He dropped his gaze, attempting to hide his terror, and cleared his throat.
“I’ll…well, keep being early then,” he mumbled inanely, staring intently at his beer.
“And I’ll keep showing up then,” Darwin said, his voice solid, so believable that Tom almost lost the little composure he had left.
Tom made a strangled affirmative sound and looked frantically around the bar for some idea for a new conversational topic, because this one just got really intense, really fast. His gaze caught on the small square of dance floor tucked into the corner.
“Think we’ll get lynched if we dance?”
Tom blurted, and immediately felt his face flush with heat.
Dance? Seriously, frying pan into the fire.
“Seems like a pretty stay-out-of-your-business type of place,” Darwin commented, glancing around. “If anyone does have a problem with it, then we get a bar brawl.”
He winked at Tom. “Dance or fight—either way, it’s a win-win.”
“Uh…” Unsure of how to respond to that, Tom glanced sideways at the other man. Darwin was grinning but that didn’t mean much—Tom could imagine him smiling away as he pummeled a homophobic bar patron’s face. “Maybe we should just stay here and drink our beers.”
“Nope.” Darwin let his glass hit the bar with a clunk. “You said the D-word—you can’t back out now.” Hopping off the stool, he grabbed Tom’s hand and hauled him toward the dance floor. Although the bar was busy, the small dance area was empty and intimidating, looming larger and larger the closer Darwin dragged him to it.
A hip-hop song was playing—not one of Tom’s favorites but it had a good beat for dancing. He risked a glance around and saw a few frowns, but no incendiary rage at the sight of two men together on the dance floor. In fact, a few other couples—hetero couples, but it was still reassuring to see—followed their lead and moved to the floor.
When he looked back at Darwin, the man was already dancing—and Tom’s mouth went dry. He had an easy, unselfconscious and utterly sexy way of moving that made Tom want to drag him into a dark corner somewhere and do wicked things to him.
Darwin smiled—a small, heavy-lidded curl of his lips—and Tom swallowed.
He realized he’d started moving to the beat without thinking about what he was doing. Tom let himself go and really started to dance, not even concerned about anyone watching anymore. The only people who existed in the bar were Tom and Darwin.
At first they didn’t touch, just looked as they danced, each putting on a show meant solely for the other. Inch by inch, they worked their way closer, until Tom had to turn away from Darwin before his head exploded with lust. Tom could feel the heat of Darwin’s body as it moved behind his, so close but not quite touching. The slow approach made Tom brave and he circled his hips, letting his ass just graze the thigh behind him.
At the touch, Darwin’s arms locked around Tom’s middle and yanked him back against him.
A spark of panic flared but Darwin’s arms loosened, his hands coasting across Tom’s chest and down his arms. Just as quickly as the fear had bloomed, the panic turned to heat. Tom relaxed into the music, allowing his back to brush against Darwin’s chest, enjoying the security of the massive body behind him as long as there was an escape route to the front.
Tom lost track of time as one song merged into another and they continued to dance. Even as it got later and people packed into the bar and onto the dance floor, Tom didn’t notice anything except for Darwin.
Everyone else blended into the blur of color that made up the background.
Sweat rose from his skin, making his shirt cling to his back. Darwin’s hands repeatedly touched and disappeared, slipping easily whenever they touched Tom’s bare skin. A puff of hot breath breezed across the side of Tom’s neck and he tilted his head to the side to give Darwin better access. He was rewarded by the press of lips behind his ear.
With a groan that disappeared into the pound of the music, Tom pushed his hips back, grinding against the man behind him while tilting his head even more, wordlessly begging for Darwin’s mouth to return to his neck.
“Want to get out of here?” Darwin asked over the music. Tom could only nod and follow as Darwin towed him toward the door. They grabbed their coats and stepped into the freezing drizzle falling outside.
The cold and relative quiet yanked Tom out of his dreamy mood. Before the attack, he would’ve known how a date like this would end—in bed together. Or, if they weren’t able to make it home before grabbing at each other, making out in the cab of his pickup. Now though, the idea ripped away all his reasoning skills, leaving him with only panic, and he froze in place in the middle of the parking lot.
“Tom Cooper,” Darwin sighed, the hand resting between Tom’s shoulder blades falling away. To Tom’s relief, he didn’t sound angry. “You’re going to drive me absolutely monkey-shit crazy, you know that?”
“Sorry,” Tom muttered, sneaking a quick glance at the other man’s face. “I just…I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing,” Darwin said, reaching out with a hand as if to touch Tom’s face but letting his arm drop before he made contact.
“Nothing’s wrong with you.”
Tom snorted.
“Can we hug?” The way Darwin asked, so goofy and sweet, chased away some of Tom’s nerves, and he moved toward the bigger man before he realized what he was doing. Once he was enveloped in Darwin’s arms, Tom concentrated on breathing and not doing anything stupid, like losing his shit over a simple, really nice, nothing-to-worry-about hug.
“Will you call me tonight?” he heard himself asking and squeezed his eyes closed in embarrassment. Here he was, pleading for phone sex when he’d just shot down any chance of the real thing happening tonight.
Darwin was never going to ask him out again—this was going above and beyond what a nice guy would do. They were in Saint Darwin territory now. “Never mind.
Forget I ask—”
“Of course I’ll call,” Darwin interrupted.
“I can hardly wait to fuck you over the phone.”
Tom’s breath caught in his chest and he pressed his forehead into the meaty shoulder in front of him. Darwin’s hands were moving over his back, easy and hypnotic strokes.
“Soon,” Tom promised, his words muffled against Darwin. “You can fuck me for real.”
Darwin’s arms tightened convulsively and Tom yanked back, pulling free so abruptly he almost fell.
“Sorry!” they both said in unison as Darwin reached out a hand to steady Tom, who ignored it, regaining his balance—physical balance, at least—on his own.
“I’d better…ah, go.” Tom waved a vague hand in the direction of his truck. “Talk to you later?” It sounded desperate, he knew, but he couldn’t resist asking as he backed toward his parking spot.
“Later.” Coming from Darwin, it sounded more like a promise than a farewell. “You okay to drive?”
“I only had about three drinks of my beer before someone stole it from me,” Tom teased, feeling braver now that he was out of grabbing reach.
Darwin grinned. “Right. Drive safely then.”
“You too.” With a wave, Tom got into his truck and started the engine. Oddly enough, the cab felt lonely instead of safe and Tom shook his head. “How contrary can you be?”
he muttered to himself before backing out of his parking spot.
Giving a watching Darwin a final wave, he drove his lonely truck toward his equally lonely home.
*
He was barely in the door of his condo when his cell phone rang.
Tom grabbed for the phone, almost fumbling it before he could get it to his ear.
“Darwin?” he guessed and grinned when the familiar, low chuckle sounded through the phone.
“You naked yet?”
“Trying.” He was. His shoes and socks came off and his pants tumbled around his ankles as he tore at the buttons on his shirt.
“Hurry up.”
With a huff of breathless laughter, Tom gave up on the final two buttons and just yanked, hearing the ping of the fasteners hitting the tile floor of his kitchen. “Give me a sec! It’s not like I’m wearing one of those tear-away stripper outfits.”
“I’d like to see that.” Darwin’s voice had lowered to a sexy growl. “Maybe a dirty cop.
Or a naughty fireman.”
Pausing in the middle of sweeping his boxer briefs down his legs, Tom swallowed.
“No, you be the cop. I’ll be the burglar who gets caught in the act.” He shoved his underwear around his ankles and stepped out of the heap of clothes.
Darwin’s chuckle was gritty enough to send a shiver across Tom’s shoulder blades.
“You’re just dying for a little punishment, aren’t you?”
“Just what you think I deserve,” he said, feeling incredibly daring. “Sir.” He added the last word in a gasp but was glad he had when he heard Darwin’s sharp inhalation.
There were a few seconds of heavy breathing before Darwin demanded, “Well? You naked?”
“Yes sir.” It came out more naturally this time.
“Where are you?”
Tom actually had to look around since all his attention was focused on the gruff voice on the phone and his desperately engorged cock. “The kitchen.”
“Kinky.” A touch of humor was back in Darwin’s voice, although it was still rough with lust.
“Where are
you
?” Tom asked, the impossible logistics finally sinking into his brain. “There’s no way you got home before you called me.”
“I drove really fast,” Darwin admitted with a laugh. “Couldn’t wait.”
Tom grinned, pleased at that. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Although traces of laughter remained, the gruff commander was back.
“There a table in your kitchen?”
“Just a breakfast bar.” He shivered again, loving the excitement of Darwin ordering him around, even if it was just over the phone.
“On the floor then,” Darwin ordered.
“Hands and knees.”
Tom was almost embarrassed by how quickly he did what Darwin demanded, how much he desperately wanted to obey. “The tile’s cold,” he said, gripping the phone with one hand while supporting himself with the other. He really needed to get a hands-free headset. “And hard.”
“So am I,” Darwin barked. Tom would’ve laughed at the cheesiness of that comment if he weren’t so turned-on by it. “No gentle foreplay tonight. You got me so hot and ready on the dance floor that I can’t wait.
I’m going to fuck you right now.”
Tom’s body bucked at the words.
Desperate to work his erection, he tilted forward to support himself on the elbow of his phone arm, leaving his other hand free to wrap around his cock. “Do it,” he grunted.
“Please. Fuck me!”
“You got that tight ass in the air for me?”
Darwin asked, his breath coming in audible pants. “You ready for— Shit.”
Tom blinked. “What?”
“Fuck,” Darwin muttered.
“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!”
“What is it?” Tom pushed himself to his knees.
“I have to take this call,” Darwin said. “It might be an emergency. I’ll call you back as soon as I can though, okay?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s…” Tom trailed off as he realized Darwin was already gone.
*
“This better be fucking good,” Darwin snapped.
“Why?” Cal asked. “Did I interrupt something?”
“Yeah, you kind of did.” Darwin adjusted the fabric of his boxer briefs over his erection. He’d called Tom so fast after getting home he hadn’t even had time to strip naked. “So what’s up?”
“Maybe it’s a good thing I called then.”
Cal sounded completely unconcerned with Darwin’s testy tone and bluer-than-blue balls. “The fewer happy endings you get with this guy, the less attached you’ll get, and the less it’ll sting when you have to leave him in order to run for your fucking life, right?”
Darwin’s teeth came together with a sharp click. “Do not start with me, Calvin.”
“I’m not starting,” he corrected. “I’m continuing
, since you’ve obviously lost all your common sense and survival instincts.”
“Cal.” Taking a deep breath, Darwin started again. The sooner he got the information out of the other man, the sooner he could get back to Tom. “If I promise never to think about having sex again, will you tell me why you’re calling?”
With a snort, Cal scoffed, “As if I’d believe that promise. Fine. I was calling because I was worried about you. After what happened with Ed, I wanted to make sure you hadn’t compromised your dumb ass yet.”
That brought a wave of guilt. “I’m fine,”
Darwin assured him. “No one except you guys knows where I am. The cabin’s safe.”
“Yeah, you feel like a dick now, don’t you?” Cal sounded as if he might be holding back a laugh. “Being all bitchy when I was just concerned about your welfare.”
“You’re the dick.” Darwin rolled his eyes at his own unoriginal comeback, although it did make Cal laugh.
“Whatever, you fucking moron,” Cal said fairly affectionately. “Go ahead—get back to screwing away whatever brains you have left. I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’
in a couple days when you’re sobbing on my shoulder about how men are pigs.”
“A couple days?” Darwin repeated.
“You’re really not giving this relationship much staying power, are you?”
“Relationship?” As Calvin seized on the word, Darwin winced. He should’ve known better than to use the R-word. “It’s a fucking relationship
now? Do I need to organize an intervention for your moony ass?”
“Not unless it’s an intervention for having too many nosy, cynical, potty-mouthed friends,” Darwin shot back.
“Goodbye, C.”
“Yeah, fine,” grumbled Cal. “Guess you’ll have to learn the hard way. Just don’t let those fogged-up happy glasses of yours blind you to any fucking lab guards hanging around. Remember, it’s not just
your
life you’ll be fucking up now that you’re in a ‘relationship’.”
“I’ll be careful,” he promised, guilt putting a snap into his words. He tried to even out his tone a little as he added, “You stay safe in that mailroom of yours too.”
Calvin grunted and hung up.
With a short laugh at the other man’s total lack of social competence, Darwin hesitated, staring at his phone for several long minutes before calling Tom’s number.