“Yeah.” Perry expelled a breath. “Bastards,” he said fiercely.
Nick laughed -- and about something he never thought he’d laugh about. “Eat your dinner, Foster. I don’t like my hard work going to waste.”
* * * * *
After dinner, Nick looked over the brochures for his training curriculum -- which included everything from courses in computer research to report writing -- and Perry went across to his apartment to get another sketchpad. He settled on the floor across from the sofa trying to watch Nick without being too obvious about it.
After a minute or two, though, Nick looked up. There was a glint in his gaze that warned Perry Nick had seen the sketch he had begun from memory at Watson’s.
“You’re wasting your talent on a mug like mine,” Nick informed him.
Perry said, “You’ve got a great face.”
Nick reddened and returned to his reading without comment. Perry sketched for a while -- it gave him the excuse to stare at Nick as much as he liked. It was clear that Nick was totally absorbed in his reading, looking forward to California and his new job -- his new life.
“I’m going to get some fresh air,” Perry said, laying the pad aside.
Nick looked up then. “Take the Sig and stick close to the house.”
Perry grimaced. “I can’t see that there would be any danger at this point. Everyone and their grandmother knows about the tunnels now.”
“We don’t know why Raymond Swiss was killed, and we’re guessing that Tiny was killed because of his big mouth. We could be totally off the track on all of this. And even if we’re not, neither death necessarily has a damn thing to do with Shane Moran’s missing loot.”
“What else could they all be looking for? Dembecki searching the gazebo and Rudy Stein checking out local history around that period?”
“Dembecki is unraveling faster than a ball of yarn, and Teagle, who did know about the passageways, turns out to have been interested in a different kind of jewels.”
Perry made a face. “Don’t remind me.”
Nick grinned, his face unexpectedly young in the soft lamplight. “Just sayin’.”
“Yeah, well don’t.”
Nick laughed.
“And what about Stein?” Perry asked. “He was doing all that research on this area back in the thirties.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“We could ask him what he was researching,” Perry suggested.
He was half kidding, but Nick said thoughtfully, “Yeah, we could at that.”
Then, apparently losing interest, Nick returned to his reading.
Perry went downstairs and walked briefly around the front yard, sticking close to the house. The pistol in his jacket pocket was awkward and heavy. He felt ridiculous wearing it. No way could he shoot someone. Nick just didn’t get it.
Irritably, he glanced back at the house and saw Nick’s figure outlined in the window of the tower -- watching him. Perry’s irritation melted in foolish warmth.
* * * * *
When Perry returned upstairs, Nick was unfolding the blanket on the couch.
He glanced over his shoulder and said brusquely, “You can take the bed again. I may decide to take another look around later.” As Perry opened his mouth to object, he continued, “This is what I’m trained for, okay?”
So that was pretty clear. They were not sharing a bed. This afternoon had been…well, whatever it had been, it clearly wasn’t going to be a regular thing.
“Okay,” Perry said. “Good night.”
“Night,” Nick said curtly.
Perry went into Nick’s bedroom and changed into his pajamas. He sat down on the edge of the bed and listened to Nick moving around in the other room. Then the lights went off.
He sat there for a few minutes more, and then he went down the hallway.
“Nick?”
Nick’s form rose up from the sofa, a dark shadow moving through the other shadows. “What’s wrong?” The warm weight of his hands rested on Perry’s shoulders. Perry’s heart ached, thinking of the skillful and pleasurable things Nick’s hands had done to him earlier that day.
Never again?
“I just thought…there’s plenty of room in that bed.”
Nick was very still, his breath warm against Perry’s flushed face.
He said quietly, flatly, “Listen, Perry, I’m leaving in a week or so. I won’t be back.”
“I know.” Perry smiled with an effort -- he didn’t know if Nick could see his face in the quicksilver moonlight, but he hoped he heard it in his voice. “No strings. It’s just sex.”
There was a funny pause. Nick said, “It sounds wrong when you say it like that.”
Perry didn’t -- couldn’t -- say anything.
He could feel Nick’s hesitation -- but not reluctance, surely? Nick said, “I just want us to be on the same map.”
“Absolutely,” Perry assured him.
Still Nick didn’t move. Then he said slowly. “You’re taking this better than I expected.”
“I like sleeping with you,” Perry said. “I don’t want to waste time talking.”
* * * * *
And they did not talk. Nick was laconic by nature and Perry was shy -- and adrift in unfamiliar sensation and emotions. They communicated by touch. Not the gentle, enlightening caresses of that afternoon; this was more urgent, more intense, partly perhaps because it had been a near miss. It still might be the last time.
Nick’s body covered Perry’s, and he could feel Perry’s fast and frantic heartbeats against his chest. Fast as the frightened pound of something small and gentle -- a rabbit or a fawn. But when he pulled back to study Perry’s face, he could see the shine of Perry’s eyes and the gleam of his teeth, and he was smiling, not scared, just excited. Nick’s mouth covered Perry’s, and Perry’s lips were warm and soft and welcoming. His breath was light and fast, and it seemed suddenly, strangely precious to Nick.
A surge of unexpected emotion tempered his -- considerable -- lust.
He gathered Perry to him closely, warmly, feeling velvet soft skin and the silky hair of Perry’s chest and groin. Perry wrapped his arms around Nick, holding him back tightly, opening up to Nick’s kiss -- Nick didn’t generally kiss other men, but somehow it was different with Perry. He liked his taste, he liked the softness and eagerness with which he responded to the press of mouths. He stroked him, enjoying the touch of strong bone beneath thin, delicate skin, and Perry murmured approval.
Nick settled between Perry’s legs, Perry moving instinctively to accommodate him, and again he sensed no anxiety as they rocked together. Perry was turned on and right there with Nick as their bodies changed pace, temperatures rising. Perry’s cock was prodding Nick’s belly and Nick’s cock…
He told himself to slow down…although Perry was making it difficult for him as his mouth latched onto one of Nick’s nipples, turning it pebble hard with a flick of his tongue. Perry’s mouth was trailing down the taut line of Nick’s throat, the muscular planes of his chest. Go slow, Nick warned himself, because Perry was all theory and imagination, and the reality was a bit more painful.
He wrapped an arm around Perry and rolled over so that now Perry was on top. He could feel the younger man’s surprise. Nick was a little surprised himself, but he stroked Perry, kneaded his ass cheeks, again taking time, reassuring by touch. With his free hand he reached for the lube, applying it liberally to that tight -- very tight -- little hole, turning this into something sensuous.
Perry’s initial stiffness melted away, and even when Nick unwrapped the latex, there was no discernable anxiety, no second thoughts. They fell back into the rhythm, lulled by the drive of longing, the pulse of desire, Nick was as careful as he knew how to be, pushing slowly but steadily at the wall of resistance.