Chapter 29

Gaige thought his heart might stop. He tugged his arms, pulling on the cuffs binding his hands above his head. His muscles strained against the hold. “Sweet damn.”

Alec had pulled them high on the mattress. The position kept Gaige from stopping the game. From grabbing Alec and insisting he finish this.

He was so close. Alec already came. Gaige’s job was to wait for permission. He’d counted to ten so many times in his head that the numbers were now scrambled. He pushed out the pleasure, tried to concentrate on the ceiling soaring above him and the bank of windows that positioned them as an open show if someone had the guts to break into Alec’s yard again.

The minutes ticked by with Alec hovering over him. The heat of his mouth blew over Gaige a second before his tongue licked a line down the length of his cock.

Gaige’s body shook. He tightened his fingers around the cuffs binding his wrists and pulled. The headboard shifted forward with a creak.

Alec’s laughter vibrated against Gaige’s cock. “You are being a naughty boy.”

The waiting amounted to torture. Gaige felt the pressure build inside him. He doubted he’d able be to fight it back again. “Alec, please.”

“We are going to have to keep practicing this until you learn more control.” Alec’s hand retuned to Gaige’s balls. He squeezed and caressed.

Gaige’s breath hiccupped out of him. He tried to move his legs, but Alec sprawled over him, holding him down. When he lowered his head again, took Gaige deep into his mouth, that was it. Gaige ignored the rules and the orders. His hips rose off the bed and his arms jerked hard against their bindings.

Numbers ran through his head but this time he wasn’t counting down. The rush of information he’d used to trick his mind into forgetting every sensitized cell in his body crashed in on him.

His orgasm hit as Alec continued to suck. The force punched into Gaige. Control abandoned him as his body rocked against Alec’s.

When Gaige’s body finally settled back onto the mattress, his muscles screamed with relief. He could barely lift his head, and he kept his eyes shut. “I love these things.”

Alec had brought the toy home tonight. He’d been late and secretive, and after they put the dinner dishes in the sink Alec practically carried Gaige to the bed. Now he knew why.

“That makes two of us.” Alec crawled up and over Gaige’s body. His hands went to the cuffs, but not before he treated Gaige to a long, tongue-dueling kiss. “Here.”

Gaige felt the pressure on his shoulder joints ease. He tried to lower his arms but Alec rubbed his thumbs in the sockets and along the insides of Gaige’s arms. He stroked and caressed until Gaige felt his body giving in to the exhaustion tugging at him.

He lifted his head and placed a kiss on Alec’s jawline. Felt him smile. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t want you to get shoulder pain.” Alec finished the massage and gently lowered Gaige’s arms. “Okay?”

It had been this way since they got back. They’d had Tony with them and the medical specialist Alec flew in to make sure Tony wouldn’t have any long-term trouble with his arm. Everyone agreed the physical issues would heal quickly. Being lied to, loving a woman who had used him and nearly caused an international incident in his name would take much longer to forget. Pam was already on a leave of absence while she sorted her life out.

Alec vowed to stick by Tony and Pam. They could have whatever time off they needed, whatever resources. If Tony wanted to take a leave of absence and leave Germany for a while, Alec agreed to give him that. For now Tony didn’t know. He didn’t talk much, but Gaige knew Alec wouldn’t abandon his friend. And that’s what Tony was. More friend than employee.

Businessman Alec hit full force the second they stepped off the plane. He issued orders and insisted Seth go away. He refused to answer more questions or let anyone near Gaige. But at home, with just the two of them, this side appeared. He was attentive and caring. Hell, he’d even cooked dinner twice.

“I’d make a comment about wanting to use the cuffs again soon but I don’t want to panic you.” Gaige still didn’t understand where they stood. Alec wasn’t rushing him out or even talking about going their separate ways. He’d stopped with all the noncommitment stuff. But Gaige didn’t know what any of that meant.

In some ways, he was at Alec’s mercy. While Alec was in Norway ensuring his company’s reputation, Gaige was there remembering what it felt like to want to invest in another person again. He’d said it would never happen, that he’d cut all emotional ties. But a week with Alec and they were wrapped up together until Gaige didn’t want to break free.

He refused to call it love. The last time he’d used that word his world fell apart right after. This was something else, something bigger, yet possibly something that meant nothing to Alec. The not-knowing tore at Gaige.

When Alec slid next to Gaige again he wore a frown. “Why would that make me twitchy?”

Gaige knew he should blow this off. Going down this road could mean moving out tonight and without warning. But after everything, he had to know. “That’s relationship talk and you get twitchy and sometimes break into lectures when people talk relationships.”

“Have I done that lately?” Alec didn’t raise his voice. He lay there, with his warm hand pressing against Gaige’s stomach.

“Actually, no.” But so much had happened. Gaige couldn’t discount that even if he wanted to.

“Do I look twitchy to you?”

Gaige pulled back, sliding his head against the pillow, and took a long look. He watched for tension or anger but didn’t see either. “Now that you mention it, no.”

“You’re not the only one who can learn things, you know.” Alec dipped his head and tucked his face into Gaige’s shoulder.

The closeness called to Gaige. The temptation to wrap his arm around Alec and stop talking smashed into him. He couldn’t ruin it if he didn’t dwell on it.

That made sense. Very logical. Just ride it out and see…but Gaige wasn’t going to do that. Ever since uncovering Jase’s betrayal, Gaige had let life happen to him. He’d been swept up in someone else’s drama and his life imploded. Every minute since then had been about survival and proving a negative. Right now was about taking control again.

He ran his fingers through Alec’s soft hair. “What does that mean?”

“I get that your ex was an asshole.” Alec slowly lifted his head and looked at Gaige again. The intensity of his gaze hit Gaige full force. “He was demanding and insisted on getting his way. He also fucked you over.”

All true except for the part Alec didn’t say, so Gaige did. “You’re not him.”

“No, I’m not.”

At least on this issue they agreed. Gaige didn’t know what that meant for anything else. “Then what are we talking about?”

Alec shifted his leg and ran a foot up Gaige’s calf. The move had Gaige’s brain blinking out. He could barely concentrate on a serious topic. Not with Alec naked and curled up beside him.

“I think we should officially move your clothes downstairs. Put them in there.” Alec pointed at his massive walk-in closet. “It doesn’t make much sense to keep them upstairs if you’re going to be sleeping down here with me all the time.”

Gaige couldn’t breathe. He didn’t even remember how. “I am?”

“Every night.” Alec kissed Gaige’s chest. “While we’re at it, we should probably figure out how to get your stuff shipped to Germany.”

The words…the suggestions. They sounded like promises about a future. But Gaige refused to be wrong about this.

He struggled to sit up under Alec’s weight but managed. “Wait a second.”

With a long sigh, Alec sat up, too. He rested his back against the headboard and crossed his arms in front of him. “I like D.C. but I’d prefer to live here for now, if that’s okay.”

Gaige’s brain kept misfiring. Not that long ago Alec had listened to Caroline’s vile accusations and looked at Gaige as if he believed it all. It had been fleeting, but Gaige saw it. He understood the brief moment of doubt, but that didn’t make the slicing pain of it any less sharp.

Gaige picked his words carefully. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“I’m trying to order it, because that way I don’t run the risk of you saying no.” Alec tipped his head to the side and smiled at Gaige. “Do you blame me?”

“Huh.” For a second that was the only response Gaige could come up with. His mind turned but he was so afraid to believe and accept that he held back. For whatever reason, he still needed the words. “I think you should ask.”

Alec didn’t hesitate. He twisted until he faced Gaige and his hand rested on his lap. “Please move in with me.”

A whoosh of relief moved through Gaige. He thought back to the loneliness. He’d made promises to himself that if anything like this ever happened to him again he’d beat it off, ignore it and move on. But now with the opportunity sitting right there and his feelings for Alec so real and rushing to the surface, he couldn’t fight it. No part of him wanted to fight it.

“We’ll need to negotiate some things,” he said.

Alec’s mouth flattened but the amusement danced in his eyes. “Gaige.”

“I’m serious.” He slipped his fingers through Alec’s. Used both hands to hold one of Alec’s.

“Fine. Like what?”

“I’m going to insist on eating meals. None of this snack-out-of-vending-machines-for-lunch bullshit. Actual food.” Gaige was enjoying himself now. “Sometimes in restaurants. Sometimes here.”

Alec made a face. “Every day?”

“Three times a day.”

“You’re obsessed with food.”

Gaige ignored that and moved on to the next issue. “And we need a privacy screen. Maybe window shades.”

Because he planned to do wild things to Alec. The man needed to wear less at home. Maybe perform a little striptease now and then. Gaige sensed Alec might need more privacy for that.

“Those are only necessary if we’re in this bed together.”

Since that was going to happen, Gaige moved on. “Wait, there’s more.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Go ahead.”

This one was serious and a bit uncomfortable. It struck right at his ego and no matter how much he wanted Alec—wanted this—he couldn’t ignore it. “I don’t actually have a job right now. You just need to know you’re taking on a guy who freelances, stays up to stupid hours and sometimes—not always, but sometimes—does things others might not consider legal.”

“That’s how people describe me.”

Gaige knew if anyone understood walking the line to get things done it was Alec Drummond. “True.”

“And I can give you a job.”

“Nope.” Gaige barked out the rejection. He didn’t mean to say it that fast or that loud but he had to make his point. This was too important for Alec to run over him and do it anyway. “We’re equals in this thing, Alec. I mean, I’m not a billionaire and thank God you don’t have a mortgage I need to chip in on, but I can find work.”

“I’m not worried about you living off me or taking advantage of me.” Alec sat straighter now. “You know that, right?”

“This is about what I need.” Gaige waited until Alec nodded to keep going. “The way I figure it, Seth and some other people owe me.”

Alec started shaking his head before Gaige even finished the sentence. “I don’t want you getting sucked into Seth’s life or owing him anything now that you’re finally free of him.”

“Thanks to your threats.” Gaige knew about that. Seth had told him. Alec had skirted around the issue, but Gaige was grateful for the help. He was also done with being Seth’s unpaid labor.

“No, thanks to you making him a hero on this Svalbard thing,” Alec said. “You solved it and he knows, but now he’s walked in to his superiors and taken the credit.”

Gaige was going to wave off the compliment but Alec was right. Gaige did play a role, and he might again in the future. Not if Alec was adamantly against it, but maybe. “Well, if the possibility of more work, this time not under the threat of prison, comes up, we’ll talk about it and decide because that’s what couples do.”

Gaige expected a fight. He got a smile.

“And that’s what we’ll be.” Alec lifted their joined hands to his mouth and kissed the back of Gaige’s.

“Yes.”

Alec lowered their hands again and rested them on his lap. For a second he just sat there, caressing Gaige’s thumb and not saying a word. Then he looked up. “Then you should know something before you agree and hang up the first shirt in the closet.”

A fresh wave of unease moved through Gaige. Something had Alec looking pale and half ready to vomit. “What’s that?”

“In about three weeks I’m going to be in love with you.”

The words hung there for a second before Gaige grabbed on to them. “You’re planning ahead?”

“I’m just saying I like you. Really, stupidly, can’t-believe-how-much like you.” Alec looked up at the ceiling. When he lowered his head again the color had returned to his cheeks and a new determination pulsed off him. “I can’t imagine not spending time with you every day. I want to come home to you.”

Gaige felt something well up inside him. Hope, maybe. Love, probably. A definite sensation of feeling lucky to get a second chance. “That’s a bold statement.”

“Three weeks from now it—this thing between us—will be something more than us living together.” Alec’s voice grew stronger with each word. “It will be something serious. Very serious. Like, that will be the time when I say I love you.”

Alec’s excitement was contagious. It bounced around the room and grabbed on to Gaige. “But not now.”

“That’s ridiculous. Now is too early. Three weeks from now makes more sense.”

Gaige fought off the smile that begged to come out. “I can see that argument.”

“And?”

Gaige knew what Alec was asking. They might be dancing around words and facts, but it was clear what they both needed and how much they’d found. “Three weeks from now if you say ‘I love you,’ I’ll say it back.”

Alec nodded. “Because three weeks is the right time.”

“Definitely.” Gaige was pretty sure he could say it right now. But if Alec needed time, if he wanted to tell Gaige by not telling him yet, that was fine. More than fine. It was pretty much perfect. It also made Gaige look forward to three weeks from now. “Until then we’re boyfriends.”

“That word.” Alec groaned. “Jesus.”

Gaige thought that was the perfect reaction. So typically Alec that Gaige almost laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Probably.”

Gaige sobered. The idea of loving Alec wiped away all of Gaige’s fears. Made him feel ready to face life again. That meant both of them needed to change and adjust. “The point is we’re in this together. We fight for this.”

Alec dropped Gaige’s hand and wrapped an arm around his shoulders instead. “With everything we have.”

“That sounds like a deal, which means we need to figure out what to do for the next three weeks.” Gaige slid the back of his hand down Alec’s chest. “I’m good with staying in this bed.”

“I’ll need to go to work now and then.”

More jokes. Alec did that pretty often now.

“That’s a shame,” Gaige said.

“Right?”

Gaige started to slip down on the headboard. Let his back hit the mattress. “But it will be a good three weeks.”

“After that it will be even better.” Alec moved with Gaige until he lay on his side next to Gaige. Alec leaned down and stopped just as his lips skimmed over Gaige’s. “Are you hungry now?”

“No.” Gaige laughed because the last thing he was thinking about was food.

“Good.”