Uncovering one of the tables, he whistled. “Now this is a thing of beauty. Why are there so many pieces up here?”
Dane stepped out from behind a dresser, wiping his hands on a handkerchief. He wore a green T-shirt that made his eyes shine and the pair of faded jeans that Clay loved. “I think they were planning to update the house—the last tenants. Which was you when you think about it. Freaky. You and your brothers were planning to update the house.”
Clay snorted. “Well, it might have taken me awhile to get around to it, but I think we found the right guy for the job.”
“Oh, ha ha, old man,” Dane called from deeper in the attic.
Lifting a sheet, Clay revealed another dresser. “These look like they may all be original with the house. They’re antiques. Must be worth a fortune. Maybe former me wanted to keep them safe up here.” He dropped the sheet. “Wonder what else he wanted to keep safe. Have you dug around in here at all?”
“No. When Flo and Jo handed the house over to me, I just glanced up here long enough to make sure there weren’t any leaks from the room or signs of rodents. Otherwise, it wasn’t a priority.” Dane peeked out from behind what looked to be a large bureau and grinned broadly at him. “But now I’m curious about what’s hidden up here. The place is huge.”
Clay looked around at the area, which took up nearly the entire third floor. He yanked off the sheet over the dresser and coughed, waving his hand in front of his face. He opened the drawers, finding them all empty.
Dane returned to his side, looking lighter and freer for the first time in weeks. “And here I thought you’d followed me up here for some hanky-panky.”
“I actually did. Your ass in those jeans is grab-worthy.” Clay winked, then coughed again. “Though now our nice, un-dusty bed is looking a lot more appealing. You’re done for the day, aren’t you?”
“I am. But now I want to look around here some more.” He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see what we can find.”
That boyish excitement had Clay walking to him for a kiss. He pressed Dane into the closest wall, nibbling at his lips. The bond between them only seemed to grow stronger as time passed. The sex between them was explosive and so full of affection, Clay couldn’t keep his hands off the man.
Dane opened his mouth on a moan, his tongue coming into Clay’s to twine with his. Desire lit inside Clay, lightning streaking through his body. His hands clasped Dane’s hips, and he ground against his lover.
A strangled chuckle rippled from Dane as he pulled back enough to suck in air. “At this rate, we won’t find anything interesting.”
“I found something interesting,” Clay murmured, cupping his hand over Dane’s erection. He slowly rubbed it through the rough material of his jeans.
Dane clenched his teeth and lifted his hips closer to Clay’s touch like a cat seeking affection. “Yeah, it seems to get that way around you. All the time.”
“I like that I affect you. Turns me on.”
“I love turning you on. So much fun happens then.” Dane grinned and covered Clay’s hand on his cock, pressing down.
Clay felt the shape of his erection through his jeans, running his thumb over the head. He reached for the button fly.
A throat cleared behind Clay, and they both froze. He knew that voice without needing to turn around. Hell, he almost snapped for the man to fucking leave, but that wasn’t fair. If they were going to peacefully live with other people, it meant that he and Dane couldn’t fuck in any and every room they wanted.
Twisting around, he found Baer grinning at them, a stick of hard salami in his hand.
“I just came up to see if you guys wanted me to cut into this tonight or if you were saving it for a special occasion. This is the good stuff.” He slapped the stick into his other hand. “But I can see you have something else on your minds.”
“We were thinking maybe we stored something up here that could help us,” Clay said, working to bring himself back under control. He’d been ready to drop to his knees to take Dane’s dick down his throat.
“Looks like you were searching hard.” Baer took a step farther in the room, his eyes darting around. Clay nearly groaned. Baer wasn’t leaving him alone with Dane so they could pick up where they left off. He loved the man, but he was ready to beat him with that damn salami.
“Where’s Grey?” Clay reluctantly straightened away from Dane.
Baer shrugged as he started poking around under some of the sheets. “Muttered something about calling his agent. A new idea for a book series.” Baer’s head suddenly popped up, his brow furrowed. “You don’t think he would write about us and the pestilents, right?”