One-Two Punch (13 page)

Gritting her teeth against a silent moan, she stripped off her clothes and slid between the sheets, feeling the cool fabric as it teased her erect, aching nipples. She settled in for a frustrating wait but, thanks to the beer, fell asleep almost instantly.

“You’re safe now, she’s gone.” Harry was still smirking, although he was as hard as hell, thanks to that little bump and grind from Beth.

Ky warily lowered himself to his chair. “She’s…affectionate.”

“Definitely that,” Harry agreed. “So tell me about this girl—the one you said you thought would be waiting.”

Silence stretched through the room. Ky finally looked up, meeting Harry’s eyes with a fierce contact. “I didn’t say it was a girl,” he stated, never dropping his gaze.

Harry started. “Oh. A…guy then?” he asked, holding himself still, not allowing the uncomfortable squirm.

Ky smiled but there was no humor in it. “Yeah. A guy.” His smile dropped away. “I told my dad. That’s why he kicked me out.”

“Shit, Ky,” Harry said softly but Ky shook off his sympathy.

“Didn’t expect anything different, really. I mean, Dad’s a cop, a real hard-ass, macho guy. Queers aren’t his favorite group of people.” He leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. “Fuck.”

“You’re his kid though. He’ll get through it.”

“Yeah, right,” Ky agreed, but when he looked at Harry, his eyes were blank, empty of hope.

Harry stood up. “You need to get some sleep. Things’ll look better tomorrow.”

Christ
, he thought,
I sound like fucking Little Orphan Annie
. He held a hand out to Ky, who stared at it for a second before grasping it and pulling himself up. Harry kept pulling, using Ky’s momentum to tug him into a hard hug. After a stiff second, Ky relaxed slightly, allowing his head to fall forward and rest against Harry’s collarbone.

“Shit,” Ky muttered thickly, shoving Harry away abruptly. “How about this for high drama? I think that’s enough emotional crap for one night.”

Harry watched him quietly but Ky avoided his eyes.

“Come on,” Harry said gently, steering the other man with a hand on the back of his neck. Ky braced against the touch, as if he was going to throw Harry’s hand off, but eventually accepted the light pressure.

“I think Beth even changed the guest-bed sheets after her shower,” Harry chatted easily. “One of the pluses of kind of living with a woman.” Ky grunted in response.

Harry flicked the light switch, bathing the guest room in a yellow glow. Both men blinked, accustomed to the dimness of the living room.

“You know where the bathroom is. Otherwise, just let me know if you need anything—I think I could unearth an extra toothbrush or whatever…” Harry’s voice trailed off to silence and his hand fell away from Ky’s shoulder. “Well, good night then.”

“Night,” Ky grunted. Harry turned to leave the room but stopped when Ky grabbed his hand in an awkward grip. “Thanks,” Ky muttered and dropped the contact, turning away in embarrassment.

“Anytime. Stay as long as you’d like.” Harry slipped into the hallway, pulling the door almost closed behind him. His forehead was worried as he headed for his own room and the drowsy, warm woman who waited for him.

The shouts jerked Beth awake and she was halfway out of bed before she even realized what woke her. Harry pressed her gently back down into the covers.

“Shhh, go back to sleep,” he whispered, pulling the sheet over her. Beth looked at him standing by the bed, her mind still foggy with sleep.

“What’s going on?” she asked, whispering as well, just because he had.

Harry pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms as he answered. “It’s Ky—sounds like a nightmare. I had some hellish dreams for months after I was discharged. I’ll be right back.”

His gentle tap on the guest-room door elicited no response, so Harry turned the knob and pushed the door open. The bed was rumpled and empty. Ky stood at the window, silhouetted by the nocturnal lights of the city.

“Hey, can I come in?” Harry asked quietly and saw the dark form shrug. Padding up behind Ky, Harry looked over the other man’s bare shoulder out into the artificially lit night.

“Nightmares?” he asked.

Ky didn’t turn around. “You didn’t have to come running in here. I’m not a five-year-old with a monster in his closet.”

His surly tone almost made Harry want to smile. “After I got back,” he said quietly,

“I think I stayed awake for two weeks. Couldn’t sleep—not without anyone to watch my back. Couldn’t even pace with my blown-out knee. All I could do was sit on the couch in my shitty apartment. Watched more of the shopping channel than I care to remember. Almost bought The Sandwichator too.”

That brought a snort from Ky. “What the hell is The Sandwichator?”

Harry grinned in the dim light. “You haven’t heard of The Sandwichator? You put your bread on it, and cheese or meat or whatever, and it seals it into a handy little grilled snack.”

“That sounds pretty nasty,” Ky scoffed but Harry could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Yeah, probably,” he agreed, his eyes wandering out the window again. “It’s funny what you’ll do at three in the morning just to hear another person’s voice.”

Ky was silent for a few moments. “Now I’m hungry,” he finally announced, startling a laugh out of Harry.

“Come on then. I don’t have The Sandwichator but I do have that amazing cooking invention called a ‘pan’—and I make a pretty kick-ass grilled cheese,” he offered, hooking an elbow around Ky’s neck as if to drag him to the kitchen. Instead of tossing off the playful arm, Ky leaned into Harry, bare back against bare chest, turning his cheek against Harry’s shoulder.

Arousal hit Harry like a sandbag to the stomach, unexpected and hard. He couldn’t prevent his arm from pulling the other man closer, his breath coming fast and heavy.

Harry had thought he was over this, that his dreams of Ky had just been a symptom of too few women and combat stress, but here he was, erect and wanting, Ky glued against his chest—and Beth just a thin wall away.

It was one of the hardest things he had ever done, to force his arm down and to step back, away from the only man he had ever wanted. He did it though, thoughts of Beth helping him to release Ky, although he couldn’t stop himself from first lowering his head and pressing the briefest of kisses against the other man’s temple.

“Come on,” Harry said again when he was standing clear, several feet from temptation. His voice, rough and unsteady, didn’t even sound like him. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I promised you a sandwich.”

For endless moments, Ky kept his back to Harry. His dark figure, so solitary and still, cracked Harry’s heart.

“It gets better, you know,” he started but Ky turned to face him, shaking his head.

“Never mind,” Ky told him, his voice drained of emotion. “Let’s eat.”

For once at a loss for words, Harry silently led the way to the kitchen.

By the time Harry slipped back into bed, Beth was dozing. She was awakened by the gentle bump of his body against hers as Harry curled around her.

“Mmmm…” she murmured, tucking her bottom more firmly into his groin. Her body was malleable from sleepiness but Harry’s body was hard-wired, muscles tight, his cock fully erect, searing the skin of her backside. His arousal stirred her own desire and a melting glow began to build in her belly. Beth wiggled against him again, nestling his erection between the cheeks of her ass, enjoying the feel of his silky heat against her bottom.

Groaning softly, Harry’s hips jerked involuntarily, smearing the wet tip of his cock against her tailbone and trailing back into the dark crevice. Pleasure spread from Beth’s stomach, reaching lazy tentacles of warmth throughout her body.
This is nice
, she mused, the sleepy, meandering arousal slowly heating her from the inside out.

Just as she let the thought slip away, Harry’s patience snapped and Beth found herself flipped onto her belly, his cock buried deep in her pussy. She was startled, although not uncomfortable—she had been soaking wet and he had slid right in. She almost expected to hear a click, they fit together so perfectly.

Tugging her hips off the mattress so that they were tilted up toward him, Harry pulled out until only the head was lodged inside her and then slammed home, filling her up so completely that Beth gasped. Thrusting faster, Harry covered her back with his hair-roughened chest and just the prickling softness against her skin, together with the sensation of being surrounded, enveloped in his masculine body, sent Beth spiraling higher. As her inner muscles tightened around his driving cock, he plunged faster, harder, until he exploded deep inside her, catching her shoulder with his teeth at the same moment and biting down, just hard enough to send her over the edge with him.

They fell asleep seconds later, with Harry still inside her.

Beth stumbled into the kitchen, barely having had the presence of mind to pull a pair of pajama pants and a camisole top on before leaving the bedroom. She bounced off the doorframe and fumbled for a chair, lowering herself on it with infinite care.

“Coffee,” she croaked, squinting at the two grinning men—okay, one grinning and one smirking.

“You had what? Two whole beers last night?” Ky asked, not moving toward the coffee pot at
all
, the bastard. Beth scowled. Luckily, a way-too-happy-looking Harry was headed in that direction.
Harry is wonderful!
her coffee-craving brain declared.

“Three,” she corrected defensively. “And I’m not hung-over—I’m
sleepy
.”

“Uh-huh.” Ky sounded skeptical and Harry gave her a commiserating smile as he handed her a blessedly steaming mug of coffee.

“I am. Someone kept waking me up last night.” She took a sip and closed her eyes with pleasure. There was nothing like coffee after four hours of broken sleep. Opening her eyes, she caught Ky’s tight-faced expression.

“Oh not
you
,” she clarified, gesturing to Harry with her coffee mug and almost slopping the hot liquid all over. “Him.” Then she blushed, realizing what she was admitting.

Laughing, Harry bent to give her a kiss. “
He
very much appreciated those sleep interruptions,” he told her, his voice low. He wickedly nipped her lower lip as he drew away. Beth’s face flushed brighter and her lower belly warmed. She shook her head, amazed that, even hung-over and sleep deprived, she could get aroused in an instant by Harry’s touch.

Red-faced, she turned away from the Harry-shaped temptation and concentrated on Ky, catching a glimpse of such a lost, heartbroken expression that Beth’s stomach twisted in pity. Ky’s face blanked so quickly she had to wonder if she had imagined it.

“So what do you guys want to do tonight?” She forced a cheery tone. “Do we want to go out?”

“Can’t,” Harry said in a glum tone. “Charlie asked for tonight off—I have to work until closing, so I’m stuck downstairs until after eleven.” Beth knew that whenever Harry worked late, all he wanted to do was crash—well, have wild sex and crash.

“I could pick up some DVDs after work,” Beth suggested, the caffeine kicking in and making her feel halfway human.

“Where?” Harry’s eyes narrowed and his voice was stern.

Knowing what was coming, Beth rolled her eyes. “The rental place a few itty-bitty, short, little blocks from here.”

Harry was shaking his head before she even finished. “No. It’s getting dark early now and I don’t want you wandering the streets alone.”

“It’s not like I’ll be wandering aimlessly. How am I going to try out my boxing skills if I can never leave the gym alone?” she asked plaintively, although she didn’t mind his protectiveness.
Don’t mind it at all
, she thought, squirming a little against the hard seat of the kitchen chair. His narrow-eyed glare and dictatorial tone had made her soaking wet, actually.

“You can try out your boxing skills when I’m dead. On second thought, no, you can’t.” Harry looked perturbed at the thought. “If I die, you just can’t ever leave the house.”

“Yeah, that’ll work.” Ky was smirking again.

“Why are we making post-death plans? Weren’t we talking about movies?” Beth asked, trying not to laugh. “How about this—why don’t I stop back at the apartment, pick up Ky and a-renting we will go? That way, if necessary, I can use my self-defense skills over
Ky’s
dead body?”

“Sounds good,” Harry agreed over Ky’s indignant, “Hey!”

“In fact,” Harry added, looking at Ky, “why don’t you meet Beth at the bus stop and you guys can go from there.”

With a deep sigh, Beth gave Ky a long-suffering look. “He won’t even let me walk home from the bus stop. It’s the one right outside. About a half-block away. That third-graders walk home from. That perfectly safe, well-lit bus stop.”

A corner of Ky’s mouth turned up as he responded to Harry’s suggestion with an affirmative shrug.

“Since I am obviously not needed here,” Beth announced, pushing herself to her feet, “I’m going to get ready for work.” She frowned at Harry. “Speaking of work, who opened the gym this morning?”

“Charlie switched with me so he could have tonight off,” he explained as he stretched and yawned. Beth promptly forgot what she had asked at the sight of his naked chest muscles pulling tight under his hair-dusted skin, his drawstring pajama pants barely clinging to his hipbones. She noticed that Ky was watching too, his narrow eyes hot and intent.

Feeling a mix of possessiveness and empathy, Beth gave Harry a pat on his hard stomach and a quick kiss on the chin in passing. She wanted to climb that ripped body and really kiss him but it seemed cruel to be overly demonstrative in front of Ky, taunting him with what he couldn’t have, like eating cookies in front of a starving person. The memory of Ky’s lost expression filled her mind and Beth couldn’t help sneaking in a quick pat on the arm and kiss on the cheek before Ky could duck away, scowling.

She knew that she should be offended by Ky’s reaction to her affectionate gestures but it was actually kind of fun to try to slip in under his guard with a kiss or hug or even just a pat. Despite his cranky personality, she couldn’t help but like Ky, to feel a camaraderie with him—maybe because they were both in crazy, wild love with Harry.