Teasing Jonathan (11 page)

Kai’s quiet, calm manner surprised Jonathan. This was probably how he ran board meetings and got stubborn people to do what he wanted. Jonathan hoped he never had to face Kai in business-mode. He was fucking scary.

The suspect shrugged. “I made the connection online. Some chick wanted her brother killed. She’d give me ten thousand dollars if I whacked him.”

Jonathan frowned. The guy’s words sounded rehearsed, as though someone told him to say that exact phrasing. “Did you get a name?”

“No. No names.”

Jonathan wrapped a hand around the guy’s throat. Leaning down, he whispered in his ear. “If you try to hurt him again, I will hunt you down and put a bullet through your head. There is nowhere you can hide from me. Do we understand each other? We found the rifle in your trunk and we’re keeping it. If I find out you shot at Kai again, I’ll return your bullets the hard way. Understand?”

The man’s throat moved convulsively beneath Jonathan’s hand. He nodded as quickly as Jonathan’s tight hold allowed.

“Good. Now I’m going to go talk to my bosses. I’ll be right back.” Jonathan nodded for Kai to follow him. He was more than a little surprised when he did.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Kai started with the questions.

“What do we do now?”

Jonathan didn’t answer until he had led Kai back to Sin and Patrick. “Let him go?”

Sin nodded. “I’ll have Gary follow him.”

“Do you think he’s experienced enough?” Gary had only worked there a few weeks and Jonathan didn’t know him all that well.

“He’ll be fine,” Patrick interjected. “He used to work as a detective for the San Diego police department. I’m pretty sure he can follow one guy who’s not that professional.”

“Okay.” Something niggled at the back of Jonathan’s mind. “I just keep thinking this guy is the bait and we just took it.”

“I agree,” Sin said. “This entire thing is strange. I mean, if we were taking everything at face value we’d be hunting down Jeni, but it’s all almost too perfect.”

“Set-up,” Jonathan snapped. “That’s what’s wrong. It smacks of a set-up.”

Sin and Patrick nodded. No surprise showed on their faces, as if they’d reached the same conclusion a while ago and were waiting for the slow guy to catch up. Which was probably why they owned the company and Jonathan was just now figuring things out.

“Who would do that?” Kai asked.

“That we don’t know,” Patrick confessed. “Someone close to you who knows how to drive a wedge between the two of you. Anyone who holds a grudge who might want to get back at you and your sister?”

Kai thought for a moment. “I don’t know.”

“Any other relatives or people who want to hurt you?” Jonathan asked. “This feels personal. If it were business, they would just go after your business prospects.”

“I honestly can’t think of anyone.” Kai’s baffled expression showed that he really had no idea. “We’re all each other has left.”

Jonathan stepped closer, cupped the back of Kai’s head then pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. “We’ll get this figured out, I promise.”

Kai sighed. “God, I hope so.”

“Let’s release the idiot and see where he goes. I need to get home in time for dinner. You
do not
let a chef’s dinner get cold,” Sin grumbled.

Jonathan waited until Sin left the room before he laughed. “Damn, Callum has a leash around his balls, doesn’t he?”

Patrick nodded. “But he’s disgustingly happy so it must be worth it.”

Jonathan agreed.

Everyone had different needs in a relationship. As long as Sin and Callum were happy, he wasn’t going to be too critical.

Kai slid a hand across Jonathan’s back, settling at the base of his spine. “Let’s go home. I need to do some thinking about who might be trying to kill me.”

Jonathan nodded. “Sounds good.”

Words formed and left his mouth, but his mind flashed to images of Kai spread naked across the back of his couch and prepared for Jonathan. He bit back a groan. No getting a hard-on with his boss in the room.

“I’ll see you two later.” The amused glint in Patrick’s eyes told Jonathan his boss had an idea what was going through his head. Patrick turned to Kai. “Call us if you think of anything that might help.”

“Will do.” Kai shook hands with Patrick.

Jonathan opened the door and, after making sure the coast was clear, he led Kai back to where he’d parked the car.

Fifteen minutes later, they were entering Jonathan’s town house. Jonathan barely remembered to lock the door before he slammed Kai against it. Their kisses went from soft and sensual to flaming hot.

“Gotta have you,” Kai muttered. He quickly unzipped their pants and wrapped a long-fingered hand around both their erections, squeezing them together. Jonathan whimpered. His toes damn near curled from the passion in Kai’s eyes.

He’d never met anyone who craved him as much as Kai did, and not only for sex. He was always touching Jonathan, and his eyes always went to him when he was in the room. That sort of heady attention could drive a guy to want to keep someone.

“Bed,” Jonathan gasped. “I don’t want to come until you’re inside me.”

Kai pumped their cocks slowly one more time before letting go. “I need you.” His voice, low and needy, settled in Jonathan’s balls. Damn, he really liked this guy. He hoped it lasted past the ‘someone is trying to kill me’ stage. Relationships started under powerful circumstances didn’t always survive.

Jonathan desperately wanted this to last.

“Let’s go to the bedroom. My bed is way more comfortable than the wall,” Jonathan said, taking a step back then another step as Kai followed. Without warning, Jonathan spun around and ran.

Laughing, Kai followed.

Jonathan couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed with a lover. Kai brought out a lighter side of him he had thought abandoned a long time ago—about the time his parents had kicked him out for being gay and unwilling to go through conversion therapy.

“Hey, none of that.” Kai’s gentle touch on his face snapped Jonathan out of his darkening thoughts.

“Sorry. Bad flashback.”

“Battle?” Kai asked, concern touching his face.

“No. Childhood,” Jonathan said. “But I don’t want to talk about that.”

He pulled Kai close again, reigniting their fire with a kiss.

“More skin,” he muttered against Kai’s lips.

“Yes,” Kai agreed.

Several more kisses followed, neither man willing to let go long enough to make the necessary space to remove clothing. After several aborted attempts, Jonathan growled. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back from Kai.

“Hey,” Kai reached out to pull him back. Jonathan almost gave in.

“No,” he said firmly. “We need to get naked before any more kissing.”

The dramatic whimper Kai gave had him laughing again.

Kai’s shirt flew across the room followed by his shoes, pants and underwear. The boxers dangled on the bottom right post of Jonathan’s four-poster bed.

“Nice shot.” He admired the Tabasco bottles decorating the material. “Is that supposed to mean you’re hot or that I should suck with care?”

Kai laughed. “I’m definitely hot. Not as hot as you, but I do all right.”

Jonathan didn’t bother arguing. They both looked for different things in a man. If he fell within Kai’s range of the ideal guy, who was he to complain?

With Kai’s heated gaze watching his every move, Jonathan stripped down to nothing.

Kai smiled. “Very nice. Grab the lube and condoms. As soon as we start I’m not going to want to stop for anything.”

Wholeheartedly agreeing with that idea, Jonathan quickly removed the requested items from his side table. “If this continues, I’d like us both to get tested and go bare,” Jonathan said. He bit his lip as he waited for his lover’s response. Had he pushed too soon? He knew his heart had hopelessly given itself over to Kai, but would Kai desire the same things for a relationship or think Jonathan too clingy and dump him after his enemies had been weeded out?

Kai’s intense stare had him shuffling his feet. He felt like a young, inexperienced boy again, not a feeling he appreciated. He flushed beneath Kai’s examination.

“Are you ready for that kind of commitment?”

“I know I’m not gonna cheat. If it doesn’t work out then we break up and use condoms with our next partner.” Jonathan addressed Kai’s concerns seriously. “I don’t want to pressure you, though.”

Kai’s smile swept away Jonathan’s anxiety. “I’d like that.”

Jonathan hoped to stay with Kai for a long time, but only time would tell. Kai had probably gone through more relationships than Jonathan could even dream of and would better know the ebb and flow of two men finding their path together. Jonathan, however, struggled with trying to find the right time to tell Kai that he belonged to him now and that he’d never let him go.

Wait…

Relationships.

“Kai?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any particularly angry exes?”

Kai froze. His grip around Jonathan’s waist tightened. “Oh, damn.”

“You think of someone?”

Kai sighed, a sound he must’ve dredged from the bottom of his soul to add that many layers of frustration. “About two years ago I dated a guy who I thought would be the one.”

Jonathan bit his lip to hold back the words denying that anyone but him could be perfect for Kai. “What happened?”

“I found out six months into it that he was only dating me for my money. When he realised all of it would go to Jeni and charity when I died, he started asking for stuff like I was a bank he was going to just withdraw from.”

“Asshole,” Jonathan growled.

“Yeah. I broke up with him when I realised what he presented to me was just a front. I had introduced him to Jeni and he treated her like crap when I wasn’t around. When she finally got around to telling me about it, I lost my temper and threw him out. I told him I didn’t ever want to see him again. He said I’d be sorry.” Kai ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think he meant it. I mean, he was kind of all talk, you know?”

“What happened to him?” Jonathan asked. Maybe this would be easier to solve than he’d thought.

“I heard he’d died but if that’s true he couldn’t be after me.”

“How did he die?” Jonathan asked.

“Suicide. The last guy he duped cut his face and he lost his prettiness. I heard he couldn’t take it anymore and hung himself.” Kai blinked back tears. “He wasn’t a bad guy, he was just afraid to be poor. I wanted our relationship to be based on affection, not on me playing provider.”

Jonathan squeezed Kai’s knee. “I know you wouldn’t have done anything to hurt someone on purpose. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I don’t, but do you think someone else might? He did have a brother,” Kai offered.

“That’s definitely something Patrick should know,” Jonathan agreed. Leaning down he snatched his pants off the floor and retrieved his phone. He dialled Patrick then after a short conversation handed the phone over to Kai to fill in the details.

Kai hung up. “Patrick said he’d look into it and get back to us.”

“Good.” He knew his boss would jump on the lead in this case.

Chapter Seven

Jonathan kissed Kai, pulling a moan from him that he’d buried in his soul. Kai didn’t care what people thought of him dating someone so much younger—he’d never willingly give Jonathan up. His cock, which had faltered during their talk, hardened again beneath Jonathan’s attention.

The wet heat of Jonathan’s mouth against his chest snapped his attention back to the matter at hand. A bite to his left nipple had him clutching the sheets.

“Hmm, you’re sensitive,” Jonathan murmured. “Not everyone is.”

“Very sensitive,” Kai agreed. No one ever took the time to explore his body. To discover what he really enjoyed during sex. Generally his partners were of the get-off-and-get-gone variety. Relationships took energy and time, two things Kai rarely had enough of. Strangely, for Jonathan he wanted to make the time.

“You should have them pierced.” Jonathan bit the other one. Kai’s strangled scream cut off what he had been going to say. Jonathan smiled. “Yep, definitely pierced.”

“It would be too annoying at work,” Kai countered.

“But just think. No one would know. You probably always wear a suit to work, right?”

Kai nodded.

“So they wouldn’t be visible. Only you and I would know they were pierced,” Jonathan said persuasively.

The thought of pierced nipples rubbing against his shirt all day made a shudder go through his body. “I’d never be able to concentrate.”

Jonathan laughed. “Maybe not. I know I wouldn’t be able to, just knowing you had pierced nipples beneath your suit.”

“Kiss me,” Kai ordered.

“You’re such a demanding fellow,” Jonathan said.

Despite his words, Jonathan pressed his lips against Kai’s. Instead of a searing inferno of passion, a warm wave of affection poured through him, as though by contact alone Jonathan could convey his emotions. Jonathan’s hand on Kai’s neck, barely there, held him for guidance rather than control, while Jonathan’s body pressed against Kai’s only enough so Kai knew he was there, giving instead of dominating.

The sensation of being in a strange tide of sexual give and take only surged higher when Jonathan slid his tongue against Kai’s and tightened his grip. Not hard enough to bruise but firm enough to display his passion.

When they broke for air, Kai felt not only wanted, but cherished.

Jonathan’s dark eyes were heavy-lidded and filled with need.

Licking his lips to savour Jonathan’s taste, Kai rolled them until he was on top. As he’d expected, Jonathan allowed him to move them both until Kai had them where he wanted.

“Do you bottom?” he asked, unable to let the idea go of plunging into the hard-muscled man beneath him.

“For the right man,” Jonathan confessed. “I would for you.”

Kai bit his lip as he considered his options. “Next time. I want to feel this inside me.” As he spoke, he fondled Jonathan’s hard erection. He craved Jonathan’s touch more than he ever had anyone’s before. Kai didn’t trust easily but with Jonathan he’d found someone he could depend on. Soon he’d feel Jonathan’s heat around him, but right now he needed to be filled, claimed by his lover.