Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
GABE
Nico grinned from ear to ear as he held up his brand-new driver’s license. I pulled him into a hug. “Last task for January done. Congratulations, baby.”
“Thanks,” he replied. “Now I just have to get a car.”
I put my arm around him as we walked out of the DMV. “Doesn’t Zach have a car waiting for you?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s a 2014 Honda Civic. His old landlord drove it until he had to go into a nursing home. It’s got low mileage for its age, and the price is good.”
I pulled up the collar of my coat when we stepped outside and a blast of wintry wind hit me. “Damn, it’s cold.”
“January will do that,” Nico said with a cheeky grin.
“Yeah, yeah.” We crossed the parking lot to my car. I opened the driver’s door and motioned for Nico to take the wheel. “You might as well start using that shiny new license.”
He kissed me. “Thanks.”
Once we got on the highway, I said, “Let’s get some lunch. How about Taka?”
“Sounds good to me,” he replied. “I’m up for some sushi.”
Since it was past the lunchtime rush, Taka wasn’t too busy. After the server took our orders, Nico called Zach and left a message asking about the car. “Now I have to figure out how much car insurance will cost.”
“I’d put you on my insurance, but we’d have to be married.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I froze. I had not meant to say any of that aloud. I sipped my water as if that would wash away the words.
Nico stared at me wide-eyed. His cheeks turned pink, and he cleared his throat. “I think we’re a ways away from that.” His mouth twitched. “We haven’t even gotten to blowjobs yet.”
I almost snorted water out of my nose. I chuckled as I wiped my face with my napkin. “Asshole.”
His cheeks were still rosy when he said, “We can always revisit that idea at a future date.”
A slow smile curved my lips. “We could at that.”
The server came by and dropped off our drinks. We clinked our beer glasses, and I said, “To a successful January. It’s a great start to a new year.”
“Hear, hear,” Nico said.
The server had just brought our food when my phone vibrated with a call. It was Marco. I swiped to answer, mouthing an apology to Nico. “Hey, Marco. What’s up?”
“I’m giving you a heads-up,” he began without preamble. “The COO of one of our corporate clients has been kidnapped. We’re on standby to leave for Croatia within the next twenty-four hours.”
“Copy that, Chief. I’ll be ready.” After I ended the call, I changed the volume of my phone to its loudest ring and put it back in my pocket.
Nico asked, “What’s up?”
“Personnel extraction,” I replied. “I’ll be leaving for Croatia within the next twenty-four hours.”
He blinked. “Wow. So that’s rescuing kidnapped executives, right?”
I nodded. “Usually. On occasion, we rescue other people. We sometimes get contacted by family members asking us to rescue loved ones from dangerous situations.” I took a sip of my beer. “That’s how Marco met Liam.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“A couple of years ago, Liam was working for Doctors Without Borders at a refugee camp along the Syria/Lebanon border. He was kidnapped by Syrian militants who thought he was a doctor. Marco’s team rescued him before the militants could kill him for being a nurse.”
Nico’s jaw dropped. “Liam worked in a war zone? On purpose?”
I chuckled. “Yeah. He’s actually pretty badass. He’s just lowkey about it.”
He huffed a low laugh. “That’s for damn sure.” He titled his head. “You talk about it like you weren’t there.”
“I wasn’t,” I replied. “I didn’t join the team until a few months later.”
“Who’s on the team for personnel extractions?” he asked.
“Marco is lead. Then it’s me, Dante, Andrea, and Pete.” I paused to eat some of my sushi. “Sometimes, if we think we’ll need it, we’ll bring in contractors to supplement the main team. Everyone on the team except Michael and Liam have military backgrounds.”
Nico’s brows rose to his hairline. “Michael and Liam go with you? What for?”
“We need Michael so he can continue monitoring anything computer or internet-related. He’s also good at blinding the bad guys by taking over their security systems. Liam is our medic. Neither one goes into the combat zone. They’re strictly support.”
“Wow. You all are a bunch of badasses.”
I shrugged. “I suppose. We save people from the bad guys. It’s what we’ve always done. Doing this is the closest we can come to adapting to civilian life.” I frowned. “Does it bother you?”
He looked at me in surprise. “That you rescue people from bad guys? Of course not.”
I shook my head. “Not that. Does it bother you that you’re not on the team?”
“No way,” he replied vehemently. “I lived in a combat zone for four years. I never want to do that again. I like working the security jobs with you, but I’m not cut out to be a military type.”
“I think you underestimate yourself,” I said.
He didn’t answer right away, instead, taking time to eat some more of his meal. Finally, he said, “I’m sure if I had to do it, I could. I already have done it in prison. But now that I’m out and don’t have to fight for my life, I don’t want to turn around and do it for work. You get what I’m saying?”
I remembered the picture of a much younger Nico on the nightstand next to Cody’s bed. His carefree smile had lit up his whole face then. The man sitting across from me wasn’t the same man from the picture, but I knew he was trying to recapture at least some of that light. “I do. You have a plan that doesn’t include busting down doors and getting shot at.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Jesus Christ, Gabe. Please be careful. I like you in one piece.”
I reached across the table to cover his hand with mine. “I’m always careful. I do my best to stay safe, and my team has my back.”
“Okay.”
We finished our lunch, paid the bill, and then headed back to the house. After we hung up our jackets, Nico held out his hand. “Let’s go upstairs. I was going to wait until tonight, but since you might get called away, I don’t want to wait any longer.”
“Wait for what?” I asked.
He grinned. “Remember when I said we hadn’t gotten to blowjobs yet?”
I got lightheaded from all my blood racing to my cock. “I remember. Are we about to rectify that omission?”
He winked, took my hand, and led me to my bedroom. I think I broke a land speed record getting undressed. Nico took a bit longer because he kept stopping to run his hands over my body. My aching cock was leaking, and just the brush of his fingers up my shaft threatened to send me into orbit. Finally, I took his hands in mine. “Baby, if you don’t stop, I’m gonna blow before we even get started.”
“Can’t help it,” he gasped. “I love touching you.”
I kissed him long and slow. “Finish getting undressed, and we can touch each other.”
He looked a little dazed as he complied. And then it was my turn to touch and taste. I loved how relaxed he’d become in the past few weeks since starting therapy. Whatever he was doing with Teresa was allowing him to enjoy intimacy more.
Soon, we were wrapped around each other, bodies entwined and lips tangled. I lifted my head to take in a much-needed breath. “I have an idea.”
He blinked lust-darkened eyes at me. “What’s that?”
“How about we form my favorite number?”
His brow creased in confusion for a moment before his expression cleared. He grinned. “You have the best ideas.”
I leaped onto my bed and turned on my side, crooking my finger in a come-hither motion. Nico grinned and shook his head. “You’re such a goof.”
“But you love me anyway,” I said. Then I pressed my lips together because my big mouth was going to get me in trouble again.
Color tinged his cheeks, and he smiled shyly. “Yeah.”
He crawled up the bed and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. Our bodies slotted together and he felt so good pressed against me. “I love kissing you,” I said when we came up for air.
“Same,” he replied. “But I still want to suck your dick.”
“I am one hundred percent okay with that.” I searched his expression. “You’re still good, right?”
Nico nodded. “Yes. Still good.” He moved back and flipped his body so his mouth was level with my cock. I had to bend a little to reach him because of our height difference. I groaned when I felt his tongue lick the head of my cock. When his mouth engulfed me, I almost lost it right then. I took deep breaths and focused on giving as good as I got.
I licked up his shaft and across the bulbous head, tasting the salty precum dripping from his slit. His groan of pleasure vibrated up my spine. I just barely controlled my impulse to thrust into the wet heat of his mouth.
He slid farther down my shaft, his hum of delight once again sending sparks of lust throughout my body. I wouldn’t last much longer. His movements sped up, and when he cradled my balls with his fingers, I was a goner. I pulled off his cock and growled, “Coming.”
He didn’t move off me but instead increased the suction on my dick. White-hot pleasure coursed through me. I bucked my hips, my shouts of ecstasy filling the room as I shot my load down his throat.
It took me a minute to get my breathing under control. When I lifted my head, Nico was looking at me. His lips were red and swollen, and he had drops of my cum on his chin and the corner of his mouth. With a feral growl, I grabbed the back of his neck and crushed my lips to his, tasting myself on his tongue. “That was so fucking hot.”
Nico hummed, his eyes half-closed, his mouth curved in a smile of contentment. “Yeah, it was.”
I kissed him again. “Now it’s my turn.” I turned back to his rigid cock. The purple head was leaking precum down his angry red shaft. His balls were drawn up tight. He looked like he could blow any second. I took that as my cue to swallow him whole. Nico groaned and thrust his hips into my eager mouth. Lucky for him—and me—I had no gag reflex. I cupped his balls in my hand and hollowed my cheeks. His cock got harder, and I heard him gasp, “Coming.” I tasted the first spurts of cum and drank down everything he gave me, holding him in my mouth until his dick softened and got too sensitive.
I pulled away from him and lay flat on the bed. Nico turned and crawled up to rest his head on my chest. I wrapped my arm around him and drew him close. He hummed softly. “This is nice.”
“Yeah, it is,” I murmured. I sank into his warmth and listened as his breathing slowed and steadied. I kissed him on the forehead and followed him into sleep.
The room was dark when I was jolted awake by my phone ringing. I rolled out of bed, waking Nico in the process. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s probably Marco,” I replied as I searched the floor for my jeans. Nico turned on the bedside lamp so I could see better. I found my jeans and pulled out my phone just as it stopped ringing. I checked it and found I’d missed six text messages from Marco. “Shit,” I muttered.
Before I could call him back, my phone started ringing with a call from him. I swiped to answer. “Go for Gabe.”
“Where the fuck were you?” he growled.
“None of your business, Chief.”
After a moment of stunned silence, Marco said, “We’re a go for Croatia. The company is chartering a plane out of Newark. It leaves at nine. We need to be at the airport by seven.”
“Copy that.”
“Do you want to ride with us so Nico has a car?” he asked.
I looked over at Nico, who had pulled on his jeans and shirt. “I can ride with Marco and Liam to the airport if you want me to leave the car.”
He bit his lip, something vulnerable in his eyes. “Can I take you?”
Warmth filled my chest. “Sure.” To Marco, I said, “Nico’s going to drive me to the airport.”
“Copy. You know where to go?”
“Yep. I’ll be there at seven.”
After I ended the call, I opened my arms. Nico walked into my embrace and wrapped his arms tightly around me. “Please be careful, Gabe.”
“I will. I promise.”