As Lucas pulled from Andrei’s body, Andrei leaned forward and dropped his head on the back of the couch, his muscles reduced to rubber. Lucas dropped onto the cushion beside him. The only sounds in the room were their loud gasps for air, as if they’d both just finished a marathon. Summoning up a last bit of energy, Andrei brushed his hair out of his eyes to look at Lucas sprawled beside him. His skin glistened with sweat, his hair was rakishly tousled, and his pants were down around his ankles. A bark of weary laughter escaped Andrei. In his haste, the man hadn’t even gotten completely undressed.
“Toys, huh?” Lucas asked. A wicked, sexy smile danced across his lips.
Andrei licked his lips. “Thought you’d like that.”
“What I’d like now is you in the shower with me. Then food.”
“That’s it?”
“We need the food to refuel for all the things I plan to do to you.”
“In all the rooms,” Andrei murmured before leaning over to grab a quick kiss. He broke it off before Lucas could deepen the kiss. A shower and food sounded good.
He started to lead the way out of the room when Lucas caught his elbow, pulling them chest to chest. The playful teasing had disappeared from his eyes, replaced once again with worry. “I am sorry. You’re more important than any damn business deal. I promise to work harder to make sure you always feel that.”
Andrei kissed him, a gentle brush of his lips as he felt the tension drain out of Lucas’s frame. “And I promise to always call you out when you’re an ass.”PerfectAs Andrei unlocked Lucas’s front door, he swore that this time he’d give the key back. His boss had insisted that he have a copy when he’d been assigned to protect Lucas, but that was weeks ago. Now they were dating—not that either of them had been brave enough to actually use that word—and he really shouldn’t have a key. It was just too early for that.
This was too big…too serious a thing. Yet, Lucas wasn’t asking him to hand the key over. And every time he thought about bringing it up, the idea was swept from his brain as soon as he saw the man. Not that it was really all that surprising considering that when Lucas smiled at him, the air was sucked from the room and it became a race to get each other’s clothes off.
Once again, the issue was forgotten when he stepped into the massive penthouse with the open floor plan. But Andrei’s brain wasn’t instantly consumed by that sexy smirk or those powerful hands. His gaze fell on what looked like two dozen pumpkins of various sizes spread across the island in the center of the kitchen.
“This is not my fault,” Lucas announced, breaking Andrei’s shocked stare. Cincinnati’s top property mogul stood at the edge of the kitchen with one hand shoved in the pocket of his designer slacks while holding a tumbler of bourbon in his other hand. The sleeves of his dark navy sweater had been pushed up to his elbows, making him look as if he were posing for a fashion magazine.
Andrei really should feel like a bum, standing there in his worn jeans, gray and blue U.K. Wildcats T-shirt and leather jacket, but looking at Lucas, all he could think about was pulling those designer clothes off the man. Maybe this little project would be good for them. They could go a few hours without having sex. Or thinking about sex. Yeah, they could do this.
Andrei smirked and he slid off his jacket. “Go for it. How is this not your fault?” he taunted, tossing the jacket over the back of the sofa.
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Ian was with me.”
“Uh-huh.” Andrei prowled closer, stopping when he was just inches from Lucas. He could hear the other man’s breath catch and his chin tipped up slightly, offering his mouth up for a kiss. But Andrei just smiled and took the tumbler of alcohol out of Lucas’s hand. “Ian was there,” he prompted before taking a drink.
“I told him that we were going to carve pumpkins—which I still think is ridiculous—and Ian wanted to help find the perfect pumpkin.” Lucas paused, glaring at the pumpkins spread across the granite-topped island. “Apparently, he’s done this before.”
“So he found twenty perfect pumpkins you had to get?”
A low growl escaped Lucas before he snatched his drink back and downed the last of the warm, burning liquid. “No,” Lucas said in what almost sounded like a huff. There was slight tinge of pink to Lucas’s cheeks and it only made Andrei want to attack the man’s mouth as he tackled him onto the couch. He restrained himself, preferring to let Lucas simmer in his growing embarrassment. “But he was taking too long. They were all too small or too big or lopsided or…too orange. I don’t know. I just started filling a cart. I figured that a couple of them had to be right.”