“GO HOME. Sleep. And don’t come back until Monday,” Dan ordered.
He shut the door on Keenan’s exhausted “Yes, sir.”
Bradley gave a weary laugh. “Don’t call him sir. He’ll expect us all to do it.”
“Fuck off,” Dan said through the door.
As Keenan walked away, he could hear Dan working his way through the locks. “There are a lot of locks on the door.”
Bradley was silent, and Keenan turned to him. Even in the dim light, he could see the conflicted look on Bradley’s face.
“Am I missing something?” Keenan tried to show by his tone that it didn’t matter if Bradley answered or not.
“Dan was attacked in the alley behind the bar. He won’t admit it, but he’s always worried about the two men coming back.”
“So he put all the locks on the doors?”
Bradley shook his head. “Gideon did. It was fine until Dan saw one of the guys. Then they both got freaked out.”
“I’m not surprised.”
They parted company at the intersection, and Keenan walked away, shoulders hunched against the chill of the early fall morning.
It occurred to Keenan that security was something he knew about. Gideon probably owned half a dozen security companies, but he was on site. He’d find a way to raise the subject with Dan when he got back to work.
As soon as he walked through the door, Keenan stripped off and took a long shower, reveling in the feel of the hot water as it sluiced down his back. He stayed in the shower until the water started to cool. Keenan had passed tired several days ago, and now he was at bone weary. He’d never spent so much time on his feet. He’d been offered as many hours as he liked, and so far he’d had to cancel all meetings with his family. But now he had Saturday, Sunday lunch with his family, and Monday morning free. He planned to spend most of it sitting down.
The doorbell rang just as Keenan stepped out. He frowned, not expecting anyone in the middle of the night. Keenan wrapped a towel around his waist without bothering to dry off and jogged down the stairs to the front door. He hoped he wasn’t answering the door to his elderly, church-going neighbor. She didn’t hide her disapproval of him, no matter how many plates of homemade oatmeal cookies he offered her. Perhaps she’d prefer chocolate.
“Who is it?” he called out.
“Nate.”
Nate? The first thing he’d done when he got his hours was call Nate to see if he was free for a hookup over the weekend, but Nate had been noncommittal and made no promises. Keenan had been a little offended at his lack of enthusiasm, but he told himself to get over it. Nate was at work. He didn’t have time to make dates.
Keenan flung open the door to find the detective with a six-pack, what smelled like Thai food, and a tired but happy face. “Dinner as well?”
“I should have brought breakfast, but I didn’t get a chance to eat dinner.”
“Come in.” Keenan stepped back, and the movement almost dislodged his towel. He clutched it hard. Nate’s smile grew even broader when he followed Keenan’s gesture.
“That’s a pretty sight.” He openly laughed as Keenan clutched his towel tighter.
“Come in,” Keenan urged, “before I give my neighbors a sight they don’t need to see.”
“They don’t know what they’re missing.” Nate chuckled again as he brushed past Keenan, who was very sure the touch had been more than deliberate.
Keenan shut the door with relief. He turned to find Nate openly ogling him as he leaned against the wall, takeout and beer now on the table. “You like what you see?” he asked somewhat tartly.
“Very much.” Nate’s voice was hoarse as his gaze swept over Keenan from the top of his wet hair to his feet, still peppered by water droplets.
Keenan was very aware he was barely covered by his towel, and one part of him was definitely waking up. “I’ll go get dressed.” He went to go past Nate, only to be grabbed by one arm and tugged up against Nate’s clad body. He gasped as Nate pressed his lips hard on Keenan’s. He was breathless and hard by the time Nate raised his head. Keenan licked his lips. “Mmm, hi.”
“Hi.” Nate brushed their lips together. “You taste wonderful. I couldn’t resist. Sorry about earlier. We were wrapping up a case, and I wasn’t sure I’d be free this weekend. I can go away if you’re busy.”
Like Keenan was going to let him go now.
“Shut up,” he said as he slipped one hand around Nate’s neck and shoved his groin into Nate’s. He had come to see Keenan. That was enough. Or maybe not enough, because Keenan wasn’t the only one who was getting aroused. As they were about the same height, Nate’s hardness rubbed deliciously with Keenan’s.
Nate kissed him again, settling back against the wall and pulling Keenan flush against him. Nate’s hands roamed over him, exploring his bare shoulders, and slid down Keenan’s sides and around to cup his towel-covered ass. He squeezed hard, and Keenan groaned into Nate’s mouth. Nate tasted of too much coffee and not enough breath mints, but that was okay. He felt Nate’s tiredness in his muscles and his hunger in his belly. Actual hunger. Nate’s stomach was rumbling fiercely.
Keenan stepped back to put space between them and held on to his towel. “You need to shower and eat.”
Nate’s eyes gleamed with wickedness. “I want to eat,” he agreed, and it was obvious he wasn’t thinking of Thai food.
“Shower, then takeout,” Keenan ordered.
“Shame,” Nate murmured. “I need the food. I think the last time I ate was last night.”
“Okay. You set the food out, and I’ll get dressed.”
“You can stay dressed like that, or if you don’t want to sit in a wet towel….” The gleam deepened.
“I don’t, which is why I’m going to put on pants.”
He heard a “Shame” as he ran up the stairs and then a piercing wolf whistle.
Keenan realized he’d probably given Nate a good view of his package as he ran up the stairs. “I may as well have dropped the damn towel,” he muttered. “It’s not like he hasn’t seen it before.”
By the time he was downstairs in old sweats and a T-shirt bearing the name of a band Keenan could barely remember, Nate had laid out the food and the beer was ready to drink. Keenan noticed it was one of the IPAs that was sold at Cowboys and Angels.
Keenan hummed in pleasure at the spicy aroma of the food. “This looks so good.”
Nate slurped a mouthful of hot sweet-and-sour soup. “It’s my favorite comfort food.”
“I usually break into the mac n cheese.”
“That works too.”
They ate in comfortable silence, drank the beer, and watched a DVD that Keenan insisted was the best film ever. He couldn’t believe Nate had never seen it.
“Superhero movies aren’t really my thing,” Nate admitted. “If I get to a movie theater, it has explosions, but not guys in tights.”
Keenan sighed. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard this argument. “It’s not really a superhero movie.”
“It has a guy in a tight costume. It’s a superhero movie.”
Keenan opened his mouth to object, but as Nate had agreed to watch it, he decided it wasn’t worth the argument, especially when Nate slung an arm around Keenan and pulled him against his chest. He settled down to watch Ryan Reynolds do his thing.
“Time to wake up,” Nate whispered in Keenan’s ear.
Keenan groaned and cracked open one eye to see the movie credits rolling. “Oh God, did I fall asleep?”
“About five minutes into the movie.”
Keenan sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s seven o’clock in the morning.”
“I also told you this was the best movie ever made and people who slept through movies were idiots. I guess I’m an idiot.” He saw a wet patch on Nate’s shoulder. “I drooled too?”
“I can’t deny it. A little drooling was involved.” Nate was obviously doing his best not to laugh.
Keenan was mortified. “Sleeping and drooling. Great.”
“To be fair, it was the middle of the night, and I did ply you with beer.”
That was true.
“And I fell asleep about two minutes after you did,” Nate admitted. “And now I need to go home.”
“You can’t stay?”
Nate brushed a thumb over Keenan’s cheek. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
Keenan was reluctant to let Nate go. It was the best night he’d spent in a long time. Then he yawned and his jaw cracked. “I thought you’d wrapped a case.”
Nate’s grin was wry. “I have, but there’s always another one on my desk.”
“You should sleep,” Keenan said.
“I will later. We can do this again.”
Keenan smiled at him. “I’d like that.”
Nate rose, picked up their plates, and took them to the kitchen. Keenan relaxed back into the seat. He knew if he closed his eyes, he’d be asleep again. Instead he stood, grabbed the takeout boxes, and took them into the kitchen as well. Nate turned on the faucet to rinse the plates.
“You don’t have to do that,” Keenan said.
Nate ignored him, rinsed off the plates, and placed them on the draining rack. When everything was clean, he dried his hands on the towel and grinned at Keenan. “I’m going to go home.”
Keenan had been hoping for food, company, and making out. He’d managed the first and slept through the second and a little of the third. Hopefully next time he’d stay awake and get a little more action.
They exchanged kisses by the front door—soft kisses that made Keenan’s toes curl until Nate pulled away with obvious reluctance.
“Good night,” he said. “I’ve got to go.”
Keenan leaned against his doorframe and watched Nate walk down the path to his car. God, he had it bad for Nate Gordon.