Jumping at Shadows (6 page)

“And meanwhile, the captain continues with the OAH,” Belinda put in approvingly. “Go at this from both directions—”

“And see who finishes first.” Eric looked at them each again and felt the beginnings of his own satisfied smile when he saw opinion beginning to swing in his favor. He had nearly won them over. The glances that passed between them asked silent questions and were answered with barely perceptible nods. A sigh of relief almost escaped him. Even if they didn’t yet fully trust his decisions, they were willing to stay to see what happened. And when dealing as far out of his league as this, Eric considered that in itself a success.

Now the ball was in their court.

“I
NEVER
had you pegged for a cheerleader,” T.J. teased, nipping his ear and then kissing it lightly as they sprawled on the couch, their bare feet on the coffee table next to the plates that held the crumbly remains of what had once been slices of warm caramel apple pie. It was a bakery special from Sweet Molasses, the recently opened bakeshop that Eric had discovered between the precinct and home earlier in the summer. It had taken less than a week for the window display to draw him in, and the sweet caramel apple pie alone kept him coming back. Neither he nor T.J. were showing the pounds yet, but if their activity ever decreased, it wouldn’t take long with desserts like this. But extra pounds or not, Eric’s mood as he left the precinct that evening had warranted the delicious treat, and now barely a trace of the rich, gooey caramel sauce remained on the plates. A just reward after the stress of the last few days.

T.J. had spent the weekend doing his best to keep him too distracted to dwell on the verdict and too occupied to worry over the meeting the captain had arranged. Their Saturday routine of laundry and shopping was carried out as normal, and a thorough cleaning of the couch had made it acceptable for sitting on again. A night out at Main Street while the weather held had allowed him to dance and laugh and had kept his mind off the visitors arriving on Monday. Eric had even let Jace dance with T.J., with only a mild warning to them both. It was unnecessary, of course, as T.J. had always been very good at keeping his dances with other men short, and he never ended them with a kiss and a grope the way he did with Eric. Eric’s own dances with the green-eyed Brian had ended just as platonically.

Cold and dreary weather had kept them in on Sunday, with old movies for company and a home-cooked meal of chicken and rice ending the weekend. That and the mind-blowing blowjob that T.J. had delivered in spades.

With T.J. on his back and Eric on his knees, Eric had spread his thighs around T.J.’s head, and his hands had alternately clenched the bars of the headboard and grabbed his lover’s dark hair as T.J. swallowed his cock, over and over. The hum around his cock while he was buried in T.J.’s throat had nearly driven him insane, and Eric had as much fucked his mouth as let T.J. suck him. Though his ass had been safe, the bed had still creaked and the bars of the headboard had still rattled against the wall. Not a drop of cum was lost when he came, though, as T.J. swallowed every pulsing shot as he greedily sucked him dry. The only cum that had been spilled was T.J.’s own as it splattered across Eric’s back.

Still, Monday morning had come all too quickly, and T.J. had laughingly accused Eric of getting cold feet before thoroughly jacking him off in the shower. But later, with the meeting over and a veritable success, cold feet had turned into the ecstasy of victory, and he had barely said “hello” as he walked through their door before he had dropped the pie and wrestled T.J. to the bed.

Now, with the stress of the initial meeting over, a good fuck stinging his ass, and a dinner of leftover chicken and caramel apple pie filling his stomach, Eric finally felt the adrenaline easing. He let out a contented sigh as the fingers of the hand draping his shoulder began a gentle caress of his nipple, and he closed his eyes as the tongue in his ear continued to work.

They had both put on sweats but had forgone sweatshirts—or even T-shirts—given the warmth inside their house. The TV was turned on to a cop drama, but the volume remained low, allowing for Eric’s recounting of the meeting with his group. With that now behind them, the fingers and tongue grew bolder, and Eric let his own hand begin to burrow between T.J.’s fleece-covered thighs. He inched it a little higher when those thighs opened just a bit.

The hardest part was over, he reminded himself as he leaned into his lover’s warmth. He had presented his plan, and his team—as he had already begun to think of them—was considering it. At least they hadn’t rejected it out of hand. They still could, he knew, but they hadn’t yet, he was sure, or the captain would have called him by now. They were still on board, and the relief Eric felt was very real—he needed them, badly. He didn’t have the skills for Internet stalking, and if he tried it, it was likely that one of that very group would be providing evidence against him during his own trial. If any of the three balked….

He yelped when a fingernail flicked his nipple and felt a sheepish smile form when the tongue immediately returned to its task at his ear, with a little nip added in for emphasis.

“You’ve put the wheels in motion, and worrying about what might happen isn’t going to keep it from happening, good or bad,” T.J. told him with quiet firmness, following the words with another gentle nip.

Eric let out his breath as he opened his hand to cover the fingers still teasing his nipple, though he was careful to encourage their motion rather than stop it. “I know,” he conceded, dragging his other hand a little higher up T.J.’s leg, “and you don’t have to tell me I’m counting on their help a lot more than I should. But they are all I have right now, and I need them.”

Another slightly stinging flick accompanied the gentle bite on his neck, and Eric squeezed just below T.J.’s balls in response. “And,” he added, tilting his neck to give T.J. better access, “I think this is the one time that Victor may actually help me. He’s got his fingers in so many pots that the threats he poses are pretty widespread. Bribing a judge just shows how close those threats are getting to us personally.”

A sharper bite, then the nibbling turned to nuzzling, and T.J. let his free hand slide over the dusting of hair on Eric’s stomach. “It always seems to have to hit close to home to get people to consider a threat credible,” he murmured against Eric’s skin. “As long as it’s happening to someone else, it’s never quite as threatening.” He bit gently at the pulse his lips found, then licked the spot to soothe it. “The same way it took Victor Kroger’s trashing the work you spent the last year doing and then walking away untouched to make you decide to really go after him.”

Eric blinked.
What had T.J. just said?
His hand froze between T.J.’s thighs as the words drifted over him and slowly sank in. Victor Kroger was the worst kind of scum, destroying others willingly and without remorse, both directly and indirectly, never giving his deeds a second thought, let alone an ounce of regret. And Eric
had
gone after him….

Pulling away from the mouth on his neck, he turned to find T.J. already watching him, and the arousal they had been courting stalled out when he saw the tranquility in T.J.’s expression, a tranquility that said he knew exactly what words he had used. Eric felt his nerves prickling, getting ready to jump.

“That’s not fair,” he whispered harshly, the sound rough with the mixture of rising anger and aborted lust. “And this isn’t about Victor ‘trashing’ my work. It’s about putting Victor away before he can hurt anybody else. That’s the only thing this
has
been about, then and now.” His voice had gotten louder as he spoke, and he ignored the wariness that crept into T.J.’s expression. He was a
fucking detective
in Breten City’s
fucking law enforcement sector
, and whether he was personally involved or not, it was his
fucking job
to put people like Victor behind bars. To imply that he hadn’t gone after Victor seriously because it hadn’t been personal…. The hand brushed lightly against his stomach.

“Shh, baby, that wasn’t what I meant—”

“Then what did you mean?” Eric demanded sharply, jerking back enough to break contact completely. He saw the surprise that flickered in T.J.’s eyes, then watched the serenity return as T.J. leaned into the cushions behind him. A deep sigh preceded his lover’s words.

“You could have argued that you didn’t think any of this would be necessary until now,” T.J. said quietly, and very calmly, resting his elbow on the back of the couch, his hand raised to lean his knuckles against his temple. “You could have said you thought you had him, and so additional risks weren’t necessary. Or argued that this is the next logical step after a worst-case scenario. But you didn’t.” He looked steadily into Eric’s eyes. “All I meant to say was, be careful.”

Eric’s brow creased as he opened his mouth to answer, but his words were stopped when T.J. leaned over suddenly to kiss him. The unexpectedness of it caught him off guard, and Eric found himself responding automatically, simply reacting to those warm lips covering his. Even so, he was reluctant to let them go when T.J. pulled back. T.J.’s expression had grown both gentle and serious.

“I’m not judging,” T.J. told him quietly, “and the last thing I want to do is make you feel bad about yourself for being human. But Victor walking out of that trial a free man
was
personal, and wanting to pull out the stops to get your revenge is a natural reaction. I just want you to be careful and not let yourself get so angry that you start taking chances you don’t need to.” He had already found Eric’s hand with his own, and he brought it to his lips to lightly kiss the fingers. “I love you, baby, and I want more than these last few years with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want you to spend the rest of your life with me. No amount of revenge is worth risking this.”

The words ended with another kiss, a sensual capturing of his lips so tender and so full of the love they shared that Eric couldn’t hold on to his anger, but felt it flutter away to nothing as T.J. reminded him of the one thing that was truly important to them. The kiss Eric returned this time was every bit intentional, and when the weight of T.J.’s body pressed close, Eric shifted slowly to lie back, pulling T.J. to settle over him, their lips never losing contact.

“I thought you were an engineer, not a psychologist,” he said softly through the kiss, spreading his legs so T.J. could settle deeper between them. Two half-hard cocks slid against each other through layers of gray fleece.

“That’s my job,” T.J. told him succinctly, moving to trail his mouth lazily along Eric’s jaw. “You’re my life.”

The kisses stopped as Eric put one hand under T.J.’s chin and raised his head up to where he could see him. Eric saw the openness in the dark eyes that met his, and he hoped his own showed the depth of emotion he felt.

“I love you, too,” he whispered softly, “and I don’t want to spend my life with anyone but you. I promise I’ll be careful. I’m not going to risk us by doing something stupid.” He smiled gently as his thumb scraped over the dark stubble. “I’m still going to be loving you when we’re both old and gray. I don’t intend to be anywhere else.”

It was the words they had needed to say and the ones they had needed to hear, and the only ones that had needed to be said out loud. The rest of their conversation continued with their bodies, from the kiss that resumed to the hands that soothed and explored the contours of the other. Slow and gentle at first, and for a long time after, but at last T.J.’s hips began to slowly hump him through the fleece, and Eric raised his knees as he stretched his own hands to slide over T.J.’s ass. When T.J.’s kisses became biting, his own lips meeting Eric’s teeth more than once as their cocks ground together, Eric found the bare ass under the fleece and used the leverage to pull T.J. harder against him.

They could have finished like that, but the language of their bodies said they both wanted more, and the few clothes they wore were shed by mutual consent. When T.J. finally entered him, the penetration was so welcome that Eric arched from the couch to take him in one demanding move, crying out sharply at the burn of both pain and pleasure. There was no time given for build up, and Eric’s thoughts fled as he clung to the powerful body that began moving on top of him, his awareness narrowing as the force of their motion dragged them across the fabric of the seat cushions. He felt the sweat trailing down his neck as teeth bit into the sensitive flesh, and felt hands digging into his hips as the strength of the thrusts increased. He heard the smack of flesh against flesh, and the gasping of his own lungs that mixed with the curses T.J. breathed out. He could smell the sweat, and the sex, and the tingling bite of aftershave as the curses became growls, and his own gasps became almost sobs as they edged closer and closer to the shattering peak they so wanted.

What he wasn’t aware of were the footsteps that sounded lightly on their porch, or the eyes that tried to pry a line of sight through the curtains covering the windows on either side of their door. He didn’t see the malicious baring of teeth brought about when the sounds from inside told well enough what was happening on the other side of the glass. Eric may have heard the “
T.J.…! Fuck!
” from his own lips and the “
God, baby…!
” from T.J.’s, but he didn’t hear the fall of the weighted envelope that landed outside their door, or the stealthy footsteps that retreated into the dark.

Chapter Four