Wholehearted (17 page)

He snapped out of his minifantasy when Mack cleared his throat. Apparently he and Oliver were done for now, and he’d been staring vacantly into space for a beat too long.

“Dec, can I talk to you for a second?” Mack asked.

“Sure,” he said as he rose from the table. “Be right back, Lucas.”

He followed Mack out of the café onto the street. “What’s up?” he asked once the door closed behind him.

“I just wanted to check in and see how things were going with you.”

“They’re fine,” he assured.

“I meant on both a personal and a professional level. I’ve been your boss for as long as you’ve been here, and you’ve been through some things. I would hope that my actions during that time would prove that I’m on your side. No matter what, you can talk to me.”

Declan smiled. He was lucky to have people like Mack and Oliver, and yes, even Haydn, in his life. “Yeah, I know. There’s nothing really to talk about.”

“So that hickey that’s peeking out from just below your collar?”

“So there might be a little something going on, but you know me, Mack. You know I would never do anything to hurt anyone else, and I take things seriously. Especially my job. If I thought that my feelings were coloring my ability to do my job, I would tell you.”

Mack didn’t look convinced, but he nodded, apparently willing to take Declan at his word for the time being.

“I’m glad things are going well for you, for the record. Lucas seems like a nice guy. A little damaged maybe, but who isn’t? Just make sure you guys are on the same page about where things are going. If he thinks he’s leaving in a few weeks and you’re starting to plan your forever together, you should probably talk.”

Declan’s cheeks colored. “Is it that obvious?”

“Mrs. Leonard could tell.”

“Mrs. Leonard is blind.”

“Exactly. The blissed-out look on your face would be evidence enough, but the way you position your body when you’re around him, like you’re going to protect him from the world, well, it’s sweet, but it’s also dangerous. I just don’t want you getting too attached if he’s just going to take off in a few days.”

Declan shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at his shoes. Mack started to laugh, a big barrel laugh. “You are so fucked, Dec.”

Declan looked up, unable to contain his own laughter. “Yup.”

“Don’t worry. If things fall apart, you’ll have Oliver and me to bring you pie and chick flicks to mend your broken heart.”

“Fuck you, Mack.”

“Love you too, asshole.”

T
HEY
WERE
home, safe and sound. The trip into town had been successful. They had gotten in and out without any major weirdness, like a marching band wearing cat costumes running formations down Main Street or Jeremy setting off one of his “experiments” in the square. Stopping off briefly at the station, they picked up the ratty duffle bag from the storage locker that held all of Lucas’s possessions. They’d had dinner, which was delicious, and spent some marginally awkward time with some of Declan’s friends.

It was important to him that Lucas liked his friends, and despite being subjected to Haydn first thing, Lucas had handled it like a champ. Declan felt as if he was glowing a bit.

Declan had watched as Lucas had unpacked the bag, placing his clothes and books where they belonged. He liked that Lucas’s things belonged in his house, much like he thought Lucas might belong.

“You good?” Lucas asked when he noticed the stupid smile pasted on Declan’s face.

“Very good,” he said, enveloping Lucas into his arms and kissing him soundly on the mouth.

He pulled back to see Lucas grinning at him. “What was that for?” he asked.

“Just ’cause,” he replied.

That seemed to be reason enough for Lucas, who kissed him this time, carding his fingers through Declan’s hair and anchoring their lips together with gentle pressure on the back of his head. His arm in the cast hung limply at his side, but Declan made use of both of his arms to touch and explore as they kissed.

They broke apart, both having run out of air. Declan reverted back to a six-year-old boy, wishing he was a superhero, so he could go without air indefinitely. “Lucas,” he whispered into Lucas’s hair, “I really like you. I just wanted you to know that.”

Lucas’s eyes widened, the blue seeming deeper than it had before. “I like you too, Declan.” Declan grinned. Lucas continued, “I have from the beginning. I know it was tough to tell. I wasn’t exactly the easiest person to get along with. I’m sorry for that.”

“I don’t want you to be sorry about anything that’s happened since we met. I’m glad we did, and I can’t bring myself to regret any of it.”

“I know you say that, but I really am sorry for being such an ass. You were nothing but nice to me, and you didn’t deserve to be treated that way. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me, and I’ll never forget you.”

Declan decided to ignore the last part of Lucas’s sentence. He didn’t want to think why Lucas would ever have the opportunity to forget him. He still had time, more than enough time for him to make Lucas fall in love with him and want to stay forever. He hoped he did, anyway.

“Tonight’s the last night of my ‘weekend.’ What do you wanna do? There’s still some time before bedtime,” Declan said.

Lucas paused, thinking about his options. “Hmmm,” he said, “I think we should probably go to bed early.” His mouth quirked into a small smile. “Very, very early.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh-huh. I’m feeling awfully… sleepy,” he said.

“Is that so?”

“Yup. Wanna tuck me in, officer?”

Declan laughed. “You bet I do.”

D
ECLAN
AWOKE
to the alarm, silently cursing the fucking thing. It was way too early to be awake. They had been up most of the night tangling themselves in each other, bodies locked together, sweaty skin and enthusiastic moans. And the orgasms, fuck, the orgasms. Declan found that although he was not ready to rise and shine, certain body parts weren’t in agreement. He groaned, pushing his erection forcefully against his belly, trying to get it to subside. He didn’t have time, not even for a quickie before work, and it wouldn’t do any good to walk around the station with a hard-on.

He rolled out of bed and hit the shower, turning the right knob to change the temperature to cool to flag the burgeoning erection.

A few minutes under the cold water helped to quell his need. He turned off the water and stepped out of the tub, pulling the towel off the rack and wrapping it around his body, only to have it tugged away. Before he could spin around, he felt Lucas, naked, at his back, his good arm wrapping tightly around Declan’s body. His hand stroked along Declan’s tummy, lazily combing through the dark trail that began at his belly button and led down to the cock that he had managed to get under control until the towel had been ripped from his hands. Now he was hard enough to hammer nails, and he was running out of time before he had to go to work.

He gently loosened Lucas’s arms and spun around, wrapping himself around the younger man.

“Good morning,” he said as he kissed Lucas.

“Want you,” Lucas said before dropping to his knees and taking Declan all the way in to the root.

“Fuck,” he spat out, far too gone in his pleasure already to notice the clock was moving dangerously close to eight o’clock. “Oh God,” Declan gasped. “I fucking love your mouth.”

Lucas pulled back, shooting him a look that said “duh.” Declan grabbed him under the arms and hauled him up, naked flesh sliding along naked flesh until they were level and Declan could dive into Lucas’s mouth, tasting himself there. It was so fucking hot to know that the guy he wanted more than oxygen wanted him just as badly.

“Move, fucking move. Now,” he commanded and pushed Lucas backward toward the bedroom. He was going to be late, but he wasn’t going to get off and leave Lucas with nothing. No. They would come together. It would be quick and dirty, but he would make up for it when he got home from work.

He pushed Lucas backward onto the bed, careful of his injuries. He watched Lucas’s face for signs of discomfort as he climbed on top of him, rubbing their erections together, bucking his hips against Lucas’s pelvis. Fuck, that was good.

He kissed him, hard, fucking into his mouth with his tongue as he wrapped his fist around their cocks and started a punishing rhythm. Lucas’s head fell back and his mouth fell open, moans falling from his lips as Declan drove them closer and closer to orgasm. Together. The way it was supposed to be.

It wasn’t the most skillful hand job he had ever given, finesse going right out the window the closer he got to coming, but it felt amazing, and Lucas was right there with him.

“Fuck, Luc, gonna come soon.”

“Me too. So fucking good. Feels so good.”

Lucas kissed Declan again, sucking on his tongue as heat sprayed between them, slicking Declan’s hand as he followed Lucas right over the edge, mixing his own seed in with Lucas’s. He slumped forward, out of breath and loath to pull away from the man he wanted to hold close to him forever. But he had to, though. He was already late for work, and he didn’t want to give Mack any reason to question his ability to do the job because of Lucas.

Declan kissed Lucas’s mouth, still hanging open in a post-orgasmic bliss.

“I gotta go,” he whispered, “but we will do that again in a few hours. Slowly. And all night.”

Lucas just hummed happily and followed Declan off the bed, wiping the come off his stomach with yesterday’s boxers and pulling on a pair of sweats.

Declan dressed quickly and made sure he didn’t look too fucked-out to be presentable at work before walking to the door. Lucas followed him there, hiding his half nakedness behind the door as Declan opened it, but didn’t hesitate to lean in for a kiss good-bye. Declan half expected him to say “Have a good day, honey,” or something equally domestic, and for a moment Declan felt an overwhelming sense of happiness at the thought. Not that he thought of Lucas as his stay-at-home housewife, but the domesticity of the whole situation made him happy, like one day they might be able to build a life together.

He continued the fantasy in his mind all the way into work.

W
HEN
D
ECLAN
arrived at work, he was only eight minutes late. Totally worth it. He checked his inbox to see if there were any cases filed while he’d been off. There were a couple of documents, but nothing that looked too out of the ordinary. He checked his e-mail next, noting that there was one from John Forbes, the mayor, about security coverage for the Halloween festival. Having been in Hope Cove a year, Declan had worked at every festival the city had, and he wasn’t sure why the mayor thought he might not be working it.

There was one memo from Lisa about moving most of the hard copy files to electronic, something that most precincts had moved to years ago, but Hope Cove was a little behind. It may have had something to do with the fact that Lisa was actually alive for the birth of the dinosaurs. He laughed at the note that contained step-by-step instructions on how to save files to the hard drive.

As he was finishing up reading the e-mail, Scott Lerner, one of the other deputies, walked over to his desk.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Scott asked.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that. You have that JBF glow. Don’t fuck with me, dude.”

“JBF?” he asked.

“Just been fucked. Who’s the girl?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“No girl.”

“Bullshit.”

“Not bullshit. Didn’t say there wasn’t a guy, though.”

That shut Scott up pretty quick. Declan knew that Scott didn’t have a problem with gay guys. He didn’t have a problem with Mack. He’d been one of the ones to stand behind their boss when it counted.

Declan had never been overly forthcoming with who he was, but knew it would come to light eventually. He figured that people would find out when they found out, and if they had a problem with it, they could go fuck themselves, but he had never gone out of his way to come out to the people he worked with.