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  “Fancy meeting you here, officers,” Boggs said.

  They shook his hand. “Special agents,” Jarrett corrected, not bothering to infuse any friendliness into the two words.

  Something in Boggs’s dark eyes glinted before he smiled. “Of course. Sorry, I didn’t catch your names.”

  “Special Agent Wolfe and Special Agent Evans,” Jarrett replied, glancing at the other three men in the booth. The one unfamiliar to him was watching him with an oily smile of his own and Jarrett was reminded of a snake. The guy looked slick with an expensively tailored suit and a pinky ring sporting a large round diamond. He stood and held out his hand.

  “Nice to meet you, gentlemen. I’m Congressman Clifford Geary. I understand you’re here investigating the mine explosion.”

  So they’d been talking about Jarrett and Thayne before they walked up. The guy had the look of a politician. Jarrett should have known. His own father had the same appearance when he turned on the charm and it had always made Jarrett a little uneasy. He reached out and took the politician’s proffered hand, shaking it as the other two men remained seated, giving him and Thayne glares. “Nice to meet you, Congressman,” he said. His hand was soft and slightly sweaty.

  “Would you care to join us? We were just discussing the Red Hills Mine’s explosion,” Boggs said.

  “No, thank you,” Thayne answered before Jarrett could say something. “We just came in to grab some dinner before going back to our motel.”

  “Where are you staying?” Boggs asked.

  “The Days Inn.”

  Boggs crinkled his nose. “You really must let me find you some better accommodations. I have a little bit of influence in this town and I’m certain I can get you comped. There’s a nice hotel up the street. The Stratford.”

  “No, thank you,” Thayne said. “We’re fine.”

  Boggs’s expression soured and he took his seat. The politician sat as well. “That’s fine. Just tryin’ to be friendly,” he drawled.

  “And we appreciate it,” Jarrett added. He was happy Thayne hadn’t taken the CEO up on his offer, not that he’d expected him to. The last people they wanted to be beholden to were these two and Thayne was too honest to accept a free hotel room from anyone. Judging by the annoyance in Boggs’s face, the man wasn’t used to being denied what he wanted very often. Jarrett’s stomach growled loudly.

  “Well, don’t let us keep you,” the congressman said. “It sounds like you’re hungry. Nice meeting you.” The politician’s voice was cultured but he still struck Jarrett as being too slick for his taste.

  “Thank you,” Thayne asked. “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight,” the men said as Jarrett and Thayne turned back to the young hostess who’d been standing in the aisle, waiting patiently to seat them, holding menus. She smiled at them and then led them several tables away, setting the menus down in front of them as they slid into their booth.

  “Your server will be right with you,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Thayne said, smiling at her pleasantly.

  Jarrett flipped open the menu as Thayne did the same, scanning the choices just a few minutes. When he looked up, Thayne was watching him. “What?”

  Thayne smiled. “I’m really starving and after that show of yuck we just witnessed, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat.”

  Jarrett glanced at his partner and then over his shoulder at the table of well-dressed men, watching them talk quietly before looking back at Thayne. “Yeah, truthfully, if I hadn’t not eaten all day, I’d wanna kinda throw up right now.”

  Thayne chuckled. “I know what you mean, Jarrett. Let’s get this done with so that I can take advantage of you.”

  Jarrett smiled thinking that was just about the best idea he’d heard all day.

  Chapter Three

  Thayne shut the door behind him and Jarrett as they entered the motel after a rather large meal. He’d ended up eating a massive Chinese chicken salad while watching Jarrett wolf down a double cheeseburger and a large plate of fries. Thayne was never more content than when he watched the expression of bliss bloom on Jarrett’s face when he was eating more red meat in one meal than Thayne ate in a week. He appreciated Jarrett’s simple, very male tastes in food. Nothing made the man happier than when he was stuffing his face except perhaps when he was stuffing him, and Thayne was bound and determined to take care of that other need right now.

  Jarrett went into the bathroom as soon as they entered the less than appealing room and Thayne set his hands on his hips, staring down at the ancient comforter as he tried to decide what to do about the thing. He didn’t even want to touch it and he sure as hell wasn’t sleeping with that thing anywhere near him. He was neatly turning down the spread when Jarrett came out of the bathroom and walked over to the other side of the double bed across from where he stood. Without a bit of hesitation, Jarrett reached down and grabbed the comforter on his side of the bed and yanked it the rest of the way off, not even bothering to try to fold it as he crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the corner of the room.

  Thayne chuckled. “Well, I guess that takes care of that,” he muttered, staring down at the blanket and sheet. At least the rest of the bed clothes smelled like they had been bleached. He was glad that he’d already decided that they were going to check out that hotel Boggs had mentioned for tomorrow night. The last thing either of them needed was a case of the scratches brought about by bed bugs. Shit, just thinking about it had his skin crawling. Jarrett walked around the bed to where he was standing and when he got there, he reached out, circling his back and drawing him close. His mouth found Thayne’s and just like that, all the thoughts of bed bugs, mining collapses, and sleazy politicians and CEOs went flying right out of his mind.

  Jarrett’s mouth was like heaven on his and Thayne realized how much he’d missed the taste of his lips. He hated having to stay at arm’s length whenever they were together in public. Even though Thayne was not someone who appreciated being groped in public, he sometimes wished he could reach out and touch Jarrett’s hand or arm, letting his own hand linger a little longer than would be thought of as proper. The truth was, after all they’d been through in the last year, Thayne was becoming more and more convinced that he was in love with his partner. He’d nearly found a way to tell him when they’d almost been killed by domestic terrorists while working the fireworks case, but the damned truth was, Jarrett hadn’t given him much opportunity to do so.

  Every time they crawled into bed, it was hard for them to keep their hands off each other and if Thayne had learned anything about his partner, he’d learned that Jarrett kept a great number of secrets close to the vest. Sometimes Thayne was intimidated by the things Jarrett had lurking in his past. He’d opened his mouth to ask Jarrett to spill everything more than once but then, Jarrett’s eyes would cloud as he fought with his demons, and Thayne knew that bringing up Jarrett’s past would be hard for him under the best of circumstances. The last thing Thayne wanted to do was to bring up something hurtful so he kept his mouth shut waiting for Jarrett to share. Thayne knew he might be waiting till the cows came home, so he figuratively sat on his hands and kept his big mouth shut, allowing Jarrett to make the first move because the last thing he was going to do was lose the man because he told him he loved him. Jarrett might find something that expressive to be a deal breaker in their relationship and Thayne wasn’t willing to risk it. Besides, sometimes letting Jarrett make the first move was very exciting. It kept things unpredictable between them. Right now, however, Thayne could feel Jarrett was more than ready to make the first move and that, more than anything else, was turning Thayne on in no short measure.

  Thayne loved it when Jarrett got aggressive with him. He loved it when his lover yanked him into his arms and told him exactly how he wanted him. Oftentimes when they were getting ready to fall into bed together, it was Thayne who was the m
ore demanding of the two, but there was something equally fulfilling about letting Jarrett take total and complete charge of him. Seeing him surrounded by all those sweaty, dirty men tonight, knowing that Jarrett had been one of them, and just imagining how an eighteen-year-old Jarrett must have looked covered in coal dust and overalls, was doing crazy things to Thayne’s imagination at the moment.

  Jarrett pressed his long lean body against Thayne as he held him close and went to town on his mouth. Jarrett was larger than he was, about two inches taller than his own six two, and when he pulled Thayne against him and dipped his head to kiss him the way he was doing now, it was everything Thayne could do to keep from becoming weak in the knees. His lover had that effect on him. Jarrett groaned into his mouth, tangling his tongue with Thayne’s, and taking what he wanted from him. And Thayne loved every fucking second of it. He returned his aggressive kisses, running his palms up Jarrett’s thick pectoral muscles, loving the feel of the Marine’s nipples which were standing on end beneath the soft flannel shirt he wore. Thayne could feel the ribs of the long underwear he wore beneath it and he suddenly wanted to chuckle. Getting him out of those wasn’t going to be graceful but he was up to the task, especially when Jarrett was being just so… masculine. It was a turn-on of the highest magnitude.

  ****

  Jarrett wanted Thayne badly. There would be no denying him tonight. Just having him in his arms made Jarrett almost crazy sometimes. Thayne was often the aggressor in bed and though he rarely let Thayne top him, he knew how to get him worked into a frenzy. Even standing here as receptive to his advances as he was being at the moment, gave Jarrett pause. The fact was, he loved every variation of the way he and Thayne made love, but there was just something about the way he was running his hands over his muscles, as if Thayne were trying to learn every inch of his body, that was making him crazed with lust at the moment.

  Thayne kissed him leisurely, languidly, letting his lips and tongue slide over and into his mouth, meeting every thrust of his tongue with a parry of his own. It was like a sensual dance that only served to ramp Jarrett up even more. Thayne moaned, holding him tightly against his body, rocking his groin into him and Jarrett could feel his rock hard erection right through the thick 501 Levi’s he wore. Thayne slid his hands down Jarrett’s back, letting them slip into the waistband of Jarrett’s jeans only to find resistance there when he found his progress blocked by the fastenings. Thayne’s slight grunt of aggravation was evident as he reached around the front and began yanking at the button front of his fly, starting with the fastening at his waist.

  Jarrett pulled his mouth away so he could lean back just a little to give Thayne’s busy hands the room they needed to accomplish his goal as he stared down into his face. Thayne was looking down, his tongue poking out of one side of his lips and his brows furrowed as he began yanking at the stubborn buttons. Jarrett let out a small chuckle and when Thayne’s eyes flickered upward to meet his, Jarrett caught the expression of unrepressed lust sparkling in them. It sent pulsations of need into his own cock and he felt the damp of precome as it left his dick. Jarrett groaned. Son of a bitch, I want him like mad. He let his hands fall from Thayne’s back and he took a half step back before reaching for Thayne’s hands to brush them out of the way. Enough fumbling. Jarrett needed this and he needed it now.

  “I want you, Thayne,” he said. The words came out perhaps throatier than he would have imagined they could have but Thayne just nodded his head, lifting his hands to Jarrett’s face where he framed his jaw, and batted those damned gorgeous long eyelashes up at him.

  “I love it when you’re like this, so fucking masculine and all sexy male,” Thayne admitted. “It was all I could do to keep my hands off of you when I saw how you were with those miners tonight. Just imagining you smelling all sweaty from hard work, covered in coal dust from the mine with your bright ice-blue eyes staring out of your sooty face, is a fucking turn-on, Jarrett. You turn me on. Every fucking thing about you turns me on and I swear to god, if I could, I’d get you down in that mine and let you pin me to a wall.”

  Jarrett’s cock throbbed with the very thought of it and he let a slow smile spread across his lips as Thayne continued to work his fly. “You’d like that wouldn’t you, darlin’? You’d like it if I opened my fly and pushed you to your knees in a dark dirty corner of the mine, tellin’ you to suck me off?”

  “Oh God, yes!” Thayne groaned and began working frantically. He finally managed to free the buttons but then halted again when the long underwear Jarrett was wearing prevented him from going further. Jarrett stepped back again, reaching for the buttons on his shirt as Thayne just watched him. He worked his shirt open and struggled out of it, dropping it to the floor behind him before reaching for the second set of buttons on the white underwear. Within a minute he’d worked them open as well and Thayne smirked, reaching out to part the sides of the shirt with both hands and push it off over his wrists, letting it drop to his waist.

  Jarrett reached for the long underwear and shrugged it down past his hips along with his jeans and as soon as his cock was free, it sprang out of the soft confinement of cotton. Thayne looked down at him, drinking his fill of Jarrett’s body. When his gaze flickered back up and locked with his, Jarrett nearly gasped as Thayne nodded ever so slightly. The expression on his face was fiercely sexy, unbelievably open as he practically begged to be taken down into that mine and told what to do, just like he’d said. Jarrett reached up and set both hands on his shoulders, pressing down and keeping his gaze locked with Thayne’s as he made it clear where he wanted him at that moment. On his knees and between his legs sounded damn good right about now. “Do it, darlin’. Don’t keep me waitin’.”

  Thayne kept his gaze locked with his as he slowly sank to his knees, letting the palms of his hands slide slowly down his body as he positioned himself in front of Jarrett’s cock. He reached out and circled it with one hand as the other landed on his hip, drawing him forward until Thayne could kiss the soft skin beside his bobbing cock. The soft strands of Thayne’s black hair whispered over Jarrett’s thighs as he leaned his face forward and kissed the side of Jarrett’s straining cock, letting his full lips linger against it, warm and ready to take what he wanted from Jarrett. Jarrett reached for Thayne’s head, letting the fingers of both hands slide into the soft strands of his hair as he drew him forward. He let his eyelids fall closed as he relaxed his neck and let his head fall back until his face was raised toward the ceiling. Thayne took that moment to press his advantage and Jarrett nearly gasped as he felt his lover’s warm, wet tongue reach out and lick up the length of his erection. His chin snapped forward and he stared at the top of Thayne’s head as he opened his mouth and took him in.

  “Fuck!” That’s so hot.”

  Thayne grunted as his lips tightened around his dick and he slid down farther, taking Jarrett in so far that the head of his cock hit the back of his throat. Thayne pulled off a little and flicked his tongue over the tip of Jarrett’s cock, licking at the slit as he groaned, resulting in a vibration that lit up every inch of Jarrett’s skin until he felt like he was on fire.

  “Fuck, darlin’, yeah…,” he gasped out, feeling all the breath whoosh out of his body. It was the hottest thing Jarrett had ever felt. A sob caught in his throat as Thayne’s long eyelashes flicked open and then he was suddenly staring into the bright blue eyes that sent him over the moon every time Thayne looked at him. The way he was staring at Jarrett right now, his gaze clouded with lust, turned him on so much, it took every ounce of effort he could manage just to keep from coming down his lover’s throat at that very second. “Jesus, Thayne. Ya got one talented tongue, there.”

  Thayne groaned again and firmed his lips, sucking hard as he pulled back only to sink down again as he worked Jarrett hard, moving faster as he gave him the blowjob of his life.

  “Goddamn you’re good at that, Thayne,” he heard himself say. “You gotta b
e the king of fuckin’ blowjobs.”

  Thayne hummed loudly, once again vibrating over the length of Jarrett’s cock, moving those puffy decadent lips on and off him as he took exactly what he wanted from Jarrett. With a groan, he felt more precome bubble up and coat the inside of Thayne’s mouth. He knew if the hot man kneeling before him kept it up, he was going to shoot his release into his throat. He wanted to fuck Thayne and as good as getting head from him felt, Jarrett was aware that if he allowed this to continue much longer, that wasn’t going happen this time around. He was close to losing it as Thayne’s silky black head bobbed at his groin.

  “Gotta stop that now, darlin’… oh… God! I really need to fuck you,” he groaned. The words were thick and came out nearly as a growl. Goddamn him.

  Thayne stared up at him, nodding only ever so slightly, suctioning hard as he pulled back and let his cock go with an audible pop. When Thayne finally pulled off, Jarrett’s dick was slick and shiny with saliva and it throbbed red and hungry for an impending release. Jarrett grabbed Thayne by both shoulders and drew him up to stand in front of him, pulling his body against his as he swooped down on his mouth and began to kiss him with a hunger he experienced only with Thayne. He felt the need to get his lover naked and under him with a desperate urgency he only had when he was with Thayne.

  Thayne began to moan against his lips again, kissing him passionately, in a way that made Jarrett feel more desired and dare he think it, loved, than he’d ever felt before. He knew Thayne was falling for him, he’d known it for months now, even before they’d gone down to San Diego on the fireworks case, and if he allowed himself to be honest about things, he felt exactly the same way, if not even more. He wanted this man to be in love with him, share everything with him, and most importantly, he wanted to tell him. He pulled his lips away and groaned at the loss, touching their foreheads together as they both gazed into each other’s eyes and gasped in huge lungful’s of air.