Private Dicks (7 page)

“Not sure how I feel about another round, buddy.” There was
enough tension under the breathlessness in Wash’s voice to make Rhodes pull his
head back. “I mean, since we work together and everything, it might not be such
a good idea to keep…you know.”

“Fine,” Rhodes grunted, masking the flash of hurt that ran
through him. There it was—the brush-off. It’d been a one-time deal and now
Rhodes was back to being his “buddy”. At least he had the memories of last
night. Rhodes rolled his eyes at the clichéd thought. Besides, he didn’t want
memories—he wanted Wash. Over and over.

Rhodes set his mouth. Just because Wash said it was a
one-night deal didn’t mean he couldn’t try to change his mind. With that
thought, he flipped Wash over onto his back. His partner’s wide eyes stared up
at him, startled.

“Fine,” Rhodes told him. “No more sex. Can I have one thing
though?”

“What?” Wash’s question was wary.

He almost chickened out. It was easier to be brave when he
wasn’t staring Wash in the face. “Could I kiss you?”

Wash bit the corner of his bottom lip and Rhodes felt his
erection surge at the sight of those white teeth nibbling at the lush fullness
of his mouth. “Never mind,” Rhodes muttered.

“No.” Wash caught him before he could roll off. “Go ahead.”

“Yeah?” Rhodes’ heart was about to explode from his chest,
it was beating so hard and fast. It was crazy to be so excited about a kiss,
but it was somehow more intimate than fucking. Plus it was step one in keeping
Wash in his bed.

“Sure.” Wash’s eyes dipped away shyly but a shadow of his
usual grin touched his mouth. “What’s one more kiss after last night?”

Rhodes dove in before Wash had time to change his mind. When
their lips touched, Rhodes couldn’t hold back a moan. Wash tasted so fucking
good.

Wash
felt
amazing too. Rhodes wanted to keep the kiss
light, to savor each second, each sensation, but when Wash’s hand found the
back of his shorn skull, pulling him closer, Rhodes lost it.

Nipping at Wash’s full lips, he demanded entrance. The kiss
became less of an exploration and more of a ravaging. Rhodes worked his tongue
between his partner’s lips and teeth, taking Wash’s mouth as if he owned it. At
Wash’s groan, Rhodes hesitated, not sure if it was a sound of pleasure or
rejection, but the hand on his head tightened, increasing the pressure.

The kiss was so good that Rhodes’ brain almost exploded.
Without releasing Wash’s mouth, he dropped his hips, pressing his groin against
the other man’s, sucking in a hard breath when he felt Wash’s cock rub along
his own.

Wash was hard.

The realization almost made Rhodes whimper. Instead, he tore
his mouth from Wash’s, tucking his forehead against the bed next to the other
man’s head, breathing in sucked-in gasps.

“You’re stopping?” Wash asked, breathless. Disappointment
rang in his voice.

Rhodes could only groan against Wash’s neck, incapable of
forming actual words. His half-assed plan to seduce Wash had ricocheted,
hitting Rhodes square in the groin. He just wasn’t meant to be a tease.

Sliding off Wash, he propped himself up on his side. Wash
followed suit so they were facing each other.

“Thought you were sore.” He was happy he got some words out,
although they were embarrassingly husky.

“I was.” Wash flushed. “I am. It just didn’t seem
as…important.” He frowned, twisting his shoulders in an awkward shrug.
“Probably better not to anyway.”

“Yeah.” Rhodes turned onto his back and frowned at the
ceiling. “Kinda got that impression.”

“What impression?”

“That you were done. With me.” Rhodes sighed, rubbing the
crease between his eyebrows, and wondered why they were talking when they could
be screwing each other’s brains out right now. What was his fucked-up plan
again?

“Course not, Rhodie,” Wash protested. “You know we’re
partners.”

Rhodes turned his head and looked at him evenly.

Dropping his eyes, Wash admitted, “Okay, so maybe I panicked
a little. I mean, what were we thinking? We have to work together and the last
thing I want is to jeopardize that. What kind of big ol’ can of gay worms did
we open up anyway?”

Staring at him, Rhodes just repeated, “Gay worms?”

Wash laughed. “Quite a visual, isn’t it?” His smile fell
away. “You know what I mean though, Rhodie, don’t you? I’m just not sure if
this is the smartest thing we’ve ever done.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rhodes told him, swallowing back the
pleading words he wanted to say. He’d lived without Wash in his bed before. He
could do it again. “Whatever I get is…”
Amazing. Wonderful. More than I ever
expected.
“Nice.”

“Nice?” Wash repeated, glaring at Rhodes. “
Nice
? That’s
all the praise I get?”

Rhodes held back a grin. “You were okay, I guess.”

Turning onto his side again, Wash poked Rhodes in the chest.
Hard. “You seemed to be enjoying it at the time,” he accused. His eyes flashed
to Rhodes’ laughing mouth and Wash tipped his shoulder down, as if he was
thinking of rolling on top of him for another kiss.

Rhodes sobered in a hurry. “You kiss me again,” he warned,
“and I can’t promise that I’ll stop.”

With a slow nod, Wash pushed himself up to sit cross-legged
on the bed. Rhodes carefully kept his eyes on Wash’s face, even though his
partner’s erection was now in his direct line of sight, just a few tempting
feet away.

“So what is this?” Rhodes asked. He couldn’t keep his eyes
away from Wash’s cock, so he sat up as well, leaning against the headboard.
“Did I just end your experimentation phase and drive you back to women?”

“Fuck off,” Wash told him, although his tone was free of
venom. “Shit, I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking a lot since you, you know,
came out to me.”

“Thinking about how hot I am?”

Wash laughed, then blushed and looked away. “Whatever. Hey,
you remember that girl, Amy, I dated a few months ago?”

Rhodes gave his partner a blank stare.

“Squeaky laugh and surprised eyebrows?”

“Right.” Rhodes winced. “That laugh hurt my ears.”

“That’s the one. I was supposed to go out with her one night
but you called at the last minute about that Billings guy coming back into
town, so I had to cancel.” Wash looked at him questioningly and Rhodes nodded.

“Sure, I remember. Billings was that dumbass who broke into
Smelly Eddie’s and took his TV.”

Grinning, Wash confirmed, “Yep. What an idiot. Anyway, Amy
was
pissed
when I cancelled, broke up with me and everything. Said that
the only person I cared about was my ‘stupid partner’—that’s a direct quote, by
the way, so don’t hit me—and that I should just date you. You know what I told
her?”

“What?”

Wash became very interested in the sheet again, pressing out
a wrinkle with his fingers. “That I wished I could.”

Rhodes’ breath caught.

Glancing up at the other man’s silence, Wash gave a
halfhearted grin. “It’s just so
easy
with you. I can sit in the same car
with you for eight, ten hours on a stakeout, sometimes talking, sometimes just
sitting. I’d sit with Amy for ten
minutes
and I’d want to blow my brains
out just so I didn’t have to listen to her anymore. Man, that laugh…”

Wincing in sympathy, Rhodes finally recovered his voice.
“That just means we’re friends, Wash.”

“No,” Wash said, his face completely serious. “You’re more
than my friend. When I think about how I did this gig for six years before you
became my partner, I don’t know how I stood it. It scares me sometimes, like
when Melie talks about getting you back on the force. I couldn’t take it if you
left me. And you know what sex does—it fucks everything up. What did we just
do?”

“Hey,” Rhodes growled softly. He couldn’t stand looking at
Wash’s face, so open and vulnerable, wiped clear of any trace of laughter. He
pulled the other man toward him, surprised when Wash came willingly. Rhodes
tucked his partner against his chest, wrapping his arms around the man’s naked
back. “I’ll never leave you—are you kidding? This job has all the excitement of
being a cop with none of the paperwork. Plus I’m free to kick in a few heads—I
could never do that on the force.”

Wash nodded silently, the top of his head bumping Rhodes’
chin, Wash’s silky hair tickling his jaw.

Smoothing a hand down the sleek, muscled back, Rhodes asked,
“You know you don’t have to put out to get me to stay, right?”

Wash jerked back. “Are you calling me a man-ho?”

Rhodes grinned, happy to see the humor back in Wash’s eyes.
“If the leather G-string fits…”

“Ass,” Wash grumbled, smacking Rhodes on the arm as he
rolled out of bed. “I know I don’t
have
to have sex with you.”

“Good,” Rhodes said.

“The question is whether we
should
. And when I look
at you, I just want to say ‘fuck it’ and…well, fuck
you
.”

Wash turned and headed for the bathroom, leaving Rhodes
alone in bed, his cock harder than ever.

After he showered, Rhodes walked into the kitchen to find
Wash mostly dressed and cooking breakfast.

“How domestic,” Rhodes teased, giving Wash a slap on one of
his tight ass cheeks as he passed.

“Watch it!” Wash threatened him with a spatula. “Abuse the
cook and there’s no food for you.”

Rhodes couldn’t resist sliding in behind Wash and running
his hand over the cheek he’d just smacked. “Something tells me,” he murmured in
Wash’s ear, “that this ass could take a lot more…abuse.”

He felt Wash shiver before elbowing Rhodes in the stomach.
Dodging the blow, Rhodes laughed and sat at the table, stretching his legs out
in front of him. He liked having Wash in his apartment, teasing and cooking. In
fact, he liked it a little too much.

“I’ve been thinking…” Rhodes trailed off as Wash thumped a
full plate of eggs, toast, bacon and even some sliced fruit in front of him.

Wash smirked. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

Ignoring that, Rhodes stared at his food. “Where’d you get
the bacon?”

“The bacon fairy.” When Rhodes didn’t laugh but just picked
up a piece, examining it curiously, Wash continued, “Your freezer. Where’d you
think it came from, brain trust?”

“I had bacon in my freezer?” Rhodes took a bite, shrugged
and shoved the rest of the piece in his mouth. “Wonder how many years that’s
been in there?”

Now it was Wash’s turn to examine the meat on his plate. “As
long as you freeze it, I think it lasts forever. Didn’t they bring that caveman
back to life after thousands of years? His meat must have still been good.”

“That was a movie, Wash.”

He just grinned. “Wasn’t it based on a true story?”

Pretty sure his partner was kidding, Rhodes reached over and
lightly whacked the side of Wash’s head. “Dumbass.”

“Probably. So you think if we call Gomez, she’ll get us that
stuff on Ness today even though it’s Sunday?” Wash asked around a bite of eggs.

Rhodes shook his head. “Normally I’d say yeah, but her
sister’s wedding is today.”

Wash stopped chewing and blinked at him. “How’d you know
that? You keeping up with Gomez’s family events now?”

“Nah.” Taking another bite, Rhodes tried not to grin.
“Already called her this morning.”

Wash threw a blueberry at his head. Rhodes caught it and
popped it into his mouth. “Think Ness’ll meet with me today or is it too
early?” Rhodes wondered.

“You kidding? That guy’s a hard-core partier. Probably just
went to bed a couple hours ago,” Wash scoffed. “I’ll call him tonight, see when
he’s free.”

Rhodes grunted. “Who can we harass now?”

“Quit whining. The Raiders-Broncos game will be on. Let’s
watch while we look at the files again.”

“Fine,” Rhodes grumbled. His phone rang, vibrating against
his leg, making him jump. Digging it out of his pocket, he pushed the talk
button. “Rhodes,” he barked.

There was a pause before a deep, tentative voice answered,
“Um, hello. Isaac?”

No one called him Isaac. His eyebrows pulled together.
“Yeah. Who’s this?”

“It’s, ah, Trevor? From last night?”

“Trevor, sure. The blue-eyed bouncer.”

Wash stood up abruptly, snatching Rhodes’ plate away and
dropping it into the sink with an angry clatter.

Rhodes grinned, his eyes on Wash’s stiff back. “The
hot
,
blue-eyed bouncer,” he elaborated, almost laughing out loud when Wash spun
around to glare at him.

“Yeah,” Trevor said. “I…I mean, I’m not saying I’m hot or anything.”

Rhodes did laugh at that.

“Is it, um, too early to call?”

“No,” Rhodes assured him, glancing at his watch. “It’s
almost eleven. We’ve been up for a while.”

There was a pause. When Trevor spoke again, his tone was
curt. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

He had jealous guys on both sides. Rhodes rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t. We just finished breakfast and were about to watch the game. You
like football?”

“Um…sure.”

“Want to come watch the game with us?” Rhodes asked,
glancing up at Wash. His partner looked like he wanted to kill him.

There was another pause on Trevor’s end, longer this time.
“Okay,” he finally said, sounding anything but sure.

Rhodes rattled off the directions and ended the call.

“What the fuck?” Wash demanded.

“What?” Rhodes asked, spreading his hands innocently. “He
knows Ness. We can drill him.”

“Uh-huh.” Wash crossed his arms over his chest. “Figured you
wanted to ‘drill’ him.”

He was standing close enough for Rhodes to reach out and
grab him, pulling a startled Wash toward him. Losing his balance, Wash ended up
straddling Rhodes’ lap.

“Don’t be jealous,” Rhodes soothed, wrapping an arm around
Wash’s narrow hips and tugging him closer until their bodies were flush, Wash’s
groin to Rhodes’ hard belly. “You know I love you best.”