A Taste of Tucson
Danny
Danny slipped in through the hotel room door he’d left propped open. Lucien’s hotel room door, to be exact, even if he wasn’t there at the moment. Now it was Danny and Roman’s for the night.
How fucking weird was that?
Danny had left Roman there while he’d gotten Jay settled next door—they’d been lucky there was another room available so close—and he wasn’t surprised now to find Roman snooping.
Danny couldn’t exactly blame him either. Who wouldn’t be curious when their long-time-friend-turned-bitter-enemy-turned-who-the-hell-knew offered to let them stay in their hotel room for the night?
It was probably the only reason Roman had accepted the offer in the first place—to appease his morbid curiosity over where Lucien was staying. They’d already made reservations at a different hotel for their Tucson stay, so it wasn’t like they’d needed it.
The change of plans was fine with Danny, and Jay definitely didn’t care either way. He probably wouldn’t have minded snuggling up with them in Lucien’s king-size bed either, but Roman sure as hell would have.
And seeing Roman now, Danny had to be grateful he’d insisted on separate rooms. Danny’s absurdly handsome mate had stripped out of his suit already, and he was facing away from Danny in tight black boxer briefs, his wide shoulders and beautiful back muscles on full display.
Even after hundreds of nights together, it was a struggle not to drool.
“Find anything interesting?” Danny asked, wiping his mouth just in case, wincing at how thirsty his voice came out.
Roman turned from where he’d been fiddling with the elegant vanity in the suite, the one with the missing mirror.
He didn’t look at all ashamed to have been caught digging around.
He held up a finger, something sparkling on the tip.
“A shard of glass,” he murmured. “He broke the mirror here. Lucien.”
Okaaaay. Apparently Roman’s frenemy-ship with Lucien turned him into Sherlock fucking Holmes. Duly noted.
Danny fought to contain his smile. “The self-loathing is strong with that one,” he pointed out.
“Mm,” Roman agreed, studying the glass on his finger.
Well, if they were going to actually speak about it all… “Jamie’s not what I expected,” Danny said, locking the door behind him and walking further into their room.
Which was a huge fucking relief, to say the least. Danny had been legitimately worried that Lucien might have been holding some unsuspecting, helpless human captive, and they were going to have to do some sort of hostage negotiation.
That maybe Lucien had found some other false mate he’d convinced himself he needed to drag down into his own personal hell.
But Jamie hadn’t exactly been unsuspecting, had he?
He’d clocked Danny and Roman right away, and he seemed to know the whole damned deal, more than Danny had at that point in his and Roman’s relationship.
And he sure as hell wasn’t helpless. He’d stood his ground against them and the dickish redheaded twins.
Roman made a noncommittal French sound, and Danny couldn’t help shamelessly pushing for more of a reaction. “Pretty too.”
Striking, really, with his green hair and androgynous features and mischievous energy.
Roman made a little moue of distaste with his mouth, even as he conceded, “Lucien always did have an eye for beautiful things.”
Danny grinned at him. “Is that why he turned you?”
Roman’s icy blue eyes turned smoldering, and he crossed over to the neatly made bed, sitting on the end of it and pulling Danny to him.
“Lovely mate,” he crooned, running his nose along Danny’s neck, sending a trail of goose bumps along his skin. His hands came to rest on Danny’s hips. “Do not think I am unaware of why you brought me here.”
“Rescue and reconnaissance?” Danny asked innocently.
Roman huffed, his breath hot on Danny’s skin. “You wish me to make amends with your murderer.”
Danny fought to contain his eye roll. There they were with the whole “Lucien murdered you” thing again. “Not the exact wording I would have gone with,” he hedged.
Roman pulled back to give him a stern look. Although, the joke was on him, because stern looked hot as hell on him. “You are too tenderhearted,” he chastised, not for the first time.
“You’re starting to forgive him,” Danny argued.
“He makes me violent with rage.”
“Well, yes. I can feel that through the bond,” Danny admitted.
It was true. Just the sight of Lucien, and red-hot anger pulsed through the bond like lava.
“But I can also feel that it’s…lessening, every time you see him.
And you told him you forgive him.” Danny pointed an accusatory finger, laughing when Roman pretended to bite at it. “I heard it.”
Roman arched a brow. “I said no such thing.”
“You called him your frenemy.”
“I was quoting you, little king.”
“Still, you said it.” Danny couldn’t keep the smugness out of his voice.
“And I think Jamie’s his real mate.” When Roman snarled, Danny swept his hands along his shoulders soothingly.
“And that’s a good thing. He won’t go feral.
He won’t be lost completely. And Jamie seems cool. When they’re ready to leave Tucson…”
“You would have them join our den?” Roman asked, dropping his hold. Surprise and shock sparked through the bond. Apparently Roman hadn’t realized quite how far Danny’s “tenderhearted” ways went.
Danny wouldn’t force the issue, of course. He didn’t want Roman to be miserable in their new home. He just thought it was worth…suggesting.
But after a long moment, Roman’s eyes softened, his hands coming back to Danny’s hips. “You cannot help it, can you?” he murmured. “Taking care of everyone around you.”
“It’s your fault,” Danny told him, maybe nonsensically. But it was, really. Before they’d met, Danny had been too overwhelmed to care for anyone outside his patients and his mom. He’d been barely hanging on, all his focus on surviving until the next week.
But now he was working less, his mother was getting the best possible care with no concern for cost, and Gabe was finally sharing that emotional load.
Plus, Danny had the benefits of a kick-ass vampire energy boost. He had more time and resources and inner strength than he’d ever had before.
And he wanted to give it all to the community they were going to build.
He didn’t want anyone in their circle to end up lost like Roman, or hurting like Lucien, or trapped like Jay and Soren had been.
They would all be safe, and they would all be happy, damn it. Even the ones with…looser morals than Danny might have liked.
Roman read it all, either on Danny’s face or through the bond. He let out a long breath, rubbing his cheek on Danny’s shoulder. “My tender little king,” he crooned. “My lovely mate.”
Danny carded his fingers through Roman’s dark, silken hair. “Do you hate it? That I’m pushing this?”
Roman clucked his tongue, pressing a kiss to Danny’s clothed shoulder. His fingers dipped lower on Danny’s hips, brushing under the waistband of his pants. “There is nothing about you I could hate, mon petit roi.”
“That is not a very healthy philosophy to have,” Danny protested, even as he shivered at the soft touch.
“Fuck healthy,” Roman told him with a smirk.
Danny yelped as he was lifted into the air by strong hands on his butt, Roman rising from the bed in one smooth motion. “Come. Let us wash the desert off of you.”
“You just want to get me naked,” Danny accused, wrapping his arms around Roman’s neck.
“Always.” Roman’s smirk turned into a devilish grin. “But I need no excuse for that.”
And Danny wasn’t going to argue. Not when a nice perk of this little vacation was that they got to use the massive bathroom of Lucien’s overpriced hotel suite. The shower was probably four times the size of what they had to work with in Danny’s humble home.
Roman stripped him efficiently, gracefully kicking off his own underwear until they were both clad in nothing more than their wedding bands.
God, there was nothing like a naked Roman. All long, lean muscles, that thick cock already hardening for Danny. It made the baby demon within him alert and restless, ready to touch and lick and suck.
Our gorgeous mate.
Roman’s eyes were molten, the vampire no doubt feeling Danny’s lust and appreciation through the bond. He flipped on the hot water without taking his eyes off Danny, and once steam was billowing through the bathroom, he manhandled him inside.
He started soaping Danny up immediately, turning him this way and that so he could get to every part of him.
It made Danny giggle—it wasn’t like the desert heat could actually make him sweaty these days.
But he knew it was more about the act itself.
A way for Roman to cherish Danny, as he always did.
And of course Roman paid special focus to…certain parts of him.
Danny was going to have the cleanest dick in all of Tucson at this rate.
Well, if that was the direction this was going in… Danny pushed his ass out, shamelessly encouraging Roman’s wandering hands. He received an approving growl, even as Roman teased, “Need something, little mate?”
“Just being helpful,” Danny told him, aiming for a coy tone but ending up with something hopelessly slutty.
Oh well. It wasn’t like he was fooling anyone anyhow.
And thank fuck he wasn’t. Because in the next instant Roman sank to his knees behind him, spreading Danny’s cheeks and licking over his hole.
“Oh fuck!” Danny cried, slapping his hands against the shower wall so his knees didn’t give out.
Roman growled again, the sound sending tremors through Danny’s body.
He started swiping his tongue in maddening little circles, making hungry noises every time Danny whimpered.
When Danny’s hole had softened enough for Roman to spear him with his tongue, he took full advantage, eating him out like a madman, licking and sucking and grunting while Danny cried out helplessly.