Chapter 20
Colt
“That’s pathetic, Dani. Give me five more push-ups.”
Daniel stayed face down on the mat. “Why don’t you just let me die instead?”
“Quit bitching and move,” Colt said.
For the past three days he and Daniel had been working out. Although ‘working out’ wasn’t quite the right phrase for what they were doing. Daniel fumbled her way through toddler exercises while he made sure she didn’t collapse. Turned out she had the upper body strength of a soggy empanada and couldn’t run a mile without coughing hard enough to bring up blood.
Daniel groaned as she raised her body up on her forearms and knees. “This is torture, Tarzan, unconstitutional torture.”
“Yeah yeah. You know, if you talked less you’d have more energy.”
“Torture,” she mumbled, but she turned her attention back to the mats all the same. As she hoisted herself her top slid up her back exposing two smooth dimples. Colt adjusted himself beneath the loose fitting shorts he always wore to their ‘training sessions’, thinking that Daniel Schwartz didn’t know the meaning of the word torture.
A week ago he’d have given almost anything to spend more time with Daniel, now he spent their sessions together alternately elated and so jealous he could spit. He was living under a shadow called Jeremiah Hall where it was impossible to forget, no matter how much they flirted, that he was never going to be with Daniel.
He usually left Castle by the Sea’s ridiculously overstocked gym in a fit of misery. Today he knew would be no exception but with the added insult that it was his fucking birthday. He’d already gotten a call from his parents and somehow in the space of five minutes they managed to make him more depressed than he’d been all year.
“You’re so handsome Colton,” his mom moaned, as if, instead of saying he wasn’t seeing anyone right now he announced he had terminal brain cancer. “Why are you so choosy? Why can’t you just meet a nice girl and settle down like your sisters?”
“None of my sisters are lesbians,” he reminded her.
“You know what I mean. You’re too old to be carrying on like this. Please, please, just consider going out for dinner with Ella Martinez’s daughter? She got divorced last summer and she’s dying to meet someone…”
“Tarzan?” He looked down to see Daniel reclining on her hip like a Sports Illustrated model. “Something on your mind, buddy?”
“Push-ups,” he said, swallowing hard. “I know you only did three.”
Daniel didn’t move. “I think we should talk about whatever put that sourpuss look on your face before bad vibes corrupt this sacred place of exercise.”
“God, you talk shit.”
She snorted with laughter. “I know.”
He smiled, against his own wishes and Daniel grinned up at him. “But seriously, what’s wrong? You’ve been weird all morning. Have you guys run out of Diet Coke?”
“I don’t drink Diet Coke, and no.”
Daniel rolled her eyes. “Coke Zero then. Has a sporting team you like lost?”
“No.”
“What about that one where everyone figure skates with sticks, like a really shit version of Disney on Ice?”
Colt glared at her. “It’s not hockey season. Push-ups. Now.”
“Urgh.” Daniel lowered herself shakily onto the mat. “What about girl problems? Are you having girl problems? By which I mean problems with women and not your period.”
If she wanted him, Colt thought, she’d never have asked him about other women with such offhand carelessness. The thought only served to make him gloomier.
“The only lady troubles I have are when you drink a shitload of chocolate milk before training, and almost upchuck on the treadmill.”
Daniel raised herself up on her arms with a piteous moan. “That’s because you made me go too fast. You’re a workout Nazi.”
“How would you know? I treat you like a five-year-old. The guys I used to train once tried to kill me in my sleep.”
“Well they were clearly quitters.” She grunted as she lowered herself to the ground and began the laborious task of trying to do it again.
“You’re doing well,” he said. “Keep going.”
“I. Will.” Her whole body shook the way it did when she was about to come. “So. Fucking. Close.”
Colt gritted his teeth as he remembered the other man. His imagined rival. He thought he’d been jealous of Seb but the way he’d felt when John told him about Jeremiah Hall had blown that sensation clear out of the water.
“Tarzan, you’re making sourpuss faces again.” Daniel was back on her hip, one hand supporting her head. Was she trying to be sexy, just to fuck with him?
“Get on your back and put your knees in the air.”
Grumbling Daniel rolled on her back. “This isn’t the ab thing, is it?”
“Yep, hands behind your head and try to do better than yesterday.”
“And if I can’t manage it?” she asked, eyebrows bobbing at him. “Will you get on top of me and help?”
“No!” Colt said, the weight of everything; his birthday, his mother, Daniel’s upcoming appointment to get fucked snapping the thin threads that contained his temper. “Christ, you need one of those electric shock collars that stops dogs from humping the couch.”
Daniel laughed. “Okay, okay, no more flirting.”
She tucked her hands behind her head and began crunching in earnest.
Colt watched her move and for a moment he felt both stupid and righteous. Then he just felt stupid. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said between crunches. “I’m not taking it personally. You’re obviously pissed off about something else.”
The comment stung even more for being true.
“Just. Say it,” she panted, crunching away. “You’ll. Feel. Better.”
Colt hesitated then decided he might as well. He definitely couldn’t feel worse. “It’s my birthday.”
“Oh!” Daniel’s face brightened. “Happy birthday! Wait, why is that a problem?”
“Because I’m forty-one.”
“Oh.” This ‘oh’ was very different from the last. She scanned his skin and hair closely. “I see.”
“Older than you thought, huh?” Colt said bitterly.
“Younger actually,” she said lightly. “Why do you even care? It’s just a number.”
Easy for you to say, Colt thought. “Forty was a milestone you know? Forty-one’s just…old.”
Daniel smiled at him. “At least you’re not a woman. Instead of getting called a dried up old bag you’ll be considered a handsome bachelor until you’re at least seventy. Plus, you can date younger women without anyone batting an eyelid.”
The faint note of disgust in her voice felt like a blow to his stomach. “I don’t want to be some fucking Hugh Hefner parody.”
She smiled up at him. “You could be if you wanted to. You’ve got great teeth.”
Again, against his better judgment, he smiled. “Thanks Daniel.”
“You’re welcome.” Daniel collapsed onto her back. “Seriously, why do you even care that you’re forty-one? And don’t be such a dude about it. Just tell me.”
Colt shut his eyes and for reasons he couldn’t explain he said, “I guess because I still think of myself as young and I’m not, not at all. But I don’t have any of the things people my age should have; a house or a wife or kids…”
“Yeah but isn’t there a reason for that?”
Colt frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Without getting into the classified nuts and bolts I bet it was hard keeping a relationship going while you were up to your neck in top secret GI Joe military business. Right?”
Colt thought back to all the wall of shame; papered with girlfriends and wives who couldn’t last a deployment. “Right.”
“So it disincentivized you to propose and start a family,” Daniel said calmly. “Not that surprising. But now you’re out. You’ve got a job and a full head of hair. Just get on some non-swipe based dating service and meet some broads.”
Daniel lay back and stretched her arms over her head. “You’re not trying to reinvent the fucking wheel here Stone. Any bozo can get married and have kids.”
Colt stared at the smooth expanse of midriff her actions had exposed and asked something he shouldn’t have; “You ever think you might want kids?”
For a moment Daniel just blinked at him like she hadn’t understood the question. Then she just…shut down. Flicked off like an old-fashioned TV.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “It’s none of my business.”
She smiled, a horrible stretch of lips totally unlike her usual smirk. “It’s fine and no, I won’t ever have kids. Anyway, what are we doing? More push-ups?”
“Is something wrong?” Colt asked, rattled.
“No,” she said, still smiling like a circus clown. “Are we done? If we’re done you should celebrate your birthday. Go surfing or something. Enjoy it while you can. I mean while the weather’s nice.”
She tugged her knees into her chest and pushed her head down so that she resembled a fetus.
“Dani?” Colt said. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m all right.” She buried her face deeper in the gap between her knees. “Sorry for being weird.”
“You know you say that a lot,” Colt realized. “That you’re sorry and you’re weird.”
“I know. Sorry.”
“Stop apologizing!” he said exasperatedly. “And you’re not weird.”
“Yeah,” Daniel said to her knees. “I’m just sooo normal.”
There was a bitterness in her voice he’d never heard before and it unnerved him. He racked his brain for something useful to say and found nothing.
“I don’t know what I can do to make you feel better,” he admitted. “You strongarmed me into feeling better in about four seconds but I’ve got no idea.”
“I know something that might help.” Daniel mumbled. “But it’ll piss John off.”
“Fuck John,” Colt said instantly. “Name it.”
Daniel’s head popped up from between her legs, her cheeks pink. “Can you hug me? I mean, unless that’s too—”
Before she’d even finished Colt picked her up and crushed her into his chest. Daniel didn’t even flinch, she threw her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck with the sweetest, most contented noise Colt had ever heard in his life. Suddenly he didn’t give a shit if John was watching him comfort Daniel, if anyone was watching. He wouldn’t have let go, not if they put a gun to his head. He couldn’t remember ever feeling as fiercely protective in his life.
“Thank you.” Daniel’s breath heated a small patch of his t-shirt. “I miss being touched.”
Colt cupped the back of her head, her hair unbelievably soft in his palm. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“It’s not,” she said in a voice that was more breath than sound. Then she snuggled herself deeper into his chest. “But it feels like it will.”
They hugged for a long time. Colt couldn’t believe how unsexual the gesture felt. It was like his body knew this was too important to fuck up with horniness.
At least it did until Daniel sat back, her hair brushing softly against his chin. “I just remembered it’s your birthday.”
All at once the sexual tension rushed back in, filling him like a wave filling a kid’s sand moat at the beach. “It is.”
“Would you like a present?”
Colt’s heart start beating very, very fast. “I don’t…what kind of present?”
The mischief that usually burned in Daniel’s eyes had returned in full force. “A kiss.”
Be a good guy, his mind insisted. Do the right thing. Colt shook his head. “I’m too old for you, sweetheart.”
Daniel ran her small pink tongue over her lower lip. “I don’t want to keep you. I just want to kiss you. Just once, because we’re both alive, and it’s your birthday.”
She slid her hands around his neck and Colt was suddenly aware of the weight of his clothes on his skin, the fine layer of sweat on his forehead. “Daniel…”
“If you say no I won’t,” she whispered her lips moving closer. “But if you say nothing I’m going to kiss you.”
Colt opened his mouth but nothing came out.
“Okay,” Daniel whispered. “I’m going to kiss you.”
It was like…nothing Colt had ever felt before, his whole body thrummed like an exposed wire. When Seb had done this on camera in front of him Colt had wondered how he could have been so stupid. Now he knew. It was as though the coals and tinder had been warming for weeks and the second a match struck everything went up. They were consuming one another, their tongues and lips and hands coming together with violent hunger.
Daniel’s legs wrapped around his hips and Colt’s cock galvanized by her eagerness swelled trapping itself between their bodies and making him grunt in pain. “Fuck…”
“Sorry,” Daniel moaned, still grinding up against him. “You feel so good and it’s been so long, I can’t stop. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing,” Colt growled. “Put your mouth on me and I’ll take care of it.”
“Wha—”
“Kiss me,” he demanded, shoving his hand inside Daniel’s leggings. “And I’ll take care of it.”
It took a little maneuvering but soon Colt had his hand stuffed inside her panties. Her pussy was slick and hot as it had been in his fantasies. For a moment he just cupped her savoring the moment.
“Colt,” Daniel panted. “Please?”
“What’d I say about kissing me?” he said.
She brought her mouth back to his and kissed him like she’d rather kill him. Smirking Colt pressed his hand down, a single fingertip dipping inside her.
She released him again, this time to moan. “That feels good.”
Colt’s cock throbbed but he ignored it, trying to focus on the task at hand. He could tease her like this for ages, get her dripping and pleading for his dick but that would take time, time he didn’t have. Instead he slipped two fingers inside her and pressed his thumb to her swollen clit.
She jerked as if he’d shocked her. “You feel so good.”
“That’s ‘cause I’ve watched you come a million times,” Colt growled. “I know exactly how you like it. I’ve studied this pussy like it’s my fucking job.”
Colt could feel her tightening up around his fingers. She liked dirty talk. Small fucking surprise. He bent towards her ear. “Dani, honey, you’ve gotta concentrate, you’ve gotta get there fast you hear me?”
She nodded mutely, her breath coming out hard and fast against his neck. Colt moved inside her, slow but steady. She responded like a dream, gasping and digging her nails into his shoulders. Colt closed his eyes and pretended it was his cock stroking deep inside her. “Wish I could fuck you, Dani.”
“Do it,” she breathed. “I swear I can come.”
“I know you can,” he said, avoiding her suggestion. “I’ve seen you practicing. You’ve been hiding under your covers like a good girl lately but I know exactly what you’re doing.”
He angled his hand, searching for the tiny rough spot deep inside her. When he found it she whimpered a soft pleading noise that made his balls ache.
“I watched you unpack that fake dick,” he said. “Do you pretend it’s me between those legs of yours when you use it? Do you pretend I’m the one fucking you?”
“Yes,” she said and Colt went hot all over with triumph. “I’m bigger.”
“Nuh-uh.” Daniel shook her head frantically. “No way.”
“Put your hand on my thigh. Feel me.”
The heat from Daniel’s palm seemed to burn through his cargo pants.
“Christ,” she breathed, stroking him like a cat, measuring him through his pants. “Colt, fuck me. Fuck me right now.”
“I can’t, gorgeous.” He plunged deeper, wincing at how tight she was. “You’ve gotta do it on my fingers before John comes through that door.”
“I will.” Daniel’s eyes grew steely, as though she was headed for war not orgasm. “What do you think about doing to me?”
“Everything,” Colt said, then realized she wanted dirty talk. “Everything you can do to a woman I wanna do to you. Fuck your ass and come in your mouth and pin you down and eat your little cunt until you scream my fucking name. Everything, Daniel, and I meant fucking everything.”
Her eyes met his, the pupils wide as saucers. “Oh, Colt, I’m going to…”
She was silent in orgasm, the way she always was when she masturbated but this time he could feel her response. Her body convulsed around his fingers, telling him, without words, how good she felt. He kissed her as she came, keeping his tongue in her mouth as she rode his hand. Another point of contact. More proof of what they’d done.
As Daniel relaxed and lay still against his chest Colt’s sense of where he was and what just he’d done heightened to just below panic. He wasn’t scared of what John would do if he caught them but he needed to get out of here, for both their sakes. “Is it okay if I move?” he asked.
Daniel nodded, apparently beyond words.
Smug in spite of his growing dread Colt rolled her onto her back and slid his hand from her leggings. The spandex snapped snugly into place like he’d never been inside it. Without thinking he brought his fingers to his mouth and sucked them. “Jesus, Dani.”
“What?” She asked, her eyes closed.
“You taste how you look.”
“Jewish?”
“Perfect.”
With speed worthy of a ninja Daniel shot to her knees, cupping his cock through his cargo pants. “Let me extend the birthday kiss into a birthday BJ?”
Colt gently slid her hand away. “I can’t, it’s a miracle John’s not already here kicking the shit out of me.”
Seeing her disappointment, he knelt down so they were eye to eye. “I promise whatever happens next it was worth it. Best birthday present I ever got.”
“Glad to hear it,” she whispered and kissed him again. It was only a brush on the lips but he felt that same stupid electric surge he had the night they met. Chemistry in action. “Be good, Dani.”
“Happy birthday, Mr. Stone.”
He walked back to the surveillance quarters feeling like the man who fucked the preacher’s wife and got away with it. He kept replaying everything that had happened in his mind until arousal trumped his worry. He burst into the bunker like John Wayne entering a saloon and found it cool and empty. There was a green post- it plastered to one of the monitor screens. ‘Gone surfing. Be back at one. Happy birthday, big guy. John.’
Colt exhaled, relieved and disappointed. If he’d known John wasn’t here he could have let Daniel…but no, he couldn’t think like that. He was lucky he’d gotten what he had.
He watched Daniel climb the stairs to the master bathroom and was gratified to see her gripping the handrail like her legs were too shaky to walk on. He’d kissed her now, stroked between her legs, made her come. Why did he feel even less satisfied than before? She entered the bathroom, turning on the hot water before stripping off her clothes. He grunted when she pulled off her top, exposing her gorgeous tits. Why hadn’t he sucked them while he had the chance?
He sat down heavily in his office chair and looked at the front of his shorts. “You’re never gonna fuck her,” he told his cock. “Deal with it.”
Just then Daniel turned and faced the camera. “I don’t know if you’re back there, Tarzan,” she said. “But if you are….”
She cupped her breasts pushing them together like a pin-up girl. “Happy birthday.”
She winked then moved toward the shower, her gorgeous ass flashing at him.
“Well,” Colt said to his cock. “I’m gonna jerk off now.”
He gripped himself and began to stroke slow and tight, his eyes trained on Daniel’s ass. She seemed to know he was watching, rubbing soap all over her skin in a way that had nothing to do with cleanliness. He was breathing hard, seconds away from coming when his phone lit up on the desk in front of him. “Shit.”
He decided to let it ring out, jerking himself harder as he watched the warm water run down Daniel’s neck and tits. His phone fell mercifully silent for ten seconds and then it lit back up again.
“Fuck.”
Two in a row meant something important, which meant he had to answer. He looked around for something to wipe his hand on, realized there was nothing and, disgusted with himself palmed his t-shirt. “Hello?”
“Mr. Stone?” Elkin’s voice was as frosty and Game of Thrones British as ever. “Have I caught you at a bad time?”
“Ah…No?” he said as he tried to wrangle his dick back into his shorts one handed. “What’s up?”
“I’m trying to reach Mr. Blackwood but his phone appears to be off. I have documents pertaining to Jeremiah Hall’s arrival that need to be delivered.”
Colt’s dick went slack against his thigh. Nothing like remembering another guy was coming to fuck the girl you like to kill the mood. “Right. Are you emailing them through?”
“No, we’ll have them couriered this afternoon. Will you be there to receive them?”
He closed his eyes, his birthday misery back in full force. “Yup.”
“And you’ll make sure Daniel signs them right away?”
“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Jeremiah Hall is a difficult man to get a hold of and he needs a signed copy of those documents before we can proceed. Is that understood?”
If Colt lived to be a thousand, he never, ever wanted to hear that prick’s name again. “Yes.”
“Good. Also, while you’re getting the papers signed, please inform Ms. Schwartz, Jeremiah Hall’s bloodwork has come back clean and she can use or not use prophylactics as she sees fit.”
Colt’s phone made an unhealthy squeaking sound as his fist tightened around it. “Yup. Great. Okay.”
“Thank you.” Elkin gave a small petulant sigh. “All this paperwork. It’s a shame things didn’t work out with yourself and Ms. Schwartz, it would have been much simpler.”
It felt as though a .22 bullet had slammed into Colt’s chest. “Beg your pardon?”
“You and Ms. Schwartz. If you and Mr. Rhodes hadn’t thought it was inappropriate to sleep with her this entire arrangement would have gone much more smoothly.”
Blood was pumping hot and fast around Colt’s head. “It would have, huh?”
“Yes, well as Mr. Blackwood pointed out it would have been considered unprofessional by some. Personally I’ve seen more unethical things take place at Labor Day parties but that’s what happens when you have an open bar.” She sighed again. “The courier should be arriving at three. Do you have any questions or concerns?”
Colt was numb. He couldn’t speak. He could barely think.
“Mr. Stone?”
“Nope. I’ll be here,” he managed. “All good.”
“Excellent, well then—” She hung up.
For a full minute Colt sat completely still, hatred pumping through his veins like fire. John was lucky he was down at the beach, if he was here, oh dear god if he was here Colt would have driven his hand through his nose and torn out the cartilage. He’d done this. He’d fucked them over without a single fucking word.
And Daniel? Did Daniel know about this?
He watched her singing Diana Ross into her shower brush. No, of course she hadn’t, John wouldn’t have told her. He wouldn’t have risked the chance that she’d say yes. He’d just done what he always did, kept his fucking mouth shut and did what he thought was best for everyone. Colt got to his feet, his head pounding. Daniel was going to hear the truth, then she was going to fucking choose him.