Chapter Five
The Jameson has goneto your head,Cortland.
Not that they’d had all that much, and what theyhaddrunk seemed to mostly burn away when their conversation - the longest and weirdest andcoolestconversation of Cort’s life - had turned to the crash. But what other explanation could there be for Cort suddenly finding himself in an elevator standing oh-so-close to Cam Seaver - the younger brother of a man Cort despised, and exactly the kind of entitled, rich-kid asshole Cort had alwayshated?
Except Cam wasn’t like that atall.
Cort had come here tonight with only one item on his agenda - to find Cam Seaver and do some firsthand reconnaissance. All the evidence suggested that to find Damon, Cort needed to score himself an invitation to the Tyndalls’ gala on St. Brigitte. But without his FBI connections or any social pedigree of his own, it meant cozying up to someone with an invite, or possibly blackmailing them. Using the very assholes who’d stolen Damon’s life from him had seemed like poetic justice, and Cam Seaver was by all accounts the weaker link. So, he’d put together a folder on Cam with everything from Cam’s impressive SAT scores to the kind of car he drove, but he’d known he’d need a lot more information than that. Tonight’s goal had been to figure out what made the younger Seaver tick - what his strengths and weaknesseswere.
Likingthe guy - genuinely, down-deep,likinghim – had not been part of theplan.
He’d been staring at Cam’s picture for the past few weeks, but weirdly enough, Cort hadn’t immediately recognized the man when he stepped into the ballroom. Maybe it was because the picture was a couple of years out of date, or maybe it was because Cort had been looking for Sebastian Seaver’s kid brother - a short kid with dark hair andfreckles.
What Cort had found, when a busty blonde near the door had been helpful enough to point him in the right direction, was definitelynota kid. Cam was all man, and gorgeous toboot.
His jaw was sharp as a knife, and the cleft in his chin was completely lickable - not a word Cort had ever applied to another man before. His eyes were pale enough to be noticeable from across the room, and hislips. Holy hell. Plump and wide, like a wet dream come to life. Yeah, Cam wasn’t built like most of the guys Cort had dated, but there was strength in the line of his shoulders and the column of his back. At the bar, Cam had said he was a runner, and Cort could totally see it in the fluid movement of Cam’s body and the way his pants hugged the contours of his ass. He’d never felt such an instantaneous attraction before, nor such a fucking inconvenientone.
Cort glanced at the man beside him as the elevator hit the roof deck. It appeared nobody else had the crazy idea to hang out on the roof this late at night since they had the elevator to themselves. Cam’s visible tension was amusing and fascinating and arousing as hell, like everything Cort had learned about the man from the moment they’d sat at the bar, when Cam had engaged one of the cleaning staff in a long and cheerful conversation about her family back in Hondurasin fluent Spanish. He’d quickly realized the Cam Seaver on paper couldn’t hold a candle to the complex, fascinating manhimself.
The doors opened, and Cort ushered Cam forward, placing his hand on the small of his back. Cam shivered at the contact, and Cort felt the same current flow through him. His dick thickened beneath the outrageously expensive suit he’d bought just for tonight, fast and painful enough to remind him how completely off-the-rails this evening hadgotten.
He hadn’t thought of Sebastian Seaver at all tonight, except when Cam was talking about his parents’ deaths, and even then Cort hadn’t felt the same burning anger, the same driving need to clear Damon’s name that he usually felt when he thought of thecrash.
He’d felt Cam’s pain, confusion, and anger instead, every emotion clearly broadcast on the man’s beautifulface.
So even though the trained investigator in him wanted to capitalize on the trust he’d established, to push for more information he could use later, Cort couldn’t bring himself to do it. Some other part of himself, a part he barely recognized, compelled him to offer Cam something genuine,instead.
They walked through the small elevator lobby, then Cort scanned his hotel keycard and pushed open the doors to the outdoor pool deck. Though the air was cooler than it had been earlier in the day, it clung to his skin, heavy and damp, like the precursor to a thunderstorm. Even the street noise below was nothing but a distant hum, nearly drowned out by the soft gurgle of the water lapping against the edges of the pool. They were cocooned in their own little bubble. It was eerie butbeautiful.
“Watch your step,” Cort warned, as he propelled Cam towards the far side of the deck, near the high glass enclosure which provided a stunning view of the city. They looked out over the lights silently for a moment. Cam drew a littlecloser.
What the hell am I doinghere?
But when Cam finally turned to him, those light blue eyes of his wide and anxious, and voiced the same question, “What are we doing, Cort?,” Cort didn’t make excuses, and he didn’t turn to leave. Instead, he slipped off his own suit jacket and kicked off his shoes, setting them on one of the nearby lounge chairs, along with the hated FBI-issue smart phone from hispocket.
“Undress,” he told Cam, whose gaze had focused on Cort’s discarded belongings, as though he wasn’t sure where tolook.
Cam blinked at him, then looked around the empty space. “Undress. What,here?”
“Yeah, right here. Right now. You can leave the boxer-briefs if you want. I’ve been dying to see them anyway.” Hewinked.
Cam shook his head like he couldn’t believe this was happening, but fuck if he didn’t start stripping. He began unbuttoning his shirt, his eyes focused on Cort the entire time, and when the shirt sleeve slipped off his shoulder, revealing his skin-tight t-shirt and tanned, toned arms, Cort stopped breathing for a moment. Would Cam show him the same trust if he knew who Cort reallywas?
God, tonight would go down in history as the stupidest decision Cort had ever made, but he didn’t care. He’d never wanted anyone or anything the way he wanted Cam Seaver. So, they’d have tonight, maybe. Just a few hours, until sanity was restored and he remembered all the reasons why he shouldn’t like Cam as much as hedid.
Then Cam took off his shirt, and once again, all rational thought fled Cort’s mind. Cam glowed in the golden light, all sleek, smooth skin and firm, barely-definedmuscles.
The man wasgorgeous.
The nicely cut suit jacket and ass-hugging pants had given the impression of lean strength inside the crowded ballroom, but it was nothing to the way Cam looked in the ambient light: lean, golden, and gorgeous. Cort’s mouth went dry. He quickly shucked his own shirt, socks, and pants, then crossed the short distance betweenthem.
“Take them off,” he said, hooking a thumb in the waistband of Cam’s pants. His voice was thick with arousal, and he knew Cam heard it when he shuddered despite the warmair.
But Cam backed up a pace. “Tell me what’s happening here first.” Any effect from the Jameson had burned off long ago, and Cam was clearly back in control. Fornow.
Cort rolled his eyes and took a step forward. “We’re stripping down next to a pool. I figured it was pretty obvious, badass. We’re getting in thewater.”
Cam looked from Cort, to the water, and back again. Then he licked his full lips. “What if I don’t wantto?”
