Pete turned on his heel.
Walker turned to Mark. “Leave everything behind.”
Mark followed him without protest. Thank God for an agency man.
Chapter 10
They were back on the road in fifteen minutes. The truck may have looked beat-up, but Walker knew it was anything but. He caught Mark’s dubious expression and gave him a wry smile.
“Do you trust me?”
Mark gave him a long steady look. “I do.”
Walker’s heart pounded but he just nodded. The man was trusting him with his life. He couldn’t get any greater trust than that.
He hugged Pete who thumped his back.
“Bring my baby home,” Pete ordered.
“I will.”
Then they were on their way.
It didn’t take long for Mark to work out they were going in a different direction than before. Denver was off the table. Walker knew where he wanted to head next.
“We’re going north. Ah, Casper. Ghost?”
“Yeah.” And that was all Walker was going to tell him despite the edge in Mark’s voice.
“I never thought what it was like for the packages,” Mark murmured as he stared through the window. “No intel, nothing to do except be delivered. It’s so frustrating.”
Walker nodded but he didn’t know for sure. How could he? He’d never delivered a package for real.
“If it’s any help, I’m glad it’s you,” Mark said suddenly.
“Huh?”
“You look nervous, but I know you can do this.”
Walker looked nervous, was nervous, felt totally inadequate for the job, but he could do this, because Mark had faith in him. “Thanks, Mark. This wasn’t what I expected but I’ll protect you with my life.”
“I know you will,” Mark said. “And right back atcha, big guy. I’ll protect you with everything I have.” Mark laid his hand on Walker’s thigh.
Walker took in a deep breath and focused on the road ahead. The last thing he needed was his dick popping up while he was trying to drive. Mark squeezed his thigh and moved his hand. Walker mourned its loss for a moment, then he glanced at Mark and caught the smug look on his face. Bastard! He knew exactly the effect he was having on Walker.
“You’re not helping,” he said.
“Just trying to relieve the tension,” Mark said innocently.
“Would you let one of your packages relieve the tension like this?”
He didn’t get the answer he was expecting. He didn’t get any answer at all and when he flashed Mark a glance, he saw Mark chewing on his bottom lip.
“I sense a story here.”
Mark sighed. “If I tell you, you’ve got to promise never to tell anyone else, especially not Jake or Mitch. They’ll never let me forget it.”
“I promise.”
It was a long drive and they may as well fill it with a story.
“It was a long time ago. Before…Lukas.”
“Before you knew Lukas, or before your feelings for him?”
“Before I knew him.”
Pause.
“Go on,” Walker prodded gently.
“I was on vacation. I met this guy in a club. He was gorgeous.”
Walker damped down the feelings of jealousy. Mark had to have been very young. Mid-twenties at the most. Dark, moody. He probably had guys all over him.
“What did he look like?”
“Young, twinky, blond.”
“Like Lukas.”
“Huh. I guess so. I always thought Lukas was a one-off. I’m normally attracted to huge, muscled guys.”
Like you.
Walker felt his cheeks heat at the unspoken words. He sought for something to say. “You hooked up with him?”
“I did. It was my free weekend before a mission. We spent most of it in bed.”
Oh yeah, Walker was envious that they’d managed to spend an entire weekend in bed whereas he and Mark had two nights and two fucked up mornings.
“So you fucked the pretty boy all weekend and then went on a mission?”
Mark gave him a long steady look at the snide tone. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”
Walker felt like a tool. What business was it of his who Mark had fucked in the past? “Yeah, I’m sorry. Carry on.”
“So I left his bed at four am, then four hours later I collected him as a package. Pretty boy was in danger from the Russian mob.” Mark gave a reluctant laugh. “You should have seen the look on his face when I turned up in his bedroom again.”
“I guess you hadn’t had the ‘what do you do?” discussion, huh?”
“My mouth was otherwise occupied.”
Walker choked and Mark chuckled.
“Gotcha!”
“You are a tease, Mr. Peterson.”
“Yep.”
“So what happened next?” Walker asked.
“We took him to the rendezvous.”
Even staring at the road, Walker could tell Mark’s voice was way too innocent.
Walker narrowed his eyes. “Just took him to the rendezvous?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And what else happened?”
“There might have been some mouth on cock action.”
Walker shook his head. “And your team didn’t realize?”
“I was driving him.”
“It was his mouth on your cock?”
“Uh-huh.” The sound was a low rumble.
“God, that’s hot.”
Just the thought of it made Walker’s dick want to drill holes through his pants.
“I nearly got canned,” Mark admitted.
“Your team found out?”
“Leon couldn’t keep a secret if he tried,” Mark said ruefully. “My section leader and team leader were furious. They put me on probation for six months to see if I could be trusted to keep my dick in my pants.”
“I guess you were a lot more careful after that, huh?” Walker looked over to see Mark’s expression. “Tell me he wasn’t the last hook up you had?”
“Not the last, but there weren’t many relationships or hook ups until I left the agency.”
“Geez, the agency put your cock in a cage.”
Mark belted out a laugh. “That’s one way of putting it. It was just good sense. I could have seriously compromised the mission.”
“You didn’t know he was the mark,” Walker argued.
“That wasn’t the issue. The extra cock action during the mission was the issue.”
“What happened to him? The mark?”
“I don’t know. That’s one of the things you have to get used to. You do a mission, retrieve a package, or deliver one. But you never find out what happens to them afterward.”
“Weren’t you interested?”
“Not really. He was only ever a weekend fling.”
Walker went cold. Was that what he was? A weekend fling? How could he be any more? He’d come to see Mark with that intention in mind. A warm hand on his thigh nudged him from his thoughts. He looked down at the strong masculine hand splayed over his leg.
“I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong.”
“What am I then?” Walker challenged.