Tempt Me Read online

  “Saved you?”

  “I had a messed-up childhood. In and out of some horrible foster home—no one thought I would amount to anything.” Molly glanced over her shoulder, then met Gabe’s eyes. “And they were almost right. That’s until I came here looking for a job.”

  “What happened after that?”

  “He trained me for a while… then paid for my schooling. He only asked that I worked for him a year. That was five years ago, and I don’t think I’ll go anywhere else.”

  Gabe smiled while lifting his beer to his lips.

  “What she’s trying to say,” Fitzroy Johnson said, clearing his throat, “is he’s been through hell with men and we don’t want you to be another one.”

  “I get it,” Gabe admitted. “Trust me, I’ve been through hell too. And besides, Jon Spiers likes the guy and told me to behave myself.”

  “What’s he doing about this case, anyway?” Molly asked. “I mean, I’ve been seeing Patrick’s face all over the news. Why isn’t he in custody?”

  “Knowing is one thing,” Gabe said. “Even with all the coverage, they can’t seem to find him. Either that or someone is hiding him. Jon keeps coming back to Jason and asking more and more questions. This is so fucking irritating—I can’t do anything.”

  “How come?” Fitz asked.

  “I’m sleeping with the guy.” Gabe looked over his shoulders. “We have to make sure that when we collar this creep, there is no way he can squirm his way out of it. It’s tough letting someone else work this, but I’m no detective. And, to be honest, all I want to do is slam the fool’s head into the ground until it smashes open like a watermelon.”

  “You have strong feelings for the boss, huh?” Molly asked.

  Before Gabe could reply, Jason stepped through the glass doors.

  “Babe?” Jason called. “Would you mind talking to my dad?”

  Gabe exchanged looks with Molly. She shrugged and grinned. Though he didn’t really want his first conversation with Mr. Tomlinson to be over the phone, he figured it would make Jason happy. With a nod, he accepted the phone and left the others on the balcony.

  “Um—hello?”

  “Gabe Ford.” The man’s voice was strong.

  “Hi. I understand you wanted to speak with me.”

  “Yes,” Mr. Tomlinson said. “I understand a thank-you is in order. You’ve been taking care of my son.”

  Gabe turned to make eye contact with Jason who was watching intently from the doorway.

  “I do it because I care about him.”

  “It’s only been a few weeks.”

  Gabe smiled. “Yes. But I came out of a really stagnant relationship, and I hated it. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that Jason’s been through hell. I just want someone who can love me with no strings.”

  “Okay. Thank you—I’m actually less worried knowing you’re there with him. I can’t explain it.”

  Gabe laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s here when you get back.”

  “I was hoping he’d visit before then—and bring you with him.”

  “Me? I’d love to—I would have to take some more time off work, but I have plenty of vacation days they would love for me to take, so once Jason’s fully healed, we’ll discuss it.”

  “Fair enough. Can I speak with him again?”

  “Sure.” Gabe handed the phone back to Jason, and while Jason spoke with his father, Gabe wrapped his arms around Jason’s hips from behind, and pushed to his tiptoes to nibble at the back of Jason’s neck.

  By the time the conversation was over, Gabe merely wanted to lead Jason to the bedroom. But they still had guests, so he settled for a kiss. Instead, he gave Jason time to talk business with Molly and Fitz. They’d reopened Warrior, but Jason had yet to venture into the place. Gabe was scared of the emotional toll that might take on Jason, but there wasn’t a whole lot Gabe could do. All he would do was be there just in case Jason needed a hand to hold and if Patrick was stupid enough to try again.

  The rest of the evening was spent playing dominos—Molly and Gabe against Fitz and Jason. They were loud, rowdy, and fun, but Gabe wouldn’t trade a second of it.

  Late that evening, Molly and Fitz departed. Gabe made them some popcorn, and they curled into one of the comfortable porch sofas in the backyard. The air was perfect as they sat, listening to the symphonies of insects.

  “Does Patrick have any family around here?” Gabe asked.

  “Is Patrick the topic you want to discuss now—right this moment?”

  “Not really, but we have to ask these questions.”

  “No, Detective Spiers has to ask these questions. Besides, Spiers already asked me all these questions. What you need to do is be here for me.”

  “Jason, I’m a cop!”

  Jason growled. “A cop who isn’t supposed to be working this case! Remember?”

  “Don’t you want to catch him?” Gabe demanded, standing to look down into Jason’s face. “The way you’re acting, I can’t tell.”

  “Wow.” Jason rose and headed for the door. “I was wondering when this would come.”

  “Where are you going?” Gabe shouted. “We’re not done here.”

  “I was shot, Gabe,” Jason said. “I don’t have the energy to have some asinine argument about whether or not I want the fucker who put a slug in me to burn. It should be obvious. So you may not be through speaking. But I am.”

  Jason shook his head, dragged his fingers through his blond hair, and stepped into the house.

  Gabe muttered a profanity under his breath. He wasn’t even sure where that had come from. The jealousy he felt because of Patrick made no fucking sense. Gabe was never the green-eyed monster type. Hell, his ex had asked what happened if he’d cheated on Gabe, and all Gabe did was shrug as his reply. The truth was, Gabe would have helped the fucker pack—he wasn’t about to lose his badge over some ass he didn’t even sample.

  “Shit.” He grunted.

  After letting himself inside, he closed and locked the door behind him. He searched the house and found Jason standing by the front window, arms folded across his chest, hair lying against his shoulders.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Jason didn’t move.

  “I’m frustrated,” Gabe continued. “I feel helpless—I carry a badge. I took an oath to protect people. And I couldn’t do that for you.”

  “I don’t need a cop right now, Gabe.” Jason turned and leaned his ass on the bay window. “And if you can’t turn it off when you walk through that door, we’re not going to work.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is, if we’re going to make something of this—sometimes all I’m going to need is you. Not your badge, not your position—just you. And tonight was one of those moments. Every time I close my eyes, I see his face right before that bullet tore into me.” Jason swallowed.

  Gabe wanted to rush to him but forced himself to remain where he stood.

  “I feel the heat of it searing through my chest and my head connecting to the floor. And every time I feel that darkness threatening to consume—every time I feel like giving up… I hear you. I hear, baby, I’m going to need you to open your eyes for me and stay with me—please. I don’t think of Patrick when I see you. When I’m in your arms, all I want to think about is you. I’m sorry if you thought I was still into—”

  “Shh.” Gabe hushed him while stepping forward. He framed Jason’s face with his palms, feeling the stubble tickle his flesh. “I shouldn’t have assumed. I was jealous of him, and I don’t even know why.”

  “Patrick has family here. A brother at the university and his mother living in Hillbrook.”

  “We won’t talk about him anymore tonight—okay? Tonight I want to give you a little peace.” Gabe leaned in to brush his lips across Jason’s nose to his cheek. “Whatever you want.”

  Jason laughed softly before wrapping his arms around Gabe. “That is such a loaded thing to say. Tell me something.”

&nb
sp; “Okay?”

  “How old are you?” Jason asked.

  Gabe laughed. “Baby, isn’t that a question you should have asked before we got in this deep?”

  “I told you—I can’t think when you touch me.”

  “I’m twenty-seven,” Gabe told him. “You?”

  “Thirty-five—am I too old for you?”

  “I like fine wine,” Gabe said.

  It was Jason’s turn to laugh out loud.

  “Your father wants me to come with you to Japan,” Gabe said.

  “I was waiting a little while longer before I sprang that on you,” Jason said. “He can be really insistent when he wants something. But please don’t feel pressured into this. My father can wait.”

  “I don’t mind. Plus, we could jet over to Korea to see my brother. Think of how surprised Tanner would be.”

  “Okay. Once I’m back on my feet and give Warrior a good run-through, we’ll visit this idea again.”

  Gabe nodded, then moaned as Jason dropped his palms to cup Gabe’s ass.

  “I think we should go to bed,” Jason said.

  “Oh yeah?” Gabe teased.

  “Tonight, Gabe Ford, I wanna be fucked.”

  “But you were shot.”

  Jason grinned. “You’ll be fucking my ass, Gabe. Not my chest.”

  Chapter Twelve

  GABE ALLOWED Jason to lead him into the bedroom. He wasn’t sure how that happened, for as much as he’d dreamed about taking Jason’s ass, the prospect of it actually happening was beginning to make his heart race. He stopped at the bedroom door as Jason grabbed what they needed to make love. For some reason, Gabe couldn’t move.

  Jason proceeded to undress, and that only made Gabe throb more. By the time Jason was completely nude, Gabe thought he would implode. Then Jason turned his back, leaned forward. His muscular, perfectly rounded ass was in the air for Gabe to do whatever he wanted to it.

  Without even realizing it, Gabe peeled his shirt over his head and slipped to his knees. How in the world could a man be that sexy? Rising again was out of the question. Gabe crawled forward until he could drag his lips up Jason’s thighs—his thick thighs—to the start of his crack. But Gabe didn’t do what he so desperately yearned for, to stick his tongue in to taste and feed. He kissed Jason’s cheeks, his hips, the outsides of his thighs, all the while using tender fingertips to tickle Jason’s flesh.

  “Gabe….” Jason sighed.

  In reply, Gabe took Jason’s asscheeks in his palms and spread them. He licked his lips before allowing his tongue to wander. Jason moaned as his hole quivered against Gabe’s tongue. In that moment, Gabe was in heaven. He slathered saliva over the hole, then lapped it up. But that wasn’t enough—tasting Jason hot and ready wasn’t satisfying him. On the next pass of his tongue, he held it rigid and inserted it.

  “Fuck me!” Jason moaned, spreading his legs wider.

  Gabe complied, but this wasn’t only for Jason’s benefit. Each time his tongue dipped into the hot, tight sheath of Jason’s body, Gabe could feel his cock pulsing in the confines of his boxers and jeans. He finally used one hand to free himself and had to whimper at the pleasure that simple gesture caused.

  “I need you to make me harder,” Gabe whispered, dropping a final kiss to Jason’s pucker. “Come over here and suck my cock.”

  To his delight, Jason didn’t hesitate. In fact, he growled as he took Gabe’s cock deep. Gabe held his breath, trying to keep himself in control. But he couldn’t handle that for long. Jason knew how to suck him, to lick him, to graze the tender head with his teeth to make Gabe wild. Gabe dragged his nails along Jason’s shoulders, then down his back. He tangled his fingers into Jason’s hair, loving the way Jason moaned each time he tightened his fingers, then loosened them.

  “I think I’ve been a good boy,” Jason said, between kisses of the head of Gabe’s dick. “I deserve this cock in me now.”

  “Assume the position for me.”

  Gabe walked around the bed to grab one of the condoms and the lube. He prepared himself, all the while keeping his eyes on Jason. The stud was bent over the bed, ass in the air, fingering himself. For a moment, Gabe merely watched, tilting his head to get a better look. The scene was too hot, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on for very long.

  He stood behind Jason. “When was the last time you bottomed?”

  “Two years,” Jason groaned. He was now riding back on two of his fingers.

  “Who was your last?”

  “Patrick.”

  Gabe smiled. “I’m going to make you forget him.” He pulled Jason’s hand away, then used a lube-covered finger to ready Jason for him. He aimed the rounded head of his dick, then slowly sought entry.

  “Please,” Jason whispered hotly.

  Gabe gritted his teeth and added a little more pressure. He sank all the way into Jason as his eyes crossed, and he tossed his head back. It was bliss having Jason’s hole lock like a vise around him. Needing something to take his mind off it, to keep him from coming, he massaged his own nipples, grazed them with his nails, then tugged.

  “Don’t play with it, Gabe,” Jason said, pulling his ass off the dick only to take it deep once more. “Fuck me.”

  Gabe clutched Jason’s hips and worked his hole slowly to loosen it a little. When he thought he was ready, Gabe drove into him, making the bed creak and Jason shout. He didn’t let up, pumping harder, faster until sweat drenched them both. Jason scrambled away from him then, panting. But Gabe wasn’t finished. He followed Jason to the bed, caught him facing the headboards, and slipped back into him. He braced his palms to the headboard, using it as leverage to drive into Jason’s body. It creaked with the force of their bodies rolling together.

  “Oh yes!” Jason yelled. “Give it to me!”

  The headboard must have hit the wall one too many times, for it snapped. But they merely switched positions.

  By the time Jason was on his back, legs hiked in the air, the bedroom was a sauna. Their bodies and the bed were drenched with sweat. Gabe didn’t care, and from the way Jason was twisting Gabe’s nipples, Jason didn’t either.

  “I want to come for you,” Jason said.

  That was the sexiest thing any man had ever said to Gabe. He moaned for he knew he was close.

  “Okay, Daddy,” Gabe said. “Come for me.”

  Jason released Gabe’s nipples, wrapped the long fingers of his right hand around his own dick, and pulled. Slowly at first—but as Gabe drove into him relentlessly, Jason seemed to be moving his hands in motion with Gabe’s dick.

  Without warning, Jason’s body arched upward, his eyes slammed shut. His muscles tensed beautifully; his scorpion tattoo coiled as if ready to strike. Then without warning, Jason trembled.

  But Gabe only focused on that for a second. The tightness of Jason’s hold brought Gabe to the edge and pulled him over. He went flying, roaring his release.

  He could scarcely breathe, but Jason eased off him to wrap tight arms around Gabe’s to kiss him deeply. Then they fell to the damp sheets, panting, heaving, but unable to stop their mouths from finding each other.

  It was a soothing moment, a time Gabe had never had with his ex. Hell, he’d never had that with any of the men he’d slept with.

  “I’ve never been taken like that before,” Jason murmured. “It was—fuck, we have to do that again.”

  Gabe laughed softly, accepting a searing smooch. “Any time you want.”

  Jason groaned. “I’m dreading when the adrenaline wears off. I have a feeling I’ll be in pain.”

  “Damn it.” Gabe groaned. “I’m sorry I didn’t even think of the wound.”

  “Don’t worry about it. That’s why the good Lord invented painkillers.” Jason shifted. “Did you call me Daddy?”

  Gabe’s cheeks heated. He didn’t know where that had come from. “I didn’t mean to—it just kind of slipped out. I don’t have daddy issues or anything. I mean, I know my father and I—”

  He didn’t get to
finish speaking for Jason used his mouth to swallow the rest of his word. When Jason lifted his head, it was to smile at him.

  “It was sexy,” Jason whispered breathily.

  “Yeah?”

  “Wanna see just how much?”

  “Mhmm.”

  “Okay. Turn around and give me your ass.”

  ANOTHER DOCTOR’S appointment morphed into another for Jason. He’d even taken Gabe’s advice and seen a shrink. Whenever he’d gone back to Warrior, the thought of being shot was so vivid inside his head, he hadn’t been able to stay there very long. Though Molly and Fitz understood, Jason had found his way down to the station and had a good talk with Gabe about it all. In the end, he relented and accepted the doctor’s card.

  One session morphed into two, into four, and soon Jason was able to spend more and more time at Warrior, behind the scenes. Though he wanted to mingle, Spiers had advised against that. But since he was so hands-on with the place, there were things he needed to get done. His visits to Warrior had become something off the pages of a spy novel—dark sunglasses, baseball hats, and moves under the cover of darkness. Gabe would reluctantly drive him there in a rental car, ensured no one was around, then bounded him in through a back door and straight for his office. For the first bit, either Gabe or Malik would remain behind to babysit him. But it hadn’t been that big of a deal since memories of being shot would have him wanting to leave within a couple of hours after.

  A little over a month, after talking Gabe and Malik into leaving him alone, Jason finally sucked it up and spent an entire shift at Warrior, in his office. He couldn’t keep living his life thinking Patrick was going to pop out of some dark hole to finish the job. It was a possibility, but Jason was becoming tired of being scared.

  Malik and a few of his friends came in, and Jason was sad not to see Gabe with them.

  “You’re supposed to be working in the back,” Malik said.

  “I’m supposed to be doing a lot of things,” Jason muttered. “I’m tired of letting Patrick control my life. I don’t deserve this.”

  “I know but Gabe—”

  “Doesn’t control my life either!” Jason snapped. “I’m trusting you guys to do your jobs and keep me breathing. Got that?”