However, knowing and doing were two very different things. Rio turned to move, probably to change out of his PT gear. He hadn’t even taken two steps before Cade reacted. He stood, reached out, and pulled on Rio’s arm. He stepped in close, pressing his whole body against Rio when he was forced to turn.
Cade ignored the startled look on Rio’s face when their bodies slammed together. Instead, he moved his hand from Rio’s bicep to the side of his neck at the same time he lunged forward to lock his mouth on Rio’s lips.
Rio felt a tug on his arm seconds before he turned, and his mouth was assaulted. If his eyes hadn’t been open and wide with shock, he likely would have lashed out with a punch, at being caught off guard and kissed so aggressively.
Instead, he met Cade’s steady gaze when the older man’s lips pressed hard against his. The meeting of their lips was abrupt, until Cade licked at his lips to coax him to open so that he could have a taste. Rio wrapped an arm around the man’s waist and pulled him flush against his body again. Kissing Cade was like a fucking drug Rio had no resistance to. Every time he tried it, he wanted more. He couldn’t stop his dick from twitching but did manage to swallow the noise that threatened to escape his throat.
Cade raised his hands to rest on Rio’s hips and his fingers dug deeply into the warm flesh above his gray sweats. He hadn’t intended to attack Rio’s mouth. It just happened the moment Rio had turned to walk away from him. It was like a switch had been flipped. The only thought that filled his mind was tasting more of Rio and feeling more of the firm muscles he knew the man possessed.
The loud slam of a door echoed through the gym and reminded both of them where they were. The reminder was needed because even though they were only kissing, there was no doubt where this was headed, yet again.
“Shit.” Rio jerked back. Damn it, here they were again, acting like a pair of randy teenagers who couldn’t get enough of each other. They needed to think with the heads on their shoulders and not their freaking dicks. “We should go.”
“Yeah.” No… Idiot… don’t stop now!But Cade pushed it aside—despite what previous history had shown, he did have some brain cells. He just had to persuade them to work. “Are you hungry?” That was a good idea, right? He could offer to make dinner, see if there was more there than just his dick's need to find a happy ending for the night.Long-term goals, dude, long-term goals.
“I could eat,” Rio grabbed the clothes he had worn to the gym and followed Cade to the door. He may have been the one who stopped the kiss, but right now if he could have reached his own ass, he would have kicked it.
Chapter Twelve
Cade’s stomach churned, he’d spent most of last night tossing and turning. And still he wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do. This morning he had brought Rio here to the War - Room and sent him into Rock and Grif’s office. They were talking to him, to see if he could or would help Ghosts with their investigations into the Hezbollah connection Noble and his team had uncovered during their intel reconnaissance into the plot for a 9/11 style attack for Diego Garcia.
He glanced at the closed door of the office, his finger hovering over the button on his computer that would pull up the security cameras in that room.
Just one peek. It can’t hurt.
Nope.
Go on, I dare you.
Argh, why was his brain doing this to him? The last time he’d snuck a look into their office, he’d needed freaking bleach for his eyeballs. There were some things a man did not need to know about his bosses. Seriously, he was an idiot. A certifiable idiot.
“Stop worrying.” Danny held out a mug. “FRED tells us all we need to know. Your boy is not a threat.”
“I know that.”
“Then why have you chewed through three pens and now are watching the door as if you are two seconds away from charging in there?”
“I’m not.” Danny’s voice was curious, and Cade got it. He was normally the cool one. The one who didn’t give a shit about anything but his computers and programs. But Rio… he was different, damn it.
“Yeah, bud, you are.” Danny nodded to the screen, “Do we have clearance to call the others back in?”
“Yes,” Cade jerked his chin toward the computer. “We found nothing.”
“Good.” The tightness in Danny’s jaw lessened slightly. The last thing any of them had wanted was to consider if there was a mole in their ranks. But it was something that had to be ruled out. “Call them in.”
“Not until the boss clears it.” It was a pain in the ass, but he would follow protocol. Cade ignored the irony that he was going to be a stickler on this, especially when he had thrown the rule book out the damn window when it came to Rio.
“We just got shit to do.” Danny pushed. “Can ya turn on access to my PC?”
“Nope.” Cade popped the end of the word. “No can do, all is locked until Rock and Grif enter their codes." Yeah, the fail-safe was a pain in the ass, but Cade was damn proud of their systems and the requirement for three pass codes to reboot everything meant if one of their top tiers were compromised, no matter what happened, or if they broke under torture, unless all three codes were provided, all access to their systems could not be utilized to cause harm.
“But…”
“No.” Cade’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. He probably would have questioned Danny further if the door to the office hadn’t opened at that second.
“Cade?” Grif called out to him, “Get your ass in here.”
Oh Fuckballs, they were going to tell him he was a dumbass and Rio was on the wrong side.Fucccck. “Coming.” He tried to read Grif’s face as he approached the door, but the asshole had his operator mask on, and Cade couldn’t see a thing. Turning sideways to pass his boss in the doorway, he slipped into the room.
