Inappropriate laughter threatened to escape, and he prepared to get fired. First, the unexpected kidnapping of a stranger. He still didn’t know how the hell they were able to get his van on the roof, but they succeeded and he’d spent a fortune for the crane—again. He’d returned to the grocery store several times. Yet he hadn’t spotted the bow tie wearing cutie. Getting with Poe was a lost cause, but that didn’t help his disappointment. He decided on a distraction. The rest of the team didn’t fall for his pranks. Raul and Pure were easy marks.

He’d spent all day attempting to lure the two men to the lower level of Trenton Security where they had the gun range and weapons lockers and cages. He didn’t feel guilty about it either. Raul had focused his attention on Pure’s ass. A quick shove from behind and he had both men locked up.

He raised his arm and wiggled his fingers at the two pissed off men. In his opinion, if they couldn’t get their shit together they deserved it. They needed a bit of encouragement and he thought he was just the man to do that.

“Little, I’m tired of your shit, man.”

As Raul’s palm connected with the gate, the metal rattled. Pure stared down the sniper scope of a rifle and he swore the man’s trigger finger twitched.

“It’s for your own good,” he announced. “Now, I brought some educational tools along to help.” He bent at the waist and dug the two anatomically correct puppets from his small gym bag. He hugged them both to his chest as he removed condoms and single-use lube from the bag, and then shoved the items through the cage.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” Raul threw himself against the door.

Did Raul think that was going to work?

“What the hell is going on?” Linus’s voice boomed off the walls of the basement.

He struggled to get the puppets onto his hands and as his fingers worked the arms, he waved them in Linus’s face. “Puppet show,” he said.

Linus crossed his arms over his broad chest and rested back against the cage. “What happened last time you locked them up, Little?”

“Stitches. But scars heighten my bad boy exterior. It’s sexy.”

“And you think this time is going to end any different?”

“No, but it’s puppets, man.” He heard the hysterical glee in his voice.

“I think they get the idea of where to insert Tab A into Slot B.”

“You’re just going to fucking stand there?” Raul demanded. “I thought we agreed you’d keep his crazy ass away from me.”

Raul had worked with them for years, but even being a newbie to the full-time team, the man should know better than to think he’d escape. He jerked his gaze to Linus to see if his boss was going to ruin his fun. Linus’ smirk told him he wasn’t going to help Little’s victims. He mentally fist pumped at the nod that told him to proceed.

“You wearing your vest, Little?”

“Won’t matter much with a head shot.” Pure punctuated his statement with the slow slide of the bolt as the man loaded the rifle.

“You’re so violent, Pure, sexual frustration does that to a person. Now, this is mini-Raul.” He held his puppet encased right hand. “And this cutie is mini-Pure.”

“Just wait until I get out of this fucking cage. You’re fucking dead.”

“Now, now, Raul,” he chided.

“Just let him do this, I’m interested to see what Little has to say. I got a pre-teen to have the sex talk with. You mind if I borrow those?”

“All yours, I got female ones too. They only sold them as a hetero set.”

“Good deal.”

“Let’s begin with foreplay, kissing is important.” He made smooching sounds as he pressed the puppet’s faces together. “Oh, Raul…”

Pain shot through his ears at the reverberation as a single shot echoed in deafening decibels. “Fake Jesus, Pure, what the fuck?” He pushed the puppets to his ears as he bent at the waist.

“Pure, I don’t care if you shoot Little, but, fuck, boy, that was too close,” Linus yelled. “I’m gonna put you over my fucking knee.”

“You touch me and I won’t give you a warning shot,” Pure growled.

He heard the ejection of one bullet casing as Pure loaded the second.

“I won’t kill you, Little, but, you better open—”

“I was just trying to help, no need to be mean. Boss, you want to catch one?”

“Man, I need one.”

He headed for the door with Linus beside him.

“What about us?” Raul asked.

“We’ll let you out when Pure calms down.”

“Try to be helpful, dude, and what the fuck do you get in return?”

“Ungrateful fuckers. We headed to Mama’s place?”

“Yeah.”

“Just wait until I get out of here. I’ll kill both y’all’s fucking asses. Linus, Little!” Raul cursed and banged against the cage behind them.

As he entered the elevator, he spun and had the puppets wave bye to the two pissed off men. Both their faces were red and then they turned on each other.

“You know, they gonna take your ass out, right?”

“It will be worth it. And I went through the trouble of special ordering these.” He held up his hands. “And I get no thanks for it. Shameful, man.”

“You do know you’re on Cheating Spouse duty?”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember.”

He was stuck on stakeout duty for the second week in a row. No action. No takedowns, just sitting in his van all night by himself. Plenty of time for him to think about his mistakes and he’d made plenty. It wasn’t as if he meant to do it. He’d kidnapped someone just because he thought lightning struck. It would teach him to listen to Lily especially after two and a half blunts. The man hadn’t even come looking for him and when Liv had returned his helmet, no note or anything.

Of course he didn’t, Harmon, you kidnapped him. Little hated that voice of reason in his head.

“Little, you there,” Pure’s voice coming over his laptop scared the fuck out of him. He hadn’t wanted to deal with an earpiece all night and had routed audio through his computer. Most nights he didn’t hear anyone’s voice other than his own.

Luckily, Pure forgave him. Even for being a bit reserved, Pure was laidback and had a decent sense of humor. It kind of helped that Pure got a shot in before him and Linus left Raul and Pure in the cage.

“Yeah, man, what's up?”

“You got a call. No name, just a number. You want it?”

“Sure.” He memorized the number as Pure repeated the number twice.

Maybe it would be a distraction to kill some time until dawn, and he could go home to sleep. He was hoping his punishment would end soon. He didn't mind the surveillance shit, but it got boring after a while.

“They didn't leave a message?”

“No, just said to have you call him. Sounded kinda nervous.”

He couldn't be that lucky, but he didn't want to take a chance. “Thanks, Pure.” He barely waited for Pure to say goodbye before he was reaching for his phone and typing in the number.

Please, please, let it be…a sweet, shy hello made him smile. He'd remember that voice anywhere.

“Hello, Poe.” Since he’d learned the man’s name, he’d been Poe. It was cute and sweet, just like the man.

“Harmon, you called back.”

“You didn't leave a name or message, just a number. I was hoping it was you.”

“You were?”

“Fuck yeah, I was.”

He needed to temper his excitement. The small, pretty man wearing his sexy bow ties wasn’t for him.

“I'm not interrupting, am I? The gentleman I talked to said you were on an assignment.”

“More on punishment than assignment.”

“For kidnapping me?”

“No, screwing up a job, so I'm on cheating spouse duty. I spend a lot of time watching unfaithful people. I mess up a lot.”

“Any in particular?”

“Oh yeah, dude's old lady is out of town for a business trip. Overseas for a month, in two weeks there's been three different women alternating nights. I saw his wife. She's gorgeous. All soft and pretty, these side pieces, no meat at all.”

“Oh, you're—”

“Bi.”

He knew that was a deal breaker for some people. He didn’t question that he was attracted to people. He didn’t care what was or wasn’t in their pants. He didn’t have any prerequisites for dating anyone, except he wanted someone who treated him like he mattered.

“That's why the lady on the phone said your person.”

“Yeah. Why did you call?”

“I don't know, you left an impression.”

“That's kinda putting it mildly. I've never kidnapped anyone before.”

Poe’s chuckle made him grin.

“I’m feeling special.”

Poe’s sweet voice went low and husky, was Poe flirting?

“You should, you were very pretty.”

“And I was wearing your favorite color?”

“That too. Would you like to have dinner with me or we can just hang out with my friends, no pressure or anything.”

“I’d like to have dinner.”

“You want to come to my van?”

“Aren’t you working?”

“I can’t get in any more trouble. I’ll have Lily deliver me leftovers. I’m sorry, that’s not really romantic, I’m—”

“Don’t apologize, I’m an insomniac, so I don’t sleep all that much. Why don’t I pick up dinner and bring it?”

“I don’t have any cash on me.”

“You get the next one.”

“Okay.”

“What would you like?”

“Surprise me. I’m not picky when it comes to food.”

“Tell me where I should meet you.”

He gave Poe the address and told him to meet him on the corner. Then he’d sneak him to the van. He might always be in trouble, but he didn’t want to get yelled at in front of Poe. That would be embarrassing. He really wanted that next one Poe mentioned. A proper date where he picked Poe up at his place, and they went to a nice restaurant.

He disconnected the call and stalked his phone, checking the time and messages. Impatient for Poe to show up. His legs bounced, and he was nervous, maybe Poe liked him enough that he could have a goodnight kiss.

He felt stupid and tossed the offending device aside so he’d stop looking at it. He wasn’t a street kid anymore. He didn’t have to suffer through just for the scraps.

He watched the monitors as he waited. The guy still hadn’t come out, but the man had been spending the night with the other women since his wife was out of town. Any other time he just did an hour or two, then he was able to sign out and go home.

His phone chimed, and he almost knocked his chair over getting to it. He sneaked out of the van and jogged to the corner where Poe was waiting.

“You wore black.” He was disappointed the little man didn’t have yellow on again. Yellow was a happy color.

“I didn’t know what was appropriate for a stakeout.”

“I’m glad you came. Let’s get to the van. The guy seems to have tucked in for the night.”

He took a chance and laced his fingers through Poe’s. Poe’s hand was soft and warm, and he wondered what it would feel like on his chest, stomach, wrapped around his cock. Sex ruined things. No one ever decided to keep him after they fucked. He cussed himself as he quickly led Poe down the street. He opened the back door, wrapped his hands around Poe’s sides and his fingers sunk into the softness, he nearly groaned. He loved soft. Soft was good.

He got the little man inside, stepped up behind him and eased the door closed. He noticed Poe checking all the pictures taped to one of the walls.

“Who are they?”

“I’ll tell you while we eat.”

Poe went with burgers and fries; he was glad it wasn’t fancy.

“Pick one.” He motioned toward the wall.

Poe studied the wall for a minute and pointed to one of him and Lily the first Christmas he’d spent with the Trenton family.

“That’s Lily.”

“That’s the when all else fails, a shovel and lye, son. She doesn’t look the type. She looks…sweet.”

“She is. We have talks at night, and she rubs my head, tells me I’m one of her kids.”

“How did you meet her?”

“I went to get some ink done at Twirled several years ago, and I met her son Lucky, he looked at me and said, My mom will fucking love you. You’re coming home with me. I thought he was joking because Lucky is kinda crazy. But he took me to his mom and dad’s place. She fed me. Told me I was spending the night because she wasn’t ready to let me go yet.”

“It sounds really nice.”

“It was weird…no one ever wanted to keep me before.” He cleared his throat as he realized what he’d said and turned to stare at the wall that was covered with the people he considered family.

“I know him.” Poe pointed to the picture of Liv. “Who’s the man beside him?”

“Fielding. That’s Liv’s boy. They got married last year.”

“I pictured someone more…I don’t know, like him. Big and masculine.”

He liked that Poe didn’t mention Liv’s scars and that pretty Fielding didn’t match Liv.

“Oh, he’s working on getting him bigger, that man is obsessed with his boy’s belly. And Fielding likes making his daddy happy.”

“Daddy?”

He noticed Poe’s look and snorted. “You have no idea, you’ve never heard anything as disturbing as Fielding yelling, Daddy, fuck me, as loud as he can from Livingston’s office. Um, I shouldn’t have said that, sorry.”

He forced himself to look away from Poe’s face that was red with embarrassment and continued eating.

“You don’t talk about yourself much, why?”

“I’m not that interesting.”

“A man who kidnaps someone because he felt five rapid to the gut has to be interesting.”

“I’m really sorry about that. I don’t always think before I act and it gets me in trouble.”

“What did the five rapid to the gut mean?”

He wondered if he should tell Poe about Lily and his conversation. Even though he wanted to keep Poe, maybe it was best to let the pretty man know he was damaged.

“I was talking to Lily the night before, and she told me about when she met Damon. Said it was like being struck by lightning and she knew when I met my person it would be the same. When I saw you it—I was wrong, and I shouldn’t have done that.” The lie barely made it past his lips.

“It’s really okay. It was kinda nice to be considered someone’s person even if it got me kidnapped. My life is pretty boring, so it broke the monotony.”

Poe looked a bit sad for a minute, and he wanted that full, open smile aimed at him again.

“Glad I could help.”

“Tell me all the stories before I have to go home and get ready for work.”

And he did because he wanted to see Poe happy. It was odd to think about other people, but this wasn’t like his friends or family, this was the man he’d—for a brief moment—thought of as his person. He spent hours telling stories until the sun started to rise and he pulled away from the curb, he stopped beside Poe’s car, and the man started to get out. He needed just one. He grabbed Poe’s arm and pulled the smaller man to the side until his lips brushed against Poe’s. He groaned at the softness—everything about Poe was soft, and he craved it.

“Thanks for hanging out with me.”

Poe kept staring at his mouth. “You’re welcome. Go home and get some sleep.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t sleep a lot. I’ll be fine.”

He reluctantly let Poe get out of his van and waited until Poe was in his vehicle. He drove off and headed home. His place was his sanctuary, but now he wanted Poe in his bed when he returned home from work. The night after Poe left his warehouse he’d awakened hard and reached out for his little man. He’d done it for a faceless person most times he opened his eyes, but they’d always been a specter. But not since he’d met Poe. And it hurt as much as it had for the last seventeen years, yet this time was different—Poe actually seemed to like him. They all seemed to like him before they got what they wanted from him. If he desired to keep Poe, he’d have to keep it in his pants.