ROMAN AND DANNY
A TASTE OF TUCSON
Danny
Danny slipped in through the hotel room door he’d left propped open. Lucien’s hotel room door, to be exact, even if he wasn’t there at the moment. Now it was Danny and Roman’s for the night.
How fucking weird was that?
Danny had left Roman there while he’d gotten Jay settled next door—they’d been lucky there was another room available so close—and he wasn’t surprised now to find Roman snooping.
Danny couldn’t exactly blame him either. Who wouldn’t be curious when their long-time-friend-turned-bitter-enemy-turned-who-the-hell-knew offered to let them stay in their hotel room for the night?
It was probably the only reason Roman had accepted the offer in the first place—to appease his morbid curiosity over where Lucien was staying. They’d already made reservations at a different hotel for their Tucson stay, so it wasn’t like they’d needed it.
The change of plans was fine with Danny, and Jay definitely didn’t care either way. He probably wouldn’t have minded snuggling up with them in Lucien’s king-size bed either, but Roman sure as hell would have.
And seeing Roman now, Danny had to be grateful he’d insisted on separate rooms. Danny’s absurdly handsome mate had stripped out of his suit already, and he was facing away from Danny in tight black boxer briefs, his wide shoulders and beautiful back muscles on full display.
Even after hundreds of nights together, it was a struggle not to drool.
“Find anything interesting?” Danny asked, wiping his mouth just in case, wincing at how thirsty his voice came out.
Roman turned from where he’d been fiddling with the elegant vanity in the suite, the one with the missing mirror. He didn’t look at all ashamed to have been caught digging around. He held up a finger, something sparkling on the tip. “A shard of glass,” he murmured. “He broke the mirror here. Lucien.”
Okaaaay. Apparently Roman’s frenemy-ship with Lucien turned him into Sherlock fucking Holmes. Duly noted.
Danny fought to contain his smile. “The self-loathingisstrong with that one,” he pointed out.
“Mm,” Roman agreed, studying the glass on his finger.
Well, if they were going to actually speak about it all… “Jamie’s not what I expected,” Danny said, locking the door behind him and walking further into their room.
Which was a huge fucking relief, to say the least. Danny had been legitimately worried that Lucien might have been holding some unsuspecting, helpless human captive, and they were going to have to do some sort of hostage negotiation. That maybe Lucien had found some other false mate he’d convinced himself he needed to drag down into his own personal hell.
But Jamie hadn’t exactly been unsuspecting, had he? He’d clocked Danny and Roman right away, and he seemed to know the whole damned deal, more than Danny had at that point in his and Roman’s relationship. And he sure as hell wasn’t helpless. He’d stood his ground against themandthe dickish redheaded twins.
Roman made a noncommittal French sound, and Danny couldn’t help shamelessly pushing for more of a reaction. “Pretty too.”
Striking, really, with his green hair and androgynous features and mischievous energy.
Roman made a little moue of distaste with his mouth, even as he conceded, “Lucien always did have an eye for beautiful things.”
Danny grinned at him. “Is that why he turned you?”
Roman’s icy blue eyes turned smoldering, and he crossed over to the neatly made bed, sitting on the end of it and pulling Danny to him.
“Lovely mate,” he crooned, running his nose along Danny’s neck, sending a trail of goose bumps along his skin. His hands came to rest on Danny’s hips. “Do not think I am unaware of why you brought me here.”
“Rescue and reconnaissance?” Danny asked innocently.
Roman huffed, his breath hot on Danny’s skin. “You wish me to make amends with your murderer.”
Danny fought to contain his eye roll. There they were with the whole “Lucien murdered you” thing again. “Not the exact wording I would have gone with,” he hedged.
Roman pulled back to give him a stern look. Although, the joke was on him, because stern looked hot as hell on him. “You are too tenderhearted,” he chastised, not for the first time.
“You’re starting to forgive him,” Danny argued.
