Tom worked efficiently beside him and Colby, just as he had yesterday. His movements were sure and strong, not trying to show off but not phoning it in either. Bryce found himself watching more than he should, seeing Tom’s arms flex with each length of wood he lifted. That lean strength, that focus. It did things to Bryce’s equilibrium—and his dick.
After half an hour, with the sun still blazing and the stack nearly halved, Bryce tipped his head back and said, “I’m calling it. We’ve done enough for now.”
Colby hesitated. “I can finish the rest.”
“You don’t need to,” Bryce said gently. “It’ll keep.”
Colby, stiff at first, finally relaxed and grinned at Bryce, the first really carefree look Bryce had seen on his face. “Thanks,” he said, peeling off his gloves.
He turned and headed back toward the house, and Bryce watched him go for a moment before looking back to Tom. “Thanks for helping,” he said. “You didn’t have to.”
Tom picked up his overshirt, brushing dust from the sleeve. “Between this and being caught between Jax and your alpha? I’d take hard labor any day.”
Bryce laughed. “You and me both. I guess we better find out if Matt’s disposed of the body, or if they’ve reached a truce. And I could do with a drink.”
They set off back to the house, and with every step, Bryce became more aware of Tom beside him, of the heat building under his skin.God,he wanted to get his hands on Tom, to taste him, to open him up with fingers and tongue and slide inside. To see him stripped bare and wrung out—sweaty, wrecked and gasping his name.
He breathed out slowly, trying to will some of the heat out of his body. Not yet. First, they had to get through Jax’s visit.
But later—
God, later couldn’t come soon enough.
TOM
They’d worked for another couple of hours after stacking the lumber, mostly in companionable silence. Checked the sensor feeds, reviewed the alert zones on Karl’s map, and made sure the goats hadn’t tripped anything yet. It was practical, easy work, though it didn’t make Tom any less aware of the way Bryce moved beside him.
By the time they were at the house for another drink, his pulse was still a little too fast for the fact he was sitting down, supposedly relaxing. And it seemed to kick up a notch every time he looked at Bryce.
The back door opened, pulling him from his haze of constant low-level arousal. Matt and Jax stepped in, and Tom sat up straight instinctively at the change of atmosphere they brought with them. Matt was calm and steady, while Jax was almost thrumming with tension.
Jax’s gaze flicked between Tom and Bryce, taking in the easy slant of their chairs, the half-empty mugs. He didn’t say anything, but the weight of his stare said it all—Tom had gotten too comfortable, too close.
“When you’re through with your questions,” Matt said to Jax, “I’ll introduce you to the guy who runs security for the pack.”
Contempt and amusement twisted together on Jax’s face. “A pack this size has a head of security?”
“Except he’s not insecure enough to need the fancy title,” Matt drawled.
The danger in his tone had Jax straightening. However small his pack, Matt was still, unmistakably, an alpha.
“I appreciate that,” Jax said with an effort, though it sounded as if the words were ground out. “His name?”
“Karl Griffin.”
There was a pause. One of Jax’s fists curled. “Karl Griffin?TheKarl Griffin?”
Tom blinked, confused. Nothing he’d read in Karl’s background check indicated he was famous for anything. He glanced at Bryce, who looked just as surprised, his brow furrowing as he watched Jax.
“Karl’s a member of my pack,” Urban said calmly.
The answer left Jax none the wiser and also with nowhere to go in terms of asking more questions about Karl.
For the next twenty minutes, Tom got a solid neck workout watching the two men volley back and forth. Jax made demands. Matt shot them down, offering just enough compromise to avoid blowing things up. Beside him, Bryce was silent but attentive, his jaw tight at certain moments. Tom thought about the conversation they’d had earlier about Jesse and the councilors’ agendas, and wondered how much of that was playing through Bryce’s mind now.
Eventually, Matt pushed back his chair. “I’ll take you to meet Karl,” he said to Jax. “He’ll see you to your car when you’re done.”
It wasn’t the most diplomatic way of telling Jax he’d had enough of him, but Tom couldn’t blame Matt. A little of Jax went a long way.
