Dead Run (4 page)

A family of five with enough luggage and parcels for ten.

His eyes slanted toward Will. Will met his look and grinned ruefully.

“Home?”

“
Mais oui, mon ami
,” Taylor agreed.

* * *

According to Taylor’s guidebook, which he’d read cover to cover because he’d been too restless to sleep on the plane, the best time to see Paris was in the spring. From June on, tourists flooded the city, though supposedly June was still better than later in the summer. The jazz festival was in full swing—in fact, it was the season of festivals, and Parisians were celebrating everything from the French Open to Gay Pride—and the wisteria and chestnut trees were in bloom. The temperature was mild and sunny, and the sidewalk cafés were doing a brisk trade.

The spring would have been nice. So would dead of winter. Taylor was there to see Will, so much of the beauty of the city was lost on him. Not completely lost because he was aware that they were passing landmarks—France was unquestionably beautiful—and Will was dutifully pointing out things of interest as they drove south into the heart of the city. He filled Taylor in on all the entertainment possibilities in the week ahead.

“Sounds fine to me,” Taylor assured him. He really could not have cared less about seeing Notre Dame or the Louvre or Moulin Rouge or the Eiffel Tower or any museums or art galleries or parks. That didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in the things Will enjoyed about the city. He liked hearing Will enthuse about everything from the gendarmes on rollerblades along the Seine—in light body armor with small machine guns, no less—to watching the old men play
petanque
or the children sail small wooden boats in the fountains at Jardin des Tuileries.

Will was happy in Paris, and that was good. Taylor couldn’t help wishing that Will wasn’t
quite
so happy, but hey…

“By the way, happy birthday.” Will broke off the travelogue for a second.

Taylor’s eyes widened. “Jesus. I totally forgot.”

“I didn’t. I’ve got something special planned for tonight.”

Hopefully not dinner out at some fancy, overpriced restaurant. “Yeah? Does it involve silk sheets and passion oil?”

Will chuckled. “Not sure there will be any passion oil left after this afternoon.”

Taylor laughed. He gazed out the window. “How far is your place from the embassy?”

“Not far. The Métro is about a four-minute walk from the apartment. You know Paris.”

Actually, he didn’t. Japan, Afghanistan, and a very brief stint in Haiti. So far.

Will launched off into tour guide mode again, and Taylor listened dutifully.

Will said suddenly, “This time last year you’d just been cleared for field duty. Remember?”

Like he was ever going to forget getting shot in the chest? “I remember.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Huh?”

“Are you okay? That lung’s not still giving you any trouble, is it?”

“What? Nah.”

“
Nah
.” Will mocked him gently. “That’s right. I was forgetting bullets bounce off you, Superman.”

Taylor nodded. “You have any tall buildings I can leap? Something more challenging than the Eiffel Tower?” He was trying too hard—they both were—and he fought the urge to keep talking. Since when had he and Will needed their silences filled in?

After what was starting to feel like an eternity, they arrived at Will’s apartment, located on rue du Colisée.

Will unlocked the garden gate and led the way to a very pretty and newly renovated single apartment with a private entryway through the garden.

“Nice.” It
was
nice. The living room was painted in soothing earth tones. It had high ceilings and elegant floor-to-ceiling French windows opening onto the garden and shops along the street. Next door to the old apartment building was the café where Will said he had his petit déjeuner of strong coffee and flaky croissants while he watched the world go by.

The furnishings were a mix of antiques and modern pieces: comfortable chairs in a cozy plaid, a pretty dining table, and a long, wide beige couch with fat cushions. On the opposite side of the room was an entertainment cabinet with a television and stereo.

“Three levels,” Will told him. “The entryway and living room are on this floor. Bedroom and full bath on the second floor. The kitchen and half bath downstairs.”

“Nice,” Taylor said again because he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He couldn’t picture Will living in a place like this, but Will not only lived here; he loved it here.

Will switched on the stereo and the familiar, bell-clear tones of Emmy Lou Harris rang out in “Hard Bargain.”

That helped a little, but Taylor still had the uncomfortable feeling he was a visitor here, a stranger. Not a feeling he enjoyed, and he forced it down. “This is
really
nice,” he tried again, peering out the window at the garden. Lots of flowers. A bird was singing cheerfully from a small ornamental tree.

“Wait until you see the bedroom.” Will’s voice was husky. He wrapped his arms around Taylor, pulling him back against his own muscular length. Taylor gave himself up to it, tilting his head back, shivering a little as Will kissed the ticklish underside of his jaw and his throat and the curve of the side of his throat.

Will whispered, “You want to take some of these clothes off?”

“I guess I can spare my socks.”

Will laughed, and Taylor turned in his arms to face him. Will’s hands slipped under Taylor’s blazer, warm through the thin cotton of Taylor’s shirt as he pulled him closer still.

Taylor could feel the hardness of Will’s erection straining against his own. He angled his head in search of a kiss. Oddly, this time when their lips met, it was a little more tentative than it had been in the airport parking lot.

Taylor’s tongue traced the familiar shape of Will’s teeth, and Will smiled, speaking against his open mouth. “Wanna make love?”

So formal? Since when?

Taylor batted his lashes, camping. “Why, I thought you’d never ask.”

“I don’t think I’ve thought of anything else for eleven months.”

“Must make for some interesting paperwork.”

“Especially after some of those phone calls.” Will was giving him an odd look. “Christ. You are…” He shook his head, words seeming to fail him.

Taylor wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. In fact, he could feel his cheeks warming. He’d had to do something to keep Will’s attention across six thousand miles, but Will could be disappointingly conventional sometimes.

No. Not disappointing. More like…disconcerting.

He refused to give in to insecurity and suggested throatily, “Inventive?”

“Worth every penny of my long-distance phone bill, that’s for sure.”

“I hope you didn’t try to expense those calls.”

“Mm.” Will rocked gently, insinuatingly against Taylor’s hardness, and Taylor closed his eyes, savoring the warmth, the strength, the desire there. Will’s mutter gave words to his own thought. “God, you feel good. And you smell good too.”

“Yeah right. I need a shave.” Taylor smiled, opening his eyes again. “And a shower.”

Will’s murmur was protest. “You’d just have to shower again afterward.” He half walked, half danced Taylor toward the sofa.

“True.” Taylor let himself be maneuvered backward, sparing a quick look as they tumbled to the cushions. They narrowly missed knocking over the pretty oval coffee table. Taylor started to laugh, his breath whooshing out as Will landed half on top of him.

“
Ow
. No, it’s okay. I didn’t need that testicle anyway.”

“You’ve got more balls than anyone I ever knew,” Will agreed.

Taylor laughed again, but he quieted at Will’s expression. “What?”

“What do you want?” Will asked softly, intently. His eyes seemed to track every movement of Taylor’s mouth.

Taylor licked his lips. “I want you. I want to fuck you.” In fact, he
needed
to fuck Will. Needed to feel like Will was his, that Will belonged to him, that he could control…something. Even if just for a few minutes.

Will’s grave face creased into his familiar smile. “Okay. Whatever you want. I want it too.”

It hadn’t always been that way, but Taylor wasn’t about to argue.

They shifted around, sofa springs squeaking, and Will nearly knocked the coffee table over again as he shoved it aside to get whatever he needed from upstairs. His footsteps pounded up the little staircase, then receded.

Come to think of it, why weren’t they doing this in the bedroom? Too much performance pressure on both of them? This way they still had the illusion of spontaneity. Whatever. It didn’t matter. They would negotiate the curves.

But they both were trying too hard. Trying too hard to prove eleven months had made no difference at all. That everything was the same as it had always been.

Taylor wriggled out of his clothes in a couple of agile moves and waited patiently, resting on his side, head propped on his hand.

Will’s footsteps pounded back down the stairs. Taylor laughed as Will’s shirt preceded him into the room, floating down to land on the footstool. Will appeared a second later, grinning but seeming self-conscious.

“Take it off, take it ahhhll off,” Taylor ordered in his best German accent.

Will laughed, but that had been the extent of his striptease. He undressed in quick, neat moves beneath Taylor’s smiling gaze.

Will’s body was the epitome of lithe strength and masculine beauty. It was a pleasure just to watch him.

He joined Taylor on the sofa, stretching out beside him.

“Hello, handsome.” Taylor’s cock thrust playfully against Will’s.

Will’s mouth quirked. “Hello.”

“En garde. That’s French for
I want to fuck
.”

“Touché. That’s French for
me too
.” Will’s oil-slick hands found Taylor, and he made a fist, pumping Taylor’s cock with quick strokes.

Taylor caught his breath, closing his eyes. “God, Will.”

“Let me. I like to touch you.”

Like Taylor was going to object to anything Will chose to do to him?

He was almost in pain by the time Will finished with him. With heavy, languid eyes he watched Will twist, sliding slippery fingers into his own ass, preparing himself with the little bottle of lubricant he’d brought down.

Nothing fancy. No passion oil, nothing scented or flavored or exotic. That was Taylor’s thing, not Will’s. Will was all about speed and efficiency and proper safety measures—which sounded dull but somehow wasn’t when that eager care was being exerted on your behalf.

Will turned onto his side, and Taylor settled snugly behind him. The sofa was not nearly as large as it had appeared at first glance, but it really didn’t matter. They had managed this in tighter places, hotter places, wetter places…

Taylor took himself in hand, guiding the head of his cock to the shadowy center of Will’s sleek buttocks. He pushed in, slow, slowly…

“How’s that?” His voice sounded strained to his own ears.

“Beautiful. Come on, sweetheart.”

Slowly, sweetly…oh, that felt good. Like nothing in the world. Always good, but so much better with Will. It never ceased to amaze Taylor that Will let him do this. That Will
wanted
him to do this. But he did. He was making deep, encouraging sounds, pushing back strongly in response to Taylor’s tentative thrusts.

“How do you want it, Will?”

“Whatever you want, Tay. It’s all good.”

That had certainly been true once upon a time. Taylor pushed a little harder, though still careful, still measuring his strokes.

When he’d pictured this, he’d envisioned something frantic and hurried, maybe taking each other in an elevator, a stairwell, pounding each other into the nearest wall, but the reality was he
needed
to be gentle. Will was tight as a virgin. Not for Will the lonely self-pleasuring of dildos and plugs.

But Will was being just as gentle, just as careful in his way, craning his head for the occasional awkward kiss, stroking Taylor where he could reach him, taking time to tell Taylor how good everything he was doing felt.

Not as cautious as they’d be with a new lover, but conscientious with each other in a way they’d never bothered with before.

Will reached behind, clumsily cupped Taylor’s face, giving a shiver as Taylor sucked his fingers.

Taylor stroked Will’s tanned, muscular chest. He tried to time his thrusts, fighting to keep urgent need from spilling over and ending it all too soon. But Jesus, that fierce clench of muscle sliding up his cock…

“More,” Will urged. “More, Tay. Come on.”

Taylor groaned. He couldn’t have resisted that plea even if he’d wanted to. The heat and smell and taste of Will were driving him to overload. He had to let go or implode. He began to thrust quick and hard.

“That’s it. Yeah, that’s the way,” Will’s hoarse voice spurred him on. Will’s sleek body labored beneath him as they raced toward the finish, and now there wasn’t a hope in hell of stopping that train.

From a distance he could hear Will’s moans, feel that moist velvet clutch dragging against his cock. He buried his face on the back of Will’s head, breathing in Will’s scent, soft hair against his face, damp skin against his lips. He was going to leave new bruises, his fingers digging into Will’s muscles like he was hanging on for dear life.

He felt the wildness uncoil inside him, blazing through his nerves and muscles, pressure building, expanding, filling… Yes, there it was…

Taylor cried out, and he was coming, coming hard in hot jets of salty cream. Filling Will, marking Will, making Will his again. He felt that orgasm rolling through Will like a wave.

Distantly he was aware of Will turning his face into the sofa cushions and howling with his release. Taylor held him more tightly, wanting to cushion and reassure, but somehow it was Will cradling him and Taylor clinging as he sank down heavily, exhausted, into the embrace.

Emmy Lou continued to sing over their ragged breaths.

Will drew soothing caresses up and down his spine. The summer breeze through the window tickled their hair, cooled their damp, flushed bodies.