Hotter Than Ever (Out of Uniform) (18 page)

“Wow, what a prince,” Dylan called out.

“Everything okay in there?”

“Everything is just fine. Now open the door, you asshole.”

“Sure thing, let me just carry our glass angel to safety first.”

As Aidan’s footsteps receded, Dylan feathered his thumbs over Claire’s cheeks and searched her face. “You okay, honey?”

Swallowing, she nodded.

“Good.”

Just as the doorknob began to turn, Dylan gave her one last meaningful look and mouthed the words, “Think about it.”

Claire choked down a hysterical laugh.

Right.

Like it was even
remotely
possible for her to think about anything else.

For the tenth time in less than a minute, Aidan checked the alarm clock on the bedside table and confirmed that, yes, it was
still
12:21 a.m. Annnnnd wait, the one in the minute column switched to a two, officially making it 12:22.

Son of a bitch.

Apparently he was not destined to fall asleep tonight.

He glanced over at Dylan’s sleeping body, unable to stop the grin that sprang to his lips. As usual, Dylan had monopolized the comforter and it was now tangled between his legs. He lay on his side, providing Aidan with a perfect view of his bare ass. The SEAL slept in the nude, a habit that Aidan wholly approved of. Because damn, the man looked pretty fucking spectacular naked.

Aidan’s groin stirred as he admired the sleek lines of Dylan’s body, the strong sinew of his back, the taut ass you could bounce quarters off.

“I can feel you watching me.” Dylan’s sleepy voice echoed in the darkness of the bedroom.

Aidan had to laugh. “Man, you SEALs really do have eyes in the back of your head, huh?”

“Yep. So let’s hear it.”

“Hear what?”

Dylan rolled over, twisting the blanket even further and stealing the remaining square inches that had been covering Aidan’s right leg.

“You barely blinked after I told you what happened between me and Claire today,” Dylan said quietly. “I’m still waiting for you to yell at me or call me an ass for taking what you wanted.”

“What we
both
wanted.”

“Yeah, but you wanted her first.”

Aidan couldn’t argue with that, but he also couldn’t fault Dylan for succumbing to the same temptation that had been plaguing him for days. When he’d come home earlier, he’d immediately known that the couple had slept together. Not only had the animosity between them disappeared, but the second he’d looked at Claire, her face had turned into a tomato, a telltale sign something naughty had gone down.

He wasn’t going to lie—he
had
experienced a pang of jealousy when he’d learned that Dylan had gotten the taste of her that Aidan had been denied, but he knew the blame was solely on his own shoulders. He’d locked them in a room with a bed and a box of condoms, for Pete’s sake. Of course they’d make good use of both once they hashed everything out.

And no matter how he felt about them hooking up, he was happy they’d finally cleared the air and worked through their crap.

Of course, he hadn’t been expecting an aching cock as a reward for his efforts.

“She wants you too, you know.” Dylan’s gruff voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I know.” Aidan sat up and ran a hand through his rumpled hair. “But she won’t be on board for this, man.”

“I think she will,” Dylan disagreed.

“She hid in your room all day and night—I’m pretty sure that’s a clear sign she’s not into it. Besides, you heard the way she described her childhood. It was all about right and wrong, Dyl. In her mind, having sex with two men isn’t right.”

There was a long beat. “Are you sure you’re not pissed at me?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not pissed at you.”

“Good, because you know I’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you.”

The emotion thickening Dylan’s voice caught him off-guard, elicited a rush of discomfort. He wasn’t into deep, emotional discussions, never had been, never would be. They reminded him too much of the shrink he and his father had seen for a couple of years following his mother’s death, after one of Aidan’s teachers had notified the school counselor of how withdrawn he was in school.

Fuck, he’d hated talking to that shrink. She was always prying into his head, always asking him how he “felt” about this or how he “felt” about that.

“Aid? You do know that, right?”

Even in the dark, he could see the worry glimmering in Dylan’s eyes. “Yeah, I know.”

“And I still think Claire will come around. But until then…” The mattress shifted as Dylan bridged the distance between them.

Since Aidan was sitting up, Dylan’s head was perfectly level with his crotch, and his cock instantly reacted to the other man’s proximity, thickening beneath his cotton boxers. Unlike Dylan, he didn’t sleep naked, but it wasn’t long before he wound up that way.

With his boxers out of the way, Aidan cupped the back of Dylan’s head and guided that sexy male mouth to his cock.

The first lick made him shudder.

Dylan peered up at him with a grin, his straight white teeth shining in the darkness. “Everything okay?”

“Mmm-hmmm.”

The second lick made him moan. Closing his eyes, he leaned back on the oak headboard and enjoyed the incredible sensations created by Dylan’s tongue gliding along the length of his shaft.

Dylan brought his hand into play, curling it around Aidan’s cock and pulling the skin back to expose the head, which he promptly drew into his mouth and sucked gently on.

“Mmmm. I like that,” Aidan mumbled. “Keep going slow for a bit.”

His fingers tangled in Dylan’s short hair, hips rocking restlessly as Dylan’s tongue laved his cock with long, teasing strokes. Pressure built in his balls, and he knew he wouldn’t last long at all. He’d been hard-up all week, drooling over Claire’s sweet curves with no results, and longing for Dylan’s hard muscles, also with no results. Now that his dick was finally getting some attention, the big guy was overly eager and ready to blow.

“Fuck, I love sucking your dick, man.” Dylan’s growl of pleasure vibrated through Aidan’s body, sending a jolt of electricity right to the tip of his cock.

“Okay, forget slow.” The words squeezed out of his chest. “Fast, I need it fa—”

A cell phone rang.

They both froze, then relaxed when they realized it was Aidan’s ring tone and not the one that would signal Dylan to report to the base.

“Hold that thought,” he said with a groan.

Licking his lips, Dylan lifted his head and grinned. “I dunno…I might decide I’m too tired to finish the job…”

“Hold that fucking thought.”

Ignoring Dylan’s mocking laughter, he grabbed his phone and glanced at the display. His stomach went rigid.

“Who is it?” Dylan asked.

“My dad.”

“Isn’t it like three in the morning in Chicago?”

“Yes.” Without giving Dylan a chance to respond, he clicked the
talk
button and raised the phone to his ear.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in lieu of greeting.

A tired laugh rippled over the line, easing some of his panic. “Nothing’s wrong. I know it’s late, but I had something to discuss with you. Did I wake you?”

“No, I was up.” Aidan slid off the bed and reached for his boxers. He balanced the phone on his shoulder so he could slip them on, then signaled to Dylan that he’d be right back.

The SEAL rolled onto his back with a resigned look in his eyes.

Aidan knew it bugged his roommate that he took his father’s calls in private, but his relationship with his dad was weighed down with so much past sorrow that he preferred to keep that part of his life to himself.

He drifted into the living room and sank onto the couch. “What’s going on?” he asked his father.

“I wanted to talk to you about the holidays.”

“At three o’clock in the morning?”

“I couldn’t sleep. The firm’s trying to land the commission to design the new World Bank headquarters. I’ve been pulling quite a few all-nighters working on the proposal.”

“I’m sure they’ll love whatever you show them.” And he totally meant that—the shadows that surrounded Tim Rhodes had never tainted his professional life, and Aidan’s father was one of the most prominent architects in the country.

“I hope so.” His dad sounded distracted for a moment, and there was a shuffling of papers on the line. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I’ll be out of town from the twenty-third until January fourth. Ronnie and I decided to fly to Switzerland to do some skiing.”

Aidan swallowed his disappointment. How shocking. His dad was bailing on the holidays, the way he did every year.

At the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to begrudge his father’s decision to run away. Ever since Aidan’s mom died, Christmas in the Rhodes household had been a wretched, miserable affair. Besides, it was nice to hear that Tim was still dating the same woman Aidan had met when he’d flown in for a visit in the spring.

“So you’re still seeing Veronica, huh? How’s that going?”

“It’s good,” his father admitted. “It’s…easy. Comfortable.”

“That’s the way relationships should be, no?”

“Yes. Yes, they should.” Tim cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to do this to you last-minute, son. Do you have friends you can spend the holidays with? Your roommate’s family, maybe?”

“Yeah, I’ve got options,” he said vaguely. “Don’t worry about it. Just go on your trip and have fun on the slopes.”

“I plan to.” His father sounded relieved. “You’re not upset?”

“No, of course not.” The lie slid out smooth as cream, having been perfected over the years.

“All right, good. Well… I’ll let you get to sleep. I’ll email you from Zurich if I get the chance. Happy holidays, Aidan.”

“Happy holidays, Dad.”

He hung up and dropped the phone on the cushion beside him, breathing through the overwhelming sadness that clogged his throat.

“Your dad is ditching you for the holidays, huh?”

He jumped at the sound of Claire’s voice, swiveling his head in the direction it had come from. Sure enough, she was standing behind the large opening in the wall separating the living room from the kitchen.

“What are you doing up?” he asked, getting to his feet.

“I was hungry.”

He headed into the kitchen and spotted the sandwich fixings on the counter. “Well, of course you are,” he said pointedly. “You didn’t join us for dinner.”

Even in the shadows, he could see her blushing. “I wasn’t hungry then. I am now.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m sorry for eavesdropping. I didn’t do it on purpose. You just came in and started talking before I could announce myself, and then I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“It’s okay.” He propped his hip against the counter and watched as she resumed the task of preparing a turkey and ham sandwich.

“So your dad is going skiing?” she prompted. “I heard you say something about the slopes.”

“Yeah, he’s heading to Switzerland for a couple of weeks, so I’ll be spending Christmas here. With who, I have no clue yet.”

“My holiday plans are up in the air too,” she confessed. “Chris and I were supposed to spend Christmas in Paris—that was the last stop on our honeymoon. And since I was supposed to be gone, my parents booked a twelve-day cruise, and now my mom is freaking out and threatening to cancel their trip. I spoke to her earlier and tried to talk her out of it, but I don’t know if I was persuasive enough.”

“Would it be so bad if they stayed in town?”

“Honestly? I’m not feeling very festive. I’d rather they enjoy themselves in the Bahamas.”

“What about you?”

She shrugged, then sat on a stool and took a bite of her sandwich. “I’ll figure something out.”

“You could spend the holidays with me.” The words popped out before he could stop them.

Claire’s gaze flew to his. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’ve still got another two weeks off, so it’s not like you have to rush back to San Francisco. Dylan and I are doing Christmas Eve with friends, and you can join us for that, and I’m assuming he’s heading home right after dinner to see his mom, so you and I can keep each other company on Christmas Day.”

“You really want me to stay for another two weeks?” She sounded troubled.

“Why not? You already know I like having you around.”

“Yeah, but that was before…” She trailed off, averted her gaze, and focused on eating her sandwich.

“Before what?” When she didn’t answer, he chuckled. “Before you had sex with Dylan, you mean?”

She lifted her head. “He told you.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not upset?”

“No.”

“Did he tell you the rest?”

“About his mom’s financial troubles? Yeah. Fucking sucks, huh?”

“It does. I’m glad he told you. But…I was referring to the
other
rest.”