Bound for Keeps (Men of Honor) (18 page)

Keith had ideas of his own, spun around and flipped Shane because he’d been too caught up in admiring his handiwork. But being trapped under Keith’s body—it was okay.

Keith had his wrists trapped over his head in one of his hands, and was doing some marking of his own, biting, sucking, licking—started around his pecs and then bit a nipple again and again because Shane gasped and subsequently cursed every time.

“Bastard,” Shane told him.

“Yes,” Keith said with the grin of someone who’d been called that many times in his life—enjoyed the moniker more than he should. “You seem to like it.”

“Fuck yeah,” he breathed.

Keith ground their cocks together, and Shane wanted to be naked. Immediately. He tried to make those needs known, but Keith was taking his sweet time.

“Come on, man.”

“You think begging will get you anywhere?”

“Worth a try.” Shane rocked his hips up, and Keith covered his mouth with a long, hot kiss that let Shane know which of them was running the show. Fuck it. He surrendered into it, because the pleasure promised to be intense.

Finally, Keith’s fingers slid inside of him, two of them, well lubed, twisting. He put his head back and just sighed with pleasure, and Keith nipped at the skin along his collarbone. Then the big man slid down, began suckling Shane’s balls, first one then the other as his fingers worked in and out, brushing Shane’s prostate.

The tease wasn’t over. Keith was showing his dominance, and at this point, Shane really had no choice but to take it. Enjoy it. Lose himself in it.

Keith slid a third finger inside of him, and Shane stilled at the new intrusion. Keith was big, was preparing him for a nice, long fuck.

“All right?” Keith asked as the monumentality hit Shane.

“Yeah,” he breathed out and Keith passed a knuckle over his gland over and over again. Shane was aware he was incoherently begging and pleading, until Keith commanded, “Flip over—hands and knees. Spread yourself for me,” and Shane heard himself whimper as he did so, ass in the air, elbows down, opened to whatever the hell Keith decided to do to him.

With him.

And then Keith’s tongue flicked over his hole, and he cursed loudly enough that, if there had been neighbors, they definitely would’ve heard. Keith did it over and over, until his tongue worked its way inside Shane, the nerve endings inside in his channel on pleasurable fire.

And then, with little warning, he mounted Shane and began pushing his cock in. He’d used lube on the condom, but it would still hurt. Shane welcomed it, wanted it. Keith felt huge inside of him, remained still for only a long moment, didn’t seem to care about giving Shane time to adjust, just seemed intent on moving. Fucking. Rutting.

His knees stung, his ass took every inch Keith gave him as he buried his head in his hands and let Keith take him. Keith pressed down on Shane’s lower back, making him arch and take the big man in deeper, so he felt Keith’s cock in his tonsils.

Keith lay next to Shane. He’d thrown a towel down so they wouldn’t stick so badly to the mat, and Shane was on his side, curled. A flush had spread across his cheeks from exertion, but now he looked contented.

“Next time, I won’t give in that easily,” he promised, and Keith laughed, long and loud, stared up at the ceiling before turning his gaze back to the anything-but-submissive man next to him.

Anything but submissive, except to Keith. Keith welled with pride at the thought of being the one Shane could submit to, maybe the only one he ever had, if he’d read the situation correctly.

“You submitted to me,” Keith said, checking his assumption. “How badly were you faking it?”

“You’d have known if I was.” Shane’s voice was rough as he spoke.

“I’d like to think so. Nothing wrong with the need to switch. Best of both worlds, if you ask me.”

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought. I guess I needed it, just like you said. You sensed it, even though I was less than forthcoming.” Shane hung his head but Keith put a hand under his chin and brought his face up. When he saw the understanding in Keith’s eyes, all Shane could say was, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me be strong when I needed to be. For letting me be weak when I needed to be.”

“Baby boy, there’s nothing weak about submission when you need it, and you know it. You’re only weak if you can’t ask for what you need,” Keith told him. “You ask and you get.”

“I did,” Shane said. “I’ve gotten everything I need here. I don’t want to leave.”

“So don’t.”

“You’d really…after everything I told you, you’d let me…”

“Not let, want,” Keith corrected. “The door’s open.”

Shane felt tears rise and he shoved them down ruthlessly. He had to get rid of Guthrie, get rid of his past in order to save his future.

But without that past, you’d never have found this.

“Do you miss the Marines?” he asked.

“Sure. I loved it. But working private lets me cut through some of the red tape. And I’m still supporting my country.” He paused. “I was a good Marine, but I work better without restrictions.”

“But sometimes, everyone needs that. So who reins you in?”

“Used to be Bobby,” Keith offered. “Now, it’s mainly me reining Reed in.”

“Maybe there’s someone now who can rein you in,” Shane pointed out, his words quiet but the smirk unmistakable.

“Maybe there is.”

The Shane sitting across from him was a different man from the one who’d showed up on their doorstep. He was cool, confident, had a sardonic grin that might be misinterpreted by most. He’d no doubt been born with it, the grin only given when he was relaxed.

“I can’t believe I didn’t peg you correctly,” Keith said.

“You were close. Had a right to be suspicious,” Shane told him.

He was still a little thin, which was why Keith kept on feeding him any chance he got.

Kyle’s death had thrown Shane for a loop. Taken the drive out of him. But it was back now, and Kyle would’ve approved where he ended up. Maybe even had a hand in it.

Hey, Keith kept saying there was magic to this place he didn’t understand.

Keith showered and headed to the office, was surprised to find Reed already there.

“Didn’t hear you come in.”

“Not surprised,” Reed said, his voice tight, clipped, and Keith started. He’d been pretty absorbed in fucking Shane, so no, he hadn’t noticed Reed come in—or felt Reed watching.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Like what?”

“Like, mind if I join you?”

“Now I have to ask?”

“What? No…what the fuck is going on here, Reed?” Keith demanded.

“Nothing,” Reed mumbled. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and Keith moved closer to him, suddenly realizing, “You’re jealous.”

Reed shrugged.

“You’re the one who wanted this.”

Reed shook his head miserably and stared out the window next to him, as if he couldn’t look Keith in the eyes. “Yeah, I know.”

Reed was jealous and it was absolutely the last emotion Keith had expected from the man.

“Don’t.” Reed held up a hand as if warding Keith off, but upsetting Reed was never something he worried about—because getting Reed upset was the only way to get him past it and moving upwards.

Keith caught his scarred wrist, always hidden by the leather bracelet of Bobby’s he’d worn since practically his first month here. Now, Keith took it off and rubbed the scar that felt far worse than it looked, reminded again about how lucky Reed had been not to lose his hand or damage it forever. Which might’ve interfered with his medical career.

“Don’t,” Reed said again, his voice a little lower this time.

“Come on, baby. You were the one who knew it was right from the first. Your instincts are always right, as much as it pains me to admit it.”

“Will you put that in writing?” Reed asked, and Keith brought his hand up to his mouth, kissed the inside of his wrist. “Fuck, your instincts were right too, you know.”

“Well, of course,” he said immodestly.

“Bastard.”

“Just the way you like me.”

“I feel like—”

“A red-blooded American man,” Keith said. “I was jealous too. Still am. You opened up to him so easily.”

“And then so did you,” Reed said sharply.

“Reed…baby—please.” Keith turned his face with a hand cupping his chin. “There’s no replacing you—I don’t want to replace you.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just…it’s been a while. I forgot the dynamics. How it can be in the beginning.”

“I was jealous as hell when you and Bobby started fucking,” Keith reminded him, and yeah, the man had been a bear, had often taking his worry and frustration out on Reed when it was their turn.

And Reed had loved it—responded to the rough-and-tumble fucking—had made Keith fall in love with him equally as hard as Bobby had fallen with him.

“I guess there’s room for all of us,” Reed said finally.

“Of course there is, if that’s what you want. And if you don’t—”

“What? You’d let him go?” Reed asked.

“I’d do anything for you, Reed, you know that. But you need to tell me now, before we get in any deeper. And if we decide to move forward, you can never ask me that again,” Keith warned.

“I know. That wasn’t fair.” Reed shifted in his chair and pulled something out of a drawer. “I found this yesterday.”

Keith opened the envelope and read the contents. Now, he understood where Reed’s admissions were coming from—this was enough to set anyone on edge. “We’ll take care of this.”

“We have to. And I don’t want him to go. Never did.”

“I know. You’re just…”

“Scared to be with him alone,” Reed finished for him. “And how fucking ridiculous is that?”

“It’s not,” Keith told him softly.

“I don’t want to screw this up.”

“You’re not. I want you to be comfortable. I thought you were.”

“Yeah, I did too. And it’s not Shane’s fault. It’s mine.” Reed took the envelope back. “No matter what, we have to deal with this, and fast.”

“I think we should wait to tell him.”

“You think he’ll run?” Reed asked softly.

“Yeah. I think he would now.”

Reed looked at the envelope in his hand and then dropped it back into the drawer. “Then we make sure he’s ready to stay before we show him.”

Chapter Twenty

Several weeks passed in a heartbeat. Keith went on another mission, Shane helped to track him this time, along with a very restrained Reed. At first, Shane chalked it up to stress but he had to wonder if Reed wasn’t happy that Shane had slept with Keith.

“Hey Shane, can you come here a minute?” Keith called from the living room. Shane was in the kitchen, grabbing a soda. He looked out the kitchen door and saw them standing together, trying to look like everything was completely normal, and they sucked at it.

They had something to tell him—it was about as fucking obvious as the snow outside. But Shane steeled himself for whatever it was. He was getting stronger. Training twice a day to get back into prime condition. And he almost had himself fooled that everything was going to be all right.

“What’s up?” he asked, pretending he was all fine.

“We have something to show you,” Reed said.

Keith walked over to him and held out an envelope. Shane took it, forced himself to draw a breath before he opened it.

“Tell him to stay quiet, and none of you will have any problems.”

Guthrie. He’d been here, to Shane’s sanctuary. He’d threatened the men who’d saved him.

“When?” he asked quietly, and when he got no answer, he demanded, “When, dammit? How long ago?”

“Three weeks ago,” Keith told him. He looked at Reed, who was stonily silent.

“Three weeks? And I suppose you think you had a good reason why you didn’t tell me?”

“Several, actually. I just don’t think you’re going to be able to get over yourself long enough to hear them.”

Keith was right about that but Shane didn’t care. Shoved away from Keith’s touch to his shoulder. He was angry. Prepared to fight.

“Shane, we wouldn’t have let him get to you,” Reed told him.

“Now you’re talking to me?” he asked, and Reed flinched. “Yeah, you think I’m walking around here in some kind of cloud, not noticing shit? I notice everything. And this—” he held up the letter, “—is my ticket out of here.”

“I didn’t think you wanted out,” Reed said.

“It doesn’t matter what I want. This dictates where I go. And you should’ve told me when it happened.”

“You weren’t ready to deal with it,” Keith said.

“You don’t get to make those decisions for me, goddammit,” he roared, and Keith crossed his arms and stared him down. “Just because I’ve given you my submission in the bedroom doesn’t mean I’m going to give it to you in every area of my life.”

“I didn’t say you had to,” Keith said. “So what exactly would you have done? Gone after Guthrie before you were well enough? Let him ruin your recovery and your possible happiness? Tell me, Shane, what you would’ve done three weeks ago besides freak the fuck out.”

Keith spoke calmly and that pissed Shane off more than anything. He was spinning, the roar in his ears was like an oncoming hurricane pounding through his brain. Before he knew it, he’d pushed the big man squarely in the chest, over and over.

The man didn’t move, stood like an elephant being bothered by a fly. It pissed Shane off when all he wanted was an
I’m sorry
, any kind of goddamned reaction instead of the ever-present smugness. Pissed him off even more than Reed did at the moment and, for whatever reason, it was safer to go off on Keith for now.

Finally, he got his wish. Keith’s patience expired and he did explode, pinned him to the floor, rubbed his scruff against Shane’s cheek. “You want a reaction, baby boy, you’ve got it. I didn’t want you to be any more hurt than you were. I wanted to protect you, although when you act stupid like this, it’s hard to remember why.”

“Then teach me.”

Keith’s body went tight on his. “You want a lesson?”

“Yes.” He put his forehead against the carpet, his eyes stung with tears of humiliation. “I need it.”