ALL Marty could think about on the drive back across town was the kiss. In fact, whenever he closed his eyes, he could still feel the gentle but urgent longing emanating from Luke’s trembling lips. The memory sent a searing fire across his flesh, which ignited a flame that suddenly made his jeans much too snug for his straining erection.
In all his life, Marty had never experienced such a blistering kiss. It had turned his legs to noodles and scorched a fiery path clear to his heart.
What had suddenly made Luke want to kiss him, and what exactly did it mean?
After everything he’d been through, obsessing over the kiss seemed a bit juvenile, even for someone who drew comic books for a living. Marty had just survived his second near-death experience of the day. He should be thankful he was still alive and not lying on a coroner’s table. If his mind had to freak out about something, it should be the fact that his cousin had tried to kill him.
But no, his mind refused to budge from the kiss. It enveloped his entire world. If he didn’t talk about it, he was going to scream.
“Something’s eating your cheese again,” Luke said from the driver’s seat.
Marty chuckled, embarrassed by how easily Luke could read him, but then again, Luke had been able to do that almost from the moment they met. “I was just wondering—”
“No,” Luke replied. “It’s not over. At least not yet.”
If Marty were a comic book character right now, a huge question mark would have been floating over his head. “The kiss?”
Luke laughed out loud. “Oh, the kiss,” he said with a wicked grin. “That is over. At least for now.”
Marty had moved so far beyond confused, he couldn’t even see it on the horizon. “What the hell are you talking about? What’s not over?”
“You being in danger. We might have stopped Rogelio, but the FBI mole is still out there.”
Right. He’d completely forgotten about that. “And so is El Dragón.”
Luke nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “We still have to be careful. Both the mole and El Dragón most likely know that we’ve got Rogelio in custody and that we’re under FBI surveillance—”
“We are?” Marty asked, glancing at the side mirror. A black government-looking vehicle followed close behind them.
“A safety precaution,” Luke said. He grabbed Marty’s hand and squeezed it. His touch reignited the flame their kiss had started. “I doubt they will try anything at your place now—there’ll be too many eyes—but we still have to be careful. El Dragón won’t be happy.”
Icy tendrils slowly replaced the burn across Marty’s flesh. “I guess I was stupid to think it was over, huh?”
Luke lifted Marty’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “Not at all. But don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know you won’t,” he replied. “And I won’t let anything happen to you either. I’m not the only one in danger. You are too.”
Luke didn’t respond. “I want you to promise me something,” Luke said as he pulled up to the garage apartment. “If trouble does come knocking, I want you to run.”
“As long as you’re safe, I will.”
Luke turned off the car and rested the full weight of his stare on Marty. “No. Risking my life is part of my job. It’s not yours. You have to promise me you will keep yourself safe.”
“I’m not going to leave you if you’re in danger,” Marty said as he exited the car and started for the stairs leading up to the apartment.
Luke dashed out of the car after him. “Marty—”
“I’m not going to leave you if you’re in danger,” he said at the top of the stairs. He spoke the words with more conviction than he’d ever uttered before. This wasn’t a point he was going to argue.
Luke grimaced as he ascended the steps. “Fine. I guess I’ll just have to make sure neither of us are in danger.”
“Now that’s a plan I can get behind,” Marty said as he opened the apartment door.
Luke didn’t say a word as he closed the door behind them and locked it. He removed his gun from the waistband of his jeans and set it on the small table next to the bed. He unzipped the Batman hoodie he’d been wearing this entire time and tossed it onto the desk chair.
Marty stood in silence as Luke kicked his shoes off and peeled the Wonder Woman tee from his body. Marty swallowed so hard it was audible.
The sight of Luke’s smooth bare chest and rippling muscles made his mouth dry.
Were they about to do what Marty’s excited cock hoped they were going to do? “Thank you for saving me.” Really? Those were the first words out of his mouth? He felt like an idiot. What could he do, though? He was nervous. The only man he’d ever been with had been Christian, and while Christian had been a good-looking man, his body was nothing compared to Luke’s.
What was Luke going to do when he saw Marty’s thin chest and bony arms?
“I need you to know something,” Luke said as he slowly closed the distance between them. Marty had a hard time focusing on the words. He was too busy watching Luke’s six-pack flex with each breath he took.
A second later Luke pinned him to the wall. His pupils were shot and his breathing turned ragged as he pressed his body against Marty’s. “I need you to listen to me,” he said. His voice was low and throaty, but there was an urgency in his tone that went beyond the desire that blazed in his eyes.
Marty gulped. He understood what that look meant. Luke wanted him not just as a friend or as a pretend boyfriend. Luke wanted to rip Marty out of his clothes and do things to him that no one had ever done to him before. A low whimper escaped his throat as Luke pressed his muscled body firmly against him, allowing Marty to feel the hardness growing within Luke’s jeans.
“Are you listening?”
Marty nodded.
“I want you, Marty.” Luke nuzzled his face into the crook of Marty’s neck and inhaled deeply before he delivered gentle kisses along Marty’s sensitive flesh. “I want to cover you with kisses. I want to hold your naked body against mine. I want to steal the breath from your lungs and replace it with my own. I want to kiss your lips as I enter your body. I want you, Marty Valdez.” He stood up and gazed deep into Marty’s eyes. “And I want you to want me. Luke Myers. Not Tim Drake.”
Marty replied with a gentle brush of his lips against Luke’s. The tender kiss turned into longing nibbles before their raging desires took hold. Searing heat burned like a flashfire across Marty’s flesh as Luke’s tongue swept and swirled inside his mouth. He clutched Luke’s shoulders, massaging the curve of muscle before spreading his fingers across the expanse of Luke’s strong, broad chest.
A deep, animalistic groan resonated in Luke’s chest. He grabbed Marty’s hands, holding them over his head and restraining them against the wall. Marty responded by forcing himself harder into the kiss. He wrapped his tongue around Luke’s and thrust his aching cock against Luke’s squirming pelvis. Luke panted as he surfed one hand down from where he continued to restrain Marty. He slid it across Marty’s shoulders and down his side. He grabbed Marty’s ass and shoved their pelvises harder together, grinding their trapped erections against each other.
“Marty,” he panted. The way Luke whispered his name with such longing almost made Marty come. “I’m not Tim. I need you to realize that.”
Despite the passion that still raged across his flesh, Marty chuckled. “I know that. I’m the one who created Tim.”
Luke nodded. “Tim is your fantasy man, and I’m not some picture perfect superhero.” He rested his forehead against Marty’s and sighed. “I’m flawed and horribly scarred. I’m not what you imagined Tim to be, and I could never hope to be that man. I need you to know that and be okay with it.”
Marty couldn’t believe his ears. Luke actually believed Marty might only want him because the fantasy he had created had come to life. Luke didn’t know that Marty didn’t want Tim. He was a character created by the marriage of his overactive imagination and his natural desire to hide.
Tim Drake no longer existed. Luke was the only man Marty needed.
“I don’t want Tim,” he finally said. “I only used him to deal with the shit in life that I couldn’t handle. I don’t need him anymore, and it’s not because of you. Well, not only because of you, but because being with you has forced me to realize I can handle whatever life throws at me. I’m strong on my own. I’m stronger without Tim, but I’m the strongest when I’m with you.”
Luke smiled before he pressed his lips to Marty’s once again, and Marty’s flesh thrummed in response. Everywhere Luke touched him sent rhythmic pulses spreading across his skin until his body turned into one throbbing, syncopated beat.
Marty freed himself from Luke’s restraining hands and danced his fingers across Luke’s back. He strummed muscle and plucked flesh to the same rhythm Luke played with his roving hands and long, sweet kisses. Their moans and grunts turned into a guttural chorus that enflamed the beat to which they danced.
Luke slowly unfastened the button of Marty’s jeans. There was no way he was going to be the first one naked. He fumbled open Luke’s pants and went straight for the zipper. He slid the denim slowly down Luke’s waist but stopped when his six-pack abs suddenly became an eight-pack. How the hell was that even possible? He’d seen Luke hoover down a whole plate full of carbs.
“Something wrong?” Luke asked as he unzipped Marty’s jeans.
Marty licked his lips and shook his head. Other than genetics being completely unfair, there was nothing wrong at all with what he saw. He slipped his hands between the rough fabric and Luke’s silky flesh and shoved the jeans down. Out popped the most beautiful cock Marty had ever seen. It was eight inches of throbbing flesh nestled within a light dusting of dark blond hair. “You’re beautiful,” he uttered.
Luke hooked Marty’s chin with one finger and raised Marty’s lips back to his. His tongue dove inside his mouth as Luke tugged Marty’s jeans from his body. He broke the kiss long enough to grab the bottom of Marty’s shirt and pull it free.
Marty had to fight the urge to cover up. Compared to most other guys, he was scrawny. Next to Luke, he turned into a walking stick.
The fire in Luke’s eyes raged even higher as he swept his gaze over Marty’s naked body. “Fuck,” he groaned. “You might not be able to walk tomorrow.”
A bubble of nervous laughter flew out of Marty’s mouth. “You don’t think I’m too skinny?”
Luke stared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language. “Are you kidding? You’re perfect.”
He swept Marty off his feet and carried him to the bed. Marty wrapped his arms around Luke’s neck and dove onto his lips until Luke gently lowered him to the bed. Marty scuttled backward, moving all the way up to the headboard while Luke crawled after him and positioned himself between Marty’s open legs.
Luke lowered himself onto Marty, pressing him into the mattress. Marty draped his arms around Luke and pulled him into a desperate kiss as he wrapped his legs around Luke’s waist. He breathed in the scent of sweat and musk that clung to the air. It made him dizzy. Luke’s tongue came to life inside his mouth as he thrust his hardness against Marty’s. The sensation of their grinding cocks and the silky glide of Luke’s fingers over his chest and down his sides made Marty’s body tingle, and he found it even harder to breathe.
Marty’s desire could no longer take the gentle caresses. He craved something rougher, more primal, and he needed it now. He grabbed Luke’s ass and forced their sweaty cocks harder and faster against each other. Sparks of electricity traveled from his pulsing dick all the way through his body and deep into his soul.
“I need you,” he begged. “Please.”
Luke moaned in response to Marty’s urgings. He lifted his body on one elbow and slid his free hand through the sheen of sweat coating Marty’s flesh and down to his cock. When he wrapped his hand around Marty’s erection, Marty arched his back off the bed and thrust in Luke’s hand.
He slipped his hand between their bodies and grabbed Luke’s prick. Its weight was warm, and it pulsed in response to his touch. He jacked Luke’s cock in slow, even strokes, rubbing his thumb and forefinger over the head on each upstroke. Luke groaned into their kiss each time Marty slid his fingers across the slit and coated his palm in the sweet juice that wept from the opening.
“You’re driving me crazy,” Luke said before he released Marty’s dick and sucked two of his fingers into his mouth. When they were good and slick, his fingers found their way between Marty’s cheeks and around his fluttering opening. Luke fell onto Marty’s lips as he slid one finger inside.
Marty whimpered, thrusting his body harder and faster against the invading digit. Although slight tinges of pain streaked through him, Luke’s gentle touch and kisses made the fleeting discomfort worth it. Luke slipped a second finger inside him, and Marty clutched Luke’s shoulders.
“Relax,” he whispered. He kissed the tip of Marty’s nose before licking a trail around Marty’s lips. “I won’t hurt you.”
The words caused Marty’s body to open up, and the sting turned into a dull ache before the pain disappeared altogether.
“I think you’re ready.”
Marty nodded. “I know I am.”
“Do you have any—?”
“Top drawer.” Marty nodded to the nightstand.
Luke reached inside the bedside table and pulled out a condom and some lube. The box of rubbers had been in there so long, Marty hoped they hadn’t expired. Luke rolled the sheath down his shaft and thankfully coated it with a healthy portion of lubricant. Marty was going to need as much lube as possible if he planned on taking every inch of Luke’s thickness.
“Are you ready?” Luke asked as he sat back on his haunches.
Marty couldn’t respond. The sight of Luke naked on his bed about to make love to him was perhaps the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Tears filled his eyes and fell down his cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” Luke asked as he suddenly hovered over Marty. He wiped away the tears with his big, lube-slick thumb.
God, he was such a girl! “I’m fine,” Marty sniffled. “I’m just really happy. That’s all.”
Luke brushed his lips against Marty’s. “Me too.”
“You know what would make me even happier?”
A grin slid across Luke’s expression. “What’s that?”
“You inside me.”
Luke crushed his lips against Marty’s while he aimed himself straight for Marty’s ass. Marty gripped Luke’s shoulders, kneading the flesh and muscle as Luke pressed forward and slipped inside.
All breath left Marty’s lungs as Luke slowly filled him up inch by every wonderfully painful inch. When Luke had buried himself all the way inside, he lowered himself onto Marty, kissing him, caressing him, and filling Marty with the most glorious warmth he’d ever experienced.
“Damn, you feel good,” Luke grunted as he slowly thrust in and out.
Marty raised his hips to meet Luke’s thrusts. “Not as good as you,” he uttered as Luke slowly picked up the pace.
Luke wrapped his arms around Marty, holding him close. He pressed his lips against Marty’s, their tongues dove in and out of each other’s mouths, and their bodies moved closer and closer to the crescendo their bodies had generated.
“Oh Marty,” Luke panted. His thrusts became harder as he slammed himself in and out of Marty’s hole.
Marty dragged his fingertips across Luke’s back as his own desire burned like a meteor streaking through the sky. He’d never felt so loved or so alive, and his body practically screamed for release. Each time Luke slammed into him, harder and faster, his dick rubbed against the pleasure button that no one else had ever touched.
Marty’s cock grew harder, leaking precome all over his and Luke’s stomachs. He teetered on the edge of the most powerful orgasm ever, and he hadn’t touched himself once.
“I’m so close,” he huffed, barely able to find the breath to speak.
Luke held him tighter, using Marty’s shoulders for the leverage he needed to pick up his pace. His thrusts became wilder and his moans grew louder. The frenzied movement rubbed Marty’s erection through the slick sweat that coated their bodies and sent him plummeting off the edge.
“Holy shit!” Marty screamed as he came. His body convulsed in a powerful orgasm that coated his stomach with five milky volleys.
Marty’s shuddering body triggered Luke’s grand finale. He let fly a grunt as he buried his face in Marty’s neck and came. Luke’s cock swelled inside him, and Marty felt every shuddering pulse as Luke filled the condom.
They lay there for a few moments, relishing the smell of sex and sweat their bodies had created. Luke kissed Marty before he dropped onto his side and pulled Marty into his arms. Marty rested his head on Luke’s chest, absently running his hand up and down the curves of Luke’s muscles, and let out the longest, most contented sigh of his life.
“That was great.”
Luke snorted and pulled Marty on top of him. “Are you kidding me? That was fucking fantastic.”
Marty wasn’t going to argue. He snuggled into the crook of Luke’s neck and sighed.
Just yesterday, Marty’s life had been one big lie and the biggest mess imaginable. It had become a nightmare he thought he’d never escape. Right now, as Luke held him close and ran his fingers up and down the small of his back, Marty realized that nightmare had turned into the sweetest dream possible.
It was one he hoped he’d never wake up from.
FOR the first time in a long time, Luke’s sleep wasn’t plagued by the terrors from his past. He drove up the West Coast in his Jeep instead of waking as a child in his bed to the sounds of angry voices booming in his house. Instead of the explosion of gunshots, the warm panting breaths of George, his furry best friend, tickled his ear. Marty sat next to him in the car, laughing, which was a wonderful change from the dreams where Luke walked downstairs to find his parents in pools of their own blood.
It was a wonderful dream filled with joy and laughter, which was entirely different from the usual dreamscape. The only part he didn’t understand was the wounded warthog. He couldn’t hear anything Marty said over the awful sound, and no matter where he searched, he couldn’t find the damned animal anywhere.
Wherever it was, it was in danger and needed to be rescued. It snorted as if it had trouble taking a breath, and when it squealed, it reached decibels that made George howl. It was obviously in pain. The noise repeated on an endless loop, drowning out everything in his dream until Luke finally opened his eyes and found the warthog lying on his chest.
It was Marty. His mouth hung open, and he was snoring with gay abandon.
How the hell could someone so small and thin produce so much noise?
Luke briefly entertained the idea of waking Marty up and telling him to roll over, but he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt Marty’s sound slumber. The poor guy was exhausted, and he needed his rest. He’d survived two attempts on his life, and they’d just had what had to be the best sex of Luke’s life.
Marty had earned the right to snore. Plus, it was pretty darn cute. Then again, there wasn’t much about Marty Luke didn’t find absolutely adorable. He had from the first moment he saw him. Luke wasn’t certain if it was his warm brown eyes, the big innocent smile, or how awkward he’d been, but something about Marty tugged upon his body and his soul. It obliterated the walls Luke usually surrounded himself with, and while that terrified him, it also made him feel as light as a bubble.
“You’re smiling.”
Luke gazed down into Marty’s sleepy eyes and smiled. “You’re awake.”
“I can’t sleep when I’m being watched,” Marty complained before letting out a silent yawn and stretching. The covers slid slowly down his body, revealing the swell of his butt.
“You could’ve fooled me,” Luke said. He lifted his head off the pillow to get a better look at Marty’s ass. It was so small he could fit both cheeks in one of his apelike hands.
“What does that mean?” Marty asked as he repositioned himself onto Luke’s shoulder and snuggled into the crook of his neck.
“It means you snore.” Luke ran his fingers through Marty’s long dark hair with one hand while he cupped Marty’s butt in his other.
Marty sat up and glared at him. “I do not snore.”
The covers fell almost completely off him, revealing the nest of dark hair that made Luke stiff in all the right places. “Yeah, you do,” he replied, mimicking the sound of the wounded warthog that had invaded his dreams.
Marty narrowed his eyes. “Where’s your proof?”
“You mean besides what I heard with my own ears?”
“You’re not a reliable source, Special Agent,” Marty said with a playful dismissive wave. “You were asleep. You don’t know for certain what you heard. For all you know, you were the one snoring so loudly you woke yourself up.”
“Not true. I don’t snore.”
“How do you know whether you snore or not?”
“Because I usually don’t sleep,” he answered. “Too many bad dreams.”
“Every night?” Marty’s narrowed eyes widened.
“Every night,” he replied with a nod.
Marty scooted back down on the bed and resumed his place on Luke’s chest. “What do you dream about?”
Luke exhaled. He didn’t talk about his past, and he sure as hell didn’t discuss his dreams. They were too awful, and whenever his thoughts lingered on them, the painful memories of his youth threatened to drown him in a wave of guilt and sorrow. “I don’t really talk about it.”
Marty nodded. “They must be about your parents, then.”
“Why do you say that?”
Marty snuggled closer, draping his leg across Luke’s midsection. “Because the look you had on your face when you talked about your dreams was the same one you gave me when I was pushing you about your parents earlier.”
Luke didn’t realize his emotions had betrayed him. He’d always believed he was better at schooling his face. He’d clearly been wrong.
“Was what happened to your parents that bad?”
“It was the worst moment of my life,” Luke whispered.
Marty rolled on top of him, resting his chin on his hands and gazing up at him from Luke’s chest. “I know you don’t like talking about it, and I’ll respect that. If you ever want to talk about it, though, I’m right here.”
Luke had never envisioned a time when that was ever going to be the case, which was why he surprised himself by doing just that. “They were murdered when I was ten.”
“Holy shit!” Marty exclaimed. He crawled farther on top of Luke until he nuzzled his cheek against Luke’s chin. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” he said, sniffing the top of Marty’s head. The sweet tropical scent that lingered in his hair gave Luke the courage he needed to continue. While he might not like to talk about his past, if there was going to be anything real between him and Marty, it was something he had to do. Marty needed to understand how much of a mess Luke really was. “We’d just spent the entire weekend together too, which was unusual. My mother worked part time and went to college full time. She wanted to be an elementary school teacher real bad, and my father, the firefighter, worked extra shifts so Mom could pursue her dream. That weekend, my mother had no homework and my father actually had two full days free, so we made the most of it. We had a picnic on the beach and went to the movies. We played games, which they let me win. It had been the best two days of my life until Sunday, when I woke up to screaming about an hour after they’d put me to bed.”
Luke swallowed hard, recalling his mother’s piercing shriek.
“You don’t have to talk about this,” Marty said.
“Yes, I do,” Luke replied. “Remember I told you earlier that I wasn’t perfect. That I was scarred.” When Marty nodded, he continued. “You need to know why I’m so messed up. It’s only fair.”
Marty motioned for Luke continue.
“A man broke into our house. The police believed he was some junkie looking for money or anything he could sell to get his next fix. My dad tried to fight him off, but he got shot. When my mother screamed, he shot her too. By the time I came downstairs, they were dead and he was gone.”
“You—” Marty shivered before holding him tight. “Found them?”
“That’s why I can’t sleep. Whenever I do, I usually dream of that night, and then I usually can’t fall back asleep.”
Marty rose on his elbow and delivered the sweetest, gentlest kiss to his lips. While the memories still ripped Luke’s heart to shreds, the gesture slowly pieced the tattered remnants back together again. “What happened to you afterward? Did you go live with your grandparents?”
“They had died when I was like four or five. The only living relative I had was my mother’s brother, Uncle Steve. He was an alcoholic and couldn’t take care of me, so I spent the next eight years of my life moving from one foster home to the next.”
“None of them adopted you?”
Luke shook his head. “Most of them were only interested in the extra money being my foster parents gave them. None of them cared about me. The fact that I woke up screaming every night didn’t help. After a few months, the sleepless nights eventually led each set of foster parents to bring me right back to the state home.”
“Jesus, Luke. No wonder you didn’t want to talk about your past.” Marty looked up at him and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for making you relive it.”
“That’s sweet of you to say,” he replied as he turned over on his side. Marty plopped onto the mattress next to him. Luke rested his forehead against Marty’s and pulled him close. “But I relive it every day, whether you bring it up or not. That moment has haunted my days and nights all these years, and every time it does, I remember that I’ve never felt as loved or special since then.”
Marty brushed his lips against Luke’s. “You are special. To me.”
Luke believed that with every flutter in his chest. “You are too. More special than I even realized. I knew there was something about you. I had no clue what it was or what to even call it, but right before Rogelio tried to kill you, I suddenly figured it out. My feelings for you ran deeper than I thought. I care about you, Marty, and I really, really like you.”
Marty’s eyebrows hitched together. “Really?”
“Of course,” he said, rubbing his thumb across Marty’s lips. “The first night I spent here told me there was something different about being around you because I actually slept. Being with you makes my past not as awful. Like this ray of sunlight shining into the painful shadows of my past.”
Marty wrapped his arms around Luke’s neck and brought him to his lips. Marty’s feathery kisses quickly reignited the fire of their passion until its flames burned even hotter than before.
Marty broke the kiss and grinned. “I probably don’t have to tell you this,” he said while he mounted Luke. He sat up, exposing his naked body and stiff cock as he ground his ass against Luke’s hardness. “But I really, really like you too.”