“G Love,” Justin drawled out in an almost pleading whine as he walked over to his husband. “It was just going to be a small practical joke. Nobody was going to get hurt.”
“You were cooking up ways to convince them that the woods surrounding their house were haunted. That’s evil, Justin. Even for you.”
Justin wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s slender waist and rested his head on his shoulder. “It’s just a joke. I was bored.”
Gabriel smoothed his hand over Justin’s blond hair. “Yes, and now you have evil people to torment at a fancy party. It’s one of your favorite things.”
“So true!”
Gabriel took Justin’s hand as his husband straightened and looked over at Isidore. “I believe Kairo said that he was grabbing a shower before turning in for the night.” Gabriel’s lips formed a smirk as he added, “Do try to get a little sleep. We have a long night ahead of us tomorrow.”
Yes, he needed to find his boyfriend and spend some quality time with him. Since arriving at the house, they’d been running around to complete preparations and barely seeing each other throughout the day. At night, they would collapse into bed and he was quickly becoming addicted to how Kairo would wrap him up, pulling him close as he drifted off to sleep.
With one final glance back at the windows and doors to make sure they were closed and secure, Isidore headed down the hall and up to the second-floor master bedroom. He had been ridiculously pleased when they arrived to find Kairo automatically putting his things in Isidore’s bedroom rather than taking one of the other bedrooms.
Closing the door behind him, he crossed the large room with the king-sized bed that faced a wall of windows overlooking the cliffs and sea. The windows were open and a salty breeze made the sheer curtains dance slowly. Beyond the windows, he could pick out the moon hanging nearly full over the sea. But the beauty was nothing compared to the man standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped about his waist. He was carefully combing his thick wet hair. Kairo caught sight of his reflection and smiled.
“I’m sorry I missed your shower. I had wanted to share it with you, but I got caught up talking to West about possible places to stash weapons,” Kairo murmured. “Why’d you go back downstairs? I figured you’d be in bed already.”
“Oh, I thought of something I needed to get before bed,” Isidore said, touching the outside of the pocket that held the folded sheet of paper. He stepped closer to Kairo, breathing in the spicy scent of his body wash and shampoo as it rose from his warm body. Reaching out, he let his fingertips slide across the small bottles of cologne, deodorant, toothpaste, and other toiletries. Each one was neatly arranged on the sink next to his own and it made his heart do a happy dance with his lungs.
He’d never had this. Sure, it was way too early for them to think about living together, but this was a good trial run. Practice. And he was loving it. He wanted to wake up every morning to Kairo’s handsome face. He wanted to bump into him in the shared bathroom and see their clothes hanging tighter in the same closet. He wanted their lives so intertwined that nothing could pull them apart.
“Isidore?”
His head jerked up to see Kairo staring at him with a questioning and slightly worried expression. The brush he was using was on the sink counter now. “Sorry. I must have zoned out there for a second.”
The worry disappeared from Kairo’s gaze and he smiled gently. Lifting his hand, Kairo touched his cheek, drawing him in for a sweet kiss. “It’s okay. You’ve been under a lot of stress recently, baby. If we’re lucky, all of this will end tomorrow night. We’ll gather the last bits of evidence we need to catch the person who wants to hurt you and Athena. It will be over.”
“But after that…I’ll still have you, right?”
Kairo pulled away, his eyes widening. “Yes. I’m not going anywhere without you right beside me. I won’t disappear just because the job is over. Have you been worried about that?”
“A little,” Isidore mumbled, breaking off eye contact to glance at the black marble counter again. It felt disloyal to have these fears, but he still couldn’t completely shake them. It was what had driven him to his office, and now he was feeling stupid about his grand scheme to make one last great memory…just in case. “The past couple of weeks have been like living in a dream. Even if we’ve been insanely busy, I got to share all my meals with you, wake up to your smiling face in the morning, and have you hold me at night. But like you said, all this could be over tomorrow, and then…you don’t have to be here any longer.”
“Isidore, I could have walked away from this job at any time,” Kairo stated firmly. He pinched Isidore’s chin, forcing him to meet his stern gaze. “I stayed because I care about you and Athena. And I have no intention of disappearing once I know you’re safe. I want us to spend a lot of time getting to know each other when someone doesn’t want you dead. I want to know everything about you.” Kairo leaned in and kissed the underside of Isidore’s jaw. “I also want to spend some time kissing every part of your body.”
“Yes. Yes to all of that,” Isidore whispered as Kairo continued to kiss his way down Isidore’s neck. He tugged at the collar of his T-shirt so he could lick along his collarbone.
Kairo pressed closer and the paper in Isidore’s pocket loudly crinkled in the silence of the room. Kairo instantly stepped back and looked at his pajama pants. “What’s that?”
“Oh…umm…” Isidore swallowed hard, his hand darting to cover the pocket as if the paper was going to leap out and fly into Kairo’s hands. He was starting to lose his nerve. He’d wanted to be sexy and alluring, but now he was feeling like a fraud.
“Work?”
“No,” he answered quickly. “I…I kind of had this idea. But we don’t have to if you’re not interested. Or maybe it’s too much. Too soon. It’s probably too soon and-and-and…” He finally got control of his babbling mouth and stopped talking. Silence was safer than trying to talk his way out of this mess.
Kairo brushed his hand aside and pulled the paper out of his pocket between two fingers. He held it up and grinned broadly at Isidore. “Am I going to open this up and find a receipt for a sex swing?”
Isidore gasped so hard he choked on the air. “What? No!” he coughed. “I wouldn’t. I mean, I hadn’t thought of something like that. I-I would talk to you first.”
A low chuckle drifted from Kairo and he stopped more of his babbling with a kiss this time. “I was teasing,” he murmured as he broke off the kiss. He lowered his eyes as he opened the paper and his brows instantly furrowed as he read the test results from his last doctor’s appointment six months ago. He looked back up at Isidore. “I don’t understand.”
“I want…I want you to fuck me bare.” He swallowed hard, his mouth going impossibly dry. “I printed out my latest test results as proof they’re all negative. It’s safe. But if you don’t—”
He didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence. Kairo grabbed the back of his head, pulled him in, and slammed their mouths together. Isidore moaned as that wicked tongue thrust in and tangled with his. Kairo’s possessive hunger was melting the remains of his brain while all the blood rushed to his groin. He stepped away to rest his ass on the edge of the counter while Kairo stepped between his legs.
With a tight grip on his hair, Kairo pulled Isidore’s head back, breaking off the kiss to suck on his neck for a second. “Say it again,” he ordered.