Fast Connection (Cyberlove #2) (30 page)

All of my worlds were colliding in the best possible ways, and my brain was on overload. It was the last thing I’d expected when getting off the bus with my finger poised on Luke’s number, but it was a definite sign that it was time to end our standstill.

“Do you mind if I borrow Luke for a little while? We need to talk.”

Duffy shrugged. “No problem. We went over the plans and won’t be able to start until the kids clear out the rest of the junk.”

“Cool.” I grabbed Luke’s forearm and hauled him through the store. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” he asked, his voice warm and amused.

“To my house.”

Luke

I barely had time to glance around at the Costigan home before Dominic led me down a set of stairs into the basement. He switched on a lamp, which illuminated the room, showing a queen bed in the corner, a broken dresser with clothes spilling out of the open drawers, and a ratty old chair that was covered in Biscuit’s fur.

Oh wait, that was the actual dog.

“Hey girl,” I said softly, patting her head. She didn’t move.

When I glanced up, Dominic was standing by his unmade bed, hands on his hips, staring at me. “So…”

“I’m helping your dad out.”

Dominic kept waiting.

“Okay, so based on what you told me and some things I talked about with Adriana, I approached Duffy and asked him if I could help with the reno. I could tell he was skeptical, but I came with ideas and he liked them.”

“You really came to speak to my father, out of the blue, and offered your landscaping services?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Are you really asking that?”

He tilted his chin up. “Yeah. I am, Luke. You made it sound like you thought he was a piece of shit.”

“Because I want the best for you. And your family. I tried to compare my upbringing to Adriana’s and that was bullshit. I think your parents could use tips on how to deal with her, but fuck, at least they’re present. At least they love her. I didn’t have that.” I told myself I should be over getting emo about my childhood. “I know I’ve said sorry already, but I need to say it again. The things I said when we fought were ugly. I haven’t lost my temper like that in a long time. I’m not going to say I didn’t mean it all because at the time, I did mean them. But I’ve gone over it, and I realize now how wrong I was.”

Dominic nodded slowly. “I appreciate you saying that, but why get yourself involved in the store? Pity? An attempt to apologize? And, by the way, you’re not doing shit for free. So that’s out of the question.”

“Your dad is paying for the materials. And it has nothing to do with pity.”

“Then what does it have to do with? I like that you and my father are getting along, and that you’re accepting Adriana’s and Micah’s friendship, but I want to know what your motivation is, dude. I know you didn’t just decide to cram pro bono patio design into your schedule for funsies.”

“Definitely not. It will be a bitch to juggle,” I said bluntly. “But I want our families to get along. And I want to be involved in other parts of your life. Me helping him just makes sense. What you need done I can get done in a few weeks, and I can make it look good enough to attract a crowd.”

“But—”

“Dominic,” I said. “I want everything to stop being separate. I want… your family to be my family. Which means I get to fucking help.”

He was trying to keep his face neutral, but I could see the spark of hope. It was evident when he bit back a smile and the way he rocked on the balls of his feet. So nervous and unsure of himself, just like that day by the door after our first meeting.

“And you don’t think things will get complicated?”

“You do make my life more complicated, Dominic.” When his lips pursed, I went on quickly. “But I like complications now. Or, your kind of complications. I guess I can still change in my old age.”

Finally, Dominic released a low laugh. “You can stop playing the old-man card any time now, dude. You’re fifteen years younger than my parents. My Dad was scandalized that you have teens.” He shook his head as if clearing it. “Anyway, I knew you were pissed on the ride to Boston, and I know I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive. I should have just let it blow over instead of arguing, but…”

I laughed. “Dominic Costigan not argue?” I stepped closer. “I wouldn’t want you to keep your mouth shut and not call me on my bullshit. That’s what I love about you.”

Dominic’s brows flew up to disappear into his messy hair. “Say what now?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t say the words outright, man?”

“I love you.”

Dominic searched my face for half a heartbeat before pulling me into a kiss. I wrapped a hand around his waist, tugging him to me as he devoured my mouth. I hadn’t had my lips on him for weeks, and I’d felt it every goddamn day.

His hands left my face to tug on my jacket, and then it was a scramble to see who could get undressed the fastest. When we tumbled on the bed, a bell jingled. I jerked upright with Dominic squirming under me.

“What was that?”

“The dog, man.”

My gaze went to the chair. Yep, there was Biscuit watching us. “Seriously? Can’t you kick her out?”

He bucked his hips to get me off him. It took roughly thirty seconds for him to shepherd Biscuit out of the room and lock the door, but it was too long. The feel of him was imprinted on my hands, and I wanted more.

When he crawled onto the bed with his wicked smile intact, I nearly lost it.

“Where’s the lube?”

He reached under his pillow and pulled it out.

“Damn, that wasn’t far.”

“Use it at night thinking of a certain silver-fox bastard. My fantasies were all I had to keep me company.”

“Yeah?” It went unspoken but acknowledged there’d been no one else in our time apart. How could there have been when all we’d thought about was each other? I shoved him to the bed on his back and hefted my thigh over his, trapping him. The spark in his eye told me he liked it. “Tell me about your fantasies.”

He ran his tongue over his top teeth. “I thought about that time you took me raw in your hallway.”

Groaning, I drifted my hand down his abs and then cupped his balls, knowing he wanted my hand elsewhere. “You were begging for it.”

He rolled his hips. “You were desperate for it.”

“That how you want it now?”

“What do you think?”

“I think that’s a yes.”

With no one else in the house, I didn’t hesitate to strip him of every piece of clothing before doing the same to myself. I ran my hands over every inch of his body, familiarizing myself with his touch and taste again, before finger fucking him to a state of delirium. By the time I shoved his knees to his chest and aimed my dick at his hole, he was trembling.

I thrust in hard, knowing he could take it, and he hissed out a “yesss.”

I pressed my lips to his, fucking his mouth in time to my thrusts. When I ran out of breath, I flipped him onto his stomach and savored the way he pushed his ass up, eager for more.

“Get yourself off,” I said with a hand at his throat.

Without hesitation, he reached beneath himself, stroking his dick as I continued pounding in and out of him. I lost myself in his tightness, the sound of his gasps, and the feel of his smooth, sweaty skin beneath my grasping hands. I wanted to make it last, but after a month of going without feeling him like this, it was impossible.

“Gonna come,” I uttered. “Goddamn, Dominic. Missed you so much.”

“Missed you too,” he gasped, and then he was coming with a strangled cry. The clench of him around my dick undid me, and I threw my head back while riding out my own release.

I collapsed onto the sheets beside Dominic, both of us breathing hard, yet grinning. I gripped his jaw and gave him another hard kiss before he went to clean up. Once he returned, I opened my arms for him to press up against me. He did with a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth.

“I love you too.”

Warmth filled my chest despite the drafty chill in his room. It filled my stomach, and goddamn I was too jaded to be feeling butterflies, wasn’t I? The feeling intensified when he kissed me again, and I decided the answer was no. I was definitely not too jaded.

“And you agree to continue to complicate the fuck out of my life?”

“Yes.” Dominic smiled fondly. “I can’t wait. So much fucking up. So many complications.”

“And I agree not to give up when there is fucking up and complications.”

He opened his mouth to respond but Biscuit mournfully howling outside the door interrupted. A laugh tumbled from my mouth.

“Ugh,” Dominic muttered. “Living here is driving me crazy. Things with my father have been better, but I need a place.”

Dominic’s room was fine, but it was hard to picture him living in this cramped space for a long period of time. There was barely enough room for his furniture, and I could tell there were still remnants of his teenaged years evident everywhere. As he frowned at the door, I stroked his bare skin.

“Move in with me.”

Dominic’s gaze flew to my face. “What?”

I folded my hands behind my head. “Move in with me. I got the room. If you need your own space, I can make you an office or something in the basement. But you in my bed at night and at my breakfast table in the morning is a dream.”

He kept gaping at me, and I couldn’t tell if he thought I was crazy or amazing.

“You’re seriously asking me to move in?”

“Yeah.”

“And you decided this just now?”

It was unlike me, but I was trying to be less Luke-like. “Yeah. Don’t give me an out. I don’t want an out. When we fight, I want to talk about it and know you’ll be in my sheets at the end of the night.”

“And you’re sure about this?”

“I’m positive.”

He was still slowly nodding, and probably weighing my words. But after a beat, he glanced around and said, “I don’t have much. This furniture has been here forever. They used the basement as a guest room when I was in the army.”

“So?”

“So it’ll take me like an hour tops to pack my shit.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yeah.” That big Costigan smile split his entire face. “Don’t you need to run it by the kids?”

“Nah, after all of that went down with the convention, they said they’d be cool with it.”

I expected some skepticism or hesitance, but Dominic’s entire body relaxed against my own. And just by taking in the softening tension in his body and the excited cast of his expression, I knew things were going to be okay. More than okay. We were going to be amazing.

Silence briefly fell between us as he appeared to digest this new part of his life, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the moment. It felt good to let go of all the burdens of the past that had been weighing me down.

But then just like that, the peace was broken by him squirming on the bed.

“Man, I’m hungry. I’m gonna go get some snacks.”

I laughed as Dominic pulled on a pair of sweatpants. “Peanut butter sandwiches?”

He winked. “You know it.”

Dominic

No matter how many times I told Luke not to do it, he picked me up after my shift. Even when I finished up in the dead of the night, he’d wait outside the hospital I was based at in Brooklyn and drive me home.

I’d complained about him spoiling me since I had two good feet and a Metro Card, and we’d bickered about it until he’d finally agreed to only pick me up if my ending shift aligned with his end-of-business hours. That was fine with me. I liked seeing his face after a long, difficult day. And I liked that he always greeted me with a kiss.

This day was no different. I’d started work in the early morning hours, eyes barely open as the ambulance driver cracked jokes and pushed coffee at me, and now it was late afternoon. It was also sweltering. I’d skinned out of my dark blue uniform as soon as I’d been able to, but sweat still trickled down my undershirt.

Squinting against the sun, I hurried out to Luke’s truck and sighed deep when the AC hit me.

“Hey,” he rumbled, pulling me in for a brief kiss. “You look tired.”

“I’m fucking exhausted, baby.”

“Hmm.” Luke rubbed the back of my neck, causing me to lean back with a moan. “But you love your job. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t. Trust me on that one.”

Another graze of lips against my jaw, and then Luke was plowing through the congested streets with skill and ease I doubt I’d ever have. I loved watching him drive because it was like living vicariously through him. The lazy way his large hands held the steering wheel and the way he weaved around without cursing or yelling or snarling at other drivers. There was no way I’d have his patience. Put me behind the wheel, and I’d turn into Duffy Costigan.

“You falling asleep over there?”

I arched my back, yawning. “Almost. The AC feels good and being in your truck always makes me all comfortable and sleepy.”

Luke snorted. “It’s not that comfortable. You’re just a secret toddler who’s rocked to sleep by vibrations.”

I guffawed. “Yeah, maybe. I’m hoping you give me some vibrations that will put me in a fucking coma later on.”

His mouth curved up into a dirty smile. “Count on it.”

“Kids home?”

“Uh. Yeah. So it’ll have to be way later.”

At that, I pouted. “Guess I’ll just dehydrate in the meantime.”

“Heh. You won’t, but feel free to regale me about all the ways you’re thirsty for my dick.”

“Nah. I’m not going to torment myself with dirty talk. I’ll save it for later.”

If Luke was a pouter, I’m pretty sure it’d be his turn to stick out that lower lip. But he settled for huffing out a breath and putting a hand on my thigh. He squeezed meaningfully. I had to close my eyes and think about something else to keep from giving him ideas about what else he could do with that hand.

We’d been together, officially, for nearly a year, and we still couldn’t get enough of each other. I couldn’t tell if we both just had raging libidos or if our sexual chemistry was just that bomb. Going with both options was more fun.

With my eyes closed, Luke kneading my thigh, and Nine Inch Nails playing softly on the radio, I really did lull into a doze. My eyes flashed open briefly to see the Verrazano Bridge up ahead and then again as we sat in traffic on the island, but I didn’t rouse fully until Luke cut the engine in front of the house.