"Shit. Sorry." The words echoed in the room.
It sounded like Nik at the door, but Josh wasn't going to stop. Nik would leave. Manny thrust hard and stiffened in orgasm; with a muffled cry he was shooting hard. Josh heard the door shut. Fuck. Hadn't they even locked the door?
Manny laughed as he laid his arms out to his side on the bed. He laughed. Which was kind of okay given Josh's erection had died a sudden and probably terminal death.
"Should have locked the door," Manny snorted.
Josh leaned over the smiling man who looked as relaxed as a cooked noodle. Bending his head he captured a kiss, attempting to share the taste in his mouth. A hand buried in his hair and Manny was grinding lips and tongue and then gentled the action in a slow and lazy slide of tongues.
Finally he allowed Josh to pull back and there was a rueful smile on his kiss-swollen lips.
Josh thought about what he should say. The usual things came to mind. I don't usually do this. You're my co-worker, we shouldn't do this. But all that came out of his mouth was what he actually felt.
"That was hot."
"Not so much for you," Manny propped himself up on the bed and looked down purposefully at Josh's groin.
"Do you need me to finish anything down there?"
Josh shook his head and then slumped down on the bed next to Manny.
"Nik killed it," he said with a grimace. Then he started to laugh and Manny joined in until the two of them were lying on the firm mattress laughing up at the ceiling.
Josh hadn't felt this free in ages.
Someone, probably Nik, knocked on the door.
"Guys, sorry to uhm, interrupt. Manny's tracked cell took a call."
"On our way," Manny said quickly. He rolled up off the bed and took his turn to straddle Josh. With a quick kiss he pulled back. "I owe you one."
Josh sat up and waited a few seconds and just enjoyed the view when Manny pulled up his underwear, tightened his jeans, and rearranged his weapon. The bastard even turned his back so that Josh got a good view of the sliver of skin and the gun against it. Then Manny looked back, winked at Josh, and left.
As soon as Manny was gone from the room the fragile connection through sex went with him and Josh groaned as he slumped back on Manny's bed. Really? What had he just done? At least his hard-on was gone, that was one thing right? Add to that the faint noises Manny had made as he came hard down Josh's throat, and the taste and smell of the man, and he had jerk-off fodder for months.
Given where he was and why he was here, that was probably all that he was going to get.
CHAPTER 8
Manny sat cross-legged on the sofa and listened to the message on the machine. A simple message, nothing more than a please contact this number as soon as he could.
"Did you run a trace on the caller or the number I'm supposed to be calling?" he asked Nik.
"Nothing on the caller's ID. Probably a burner phone for the message. The other number is registered to Selby Corp. That is—"
"The corporation that the senator has a holding in through his wife Emily Selby," Manny finished by rote.
"Yeah. Too much of a coincidence?"
"Well, we knew we were fishing. Either Alastair's representatives or the senator himself would bite. I'm too good to pass up." Manny wasn't saying this to be big headed. Should either of the Bullens want a toehold on the West Coast then the son of a respected family, despite how diminished they were, would be a feather in their cap.
"You calling straightaway?" Josh said from behind him. Manny turned to look at the man who had literally just sucked his brains out through his dick. Nik was smirking and Morgan wasn't far behind.
"No. I'm giving it an hour or so. Can't look too eager to jump into bed with whoever the hell it was."
"So we have time to kill?" Josh asked innocently.
Manny imagined dragging the guy back into his bedroom and giving him the favor he owed, and then maybe pushing it all a level further. Evidently Josh had other ideas. "I want to do some tracking on the girl in the blow job photo.
Could you give me access?"
Why did he have to mention blow job?
"Yeah, go on in. Give me five."
Josh left the living area and disappeared around the corner to the comms room. Manny turned back to Nik. His friend's expression was that of someone with something they wanted to say. Manny stopped him with a raised hand.
"Don't start. You were all over Morgan like a rash."
Morgan huffed at this.
"We're in close quarters, he swings my way, and he's pretty."
"He has so much baggage, Manny—" Nik started.
"Don't, okay?" Hell, if they were talking about baggage, how about the fact that Nik nearly turned tail on Morgan and cut himself off from the man he loved? Or how about Manny's baggage? All those years of reinventing himself to be lost in a split-second decision.
Just doing that opened a huge can of worms. "It's fine."
"Keep your eye on the ball. I didn't and look what happened. Morgan nearly died."
Manny sighed even as Morgan cast a quick and very irritated look at Nik. "You didn't fuck up, any more than I will. Look, it's just a bit of mutual release. We don't all have life partners you know." The last he encapsulated in quoting fingers. Before Nik could start again he decided his
