Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Shaun’s eyes blinked open, and he could feel someone watching him.
Jesus, that’d better be Zenko. He wasn’t sure if he was up to any practical jokes or pranks just yet.
Having spent years living and working with the Ghosts at various locations around the world, living at this command compound in Turkey with a different team was taking a lot of getting used to.
Having to watch what he said and when he said it was a pain in the ass.
The longer he was here, the lower his guard would fall, and then he could slip up and either drop himself in the shit or make Noble pissed enough that he would shoot him.
He had been here a week now, and this team was more like a family than any other unit he had seen besides his own.
They teased each other mercilessly, pulled practical pranks, and told stupid jokes.
But he could sense the loyalty that ran through everything they did.
That they had allowed him to remain here after his debriefing humbled him.
This was their home, their safe place, and he knew Rock wouldn’t be as accommodating as Noble had been.
“Jesus.”
Zenko’s whisper had Shaun rolling his head on the pillow to blink sleepily at the man standing just inside the door of the room.
“You okay, Zen?”
Sharing a room and a bed with Zenko was an experience.
Every night Shaun went to bed before Zenko, and every morning he woke up with Zenko wrapped around him, Zenko’s face buried in the back of his neck and his breath huffing out hotly against his skin.
Not that he was complaining. The man threw off more heat than a fireplace, and surprisingly, sleeping with an octopus wrapped around him was quite comfortable.
He’d gotten used to waking with Zenko’s arm across his waist and the solid weight of him at his back, enough that he’d started sleeping better here than he had expected to.
Zenko cleared his throat. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He looked at Shaun for a moment, and something in his expression made Shaun suddenly very aware of the fact that he was sprawled out on his back across Zenko’s bed. Zenko’s eyes swept down his body before lifting again, and Shaun’s stomach tightened at the unmistakable heat in that look.
He watched Zenko for a moment, noticing the faint flush creeping up his neck as he stood there looking at him.
There was something almost embarrassed about the way Zenko shifted his attention away, and Shaun had to fight back a grin.
He knew exactly what the man did every night when they slept, because Shaun woke up wrapped in him every fucking morning.
Whatever the hell was going on in Zenko’s head, his body clearly had no problem finding Shaun in the dark.
Shaun drew back the covers and watched Zenko’s eyes widen as they dropped briefly over his body before snapping back to his face. The man’s throat worked as he swallowed, and something hot curled low in Shaun’s stomach at the reaction.
He let his voice drop into the low, husky tone that had always gotten him exactly where he wanted to go. “Are you coming to bed?”
The way Zenko looked at him was all the confirmation Shaun needed that Zenko was gay.
The man was interested, and judging by the way his gaze dropped over Shaun’s body again, there was no mistaking what kind of interest it was.
A slow smile pulled at his mouth. Finally, he knew for certain where he stood.
Zenko’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, and Shaun caught the hesitation in his expression.
“Ummm…” Zenko squeezed his eyes closed for a second, and Shaun watched the muscles in his jaw tighten before he opened his eyes again. Whatever had caused the hesitation, Shaun wasn’t going to push past it. He had offered. The choice was Zenko’s.
He held his gaze, his pulse kicking harder as the silence stretched between them. Whatever hesitation had been there was still written across Zenko’s face, but Shaun wasn’t going to make the decision for him. He’d made his offer. Now he waited.
“Unless you don’t want to…” Shaun’s voice trailed off when Zenko finally moved.
He stripped as he crossed the small room, pulling his shirt over his head before dropping it beside the bed.
Shaun’s breath caught at the sight of him, and the little hitch escaped before he could stop it. Fuck, Zenko was gorgeous.
Shaun couldn’t have stopped the sound of his sharp inhale if he had wanted to.
Was there anything as sexy as Zenko Marks stripping off his shirt and dropping his jeans?
Nope… if there was, he couldn’t think of anything right now.
His gaze tracked every movement, taking in the tattoos on Zenko’s arms as they started at his elbows and snaked down his skin to cover his knuckles. Damn, those tattoos were fucking hot.
He eyed the muscles bunching in Zenko’s arms as he crawled up from the end of the bed, pausing to remove Shaun’s boxers on the way. The scrape of Zenko’s fingers against his skin sent another jolt of heat through him, and he swallowed hard as the last of his hesitation disappeared.
“Jesus,” Zenko whispered again, and Shaun wished he had something witty or funny to say to break the heavy atmosphere.
Right now, though, if someone had put a gun to his head, he wouldn’t have been able to think of anything but Zenko.
The man was close enough that Shaun could feel the heat coming off his skin, and every inch of distance between them seemed to disappear with each movement.
His eyes closed as Zenko hovered over him for a split second before nuzzling into the side of his neck, placing slow kisses against his pulse point.
Shaun’s fingers curled into the bedding as a shiver moved through him, and every bit of doubt he’d had about whether Zenko wanted this disappeared beneath the warmth of the man’s mouth against his skin.
They both hissed as the bare skin of Zen’s stomach rubbed along Shaun’s dick from base to tip.
“Damn,” Shaun breathed out.
“I’ve been wanting to do this all week,” Zenko growled into Shaun’s ear, and the lust in his voice sent another shiver through him. “I’ve wanted you since I found you in that damn cave in Syria.”
Shaun’s breath caught at the admission. Knowing Zenko had wanted him for that long made the heat between them feel even more intense, and he tightened his grip on the back of Zenko’s head as though he needed the contact to keep himself grounded.
“Uh… huh?” He couldn’t think straight with Zenko this close, his mouth against his skin and that rough voice still echoing in his head.
He gripped the back of Zenko’s head, holding him there as the last of his uncertainty disappeared.
Whatever this was between them, he wanted it, and he wasn’t about to let Zenko doubt that.
“Yeah.” Zenko’s mutter on an exhale raised goosebumps along Shaun’s skin as he continued kissing his neck and throat.
He tilted his head to the side, giving Zenko more access, and the sound of Zenko’s voice sent another rush of heat through him.
He wanted this. He wanted Zenko, and right now he had no interest in pretending otherwise.
Zenko’s mouth moved over his ear and down his neck, leaving Shaun’s skin tingling in its wake. The attention had his fingers tightening against Zenko’s shoulders as another shiver moved through him. Fuck, he could get used to this.
Shaun moaned. He knew he’d always been vocal in bed, but he didn’t know if Zenko cared if the others heard them or not. He bit into his bottom lip, trying to keep the sounds inside when Zenko rolled his hips, and their dicks slid alongside each other, their balls slapping together.
“Fuck.” His fingers tightened against Zenko’s skin, betraying just how badly he wanted this man.
“Shh,” Zenko whispered softly before he covered his lips with his own to swallow the sounds.
Christ, kissing Zenko was like touching the sun.
A jolt of lust hotter than anything he had ever felt before blasted through his veins as he licked and chased his tongue with his own.
It left him struggling to remember anything beyond the man holding him.
The hesitation he’d seen earlier was gone now, replaced by the certainty in every touch, every kiss, every roll of their hips, and every slide of their dicks.
“Damn,” Zenko whispered when he pulled his mouth back so they both could breathe.
Their breaths came in hard little huffs, and Shaun’s fingers moved over the muscles and planes of Zenko’s back and sides.
“Shit.” His hips rolled back and forth, his dick sliding along the crease of Shaun’s thigh and rubbing against his cock.
Every touch seemed to make the heat between them build, and Shaun found himself moving with Zenko without either of them needing to think about it.
This was quickly becoming the hottest kiss he’d ever experienced, and that realization should probably have scared the hell out of him.
Instead, all he could think about was how much he wanted Zenko to keep touching him.
Open-mouthed kisses and the scrape of Zenko’s stubble across the sensitive skin of his neck had Shaun’s fingers flexing against the bedding.
He needed something to hold, something to keep him grounded as the intensity of everything between them threatened to overwhelm him.
His fingers bunched into the pillow beside his head, his knuckles whitening with the tight grip.
His other hand trailed over the scorpion tattoo on Zenko’s side, his fingertips following the black, stark lines of the ink. Shaun’s imagination supplied a far more intimate way of tracing those lines, and the thought pulled a low groan from him. “Ummm.”