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EIGHT

LANDRY

When I saw Kenji climb down the helicopter stairs, I closed my eyes and thanked fate, Jim Winthrop, Executive Rescue, and the Brotherhood’s invention that had given me enough money to hire them.

I opened my eyes in time to catch Kenji as he crashed into me, nearly knocking us both down. My arms wrapped around him and held him tight.

“Fuck,” I breathed. “You smell awful.”

He gave a startled hiccup of laughter, and I tightened my grip even more until I worried he couldn’t breathe. Thankfully, his arms were around me just as tight.

“I hate you so much,” Kenji said with more love in his voice than I’d ever heard. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

I turned my head and pressed a long kiss to his temple, trying to settle into the reality of having him safe in my arms, finally , when I realized I tasted blood. “Kenji, what the fuck?” I pulled away just enough to notice the dried blood at his hairline. “What did they do to you?”

Who the fuck do I need to murder?

“I’m okay, I promise. I need to find somewhere to shower and sleep.” He sounded exhausted and defeated—two words that should never be used to describe Kenji Toma.

“You can do both on the plane.” I pointed to the far side of the small airport, where the Brotherhood’s private jet was waiting.

Kenji must have recognized it and remembered it held a private suite with not only a bed but a bathroom and shower. He quickly began walking in that direction, but I nudged him toward the small airport building instead, where we had to go through a more official process before we could board the jet.

On the flight over, I’d told Jim about my preference for the name Landry. He’d agreed easily enough, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he told his son who I really was.

My stomach churned nervously. I couldn’t calm down until I’d explained everything to Kenji.

When we finally got on board, Kenji offered Jamie the first shower and took a seat in one of the leather chairs to wait. Fortunately, Jim didn’t attempt to make conversation since he was busy calling people to provide updates.

As soon as Jamie came out wearing clean clothes, the plane took off. The moment the flight attendant gave us the go-ahead to get out of our seats, Kenji bolted back to take his own shower.

I followed him into the suite in time to see him yanking off his clothes and leaving them in a pile on the ground. That was not like Kenji. The man was meticulous. Even during our most passionate encounters, he’d taken the time to set his clothes aside neatly.

He knew I was in the room with him, even though he didn’t acknowledge my presence. I moved over to the cabinet where my own clothes were and pulled out a soft hoodie and the shortest pair of joggers I could find so he’d have something clean to wear.

Then, I pulled off my own clothes and followed him into the shower stall. “Kenj?—”

He turned and leaned into me, burying his face in my neck and letting out a sob. I held him tightly again and let him cry as the hot water streamed over us.

“Shh, it’s okay,” I murmured. “You’re safe. It’s over.”

He sniffed and pulled out of my arms. His eyes were full of anguish. It was more emotion than I’d ever seen him express, with the sole exception of the times he’d lost his chill and yelled at me about a fuckup. “It’s not over, Landry. There are a lot of people back there who are still in danger. There’s a man who might be having heart problems and a woman who…”

He shook his head and stepped back into my arms.

After a moment, I explained that the prime minister was following the developments and had hopes the situation would be resolved soon. “There is a lot of pressure to reinstate the safety measures at the mine. Global sentiment is on the side of the locals, not the government officials.”

He shuddered. “I hope they get it resolved before anyone else gets hurt.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked gently.

He shook his head.

I reached for the shower gel and managed to fill a washcloth without letting him go. As I scrubbed his back and arms and ass, I couldn’t help but get even harder than I’d been watching him undress.

I wanted him so fucking badly, but I wasn’t going put the moves on him while he was so vulnerable and when I had so much I needed to tell him. Instead, I worshipped his body with the soapy cloth, moving him this way and that until I’d cleaned his entire person.

Once we were both clean, I dried him off with one of the thick towels, then pointed to the clothes I’d set out for him. He pulled them on before crawling into the bed and pulling the duvet up to his chin.

I watched him while I dried myself and dressed again. He looked tiny on the large bed, which was also unusual. Kenji was technically small in stature, but he always stood up straight and wasn’t afraid of taking up space in the world.

Kenji didn’t do vulnerable, and seeing him this way made me want to erect a force field around him, to protect him from any further discomfort or upset.

I closed the window shades and turned off the lights before sliding into bed at his side. He immediately reached for me and yanked me closer until I was spooned around him.

I held him close and nuzzled my nose behind his ear. His damp hair was in a knot on top of his head, otherwise I would have gladly eaten mouthfuls of it if I could stay close and give him the comfort he so clearly needed.

We both drifted off to the sound of the airplane’s white noise. A couple of hours later, I woke up, suddenly remembering I hadn’t updated the Brotherhood on Kenji’s rescue.

I snuck out of bed as quietly as I could and made my way to the main cabin. Jamie was asleep on one of the sofas, and his father was sitting at a table working on his laptop.

When I took the seat opposite Jim, he glanced up. “Is he okay?”

“Not really. What about Jamie?”

He shrugged. “He’ll get on with it.”

I blinked. “They saw some bad stuff, Jim. They feared for their lives. That kind of experience isn’t easy to set aside.”

“I’m sure he’ll handle it.”

Instead of arguing with him, I pulled out my laptop and started a group message to the Brotherhood to let them know Kenji was safe on our plane.

Silas

What happened? How’d you get him out?

I sucked in a breath. How the fuck was I supposed to explain the situation?

Long story. I had to pull some strings to make this happen and now I owe someone a favor.

Silas

Is he hurt? Upset?

I thought back to the image of Kenji alone in bed.

He has a cut on his temple. Not sure what from. He hasn’t said much yet. Showered and went right to sleep.

Bash

Is he coming here or going to NY?

We have to drop some people off in London first. Will update as soon as we know.

They asked a few more questions I didn’t have answers to before I ended the chat by saying I’d explain more after getting some much-needed sleep.

The next message was easier to send. I pulled up the contact information for Kenji’s grandmother.

I don’t know if you’ve been following the San Cordova story, but I wanted to let you know Kenji is safe.

Mrs. Toma

Thanks for letting me know! Will you ask him to call me?

We’re on a plane so he can’t call until we land, but I’ll tell him as soon as he wakes up.

Mrs. Toma

Are you with him?

Yes.

Mrs. Toma

Thank you, Landry. Please take good care of him.

That’s an easy promise to make.

After the chat ended, I messaged Nan and Cora to update them on the situation. Nan wasn’t thrilled that I’d made a deal with the devil, but she promised she’d have a room set up at Hawling House, where Kenji could rest.

After reassuring anyone who needed to know that Kenji was safely away from San Cordova and messaging Kenji’s assistant to upgrade the damned Wi-Fi on this plane to allow for video calls, I made my way back to the bedroom, stripped down to my underwear, and slid into bed again, trying to figure out the best way to tell Kenji the truth about who I was.

Unsurprisingly, no magic words occurred to me. It was as impossible to know where to begin as it ever had been.

I must have drifted off because I woke up to the shocking sensation of a hot mouth on my cock.

At first, I assumed it was a dream. “Kenji,” I groaned when the fantasy mouth pulled off me.

“Need you. You ,” he said before sucking me down again.

My eyes flew open. Even in my dreams, Kenji had never talked like that.

His hand cradled my sac as he teased me with his mouth. I tangled my fingers in his long hair and bit out a curse. The man was naked and sucking my cock like he was trying to win a competition.

“That feels so good. Fuck. Let me… oh fuck.”

After a few more pulls, he lifted his head and met my eyes. His face was flushed, his mouth wet. “Want you to fuck me. Hard.”

I understood the need to reconnect after a harrowing experience, but I worried about the fervor in his eyes. “Kenji?—”

“Don’t you dare deny me this, Landry. Or I will go out there and ask Jamie Winthrop to take your place.”

It was an empty threat—we both knew he wouldn’t do that, especially under these circumstances—but we also both knew I wouldn’t reject him. I never had.

I quickly sat up, grabbed him under the arms, and yanked him up, manhandling him onto his front beneath me before moving down to spread his ass cheeks apart.

Kenji sucked in a breath right before my tongue landed on his hole. Then, he let out a debauched whimper that changed into a groan. I ran a hand up his spine and pressed down firmly between his shoulder blades. Then, I moved his knees up underneath him until he was exactly where I wanted him, face and chest down, ass up.

I felt instinctively what he needed, and I did my best to give it to him. Thankfully, I had lube in my bag. After several long minutes of enjoying his ass with my mouth and tongue while listening to his needy sounds, I grabbed the travel-sized tube and moved up behind him.

Kenji reached his hand back for mine. I held on tight while I used my other hand to line my cock up with his hole.

Over the past few years, we’d had many frantic interludes like this—quick, desperate fucks that scratched an itch for one or both of us. But never had Kenji seemed so emotionally needy, so in need of reassurance and comfort.

It unsettled me… and lit a fire inside me at the same time.

I leaned over him as I pressed myself inside. “Okay, babe?” I demanded breathlessly.

His hand squeezed mine and pulled our joined hands under his chest. I curled around him and pressed kisses on his shoulder and neck as I thrust in and out, finding a rhythm that seemed to hit the right spot.

I tried not to make too much noise, remembering our audience in the main cabin, but the familiar grip of Kenji’s body, the clean heat of his skin, and the sheer level of his need made it hard to keep from crying out.

I released his hand so I could grab his cock and stroke it.

“Please, Kenj. I need you to come,” I croaked in his ear. “Not gonna last. You feel too good.”

Kenji’s hand joined mine on his shaft until I felt his release hit. I quickly moved a hand up to clamp over his mouth as he let out a hoarse shout.

For the briefest moment, I allowed myself to imagine what we would look like to anyone who saw us this way. Kenji, a pliant, boneless sprawl of limbs, me fucking him into the mattress. That was all it took to push me over the edge.

The only time Kenji ever surrendered his rigid control was when he was in bed with me, and the image of it never failed to make me come.

It had been over two weeks since I’d felt an orgasm this strong and satisfying. But on the heels of my release, I realized my time with Kenji would inevitably come to an end when he realized I’d spent the past ten years lying to him about who I was.

I moved off him and stepped into the bathroom to wet a washcloth. When I came back into the bedroom, Kenji was on his side, watching me, his expression softer than usual.

Affectionate. Strangely, heart-racingly affectionate.

“Why are you looking at me like you don’t want to murder me?” I teased as I nudged him over so I could clean him off.

“I don’t want to murder you.”

I avoided his eyes and attempted to tease. “Give it time. You will.”

“I’m actually feeling very fond of you right now.”

I swallowed. “Maybe it’s a variation of Stockholm syndrome.”

“Did you send in a SEAL team to rescue me? What was that?”

I finished cleaning him up and yanked the duvet up to cover him before looking around for my clothes. “Executive Rescue. Jim already had a team in place, and I managed to get you a spot in their rescue.”

“How? I don’t have a policy with them.”

I glanced at him while I finished pulling on my clothes. “You do now.”

Kenji reached for my hand and pulled me down until I was lying next to him on the bed. “Thank you.”

Then, he leaned in and did something he’d never done in three years of passionate encounters.

He kissed me.

On the mouth .

It started off hesitant until he pressed closer and deepened the kiss. I made an embarrassingly desperate sound in my throat before grabbing him by the back of the head to keep him from pulling away.

I knew Kenji had never wanted us to kiss because he’d wanted to keep things very clear regarding what we were (and weren’t) to each other—hookups, not lovers. Definitely not in love.

It hadn’t worked. At least for me.

The kiss I’d given him in New York before he left had been born from my fear that, in addition to him leaving, he would also move on to someone else.

But now, he was here in my arms and in my bed again, kissing me voluntarily. I wanted to know what it meant, but there was no way I was going to end it prematurely to ask questions.

A loud knock on the door made us both jump and pull apart.

“Sir? We’re preparing to land in London,” the flight attendant called through the door. “We need you to buckle into a seat.”

Kenji glanced at me as he climbed out of bed and began pulling on his clothes. “Why London? Did you need to get back to your family?”

I was trying to wrap my head around the fact we’d practically slept the entire flight away without realizing it. There was so much I needed to explain. “Yes… and no. We left from London. That’s where the Winthrops live. And… and I kind of owe Jim a favor for including you in the rescue.”

I didn’t take the time to explain that the favor Jim had asked of me involved reconnecting socially—and very publicly—with my fellow peers in an effort to spread the good word about Winthrop & Meyers investment management over the next few weeks.

Kenji ran long fingers through his hair to straighten it. “As much as I want to go home and sleep in my own bed, I’m not sure I want to turn right around and spend another ten hours on this plane.”

“You don’t have to. We’ll go to my place. I can introduce you to my dad.” I watched his reaction.

“Really?” Kenji’s face softened into a smile. “I’d like that.”

I swallowed. “But there’s something you need to know first.”

Kenji moved past me and opened the door to the bedroom. “I already know about the Alzheimer’s. It’s okay.”

I opened my mouth to correct him, but he’d already walked out to the main cabin, and I had no choice but to follow.

Once we got there, Jamie Winthrop’s eyes caught mine. I could tell by his expression his father had explained who I was.

I grabbed Kenji’s elbow in an effort to pull him back into the bedroom, but the words were out of Jamie’s mouth before I could prevent the catastrophe.

“Everett Davencourt. Fuck, I had no idea!” He grinned like we were all in on the same joke.

Except it wasn’t remotely funny.

And we weren’t all in on it.

“You mean Landry.” Kenji chuckled lightly, though his forehead crinkled in concern, maybe wondering if Jamie was confused after their ordeal. “This is Landry Davis, Jamie. The man I told you about.”

“This is… No way!” Jamie laughed. “Everett Davencourt is your stupid boy? Holy shit, you look different from our Eton days!” He reached out a hand to shake and shot me a genuine, friendly smile like he wanted to put aside our schoolboy animosity or, worse, reminisce about it.

I gave him a half-hearted handshake, my stomach in free fall. “Stupid boy?” I repeated under my breath, feeling the familiar sting of Kenji’s rejection.

Kenji narrowed his eyes and hissed, “Everett Davencourt? From Eton ?”

He dropped into the seat across the aisle from the Winthrops. I took the seat beside him like a man approaching the gallows.

Jim’s and Jamie’s eyes moved between the two of us like they were watching a tennis match. I shot Kenji a look, silently begging him to save this conversation for a private moment. He closed his eyes and inhaled as if trying to seek patience from deep within.

“Is there an update on San Cordova?” Kenji asked, opening his eyes and looking at Jim as if the name debacle had never happened.

Jim glanced between us before giving an update. “The San Cordovan government has rescinded their exemption, which means they’re now requiring the safety measures to be put in place before allowing the mine to return to operation status. Half the tourists will be released in the next twelve hours—including anyone in need of medical treatment—and the other half are scheduled to be released when the representatives from the mining company land on the island and sign new contracts. That’s expected to happen tomorrow.”

Kenji let out a breath and nodded. “Thanks for letting me know.” He turned and looked out the window, where the London sky was its usual winter gray.

“Let me explain,” I said in a low voice. “Please.”

His nostrils flared, but he wouldn’t look at me. “No, thanks.”

“Kenj—”

He held up his hand to stop me. “I do not have the mental bandwidth to deal with your bullshit right now, Lan…whatever-the-fuck your name is.”

We landed within ten minutes at the small private airport. As we stepped off the airplane, it seemed the air in London might have been even colder than Kenji’s mood. We hurried into the small terminal building and then stopped short.

There in the lobby was a crowd of reporters and camera people. As soon as they spotted us, their voices tumbled over each other in a bid for attention. The noise made Kenji startle, so I reached out and grabbed his hand in reassurance without thinking. His hand tightened in mine as he shrank closer to my side.

It took me a minute to understand what they were shouting.

“Which one of you is the long-lost viscount?”

“Lord Hawling, over here!”

“Is it true you flew all the way to San Cordova to rescue your fiancé?”

“Isn’t that Landry Davis, the supermodel?”

“Which one of you is heir to the Winthrop fortune?”

“Is the Davencourt heir engaged to the Winthrop heir?”

Kenji stood frozen at my side. There was a momentary hush before Jim stepped up and held out his hands in a calming gesture. One reporter asked, “Mr. Winthrop, can you tell us what the situation is in San Cordova and how you managed to get your son out of there?”

Jim pulled Jamie close and put his arm around him. “As you can imagine, my son, Jamie, is exhausted from his harrowing experience. He and Lord Hawling’s fiancé, Kenji Toma, were held hostage at a resort in San Cordova. Jamie and Kenji are simply good friends who happened to be at the same spiritual retreat. We have heard that the remaining hostages will be freed within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. It would not be appropriate for us to say more about the situation right now. Thank you for respecting our privacy at this time.”

As he’d made his comments, he’d gestured to me and Kenji, who stood wide-eyed, still holding hands like the betrothed couple he’d described. Kenji dropped my hand like a hot potato and stared up at me in confused panic. It was a look I’d never seen on his face before.

Kenji was always Mr. Capable. He never panicked. When the rest of us were clueless about how to handle a situation, he was the one we turned to for direction. I hated knowing that his reaction now—in front of the press, no less—was my fault.

The reporters turned to me and started shouting out more questions. So much for “respecting our privacy at this time.”

“Landry, is it true you’re really Everett Davencourt, Viscount Hawling, heir to the Davencourt earldom?”

I felt Kenji begin to sway on his feet, so I placed a hand on his lower back to keep him from toppling over. “No comment.”

“When’s the wedding? Will it take place at Davencourt Park or Hawling House? And does the King know?”

“Will you and your fiancé be at the Hearts of Hawling Dinner together?”

“No comment,” I repeated, trying not to lose my temper.

I tried moving through the crowd toward the exit, wrapping an arm around Kenji’s slender form to keep him protected. The sound of snapping camera shutters followed us as we pushed past the reporters and reached the door.

Thankfully, my Range Rover was close to the valet stand. I yanked open the passenger door and hustled Kenji inside. Just before I got his door closed, one more nail was banged into my coffin.

“Is it true you plan to take your father’s place in the House of Lords this year?”

I felt the air whoosh out of my lungs as I stalked to the driver’s side of the vehicle and climbed inside. My hands shook as I started the engine and put the vehicle in Drive.

It wasn’t until we were out of the small airport and making our way through London’s city streets that Kenji finally spoke.

“Take me to Heathrow. I want to go home.”