though nothing could touch him.
They were again a hundred yards or so from the transport,
which loosened Jordan's already loose tongue. "If Thomas had
told me what he was doing, I would've tried to stop him. Dad
had so many double agents stumbling around that they
betrayed themselves in an effort to seem most loyal. The
chances of any plot getting beyond late night talk ... it
wouldn't happen. I would've stopped him to protect him. But
the wrong sort of people got their teeth into Thomas and he
thought that he had so much to prove. I did warn him, a
couple minutes before dad's men burst in. It's probably the
only reason he's still alive."
"Did he ever thank you?" Tavish asked.
Jordan looked at him. "Surely you're not implying that I've
had contact with a traitor since his death warrant was
signed?" he asked, but his voice remained flat. "Even then,
Dad almost killed me in his place. I spent most of the summer
locked away. He thought it was only a matter of time before
he found Thomas. All I had to do was apologize."
"And did you?" Tavish asked.
"I'm here, aren't I?" Jordan asked. "I started Dosing
shortly after." The moons were huge behind him, and he
laughed. "But all junkies have their reasons and excuses,
don't they?"
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If the touch wouldn't have been hellish for Jordan, Tavish
would've kissed him. The desire for it left him shaking. Jordan
saw it, too and made a face. He backed up carefully so that
he was on safer ground. Tavish joined him. Jordan pushed
him back and Tavish didn't fight. The heat trapped in the
crumbling rock made him flush. So did Jordan when he
climbed on top of him.
Jordan pulled off his shirt, and Tavish watched as his skin
twitched. Jordan had dozens of scars running over his skin,
the sheer number of scars some linear, others star shaped,
across his chest and sides was shocking. It could have been
from a crash, but Tavish somehow doubted it. There were,
after all, fairly painless procedures that would make even the
most severe scars looked superficial. "What happened?"
Tavish asked.
"An accounting error," Jordan said, grimly.
So, Jordan had kept them on his body. It was a matter of
choice, as a way to tell off his father. Jordan saw what he was
thinking and smiled. But he didn't say anything more.
Instead, he leaned forward and kissed Tavish. Tavish had
been expecting it, but its fierceness still surprised him.
Without breaking contact, Jordan fumbled with Tavish's jeans.
He yanked them down as far as he could without Tavish's
cooperation.
"Jordan," Tavish said. Jordan slid down and straddled
Tavish's bare thighs. Tavish's jeans didn't let Tavish spread
his legs very far at all.
"Does the touching bother you?" Tavish asked.
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"I'll let you know when it does," Jordan said. He stretched
out along Tavish's body, his head in the crook of Tavish's
arm. This close, Tavish felt Jordan's heartbeat. His breath
touched the skin on Tavish's neck. It was good to be so close.
"I like watching your face," Jordan said. "You're not
pretending I'm someone else."
"I'm not," Tavish agreed. He was glad that was all Jordan
read in him. He wasn't a stupid man. What he should have
done was thank Jordan for the hard-on, push him off as
delicately as possible and go wait in the transport until Jordan
came to his senses, as well, but he didn't move.
Jordan's lip twisted and he pulled back a quarter inch. "You
don't have to push me away. You can go, if you want."
"I don't want to," Tavish said.
Jordan's mouth twisted again. "But you should."
"If I knew what was good for me, Jordan, I wouldn't have
come here to begin with," Tavish said. Jordan went to stand
up but Tavish grabbed his wrists. He felt Jordan flinch at the
contact but he didn't let him go. Jordan fought him for
another second, then settled his weight down carefully again.
"But I'm here now."
"How convenient for you," Jordan said, but wasn't looking
at him. Tavish didn't have another hand free to lift his chin so
that he would look at him, so he lifted his hips off the ground.
Jordan rode the wave, fighting the grip Tavish had on his
wrists for another second, and then mulishly looked up.
"You can't say your assistant ever once made you feel like
this right now."
"You can read my mind now?" Tavish asked, quietly.
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"Would you believe me if I said yes?"
"Royal and I weren't..." Tavish ran out of words. "We
weren't like this," he tried again, and that came close. "Does
that satisfy you?"
Jordan looked down to his wrists. "No," he said. "But it's a
start. Kiss me."
Tavish pulled him down. Jordan didn't fight him, even
though the angle couldn't have been very comfortable. Tavish
felt Jordan's stomach muscles clench at the effort of trying to
hold himself still, but when he went to let Jordan go, Jordan
twisted his hands around so that he was the one gripping
Tavish's wrists. "Just like that?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]