Chapter Thirteen #2
Was Finley currently on a no-sex diet? Had he recently ended one?
But with who? It wasn’t really any of Kieran’s business, but they’d spent so much time together.
How had he found an opportunity? Did he make a detour after leaving Kieran’s cabin?
Finley shared the house with the burly foreman and Dylan.
Hooking up with one of them would be pretty damn convenient and discreet.
But Dylan was as straight as a man could get and head over heels in love with Harry.
Was it Ivan? Is that why the foreman still glared at him?
Kieran thought about the interactions between Finley and Ivan and couldn’t recall a single spark of attraction, at least not from Finley’s end.
Ivan was another story. Were the two of them hooking up?
Finley’s soft chuckle interrupted his spinning thoughts. “Breathe, Kieran. And stop thinking so hard. I’m not involved with anyone right now unless you count my right hand and my dildo. They’ve both seen a ton of action.”
“Oh god,” Kieran said as torrid images flooded his mind, heating his blood and sending it south.
“Yeah, I’ve been moaning that into my pillow a lot lately.” If he didn’t stop talking about getting himself off, Kieran was going to come in his underwear. “Oh, heads up. Another car just arrived.”
Kieran resentfully slammed the door on his fantasies, but he’d take those babies out later when he was alone.
He recognized the BMW sedan right away. “That’s Ritchie’s car.
He’s probably there to give his boyfriend a ride.
Sometimes I would drive one vehicle over and take another back to the shop when it was due for pickup.
Other times, Ritchie would follow so we could go home afterward. ”
“Home? You lived together?” Finley asked.
“Not technically,” Kieran replied as Ritchie parked his sedan next to the Mercedes.
“We’d dated for a year, and most of my stuff was at his place.
I thought living together was the next logical step, but Ritchie got squirrelly every time I brought it up, even though he got mad when I stayed at my place.
He accused me of throwing a fit because I didn’t get my way.
Ritchie did this push-pull thing that made me feel like I was crazy.
He’d hurt me, and I’d end up being the one who apologized. ”
“Gaslighting 101,” Finley said softly. “He won’t be able to bullshit his way out of trouble when we get done with him.” Kieran loved the vehemence in his voice. Finley made him believe, which was something he thought was no longer possible. “So Ritchie had all your stuff while you were in jail?”
Kieran shrugged. “I didn’t have much. I learned at a very early age to travel light, and those habits transitioned to adulthood.
He could’ve easily tossed my shit in a trash bag and fully erased me from his life.
My name wasn’t on any documents connected to the apartment.
Not the lease, not the bills, nothing. I hadn’t even updated the address on my ID yet.
That’s how he could get away with claiming not to know me. ”
“Why did you have to travel light? Were one of your parents in the military?”
Kieran snorted to cover up his anxiousness.
They were veering into uncomfortable territory, but Finley had made himself vulnerable for Kieran.
Then again, their confessions were drastically different.
Finley’s disclosures were arousing, while Kieran’s revelations would extinguish the desire between them as quickly as it had arrived.
Then again, maybe that was for the best. “No one wanted to keep me long enough for me to accumulate much.”
Finley’s breath hitched, and he reached over to squeeze Kieran’s hand.
“This is why I prefer animals.” The forcefulness in Finley’s voice contradicted the gentleness in his touch.
“Present company excluded.” He gave Kieran one more squeeze before releasing him.
“Ritchie’s windows are tinted too, but they’re not as dark as the Mercedes.
It looks like there are two people inside. ”
Kieran adjusted his binoculars and peered through the rear windshield. “You’re right. Maybe it’s the person calling the shots.”
A few minutes passed by without the boyfriend exiting the warehouse.
The driver’s side door on the BMW opened and Ritchie stepped out.
Finley went to town with his camera. He could become a paparazzo if the horse training gig didn’t pan out.
Ritchie bent down and spoke to the person inside his car, and they pushed their door open too.
Kieran didn’t recognize the silhouette when the passenger stepped out of the car and into the shadows.
Click. Click. Click. He could only tell it was a tall man with linebacker shoulders.
When the mystery man stepped into the light, Kieran noted a square jaw, flat nose, and a dark buzz cut. Click. Click. Click.
“Whoa,” Finley said. “Dude’s nose looks like he went several rounds with a heavyweight boxer.” The warehouse door opened, and the boyfriend reappeared. “Probably worried Ritchie was up to no good with Brick House,” Finley said. Click. Click. “You recognize the bruiser?”
“Nope.”
They fell quiet, Kieran watching the tableau play out through the binoculars as Finley captured every second. The boyfriend looked more annoyed than pissed. He called out something to the other two as they approached. “Too bad I can’t read lips,” Kieran said.
Click. Click. Click. “He said, ‘It’s about damn time. I thought you changed your mind.’”
Kieran looked over at Finley, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the scene. “Seriously? You read lips too? Is there anything you can’t do?” Finley shrugged, so Kieran looked through the binoculars in time to see the three men enter the warehouse.
“Now what?” Finley asked.
“We wait and see if anyone else shows up. If not, we document what they drive off in.”
Finley lowered the camera to his lap and narrowed his eyes. “We need to figure out who the other two men are in the trio and learn everything we can about them. Hopefully we’ll uncover some leverage we can exploit.”
Kieran’s mouth fell open in shock. “Like blackmail?”
“Whatever it takes,” Finley replied. “I say we follow Brick House if he drives off in a second vehicle.” Before Kieran could respond, Finley’s eyes widened. “Shit! We’ve been made.”
Kieran looked out his window and saw nothing, but then he noticed an orb of light bouncing in the truck’s side mirror. “Must be a security guard.” The bouncing increased and drew closer. “They probably already have your license number, so speeding away won’t do us any good.”
Finley stashed his camera in the green military bag with PFC Finnigan Donovan stamped on the fabric, then he hoisted it onto his lap.
Since the truck was a single cab, there was no place to stash the bag.
The guard would want to know what was in it and would call the cops if they didn’t comply.
Finley glanced in the side mirror again and said, “We don’t have much time.
Scoot over to the middle of the bench seat. ”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it,” he said calmly. “We need to distract this person from wanting to learn more about what we’re up to in here.”
Kieran scooted over, still not sure what was going on until Finley set the duffel in his vacated footwell and straddled Kieran’s thighs. “This again?” he teased. “You better really sell it.”
Finley cupped the back of his neck and pressed a hard kiss against his mouth.
Kieran gasped and dropped his hands to Finley’s hips.
He hauled him closer and parted his lips, inviting Finley to deepen the kiss, and the blond fireball in his arms didn’t disappoint.
Finley slid one hand into Kieran’s hair, pulled his head back, and slid his tongue into Kieran’s mouth.
They groaned together, and Finley thrust his hips forward, grinding his pelvis against Kieran’s.
Was this part of the decoy, or was Finley finally giving in to the sexual tension that had been building between them since they’d met?
Both of them were hard as steel, and Kieran was losing his ability to think objectively.
He slid his hands lower to cup Finley’s ass, wishing they were naked so he could part those round globes and finger the pucker nestled between them.
Finley grunted and frotted faster, applying the perfect amount of pressure that would have Kieran coming in his pants.
He growled and moved his right hand to trace the seam in the center of Finley’s jeans.
Finley lifted his head to cry out, and Kieran went to work on his neck, licking and biting a trail back to his hungry mouth. Finley sucked his tongue and fireworks exploded behind Kieran’s eyelids.
He realized the moment the flashlight was aimed at them, but he didn’t let up.
Finley thrust harder and Kieran held him tighter.
They kept at it until the guard tapped their flashlight against the window.
Finley and Kieran faked their surprise and pulled apart like two teenagers caught by their parents.
The guard looked to be in his late fifties, and a disgusted sneer pulled at his lips as he stared at them.
“You can’t be doing that shit here,” he yelled through the glass, not bothering to ask them to roll down their window. “Get out of here before I call the cops and have you arrested for lewd behavior.”
Finley quickly situated himself behind the wheel, shifted the truck into drive, and sped away. Once they drove around the building and reached the exit, he snapped on his seat belt. He looked at Kieran, who still sat in the middle. “Buckle up.”
Instead of moving back to his original seat, Kieran stayed there and used the lap belt.
“That was close,” Finley said breathlessly when he turned onto the street and drove away. “Should I apologize?”