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The night was going to plan until Arm got a message through his earpiece.
“Khun Tay on the move. Fast. Headed toward the toilets. No… south exit.” Jai, who’d come to them last month with the name Korn and had to change it. Tonight was his first assignment as lead and his inexperience was showing. Arm was there for support and feedback. He’d take the lead if things somehow went to shit.
South exit was just past the dance floor to Arm’s left. He scanned the crowd, watching for any signs of Tay or unlikely assassins.
“Where’s he going?” Another voice. Tam, stationed near the bar. “Who’s on him?”
New guards; recent replacements for the dead and gone. All thoroughly vetted and competent. Back at home, the new Chan was a military and police veteran. But nothing could replace the easy shorthand and understanding that came after years of working together. If it had been the old team, he would have known instantly from their tone if Tay was sashaying casually away or in potential danger.
Arm watched the crowd on the dance floor shift to let someone push through. He could just make out glimpses of silver blond hair. “I’m south. I’ve got eyes on him. Anything I should know?” Anything you should have reported already? He thought, annoyed. Tay was expected to stick with the group: Kinn, Porsche, Time, their guests. He wasn’t prone to unplanned solo wandering. He was comfortingly reliable that way. Until now, apparently.
“He, uh. He slapped Time and stormed off.”
Arm swore under his breath. So much for an easy, predictable night. He trailed Tay through the crowd, close enough to see the tension in Tay’s posture, not so close to call attention to himself. Tay was angry, pushing impatiently through the crowd, ignoring familiar faces. But not running. In the crowd of all the usual high profile guests, no one stood out as unusual. Threat level: protectee drama management, he would have joked with Pete. He dropped his hand from the butt of his gun.
“What happened?” he asked Jai.
“There was an argument. There’s another man talking to Time now. And Porsche.”
“Next time keep us informed. And get refreshed on everyone’s friends and acquaintance.” Their lovers. Cheaters. He’d give Jai the full lecture when the night was over. At the moment, his focus was on Tay heading out the south exit into an unsecured alley. The location itself wasn’t notably dangerous. A low profile night out wasn’t high risk. But the minute between Tay’s exit and his own held the danger of every scenario he’d been trained to anticipate. Complacency kills, he heard in Big’s voice.
Arm pushed through the door. Just outside he collided with Tay, as if he’d run out the door and simply stopped there. Arm steadied them both while scanning the empty alley before bowing to apologize. “Sorry, Khun Tay.”
Tay stood still, looking lost. Fists clenched, eyes staring at nothing. Tay and Time argued, that was nothing new. Tay’s reaction was. Protectee management. That’s how he should have thought of it. But Arm had never been good at emotional distance and Tay had always been the nicest of all of them. Time was a bastard.
“Is there… do you need anything, Khun Tay?”
Tay looked at Arm as if he just noticed he was there. A flash of recognition and Tay stepped out of Arm’s grasp. “I wanted space,” he finally said.
“There’s a secure room. It’s safer there.”
Tay laughed. “Perfect. Nothing makes a statement like an angry slap and ‘escort me to a secure room.’”
The laugh was unsettling. Arm wanted to give Tay the space he needed, but the alley was exposed, open at both ends. He couldn’t leave Tay alone here. “I can stand over there a while. Until--”
“Until what? What am I doing?”
Arm could calm a panicking Tankhun with practiced almost-ease, but this was new. He’d never seen Tay like this. Tay was careful. Poised and in control. He’d never seemed so vulnerable, and it was dangerously distracting.
Reasserting professional distance seemed cruel, but he wasn’t a friend here to offer comfort. “What do you want to do?” He asked.
Tay looked over Arm’s shoulder to the door, uncertainty in his expression and the way he shifted his hands to his hips, and back down to his side. “What do I want?”
It was so hard to watch, still aware of the length of the empty alley behind Tay, the weak points in any defenses, while Tay stood indecisive and unaware. “Let me take you someplace safe, Khun Tay. We don’t have to go back in.”
He gently took Tay by the elbow to nudge him clear of the door. Tay followed, clumsy and unresisting.
Arm touched his earpiece. “I have Tay. Taking him to the car.” He took a firmer hold of Tay’s arm and pressed his hand against his back to escort him out of the alley.
A few steps forward, then Tay stopped. Arm looked around, alert. Nothing.
“Khun Tay?”
“He should be the one leaving. Why is my night ruined while he’s in there with—.”
Arm now had Tay in his arms with nowhere to go. If this was Tankhun he would comfort him without fear of overstepping. Tay was unfocused, his gaze shifting from the door to nothing at all. He wasn’t Tankhun, but the same steps applied. Comfort, distraction, reorientation.
Arm rubbed Tay’s back. He was tentative at first, keeping it as professional as possible. Tay slowly leaned against Arm for support.
“Want me to have him taken out?” Arm tried to keep it light. A quiet little joke.
Tay looked at him, shocked for a moment until there was almost, not quite, a smile. It passed quickly.
“I don’t know what I want.”
Tay looked at Arm again as if he had answers. Arm didn’t know what to say. Tay shifted closer to him, and Arm adjusted his grip without thinking, steadying him rather than pulling away. What could he do? Pushing Tay away was both inappropriate and unnecessary. Enjoying it was especially inappropriate. He could feel Tay’s breath on his face and Tay looked as uncertain as Arm.
Jai’s voice was in Arm’s ear, followed by Tam, a blur of sound.
Tay’s eyes were still on him when their lips met. It was cautious, testing, more question than kiss. But it lingered. Arm’s eyes drifted shut. He held Tay closer. Tay responded, his body slowly melding against Arm’s, the kiss growing confident, wanting. It stopped only with a soft, self-conscious laugh. From Tay? From himself? He couldn’t be sure. When he opened his eyes Tay avoided his gaze for a moment, then glanced at him, a faint, unreadable smile touching his lips.
The door next to them burst open, startling Arm into instinctive action. He pushed himself between the door and Tay to find Time looming over him. Shit.
“What the fuck?” Time was angry. And he was drunk, his words slurred and strangely emphasized. He was solely focused on Tay, even as Arm stood in his way.
“Leave me alone, Time.” Tay’s voice was exhausted but firm.
“I did leave you alone like you wanted. I sent Tem away like you wanted. I said I’m sorry. Now come back inside.”
“I just need some air.”
“In a dirty alley? You?” Time looked from Tay to Arm and back. Arm couldn’t see how Tay was responding, but Time’s expression darkened as he seemed to come to some uncomfortably fair if not accurate conclusions. “Have you been out here making out with the bodyguard?”
There was a pause. Utter silence from Tay. Arm glanced back at him, watched him take a breath and give Time a hostile look. He straightened, tipped his head up.
“Is that a problem? I thought we had an open relationship now.” Tay rested his hand on Arm. “And his name is Arm.”
It was the eighth time Tay had said his name in his presence, but who was counting.
“I made a mistake. One mistake. That doesn’t justify—.”
“You make a year’s worth of one mistakes and I still play the loyal boyfriend?” Tay’s voice rose. His grip on Arm’s shoulder tightened.
Time leaned in closer. “You play the loyal boyfriend as long as you’re told to.”
“Arm? Everyone safe? Arm, respond.” Jai, who’d probably been letting him know Time was approaching while Arm was… distracted.
“All clear here,” Arm said as unobtrusively as possible.
“That’s right. All clear. Time for you to go,” Time took a step forward and Arm backed up, keeping Tay protected.
“Time for you to go.” Instead of backing up, keeping a safe distance as directed, Tay pressed affectionately against Arm’s back and leaned his chin on Arm’s shoulder. “He’s staying here with me.”
The last thing Arm wanted to do was undermine Tay against Time. He’d have told Tay to leave Time and never look back, but that wasn’t any of his business. He could, at the least, not object to Tay hanging on him as if they’d just shared a more intense intimate moment. If Tay wanted to use him, he would wrestle with his feelings about it in the future.
Time smirked. “Sure. Have your little tantrum. I’ll see you inside for the next dance.”
“Arm.” Tay purred dangerously in his ear.
“Y-yes?”
Tay slid his fingers into Arm’s hair and turned his head to kiss him. All for show, a deliberateness to it that had nothing to do with pleasure.
“Will you take me to that safe room now?”
***
Arm hesitated at the door to the secured hotel room that served as a safe room, bracing himself for the moment Tay was done with him. He spent the elevator ride debating whether it was okay to wish for more. It gave him time to wonder what Tay wanted. Was this just a show to hurt Time?
Tay said nothing. He stood expectantly in the doorway until Arm entered. Closing and locking the door was a decision. An answer to Tay’s silent invitation. If his hand shook as he pressed a finger to his earpiece to inform Jai and Tam of their arrival, he hoped Tay didn’t notice.
“Going silent,” he said hastily as Tay himself fished Arm’s phone from his back pocket and turned it off.
Arm tried to read Tay as he was stepping out of his shoes, a simple look all it took to instruct Arm to do the same. Underneath the natural ease of practiced superiority Tay was watching Arm just as carefully. But Tay’s hands didn’t shake as he stripped Arm of his jacket and deliberately unbuttoned his shirt, their shoes left behind as they eased their way deeper into the suite.
It was dark, heavy curtains dimming the lights of the city. Whatever pangs of conscience remained were being stripped away along with Arm’s shirt and replaced with the warm, soft pleasure of Tay’s hands on his chest, wandering down his torso. He should say something. Slow this down. But the silence—Tay’s silence, his own silence—was a fragile spell he didn’t want to break.
Tay looked at Arm, fingers hovering a moment too long over the button to his trousers. He was beautiful and impossible to read in the soft light. Was he hesitating? Asking permission? It was another chance to slow down or back out or ask what Tay really wanted. Instead, Arm reached for Tay, cupped his face in his hand and leaned in for a kiss. Their third kiss and their first, Tay responded with a soft whimper that shot through Arm’s body. Did it matter why Tay was doing this or why Arm was going along with it?
Tay’s kisses didn’t feel fake. They didn’t feel angry. They were slow, exploring, and oh so responsive. Tay’s whole body arched against Arm’s when Arm filled his mouth with his tongue. Arm helped Tay out of his jacket, then his shirt with its expensive cloth-covered buttons resisting Arm’s suddenly clumsy fingers. He held his breath when Tay’s hands returned to Arm’s trousers. This time there was no pause. The button slipped free, the zipper slid down. His trousers fell to the floor. This was really going to happen.
In an exchange that was starting to feel comfortable, Arm took his turn to help Tay. He felt around the waist of Tay’s trousers to find the hooks and boldly let his fingers brush against Tay’s hard cock as he unzipped them. Tay let out a breath and pulled Arm into a kiss that demanded response. Arm guided Tay toward the bed and Tay in turn pushed Arm down onto it. They stripped each other of the rest of their clothes and Tay leaned over Arm to kiss a line down his chest and abs.
It was exhilarating, the unknown of Tay’s intentions as he kissed lower, lower, teasing before he brushed his lips against Arm’s cock. In his vague past fantasies of pleasuring Tay he’d failed to imagine Tay in charge of his own desires. It was a failure he was thrilled to have corrected, and if he’d expected a quick revenge fuck Tay proved him wrong there, too, as he took his time, teasing Arm with his lips, his tongue, the lightest scrape of his teeth, before taking Arm into his mouth. He worked Arm more slowly and attentively than Arm had ever experienced before.
Tay nudged Arm’s legs further apart and for the first time Arm wondered if Tay was going to fuck him. He’d made more assumptions. Fuuuuuck his assumptions, Tay’s fingers flittered over Arm’s balls, explored, tested, sought permission Arm was thrilled to give. Arm’s cock was still in Tay’s mouth as Tay’s fingers penetrated him. They stretched him open and pushed deeper. Arm clutched at the sheets with one hand and gripped Tay’s hair in the other. Tay’s fingers explored as if he was studying Arm’s every response. He lingered when Arm moaned and arched up for more. He held back when Arm’s breathing grew ragged, denying him the release he needed. And just when Arm thought he couldn’t hold back any longer, it all stopped. Tay withdrew.
Arm let out a whimper of frustration.
Tay crawled up over Arm. He was smiling. Fuck, he was sexy.
“Don’t worry,” Tay said. “I’m going to give you what you want.”
Fuck. “I just want you.”
Tay settled himself between Arm’s legs and kissed him. “You want me.”
“Yes.” Arm lifted his legs higher, wrapped his arms around Tay.
“You want me. Inside you,” Tay whispered, teasing at Arm’s lips with his teeth.
“Fuck yes.”
Tay looked at Arm, amused, happy, teasing. Surprised. Arm couldn’t help smiling back.
Then Tay’s cock was pushing into him, filling him perfectly. Their kisses were messy, lazy in moments of slow, sensuous pleasure, building to desperate, sharp thrusts. Arm was lost, disoriented. He clung to Tay, blunt nails digging into soft skin. Tay kept him off balance, close to orgasm and never quite getting there, or floating on the perfect ecstasy of gentle friction. He didn’t know how Tay did it, but he felt Tay trembling, too.
“Tell me again.”
Arm was so lost he didn’t understand what Tay meant at first.
“I want you?”
Tay thrust into Arm hard. Steady. Like a drumbeat. Like a heartbeat. “Yes.”
“I want you. Tay. I want you.”
“Is it good?”
“So fucking good. You feel so fucking good. I want to feel you come inside me.”
No more talking then. Tay kissed Arm and reached down to stroke his cock as he fucked him. They both shuddered with orgasm, arching and straining against one another until they were spent.
***
Arm floated down from bliss slowly, kissing and lingering over soft caresses. But not even the dark hotel room could prevent reality from settling back in. Arm had a shift to return to and Tay had a relationship to deal with, one way or another.
As they laid next to each other Arm resisted the urge to ask what now. He didn’t know what he wanted to hear.
“Thank you.” Tay’s voice was husky. It made Arm want to roll over and kiss him and start all over again.
“You’re welcome?” He risked looking over at Tay, who was resting comfortably, watching Arm with sleepy eyes, less pensive than Arm.
“You helped me make a decision.”
“Always glad to be of service.”
Tay smiled. “Always? I might need a lot of service.”
“I can make myself available.”
“Can I make an appointment? There are a few services I’d like to try tonight.”
Arm pulled Tay closer. “I’m supposed to be working.”
“Lucky me, I have your boss’s phone number.”
***
Tay texted Kinn, the message not so subtle. He texted Time, even less subtle. The phone buzzed with angry messages while he gripped a pillow, up on his knees for Arm to fuck. A beautiful revelation, fucking and getting fucked by Arm. He grabbed the phone and Arm was inside him when he let Time know how good it felt. How much better Arm was. Not just better. Bigger. Time would hate that. He showed Arm, who laughed and fucked him harder.
A petty indulgence, but Tay thought he deserved it. And just like before, it stopped being about Time at all. He tossed the phone and clutched Arm’s hand, kept him close as they shook together. He didn’t know what that meant yet. Maybe nothing. Maybe something but only for a little bit. Maybe more.
It was his choice now.