“GaryNorth.”
“I know which Gary you meant, McMann. The Gary who wants to get in your pants. The Gary who flirted with you relentlessly. The Gary who refused to give us any more information on Alexei because he wouldn’t betray his sources.ThatGary.”
“Fine. Point made. Forget I mentioned it.” Drew looped his arms around Sebastian’s neck. “Do you know how many times we would be sitting in meetings and I would think about this? You’d get all cranky about… something or other. I mean, it never tookmuch.”
“You’re calling me a dramaqueen?”
“Never!” Drew laughed. “But I’d stare at you and wish that I could push back your chair and sit on your lap. Tease you. Relax you. Kiss you. Likethis.”
He pressed his warm mouth to Sebastian’s, and even though Basknewhe was being played, he couldn’t bring himself to give a shit. He threaded his fingers into Drew’s hair and took the kissdeeper.
“That was supposed to relax me?” he asked when he finally eased back some timelater.
“Didn’t it?” Drew askedinnocently.
Bas took Drew’s hand and pushed it against the front of his jeans. He was already half-hard and debating the wisdom of taking Drew against the floor or having Drew suck him off right in thechair.
“You know tonight is New Year’s Eve,” Drew commented. “If you had told me even three days ago that you and I would be spending it together, like this, I wouldn’t have believedyou.”
“I know,” Bas said. He traced a finger around the curve of Drew’s neck which, three days ago, had just been a neck, and now was almost unbearablyerotic.
“And you know what’s even better thanthat?”
Bas shook his head. He literally couldn’t think of anything better. He wouldn’t have been able to imaginethis.
“What’s even better,” Drew whispered. “Is thinking about the way we’ll spendnextNew Year’s Eve. And all the nights between now and then. Together.Safe.”
Bas ran his tongue over his teeth and stared into the intelligent,craftybrown eyes of the man heloved.
“You want me to agree to go to this auction,” he surmised. “Plying me with kisses is low,McMann.”
“Please.” Drew snorted. “That won’t sway you. My argument will.” He dropped another kiss on Bas’s lips. “I just like to kiss you becauseIcan.”
And fine, Bas could hardly argue with that. But as to therest…
“Okay, let’s talk about this, then.” He shifted position, holding Drew more firmly. “I know I’ve been the one pushing this for months. All I could see was Alexei and SILA. Getting revenge.” He ran his hand up Drew’s back, feeling his muscles bunch and flex under the soft cotton of his own t-shirt. “And part of that was guilt, because things began to change on Halloween. I started to think of you in a different way and I… felt like maybe I didn’t deserve that. AfterAmy.”
“Bas,” Drew sighed, his brow creased with worry. He started to tense and pull away, but that was the last thing Sebastian wanted. He squeezed Drewtighter.
“I shouldn’t have asked her to marry me. I didn’t loveher.”
“But…”
“Hush,” Bas said. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s true. And this shit with my dad… I think I hoped by catching Alexei, I could somehow make up for the bad choices my father made. Which also doesn’t make sense,” he added, before Drew could interrupt. “I know thattoo.”
He wished he had Drew’s gift for words, his way of crafting convincing arguments, but the best he could do was state the bald truth. “Now that you and I are together, Drew, none of that matters anymore. None of it. The best revenge is living well, isn’t that what they say? And that’s what I want. To love you, to take care of my brother and the weird-as-fuck family we’ve made for ourselves. That’s how I’ll honor the people whodied.”
Drew was silent, watching him, so he took Drew’s hand in his, toying with his fingers. “So… maybe we walk away. Run off to some island, or some tiny town in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know. Just… the right way is the one where we end up together, remember? And to do that, we need to survivethis.”
Drew shook his head. “You know, I’ve loved you for a long while. But every time I think I can’t love you more, you prove mewrong.”
Bas laughed. “So… we leavetown?”
“Sebastian, you have no idea how tempting that is. But, baby, we’re too well-known to hide. Especially you. This is a personal vendetta for Alexei, and he’s never gonna stop searching for us. We’d be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. And there’s my mom. I’m the only one she has left.” Drew paused for a second. “Plus, I know you’re not jazzed about the idea of having kids, but maybe… maybe we’d like to,someday.”
Wow. Yeah. Bas hadn’t had any desire to have kids of his own in the past. But having kidswith Drew? That was a whole different ballgame.“Damn, baby,” hebreathed.
“Listen, no one likes this plan, Bas. No one is eager to be bait! But if we trust Sean and his team, if we stick together, that’s our best hope of catching Alexei. Youhaveto agree, Sebastian. Please. Because we need to endthis.”
