He came back to his body, realizing he was mashed flat on the mattress with Gunner lying on top of him. Never in his entire life had he felt this loved, this protected, this cared for. It was, in a word, perfect.
Eventually Gunner rolled to one side, keeping a protective, possessive arm and leg thrown over Chas’s body.
As for Chas, he couldn’t have moved if his life depended on it. He’d asked to be fucked until he couldn’t stand, and oh baby, had Gunner delivered.
It took a long time for Chas’s breathing to return to normal. He felt wrung out to the depths of his being, and a stillness he’d never experienced before came over him. Huh. So this was peace. He’d found the one place in the world he wanted to live until the end of his days. It was right here, in Gunner’s arms, completely, irrevocably possessed by Gunner Vance, body, heart, mind, and soul.
GUNNER LAY beside Chas, listening to his lover’s breath settle into the light, even rhythm of sleep. He reached out and fumbled on the nightstand until he found the remote and turned off the TV. He sincerely hoped there was no one in the room next door, or they’d been treated to a rather noisy porn audio track. Neither he nor Chas had been able to stop themselves from shouting in pleasure. A lot.
The silence and darkness settled gently around him like the warmth of Chas’s body against his side.
His mind drifted, caught somewhere between sleep and waking, and it dawned on him that he was happy. It wasn’t a state of being he could remember experiencing too many times in his life. It was nice. More than nice. It was… addictive. He could get used to this.
Going to work at a day job—minor security work for Spencer and Drago. Coming home at the end of the day to Chas. Taking him to bed, living out more of his fantasies, falling asleep with Chas in his arms….
Yeah, he could definitely get used to this.
His mind wandered more, and he pictured a neat little house. Nothing fancy. Poppy playing in the backyard. Maybe he would build her a swing. Or a jungle gym to climb on—
The image startled him to a more conscious state. He could actually see himself raising a family with Chas. Whoa. That was a hard left turn from where he’d ever thought of his life going before.
Small problem: he had no earthly idea how to get to that life.
Chapter Fourteen
CHAS WOKE up slowly, groggy, his eyelids refusing to open all the way. His limbs were heavy, his body half-paralyzed from how deeply asleep he’d been. Where was he, anyway? Motel room. Dark. A large shadow moved across the room, and he jolted fully awake, adrenaline screaming through his limbs.
He froze, staring, and the shadow turned and spoke. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“G., what are you doing awake? It’s the middle of the freaking night.”
“Gearing up.”
“Why?”
“Ounce of precaution, man.”
“Are you planning to sleep in all that stuff?” As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw that Gunner was wearing a bulky vest, a utility belt, camo pants with pockets full of stuff, and combat boots, and was holding a helmet with elaborate electronic gear mounted to the top.
Gunner’s smile flashed white in the dark. “I have slept in my tactical gear before. A lot. I was planning to get comfortable in the chair and snooze there so I wouldn’t wake you up.”
“You can come back to bed if you want.”
Gunner snorted. “So you like the idea of cuddling with steel porcupines?”
“Not particularly. But I like snuggling with you.”
Gunner’s smile was more reluctant this time. “I like snuggling with you too. But duty calls.”
“I thought you weren’t expecting trouble tonight.”
“I’m not.”
“Let me guess. You’re patrolling and standing guard anyway?” Chas murmured.
“Bingo.”
“Should I be fully dressed and have my shoes ready to go too?”
“Wouldn’t hurt.”
Chas groaned and rolled out of bed. Sex with Gunner was rather more athletic than he was accustomed to, and he was a little creaky as he dressed. Gunner moved over to stand behind him as he put his shoes on the floor. Big, powerful hands kneaded his shoulder muscles with just enough force to make him groan with pleasure.
“I’ll give you a full back rub tomorrow,” Gunner murmured.
“You know how?”
“Standard SEAL training. We have to keep one another fully operational in the field.”
“Ooh. SEALs giving each other full-body massages. Kinky,” Chas mumbled.
Gunner made a sound of disgust that spun Chas around to face him.
“What?” Chas asked, startled.
“It’s one of the many reasons I couldn’t come out as gay. We did give each other rubdowns, in addition to sleeping, eating, and bathing together. Some of the guys would have been afraid that I might be attracted to them and that such contact would get sexual.”
“But if it was your job and they were just your coworkers….” Chas frowned. “It’s not as if being gay would make you attracted to every single male you worked with.”
Gunner rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t attracted to any of them. They’re hairy, obnoxious macho jerks like me. No, thank you. Honestly, I have no idea what you see in me.”
Chas laid his palms on Gunner’s stubbled cheeks. “You and me, we have a very long history together. We’ve been friends, confidants, brothers, heck, even enemies. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“You spent the past ten years without me in your life,” Gunner muttered.
“And it sucked. No, thank you,” he echoed.
Gunner swept him up against all that tactical gear and the hard, powerful man beneath, and it was almost too sexy to stand. Then Gunner leaned down, kissing him hard at first and then gentling the kiss to a long, deep, intimate thing that communicated how much Gunner cared for him.
“Not to be cliché,” he murmured against Gunner’s warm, resilient lips, “but is that your pistol poking me in the belly?”
Gunner let out a silent gust of laughter against Chas’s mouth. “That’s a breaching tool. I’ll show you how it works sometime. My pistol’s around the side of my hip a little bit more.”
Chas stepped back, and in the faint glow from a streetlight outside, Gunner gave him a guided tour of a SEAL’s operational gear. It was impressive how much crap Gunner carried around with him. Chas commented, “You’re like a walking Boy Scout manual. You’ve got every eventuality covered.”
“If only. No matter how prepared we are, we can always count on the bad guys to come up with something that we haven’t anticipated. The name of the game in the field is being willing and able to improvise.”
“That’s why you’ll be a good lover. We just need to tap into your natural ability to freestyle.”
“If you say so,” Gunner muttered, sounding a little shy.
Chas chucked him under the chin. “Never fear. I’m creative. Our sex life will never be dull.”
“Can’t say as I was actually worried about that.”
Chas stared up at Gunner in the shadows, trying to make out the expression in his eyes. “Meaning you don’t plan to have a lengthy love life with me, or that you believe we’ll keep it fresh and hot for a long time?”