Page 15 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
He shifted his hand that was planted against the side of the cabinet to grasp the back of Penny’s neck and pulled him close so he could kiss him. Wildly, Penny kissed him in return, groaning deep in his throat. That sound, likely unheard over the din in the storage room outside, went straight to Greer’s balls.
The other thing that went straight to Greer’s balls was Penny’s hand. All it took was a twist of his wrist and Penny was cupping and stroking him through his trousers. Greer lost his mind entirely, pressing his hips into the sensation. He maneuvered his hand so he could not only touch Penny as well,but so he could work his way into the man’s trousers to feel his growing erection against his bare palm.
The madness of the moment grew as their kisses turned frantic and their hands rubbed harder. Everything coalesced into pleasure that was made sweeter by danger. The fact that Greer could hardly move didn’t matter, he’d never raced toward orgasm so fast in his life. By the heat radiating from Penny’s body and the passionate sounds he made, Penny was right there with him, his own pleasure heightened by the insanity of what they were doing.
“Greer,” Penny said in a strangled voice as the commotion outside the cabinet reached a pitch.
Someone was slammed against the wall beside the cabinet as a police officer shouted orders at him, but Greer barely registered it or cared. He only cared about the burst of wetness that suddenly dampened his hand and wrist as he stroked Penny off. He cared about the blast of lightning that grabbed him by the balls and had him emptying in his trousers as Penny squeezed him.
Complete madness. Utter bliss. The sensation of floating that followed his orgasm had Greer sagging against the back of the cabinet. If they were about to be discovered and dragged off to meet their fate, at least he would go with a smile on his face.
But they weren’t discovered and dragged off. The room outside the cabinet quickly went quiet, or at least quieter. The thrust of the action that had provided the backdrop for their ludicrous display of lust moved farther away, out into the street.
A few minutes later, as Greer and Penny sagged against the back of the cabinet, fighting to catch their breaths, even the noise in the street quieted.
“I think they’re gone,” Penny whispered eventually.
Greer nodded. “We need to move.”
Penny nodded back, and with a few stiff, almost painful adjustments, they straightened and pushed on the cabinet door.
The storage room was, indeed abandoned. The rest of the pub was quiet. The men who had tried to escape had either succeeded or been nabbed by the police. Those who had hidden upstairs had either been taken away as well or were still hiding. Greer and Penny were able to leave the pub through the storage room door and make their way to a quieter street adjacent to the ones where the action had taken place.
From there, they were able to run until they were far away from any kind of danger except the sort they were adept at making for themselves.
“You see?” Greer asked when they paused near a common well to wash away some of the evidence of what they’d done.
“I see what?” Penny asked, grinning at Greer in the moonlight.
“We work well together,” Greer said. “You have no reason not to come to Cornwall with me.”
As deeply against the idea of working with a partner as Greer had been before, the thought of whisking Penny away to the countryside was appealing. He could leave the man behind in an inn or barn somewhere while he stormed Trebarral Castle and rescued Lord Fabian, but before and after that, perhaps they could have more than just hands and mouths in the dark.
Frustratingly, Penny’s mischievous grin faded. “I have a very good reason why I cannot leave London,” he said.
Impatience made Greer shorter than he intended to be. “Dammit, man, what? What could possibly keep you here?”
He didn’t truly expect an answer from Penny. Even more, he didn’t expect the calculating look that entered the man’s eyes, making him seem older than he was.
Finally, Penny nodded and sighed. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll show you.”
Greer thought perhaps he should say something, but he couldn’t think what. All he could do was follow Penny when he turned and marched off.
Chapter Five
Penny’s blood was still pumping hard through his entire body as he and Greer made their way carefully through Whitechapel. He couldn’t put distance between himself and the police activity around The Oyster and The Huntsman fast enough. As curious as part of him was to know who had initiated the raid and which of the numerous figures from London’s underground world of crime and vice the police were after, it was more important for him to look ahead instead of behind.
“Why do you want me to come away to Cornwall with you to begin with?” he asked Greer in a low voice as they cut through a less crowded side street on their way to Mrs. Hunt’s boarding house.
All of Whitechapel seemed to have been roused by the commotion caused by the police. Even several streets away from the heart of the matter, people hung out the windows of the buildings Penny and Greer walked past, and neighbors gathered on the street, eager for gossip about what had transpired.
“Oy! Penny! What are the coppers doing down there at any rate?” a wily old thief who Penny considered a friend, except when they were stabbing each other in the back, called out.
“No idea, Bertie!” Penny called back, putting on a confident smile. “Someone must have offended Scotland Yard.”
“We’ve all bloody offended Scotland Yard,” Bertie laughed, “and that lot deserves it.”
Penny laughed and waved at him, like it was the middle of a fine summer day and the Metropolitan Police were miles away.
