“Hey babe, do you want me to go back home until you get this case wrapped?” Kelly asked. “I don’t want to be in the way.”
Nick glanced at him, eyes widened in alarm. “No. No, you’re not in the way. I never said that.”
“I know you never said it, but I also know how your brain works. You’re not going to stop mul ing over the mystery, but whenever you do think about it and you think you should be spending time with me instead, you’re going to feel guilty for working.”
“Not true.”
“You are the shittiest liar in the history of lying liars.”
Nick laughed softly, reached over the console, and grasped Kelly’s hand. “Fine, you’re probably right. But I don’t want you to leave. Please?”
“Okay. So tell me more about the case. Can you?”
“Technically, no. But hell, I’ve told you national security shit you shouldn’t know either so what the hell.”
Kelly gestured to himself, tracing a circle in the air around his face. “It’s this beautiful mug right here. Like a puppy. Does this look like the face of a spy?”
Nick glanced sideways at him. “Yes.”
“Fair enough. But tell me anyway.”
“The robbery was in an antiquarian bookstore.”
“Antiquarian? That’s specialty stuff, not just used paperbacks, right?”
“Right. Rare books, expensive stuff.” Nick had to release Kelly’s hand to flip the turn signal on, which apparently pissed off the car behind them because it honked at them as it passed. Nick ignored it. “Shop was busted up like they were looking for something. Security system would have been easy to bypass even for a rudimentary cat burglar, but they took it out without leaving a trace.”
“So you think it was a professional team?”
“Probably.” There were more honks behind Nick and he peered into the rearview mirror. He muttered under his breath. “What are these fuckers doing?”
Kelly glanced behind them. “Isn’t that just how Massholes drive?”
Nick flicked on the police light on the dash. The honking stopped and the offending car slowed until more space was between them and Nick’s Range Rover.
Kelly turned back around in his seat. “I’m really enjoying the power trip that comes with fucking a cop.”
“That’s what they all say. Anyway. Pro crew hits rare bookstore. They take four books and two objects out of a display case, all possibly linked to the Revolutionary War.”
“What objects?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re not psychic, dude.”
“What about the shop owner?” Kelly asked.
“Dead. Killed on the sidewalk in front of the store along with one of the robbers. Reports say there were shots fired, witnesses are saying anywhere from five to a dozen. We haven’t recovered all the bullets or casings yet, but there were at least four. One of which clipped JD.”
“God. Who would kill for a handful of old books?”
“No clue.” Nick rolled his window down and slid his security key into the marina’s gate controls.
“What’re your off-the-wall theories you’re afraid to tell your partner ’cause he laughs at you?”
Nick grinned crookedly as he pulled into the marina parking lot. “You want my off-the-wall theories?”
“Give it to me.”
“You sure?”
“I want it hard, babe, come on.” Kelly offered him a cheeky leer.
Nick snorted. He threw the car in park, then turned it off and sat back, his hands on the wheel. “Intergalactic tea-loving time travelers trying to help the British win the Revolutionary War. Pissed-off historians in an attempt to liberate artifacts from their cages. Or treasure hunters out to find the missing Knights Templar library.”
Kelly laughed and leaned his head against the cool glass of the window, pointing a mocking finger at Nick. “Where do you get this shit?”
Nick smacked him in the chest. Kelly grabbed his hand and refused to let it go. “Can I play devil’s advocate for your theories?”
“No,” Nick grunted. He unbuckled Kelly and reached for him with the other hand, dragging him across the console.
Kelly began to protest, but Nick kissed him almost brutally, his fingers tightening in Kelly’s hair, his other hand bunched in Kelly’s shirt.
“What happened?” Kelly panted. Nick had a habit of being turned on at the oddest times by the most random things. Kelly never knew when Nick was going to grope him.
It made things interesting.
“We started something, I was thinking we’d finish it,” Nick growled, still tugging Kelly across the console.
The tone of his voice hit Kelly deep in the gut. “Not in the boat?”
“I won’t be able to walk to the boat, babe.” Kelly climbed the rest of the way over the console and into Nick’s lap. His elbow hit the horn as they kissed, and the Range Rover sat there screaming about how its occupants were making out until Nick reclined the seat. He shoved it all the way back, taking Kelly with him, and Kelly straddled him, laughing again.
“You’re fucking insane,” he gasped. He stroked his hand across Nick’s cheek to lighten the blow of the words. “What the hell turned you on this time?”
Nick reached for his neck, gripping it hard and pul ing him down into another demanding kiss. He kept his hand on the back of Kelly’s head, refusing to let him sit up, refusing to let him break the press of their bodies. “Just you. Moonlight on your smile.”
“Romantic, but are you sure this isn’t just a history nerdgasm you’re having right now?” Nick smiled against his lips. “Revolutionary War, you’ve probably been hard since you heard those words.”
“So help me out with that.”
“I did earlier.”
“Then fucking do it again.”
Kelly shifted in his lap until his hardening cock rubbed against Nick’s through the sweats they both wore. Nick groaned and spread his legs further until he was able to prop his bare foot up on the dash beside the steering wheel. He raised his hips, shoving his cock against Kelly’s, and they both moaned between their kiss.
“Shrapnel in your thigh, bad knee. How are you this flexible still?”
“Motivation,” Nick said, and he was just breathless enough that it sent another jolt through Kelly’s body. He loved when Nick got so turned on he didn’t try to wait for a bed. Or privacy. God, he loved it.
He ducked to kiss Nick again, delving into his mouth, licking at his teeth, and finally sucking on the tip of his tongue as Nick’s hands tightened on him. The kiss went on and on, and Nick’s hand found its way under Kelly’s sweatpants to grab his ass. He dug his fingernails in. Kelly had never experienced this kind of possessiveness before he’d started fucking Nick, but now everything Nick did seemed to claim him.
There was a loud banging on the window right beside Kelly’s head. They both startled, but when Kelly tried to lift up, to react, Nick held him right where he was, trapped against the steering wheel, not breaking the kiss.
“Hey, you can’t do that out here!” their intruder shouted.
Nick fumbled between their chests and found his badge, then slammed it against the glass, holding it there as the chain tapped against the window.
“Sorry, Detective,” the disgruntled security guard said.
“Didn’t recognize you.”
Nick snickered as he dropped the badge to resume his hold on Kelly’s hair.
“That was fucking hot, man.”
“So are you,” Nick grunted. He raised his hips, his hard cock sliding along Kelly’s, the head jutting against the inside of Kelly’s thigh. He pulled at Kelly’s ass, ready to recommence as if they’d never been interrupted.
Kelly groaned and lowered his head, gritting his teeth.
“Nick.”
Nick merely chased Kelly’s mouth with his own, kissing him fiercely, pul ing his hair as the kiss consumed them both.
Kelly’s hips started moving again of their own accord. Nick held him as if Kelly might try to get away from him.
“Let’s get to the boat,” Kelly gritted out. “I want you inside me.”
“Too fucking late, don’t stop moving,” Nick gasped against Kelly’s lips. He took in a deep breath as he writhed under Kelly. Kelly grunted his name again when he realized Nick was coming. Nick’s grip hardened. “Kels,” he whispered almost reverently. The way he gazed up at Kelly, the love and utter devotion in his eyes, was something Kelly saw every time they touched, every time they made love. He’d never seen Nick look at anyone or anything else that way.
Kelly nuzzled against his face, then bit his neck as he gave in to his own orgasm, gritting his teeth around Nick’s skin to keep from shouting out for mercy. Nick shouted for him, though.
“I love you.” The breathy gasp in Kelly’s ear sent shivers through his body.
Kelly kissed him as they both came down from the post- orgasm high. “Love you too,” he whispered. “Even if you do like hunting intergalactic librarians.”
Nick rolled his eyes, valiantly fighting not to smile. He popped the handle on the door, and Kelly went tumbling out of the Range Rover to the ground.
“It was intergalactic historians. Damn, son, get it right.”
The shower in the master berth wasn’t what one would call spacious, but Nick had still convinced Kelly to join him in it. They couldn’t move without touching each other, and that was just fine with Nick.
They had actually shared a lot of showers before they’d become romantically involved. Sometimes in the places they were sent with Sidewinder, water was scarce and sharing was practical. Sometimes it’d been time that was scarce, and sharing had been practical. Nick had worked hard not to make that practice even remotely sexual, no matter which teammate or random strange Marine he was sharing with. It had always been hardest with Kelly because the man had no sense of personal space and no hint of self-consciousness. But now Nick was completely at liberty to run his hands down Kelly’s sides, to press him against the tile and kiss his neck, to steal the water because he was a few inches taller.
Okay, that last one he’d always done.
When they were both clean, they crawled into bed. The sun would be coming up soon. He’d have to go back to work in twenty-four hours. Until then, however, he and Kelly could wrap up together under the covers and close out the world.
Nick was almost asleep, curled on his side with Kelly wrapped around him from behind. It didn’t matter how they started; Kelly always wound up the big spoon.
“What books were they?”
Nick startled back to full consciousness, inhaling noisily and blinking the sleep away. “What?”
“I’m sorry, I thought you were still awake.”
“What indicated that? Was it the snoring?”
“Shut up. What books were they?”
“Uh . . .” Nick rolled to his back and rubbed his face.
“One was a firsthand account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Diary. Really rare. Another was something about English royalty. The last one was a book of maps.”
“You said there were four. What was the last one?”
“I . . . have no idea. Why?”
“Well, if they took the books, they’re obviously important.”
It wasn’t exactly a new concept to Nick, but he’d been concentrating more on the missing objects and assuming they were valuable. Not necessarily that they were important. He pushed up onto his elbows and looked at Kelly through the darkness. “Explain.”
“Okay, going with your treasure hunters theory.”
“Kels, I was joking about that. Intergalactic time travelers? Come on.”
“I know, but listen. They went for books, dude. Your average dead guy in the street can’t sell rare books on the black market, and pawnshops don’t deal with shit like that. Where are you going to get money for a rare book?”
“An antiquarian bookshop.”
“Right, and you just fucking robbed it. So you’re not trying to make money off your haul. What are books good for?”
“Hitting intruders?” Nick mumbled. He rubbed his eyes again. “Doorstops. Insomnia. Special interrogation techniques. Silencing bedmates in the middle of the night.”
“All totally valid. But I’m talking about information.
Books are good for information.”
Nick continued to rub the heel of his palm against his eye, ruminating on that. He finally looked up, seeing stars briefly before Kelly’s face swam back into focus. “You’re saying they weren’t after things to sell, but they’re looking for something in particular.”
Kelly shrugged. “Makes as much sense as robbing a bookstore, dude. How’d you know which books were stolen, anyway?”
“We recovered them at the scene.” Nick sat up, staring at the mirror that lined the closet across the cabin. “Huh.”
Kelly’s hand drifted over Nick’s bare back, tracing the lines of his tattoo and making him shiver. “What?”
“I saw someone that morning; I’d forgotten about it. I thought it was Garrett, even called out to him. But . . .”
“You thought you saw Zane? Do I need to be worried about this little zombie bromance you two have struck up?”
Nick huffed, too tired to offer Kelly a real smile. “Yeah, I’m fucking Ty’s fiancé on the side, Kels. Sorry.”