4-Bound By Danger (23 page)

“Talking about it’s probably a good thing.”

“Not sure how the hell you got so smart,” Rex grumbled.

“Can I see the scars?”

Rex wanted to say no, but he couldn’t. Sawyer wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily, and if roles were reversed, Rex wouldn’t have either. Instead, he simply nodded and let Sawyer approach him.

The boy didn’t hesitate, came close to him and circled around to his back. Kissed the side of his neck, and Rex closed his eyes and willed himself to let Sawyer do what he needed to.

First, Sawyer pulled his shirt off. Rex felt the cool air rake his warm skin, and as much as he wanted to turn around and not let Sawyer see any of these under the light of day, he knew he had to let the boy in all the way.

He’d made Sawyer let him in, yanked his walls down. It wouldn’t be fair not to do the same.

Sawyer knew his struggle, because he said, “It’s okay, Rex. Just me. I’ve seen them before—at least these,” as his fingers trailed lightly over the scars on his back.

The team had all seen those particular scars—but the other ones, not so much. Rex was pretty sure that the shower had been dark enough on the night Sawyer watched him.

He wasn’t a vain man at all—that wasn’t what it was about. But the powerlessness he’d felt in that cell during the torture—that he couldn’t shake.

When Sawyer reached around to unzip his jeans and finally pulled them down, Rex opened his eyes and stared at a fixed point the wall, even as he kicked the denim off and stood defiantly, arms crossed.

Sawyer’s fingers trailed lower, and he sucked in a rough breath. “I never knew about these.” His fingers went lower, almost reverently touching the marks on Rex’s thighs. “What you survived…”

“It wasn’t bad.”

“Bullshit,” Sawyer told him, then kissed along his shoulder. “This is you—me—no bullshit.”

“Right.” Rex did turn then and looked at Sawyer over his shoulder. “Don’t you dare pity me.”

“I was thinking about how much more I want you every day,” Sawyer replied, and hell, Rex believed him. He turned, took Sawyer into his arms, grateful the man didn’t make him feel any less of one.

“Do you get why I ride you so hard out of the bedroom now?”

Sawyer smiled. “Yeah, I do. I’m important to you.”

“Damn right. And you’re one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. You and Jace—you make a good team.”

“I think we make a better one.”

“Yeah, that.” Rex touched the side of his face and smiled.

“I wasn’t captured, so I can’t say I understand,” Sawyer started. “But when Jace and I were trapped in that cave, that feeling of
is this it?
can overwhelm you. We’re taught to never think in terms of failure, and we didn’t, but at some point you’ve still got to make your peace.”

“What was yours?”

“To tell you how I felt,” Sawyer said without hesitation.

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Then what took you so long?”

“Because I don’t just want sex, which must make me some kind of genetic freak because it’s supposed to be the other way around for a guy,” Sawyer said. “But I’ve seen this happen—I won’t be the goddamned ghost. The back-up. The punching bag for when you realize I’m not and never will be Josh.”

“Do you have that little faith in me? Or are you just scared?”

“The latter,” Sawyer told him seriously.

“I’ve waited a long time for a new love, Sawyer. I didn’t want a replacement for Josh—that wouldn’t be fair to his memory either. I just…I didn’t want to be hurt.”

“I won’t hurt you,” the boy whispered. “If I thought I would, I’d never have started this. Never would’ve come to your door if I hadn’t been ready.”

“And if you thought I’d hurt you?”

“Don’t, Rex.” He spoke so plaintively that Rex knew he was never going to let this boy out of his life.

For a long while, Sawyer stood there in Rex’s embrace. He was happy. Exhausted. And a little terrified.

“Who hurt you?” Rex finally asked him.

“Family. I watched what coming in behind the love of someone’s life can do to someone,” he admitted.

“I loved Josh, yes. But I can move on. Sometimes people can’t. If I thought that…shit, I’d never have been drawn to you.”

“Am I like him?”

Rex considered that. “Josh was older than me by a year. He was quiet. Serious.”

“Sounds like you.”

Rex laughed. “Yeah, he was.”

Sawyer was the opposite of Rex. He was always in motion, although not frenetic. He was always planning.

“You’re more stubborn. Competitive with yourself. Josh was easygoing.”

“You liked that.”

“Actually, it drove me fucking nuts a lot of the time,” Rex said. “We were good together, but were far from the perfect couple.”

“Would he be okay with this?”

“More than,” Rex said.

“So what now?”

“We stay under the radar and make sure none of this affects our performance.”

“Do you want me to transfer?”

“Hell no.”

And just like that, Sawyer realized he’d finally lived up to the promise he’d made himself.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

As they lay there in a comfortable silence, Clint traced the track of a lazy figure eight down the boy’s back, noting a new scar, no doubt from a recent mission. He rubbed it with his forefinger, knowing better than to ask but wanting to anyway.

“Never should’ve turned my back on that goddamned informant,” Jace said, reading his mind. “But it was better than taking a round to the chest on that particular mission.”

“Much,” Clint agreed, replaced his finger with his tongue, running it down Jace’s spine while the younger man moaned, because he knew where Clint was headed.

Jace buried his face in the pillow as Clint’s tongue found its mark, licking, sucking, probing the tender skin before spearing and thrusting his tongue into Jace’s hole, causing Jace to squirm and hump the bed.

Clint pulled his hips up, the Dom in him unable to resist torturing Jace with the best kind of pleasure, leaving Jace frustrated with his dick not able to gain the friction he sought.

But there was nothing he could do, not until Clint began to open him with his fingers and finally, his cock.

He pulled Jace up to kneel against him, his back to Clint’s chest, and finally, he stroked Jace, letting the man come before he did. Murmured, “Love you,” against the boy’s neck when they were done, and Jace turned his head to stare at him.

It had come out so easily, there was no denying it. “I love you, Jace.”

Jace blinked, muttered, “Holy shit.”

“You don’t have to say it back now.”

“I didn’t think
you’d
ever say it. I didn’t want to bring it up and freak you out,” Jace continued. “I think I’ve loved you since that first night.”

Clint pulled him back down to the bed to enjoy the moment—perfect and drama free.

The next morning, while Jace was on the phone with Kenny, arguing, even pleading—all to no avail—Clint got a call that he was due on a plane in less than forty-eight. He watched Jace as he continued to talk on his own phone, and when the boy finally hung up, he looked a little shaken but at least at peace.

“It’s done,” he told Clint.

And for the next forty hours, Clint planned on making the most of their time together. “Do you need to get home or can we stay here?”

“Stay, definitely.”

Clint tugged him into the bedroom and onto the mattress. Within minutes, he had Jace squirming under his touch.

“Please.”

He didn’t know if Jace was begging for more or more mercy, but Clint didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Instead, he lifted Jace’s hips so he could tug the boy against him, his cock hitting Jace’s prostate over and over, which was why the boy was incoherent at the moment. His eyes were closed, head moving side to side, arms overhead with hands wrapped around the metal bar of the headboard.

Clint’s balls tightened but he forced himself to wait. The cock ring he’d put on Jace was helping him, but he wanted to see, so he unwrapped it and Jace came immediately in hard spurts of white ropes that decorated his belly and chest and hit the wall, too.

“Beautiful,” Clint murmured as he pumped into him while Jace rode out his orgasm. Afterward, Jace smiled up at him, his eyes hazy.

And then Jace pumped back up against Clint until he came in an earthshaking orgasm that made his body clench before he released, surprised he didn’t blow the condom off.

He bent forward, propped over the boy on his elbows, refusing to pull out just yet.

“So fucking good,” Jace murmured as he stroked Clint’s back absently, his thighs trembling a little from having been held up and open for so long.

Clint dipped his head and licked Jace’s nipple, and the boy shivered underneath him. “Glad you had a good time. But we’re far from done.”

“Mmmmm.” Jace was falling asleep, his feet rubbing Clint’s, the soft bed and Clint’s warm body rocking him.

Jace hadn’t thought this part would ever be as good as it was, lying here, trapped, held, not wanting to move at all.

Damn, he could get used to this.

Damn, he already was.

“Your stomach’s growling,” Clint said. “Let me make you something.”

“You just want to keep my energy up so you can fuck me again.”

“Absolutely.” Clint finally pulled out of him, and Jace winced. He was already sore. “I’ll fix that.”

“’S’all right,” he protested, even as Clint ran him a bath and had him sit for a while, then he came and dried him, fed him and tucked him back into bed, satiated.

When he woke, it was the next morning, and Clint was pressed to him, and they were both hard.

Clint’s hand reached around and stroked him, and they rocked against one another until they both climaxed.

After a shower and breakfast, they lay around and watched movies.

“I never do this,” Jace said, punctuated it with a low, jaw-cracking yawn. He was stretched out along one couch, Clint the other, and they’d barely moved.

“You need to do it more.”

“Who are you kidding? You never do this either.”

“Then we need to do it together more.”

Jace shifted and winced. “Yeah, because we’re not having sex anytime soon.”

“There are plenty of other things we can do,” Clint told him. “Just you wait.”

Jace wasn’t disappointed. Clint was pretty damned creative. And when Jace finally got the nerve, that night, to broach the subject he’d been curious about, well, he was pretty shocked at the response.

“You want to fuck me, pretty baby?” Clint practically crooned, and Jace bit his lip and nodded.

“Nobody’s stopping you.”

Jace let out the breath he’d been holding as Clint leaned back on his elbows and waited for Jace to take the reins.

He wasn’t sure where he wanted to start, because he wanted to make Clint feel as good as the man always made him feel. And Clint was surprisingly patient, considering the man was for sure a top.

“I’ll help.” Clint urged him forward.

“I feel like a virgin again.”

“You and me both,” Clint told him. “It’s been a long time for me.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Has to be the right person. With you, it’ll be good.”

That was all Jace needed to hear, and he blocked out the question he most wanted answered in favor of moving forward. He leaned in and began to kiss Clint as the man relaxed and lay back. He kissed his way down Clint’s body, licking, sucking, ending up with his mouth on Clint’s dick as Clint’s hands pushed through his hair, and he said Jace’s name in a tense whisper.

Jace moved farther down and held Clint’s legs open, began to rim him until the man was half jelly and a whimpering mess. And finally, Jace was opening him with fingers, slowly, working Clint through the tension of being invaded.

“You ready?”

Clint nodded, the trust in his eyes unmistakable. “Go ahead. And, for the record, not with Jack. Never.”

“Good.” Jace positioned himself between Clint’s legs. He knew the man probably would rather be on his hands and knees, a less vulnerable position, but he was doing this for Jace. Now, Jace entered him, his cock breaching the first ring of muscle as he watched the mix of emotions on Clint’s face.

“Come on, man—don’t baby me,” Clint urged, and Jace pushed in all the way, hard and fast but still holding back slightly.

But Clint loved it, arched his back and met Jace’s cock with a push of his own. Wanted to keep moving, but Jace refused, asking instead, “How long?”

“Years,” Clint managed. “Ten. Or more. Some of my first times with no one that mattered. This matters. Fucking move, Jace—please.”

To hear Clint beg made Jace want to burst with pleasure—he almost came right then and there, but he held on and he moved the way Clint wanted, fucked him until he heard the big man whimper, and he knew he was hitting the right place.