Arlo #3
“Here,” Ward said, leaning into my space and adjusting my tie. “There, now you’re perfectly put together. Ready to make an appearance?”
“I suppose the question is, are you ready for me to make an appearance?”
“Listen, I’m not worried in the slightest. I know you’ll handle yourself just fine. That won’t be on my mind at all.”
“Ah, but something will be.”
“Mhmm, and there’s something I want you to keep in your mind throughout the night.”
“What’s that?”
He leaned closer, hand sliding over my thigh and gripping it.
My breath caught for a moment as his eyes burned into me.
There was a hint of mint on his breath as his body pushed against mine.
My breath came out in a slow exhale just as he closed the last distance between us, and his lips pressed against mine.
A shiver arced up and down my spine as his fingers dug into the warmth of my thigh, the softness of his lips catching and holding my attention fiercely.
The anticipation that had stretched between us since the first time we met snapped, and I reached out, pressing my hand against his stomach, fingers splaying wide to feel the strength of his muscles as they flexed against my touch.
I pushed back into the kiss, parting my lips and opening his.
His head tilted, and my tongue slid over his.
A soft groan escaped him as his other hand curled around the back of my neck, gripping it hard as he sucked in a breath through his nose.
At that moment, I didn’t care if Will could see everything and might even be enjoying the show.
I didn’t care that he was messing up my hair before I was supposed to go to a party full of people who would judge every inch of my appearance.
I didn’t care that the windows might not be tinted enough to block out what was going on in the limo.
All that mattered was the feel of his mouth on mine, his tongue sliding delicately and purposefully with mine.
The feel of his grip and how he pressed against my leg, I could feel him hard, trapped in his pants, and his fingers had draped themselves over my own hardening shaft, squeezing it and making me gasp.
My body was alive with what had to be the best kiss I’d had in years, if not my entire life.
“I want you,” he said softly, breaking the kiss. “Keep that in mind. And think about what else I might want to do when this party is over. And I want you to think about what you might want to do...but maybe keep anything with Will as a second or third date sort of thing, huh?”
I snorted, adjusting my clothes and hair carefully. “And here I was worried that comment might bother you.”
“I wasn’t kidding. Right now, I’m all about you and me, and so long as that’s the focus, I don’t care what you want to do with me...or with someone else as well,” he said with a smirk, reaching up to adjust my hair. “But I also wasn’t kidding about what I want you to keep in mind.”
“I don’t think you’ll have a problem there,” I said with a snort. “Though we might want to wait a moment to get out of the car.
“Just do the old tuck up trick, you’re big enough,” he said with a certainty that made my groin pulse with anticipation. “I won’t peek.”
“I’m not worried about that,” I said, undoing the button of my pants that were admittedly too snug to reach down into.
His eyes widened ever so slightly as I reached into my boxer briefs, grabbing hold of my still hard dick pinned against my thigh, and rotated it so I could safely tuck it into the waistband of my underwear.
I made a point to pull my underwear back, giving him a good, if brief glimpse before tucking everything into place and rebuttoning my pants.
“It seems my original assessment was correct,” Ward said with a chuckle. “There is an evil, evil man inside you.”
“Just a horny one,” I told him, raising a brow. “Going to walk out with your shorts tented?”
With a smirk, he reached down and repeated the same thing I had.
It was obvious that waiting wouldn’t help either of us, and I felt my stomach tighten slightly when I got a glimpse of him.
He was rock hard, and the dim light in the limo made the head glisten slightly, telling me he was as excited by everything as I was.
And then it was gone, and I was left with the memory for now, along with the memory of his body and lips pressed against mine.
From up front, Will snorted, reminding me he had been there the whole time. “Yeah, well, you two go enjoy your party. I got my free show for the night. Definitely not sure if I want to bottom for either of you if you guys are serious.”
“A class act, that one,” Ward said as he opened the door and slid out, with me following him.
“I don’t think either of us is in a position to judge when we didn’t bother to put the partition up,” I said as I looked over my clothes and made sure to get them completely straight.
The windows, I found, were tinted enough that you couldn’t see a thing unless you pressed your face against the glass.
Which meant they were perfect for me to use the bright light of the entrance to adjust my hair, where it had been messed up by his groping.
When I was done, Ward held out his arm. “Let’s go.”
“Lead the way,” I said, looping my arm through his and letting him lead me up the stairs and through the doors.
The foyer, which was not a grand enough word, was larger than his penthouse.
Carpeted stairs curved up to a second floor, but before us were double doors, one set between the stairs, and two other sets on each side, leading into an even larger room.
Music and light came through, and I saw dozens of people moving around.
“Mmm,” Ward said as he looked at a sign next to the stairs. “Children in need this time.”
“Pardon?” I asked, suddenly realizing I was about to walk into a world I knew nothing about, let alone how to live and thrive in.
“It’s a charity event, hosted by my mother. I was trying to remember what she was pretending to care about, and it turns out it’s children in need. Specifically, children in the system.”
“Oh...as in the foster system?”
“One and the same...why are you tense?”
“I was one of those kids.”
“Ah...bad memories?”
I laughed softly as we stepped into the room full of chandeliers that I was sure were genuine crystal and probably gold, tables decorated in clean cloths, and arrangements of gold twine and glass-dipped flowers. “Not good, but not bad.”
“Well, I hope the subject isn’t a particularly touchy one for you. I’m sure you’ll hear a lot of that Benevolent Condescension on the subject.”
“You have no need to worry about me,” I told him softly.
“Good,” he said, and it was apparently his turn to tense. “Because here comes your first test.”
I followed his gaze to see a woman with long, flowing auburn hair strolling toward us.
A purple dress cinched tightly in the middle, the sleeves around her shoulders, and the dress just enough to cover her admittedly hard-to-cover chest. Intricate gold patterns were stitched along the side and all the way down to where the hem stopped at her ankles.
Beside her was a man in a tuxedo, a bleary look in his eyes, and a hunch to his broad shoulders that only made his considerable gut, obvious in the tuxedo, all the more prominent.
“Warden,” she said in a cool voice that had notes of friendliness.
Beside her, the man gave a flicker of a smile before it disappeared.
I could see the strong features now because they were the same as Ward’s, even the build of his body, though Ward didn’t have the gut.
But the woman? Ah, she had given her son his eyes and hair color.
And there was a steel in her that I recognized as well, so perhaps she had given more than just physical features.
“Mother,” Ward said in a voice far warmer than hers, but anyone paying attention would have heard the sound of blades being sharpened. “You look, as always, radiant.”
“I’m glad you could make it,” she said, eyes sweeping over me. It was a quick assessment, but it reminded me of those cheesy sci-fi movies Milo was so fond of, with computers that could scan a person in a few seconds and perform a complete assessment. “And you remembered to bring someone.”
“I did,” he said. “This is Arlo.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Governor,” I said, bringing my hand up slowly to give her a chance to decide how I would greet her.
“I appreciate you accompanying my son,” she said with slightly more politeness than she had with Ward as she held her hand out.
I took it, giving it a shake before letting her pull her hand away.
I wasn’t sure why, but I saw the skin around her eyes tighten slightly.
“I was afraid he would be solo tonight.”
“Of course not,” Ward said jovially. “This is a couples function, is it not? I might have brought a standby if it came to it, but Arlo here was kind enough to show interest in little ol me, so here we are.”
“And here you are,” she said, her eyes lingering on me before flashing back to Ward. “And they say wonder no longer lives in the world.”
“Good evening, Mr. Reddington,” I said, offering my hand to the man who looked surprised for a moment before shaking it.
“I suppose Ward has spoken about us already,” he said with a warm smile.
“A little. We haven’t known each other for long, so we haven’t discussed many personal details,” I said, noticing his mother had gone stiff again. “But it’s hard to miss the resemblance between the three of you.”
“It’s been a long time since I was in the same shape my son is in,” he said with a chuckle. “Stay away from the drink, that’s what I always told him.”
“And immoral women,” Ward added, and I saw his mother shoot him a sharp look.
“Oh, right, that was you, Mother.”
“Warden,” she said with a smile and leaning in closer. “Behave.”
“Our unarranged arrangement still stands,” Ward told her, holding up a hand. “Best behavior.”