Alaska, With Love Assassin-Shifter 02 - (3 page)

“
We’re going to blow it. Are you far enough?”

“
Just do it!” Josh shouted back. He could feel NiceAss’s arms around his neck, and knew they needed to get just a little bit higher….

The fireball that ensued lit up everything! The accompanying explosion was so loud Josh’s ears popped, and he almost lost his grip on Nice-Ass. Josh heard a gasp and a grunt from his back, but he kept going. They were almost at the top when a rope was thrown over the side next thing he knew, Sam was pulling them up. Josh stood at the top watching the house below. It had been obliterated. Nice-Ass had slackened his grip on Josh’s neck, and Josh began to check him over as he put him down.

“
Are you alright?” Josh looked for any signs of damage on Nice-Ass.

 

“
Who are you?”

 

“
Josh Montgomery.” Josh looked at his face. Nice-Ass had a small cut above his eye. “What’s your name?” Mark….Mark Patterson.”
“

 

Josh caught him before he hit the ground. Nice, Mark had fainted.

 

~*~ Josh had paced the hallway at the hospital as Nice-…
Dammit.
Mark
was looked over by a doctor. He had three
cracked ribs, some tearing in his anus and multiple
contusions on his back, face and hands.
His hands
. Josh

closed his eyes. Defensive wounds. Josh sat by Mark’s bed and ran his fingers through Mark’s soft hair. Damn, but the man was beautiful even now. Josh had to admit this was weird for him. He’d fucked chicks all his life, and yet here he sat, attracted to Mark. He had an innate need to protect this man. After what Josh had witnessed, he’d never let anyone ever touch Mark again.

“
Josh.”

Josh turned to see James standing by the door. He put his finger over his lips and motioned for them to go out in the hallway. Josh kept his eye on the room though. He wasn’t going to go too far. “What’s up?”

“
I just got off the phone with his Chief of staff. Mark was working with Doctors without Borders when he was kidnapped.”

“
Why didn’t anyone say anything?” Josh peeked back in the room making sure Mark was okay.

“
Because he called once a month saying all was well. I bet you can imagine how that was done.” James tried to look over Josh’s shoulder and realized he was too short. He settled for peeking around him. “Has he woken up yet?”

“
No.” Josh made his way back into the room and sat down in the chair next to the bed. He took Mark’s small hand and ran his finger over a bruise softly.

James smiled to himself. Josh obviously found Mark attractive, the way he was looking at him. He couldn’t blame Josh, Mark was pretty. “Well then, I’ll leave you in charge of his recovery.”

Me?” Josh looked up. “Why me?”
“
“
Oh. Well I suppose I can call someone else in to do it.” James grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.
“
No!” Josh jumped up. “I’ve got it. The poor guy’s been through enough and he knows my face.”

 

“
Okay, I’ll check back in before I go.”

Josh shook James hand, and was left standing alone next to a sedated and beaten Mark Patterson. Josh sat back and looked over the man’s face. Why was he feeling like this? He’d never been attracted to a man before, and Lord knows he worked with a bunch of muscle bound gladiator gay guys. He laughed at the picture that description put in his head. It didn’t make any sense. Josh felt his prick getting hard again and sighed, looking down at his cock. “Cut that shit out.”

~~

Mark smelled something. Coffee? His eyes opened slowly and he saw the man who rescued him. What was his name? Josh? Josh something was reading the paper, with a cup of coffee in his hand. Mark tried to focus on the guy. Buzz cut blonde hair, beautiful lips. His eyes went wide at the tattoos covering his biceps and arms. Speaking of biceps… “Um. Hi.” Mark watched as Josh…

something looked up.
Oh god, his eyes.
“
Good evening.” Josh smiled at Mark, he looked confused.

 

It’s night time?” Mark tried to sit up and hissed at the
“

 

pain in his ass. His face heated and he knew he was blushing.
“
Don’t move okay?” Josh sat him up and forward a little and slipped a pillow behind his back. “How’s that feel?”
Mark looked up into very green eyes.
Wow
. “I’m okay.
Thank you, for rescuing me.”

 

Josh forced himself to back up and sit down, because right then he’d wanted to kiss Mark. He’d wanted to kiss
a man.
What the fuck?
“Well, we were there to take
out…” Josh tried to find the right words. “The asshole and I saw you—”

Mark’s face lost all color. “You…you saw me?” Mark saw Josh’s face, watched his eyes get dark. Josh was angry.

“
You didn’t do anything wrong. When I saw what was happening to you, I had to get you out.”

 

Mark studied Josh’s face. He was rugged looking. Nice strong jaw, beautiful cheek bones, and lips... Whew. The
guy could be a model. He had to be at
least
six foot two,

and built. A fitted white T-shirt mapped Josh’s muscles and hung over the edge of his tight faded blue jeans. Mark felt his cock getting hard and tried to cover himself up. After everything that had been done to him, he couldn’t believe he was getting hard for the guy sitting right next to him. He probably wasn’t even gay. “I tried to, you know…”

Josh nodded and took his hand. “You tried to fight him off.”

Mark looked away. “Yes, but when I did, the beatings would get worse so I just…” Mark shrugged; he felt the tears coming and squeezed his eyes shut.

Josh wanted to punch something. He pulled himself together and pulled Mark’s face around gently. Looking Mark in the eyes, Josh told him. “Look, nobody’s going to hurt you ever again, okay? I won’t let it happen. Now it’s up to you, but I would like to stay here and make sure you recuperate without people bothering you.”

“
Where’s here?” Mark looked around, the hospital wasn’t familiar.

“
Benson, Arizona. I have a friend who owns a house here, and he said we could use it. There’s a nice pool, and he just put in a Jacuzzi. Is there someone I should call?”

Mark sat back and thought about it. Nope. His parents hadn’t spoken to him since he came out. He’d gone to college and paid his own way; they’d cut him off and he’d done the same. His last boyfriend had been a patient, Raoul, and they’d broken up a week before he’d left. “No, there’s no one.”

Josh wanted to hold him. Jesus what the fuck was going on with him? He wanted to kiss the guy and his cock was rock hard. “So it’s settled. Do you trust me Mark?”

Mark looked in those green eyes and almost sighed. Oh… hell… yeah… he trusted tall light and gorgeous. Licking his dry lips, Mark managed a choked. “Yes.”

~~

Josh stood in Derek’s kitchen in Benson making breakfast, and God help him, his mind was going a mile a minute. Mark was in the shower, and eyes opened or closed all Josh could see was Mark’s body. Josh was envisioning his hands running up and down over that soft milky white skin, massaging it with bubbles that still clung from the soap Mark had used to wash himself. Mark, wet hair slicked back on his head, heat in his eyes. Reaching down to fist his cock as he licked his lips and …

All the blood in his body was fleeing to his cock as Josh stood in the middle of the kitchen with a raging hard
^{on, uncomfortable as hell!
Fuck. What the fuck is wrong}
with me?
He fucked women. He fucked lots of women,

and he’d never been attracted to a man before, had he? Josh scrunched his brow in thought. Maybe once, in high school, during a wrestling match? But it hadn’t been the wrestler. It had been the male cheerleader he’d been watching. Maybe he liked them girly?

Josh tried concentrating on the eggs he was making instead. He turned the flame down under them and looked around the kitchen. Derek had made some changes to the house since Mateo had been there. The kitchen had been remodeled. There was a new floor in blue tones, new counter tops and a brand new sink and faucet. Josh had to wonder if it was because Mateo had taken Riley on every flat surface in the house.

That line of thought brought him back to the naked man in the shower, and Josh got harder. After leaving the hospital, Josh brought Mark back to Derek’s safe house to recuperate. The man was broken in more ways than one, with no family. James wanted the man under care until he was ready to be on his own again. He didn’t have a problem babysitting, hell he’d done it more than once; but in this case, he was taking care of a man he found attractive. That was just freaking him the fuck out.

“
Something’s burning.”

 

Josh was startled out of his thoughts by Mark’s statement. He looked down and saw the eggs he’d been
cooking were now brown.
Shit.
“Dammit, I’ll start over.”

Mark’s eyes made a slow sweep of Josh as he turned toward the fridge. Damn, the man was tall and covered in sinewy muscles. Those fucking tattoos had Mark’s cock rising in his pants. Josh just screamed manly and hot

damn…
Nice ass
. “So what are we doing today?” Mark
leaned against the counter.
Kissing, maybe fucking…stop it
. “Well, you need to
soak some more. So, I say Jacuzzi for a bit, and then we’ll play it by ear.”

Mark smiled and tried to keep his mouth closed as Josh’s emerald eyes met his blue ones. Josh was absolutely breath taking. He’d been taking care of him for almost a week now, answering calls for him and playing body guard. It was so sweet. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with me, Josh. I’m sure you have somewhere else you’d rather be besides taking care of me.”

Josh kept his eyes focused on Mark’s, although they wanted to roam. “I’m here because I want to be Mark. I know what you’ve been through, and I just want to make sure you recover from this.” Mark’s eyes were so blue… ah shit. He was going to have to call Mateo, this was too fucking weird.

“
Okay, well uh, I’ll go get in the Jacuzzi then.” Mark turned to leave and then turned back. “So breakfast is?”
“
I’ll have it done in a few minutes. I promise not to set the house on fire.” Josh smiled and winked.

Mark’s legs almost went out from underneath him. He gripped the wall and forced a smile to his lips. “Okay, thanks Josh.”

Josh waited to hear Mark get all the way down the hallway before letting his breath out. Holy shit, his fucking cock hurt so bad. He needed relief and fast. He didn’t want to be caught with a boner. He cracked six more eggs and watched them this time, trying to keep thoughts of Mark out of his head. Mark wet in the shower, Mark smiling at him, Mark sitting naked in the Jacuzzi…. Who was he kidding? He had a thing for the guy. He looked down and saw the eggs were brown again. “Dammit.”
~Chapter Three~

Josh ended up making a run to McDonald’s for pancakes and sausage and a generous helping of McDonald’s hash browns. Josh loved the hash browns. He grabbed as much food as he could, and high tailed it back to the house. Mark was in the Jacuzzi, eyes closed, relaxed. Josh stood by the deck and just smiled. His mind was wandering again and he realized he was holding the bag in his hand a bit too tight. It made a crackling sound, and the next thing he knew Mark was looking at him; and the look in his eyes, oh Lord, he’d seen that look before, but in a woman’s eyes. It was that, I’d-like-to-touch-you look. “Um, I burned breakfast so I bought some.”

Mark smiled and got up, dripping wet, grabbing his towel. He stepped out of the Jacuzzi and made his way over. Stopping in front of Josh, he put his hand out. “You want me to take it?”

Josh was looking down into very blue eyes, and felt his pulse racing. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I bought a bunch of stuff.”

Mark looked in the bag. “Mmm… hash browns. My favorite.” Mark looked up to see Josh staring at him. “I
can
cook you know.”
“
Huh?” Josh was lost in those deep blue pools. God, he was drowning and he didn’t care.

 

Mark smiled and took Josh’s hand. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

By four in the afternoon Josh was crawling out of his skin. He’d already called Mateo, and he and Riley were coming for a visit. He was so confused he didn’t know whether to jack his ass or finger his dick. This had never happened to him before. He’d never gotten a hard on from looking at a man, and it was freaking him out. Josh didn’t have anything against gays even though his Dad had.

He’d been raised by a career military man and walked the straight and narrow path. Had he closed that part of himself off? Once his dad passed away, Josh threw himself into the Army. He did three tours overseas, and

not
once
had he looked at another man. Now he couldn’t

fucking stop. He heard the car on the gravel driveway and ran out. Mateo was getting out of the car with a wide grin.

“
Asshole!” Mateo laughed.

 

“
Dick head.” Josh smiled and hugged him. “How ya been?”

“
Good, really good.” Mateo looked over at Riley and smiled. “So what’s up? You sounded freaked on the phone.”

“
Josh?” Mark stood on the front porch looking from Josh to…oh God... “Mateo?” It looked like him, the hazel eyes. That face.

Mateo’s eyes went wide. He knew those eyes, those lips. “Mark?”

 

Josh looked from Mark to Mateo confused. “You guys know each other?”

 

Mark made his way closer and looked into hazel eyes. “It is you.”

Mateo grabbed him and hugged him hard. Mark had been the one guy before Riley that got him, that had made him feel special. That had wanted him. “Oh my God, how have you been?”

“
Not so good.” Mark hugged him back. They pulled away from the hug and Mark looked Mateo over. Jesus, but he’d gotten huge. “The last time I saw you, you were fifteen. I went to off to college. My Mom and Dad said you’d been adopted.”