Operation 19 Targets in Spotlight #6
“Now, I’m going home and getting back in bed. And I know you don’t listen.” She pointed at Cassidy. “Hopefully your boyfriend can get you to take my instructions seriously.”
Xander flushed so hot he felt it in his ears.
Cassidy stared at him for a long time.
Boyfriend.
Tech nodded once, then left.
The bedroom was quiet except for Xander’s uneven breathing and Cassidy’s slower, deeper breaths beside him. He pressed his cheek against Cassidy’s shoulder.
“I almost lost you,” he whispered.
Cassidy turned his face into Xander’s hair. “I’m not going anywhere. I got too much to live for now.”
Xander closed his eyes …because he did too.
They moved into the same secured suite at about three in the morning.
He should’ve been exhausted.
He was, but it didn’t mean he could sleep.
Cassidy showered first, and Xander fussed outside the door for him not to get the bandage soaked.
He waited in the bedroom, pretending to fold clothes from the bag Tech brought while listening for any sound that meant Cassidy might need his help.
When he came out in loose black sleep pants, shirtless except for the bandage around his arm and bruises across his chest, Xander almost broke apart again.
Cassidy caught him behind the back of his neck and hauled him against him before he could. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
Xander nodded.
Cassidy’s eyes looked tired, the lines around them deeper than usual. Cassidy kissed him gently, brushed one thumb down his cheek, then crossed to the bed and climbed in.
“I’ll be back, okay. I’m gonna go shower.”
Cassidy hummed, already falling asleep.
The faint sound of his snoring filled the room, and Xander stood in the doorway watching him far longer than he’d intended. But he just couldn’t stop staring at him.
He was willing to die for me.
He went to his own bathroom and showered with the lights low.
The water was so hot it turned his skin pink, but he still felt cold underneath it.
When he was done, he put on a robe and dropped down on the edge of his bed.
He turned off the lamp, and pulled back the covers, telling himself Cassidy needed rest, not him being needy and clingy, worrying every time he breathed too sharply or grunted.
He told himself not to be selfish.
Then he saw it again.
Cassidy’s body jerking from the bullets hitting his chest, so close to his heart.
He got up and damn near ran down the hallway. He stopped outside Cassidy’s door and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself, when he heard his deep voice.
“Lane.”
He opened the door.
Cassidy was lying on his back, wide awake.
He had one arm resting across his stomach, the bandaged one lying carefully at his side. The faint silver light from the moon cut shadows over his chest, turning the bruises darker, and the muscle harder.
“Com’ere, sweetheart.”
Xander crossed the room and climbed onto the bed carefully, but Cassidy still groaned when he curled into him.
He lurched back. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” Cassidy closed his good arm around him and dragged him back where he was “That wasn’t pain.”
Cassidy buried his nose beneath Xander’s chin and kissed the side of his throat, slow and sexy. “You smell good.”
Xander’s body reacted embarrassingly fast. Heat moved through him, low and helpless, blooming under the fear and stress of the night. Cassidy kissed him again, his warm mouth lingering longer on his sensitive skin.
“I thought you were asleep,” he whispered.
“I was.”
“You need to rest.”
“This is what I need.” Cassidy slid his hand up and down his back. “I’ll rest when I’m finished with you.”
Xander moaned, unable to fight Cassidy’s touch.
He lifted his face and Cassidy was watching him, eyes alert, mouth close, breath brushing over his lips.
For a second, neither of them moved. The air charging with everything they’d been waiting for.
Xander cupped Cassidy’s face, as he leaned in and kissed him. A quiet, tender press of his lips.
“Lane,” Cassidy murmured against his mouth.
Xander loved hearing his name there.
He answered with a shallow inhale before he tilted his head and kissed him again.
Cassidy slid his strong hand into his hair, holding him with that steady strength he craved.
He opened more, not in urgency, but surrender, and Cassidy took it with a tenderness that made the moment far more intimate than frantic passion could have.
Their mouths moved together in unhurried strokes, tasting and savoring.
Cassidy’s beard scraped across his skin, drawing a faint shiver from him, and a sound that made Cassidy tighten his arm around his waist, dragging him closer until he felt the hard evidence of his desire.
“I want you so damn bad,” Cassidy said, caressing his thumb along his bottom lip before he kissed him again.
Xander broke the kiss with a rough breath. “We have to be careful.”
“I know.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
Cassidy studied him. “Tell me you want me.”
“More than anything.”
Cassidy’s eyes darkened and Xander kissed him again.
This time, Cassidy didn’t hold back. Hunger surfaced, hot and shaking at the edges. His mouth worked over his with a need that made Xander’s whole body ache.
Cassidy hooked his good arm beneath him and lifted him with one powerful pull, drawing him up and over until Xander was straddling him.
A startled breath left him as he tried to lift his weight off but Cassidy held him there with a firm palm.
“You stay right there.”
“You call this careful?” Xander moved gently, shifting lower.