Page 3 of Absent Without Leave
Aiden finds a tray with three bottles of beer and a Long Island Iced Tea ready and waiting. “Thanks, Rick,” he says and whisks the drinks back to his friends.
They banter with him while he cleans and closes down sections of the bar. This late, he’s not really expecting any other patrons since everyone knows when O’Leary’s Pub locks its doors. Despite the distraction of his friends, there’s a conversation going on between Jake and Rick that has piqued his attention. They’re both military, although Rick has been out of the service for close to twenty-five years now. Aiden has no idea what they could be talking about, and the possibilities are making him nervous.
His friends head out shortly before midnight and Rick leaves shortly after. The last diehard stumbles out the door at five minutes till one. Aiden turns the deadbolts, slips the slide locks into place, and swipes a hand over a bank of light switches. The faint glow of rope lights provides enough illumination for him to traverse the bar. But, hell, he’s spent half his life in this bar and can navigate it in the dark.
A mild case of nerves assaults him—he is about to do dirty, sexy things with Jake Hardison of all people.
***
Jake marks Aiden’s progress through the bar. The wide shoulders, the bulges of his biceps stretching the sleeves if his tee shirt, the trim waist. Aiden tosses his half-apron to the bar and slides his hands down the front of his denim-clad legs. Long legs, muscular thighs.
A-hem… He’s pretty sure they’re on the same page, but still.
“You ready?” Aiden asks.
Jake’s been ready for the last half hour. Watching Aiden move around the place once his friends left, bending over to clean tables or nab something from the floor, the way his jeans hug his ass. Jake has a raging boner. Only one way to get rid of it.
But that’s not what Aiden means. “Lead the way.”
Jake follows him down the narrow hall, past the restrooms, to the back of the establishment. The door on the left leads to the kitchens, the door straight ahead is the emergency exit. Aiden pushes the metal bar a couple of times and seems satisfied that it’s properly locked. Tugging a key from his front pocket, he opens the door to the right marked PRIVATE, and Jake shadows him up the stairs. Light from the alley streams in through the stained-glass window, highlighting the breadth of Aiden’s shoulders. Jake adjusts his cock.
Jake had walked into O’Leary’s with the intention of having a beer and then crashing at the motel farther up the highway. As soon as he’d seen Aiden behind the bar, as soon as the grenade of mutual attraction had exploded between them, he’d planned a mission: getting into Aiden’s bed and body. If nothing else, he’ll leave town with a memorable and eminently satisfying fuck under his belt.
But in the four hours he’s been here, Jake has listened to Aiden trade quips with his customers and his friends as well as the bartender, Rick. Aiden asked about new babies and old grannies. He even keeps a tub of dog treats behind the bar for a customer with a dog.
Smart, sassy, sexy. Funny, friendly. Caring, compassionate. Did he mention sexy? Gorgeous body aside, what Jake wouldn’t give for a person like Aiden in his life.
Unlocking a second door at the top of the stairs, Aiden pushes into a tidy little apartment. “Why don’t you have a place to stay?” he asks, tossing his keys on the chest-high counter that separates the small kitchen from the living room. Three recessed lights cast small circles of illumination on the shiny granite. The apartment boasts mostly polished wood just like the bar downstairs, but with enough fabric and color to make it a comfortable and inviting living space. Lemon-scented cleaner hangs in the cool air.
“I pissed my sister-in-law off and she kicked me out.” He hadn’t been joking exactly, but who knew Callie was that much of a prude?
“That bad, huh?”
“I said that maybe she needed a good spanking. She got all het up and replied that if any man, including Brock, ever laid a hand on her, she’d be out the door so fast my head would spin. I explained that in the BDSM community, spanking is used for pleasure as well as discipline.” He shrugs. “When things finally clicked in her head, she turned a dozen shades of red and made me leave.”
Color creeps up Aiden’s neck. “Are you into that?” he asks.
Jake shakes his shorn head. “Not really. But I read a lot. There’s almost always time to kill while traveling, and there’s always something to learn, so I read.”
Jake finds himself pressed to the wall with Aiden’s hands on his ass and Aiden’s tongue in his mouth, but he sure as hell isn’t complaining. They’re equally matched as far as height and heft go, and the solid weight against him is a nice change of pace. His own strength won’t be much of a concern.
Aiden grinds his cock against Jake’s and the friction, despite four layers of clothing between them, sets Jake’s blood on fire and his hips surge forward without much input from his brain. He hasn’t fucked a man in years, and he’s forgotten how much the hardness of a man’s body turns him on. Aiden’s is powerfully built and hits every tick box on Jake’s list.
Aiden kisses across Jake’s jaw and noses beneath his ear. He sucks lightly on the skin at Jake’s pulse point before pulling back to ask, “Can I mark you?”
Aiden’s blown pupils take Jake’s breath away. “Fuck. Yeah. But only under my tee shirt and shorts.” His voice has gone gruff under the onslaught of Aiden’s attention.
Aiden’s fingers slide under Jake’s shirt, pushing the cotton up. Jake takes a moment to yank it off. Aiden sucks a bruise into his left pec before licking away the sting. He works his way down Jake’s torso, and, fuck, what a turnon. The hickeys will probably fade by the time his leave ends and he returns to Florida though. Unless Jake can convince Aiden to spend all his free hours in a bed with him for the next week or so.
Jake gasps and peers down his body. Aiden noses at Jake’s cock. Big eyes, more black than brown, peer back. Jake’s mouth goes dry at the look of want that paints Aiden’s face with high spots of color.
“I want your dick in my mouth,” Aiden says.
Jake’s hips buck in response.“Hoo ah.”
Aiden unbuttons and unzips Jake’s jeans, tugging them and Jake’s black briefs down to hug his thighs. Jake’s cock, heavy with need, falls forward. Aiden grips the shaft before taking the tip into his mouth. Jake groans and drops his head to the wall at the delicious sensation. He can’t remember the last time he got a blow job.
Aiden licks a stripe up Jake’s cock before mouthing at his balls, running a nose along the crease of his thigh. Then he’s back to sucking, hollowing his cheeks every time he pulls back.
