kiss you?”

  “Yes, please,” I gasped. Some guys were squeamish about that. I might’ve been more so, if I hadn’t taken an incredibly thorough shower before I went out. Okay, so I’d fingered myself in the shower. Anyway, I’d gotten really, really clean. And bonus: some of the prep was already done in advance.

  Alec kissed me the way he was fucking me, with careful thrusts of his tongue, exploring every crevice of me.

  I tangled my tongue with his and gave as good as I got, pressing my heels into the backs of his thighs to spur him on.

  I’d never get tired of the way it felt to be taken like that. Alec made it infinitely better. I didn’t know if I could ever settle for second-best, now that I knew what it felt like to have him inside me.

  He picked up the pace at last, and I dug my fingers into his back, not caring that I’d leave marks. He was mine, dammit.

  Alec fucked me through the mattress, changing his angle until he hit my prostate dead-on.

  I came again, biting into his shoulder, and he stiffened and slammed into me until we both collapsed, panting and sweaty and completely done.

  At least, I was done. Put a fork in me. My arms fell away from where they’d been wrapped around Alec’s back, and my legs flopped to the sides.

  Done.

  Alec pressed his face into the curve of my neck and let out a sigh that sounded bone-deep.

  “I missed you,” he whispered, tickling the skin just below my ear. “So much. Every day. Fuck, Gabe. I’m so sorry I had to treat you that way. I’ve never regretted anything more in my life.”

  I swallowed hard, even though I knew he’d feel it. And interpret it. Before, I hadn’t realized I’d been dating a trained investigator. If I had, I’d have second-guessed every gesture and every word out of my mouth.

  Of course, I’d mostly done that anyway, because insecurity was a bitch.

  But at least his powers of observation had let him figure out how off-balance I’d felt after finding out how much he knew about me and how little I knew about him. And then he’d given me his DMV records to make up for it. Who said romance was dead?

  I stifled a giggle, or tried to.

  “If you’re laughing, my technique might need some work.” I could feel him smiling against my skin, though. Maybe that intimacy thing went both ways.

  And that was what he’d been trying to show me with the DMV records, in his weird, FBI-agent kind of way.

  I turned my head to press a kiss to the side of his. “The only thing your technique needs is repetition. For science. We have to reproduce the result where we both come our brains out.”

  Tension I hadn’t realized he still had in him seeped away, leaving him even heavier on top of me. I got up the energy to shove at his ribs. “Get off me, you big lump.”

  “That’s Special Agent Lump to you,” he groused, nipped the side of my neck and made me squeak, and lifted himself off of me.

  The pulling-out part never felt great, but he was gentle, and when he disappeared into the bathroom I had the presence of mind to check out the view from the back I hadn’t seen earlier.

  Yep. Just as good.

  He flopped down next to me a minute later, and I took my own turn in the bathroom, coming back to find him still sprawled across way more than half of my bed. I had a king already. Was I going to need a California king? Happiness sparked in me, fizzed in my veins, making me giddy. Fuck, but that was a good problem to have. I took a running leap.

  “Oh, shit—ow,” and Alec caught me around the waist, flipped us, pinned me, and tickled me until I was almost crying, shoving at him ineffectually. “You’re the lump,” he growled. “Jesus, Gabe. If you break all my ribs I won’t be able to repeat anything for science.”

  Science. And I hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet. Something he didn’t know from his background checks, because it had happened since I saw him last. “That’s going to be Dr. Lump to you, eventually,” I said, shy now that the words had left my mouth. “I mean, not right away. But in a couple of years. Fingers crossed. They still have to approve my petition, but Dr. Wilson thinks it’s a given they will.”

  Alec’s grin widened with every word. “Seriously? That’s fucking amazing. Congratulations, baby. You deserve it.”

  “Yeah? I feel like I’m a total fraud, and they’ll change their minds, and—”

  “You,” he said, and kissed me hard, “are not a fraud,” another kiss, “and you deserve everything you want.” He kissed me one last time, long and deep, until I forgot what we’d been talking about.

  Alec nibbled along my jaw, rubbing his big naked body over mine. Yeah, screw talking. And worrying. His cock had gotten half-hard again, and mine thought that sounded like a fine idea.

  “I think I want that,” I gasped. “Do I deserve that?”

  Alec pushed up on his elbows, looking down at me a lot more seriously than I thought that question merited. His dark eyes held something that made my heart flutter, something verging on devotion. “You deserve a lot better than me. But I’m going to do my damnedest to be more what you deserve. I promise. From now on, Gabe. I’m an open book. No lies, no secrets, and nothing but trying to make you happy.
”

  I knew all about how chemicals worked when released in the human body. How some drugs caused a mass release of serotonin and dopamine, for example. I knew, theoretically, that all they did was mimic or stimulate natural processes.

  It hadn’t really sunk in until now, that I could feel that same rush from a person. From being simply happy. My skin tingled all over, and I couldn’t help my sappy smile.

  “I can live with that. As long as you’re a reformed character. Don’t think I didn’t notice that speeding ticket you got on your motorcycle, Mr. Law-Abiding Special Agent—”

  Alec swooped down and kissed the laughter off my lips, my smile melting into his.

  It was exactly what I deserved.

  Epilogue

  Alec

  I’d become intimately familiar with every bend and curve of the highways between Albany and Burlington. For someone who’d hated the idea of Vermont so much six months before, I’d gotten weirdly attached to the Poultney River, which marked the border from New York. Cruising over that little bridge meant I was in the same state as Gabe, and that I’d see him in almost exactly an hour and a half.

  Yeah, I’d driven that route enough to know my ETA nearly down to the minute.

  This time, I’d left Albany half an hour sooner than I’d hoped, wrapping up a stack of paperwork and jetting out of the office a few minutes before five. Friday afternoon traffic could be a bitch, but I’d gotten lucky, and I crossed the Vermont border at six-thirty on the dot. It hadn’t snowed yet. I knew the trip would only get longer once it did, another reason why living together would be so practical.

  Not that I wanted it out of practicality. But I hoped that might sell it to Gabe, if he was on the fence.

  And since I’d already been in negotiations about moving from Albany to a resident agency much closer to Burlington, I hoped I could sell it, once I mustered the courage to bring up the idea. I didn’t care if I had a commute, as long as my day started and ended with Gabe’s smile.

  My phone rang as I whizzed past the Welcome to Vermont sign, and I answered on the dashboard. Gabe seemed to be psychic sometimes.

  “I’m halfway there,” I said in lieu of hello. “I got out of the office early.”

  “Oh!” Gabe said breathlessly. It sounded like he was…running? What the hell had he gotten up to? “Okay! You haven’t passed Shoreham yet, right?”

  “No, just crossed the border. Shoreham?” I hit the gas a little harder. Christ, I missed him, even though I’d kissed him goodbye on Tuesday, since I’d had a case out in his neck of the woods and gotten to stay for a longer weekend. A working longer weekend, but still. Just knowing I’d see Gabe at the end of the day made it feel a lot less like work. I really, really wanted to make that permanent—when I didn’t need to travel for my job, anyway.

  “Shoreham,” Gabe repeated, sounding more confident. “I didn’t want to wait another hour to see you. So I met you sort of in the middle. I rented a cabin for the weekend. I’ll text you the address.”

  My foot pressed down a little more. Fuck it. There wasn’t anyone on the road. Maybe Gabe had a point about that speeding ticket he liked to tease me about whenever he got the chance, but whatever.

  “So what you’re telling me is, I get to see you an hour sooner, I get you all to myself for the whole weekend, and I don’t even need to see a single fucking yoga mat?”

  Laughter filled Gabe’s voice as he said, “That’s right. Best boyfriend ever?”

  “Best anything ever. I’ll see you soon. Half an hour.”

  “Half an hour.” For such simple words, he managed to imbue them with a world of filthy promise.

  I avoided any run-ins with the local highway patrol and pulled up in front of a cabin right on the lake twenty-six minutes later, parking next to Gabe’s cherry-red Subaru SUV. Speaking of speeding-ticket bait, but I wasn’t going to be the one to mention it.

  Even in the dark, the huge two-story cabin looked like the kind of place that would have every amenity known to man, and I shook my head as I carried my bag up the steps. Trust Gabe to find the most expensive lodgings for fifty miles. I didn’t care how he spent his money, and I certainly neither expected nor resented it when he spent it on things for us to enjoy together. But it always amused me, how his champagne tastes came out in everything he did, even when he spent most of his time in a lab. Which he had been, since school started in the fall. He came home glowing, albeit smelling like solvents. And seeing him happy made me happier than I could’ve imagined.

  The door pushed open when I turned the knob, and opened into a wide, pleasant main room, full of cozy couches and a large-screen TV and a fireplace and a dining-room set. It had more and better furniture than my apartment by a long shot.

  Gabe popped out of a doorway, face flushed and sweaty, hair flying in wild tendrils. Purple again, after a cycle of pink to blue to green.

  “I thought I had time to finish dinner!” he cried. “I’m sorry. I took a shower, because I’d been driving and I wanted to—” He broke off, blushing furiously, obvious even though he’d already been pink-cheeked.

  I knew exactly what he’d ‘wanted to’ with the shower. And I wanted the same thing.

  Dinner could wait. I dropped my bag and crossed the room in a few quick strides, hauling him into my arms and kissing the hell out of him. He tasted like wine, and I licked the flavor out of his mouth. I’d started to get a lot fonder of wine over the last few months.

  “Hello,” Gabe said as I lifted my head. His eyes hadn’t gotten any less beautiful. Tonight they were more green than blue, maybe something about the light. I still thought I might drown in them most of the time.

  I smiled down at him. “Hi. Whatever that is, it smells amazing, but turn off the stove. I’m not waiting for after dinner.”

  He wriggled out of my arms and back into the kitchen, and I started to strip my jacket and shoes. “Your fault if it’s not as good,” he threw over his shoulder.

  “My fault,” I agreed, and tugged my shirt off. The kitchen table looked pretty sturdy. I could fuck him over it, and then we could eat in bed. That way all the furniture would get some use. “I won’t complain.”

  Gabe flipped off the burner, put a lid over a pan, and turned around.

  “Okay, I’m on board. Take off your pants.”

  “If you get yours off first, I’ll eat you out before I bend you over whatever piece of furniture I can find.” I tugged open the button of my jeans and yanked down the zipper, and started to laugh as Gabe cursed and flailed at his own fly, too much in a hurry to do it quickly.

  I slowed down, not quite enough to look like I was letting him win, but—I wanted my mouth on him, maybe more than he did. The intimacy of it, and the good old-fashioned rush I got from having him pinned and at my mercy…and why should a perfectly good obsessively thorough shower go to waste, anyway? I was just being practical.

  He yanked his second foot out of his pants a second before I stepped out of mine.

  Screw the table. I backed him up against the counter, shifting him over away from the stove, and pressed a thigh between his. Outside the temperature hovered around forty degrees, but in here, the heater and the stove had made it a little too warm. Steam clouded all the shiny surfaces, including Gabe’s flushed face.

  I started there, kissing his cheek, sliding over to nibble at his earlobe. He groped my ass and rubbed his cock against my hip, letting out a little moan.

  “I put in for a transfer,” I blurted out. Jesus, read the room. But I couldn’t contain it. I’d been doing nothing but think about it, and even a naked Gabe writhing against me couldn’t quite shut it down. Then again, my whole plan was predicated on wanting a naked Gabe writhing against me seven days a week, so thematically it did kind of follow.

  Gabe stiffened against me, and not in the good way. “What? Are you—” He pulled back and stared at me. Oh, fuck, I’d ruined the moment. I’d meant it to be romantic. I’d moved too fast, he wouldn’t want to take the next step�
� “Where are you going? I know you don’t love Albany, but I can’t—do you even want me to try to transfer to another school, if I even can? Are you breaking up with me?”

  “What?” That didn’t compute. Break up with him? Yeah, and then I’d swear off beer and chocolate, too, just so I could hate my life completely. “Baby, are you insane? Of course I’m not breaking up with you! I love you!”

  We’d said it for the first time a few months before, but I didn’t say it often. Probably not often enough, actually, and I’d been working on that. Gabe relaxed a little. “Then what do you mean, a transfer?” He still sounded wary, and I hated it.

  “To a resident agency. A smaller, regional satellite office,” I clarified, since he didn’t look enlightened. “About half an hour outside of Burlington. It’d be a little bit of a commute, but I could live with you.” He was still staring at me. “If you wanted me to. Or get a place of my own there, or in between. See you every day. If you wanted me to.”

  He blinked at me. “You’d uproot your whole life for me? Even though you have this cool, grown-up job and I’m a nerdy student, and everyone would say I should be the one to have to move around? Especially since I can afford it.”

  I stroked his purple hair away from his temple, where a strand of it had stuck. Putting my feelings into words had never been my strong point, but I had to get this right. I couldn’t stuff DMV records into a manila envelope and pray for the best every time Gabe needed me to tell him how I felt. And Christ, was he ever worth it. I didn’t know how I’d gotten along without him.

  “You are my whole life, Gabe,” I said haltingly, hoping against hope I could make him understand. “I’m not uprooting anything. I’d be coming home.”

  He melted against me, sliding his hands up to wrap around my neck, pulling me down so that our faces almost touched. And he added a little wriggle of his hips, as if I needed the distraction.