I laughed. “That is the smell of a badass. Too bad we can’t bottle it and sell it.”
“Trade it for butter,” Kitten said. Butter, or rather our lack of it, was his current obsession. “What do I smell like?” he asked.
I dragged my nose along his neck, his angular jaw, then pulled down his shirt to follow the ridge of his collar bone. So fresh and so sweet. “Mmm… you smell like springtime and oranges,” I told him before kissing him again. And again. He whimpered between kisses, eyes half-lidded and dark.
“Cipher.”
“Yeah, babe?” I tongued the divot at the hollow of his throat and lapped at his smooth, silky skin, giving him some resistance down below where he was still grinding against me.
“What if someone comes over here?”
“Everyone else is busy doing their own thing. Let me get you off before my shift starts.”
“What about you?” he asked, always so thoughtful.
“Good boys come first.” I reached down and unbuttoned his jean cutoffs, yanking apart the zipper to really dig my hand deep inside. So warm and inviting. Kitten groaned as I rooted around inside his briefs, cupping his balls and grabbing hold of his cock. His soft skin was stretched tight over his thick erection, a nice, girthy handful. He got hard at the drop of a hat–a look, a word, a strong breeze, it never took much. There was already a wet spot on his underwear because my man was juicy too. I’d stroke him for a little while to really get him amped up, then finish him with my mouth as a little treat to myself. Armed with that plan, I’d just gotten all five fingers wrapped around him when my radio crackled to life.
“Cipher, come in.”
Macon and his impeccable timing. He must have known we were together and was probably fucking with us. Asshole.
“Stay right there,” I told Kitten as I sat up and unclipped the radio from my hip without breaking the rhythm of my slow, torturous handjob. Kitten propped himself up on his elbows, still with a dazed look on his face, and rolled his hips in time with the motion while uttering little growls of frustration. “Be good andstay quiet,” I told him, then pushed the talk button on the radio. “What is it?” I snapped at Macon.
“Jesus, testy much?”
“Macon,” I growled.
“Sorry to interrupt whatever’s going onover there, but we’ve got company coming in from the road.”
My hand on Kitten froze as my flight-or-fight instincts kicked in. “Who is it?”
“Looks like military.”
Military? Fuck. We knew they had a base nearby, but we hadn’t come across any of the United Forces yet. We’d made sure to stay off the main roads on our way here, and as soon as we’d arrived, we’d stashed the Humvee out of sight in one of the neighboring garages. We didn’t want any questions about how we’d gotten it or what had happened to its previous owner.
“Are you fucking with me right now, Macon?”
“Definitely not, boss. Two Jeeps are making their way down Shady Oaks Drive to our front entrance. Can’t you hear them?”
The whine of engines finally caught up to me, and I kicked myself for not picking up on it sooner. With his hearing impairment, Kitten needed me to stay sharp for us both.
“Yeah, I hear ‘em. On my way now.” I reluctantly removed my hand from Kitten’s joystick and tucked him back inside his underwear. “How about you head to the garage and hang with Gizmo and Wylie until this is over? I’ll radio the girls and let them know what’s going on.”
“Nope, I’m coming with you,” he said while buttoning up his pants. The look on his face was one that I knew well, stubborn and steadfast, not to be discouraged.
“You sure about that?” I asked.
“One hundred percent sure, boss.”
Boss.We were no longer just boyfriends. He was showing me respect as his leader, King Asshole, a weighty responsibility.I didn’t like putting him in danger, but this was part of the agreement we’d made, to work as a team instead of me going lone wolf in an attempt to protect him and the others. I had to respect his desire to defend me too, so I lumbered to my feet and offered him my hand, taking a moment to pluck a stray stick from his hair.
“There’s no telling what they want, so let’s be careful,” I said. Whether it was to recruit us, or chase us off our land, or to question us about what had gone down in Promised Land, I didn’t plan on giving them anything they could use against us.
“I’ll follow your lead,” he said with somber maturity.
My good little soldier.
“Nice place you got here.”
