His weight disappeared as Gabriel leaned back, fisting Blake’s dick as he buried himself to the hilt. It only took two tugs before Blake was coming again, a small dribble of cum as Gabriel stroked him through it, cock pressed against his prostate.
He fell back limp as Gabriel dragged him into his lap, pounded into him a few more times before sliding out and coming all over Blake’s stomach.
It was hot and sticky, smearing across the white already painted on his stomach. Some landed on his chin and neck, pooled in his collarbones as Gabriel jerked himself through his orgasm, head tossed back, Blake’s name grunted through clenched teeth.
He collapsed beside Blake, his chest heaving. There were spots in Blake’s vision, but he turned to look at Gabriel. His eyes were closed, long lashes fluttering as he came back to himself. There was high color on his tanned cheeks, and his hair was mussed, stuck to his forehead.
Blake’s heart clenched as he looked at him.He’s beautiful.
He rolled over to kiss him, tucking his sweaty body up against Gabriel’s. He burrowed into Gabriel’s chest, letting the hair tickle his chin. Gabriel rested his hand on his ass, kissing the top of his head.
Slowly, their breaths evened out, but they didn’t move. Not even when the sweat cooled on their skin, and not even the grill was enough to keep them from shivering. Under the shade of the old Victorian with its scalloped trim and narrow windows, they held each other for just one more minute.
CHAPTER
FIVE
The road to hell was paved with good intentions—and chickens.
Gabriel watched as Phin furiously swiped at a chicken as he tried to collect eggs, doing his best not to harm the feathered fiend. The chicken squawked, wings flapping as it renewed its attack from the other direction, pecking at Phin’s trailing boot laces.
The big man was hunched over, jaw working, as he plucked feathers and debris from his sleeves, dropping the eggs into his pockets. Tommy normally did everything with the chickens; they didn’t seem to mind when he came traipsing through. Hell, they practically deposited the eggs directly in his pockets. Gabriel half expected them to do it with a song.
But today Tommy was helping Blake with something, so Phin had volunteered. Not so much in words, Phin didn’t do that. But he was in there collecting the eggs and cleaning up the coop, trying his best not to strangle the birds Tommy loved so much.
“Wipe that look off your face,” Phin snapped, not taking his eyes off the hen he was trying to move off the last pile of eggs.
Gabriel chuckled. “I’m just sitting here.”
Phin finally gave up, stomping over to where Gabriel was sprawled out in a pool chair. He dropped beside him ontoa lounger, his arms crossed, and nose buried in his jacket. “Just because you’re named after an angel doesn’t make you innocent.”
“Actually, I was named after an uncle.”
“I will push you in the river. Don’t test me.” Phin’s voice was muffled, but the threat was clear. Gabriel had heard worse, but he wouldn’t push. Not when there was a feather stuck in Phin’s hair.
They lapsed into a silence, both content to stew in their own thoughts. What Phin was thinking, Gabriel couldn’t even guess. Maybe he should ask. As commander, he had to know where his team’s heads were at.
But at the moment, he wasn’t sure he had the right. He was too preoccupied. Mostly with Blake.
They’d spent an amazing evening together. It was perfect. Gabriel was usually a grounded kind of guy, but he was proud of himself for that. It hadn’t been easy to set up, harder still to admit just how badly he’d fucked up, and how close he was to losing Blake. How important he’d become to Gabriel.
While they were in that dusty Victorian home, Blake’s eyes shone with that quick wittedness Gabriel had come to love so much. He laughed. Not the soft huffs of derision but genuine, full-bellied laughs.
And he kissed so freely—tasting like chocolate, melting snow, and forever.
Then they came back to the motel, and it was like the second he stepped over the paint in the parking lot, it all came back. Blake’s eyes shuddered, and the only trace that he’d been gone were the bruises Gabriel had left on his skin. He didn’t turn away from Gabriel, but that night he’d burrowed under the covers and didn’t say a word—not even when Gabriel tried to reach him by asking him about the books he’d brought back.
It left a pit in Gabriel’s stomach, a simmering anxiety he didn’t know what to do with. For all of Gabriel’s faults, he almost always knew what the next move was. How to make a situation better, or at least not worse. The army taught him to think logically, to compartmentalize, but how could he when the things he was trying to compartmentalize were the things keeping him from losing his godamn mind?
And it wasn’t just Blake, although Gabriel would be chagrined to admit he was the most pressing. No, Gabriel’s entire team was holding on by a thread. Phin was lying through his teeth about his knee. Victoria was strung so tight she could form her own one-woman band. She was a good soldier, but her training was in aviation. And as a perfectionist, good wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot.
And Judd was…well, Judd was probably missing some vaccinations or a harness that saidDo Not Pet, but for as loud as he was, he kept his true feelings close to the chest. He hid everything behind big smiles and probing jokes. Gabriel didn’t know what a Judd-shaped implosion would look like, but he was certain he didn’t want to find out.
None of which he could do anything about. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced over at Phin. He was staring at the cracked concrete between his boots, hands in his pockets.
“You, okay?” Gabriel asked, knowing it was the wrong thing to say, but he didn’t have anything better.
Phin glared at the ground. “You know the difference between a soldier and a civilian?”