Chapter 25 #2
He definitely did. The pieces on the kitchen floor didn’t resemble anything like an espresso maker anymore.
“At least Keith is okay. She is okay, right?”
That was at least the third or fourth time he’d asked about his cat. “Keith is good, maybe a little jumpier than usual, but she wasn’t hurt.”
“Good.”
At the house, Gabe refused to let Casey help him out of the car. Instead, he was forced to hover at Gabe’s shoulder and watch him sort of shuffle to the steps, stiff from hours cuffed to a chair with his ankles zip-tied. He was, at least, faster than Elton.
“The door’s locked.” Casey dug in his pocket and held out the sparkly Hello Kitty key ring. “But hey, we found your set of keys.”
Accepting them, Gabe managed a grin—Casey wondered how he did that—and plucked out the one to the door, then pressed it into the lock. “Here goes not a hell of a lot.”
With Casey right behind him, Gabe stepped inside just past the door and paused for a minute.
His head moved to one side and then the other, taking in the destruction.
The damage seemed worse this morning, but maybe it was just Casey projecting his feelings.
Gabe didn’t seem all that upset. Maybe he really meant what he’d said about it just being stuff.
Maybe Gabe’s upbringing had more of an impact on his way of looking at his environment than Casey had ever considered.
“Get in the shower. I’ll be there in a minute,” Casey said.
Gabe didn’t argue with him, which Casey appreciated. He merely turned toward the hallway, stripping as he went, leaving a trail of dirty clothes behind him.
Fortunately, the bathroom was relatively untouched. The intruders had pulled the towels off the rack and dumped out the two drawers in the small vanity, but there hadn’t been much in them to begin with.
“I’ll grab clean towels.”
Gabe’s shower wasn’t much bigger than his, which made moving in together that much more practical of a decision. Casey snorted. Greta would have scrunched her face at him and asked what the hell he was waiting for.
Get a move on. Hold that man tight. Get him that new espresso maker as a housewarming present.
After doing what he could with clean sheets and a blanket to remake Gabe’s bed, Casey discovered a short stack of untouched towels at the back of the hall closet.
Randy and his friend had been destructive, but not thorough.
Even if Gabe had been hiding the Crevans here, they easily might have missed them.
The bathroom was hot and steamy when he returned. He set the towels on the counter next to the sink. Gabe was humming; who knew Casey would have appreciated the slightly off-key warblings of a partner in the shower.
“What’s that you’re humming?” Casey asked.
“Ah, what? How would I know? Songs just flow out of me.”
“But only in the shower?” Casey stripped off his own clothes, leaving them in a tidy pile on top of the toilet lid.
“And when I’m alone in the car.” He started up again, mumbling words this time in that way people do when they only remember the chorus. Casey caught something about secondhand emotions.
“Excuse me?” Casey pulled the shower curtain aside and stepped over the lip of the tub.
The shower enclosure really was too small for both of them so taking them together hadn’t happened often.
This morning the effort was worth it. Even if it meant he had to witness each bruise and scratch that Gabe currently wore on his skin.
“What’s Love Got To Do With It. Tina Turner. A classic, one of my all-time favorites. I blame my mother.”
Casey’s Grinch-like heart briefly stuttered, like it didn’t fit properly inside his chest anymore.
He sucked in a deep breath and allowed his gaze to run down the length of Gabe’s battered body and back up to his equally battered face.
There he found himself ensnared by a huge grin and a pair of grayish blue eyes sparkling with joy.
Only his Gabriel.
“I know this is probably terrible timing,” Casey began, setting his hands on Gabe’s hips and tugging so they were both half under the hot spray.
“But I love you. I wanted to say it without you being tied up, and I’m not telling you this now because you got yourself kidnapped and nearly, very close to possibly, killed last night.
It’s been on my mind for a while, and I should have said something sooner. I love you, Gabriel Karne.”
Gabe’s smile grew impossibly brighter and bigger. He leaned into Casey, looping his arms loosely around Casey’s neck.
“I love you back, Ranger Man. Casey Lundin. Protector of the forest and people—even those you don’t like much. Are you sure I don’t need to be kidnapped and threatened a few more times? This shower thing is nice.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
Smirking, Gabe rose the half an inch he needed to reach Casey properly, then his warm, wet, lips landed against Casey’s. Was this what was meant by “sealed with a kiss”? It sure felt like it to Casey.
Without Casey being conscious of having acted, his hands were cradling Gabe’s head, pulling him in, erasing the last bit of space between them.
Casey opened his mouth and let Gabe taste him, savoring Gabriel in return.
Until Charming Fucker, he hadn’t known it could be like this, a complete and utter surrender of his barriers. It was scary but perfect.
With five fingers wound through Gabe’s wet hair, Casey ran his other hand down Gabe’s body, reassuring himself that Gabe was okay. That he was really in his arms and not a figment of Casey’s imagination. After holding it together all night, he had to remind himself to breathe.
“I can’t tell you how scared I was for you. I just found you,” he whispered.
“Admit it, you hated me at first,” Gabe said between kisses.
Casey nodded. “But that changed pretty damn fast.” He gave him one last kiss and pulled back slightly. “Um, we should scrub down and rinse off.” Casey let go of Gabe and reached for the shower gel, pumping enough for two into his palm. “This shower is too small.”
“You’ve never complained before.”
“I’m not complaining. It’s a fact. And you’re injured, so I feel the need to check over the rest of you. And I bet you a dollar the hot water is about to go.”
“Damn, point made. Cold shower, not good.”
Casey soaped them both down and ignored his body’s reaction. Their bodies’ reactions. The sooner they were out of the shower and in Gabe’s bed, the better.
“I’m running this show,” Casey informed Gabe when they lay back onto the mattress.
He didn’t generally take charge when it came to sex.
Partly because of a lack of experience, but also, he had to admit, he very much enjoyed Gabe taking care of him.
And Gabe always did. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to Casey that Gabe in the bedroom was a juxtaposition to Gabe in real life.
That damn sexy smirk flashed across Gabe’s face. Rising to his knees and straddling Gabe’s hips, Casey laid a finger across Gabe’s lips.
“No, hush, just let me take care of you.”
“If you insist.”
“I do insist.”
Starting at his lips, Casey traced the lines of Gabe’s body. Sideways across his cheek, down his neck, across his chest, circling both nipples.
“Dammit, Casey,” Gabe panted.
It was Casey’s turn to smirk.
“God, you’re a monster. How did I not know this before now?” Gabe reached for Casey.
“Nope, hands to yourself. No touching.”
Dropping his hands, Gabe’s fingers scrabbled against the sheets searching for purchase.
“Not a monster, a fiend,” he panted.
Shifting off his hips, Casey scooted down to take Gabe’s erection between his lips. No warning, just a quick glance up to catch the needy gaze of his favorite pair of eyes, then sucking in.
“Oh, God,” Gabe moaned. He thrashed his hands around but didn’t thrust into Casey’s mouth. “Oh, god, oh god,” he chanted. “Don’t stop.”
They didn’t have long before Elton—or worse, Claribel—might impatiently knock on Gabe’s door, demanding to know why they weren’t at the post-adventure confab. No way in hell was Casey stopping. Their opportunity window was small, and they were both going to come, dammit.
Hollowing his cheeks, Casey sucked Gabe down as far as he could, which was surprisingly far. He swallowed, working his throat muscles around Gabe’s cock, loving the feel of him losing control. For his part, Gabe thrashed side to side, his hips moving back and forth.
“I can’t,” he rasped. “Fuck. Oh my god.” Gabe’s hands landed on his head, winding through his hair.
Casey wrapped his fingers around the base of Gabe’s cock, holding it still while he sucked and dragged his tongue around the tip of Gabe’s penis and then very gently dragged his teeth along his length.
He knew when Gabe had reached his limit. Casey had reached his too. One more wicked suck and Gabe exploded into his mouth, his fingers tugging on Casey’s hair as he released.
Casey pulled off him, letting Gabe’s cock slip from between his lips.
“Come here,” Gabe slurred, waving a hand toward Casey’s cock. “I want that.”
Knee-crawling up Gabe’s body Casey fed him his own weeping cock.
“I’m so close,” he said as Gabe’s mouth tightened around him. “So, fucking close.”
Casey propped himself up on his elbows over Gabe’s head and let himself fall into the bliss of Gabe’s touch, of knowing Gabe was alive and, at least mostly, unharmed.
Even so, Casey’s orgasm took him by surprise.
One second, he was gently pumping his hips, breathing in the scent of Gabe and sex, trying not to choke him.
The next heartbeat, he was coming so hard his vision blurred.
His rock-hard balls pulsed and emptied, his come streaming out of him and into Gabe.
Gabe’s eyes were closed, his cheeks working the last of Casey’s orgasm. There was too much come, so some dribbled out the corner of his mouth and down his neck to the sheet. God, it was sexy. Casey pulsed one last time.
“Fuck, Gabe,” Casey whispered against his forearm, shaking now from the effort of keeping himself from collapsing onto Gabe. With care, he pulled out of Gabe’s mouth and fell to the side.
After wiping his face with the sheet, Gabe rolled onto his side, facing Casey. He was smiling. “We needed that,” he said with a big breath. “I love you, Casey Lundin. So much. It’s a bit scary, actually.”
They were both covered with spunk and would need a second shower before leaving the house, but Casey smiled back at his partner.
“I don’t know much but I think maybe love is generally scary,” said Casey.
What the hell. Casey knew Gabe wouldn’t bring it up—he knew Casey too well. “I was serious, we do need a bigger boat. But maybe not a boat. What about a house together, big enough for us, Bowie, and Keith?”
“You’re talking about a home. About living together, me and you,” Gabe said, his grin huge.
“Yeah, I am.”
“If we weren’t in danger of being invaded by Claribel and crew, I’d take the time to show you just how incredible I think this idea of yours is. How vehemently I am saying ‘yes.’ Is tomorrow too soon?”
“Before we met, Gabriel, I hated doing anything fast.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow and leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Casey’s lips. “And how has that changed?”
It was Casey’s turn to smile. “I’m still not a fan but I’ve learned that with you, I just need to grab on and hold tight.”