“Yeah, I do, goddamn it.” He slid a palm past Adam’s cheek to grasp Adam around the nape of his neck, letting his fingers slide through those red, silky curls. He yanked their faces so close, their lips almost touched. “You. You’re good for me.”
Unable to hold back, Rico covered Adam’s mouth with his, those full lips as soft and warmly giving as he remembered. Adam moaned low, the sensual, throaty sound rushing through Rico, and he slid his tongue inside Adam’s mouth, conquering it with sweeping strokes. Never one to hold back, Adam pushed him down on the wide wooden bench that ran the length of the table and lay on top of him. Chest rested against chest, belly to belly.
“Say you don’t want me…that you haven’t missed me.” Adam panted out his demand, eyes bright with desire and longing. “If you say it to me now, I’ll believe it and never bother you again.”
Sweat trickled down his forehead, but not from Adam’s weight, which comforted him. Adam’s calloused hand rested in his, the blunt nails digging into his skin, yet Rico felt no pain, only the strength of Adam’s hunger.
Tired from denial and trembling from the hungry need building in his veins for Adam, Rico gave in to the fire burning his blood. “I do want you. I never stopped. But—”
“No buts.” Adam kissed him sweetly then, their lips clinging briefly like the softness of butterfly flutters, bringing with it the pleasure only Adam’s touch could. “I know now. And that’s enough for me. We’ll work it out, somehow.”
“No.” Rico sat up so abruptly, Adam almost fell. “It’s not as simple as it sounds. I can tell you I want you—I need you, in fact. All of it’s true. So yeah, I’m fooling myself. Because it’s all been shit without you.”
“So far it’s sounding pretty good to me.”
Taking in Adam’s crooked smile, those full lips swollen with kisses, blue eyes dazed with passion, Rico didn’t want to make the choice. He shouldn’t have to. One thing this crisis had taught him was that he could handle things using his own mind and resources. Much as his father instilled in him a sense of pride in accomplishing what he set out to do, pushing himself and working hard wasn’t the only thing he wanted out of life. He had the right to love and be loved. Not from a place of jealousy, but from admiration, Rico wanted what Gideon had. A loving mananda relationship with his father.
“Maybe after this is all over we can talk. Not maybe; we should. But I can’t think straight with all this hanging over my head. Do you understand?”
Sympathy softened Adam’s eyes, and he brushed his lips over Rico’s, then sat up. “Shit. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put this pressure on you now.” He stood and cracked his knuckles. “Let me help, come on. I can make myself useful in the kitchen. I used to help my mother, you know.”
The prospect of spending the night with Adam was now proving to be too enticing to give up. While this fire had been horrendous, it had been a wake-up call for him. Like it or not, he stood at a crossroads—he could either let the past control him, or he could tell it to get the fuck out of the way because his time was now. Too much was at stake—not only in his life but in the country and the world. Gideon was right. He deserved his happiness. He was tired of having nothing. He deserved it all.
Energized, he walked over to Adam and hugged him tightly. “Thank you for not walking away from me when I told you to.”
Adam kissed his neck. “You can be the boss in the kitchen, but that doesn’t mean I have to listen to you anywhere else.”
“Ahem.”
Adam stiffened and jumped away, his face pale. “Fuck, Patrick, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you might be Dixon.”
“And lucky for you I ain’t.” His shrewd blue eyes swept over Rico. “Who do we got here?”
“Rico, this is my friend, Patrick. Don’t listen to most of what he says.”
The genuine affection Adam showed toward Patrick set Rico more at ease. At first the man’s negative vibe put him off, but once Adam said his name, he recognized Patrick as the man whose son Adam had counseled. Rico remembered Adam praising Patrick and his wife for their steadfast support of the boy when he came out. Sadly, he couldn’t be sure he’d receive that from his own father.
“So, you’re Rico.” Patrick took his hand. “Sorry about the fire.”
“Thanks for everything you did.”
“I wasn’t on shift. But I know Adam and the others always do their best.”
“I agree.”
There was something Patrick wasn’t saying, and Rico, knowing how important a friend Patrick was to Adam, wanted everything laid out in the open between the two of them. No more hiding.
“Why don’t we sit for a minute? I need to think about what to do next, and Patrick, you look like you have something to ask me. Plus,” he said, flexing his back muscles, “I need coffee like nobody’s business.”
While he and Patrick took a seat at the table, Adam went to the giant urn in the corner and made them coffee. Rico stretched his legs under the table and looked the older man straight in the eye.
“Okay, let me have it.”
Startled for a second, Patrick’s lips curved in a knowing grin. “Glad you aren’t gonna pretend you don’t know what I’m gonna say.”
“No point in that. I know I treated Adam like shit. Those are my problems I need to work out. I was hoping I could forget him.”
“Hey,” Adam called over from the coffee urn. “I’d like to think I’m unforgettable.”
