“Dawn.” Axel confirmed. “Come watch it with me?”
Side by side they made their way to the end of the tunnel where there was a small exit, probably eroded by water for thousands of years. He watched Axel, the morning sun on the man’s face making him feel weird for some odd reason. That Axel was walking around looking like sex personified didn’t help his state of mind either. Scruffy jeans, and an almost too tight tshirt should be illegal.
It took a few minutes before Castello figured out what the weird feeling was, and it scared the shit out of him once reality slammed the knowledge home. Standing here next to this man, watching the sun come up, aching for him, his gut clenched with need and wanting to keep him, to see where this went. Castello felt the agony of years lived under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell rolling through him, the denial of who he was and who he could show affection to had been fucking killing him piece by piece. Axel offered him salvation of sorts, or maybe it was redemption or a reward. Castello should have been wary that Axel could make him so damned hard his dick felt like iron with just one look, but he wasn’t.
Castello was aware he should know better than to be led by his dick, to be tempted by the fact that Axel made him so damned hungry for a taste of him that he actually ached with it. His balls tightened painfully, and his dick twitched in demand. A demand that he touch Axel, that Castello find them a bed and just fuck or be fucked until the hunger burning inside him was sated, and the clawing need eased. While he should know better, he still wanted it.
“Do you think she is here by her own choice?” Axel shifted slightly from foot to foot.
“Um—” It took a couple of seconds for Castello to shift gears. Damn, he felt like a colossal asshole, here he was figuring out how he could get Axel into bed and the man was worried about his sister. What the hell could he
say? He didn’t know for sure. If she was and he was involved with Axel his security clearance may be revoked, and hell if he knew how he would handle that one.Idiot!
“You do?”
“No, I don’t know.” Despite every reason he had that he should stay away, Castello’s fingers itched to drag the idiot against him and hug him; he resisted for a second, but the aching heartbreak he saw in Axel’s eyes had him moving before he could stop himself. He wrapped his arms around Axel, settled his chest against Axel’s back, resting his chin on Axel’s shoulder as they watched the show mother nature provided. “All the evidence shows that she is running. If she was here of her own free will she has no reason to be running. Especially not with two kids in tow.”
“I didn’t know she had a second kid.” Axel admitted, “Hell, Mikey was a baby when she disappeared.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Castello could feel there was something about Krystal’s situation that he was missing. He didn’t know what it was, but his guts told him there was more. “I have our intel guys doing a search on her. If there is anything we have missed, they will find it.”
“I kinda want to be pissed at that,” Axel admitted, “But I need to know she is safe more.”
“Want to sleep some?” That wasn’t what he wanted to say. He wanted to spin Axel around and kiss him until neither of them could think about anything but breathing. Five seconds, he thought. He could have them both stripped naked in five seconds.
“I dare you,” Axel suddenly turned his head enough to look Castello in the eye.
“What?” Fuck, while he had been figuring out how to move things between them to another level, he had missed something.
“I dare you to strip me in five seconds flat.”
Oh, fuck me!Castello squeezed his eyes shut, thank fuck they were somewhat in the shadows and the dim light would hide the red he could feel climbing up his neck, “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“Yeah,” Axel’s mouth hovered just a hair’s breadth away from Castello’s, “You did.” For a couple of breaths, they just stared at each other, breathing in unison before Axel added on, “I dare you to do it.”
All the restraint Castello had snapped. “You dare me?”
“Yeah.” Axel ran his nose along Castello’s cheek before licking the side
of his mouth, “I. Dare. Yo—”
Castello didn’t wait for the last word to be out of his mouth, he tossed Axel over his shoulder and bolted for the stairs. Sure, he probably would have not only his own team teasing the shit out of him, but Rock’s guys too.
Did he care? Ah nope, are you insane? Axel Shaw dared him to get him naked. Challenge accepted.
***
“You are fucking crazy.” Axel struggled to breathe through the laughter, as Castello kicked the door to the bedroom they had been assigned, shut.
“Pretty much.” Castello dropped him onto the bed. There was a glint in Castello’s dark eyes that hadn’t been there before, and damn if that wasn’t sexy as hell.
Axel heard the slight hitch in Castello’s breath and his dick twitched.
“You said five seconds.” He stretched his arms over his head, knowing the muscles in his chest would flex when he did so.
“I did,” Castello agreed. Unconsciously, his gaze traveled down the length of Axel’s body, stalling on his groin. Yup, that bulge proved Axel was either extremely well endowed or very fucking aroused.You are a fuckingstupid shit, the voice of Godzilla, his former drill sergeant, echoed in his brain but he booted it out.Yup, and I am going to be doubly stupid by thetime the night is over,he replied mentally. Castello hooked his fingers into the buckle of Axel’s belt and tugged.
“Five one thousand.”
