The Teacher and the Soldier (11 page)

“Help yourself,” he said. A hint of sarcasm coloured the tone and Daniel winked.
He winked. For fuck’s sake.

“So. Bryan called my mom, said you’d been in and signed the paperwork to take on your fifty per cent.”

“Christ, is nothing a secret in this town?” Luke snapped.

Daniel raised his eyebrows at the reaction. “She’s the other party on the deed. He needs her to go in to countersign.”

Luke could feel the humiliation of jumping in with both feet climb inside him and knew damn well he was going to go red.

Daniel continued, “I just drove her in and came in for coffee. Imagine my surprise to see you in the corner.”

“Imagine,” Luke said. He aimed for a level toned reply and just came off as pissy.
Great.
A quick frown marred Daniel’s forehead, but it soon passed.

“So I have this thing on Fridays,” Daniel started. He was looking at Luke with a determined expression in his green eyes. Luke couldn’t help but notice the slight smile on the other man’s face. “I meet up with some friends. Wondered if you wanted to come too?”

“No. Thank you for asking, but no.”

“Quick response there, slick,” Daniel drawled. Luke narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t going to fall for the good ole Southern boy thing. After all, under the polish of Virginia was a Tennessee boy waiting to be let loose and he’d heard all the drawl he could handle in his lifetime. “It’s not a date. Just some guys playing cards, talking, drinking beer. Finn and Kieran will be there. And you can meet Max who could maybe tell you more about the fire.”

“I never said it was a date,” Luke defended. Why he felt he had to pick up on that particular part of Daniel’s whole sentence he didn’t know.

“You’d got that rabbit-scared-stare look to you,” Daniel commented.

“I did not,” Luke said. Daniel shrugged.

“It’s Finn’s turn to have us to his place which is up in the mountains above the resort. I’ll come pick you up at the hotel at six.”

“Tonight.”

“Six tonight.” Daniel stood and seemingly as an afterthought he leaned over and whispered into Luke’s ear. “Up to you if we stop off at mine on the way back down the mountain.”

With that he picked up the coffee-to-go and left. Luke took a hasty swallow of coffee and coughed as it went down the wrong way. Thank god it was after the door had shut behind the most infuriatingly sexy hot scorching man he had ever met. Just seeing the smile and the eyes and the whispered words in his ear made him hard. Not for the first time, as he observed Daniel’s ass when he walked away, he considered whether the man would be up for Luke topping him. He was probably some tight-assed uber-top who would find Luke’s request to fuck him into the mattress an affront to his masculinity.

Still, a switch could dream.

Chapter Seven

Daniel pulled up outside the hotel and wondered if he should be honking the horn in a purely buddy type way or going in and knocking on the door in a purely ‘I hope you want to go back to my house and fuck kind of way’. Luckily his choice was moot when Luke strolled out of the hotel and crossed to Daniel’s truck. God, he really was gorgeous. Jeans clung to him like a second skin and his slim body was shown off to perfection with the red T-shirt and short jacket. He was carrying beer and he deposited it on the floor of the truck bed then climbed in to the cab with a ready smile.

“I’m looking forward to meeting up with Finn properly,” Luke said. Clearly he was playing the ‘I’m talking first so I can guide the conversation’ game. Daniel wasn’t going to argue. He still didn’t know what had possessed him to lean over and issue that invitation to Luke and he was half embarrassed and half hard with want now. There was something more than just sex going on there. There had to be because he’d never slept with a lover as giving and forgiving as Luke. He wanted to lock him in the cabin and never let him leave. Scary thought.

“He’s a good guy.”

“And he saved Finn’s life when the cop station burned down?”

“Dragged his ass out of there.”

“Finn’s not small, is Max a big guy?”

“Built solid and strong.”

“Cool.” Luke stopped talking and Daniel thought on what they should talk about next. Finn’s place was at least a ten minute drive and that was a lot of dead space to fill. He flicked on the radio and it auto tuned to some soft rock station and for a few seconds the dead space was filled with noise.

“So I gave some thought to your proposition,” Luke began. Daniel turned the volume down immediately.

“You did?” He wasn’t going to play dumb. They were alone in the car and both of them knew exactly what Luke was talking about.

“Just sex right?” Luke demanded clarification.

“Just sex.”

“I can go for that.”

“Good.” Daniel wasn’t entirely sure what else to add to the negotiations. He could add in that he was happy to…no… He’d probably scare the guy away if he was anything less than the hardened ex-marine who topped. Jeez. Anyone would think that the sex they had enjoyed wasn’t enough on its own. Why complicate matters in his head? They’d almost reached Finn’s and just as Daniel had got his thoughts in the right place, Luke tossed the proverbial spanner in the works.

“Do you switch?” Luke asked conversationally. He said it so matter of fact that it threw Daniel for a moment. He pulled onto Finn’s drive and turned off the ignition.

“Sorry?”

“Simple question. Do you switch? Y’know, would you be up for me fucking you into the mattress instead of the other way around.” Luke drawled the request and had pasted an expression of not-really-worrying-about-the-answer on his face. His eyes betrayed the bravery in the question and they showed nerves.

“Jesus,” Daniel breathed as he exhaled a held in breath. His cock was immediately filling and he wanted to put the truck in reverse and head back to his place. Now. Really. Now. “I can totally get with that plan. But I now have to go in there with a freaking hard-on.”

Luke took Daniel’s hand and placed it on the buttons of his jeans. He was as hard as Daniel. “Think we should sit out here for a while?”

Daniel looked up at the window and couldn’t see anyone looking out for him. They wouldn’t. Normally he turned up on his bike—he hardly ever used his mom’s truck for anything other than ferrying stuff to and from the cabins. When another truck pulled in next to them and Max and Kieran piled out there was no avoiding getting out. Daniel willed away the erection, took a single look at Luke smirking and was instantly bone hard again. He’d had a taste of Luke blowing him last night and now looking at that smirk he had an idea of what could be in the man’s mouth to stop him looking so smug. Fucker.

“You comin’ in?” Kieran smacked the window and waved some beers in a welcome. He went inside with Max following and finally Daniel climbed out with Luke not far behind. He locked the truck then went in through the half open door and hoped to hell no one noticed—a) his hard-on, b) Luke’s hard-on and c) the fact Daniel couldn’t stop looking at Luke.

This was so going to be one of those nights.

* * * *

“Max seems like a nice guy,” Luke commented on the way back down the hill. “Him and Finn are happy. Don’t often see that…y’know, long relationships.”

“What’s the longest relationship you’ve been in?” Daniel didn’t really want to know but it was the polite thing to say. He’d only had a night with the promise of one more.

“Zach. I was with him six years.”

“Six years? Hell, that’s almost a marriage,” Daniel commented. The thought of a relationship lasting that long, or even at all, was something he saw as impossible.

“We were friends with benefits really, at the end of it, just sharing a bed. We stayed friends though. He’s a good guy.”

“And no chance of getting back together?”

“Why? You want a threesome?” Luke joked. Daniel pushed down the overwhelming feeling of jealousy and chalked it up to the fact he was this close to getting what he wanted tonight and he didn’t want anyone else even in Luke’s head, let alone their bed. Evidently his face said it all as Luke just chuckled and held up his hands in a gesture of peace. They pulled up outside Daniel’s cabin and neither man hung around to discuss a single thing. Both focused so utterly on getting inside, getting naked and getting it on.

Tumbling back on the bed Daniel couldn’t take his eyes off of Luke as he reached into the side drawer and located condoms a lot quicker than Daniel had for their last encounter.

“On your front,” Luke said. He wasn’t asking, he was telling and Daniel didn’t argue. He moved directly onto all fours, but Luke pushed at him until he was flat on the bed, his hard cock trapped between his own weight and the sheets below. When he felt the first touch of Luke’s mouth at the top of his spine he couldn’t help but wriggle but a gentle push from Luke had him stopping. He wanted to touch, but he wasn’t being allowed to. Luke continued kissing then his hands followed the path, kneading at the muscles in his back.

“You’re way too tense, soldier,” Luke whispered against his skin.

“Just get on and fuck me,” Daniel replied. He didn’t want delays—he wanted Luke. Now.

The trickle of something cold slid from his crack to his balls and he turned his head from left to right in anticipation. When Luke pushed his fingers inside, loosening him, he pushed back against the intrusion, but Luke simply took the fingers away and pushed him down. Luke chuckled then laid his weight across one side of Daniel so his mouth was near Daniel’s ear.

“You have to trust me to get you there,” he whispered. He started with his fingers again and all the time he whispered in Daniel’s ear. “It’s not all about getting there…it’s about me stretching you…pressing there…” Daniel screwed his eyes shut. The soft words and Luke’s touch had him so close he could feel his balls drawing up as an orgasm built. He didn’t want to lose it this way. He wanted Luke inside him.

“Inside…” he managed to force out.

Luke moved until he was laid flat on top of Daniel. The weight of the man was intoxicating and when Luke slid home, balls deep, Daniel pressed hard into the sheets to stop himself from coming at first touch. Supporting the weight of his torso on his hands, Luke pushed with his knees to open Daniel’s legs wider then moved—subtle, slow and still whispering all kinds of things, praise, curses and endearments.

Daniel couldn’t hear anything but Luke, or feel anything but Luke. His scent and his warmth surrounded Daniel and when the angle changed slightly and Luke was touching him in all the right places it was game over for Daniel. With a gasp stifled by the sheets, he was coming into the bed and Luke wasn’t far behind. With a few more thrusts he called Daniel’s name and one last push and he was coming and shouting his completion. Daniel had never felt the sensations—the completeness of how Luke had possessed every sense in him. Luke pulled out and disposed of the condom before climbing back into the bed and lying close to Daniel who still hadn’t moved. He wasn’t capable of moving. He was boneless.

“You’re in the wet patch,” Luke said gently.

“Don’t care,” Daniel murmured. He was beyond any kind of caring at all. He was here. All orgasmed out. He was sleepy, and he had Luke curled up against him. The wet patch was not an important consideration. “Don’t go this time,” he murmured as sleep started to pull him under.

“I can’t promise,” Luke replied. “But I’ll try.”

Chapter Eight

Luke knew Daniel would be disappointed when he woke up to find him gone, but there was only so long he could stay in one place without feeling claustrophobic. He hadn’t gone far. Just to the porch with a coffee to look at the sunrise. They’d woken and made love again in the darkest hour. Not had sex, but honest to goodness, all singing all dancing made love. Luke had affection inside him that was bursting to get out and that was scary in itself. He was here the sum total of another two weeks and he wasn’t staying so what was the point of learning more about Daniel?

“Hey,” Daniel’s voice echoed in the wide wooden porch. He sat down on the swing hanging from the rafters and Luke settled it with one foot as it rocked with Daniel’s weight.

“Hey,” Luke replied. He sipped at his coffee and looked out to the trees and the tip of the mountains beyond. “This is new isn’t it? This cabin. I don’t remember it from when I was here.”

“Yeah, built it with the guys just before I left on my first tour. Kind of needed a place to aim to come back to.”

Luke winced. That sounded so damn final. He’d been up close and personal with Daniel and he’d noticed the slight limp and the expression of discomfort when Daniel moved his shoulder sometimes. He’d seen more detail when he’d trailed kisses down his spine last night. A wicked looking scar curved from shoulder to near the spine itself.

“How were you injured?” he asked.

“IED.”

“I’m sorry.” That is what you said right? When you asked stupid questions and got one word answers.

“Don’t be.” Daniel sighed. “I made it home fairly much in one piece from that tour.”

“Must be hard though not to be part of the family out there. You know, the marines…”

Daniel looked directly at him and frowned. Luke waited to be shouted down. He didn’t know what it was like being in the forces, especially something as close knit as the US Marines and he fully expected to get the punch that Daniel had previously held back.