Page 151 of In Too Deep

So Harrison kissed him.

Jake’s response was slow at first. Careful. And he slipped his warm hands onto Harrison’s waist while he kissed him deeply but gently, as if still giving him room to pull away. But Harrison didn’t want Jake treating him as though one wrong touch might break him. He’d spent three years surviving in careful, measured pieces. He didn’t want that tonight.

He wanted this.

Jake.

Not because of what he’d lost.

Because of what stood in front of him right then.

So Harrison shoved Jake’s jacket from his shoulders impatiently, and Jake fumbled open the buttons of Harrison’s shirt with rough, eager hands. Harrison then broke the kiss to drag Jake’s T-shirt over his head, and the sight of him stole the breath from his lungs. Sweat-sheened skin. Lean muscle. And that silver swallow necklace hitting his chest and catching the low kitchen light.

Christ. He was stunning.

But before Harrison could properly look, Jake slid his hands around to his arse and lifted him clean off the floor. Harrison let out an undignified grunt as Jake dumped him onto the kitchen counter and stepped between his knees to kiss him again. And all he—forty-three-years old, senior detective, supposedly composed human being—could think to do was wrap his legs around Jake’s hips and drag him closer.

Jake’s mouth was hot and demanding against his, and he gripped his thigh with one hand while sliding the other into Harrison’s hair. Harrison could feel him everywhere. The solid heat pressed between his legs, rough fingertips over his skin, breath breaking unevenly into the kiss. And right then he wanted it all.

So he reached blindly for the fastening of Jake’s jeans, and Jake broke from the kiss to drag them open, shoving denim and boxers down his thighs to kick them away. Then he stood between Harrison’s knees, completely naked and without the slightest attempt to hide himself, cock hard between them.

Harrison could do nothing but stare.

Jake slid a hand around the back of Harrison’s neck. “You’ve gone quiet.”

“I’m looking.”

“You’ve looked before.”

“Not like this.”

Jake’s teasing gave way to a want so open it made Harrison want him all the more. He reached between them, wrapping his hand around Jake’s cock and stroking slowly, watching Jake’s lips part and his head tip back beneath the kitchen light.

“Fuck…” Jake groaned. “Harry…”

Harrison tightened his grip, drawing another sharp breath from him. “Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that demonstration you gave me?”

Jake brought his head back to look at him. “Aye…”

“I want the real thing.”

Jake swallowed. “Tonight?”

“No, next Thursday.”

Jake huffed out a breath. “Sarky bastard. Was only checking.”

“I know.” He caught Jake by the back of the neck and pulled him closer. “But shut up and take me.”

Jake drew a breath before leaning in and kissing him, and whatever fear Harrison still had left disappeared beneath the force of it. He hauled Harrison off the counter and walked him backwards towards the bed without letting him go, one arm locked around his waist as Harrison stumbled and laughed into his mouth. Jake only pulled him closer and kissed him harder.

By the time the backs of Harrison’s knees hit the mattress, he was breathless. Jake pushed him down onto the already tangled sheets and followed, all warm skin and solid weight between his thighs as his fingers went straight for Harrison’s belt. Harrison lifted his hips, every bit as impatient as Jake clearly was, and Jake dragged his trousers and underwear down together before tossing them somewhere behind him. Harrison then expected him to come straight back with the same frantic urgency.

Instead, Jake stopped.