Operation 11 Safety Feels Like Him #2
Both slipped from his shaky hands and hit the bar top with a sharp clatter that made him flinch so hard he bit his tongue.
“Damnit.”
He managed to pour a shot, though half of it sloshed across the stone counter. He didn’t bother to wipe it up before he threw the drink back.
The burn was instant and violent.
He coughed, squeezing his eyes shut as heat tore down his throat and landed hard in his chest.
The door opened across the suite.
Fuck.
He didn’t have the energy to pretend he was just enjoying a nightcap. He turned the bottle up again, spilling more on the bar but managing to get enough to cover the bottom of the glass.
He threw that back too, groaning at the burn, wondering how much it would take before his body gave up and passed out.
That was the only way he would sleep.
He lifted the freezing bottle again.
A big hand reached over his shoulder, closed around his own, and forced it back down to the bar.
“Enough.”
Cassidy
Hearing the clink of glass in the front room, Cassidy was out of his chair before he even thought about it.
Free had cc’d him on the email to his bosses. He’d been reading his preliminary system notes from Xander’s property break-in, plus the text messages copied to the studio security detail.
He was glad he always kept a packed duffle bag with the essentials and a laptop in the trunk of his Mustang, because his emergencies never allowed for him to swing by his house first.
He’d been staring at the messages for ten minutes, anger sitting restlessly in his chest like a loaded weapon, when he heard the commotion in the front room.
Xander stood at the bar shaking hard enough that the vodka bottle in his hand tapped against the rim of the glass as he tried to pour.
Cassidy saw the spill across the counter. Xander’s shoulders were hunched, skin flushed, his eyes closed tight.
He hurried across the room and reached over him, stopping his movements before Xander could pour another glass.
“Enough.”
The words came out rougher than he’d intended, but Xander didn’t fight him.
The bottle slipped from his loose grip, and Cassidy set it out of reach. He braced his other hand on the edge of the bar to keep from putting it where he shouldn’t.
He’d changed into soft black lounge pants and a thin black tank top. So when Xander leaned back into him without warning, he felt it everywhere.
Xander surrendered his full weight against Cassidy’s chest and let out a tortured moan.
Every muscle in Cassidy locked. He’d taken bullets with less impact than that sound.
Christ.
Xander’s body fit against him with delicious ease, warm and trembling, the scent of expensive vodka and soap rising from him.
He’d been touched plenty in his life. Hit…grabbed…torn apart then patched back together. But this was so very different. This was desperate need. Craving.
He hadn’t had a man in his arms, a mouth against his, strong hands reaching for him in too many years. He’d buried himself in work, and daily routines, to forget about the lack of comfort and closeness in his life.
Xander tipped his head back, brushing his temple along his jaw.
Cassidy lifted his hand, hovering near Xander’s waist, close enough to feel the heat coming off him but far enough away to pretend he still had control.
Xander moved his head slowly, grazing his temple back and forth against his stubble.
He lowered his face, brushing his nose along the hair behind Xander’s ear. His pulse was beating fast on the side of his throat, too frantic for him to ignore.
“Please,” Xander whispered.
His restraint slipped enough for a low groan to leave him.
Cassidy should’ve stepped back, taken a cold shower, called God to put another man in the room and stop whatever was happening between them before he ended up looking like a fool.
Instead, he laid his hand against Xander’s hip and slid the other around his waist.
Xander’s body softened into his touch, and Cassidy had to close his eyes for one difficult second.
This was dangerous.
Not because Xander was so much younger than him, and not because he was super famous, not even because Cassidy was now assigned to protect him.
It was dangerous because Xander’s affection could easily be mistaken for something else.
Hero worship.
Which meant when Xander was safe, and his life was back to normal…would he still want him?
Xander turned a fraction in his arms and leaned the back of his head on his shoulder.
Fuckin’ hell. How was he supposed to fight this?
He brushed his mouth along Xander’s brow, barely a touch, and still Xander shivered. The power of it went straight to his head, that he could undo him with almost nothing.
He moved to Xander’s cheek, just barely skimming his lips along his warm skin without taking more.
Xander shifted again, and Cassidy’s body betrayed him, his hardness pressing against Xander’s lower back before he could angle away.
“Mmm,” Xander hummed.
“Don’t,” he warned, but the word held no bite, hunger had already dug down to the bone.
“I can’t…I can’t stop wanting you,” Xander said hoarsely, his honest words sounding so vulnerable and devastating.
That was it. That fucking declaration took the last bit of fight Cassidy had, and he knew he’d lost the battle.
“Say my name again,” he said roughly as he brushed his lips across the bridge of Xander’s nose.
Xander swallowed, his breaths coming faster. “Cassidy.”
He tightened his grip and pushed in closer, whispering into the warm space at the corner of Xander’s lips. “No. Say the name you call me.”
Xander turned in his arms.
He had to tip his head back to meet Cassidy’s gaze, and the sight of him looking up like that made fire blaze up his spine.
“Cassie,” Xander sighed into his mouth.
His dick shouldn’t get that hard just from hearing Xander say that.
Xander’s eyes were still red-rimmed, lashes damp, face splotchy, lips flushed from the vodka and the almost-kisses.
“What is it you want from me?” Cassidy groaned.
Xander could have his pick of any man in the world. What the hell could he give him besides his protection? He was already getting that.
“I want you to hold me like you did in my bedroom…when you came for me.”
Something in Cassidy’s chest gave way.
He wrapped one arm around Xander’s back and pulled him in close, tight enough to feel the breath leave him.
He slid his other hand up Xander’s spine and into his hair, cradling the back of his head.
Cassidy stared down into those sad blue eyes, and the room, the city, the case seemed to fade away.
Xander eased his hands up Cassidy’s chest slowly, pausing over his pecs.