Payback (25 page)

He touched the side of my neck with his fingertips as if to gauge my heat. “Until you’re ready to wear that wedding ring again. Sure. If you’ll have me. I’m crazy about you, Tyler. I have been since the first day I saw you. I’m not going to let you out of my sight now. I’ve worked too hard to stake my claim. You’re mine forever.”

“I’m pretty high maintenance.” I grinned.

“No shit.”

I let my gaze burrow into his. As always, when he looked at me, he was an open book, offering everything of himself and hiding nothing from me. That was one of the things I loved about him. “Did you ever think this was wrong, Chris? Our coming together? You know, with your being the cop in charge of my case. Did it ever cross your mind that perhaps we were stepping over the line? Going where we really shouldn’t be going at all?”

He offered up a tiny shrug. “The thought occurred to me. But every time I looked at you, I pushed those niggling doubts away. I had to. Right here, Tyler, right now—standing where we are with our arms around each other—this is where I’ve always known we would end up. In my head it was a done deal the first moment I laid eyes on you. Of course, I didn’t know you were going to start killing people left and right like a fucking Hun. That sort of put a crimp in our burgeoning relationship.”

“Blow me,” I said, smiling.

“Don’t rush me,” he said. “I’ll get to that.”

It was my turn to laugh, but Chris obviously hadn’t finished what he wanted to say. He waited until I stopped giggling before he picked up his train of thought and carried it a little farther down the tracks. “The more important question, I think, is does it feel wrong to
you
?” he asked. “Our being here like this?”

I leaned forward to press my forehead to his. His skin was hot against mine. “No, Chris. It feels exactly right.”

“Good.”

It was my turn to stare out at the emerging stars as they peeked one by one from beneath the vanishing storm clouds. It was almost as if they were being rolled out for my viewing pleasure. The air smelled crisp and clean and cool from the rain. From somewhere the scent of honeysuckle drifted through the window.

The words I had just spoken were not quite true, and I knew it. Chris seemed to know it too.

He took my chin in his hand and pivoted my head toward him. “You’re thinking of Spence. You’re thinking it’s too soon to move on. Things aren’t exactly right after all, are they?”

“N-no. Not really. It’s only five months. What’s an acceptable time frame for letting an old love go and taking a new love in? I just can’t help but wonder how Spence would feel about it. How Spence would feel about
us
.”

Chris answered me in that gentle, mellow baritone that always stirred me so when I heard it. It somehow gave me the impression he had pondered his words for hours before actually deigning to utter them. No lie could ever be carried on a voice such as that. And in truth, I don’t believe Chris ever had a lie inside him to speak. Not when it came to his feelings. “He loved you, Tyler. He would want you to be happy.”

I watched Chris’s lips as he spoke. They were so beautiful. And his teeth behind them, so white and small and perfect. “I know. I know he would.”

My heart quickened as Chris slid a hand inside the lapel of my robe to rest it on my bare shoulder. He leaned in to me and whispered in my ear, “I’ve wanted this for so long.”

“Me too,” I breathed, absorbing the heat of his fingers on my skin. I could feel my cock expanding, growing hard. That “blow me” remark earlier had started the blood flowing. It surely had. And most of it was flowing south.

But Chris wasn’t quite ready to go there yet. He obviously still had things on his mind.

“You were lucky, you know. Lucky your face couldn’t be seen on that surveillance tape at the trolley station. Lucky nobody saw you on the train. Lucky you didn’t leave a fingerprint anywhere.”

I was still forced to close my eyes and thank God every time I thought about how my crime spree
might
have ended. “I know, Chris. I think about it a hundred times a day.”

He studied my face in the moonlight. “And still no regrets?”

“Maybe a few,” I admitted. “But I still think Spence deserved a little vengeance. I’m not sorry I gave it to him. As far as I’m concerned, I simply did what I had to do.”

“Yes, but by doing it you risked your own life and freedom. You know that, don’t you? You also risked my happiness.”

“Your happiness?”

“Yes.”

I lost myself in the honey of his eyes as he watched me, waiting for my response. “Thank you for saying that,” I said. “I really do love you, you know. And for the first time in months, I feel safe with you here.” I tapped my chest. “I mean
here
, Chris. Here in my heart.”

I rested my hand on the back of his neck, carefully so as not to bump his injured ear. My other hand I laid on his arm. I felt a rush of desire sweep through me at the bristly, masculine feel of the muscle and hair beneath my caress. He lifted his hand from my shoulder and slid it downward across my chest. I felt my knees begin to shake as he pressed his palm to the spot on my chest that was just atop my heart, as if he wanted to feel the beat of it in his hand. When he did, his fingertip came to rest directly over my tracheotomy scar. He stroked it gently, then bent his head and leaned in to press his lips to the scar.

“Thank you for letting me in,” he whispered, his mouth still pressed to the base of my throat. “I’ll try to make you happy.”

I had to swallow before I could form the words. “So will I.”

I was fully hard now. And so was he. I could feel our cocks tenting the robes we were wearing, but still we made no sexual move toward each other.

Chris pulled back to smile at me and his good eye crinkled merrily. His other eye was too puffed up to move. “Judging by his pictures, Spence was one of the most handsome men ever,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind lowering your standards now that you’re stuck with me.”

Did he honestly not know how he looked? “Chris,” I said, “every time I lay eyes on you, you take my breath away. Don’t you know that?”

His face darkened in the dim light. I was pretty sure he was blushing. “Really?”

“Really.”

He clumsily cleared his throat, and his hand on my chest brushed my nipple, causing me to shudder. When he felt the tremor go through me, he gently took my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He didn’t tweak it, he didn’t squeeze, he simply held it there. I found myself having to remember to take a breath.

I enjoyed the sensation for five or six seconds, then opened my eyes to stare at him. “I haven’t had sex for five months,” I said.

He smiled. “Unless you count my jacking off thinking about you, I’m pretty sure I have you beat.”

“You jacked off thinking about me?”

“Don’t ask.”

“That’s funny,” I said, smirking. “So did I. Thinking of you.”

He smirked back. “That’s a lie.”

“No, it isn’t,” I said.

He studied my face. “No, I guess it isn’t.”

I felt myself smile. “Well, this shouldn’t take long then. Sex, I mean.”

“Nope.” He grinned. “Not long at all.”

“Just so you know,” I said. “I’m out of shape. I haven’t been exercising.”

“Neither have I.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been chasing crooks. That’s sort of like jogging.”

He gingerly touched his mangled ear. “Well, not exactly.”

“I’m pale too,” I added. “I haven’t been out in the sun since this whole thing happened.”

“I don’t care, Tyler. I like pale men.”

“Oh, please,” I groaned, and he laughed.

And suddenly our minds seemed to have turned the corner. We stood tense in each other’s arms, and I wondered who would make the first move.

He released my nipple and slipped his hand beneath my arm to caress my side. I almost gasped at the tender stroke of his long fingers on my rib cage.

“What do you like?” he asked softly.

“Movies, long walks, Toyotas.”

He barked out a laugh. “You know what I mean. Sex, Tyler. I’m talking about sex.”

“I like it all,” I said, no longer joking. “I like you. I want to please you. Whatever you want, that’s what I want.”

His other hand slid inside my robe to brush my other side. With his movement, I felt the belt on my robe loosen.

I remembered his injuries. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t break my heart.”

“I mean your
physical
injuries.”

“Oh. Well, if you make me cry, I’ll try not to let you know. Just don’t stick anything in my ear. That hurts like a motherfucker.”

“I’ll try to remember.” We both dissolved in giggles, but they died quickly enough when I slipped my hands into Chris’s robe and gripped his naked waist, just as he had done to me. His body was satin heat beneath my fingers, unfamiliar and new. I just stood there, my breath stilled, loving the way he felt.

His mouth found mine and I pulled him close. When I did, I felt his cock press into me.

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” he murmured low, and a moment later, he pushed my robe from my shoulders, and I felt it slide off my back and fall crumpled at my feet.

I stood naked and hard before him.

He shrugged out of his own robe, and the next thing I knew, we were together. Naked. For the very first time.

His body felt like heaven against mine. I slid my hands down his back until I met the slope of his butt. His ass was firm and lean and brushed with a fine sprinkling of hair. I dipped a finger between his cheeks and tugged him closer. He buried his face in the crook of my neck as his hard cock lay like heavy fire against my stomach.

I pushed him gently away, just far enough for me to see him. He looked exactly as I had imagined he would. His torso was almost hairless but for a small patch of dark hair nestled in the center of his chest. Another trail of bristle trailed down from his navel to the pillow of pubic hair cradling his cock. His legs were long and lean and coated with hair. His shoulders were broad. His dick was circumcised, the corona fat and pink, the erect shaft roped with veins. There was a gleam of moisture shimmering on the tip of it. I dropped to my knees in front of him and pressed my face alongside the heavy shaft of flesh. He gasped as I kissed his stomach. Then I couldn’t wait another moment, and I slid my tongue along the length of his cock until the head of it lay hot and firm against my lips. Trembling with desire now, I licked the glimmer of precome away, and the moment I tasted him on my tongue, I felt his legs buckle against me.

I started to pull him into my mouth completely, but he gripped me beneath my arms and pulled me to my feet, severing the connection. But only for a moment.

He twisted my body around until the backs of my legs were against the bed, and when he had me where he wanted me, he lowered me gently down. I butt-crawled up the bed as he stared down at me, watching. When my head was on my pillow and I was laid out naked before him, he gave a tiny sigh and lowered himself onto the bed beside me.

He laid his mouth to mine, and I tasted his tongue as he slid it through my lips. He rose up onto his knees beside me on the bed and gazed at me in the moonlight. He softly stroked the down on my legs, his forearm brushing my cock when he did. He smiled when he felt me tense. Throwing one leg over both of mine, he squatted above me, once again pressing our hard cocks together. His strong knees cinched my hips. He bent to taste my mouth again, and when he did, I felt his hands splay themselves over my stomach, kneading my flesh.

His words were almost lost in a ragged expulsion of air. “You feel incredible.”

I couldn’t speak. I simply lay my hands to either side of his face.

“Ow,” he said, when my fingertips brushed the stitches in his ear.

“Sorry,” I muttered, but he only smiled.

He kissed my chest, then let his mouth wander down across my stomach until his chin bumped my dick. And there, with a wondrous smile spreading his lips wide, he lifted my cock in his hand and held it firm and upright as he explored the head of it with his tongue.

I gasped and trembled as my ass came off the bed at the attentions of his mouth.

And then, with one hand reaching down to cup my balls, he slipped my dick between his lips for the very first time. I threw my head back, devouring the sensation. When I looked down to see him tasting me, my cock buried deep in his mouth, his eyes opened wide, and he stared right back at me, unashamed.

“Turn around,” I managed to mutter, and without removing my cock from between his lips, he twisted his body across the bed until he was pointed in the opposite direction.

Easing myself over onto my side without pulling away from his mouth, I buried my face in his crotch, inhaling the clean scent of him, relishing the feel of his taut balls against my chin, his stiff, heavy cock pressed hard against my lips. When I opened my mouth to take him in, just as he had done to me, I thought,
Yes, this is right. This is exactly right.

Later, when he came, I came at the very same moment. We lay in a trembling embrace, holding each other tight as we emptied ourselves into each other, our bodies damp with sweat, our skin alive and dancing with every sensation imaginable.

We continued to make love until the morning sun peeked over the horizon, warming us on the bed. When we finally began to doze, sated, Chris muttered into my ear before sleep overtook him.

“Forever,” he said. “Forever, Tyler. Remember.”

I nodded into the crook of his neck. “Forever,” I whispered back. And we each drifted off in the other’s arms, smiling. Our faces close. Our bodies closer.

We would stay that way until Franklin came scratching at the bedroom door, begging for his breakfast.

J
OHN
I
NMAN
has been writing fiction since he was old enough to hold a pencil. He and his partner live in beautiful San Diego, California. Together, they share a passion for theater, books, hiking and biking along the trails and canyons of San Diego or, if the mood strikes, simply kicking back with a beer and a movie. John’s advice for anyone who wishes to be a writer? “Set time aside to write every day and do it. Don’t be afraid to share what you’ve written. Feedback is important. When a rejection slip comes in, just tear it up and try again. Keep mailing stuff out. Keep writing and rewriting and then rewrite one more time. Every minute of the struggle is worth it in the end, so don’t give up. Ever. Remember that publishers are a lot like lovers. Sometimes you have to look a long time to find the one that’s right for you.”