Page 25 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)

TWENTY-ONE

TEDDY

I ’d been tapping my foot since Wesley walked into the house, but when things started escalating and I detected the note of panic in his voice, I all but put my foot through the floor of the car.

It took a miracle and Joey to keep me at bay, as well as planning how many ways I would twist Barnes’s neck if he so much as laid a finger on Wesley.

When he came out of the house, Joey drove down the road like the last time, and I watched the beautiful teacher with a heart of gold practically run down the street as if his life were on the line.

My guts twisted watching him, and something rose in my chest, something familiar that I hadn’t felt since the last time I was in the field. A need to protect.

Joey came to a stop around the corner, but instead of waiting for Wesley to jump in the back, I rushed out, took him in my arms, and channeled all my warmth to him, hoping it would offer him as much comfort as it did me.

“You’re okay now. You’re okay,” I repeated over and over again, if not for him, then definitely for me.

“I’m okay,” he said, and just as I leaned back enough to kiss his forehead, my lips met his instead.

It was brief, barely a touch, but it had the spark of a thousand suns.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered and pulled back from my embrace.

I felt empty without him in my arms. I wanted to be wrapped around him again, but before I did something silly, Joey spoke up.

“I don’t want to interrupt…whatever this is, but do you think we can get out of here before we’re seen?”

That snapped me back to reality, and I opened the door for Wesley before I jumped in the front seat and we got the hell out of there.

“Are you all right, Wes?” Joey glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

Wesley nodded.

“I’m fine. Really. I’m…I’m just worried about Niko and Valentin.”

Joey’s face sank.

“Me too. No matter what’s going on in that house in terms of criminal activities, I’m far more concerned with what these kids are going through,” Joey said.

“Yeah.” Wesley’s shoulders dropped and he sank farther into his seat.

Joey fiddled with the radio until he found a cheery tune, but all that did was intensify the feeling of dread that permeated the car. I kept glancing at Wesley in the mirror. My mouth felt all tingly still from that hint of a kiss, and my heart raced faster than if I had been running a marathon.

The memories of what I’d done last night, of what I had fantasized him doing to me, blasted my senses, and a warmth traveled down my spine, making me uncomfortable in my seat.

I was so distracted by this chaotic energy within me that I didn’t even notice when we reached Wesley’s house and Joey came to a stop in his driveway.

That didn’t mean Wesley hadn’t though, as he thanked Joey and got out of the car before I could even stop him or help him.

“I don’t know who and what you like,” Joey said as I put my hand on the door handle, and I froze, “but if you don’t get out of this car right now, you’ll be the biggest idiot I know. And I know quite a few.”

I turned and stared at him.

I wanted to ask him what he meant, but it was pretty apparent. I didn’t know how he knew, but I wasn’t going to waste any more time finding out. I just opened the door, cast one last look at my friend, and chased after Wesley.

I caught him on his porch just as he fished his keys out of his bag, and I softly grabbed him by the elbow.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

He nodded, delicately. Slowly.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

He looked up at me with confused, knotted eyebrows.

“Wh-what for?”

“That we—I sent you in there to clone the phone. It should never have been you.”

Wesley sighed and looked down.

“Don’t be sorry. If not me, then who? I…I was the only one who could get close enough?—”

“But still. This shit is terrifying when you’re trained for it. I can’t even imagine”—I raised my free hand to Wesley’s face, and even though there was no hair obstructing his view, I traced my fingers along his temple and ear as if there was—“how you must feel.”

Wesley looked up at me with wide green eyes and pink parted lips that called out to me.

“I…I’m…I…” he said, but he gave up all too soon and simply continued staring at me.

“I won’t let that happen again,” I told him. “I promise?—”

Before I could even finish, he stood on his toes and kissed me. And this time, it wasn’t just a hint. His lips slipped between mine like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together, and all my senses seized, focusing entirely on the single point of contact as if it were my lifeline.

“Shit. Sorry.” He pulled back before I knew what was going on and turned his back to me, trying to escape into his house.

I grabbed his arm before he could and spun him around, back to me, and he looked at me with big, wide eyes as if he was scared of me.

I didn’t want him to be afraid of me. I didn’t want him looking at me like that. My stomach sank at the idea that he would look at me with terror in his eyes.

I had to show him I wasn’t scary. That he didn’t need to fear me. That…I wanted him.

I leaned in, aiming for his lips, but he put his hand to my chest and took a step back.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“I…I’m trying something,” was the only thing I managed to say, and this time, when I tried to kiss him, he let me.

He closed the gap between us, and our lips slotted back into each other like they were meant to be. One of his hands crawled up my chest, and the other cupped my face. The act alone drove me to deepen the kiss, to taste him.

And I wasn’t disappointed. He tasted sweet and electric, a perfect combination that shot through me like gasoline, alighting me with goosebumps.

The spark gave me life. It gave me purpose, and I used my hands to pin him closer to me. A soft, barely audible moan reverberated through him, and it shot straight to my groin, making my cock hard in an instant.

My hands dropped from his shoulder blades to the small of his back, and he whimpered, making me pulse.

He guided both his hands around my neck, hugging me closer, and I reached down to cup his ass cheeks and bring him even closer to me.

So close that I could feel the hardness in his pants.

We ground against each other, my cock rubbing against his, and a groan climbed out of me before it could be tamed.

This was…new. And different. And so unlike me, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I wanted it. I wanted his body. I wanted him. Wesley.

He pulled back for a second and stared at me with fire in his eyes and a gaping mouth that I needed on me right this second.

“W-was that what you wanted to try?” he panted, and instead of answering, I just pulled his mouth back to mine.

But moments later, reality came crashing down on me, and I let go of him, of his lips and body, in pure panic.

“I’m…I’m so sorry,” I said.

Wesley leaned against his door and caught his breath, but he never looked away from me.

“Why? Was I that bad?” he asked.

“No!” I snapped. “No. Because I…I didn’t ask?—”

Wesley grabbed me by my shirt and dragged me back to him with a confidence that had been absent moments ago, and he teased my lips with his.

“God, you’re so clueless it’s adorable,” he muttered, and I let out a big sigh.

“I am.”

I tried to kiss him again, but he put his hand to my chest and pushed back enough that we could look at each other.

“Are you even queer or is this…libido or some shit?” he asked.

My throat tightened, but not because of the question. Because I couldn’t breathe properly when I wasn’t kissing him.

“Considering I’m hard as I’ve never been and want more, I think I might be.”

He bit his lip as if assessing my answer, and I pressed my body against his, reuniting our cocks. That seemed to encourage him because the next words out of his mouth were, “Want to come in for…a drink?”

“Is drink a euphemism for sex now? I’m not up with the latest lingo.”

Wesley let out a soft moan and grabbed me by the chin.

“It is now,” he growled and dragged me into his house.

Of all the things on my Bingo card for today, this week, this month—hell, for this new life even—making love to another man wasn’t on it.

But right this moment, and all the moments leading up to it, to be honest, it was all I could think about.

“A drink sounds…fucking good,” I whispered and closed the door behind me while Wesley reclaimed my lips.