Toby lifted his gaze suspiciously. “I do,” he ventured. “It’s fairly clean, cosmopolitan, easy to blend in, plenty of clientele. Why? Are you planning on blowing it up sometime soon? Should I plan on putting my house on the market?”
Soren snorted. “No, the opposite. I was thinking about a place there.”
“What for?”
“I haven’t had a home base in the US for a while now. I’ve got other jobs likely coming up in the future, and now that Madi is shacking up with Az, staying with them is not enticing. They tend to like to use all their square footage when they fuck, regardless of whoever else might be around. And besides, that would mean you and I could hang out whenever we wanted to. I’d make sure to get a sturdy headboard.” Soren offered Toby a lascivious grin that broadened when Toby tried to suppress a smile. “You don’t hate the idea, I can tell.”
“You want todateme? Is that what you’re saying?”
“You sound skeptical but we already went on one date—okay, what could loosely be termed a date—and it went just fine.Relativelyfine. We string a couple more in there, Glasses, andviola, we’re dating. You could consider it additional normalcy streetcred.”
Toby’s laughter felt good pouring into Soren’s ears, musical and warm in a way that defied his cool exterior. “Right. Dating a renowned assassin and demolition expert. That’ll be great at parties.”
“Iamgreat at parties, you should know. People find me charming.”
Toby cocked his head. “I don’t doubt that when I think about it.”
“So, I’ll take that as ayes. And since I’m already in town, I could look tomorrow and you could help me.”
Toby frowned. “Doesn’t that seem a little—”
“Early,” Soren jumped in. “I agree. Priorities. The headboard banging sex should happen tomorrow. Then I’ll check out places the next. I’m teasing you, Glasses, not pressuring you,” Soren tacked on at Toby’s annoyed huff.
* * *
“This is appalling.I don’t think we should even bother going in.” Toby wrinkled his nose.
Soren studied the clean brick exterior of the building and the cheerful blue-painted flower boxes in the lower windows from where they both stood on a well-kept sidewalk. “Is it the shrubs manicured within an inch of their life you find most objectionable, T? Or maybe that guy sweeping grass clippings from the sidewalk into the yard instead of bagging them up?” Soren teased.
Toby folded his arms over his chest.
“Goddamn, Doc.” Soren shielded his face with one hand. “Can you put those dagger eyes away? I need to be able to see what I’m planning on doing to you later this afternoon, so I’d appreciate it. Was the ‘T’ too much?”
“I don’t like it.”
“All right, it’s gone,” Soren agreed easily, a loose half-smile on his face when Toby seemed mollified by the concession.
“What are you planning on doing later this afternoon?”
“And ruin the surprise?”
“You know how I feel about surprises.”
Since they’d returned to Boston two days ago, Soren and Toby had fucked around in almost every combination possible, except with Soren bottoming. He could tell Toby was interested, though, because in-between them playing house together like the lovers Soren supposed they were, the doc asked a hundred and one questions about Soren’s past experiences with it, if he’d liked it, and also what made him feel good. They’d kinda fallen into a natural rhythm, though Soren suspected Toby struggled more with the concept of partners or boyfriends, as big of a fan of compartmentalizing as he was.
Soren flashed Tobias a grin. “Oh, I’m well aware of your aversion to surprises. That’s why it’s fun to tease you about it. But if you’re hellbent on knowing—” He stepped in close, running the tip of his nose up the side of Toby’s neck, inhaling the warm, clean scent of him. He’d woken up surrounded by it this morning and had gone instantly hard. Toby had still been enveloped in his arms, which didn’t help matters, but Soren hadn’t been able to do anything because of their appointment with the realtor. He pressed another kiss to Toby’s throat. “When we get back to your place, I’m gonna sit on that fancy, uncomfortable-ass couch in your living room while you strip down for me, button by button, until you’re naked. Then I’m gonna have you come sit on my lap, where I’m gonna slide my fingers inside you—these two, right here”—he drew his index and middle finger along the hard ridge in Toby’s zipper, and then all the way up his ribcage—“and jerk you off until you come all over my hand. You know what’s gonna happen after that?” Soren reveled in the shiver that ran through Toby as he sucked the side of his neck.
“No,” Toby said on a breathy exhale. “What happens next?”
“Next, I’m gonna slide inside you and fuck you senseless. We’re gonna leave all kinds of indentations on that couch and mess up all those pretty throw pillows.” Toby had gone still as Soren spoke the words against his earlobe. The doc, he’d figured out, was stubborn and, similarly to him, wasn’t a big fan of obeying others.
Except when it came to the bedroom.
Toby seemed to get off on being told what to do or given clear instructions, which, in turn, got Soren hot. Soren had noticed that once Toby felt more comfortable with an act, he took more control and ownership of it, which Soren was also a fucking sucker for. Last night, Toby had pushed him up against a wall as they walked down the hallway toward his bedroom and dropped to his knees, sucking Soren’s brains out of the end of his cock and leaving him flushed, panting, and bonelessly dazed at the unexpected assault. When Toby had leaned back on his heels and offered a triumphant grin as he swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, Soren swore he almost came again.
Toby exhaled a quiet curse, and Soren’s gaze started jumping around, looking for covert places where the two of them might be able to get off real quick when the voice of the realtor boomed from behind them.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything, fellas. Are you ready to see aremarkablyrestored example of pre-war architecture?”
