“Fuck off,” Tom grumbled. It did sound a little lame when she put it like that.
“What’s wrong with your fingers?”
“What?”
She sighed, a long-suffering, impatient-sister sigh. “If you’re freaking out about it, just call him. That’s the nice thing about a gay relationship—no stereotypical gender roles. Well, there could be, but you’re both men so you’d both have the same…” She trailed off and Tom could imagine her shaking her head and getting herself back on track. “Anyway, what I mean is that you can call him just as easily as he can call you. So do it.”
When Tom made a noncommittal grunt, she sighed again.
“What’s the problem?” she demanded.
“He’s sweet, seems smart, is obviously crazy about you and, as we agreed on earlier, is obscenely attractive.”
“That’s kind of the problem,” he admitted.
“What? His hotness?” She made a scornful noise. “How in the world is that a bad thing?”
“Well…” Tom hesitated, chewing the inside of his bottom lip, but he knew he couldn’t get away with not telling Anne now. She was locked on and would get it out of him one way or another. “He’s a ten, right?”
She groaned. “Not your stupid hotness scale again.”
He ignored that, talking over her second annoyed groan. “I’m a six—and a six with issues. Why did Darwin, in his beautiful ten-ness, even ask me out?”
“Please,” Anne scoffed. “You are so not a six.”
“I’m a
five
?” That hurt.
“Of course not!” She gave a huff of exasperated laughter. “You’re an eight on a bad day and a nine-and-a-half when you smile. What are you talking about with this six shit? Now the issues part… I won’t argue with that.”
He couldn’t hold back a pleased grin, despite her comment about his issues. “I have to subtract a couple points off your estimates though, with you being my sister and all.”
“Actually,” she corrected, “you should add
a couple points instead. Since I’m your sister, I see and tell you about all your flaws.”
Tom laughed. “That’s true.”
“Of course it is,” she teased. “I’ve always been smarter than you.”
He snorted.
“Got to go—my two o’clock appointment just knocked. Call him.” On that bossy note, she ended the call.
Buoyed by his raised hotness score—even if the judge
was
his sister—Tom called Darwin’s number. He was all ready with his “hello,” determined to not go dumbass mute this time, when Darwin answered.
“’Bout time,” he growled.
Tom blinked. “Uh…what?”
“You were supposed to call me yesterday
.” It sounded as if there was a trace of humor lacing Darwin’s words but Tom was still thrown off his game.
“But…” he stammered. “I…uh, I was waiting…” Tom couldn’t figure out a way to finish that sentence without sounding like the most high-maintenance princess who’d ever lived, so he just let the words end. To his relief, the man laughed.
“I was under strict instructions not to call,” Darwin said. “Figured you’d gotten what you wanted out of me and then tossed your cell into a fish tank somewhere, so I’d never hear from you again.”
“Why would I throw my phone in a fish tank?” Tom asked, bewildered. “I like my phone.”
“So I couldn’t call you,” Darwin explained, as if it was the most logical thing in the world. “Well, I
could
call you but only the fish would answer.”
Although he was still bemused, Tom played along. “And they’d tell you that I wasn’t there and to take a hint and quit calling.”
Heaving a deep sigh, Darwin said, “It’s a hard thing to hear from a fish.”
Tom laughed. “You’re nuts.”
At the other man’s noncommittal sound, Tom could imagine Darwin’s shrug, the rise and fall of his meaty shoulders. He squirmed in his chair at the thought of Darwin’s ripped body. Tom shook his head with a silent sigh. He was pretty far gone when the thought of a shrug made him horny.
“Go out with me again.”
Tom blinked. That was direct. “Why do you even
want
to go out with me again after what happened Saturday night?”
Darwin was quiet for a few moments. “I liked
what happened on Saturday night,” he finally said, a thread of hurt woven through his words.
“Oh! I’m not talking about
that
part of Saturday night,” he hurried to say, flushing with heat. “I just meant the other part, when I, well, kind of freaked out on you. Earlier than that part—the good part, I mean.” He rolled his eyes. Tom didn’t know why he was even bothering to talk when his words weren’t making any sense.
Despite his lack of coherency, he couldn’t seem to stop talking, however. “The later part—the one you’re talking about—that was great. Better than great. I mean, I haven’t come like that since…” He trailed off because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d come that hard and also because he really, really needed to stop babbling.
“Yeah. So, I was talking about the other thing. Um…earlier. Than the good part.
Right.”
“So…which part were you talking about again?” Darwin’s voice held a tremor of amusement.
“Fuck off.” Tom couldn’t hold back a little smile though.
“Not until you promise to go out with me again.”
“Oh, is that what we were talking about?” Tom asked in his most innocent tone. Teasing could be a two-way street.
He was rewarded with Darwin’s growl.
“Friday.”
“Hold on,” Tom said, holding back a pleased grin. “Let me check my schedule.”
He waited a few moments, trying to pretend there was something else going on in his life.
“Friday should work.”
Darwin’s satisfied grunt shouldn’t have sounded sexy, but it did. “Drive separately and meet there?”
Relief eased the panic Tom hadn’t even realized had crept into his muscles, tightening his grip on his phone. “You don’t mind?”
“Nope.” There wasn’t any trace of muffled resentment in Darwin’s voice. In fact, he sounded downright happy. “I don’t mind anything. You’re going out with me on Friday.”
“That makes you this happy?” Tom asked doubtfully. “Seeing me?”
“Ecstatic.”
*
“Be careful,” Calvin snapped.
Darwin pulled the phone away and stared at it for a second before returning it to his ear and asking his friend, “Is this a safe-sex lecture? ‘Cause if so, it’s a little weird and uncomfortable coming from you, buddy. No offense.”
Cal heaved a sigh that screamed exasperation. “Of course I’m not talking about sex, dumbass. I’m talking about your entire fucking life. I’m talking about your motherfucking cheerful ass being found and hauled back to that shithole of a lab. I don’t give a flying fuck about your condom use.”
“Okay.” Darwin still wasn’t sure what the other man’s point was. “Why? Do you know something?”
“Yeah, I know you’re being a lovesick moron,” Cal grumbled. “They tracked down Ed. What makes you think for a second they won’t be able to find you too?”
With a frown, Darwin protested, “I don’t have a suspect sketch of me floating around on the news. How are they going to find me?”
“I don’t know, but they can tell you all about it on the ride back to the lab,” Cal said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Why couldn’t you and Ed just keep it in your pants?”
“It hasn’t been
out
of my pants,” Darwin protested and then caught himself. “Okay, so it’s been out, but Tom wasn’t in the same room—or the same town even. Phone sex.
Really
great
phone sex though.”
“Fuck,” Cal sighed. “I could’ve lived without knowing the details.”
“You’re the one giving the safe-sex advice,” Darwin teased, feeling a little steadier now that he knew Calvin didn’t have any concrete information that the lab goons were closing in on him. “How’re things going in the mailroom?”
“Shitty,” Cal growled. “It’s a fucking mailroom.”
Darwin swallowed a laugh. “Don’t worry. You’ll find someone of your own soon to practice safe sex with—maybe even in the fucking mailroom.”
There was a tiny pause before Cal’s noncommittal grunt—just long enough to make Darwin’s eyebrows shoot up.
“Seriously?” Darwin asked. “You’re dating someone?”
“No.”
“You like someone though.”
“Of course not.” Calvin’s scornful tone wasn’t quite convincing. “I don’t even know her.”
Darwin grinned. “You might not
know her but you like her. What’s her name? What does she look like? You going to ask her out?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Cal grumbled.
“You should ask her out, C,” Darwin said.
“You’d be less cranky if you were gettin’
some.”
“No,” Cal corrected him. “I’d be more cranky, because it’s a big fucking mistake to get caught up with people and drag them into our mess. If you like someone, you’re just giving those bastards at the lab some ammo against you.”
Darwin ignored a twinge of guilt. The last thing he wanted to do was get Tom mixed up in his drama. “You’re like the anti-Cupid,” he said lightly, trying to push away his uncomfortable thoughts.
“Damn right,” Calvin growled. “It’s bad enough I have to worry about the four of you.”
“Five now, with Claire,” Darwin couldn’t resist adding. “Plus the rat, so six.”
Grumbling a steady stream of obscenities, Calvin ended the call.
Darwin’s grin fell away as he slid his phone back into his pocket. As much as he hated to admit it, C was right. He shouldn’t be starting something with Tom. They’d only been out once and hadn’t even slept together—in person, at least—and Darwin was already well aware that Tom was his weak point.
If the lab bastards used Tom as bait, Darwin knew he’d walk right back into their cage.
There had been five of them trapped there, human lab rats for those bastards’
twisted experiment. They’d managed to escape and scattered across the country, figuring it would be easier to hide if they were alone.
All too soon, however, Ed was exposed, his picture circulated on the news after he’d saved his girlfriend, Claire, from the homicidal asshole scientist she’d worked for.
The truth about Claire’s boss falsifying his research results had come out eventually, and Ed, Claire and her favorite lab rat had escaped, but the damage had been done.
Ed had been tracked down too easily, making Darwin feel vulnerable and antsy.
His job, his name, his beloved cabin—none of this would hide him for much longer.
Staring blindly out his living room window into the thick stand of evergreens, Darwin let his imagination run wild for a few moments before giving his head a sharp shake. It was no use, though. There was no way he could stay away from Tom. He hadn’t even managed to keep his distance when Tom had been a silent stranger on the job site.
Now that he’d seen the other man’s sweet dimpled smile and felt his lips, Darwin was truly and completely sucked in.
*
Between the butterflies in his stomach and the pacing in front of the theater, Tom felt like a junior-high student on his very first date. The leap of his heart when he spotted Darwin walking through the crowd toward him just confirmed it. He couldn’t help a sappy grin from spreading across his face.
“Hi,” he said when Darwin got within earshot. Although he hadn’t lost his smile, a bare tremble of nerves shivered beneath his skin. What he felt wasn’t straight-up fear anymore, however, but had merged with arousal into some sort of horny-scared hybrid.
“Hi,” Darwin responded with a matching smile. He leaned in close, making Tom’s heart accelerate. When Darwin’s lips brushed his cheek in a light caress, Tom almost swallowed his tongue.
“Fags,” sneered a teenager under his breath, barely loud enough for them to hear.
Darwin’s head came up, his gaze focused sharply on the teen.
“Leave it,” Tom muttered under his breath. “He’s just a stupid kid.”
Instead, Darwin took a few steps closer to the teenager and his friends.
“Darwin…” Tom trailed off when he saw the congenial smile on Darwin’s face.
What’s he up to?
The teen took a step back, his eyes wide, obviously intimidated by Darwin’s size.
“Hi,” Darwin purred to the kid. “Good to see you again.”
“What?” the boy yelped, sounding slightly panicked as his eyes flicked from Darwin to his friends and back again. “I’ve never met you, freak!”
“Sure you have,” Darwin said, still in that over-the-top-sexy voice.
“A couple weekends ago at the club? We hung out and then I gave you a ride back to your house in North Lake. How could you forget?”
From the way the teen’s friends whipped their heads around to stare incredulously at their companion, Tom was pretty sure Darwin had guessed right—the kid must live in North Lake. Tom held back an impressed grin. The man was
good
.
“I didn’t…! I wasn’t…” the teenager babbled, bright red beneath his shaggy haircut. “Who the fuck
are
you?”
“Someone who doesn’t care for the term ‘fag’,” Darwin said with another smile, although this one had steel behind it.
The kid opened his mouth but then ducked his head and pushed into the crowd.
After a few doubtful glances between their friend and Darwin, the other teens followed.
“How’d you guess he was from North Lake?” Tom asked, unable to stop grinning as Darwin rejoined him.
The big man shrugged. “I overheard him mentioning it a little bit ago,” Darwin explained, not quite meeting his eyes.
Tom nodded a bit uncertainly but let his questions drop. “Nicely handled,” he said.
Darwin shrugged off his praise, tilting his head toward the theater entrance. “What did you want to see?”
“Anything but horror,” Tom said.
“Horror-free it is,” Darwin agreed, steering him into the theater. The heat from Darwin’s hand soaked through Tom’s shirt and jacket into the muscles of his back, warming away the tension. Tom allowed his body to move just slightly closer until his hip almost brushed Darwin’s. In response, Darwin’s hand eased lower, tucking beneath his coat until his palm flattened over the small of Tom’s back, just above the waistline of his jeans.
Tom shivered, that same merging of fear and arousal flushing his skin and sending his heart rate galloping.