“You never came back,” he murmured.
“What?” I asked stupidly as I tried to get control of my raging libido. We were standing in the driveway of a house belonging to one of the men on my team, Maverick “Mav” James. Mav and his young lover, Eli Galvez, had recently rented the small house near the University of Washington campus and he’d asked me to stop by to review some cases. Mav would be taking a secondary role for a little while so that he wouldn’t have to travel and leave Eli, who was still struggling with the trauma of being repeatedly sexually assaulted by his stepfather several years earlier. As the second on cases, Mav would help with the logistics while the primary on the case actually took out the mark. It was a role I was glad to hand over to him because I was eager to get out of Seattle and return to the field. I’d joined the underground vigilante organization two years earlier out of a desperate need to maintain my hold on my sanity, after the events of one cool summer day much like today, and I often found that if I didn’t have a case to focus on, things went bad for me very quickly.
“Your visit that night,” Brennan said. “I thought you’d come back…I wanted…”
Brennan fell silent, but when his eyes fell to my mouth, I knew it wasn’t because he couldn’t find the words he was looking for.
Fuck, this was bad.
Because even as Brennan lifted his eyes to meet mine, I saw it. He wasn’t freaked out by the invisible current that was running between us…he was intrigued by it.
“I’ve got things to do,” I bit out.
I wasn’t exactly known for my sunny disposition, but my harsh tone seemed to have little effect on Brennan because he didn’t move.
“I never got a chance to thank you,” Brennan murmured. “I didn’t think I’d get the chance,” he added quietly.
I knew the polite thing to do would have been to accept his thanks, ask him how he was feeling – all that chit chat shit people did. But I’d never been that guy and I wasn’t going to start now. Better that the kid see that so he’d stop looking at me like I hung the moon. Or like he’d have no problem with me pinning him against my car so I could finally satisfy my need to taste him.
“It was nothing,” I muttered and then I ignored my need to keep some space between us and reached past him to open the door. But he didn’t move and all I’d managed to do was line our bodies up so that there were mere inches separating us. I heard Brennan suck in a breath. It would take so little for me to lean in and brush my mouth over his. Fuck, he’d already parted his lips as if anticipating me doing just that.
“I need to go,” I said, though my voice sounded more desperate than commanding like I’d intended.
“I’m not letting you go,” Brennan whispered. His mouth was so close to mine that I could feel his breath fanning over me.
“What?” I asked as my heart lurched painfully in my chest.
“That’s what you said to me that day. You said you weren’t going to let me go. Do you remember?”
Fuck yeah, I remembered. Because I’d been crazy with the need for Brennan to keep his eyes open as he’d started gasping for breath. I’d never felt so helpless in my entire fucking life. His blood had been seeping through my fingers where I’d held my hand over the gunshot wound in his side and I’d used my other hand to clutch hisas I’d said anything and everything I could think of to keep him awake until help arrived.
I swallowed hard and managed a nod. “I remember,” I said unevenly. Fuck, his lips were pretty. Full and soft and a subtle shade of red.
“What’s your name?”
It took me a moment to register Brennan’s question and I had to lift my eyes from where they’d been fixated on his mouth. “Memphis,” I murmured. My cock jumped when Brennan shifted his weight slightly and his hip brushed my arm where I was still holding onto the door handle.
“Memphis,” Brennan whispered softly as if testing my name on his lips.
And then we just stood there, lost in time. I’d been eager to leave, but now…hell, now I just wanted to find a reason to linger. To touch him, to enjoy the sound of his smooth voice now that it wasn’t flooded with pain and fear.
Brennan shifted even closer to me, but before his body could actually make contact with mine, a wet, cold sensation fluttered over my left hand which at some point I’d pulled into a fist, probably so that I wouldn’t use it to pull Brennan in for the kiss I so badly needed. I glanced down to see Baby, Eli’s huge Rottweiler sniffing my hand. The dog managed to break the spell between us and Brennan quickly shifted back, putting several inches between us once again. I returned my gaze to his and saw that the need was still there, but there was also a shimmer of something else. Confusion maybe? Embarrassment? I wasn’t sure…reading people had never been my strong suit.
“Thank you,” Brennan finally said and then he stepped to the side so I could open my car door.
I should have moved. I should’ve told him he was welcome and gotten in my car and driven away. But I just stood there as I searched for something, anything, I could say to prolong the moment.
Brennan’s hand was resting on Baby’s head, but his eyes were on me. Fuck, did he want that too?
The normal thing to do would have been to ask him for coffee or some shit like that. Clearly my attraction to him wasn’t one-sided. What could one night in bed hurt? I wasn’t leaving town until tomorrow morning and Brennan wasn’t some naïve kid, because even now he was looking at me with unfiltered hunger. He wanted me, I wanted him…who would it hurt? If I made it clear it was a one-time thing…
Tell Tristan…tell him I love him.
I didn’t even let myself remember the rest of Brennan’s broken plea as I ripped the door open and got in. I kept my eyes lowered as I fumbled to get the key in the ignition and I didn’t lift my eyes until I was preparing to back my car out of the driveway.
He was standing in the exact same spot, his gaze still on me. But this time I had no trouble reading the expression in his pretty eyes and I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my spine and landed in my balls.
Because Brennan didn’t look disappointed or confused…he looked…determined.
