Page 11 of Hold Me Down (KRK Security #4)

"These are unbelievable," Travis announced after swallowing the first bite of the tamale. "Seriously, he should be a professional chef."

"I told him that once, and apparently that's his backup plan once he's too old to work in the field."

"He won't be too old for a long time yet, and the world should know about these tamales."

Seriously, they were delicious, and Travis never wanted to eat anything else from now on.

"Once the world knows, there might not be enough for the two of us," Dave pointed out, which made Travis grunt in protest as he chewed another bite.

"He can never be a professional chef, then," he finally said. "Tough luck."

Dave chuckled.

"Maybe we can talk him into cooking for us full-time—all of us at the KRK, I mean."

Travis, who had already been imagining the two of them sitting down for dinner years from now, was momentarily thrown by the mention of the whole team.

Damn , the therapy had really messed with his head today. And that was only the first consultation! If the next ones were going to be this intense, he might not make it through. He was barely holding it together as it were.

"I bet we could talk the boss into switching lunch providers if Ian was an option," he said, staring at his plate. "At the last barbeque, Kalei devoured his burrito in three bites."

"And only gave up that last one because it was Vic who went looking for it."

"Yeah, nobody else would have pried it out of his cold, dead hands."

Dave shook his head. "These two, I swear. If Kalei wasn't so stubborn, they'd be ridiculously happy."

Travis felt his throat constrict, unease tingling at the base of his spine.

"Not everyone needs a relationship to be happy," he heard himself say, only to watch the light dim in Dave's eyes.

Or maybe Travis was reading too much into things.

After an entire hour of blood-letting earlier, that was a very real possibility.

"Of course, but I meant specifically these two," Dave said. "Everyone but Kalei knows that Vic is head over heels."

"Kalei's not, though."

Watching Dave's face, Travis could almost see him sifting through the responses, from what the hell, you've been moaning about these two at least once month yourself to what crawled up your ass , until finally landing on:

"Kalei doesn't want to admit it, and that's a huge difference. But anyway, I have some truly juicy gossip," Dave redirected, clearly not wanting to delve deeper into Kalei's inner life. "Guess who's proposing soon."

Travis frowned, whiplashed from all the quick and sharp turns in the conversation. He bought himself some time by taking another bite of the tamale, despite having lost what little appetite he'd had.

"Pascal wouldn't spoil the surprise, so disqualifying those two, everyone other than Martinez and the Judge is fair game, really." Travis mentally went over the available candidates. "Okay, I'm guessing James is the one jumping the gun."

"Nope." Dave shook his head with a triumphant smile. "Jeremy."

Travis almost dropped the food in his hand.

"No way."

"Everyone's shocked and out of luck with their bet, aside from Martinez who's about to be rolling in cash and planning a bachelor party of Jeremy's worst nightmares."

"I can't believe it," Travis muttered.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't, either, at first, but now it's the greatest news ever. Don't you love it when the quiet ones surprise you?"

I got a reminder today about the last time someone surprised me in the realm of romantic woes, so not really , Travis thought but obviously couldn't say.

"I guess it's hard to wrap my head around it," he offered instead. "Jeremy, of all people."

Dave looked down at his plate. "Well, I don't think anyone has any doubts about how he feels about Pascal."

"Of course, he's clearly gone on the man." Travis scratched his jaw. "But he was always… I don't know, it seemed like he was letting it happen to him, not actively pursuing it, if that makes any sense."

"Letting it happen suggests way too much passivity. And while Jeremy hasn't been publicly wining and dining Pascal or anything, he's always… acutely aware of Pascal whenever they are in the same space."

Travis opened his mouth to argue that this was who they all were—veterans didn't just lose their situational awareness, ever. He himself knew where everyone was in his vicinity, especially Dave, who was his focal point.

But then he caught himself.

Why were they even arguing about this? This was great news, and he was nitpicking it instead of celebrating.

"You're right, Jeremy's not passive," he finally said. "Still, he managed to surprise us all with this."

"Yep." Dave looked up at that. "Good surprise, though."

"Definitely." Travis straightened, wanting to bring back that light in Dave's eyes from earlier but not knowing how. "I bet Pascal will be over the moon."

Dave beamed at that, and Travis let himself relax.

"Oh, yeah," Dave said with a grin. "I always assumed he dreamed of getting married and only held back because of Jeremy."

"You think?"

"Yeah. I mean, I did bet on Pascal being the one who proposed, but only because I figured he might get tired of wishing and hoping and finally decide to at least shoot his shot by asking. And Jeremy wouldn't tell him no."

Jeremy wouldn't tell him no.

For some reason, that part echoed in Travis's brain again and again.

Jeremy wouldn't tell him no.

"Huh." Dave sat up, the grin disappearing. "I guess that's why Pascal didn't ask."

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it, Travis felt like he missed something.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Pascal wanted to get married, but he likely gave up on that plan when he fell in love with a guy who didn't—or at least we all thought he didn't. Jeremy very rarely tells him no, so Pascal proposing would put Jeremy in a tight spot.

Either he'd say no and hurt Pascal, or he'd say yes for Pascal's sake, which would be even worse.

So Pascal didn't ask." Dave slumped in his chair again. "But that's all guessing, of course."

Travis, who had never analyzed anyone's relationship this deeply, didn't know what to say.

"It all makes sense, when you put it like this," he finally offered, earning himself another smile.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't think about it this way before, but with everything laid out like that… It makes sense. Definitely more sense than my comment about Jeremy's passive stance on things." Travis shrugged. "But then, what do I know about romantic relationships?"

He realized he'd made a mistake before he even finished that last sentence, but he couldn't quite grasp why. Was it because it also implied that Dave had no idea what he was talking about? Travis hadn't meant to suggest that, he was only talking about himself.

Whatever it was, though, he knew he screwed up the moment he watched Dave's face fall again.

"I think I should go lie down." Dave pushed his empty plate away. "In bed, since the couch will soon have a dent in the shape of my ass."

There was a part of Travis who wanted to escape into a joke, say something about how great that shape would be, but the rest of him…

The rest of him wanted to take care of Dave more.

"Whatever you want." He got up. "Are we going up with an assist or are we doing a fireman carry?"

Dave shook his head. "I can try to go up on my own. You can finish your dinner."

"I did finish, and besides, let's leave going up by yourself for another time, okay? Especially since I'm available."

"I'll have to start using that leg or my muscles will weaken too much," Dave muttered but still threw his arm around Travis's shoulders, so Travis counted that as a win.

"I'm not arguing that, simply start with something other than climbing stairs on your own while I'm here, okay?" Travis risked a small smile. "Anyway, if you're good now and let me assist you, I'll massage your thigh later, so the muscles will be taken care of, too."

If Travis wasn't looking at him, he would have missed the way Dave's eyebrows shot up before his face relaxed.

"You don't—" Dave started, but, knowing what was likely to follow, Travis tightened his grip on Dave's hip and cut him off.

"You know I'm not the type of man who offers to do things he doesn't want to do. But if you don't want a massage, then by all means, let's skip it."

"I didn't say that ."

And there it was—the twist at the corner of Dave's mouth, the softer tone, the gentle give-in. For all that Dave could be as impatient as Travis sometimes, he was incredibly patient in moments like this, forgiving Travis's every misstep.

Travis would like to think he tried to do the same, but the truth was, he was bad at it in the heat of things.

He tended to say something stupid, or storm off in anger, or give as bad as he felt he'd gotten.

In the long run, he forgave Dave for everything, too, but in the moment, he usually couldn't quite get there.

Whereas Dave offered him grace every goddamn time, usually within a few minutes.

They made their way up slowly, but Dave was already sweating a bit when they hit the upper level. And once they got to his bedroom, he stretched on the bed with a loud sigh.

"I can try on my own", my ass , Travis thought, turning away from the enticing sight to get a grip. He'd offered Dave a massage, not sex, and he needed to remember that.

"The massage oil is in there." Dave pointed at the nightstand, the handle of the drawer just out of reach for him. "It smells like peaches, fair warning."

Ignoring the bottle of lube that rolled forward, Travis grabbed the massage oil and closed the drawer quickly before scrunching his nose when he opened the bottle and the scent hit him.

"Why would you?" he complained, but as he helped push Dave's shorts down, he got distracted by the sight of him in those close-fitted briefs.

"It was half-price if I bought it with the one I usually use."

With that, Dave crossed his arms behind his head, and Travis knew Dave wasn't trying to seduce him on purpose, he knew , and yet he had to take another inhale of the fake peaches to stop himself from getting hard.

"I told you, you need to resist the special offers." Travis settled on his knees next to Dave's thigh. "Half the time it's not even worth it."

"That's not true. Nine times out of ten, I'm happy with what I've got. Okay, eight," he corrected at the incredulous look Travis shot him. "Eight out of ten."

"You've got to be kidding."

"I'm not." Dave let out a hum as Travis ran his hands up and down Dave's thigh, pressing circles along the sides of it, while also trying not to disturb the lower part of the leg in the cast. "You only remember the things I complained about and forget about all the good ones."

"We took that awful coffee to work so we wouldn't have to drink it or throw it out." Travis dug in his thumbs and kept them there for a long moment before relaxing the grip. "And most people didn't want to drink it, even for free."

"Melissa and Keri loved it," Dave argued between grunts. "Aamir likes it, too. We did them a favor."

"Do me a favor and stop buying shit simply because it's cheaper. I'll even chip in if lavender oil somehow becomes too expensive for you."

"I'm not using our joint budget to buy myself massage oil."

Travis rolled his eyes. "Let's call it our oil, problem solved."

Dave hummed and tilted his head back as Travis rubbed the underside of his thigh, and, fuck , all of Travis's efforts to distract himself went to hell. His cock twitched, growing harder, and he could only hope Dave wouldn't care to look.

Travis didn't have the same luxury, though—Dave's cock was right there, nearly brushing against one of Travis's hands, and while it wasn't hard, it didn't have to be to make an impression.

Mouthwatering wasn't a hyperbole in the slightest.

"Fuuck," Dave let out through his teeth, and Travis faltered in his movements as the images of different circumstances for the closeness and those sounds flashed through his mind.

But it was only a stubborn knot of muscles—one Travis had gone back to again and again, and now stayed focused on as he'd already dealt with all the other tougher spots.

"Come on," he muttered quietly to the muscles in question, rubbing the skin that was now red and very warm. "Come on, let go already."

Dave inhaled sharply, and Travis glanced up right away, worried about hurting him, but instead he clocked the flushed expression and the heat in Dave's eyes.

Only then did Travis realize what he was saying—and what it usually meant, in those different, far better circumstances.

Dropping his gaze again didn't help, either, because he was now faced with Dave's growing bulge.

Oops .

So much for the platonic massage.