“

A Marked Man”

Sandrine Gasq-Dion

~~DEDICATION~~

To my husband and kids, thank you for your patience

and understanding.

To my Mom who supported me and didn’t even bat an

eyelash.

To my siblings for backing me up.

To my Editors, Jen and Kim, for putting up with my

love of run-on sentences.

To my readers at LRO, thanks for your patience as

I spread my wings.

To Van and Eric for starting it all……

Copyright 2012 ©

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any

resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.

~Chapter One~

“

Oh for fuck’s sake.” Mateo sighed in frustration. He’d

been in Yemen for three days perched on a mountainside
waiting for the opportunity to take his shot, and now his
intended target was getting blown by a kid twenty years
his junior. He had to give the old guy props though; he
was getting a fantastic blow job and had kept his load for
quite some time now. Poor Blondie’s head was bobbing
up and down and Old Man Nasty was loving every
second of it.

Jiblah was in the southern part of Yemen, and the

month of July was in full swing. Mateo was sweating
buckets and dressed in a Ghillie suit to match his
surroundings. Most of his Ghillie suits he made himself. It
was hours of work, but worth it in the end. If you made it
right, you blended in so well no one could find you. Not
even with a high powered scope.

He figured his shot could wait. After all, he was feeling

generous today. Let the old man get some pleasure
before he relieved him of his life. This guy was sick. He
was the leader of a kiddie porn ring and Mateo had been
given the task of taking him out. This was his job. He was
a hired assassin, and had been since he left the military.
Ten years of playing by the rules of engagement for the
Army left a bitter taste in his mouth. He and three others,
Josh Montgomery, Sam Waters and Troy Bishop were
part of an elite sniper unit run by General Derek Jacobs.
Once the three of them decided not to re-enlist, the
government came calling for their services in a much
different way. Their new team was still led by the
General, who just happened to still be active duty
military.

They were kind of like the A-team, except they weren’t

hunted by the government. They worked

for them.

Homeland Security, as well as the FBI, CIA, DEA and
ATF were all involved in one way or another. Most of the
time they were called on to take out low-life scum.
Unfortunately, there were the occasional babysitting jobs.
When witness protection wasn’t enough or was
compromised, the job came down to Josh, Sam and
Troy. Mateo left that particular task to them, they had
better people skills. Mateo hated being stuck in a safe

house, it was boring. The only thing you could do was
talk, and Mateo hated trying to make small talk with
someone he didn’t know from Adam. Ignoring the fact that
he hated being in close quarters and not being able to
leave, cabin fever would become an issue as well as
claustrophobia. When orders were cut, the job would be
texted to his secure Government phone and then Mateo
went about tailing his target. Finding out where he went,
how long he would stay, etc. When he got a feel for the
when and where, he’d find his position and wait,
sometimes for a day, sometimes a week.

It was quite lucrative really. Fifty thousand dollars per

target went a long way, especially during a busy month.
Although he had plenty of money and two cars, he didn’t
own a house. Two sixty eight Chevy Impala’s to be
precise, one a sleek black, the other one red. He didn’t
like the idea of being tied down, so a house was out of
the question. Hell, even a boyfriend was. Mateo still got
laid his fair share of times though. A quick fuck on the run
was all he needed and he was set. Having someone
around all the time would drive him nuts, he liked his
privacy way too much. Besides, being responsible for
someone else’s happiness? Yeah… no.

Blondie finally got his cum shot and wiped his mouth.

He gave Old Man Nasty a kiss and sauntered back into
the house butt naked. Mateo smiled. Blondie had a nice
tight ass; he’d love to sink his cock into it...

“

Fuck.” Mateo laughed and zeroed in. The silenced

Remington 300 went off with a muffled popping noise and
Old Man Nasty took a dirt nap. Mateo didn’t stick around,
never did. He high tailed his ass down the mountain
making a run for his extraction point. The adrenaline high
in itself was worth it. He always had a hard on when he
was finished. The best part of his job? Getting to kill low-
life assholes in nice surroundings. Well, except for this
job. Jiblah was, well, blah. Mateo radioed the chopper
and within a half hour the Chinook hovered long enough
for him to jump on. Mateo sat back in the seat and smiled
at Derek.

“

Hello, General.” Mateo put his hand out.

“

Mat.” Derek shook Mateo’s hand. “Any problems?”

“

Is there ever?”

“

Smartass.” Derek looked at the mountains as they

turned. “No weird sixth sense this time?”

“

Nope, the hairs on the back of my neck were just fine.

“My sixth sense saved our asses more than once, Derek.
I see you’ve become a believer.”

“

That I have, Mateo.” Derek sat back in the seat and

closed his eyes. Mateo either had a weird streak of luck
or he sensed danger, because he had saved their asses
on more than one occasion. Mateo would stop, close his
eyes, and then know exactly which way not to go. It was
weird. “Get some rest we have a long way to go.”

Mateo closed his eyes and relaxed into the seat of the

chopper. Falling in and out of sleep, he opened his eyes
to see the Army base in Kuwait come into view. The
chopper landed in a whirl of sand and dust, and Mateo
jumped out. The blast of desert heat hit him like a sucker
punch to the gut. “Jesus.” Mateo mumbled.

“

Welcome to the sand box.” Derek smiled and winked.

“Get your ass back to the states, take a vacation.”

“Get your ass back to the states, take a vacation.”

“

That

was my vacation.” Mateo shook Derek’s hand.

“Take care.” Mateo made his way to the terminal and
checked in for his flight to Germany. From there it was
Dallas and then finally Tucson.

~~*~~

Twenty four hours later the landscape of Tucson came

into view. Mateo had slept through most of his flights and
now sat wide awake as the plane descended into Tucson
International Airport. Once he retrieved his bag from the
baggage claim, he made his way out to the long term
parking and smiled at his black Chevy Impala waiting for
him. “How was the weather girl?” Mateo ran his hand
across the hood of his car. He unlocked his car and sat
in the driver’s seat looking at the Swiss military watch on
his wrist. It was a gift from his friend Naomi for his
thirtieth birthday. That had been two years ago. He
realized it was just after seven in the evening. The sun
was still high and beating down without mercy. Mateo
pulled out of the airport and headed down Valencia road
towards the freeway. He needed a shower, a change of
clothing and a good blow job. The stress of work always

had his adrenaline pumping on high and the only way to
come off that high was getting a blow job or getting
fucked. Mateo smiled, tapping his thumb on the steering
wheel as he took the Wilmot exit. He thought about
calling Naomi and letting her know he was coming, but
where was the fun in that? Mateo knew she’d be happy
to see him, she always was.

Naomi Richland. They had met five years ago at a gay

club. Naomi was bisexual and Mateo was strictly man on
man action. They had struck up a conversation at the bar
and after more than a few drinks Mateo had gone home
with her and passed out on her couch. Naomi used him
mercilessly to pick up men and women from that day
forward. Mateo got his share of men in the process, so it
was a win, win situation. After keeping his sexuality in the
dark throughout his military career, he’d be damned if he
was going do it when he got out. Being in the Non-A-
Team meant he could be himself. One of the few perks
courtesy of his new job. The subject of his job had come
up when Naomi had stumbled across his sniper rifle while
he was in the shower after about a year as friends. Up
until then Mateo had kept up the façade that he was a
private investigator. Mateo gave the condensed version.
He worked for the government doing various jobs for
them. Then Naomi dropped the bombshell. She worked

at the Army base in Sierra Vista. Can you say Intel? After
that, their friendship was

much more relaxed.

Turning onto Tanque Verde Road, Mateo took the side

streets to Naomi’s apartment. He pulled into the
apartment building and made his way up to the second
floor. He heard the TV on and smiled. She didn’t live in
the more upscale apartments in the foothills of Tucson,
but it was nice. Two bedrooms and one and a half bath,
with a balcony that overlooked the heated pool and the
clubhouse. The best thing about Arizona hands down
was the sunsets and the monsoons. Mateo took his keys
out and jingled them, giving her time to get dressed, or
stop fucking. Whichever one she was engaged in at the
moment. He opened the door and stood smiling down at
her. Naomi was on the couch with a pint of ice cream,
she looked up when he walked in and smiled.

“

Uh, oh.” Mateo looked at her. “What happened?”

“

What makes you think something’s happened?”

“

You are sitting on the couch with Ben and Jerry.

Therefore, I am going to assume that your heart was
stepped on yet again.” Mateo sat down next to her and
hugged her close.

“

Why did you have to be gay?” Naomi looked up at

Mateo. His hazel eyes seemed greener tonight, and he
was in need of a haircut too. His jet black hair was
curling slightly at the nape of his neck.

“

Why are you a lesbian?” Mateo smiled and pinched

her cheek. Naomi’s own jet black hair was tied loosely in
a ponytail. Her olive skin a perfect match for eyes as
black as onyx.

“

I’m BI asshole.” Naomi giggled and slapped his leg.

“Need a place to crash?”

“

God yes,” Mateo sat back and sighed. “I need a

shower too, and then I’m going out to relieve some
stress.”

Naomi nodded, sucking down another spoonful of Ben

and Jerry. “I suggest ‘The Boat’ tonight, they have half

priced drinks.”

“

Really?” Mateo sat back, toed off his shoes, and put

his feet up on the coffee table. “Okay, I’ll check it out, but
in the meantime I need a shower. Badly.”

“

Towels are in the bathroom linen closet as always.”

Naomi waved her hand in the direction of the bathroom,
even as she shoveled another spoonful of cold comfort
food into her mouth.

“

You want to come with me to the club? We can tag

team.” Mateo flipped her ponytail.

“

Nah, I’m going to sit here eating my stress away and

watch info-mercials.”

“

Suit yourself.” Mateo stood up and stretched. “If I find

a hot lesbian, I’ll bring her home for you.” Mateo side-
stepped her slap to his ass and ran for the safety of the
bathroom.

~~Chapter two~~

‘

The Boat’ was dark and crowded and smelled like a

brewery. Most bars did, but this one more so than others.
His eyes scanned the room looking for the right guy to
suck his dick tonight. He found him. Young, blonde
haired, blue eyed, and looking like Bambi. Add to that a
sinful body and a nice tight ass, and his dick stopped
looking. Mateo knew he looked good tonight. He wore a
tight fitting shirt, which accentuated his large biceps and
showed off his tribal tattoos that were strategically inked
around each one. Follow up with the tightest jeans he
owned, and his eight inch cock was well displayed for the
crowd tonight. His ass wasn’t too bad either, or so he’d
been told as it was being pounded. A nice, round, juicy
bubble made for sex.

Mateo flashed Bambi a smile that said.

Please come

suck my dick. And Bambi came over in a hurry. Mateo
ran his hand over Bambi’s tight ass while whispering his
intentions in Bambi’s ear. He got a smile and nod, and

ten minutes later he was out back in the alley with Bambi
on his knees sucking his dick and fingering his ass like
he was on a mission from God. Mateo felt his dick
singing out with joy. Mateo had a tight grip on Bambi’s
hair and was pulling him in deeper. Making sure Bambi’s
mouth was pressed to his pubes, Mateo pushed his hips
forward. Fuck if it didn’t feel like heaven. Mateo spread
his legs out further to help balance him and felt Bambi’s
fingers stretching him. He was pushing in up higher, up
to the knuckle. Running it over the swollen gland and
pinching. Bambi was bobbing and humming while
Mateo’s fingers gripped those platinum locks, fucking
Bambi’s mouth with a little more urgency.

Swirling his tongue, and using his fingers to roll

Mateo’s balls, Bambi make short work of bringing him to
the edge. Mateo’s head jerked back, eyes rolling as he
emptied himself into Bambi’s warm and waiting mouth.
He leaned back against the wall trying to catch his
breath. Bambi was slowly making his way back up
Mateo’s stomach. Licking and kissing his sweaty skin
while his hands kneaded Mateo’s ass like a fucking ball
of dough. Bambi’s lips came within inches of Mateo’s and
Mateo pushed him back a step. “Thanks, I needed that.”
Bambi looked upset but Mateo didn’t much care. He
didn’t kiss, and he didn’t hang around. He gave Bambi a

quick slap to his nice curved ass and winked.

~~*~~

Mateo decided, upon returning to Naomi’s, to treat

himself to another long hot shower. When he finally
crawled into bed, he ended up thinking about how things
were unfolding for him. This happened every time he
took a life. Not that he gave a shit who his target was,
they were

all disgusting low life’s that needed to be put

down. Mateo had lost his parents at the age of five, and
was then circulated through the foster system never quite
finding the right family. The ones he was placed with
tried and failed to bring him out of his shell. His longest
stint had been a year, and even then the only person he
had opened up to was their teenage son. At fifteen,
Mateo knew when he was being checked out. He’d
caught Mark with a hard-on on a few separate occasions.
Mark seemed to get them just from looking at Mateo.

They had been watching cartoons one day when

Mateo had put his hand on Mark’s thigh. Mateo was
fifteen and Mark was nineteen. Mark was beautiful, with
warm brown hair and the bluest eyes Mateo had ever

seen. Mateo wanted to kiss him. Their first kiss had been
soft and warm, and when Mark had pulled away Mateo
wanted more. Mark had said no and then explained that
he was older and that someday Mateo would find the one
that was meant for him. After that Mark left for college
and Mateo never saw him again.

Mateo’s only memory of his parents was his mother’s

green eyes, he remembered how they lit up when she
smiled. After the loss of his parents and the
consequential foster care, Mateo was determined never
to fall in love. He swore he would never let anyone close
to him and chance being hurt again. After being shuffled
around for most of his teenage years, Mateo joined the
military as soon as he was of legal age. Showing an
adept skill with a rifle, he was shuffled off to sniper
school and that, as they say, was that.

Mateo could still remember the first man he killed,

Zaman Rigel, leader of the insurgents at that time. They
were in Afghanistan and he and Josh were pulling twenty
four hour guard duty when the base was compromised.
At two in the morning, in the heat of the desert, Mateo
had zeroed in on Zaman. Black hair and black eyes
looked up at the exact moment he pulled the trigger.

Everything is a variable as a sniper; temperature, wind
speed,

everything. But that night Mateo made his shot

the first time out. Even then, their team was considered
the toughest guys. Running into heavily armed buildings,
he and the rest of the guys were shot at and stabbed and
still managed to carry out their missions. Rage was an
effective tool. Mateo sighed looking at the digital red
numbers on the clock. He sighed again, and willed his
body to sleep.

~~*~~
Mateo rolled over to look at the clock. Noon, it was

amazing how much you could sleep when your body
needed rest. The smell of bacon came wafting into the
room. He threw his sweats on and made his way to the
kitchen. Naomi sat at the table with the morning paper
and a cup of coffee. Mateo grabbed a cup of his own and
measured in a spoon full of sugar. Grabbing a plate, he
spooned a generous amount of eggs onto it, added
bacon, and sat down at the table. As he picked up his
fork, his cell phone beeped alerting him to a text
message. Mateo grabbed his phone and flipped it open.
The text from Operations was simply a name.

Riley

Flynn. Mateo furrowed his brows and looked up at
Naomi. “Riley Flynn?”

Naomi nodded and swallowed her bite of food. “He

makes guidance chips for the military.” Naomi opened
her laptop and tapped at the keyboard. “Riley Flynn,
Ooh, he’s cute.” Naomi giggled. “Okay. Flynn, Riley. Age:
twenty four, no siblings. Mother; Margaret Flynn,
deceased. Father, Edgar Flynn. Oh get this. When
Riley’s mother died, she left the company to Riley and
not her husband.”

Mateo took a sip of coffee. “I wonder why?”

“

Couldn’t trust the hubby?” Naomi tapped at the keys

again. “I’ll get everything you need on him. Let me start
with a Google search and see what comes up. You’re
going to Phoenix on this one, Mateo. Riley’s company is
based right there in the heart of downtown.”

Mateo stretched his arms up and cracked his neck from

side to side. “Can you get me a ticket? I’ve got to take a
shower and get packed.”

~~*~~

The flight to Phoenix wasn’t too bad, you were only in

the air for twenty five minutes. He should have driven it.
Mateo always sat in first class in the back where no one
could see what he was doing. Currently, he was studying
the picture of his target. Riley Flynn had the rugged
features of an outdoor athlete. With short chestnut hair,
beautiful blue eyes, full lips, strong chin, and a square
jaw, he was your basic male model type. Mateo sighed.
What the hell did this guy do to be a target? Mateo read
the article of his recent breakup with socialite Mandy
Brown. The girl had the biggest tits he had ever seen
and Mateo wondered how she walked upright. Daddy
was famous, which in turn made her famous. No talent,
no brains. He looked over all the other information Naomi
had pulled up. No red flags, no scandal, no record.
Nothing. Usually there was

something, but this guy was

squeaky clean. At least at first glance he was.

His eyes caught the stewardess checking him out and

he gave her a sly smile, she blushed and looked away.
He chuckled to himself. Mateo knew how he looked at
that moment, dressed in a black Armani suit. He would
have preferred to fly in worn jeans and a T- shirt with
sneakers but he was trying to lie low, and a guy in first
class dressed like that, raised questions. They landed at

Sky Harbor Airport and Mateo got off the plane and went
to rent a car. The minute he opened his mouth, he
swallowed the heat of Arizona. Phoenix was always a few
degrees hotter than Tucson, but right now it felt like a
damn furnace. Turning on his blinker, he pulled out of the
airport parking lot and started into the city. Phoenix had
grown since his last visit. Towns that used to be thirty
minutes away now stretched out and met with the city. As
always, the smog alerts were up. The hotter it got the
worst they became. They were in need of a good rain.
Mateo hit the freeway and relaxed back into his seat,
enjoying the feel of the air conditioning on his face. He
was going a few towns over to Casa Grande to avoid
running into Riley Flynn.

~~

Mateo pulled into the Francisco Grande at just after

eight in the evening. He left his keys in the car for the
valet and grabbed his suitcase. He looked up at the top
of the hotel and wondered why it looked like the giant rim
of a baseball hat. Upon entering the hotel he was told
why. The Francisco Grande was built for major league
baseball players to work and play. The main tower
looked like a sports stadium. Mateo got his room key and

made his way up to the penthouse. He slid the key in the
door and immediately made his way to the floor-to-ceiling
windows. A beautiful view of the golf course spread out
all around. The room was comfortable and exquisite, with
a king size bed and two end tables along one wall. A
beige sofa sat on the other side of the room with a hutch
across from it. Mateo looked at the bed again. He
needed to get laid, or sucked. Mateo looked around, then
came back to the bellhop and handed him a twenty. “Any
good gay bars around here?”

“

Sir?” The bellhop blushed.

“

Gay bars. I’ve got a good gaydar kid. Now tell me,

where’s the nearest one?”

“

Um, that would be Diabolique.”

“

Diabolique, huh?” Mateo digested the information.

“Thanks kid, have a good night.”

~~*~~

By the time Mateo got to Diabolique it was after ten.

The place was packed and the lighting was low, so low
he had to narrow his eyes and wait for them to adjust.
Bare wooden floors were littered with peanut shells and
there were major league baseball team pennants on the
walls. He counted six pool tables across from the bar
along with a dart board on one wall. There were men
spread out all over and the music was late eighties rock
bands. Mateo rolled his eyes and made his way in. He
felt eyes on his ass and made his way over to the bar.

He ordered a beer and sat, legs spread on the bar

stool, taking in his surroundings. He had seen one of
these places before, he called it the I’m- gay- but -I don’t-
want- people- to –know Bar. A Large curtain spread
across the far back wall and Mateo smiled. A curtain
room. If you didn’t want the hassle of a relationship, the
curtain room was for you. If you wanted a quick fuck or
blow, the curtain room was for you. Basically the curtain
room was for Mateo.

“

You should try the back room.”

Mateo turned to see the bartender smiling at him, short

black hair and grey eyes looked at him like he was
naked. Hmm… nice. “Oh yeah, how come?”

“

Guys for one. The rich kind. Those wanting to hide

their sexuality, but still willing to give a guy a good time.”

“

Clean?” Mateo cocked a brow.

“

Oh, hell yes! These guys are blue bloods, and I’m

pretty sure they test themselves once a day. Especially if
they sneeze or touch someone they think is beneath
them.”

Mateo chuckled. “Maybe I’ll check it out then.” He

threw a five dollar bill on the bar and made his way
towards the back. Opening the curtain, he allowed a
fleeting amount of light in and barely caught a glimpse of
his options before the curtain closed. Most of the men
were against the wall. Their polo shirts pulled up so they
could watch their dicks being sucked, and pants around
their ankles, feet encased in expensive loafers. The soft
red glow illuminated profiles and Mateo squinted trying to

get a good look at what was on the table. A hand ran up
his thigh and Mateo moved to get a profile shot. Strong
square jaw and a full bottom lip were the most prominent
features. Mateo waited for the hand to grip him. He
closed his eyes and went by what his body told him. If the
hand didn’t give him a hard on at first touch, it was off.
Mateo sucked in a tight breath. The hand hadn’t even
made it to his cock yet, and he was rock hard. A whisper
of breath caressed his lips and his hand ventured to
Mystery Man’s cock. A nice sized prick leaned to the left
and pulsed in his hand.

Mateo felt his dick get harder. He didn’t think that was

possible. For a split second Mateo thought about pushing
the Mystery Man away from his lips, but his breath was
fanning Mateo’s face and fuck but his cock was hard. No
words were spoken as Mateo rested his hand on the
nape of the other man’s neck. A gentle pull and Mystery
Man’s lips met with Mateo’s. His tongue slid in, tasting at
first. Groaning, he licked deeply. He didn’t normally kiss
anyone, too personal. Mystery Man had a sinful mouth.
His tongue was exploring Mateo’s, sucking on it, rubbing
it, nibbling on it. The guy’s hands were all over him,
grabbing his ass and rubbing the rock hard bulge in the
front of his jeans. Mystery Man made his way down,
unbuttoning Mateo’s jeans and pulled his dick out. Mateo

closed his eyes and gripped Mystery Man’s hair.

There was a loud moan and Mateo realized it had

come from him. Mystery Man’s mouth seemed to be
everywhere at once taking him in and deep-throating him
like he was four inches instead of eight. Then he began
sucking, licking and biting the head of his dick. Mystery
man teased and teased some more until Mateo couldn’t
take it anymore. God, he was going to cum in less than a
minute! His balls drew taut and he swore. His spine
snapped up straight, and it took everything he had not to
cum screaming, as he emptied his entire load into
Mystery man’s mouth. Oh man, he took it like a damn
trooper. Mateo was acutely aware he was breathing hard
and then he felt a tongue sliding across his lips. As his
mouth opened, their tongues met. Fuck, but Mateo could
taste himself in the guy’s mouth. His pants were coming
back up and then he felt a soft caress of lips across his
followed by a smack on his ass.

And with that, Mystery Man was gone. Mateo sat there

for a few more minutes trying to get his faculties back.
That, by far, had been the best blow job of his life. His
damn legs were numb. He’d never felt like this after a
blow job, he couldn’t even form a single word in his head.

He was still in a daze by the time he got back to the
hotel. Mateo called Naomi and told her about the Mystery
Man from the club. “I’m tellin’ ya, this is a guy I’d love to
see again.”

“

Mateo Esposito wants a return engagement with a

man? Hang on while I pick my jaw up off the floor.”

“

Fuck off.” Mateo laughed. “He’s a good kisser too.”

“

You kissed him? Holy shit Mateo, what has Phoenix

done to you?” Naomi cracked up.

“

Anyway….I’m heading to bed. I have to go play I spy

tomorrow, bright and early.”

“

Alright lover boy, take care of yourself.”

“

Night.” He found himself still awake a half hour later

thinking about the guy. The way Mystery Man tasted,
how he kissed, his lips on Mateo’s mouth. “Fuck. Now I’m
never going to sleep.”

~~Chapter Three~~

The alarm went off at five am and Mateo groaned. He

dragged himself out of bed and stood in the shower not
moving. He needed coffee, and badly. Mateo turned the
shower to cold and stood under the spray until he was
wide awake. His hand was stroking his cock and he
hadn’t even realized he was doing it. His mind took him
back to the night before, and he remembered what it was
like to have the mystery man sucking his cock. He
pumped his hand faster feeling his orgasm rising in him.
Mateo’s body went rigid and he let out a groan as his
orgasm hit the shower wall.

Mateo looked through all the information Naomi texted

him. His first stop would be Riley’s job. After cleaning
himself up and getting dressed, he spent the day tailing
Riley Flynn. Riley got to work at promptly nine in the
morning. Lunch rolled around and Mateo followed him to
the Phoenix Country Club, where Riley met with his
father. Riley looked almost uncomfortable in his

surroundings, not your normal rich guy attitude. Mateo
sat two tables away, with the morning paper covering his
face, and listened in. Riley’s father was talking to him
about doing business with foreign countries. Riley made
it known that it was not an option. His products were
made by Americans and sold to Americans. That brought
a huff from his father and a quick argument. Riley had
won as far as Mateo was concerned. Riley stood and
excused himself from the table. Mateo figured out pretty
quick that Riley ran the show at Flynn Electronics. Riley
owned the whole damn thing and Daddy was working
there just to keep him busy.

Mateo followed Riley back to work and sat across the

street on top of a building watching him in his office.
Riley’s secretary came in and sat on the edge of the desk
hiking her skirt up. He couldn’t see what Riley was
saying but his secretary didn’t look pleased as she left,
mental note number one…bugs in the office. More
meetings, more work and then Riley headed home.
Mateo followed fours cars back in his rental car. Riley
was actually bouncing around in his car to whatever
music was on the radio. Riley had gone to ASU and
majored in Business, the guy had one hell of an IQ.
Mateo had been impressed with everything he found on
Riley, but there had to be more somewhere. Something

had to be wrong in order for Mateo to be called in.

Riley pulled into a nice stucco home up in the

mountains. Mateo parked down the street and waited for
it to be dark, which in Arizona took one hell of a long
time. By ten he was sitting in a tree, watching Riley Flynn
in the pool...naked. He almost wanted to jack off
watching him. The guy was built and hung. Although he
couldn’t see everything in the dark, he’d seen enough to
know Riley had a spectacular ass. Mateo watched as
Riley got out of the pool and dried himself off. He sat in a
lounge chair naked, with his legs spread wide. Within
minutes Riley’s hand started moving. Riley was stroking
his cock slowly while cradling his balls with his other
hand. Mateo felt his own cock filling tight in his jeans as
he watched. He couldn’t stop himself.

Mateo could hear the soft sighs and low grunts as

Riley pulled and played with his cock, squeezing. It took
a few minutes, but Riley came with a loud moan, his hips
jerking as he shot all over his stomach. Mateo had no
idea how long he had been watching him, but the next
thing he knew Riley was going inside. The bedroom light
flicked off and Mateo sat there waiting patiently. An hour
later Riley was asleep and Mateo crawled down from his

hiding spot shaking his head. It didn’t make sense.
Nothing this guy did screamed sick disgusting bad guy.
He’d know more tomorrow when he bugged Riley’s
house and office.

~~*~~

The next week had Mateo bugging every damn room in

Riley’s house and office. The perks of being the Non-A-
Team, included being whoever he wanted at the drop of
a hat. After countless hours of classes on installing
telephone lines and even cleaning septic tanks, all the
men on the team could do just about anything. He was
now the air-conditioning man for Riley’s office building.
And as luck would have it, Riley was installing satellite in
his house. Mateo followed him everywhere, and Riley
never seemed to stray from his routine. Until the one
night he did.

Mateo followed Riley to the same bar he, Mateo, had

gone to his first night in town. He followed Riley the two
towns over to Casa Grande and sat in his car in shock as
the guy went in. So, Riley Flynn was keeping a secret…
he was a closet homosexual. The thought of seeing

Mystery Man again had Mateo making his way into the
same bar right behind him. Mateo watched Riley go in
the back room and followed a few minutes later. Fuck,
but he couldn’t see shit. If he was going to try to find
Riley in this mess, he had his work cut out for him. Mateo
looked around trying to get his eyes to adjust and he
swore he saw Riley against the wall, just lounging and
watching. He hadn’t even been standing there a minute
when a hand slid down the front of his jeans. Mateo’s
body reacted right away. This was his Mystery Man.

The warm breath was on his face and then a teasing

tongue was sliding across his lip. He bit Mystery Man’s
bottom lip, sliding his tongue in his mouth. Mystery Man’s
hand tightened around Mateo’s engorged cock through
denim and then the zipper was swiftly pulled down.
Mateo’s jeans were yanked down to the middle of his
ass. Fingers delved into the cleft of his ass, making their
way lower to tease at his balls and perineum. Mateo
spread his legs out wider and felt fingers slide lower,
playing with his hole. They teased the ring of muscles,
sliding a fingertip in then pulling it back out. Mateo’s head
hit the wall behind him hard as Mystery Man’s finger
pushed past the ring of muscle. At the same time, his
tongue swirled around the head of Mateo’s cock.

Mateo fisted Mystery Man’s hair as he buried his cock

in the man’s mouth. Fuck, but it felt so damn good he
forgot what he was there for. His dick hit the back of
Mystery Man’s throat and he moaned bucking his hips as
he was swallowed whole again. Mateo’s body went rigid.
He gripped the man’s hair tighter as a groan left his lips
and his orgasm shot down Mystery Man’s throat, hot and
wet. Mateo’s breaths were ragged as he felt a tongue
licking around the crown and sliding into his slit before a
chaste kiss was pressed on the head of his dick. Up
came his pants and then he felt those lips on his. This
time Mateo held on when the smack to his ass came. His
hand went around to the nape of the man’s neck and he
kissed him slowly, taking the time to savor the taste of
not only himself but the man’s delicious mouth. Soft
hands ran up Mateo’s back pulling him in closer, and a
soft moan escaped his mouth as he let himself be molded
to Mystery Man’s body. Grabbing an ass cheek, he broke
the kiss, hearing Mystery man’s quickened breaths. This
time, Mateo smacked

his ass and walked out.

Mateo made his way back to the bar smiling, and

resumed his seat at the bar giving the bartender a wink.
A few minutes later, Mateo watched Riley walk out of the
back room looking freshly played with. He followed him

home and sat outside his house. The guy wasn’t doing
anything illegal. The phone taps had told him that much.
He wasn’t in back alleys making deals and nothing from
his phone conversations led him to believe he was doing
anything underhanded. Mateo had transferred files from
Riley’s computer when he was installing the bugs and
found nothing there either. Riley’s father, however, was
skimming money from his own sons company. It didn’t
matter, he had a job to do, and tomorrow was the day.
He was going to kill Riley Flynn.

~~*~~

Riley set his keys down on the side table by the front

door and shouted a whoop as his hand pumped the air.
He had given the same guy head now, twice! “Holy shit!”
Riley tried to calm his breathing. Four months he’d been
going to Diabolique. Four months of staying against the
wall and watching as other men gave blow jobs and
fucked each other in the low lighted room. Riley felt like a
kid in school, taking notes. Noting how men sucked cock
and it paid off. Riley had given the guy head twice and
gotten him to cum both times. Riley ran his tongue over
his teeth and gums, savoring the flavor. He’d been too
scared to try it before, but after watching and waiting,

he’d found the right guy. God, the man smelled fucking
fantastic. The cologne he wore had Riley’s dick hard in
mere seconds. And the way he kissed. Soft and gentle,
tongue rubbing slowly and caressing, was enough to
make Riley want to come just thinking about it.

Riley almost swooned, and fell back on his couch

smiling. He already wanted to see the man again. Maybe
he would try sex the next time. He’d never done it before
with a man. Women were no problem, but guys? Riley
wasn’t sure he was ready for that. He knew he was gay.
It was just a matter of getting up the courage. Always too
afraid of getting caught, he’d kept his sexual preference
to himself. He especially kept it from his Father. Riley
sighed and made his way to the shower. He threw his
clothes off and turned the water on, waiting for it to warm
up. Just thinking about the man in the curtain room and
Riley’s cock was rising again. He stepped in under the
hot spray and wet his hair while fisting his dick. It didn’t
take long, a few quick pulls and Riley spurted on his
shower tiles. After drying off and crawling into bed, Riley
made plans to go back to Diabolique over the weekend.
He wanted that man again.

~~*~~

Monday morning Riley sat at his desk at Flynn

Electronics. He had come in early today to try and find
the fifty thousand missing guidance chips that had
somehow disappeared the day before. Either someone
was doing their paperwork wrong, or they were in serious
trouble. The chips were supposed to go to the military for
their missiles, but now they were missing. Riley stood up
and stretched. He caught the eye of his secretary who
was bent over fixing her five inch heel strap. Riley rolled
his eyes and sat back down. Like what she was up to
wasn’t obvious. His mind drifted back to the guy in the
curtain room, and felt his dick twitching in his pants. Riley
was daydreaming about meeting the Mystery Man in the
curtain room again. When the cologne had drifted into his
senses, Riley had known he was there. He hadn’t
stopped thinking about him for a week, the taste of him.
Standing not five feet from him in the room, Riley took his
chances and jumped on the opportunity to have that
man’s dick in his mouth. He had hid his sexuality fairly
well. Riley dated high profile women for appearances, but
on the side, it was a different story.

He had known he was gay at the age of nine when he

preferred Ken over Barbie. His Dad had thrown all the

Barbie’s out and gave him a GI Joe doll (action figure as
his Dad had put it) that was fun too. His father had been
relentless about gays. They were all going to hell, the
sick perverts. Riley had seen enough kids come out, only
to be picked on and ridiculed. He stayed quiet and to
himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t want friends, he just didn’t
trust anyone. Especially with the secret he was keeping.
Being gay was hazardous to your health. He’d seen it a
million times in boarding school, and then again in
college. Although it was more acceptable these days,
Riley wasn’t going to fling himself out of his closet
anytime soon.

Riley still felt a tingle in his lips from the kiss of the

Mystery Man. The man had a gorgeous dick, at least
eight inches long and thick. Riley could suck it all night
and never get bored. He looked at the time and made his
way over to the coffee pot. Hell, he might have to make
another trip out to Casa Grande to see if he could taste
that luscious cock again. Riley turned around to the far
window and made his way over, looking out of it. His
office was basically four walls of glass; he liked the view
of the city. Thousands of people living their lives the way
they wanted to. Or so he hoped. He realized he was still
holding the carafe in his hand and walked back to the
coffee maker.

His mind was elsewhere today. He was never going to

get anything done with the Mystery Man invading his
thoughts. Not to mention the damn missing chips. Riley
sat down at his desk and rubbed his hands over his face.
He missed his mother. When she died, the buffer that
stood between he and his father went with her. Margaret
Flynn had had beautiful chestnut brown hair, ocean blue
eyes, and a smile that could light up a room. Riley had
been with her on a shopping trip when they were hit by a
drunk driver. He was in the passenger seat when the car
flipped multiple times. His mother had been ejected on
the third roll. Riley barely remembered crawling out of the
wrecked vehicle or finding his mother bleeding. He held
her hand before she died, and she told him she loved him
no matter what.

Fourteen years she’d been gone, and it seemed like it

was just yesterday. His childhood ended that day. Riley
had been groomed to take over a company he couldn’t
touch until he was eighteen. His Father ran the company
until Riley was old enough to take over, and when he did
take the reins, it caused a huge fight between Riley and
his Father. The company was going in new directions
because of the plans

he made, not his father.

His life had revolved around school. There were no

birthday parties, no trips to the zoo or the fair and no
sleep-over parties with friends. It was school and more
school. Riley looked at the time, then back at his coffee
cup. “Oh who am I kidding? I hate this coffee.”

~~*~~

Mateo sat across the street on a high rise and cursed

himself. Something about this job wasn’t sitting right with
him, and he couldn’t do it no matter how hard he tried. He
worked for the good guys and always did his homework
on his targets, so why was he questioning this one? For
once he couldn’t find a damn thing wrong with the target,
that’s why. Mateo looked at his rifle in the briefcase, and
shut it. Getting his cell phone out, he dialed Derek.

The phone rang four times before Derek’s voice came

over the line.

“

Hey Mat, how’s your vacation?”

Mateo froze. “I>MatRm working.”

A puff of air whizzed by Mateo’s ear, leaving a trail of

heat behind it. Mateo rolled to the side trying to find
cover. “Fuck! I’m being shot at!”

More bullets reigned down just mere inches from his

position, and Mateo closed his eyes listening to the
sound and where it was coming from.

“

Jesus Christ Mateo, get the fuck out of there and grab

the package!”

He lunged for his briefcase and opened the roof door

propelling his body into the stairwell. “Mother fucker!”
Mateo ran down the steps three at a time. “I’m going
now, I’ll call when I have the package and we’re safe.”
Mateo hung up and flew out of the building. Across the
way, exiting for his morning coffee was an oblivious Riley
Flynn. Mateo ran across the street and right into Riley,
knocking his briefcase out of his hands. There was a
loud “umph” from Riley and then the plaster behind them
cracked open.

“

Shit!” Mateo pushed him down on the ground. The

plaster on the building behind him cracked again, and he
knew the shot had just barely missed Riley. People were
screaming as more shots went off, and the street broke
out in pandemonium. Mateo pulled Riley up and pushed
his head down. He grabbed Riley by the arm and yanked
him into the Starbucks coffee shop next door. They ran
by the startled manager, into the back room and out the
back door. “Come on!” Mateo shouted while running
across the street to a parking garage. Mateo took them
down to the lower level. They passed car after car as
Mateo looked for an unlocked older model. It would be
easier to break into and faster to hotwire. He finally found
an older Mustang way in the back, and shoved Riley in
closing the door. The guy hadn’t said a word for a few
minutes now, and Mateo finally looked at him. “What are
you into?”

Riley blinked. “What?”

“

Why would someone put a hit out on you?” Mateo

pulled the wiring out, and preceded to hotwire the car.

“

I’m not into anything. Look, if it’s money you want, you

can have it. You don’t have to kidnap me to get it.”

Mateo sat back looking at him, asking again. “What are

you into Riley?”

Riley looked at him in shock. “How do you know my

name?” Then it clicked and his face went pale. “Wait, a
hit on me?”

Mateo put the wires together starting the car.

“Someone wants you dead Riley, for reasons I need to
know right now.”

“

How…how do you know?”

Mateo looked over at him. “They hired me to take you

out.”

~~Chapter Four~~

To say the conversation went smoothly after that

admission, would be an outright lie. Riley had tried to
jump out of a moving car and Mateo had knocked him out
with one punch. He called Naomi and told her he was
coming home and would be bringing Haagen-Dazs with
him. She knew right then to get the fuck out of the
apartment and to a safe place. In his rush to get Riley out
of the line of fire, he had left his briefcase in front of
Starbucks. He knew they wouldn’t be able to open it, but
it had Naomi’s address on it. Thank God it hadn’t been
his favorite rifle…

An hour and a half later they were pulling through

Marana. Mateo went to his storage locker to get his other
car and his weapons. It came in handy over the years.
Having extra clothes, clips, phones, everything he would
need when the shit hit the fan. Riley was slowly coming
around, and Mateo crouched by the open door looking at
him, he had beautiful lips.

“

Well, hello.” Mateo smiled.

“

Jesus!” Riley backed further into the car trying to

scramble out the other side.

Mateo slid across the hood and landed on the other

side of the car blocking his way. “If I wanted you dead, I
wouldn’t have saved your life, and I would have taken the
shot.”

“

You…you tried to kill me?” Riley’s eyes widened.

Mateo looked at him, he looked scared shitless. “Look,

I’m not going to kill you. I proved that in front of Starbucks
when I saved your ass. Now, please tell me why
someone would want you dead.”

Riley sat down on the hood of the car and sighed. “I

honestly have no idea. I mean, I make guidance chips for
the military and some of them came up missing, but I
don’t think the Military would try to take me out for that.”

Mateo sighed. “And that’s it? “

Riley made a face. “Yes that’s it! I’ve never even gotten

a parking or speeding ticket.” Riley gingerly touched his
eye. “You hit me.”

“

Well, the alternative would have hurt worse. I don’t

understand this.” Mateo shook his head. “This is one big
clusterfuck of confusion.”

“

Where’s my phone?” Riley tapped his suit pockets.

“

It’s somewhere on I-10. You can’t use it anyway they

can track you with it.”

“

So what now?” Riley looked at the man that had been

hired to kill him.

Mateo began stripping out of his clothes. He started

with his tie, moving onto his jacket and shirt. Pulling a T-

shirt out of his bag, he looked at Riley. “What size are
you?”

“

Huh?”

“

Clothes. You really want to be on the run in a twenty

thousand dollar suit?” Mateo sighed and grabbed a pair
of jeans out of his bag and handed them to Riley. “Here,
put these on.”

Riley sat back and looked at him. “I don’t even know

your name.”

Mateo stopped and looked up. “It’s Mateo.”

“

Where are we going?” Riley watched Mateo yank his

pants off, and swallowed hard. The guy was built. He
had huge biceps with tribal tattoos on them, and the rest
of his body was just breath taking. Mateo was so
beautiful. Riley almost laughed out loud, and he would
have, if the situation weren’t so damned fucked up. Here
he was, checking out the guy that was hired to kill him.

“

Benson. I have a friend who owns a house out there. It

doubles as a safe house for us when we need it.” After
Mateo had parked the stolen car in the storage locker, he
grabbed everything he needed and pulled out in his own
car. Riley was quiet as they drove through Tucson.
Mateo could smell the rain coming and looked out over
the mountains. “She’s going to open up tonight.”

Riley looked at the sky and saw the first crack of

lightning off in the distance. “Yep.”

“

Look I know this is weird for you—”

“

Weird?” Riley gave him an incredulous look. “How

would you feel if you found out you were marked for
death?”

“

This isn’t a Steven Segal movie Riley, this is real life.”

Riley made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a

snort. “Oh, I forgot. You’re the one doing the killing.”

“

You’re still breathing.” Mateo said, arching a brow.

“

Whatever.” Riley muttered. They rode in silence the

rest of the way. An hour and a half later Mateo pulled off
the exit for Benson and Riley looked around; there were
maybe five traffic lights. It looked like a place to stop and
refuel, not live. They made their way up a hill and past a
row of schools, then up a steep driveway. Mateo turned
off the ignition and shifted in the seat to look at him.
“Okay, now what?”

“

Look I know this is overwhelming but you have to trust

me ok?”

“

Well, seeing as how you could have killed me and

didn’t. And then you saved my life, I guess I really don’t
have a choice do I?”

“

Nope.” Mateo got out of the car.

“

Shit.” Riley sighed and got out. He helped Mateo with

the bags and they walked to the door of the house.

Mateo moved tree branches aside and opened a panel in
the wall of the house. Riley could see a key pad and
averted his eyes as Mateo punched in the numbers.
Riley heard what sounded like bolts unlocking and then
the front door clicked. Stepping into the house, Mateo
flipped the light on and Riley took a look at his
surroundings. The house was a fixer upper for sure. Old
brown tiles with cracks line the floors. The kind you found
in houses built in the seventies. The walls were painted
white with minimal pictures on the walls, and done in
mostly Arizona desert scenes. There was one couch and
a flat screen TV in the main room, and Riley could see a
futon in the adjoining room with another flat screen that
took up most of the wall.

“

Take a look out back.” Mateo motioned to the back

door. When he had first come to Derek’s house, he had
almost the same look on his face. When they had gone
outside to the backyard though, Mateo figured out why
Derek had bought the place. It was close to the Army
base with a knockout view of the valley. Over the years
they had taken the house apart and rebuilt it, adding
steel and concrete to the walls. Mateo dropped the bags
on the couch and grabbed his backup phone. His old one
was with Riley’s somewhere on the highway. Mateo
made his way out back to find Riley. He found him

standing by the pool, mesmerized by the view.

“

Beautiful, isn’t it?” Mateo smiled.

Riley turned around and looked at him. “I didn’t think

you would, or could for that matter, appreciate something
like this.”

“

Why, because I kill people?” Mateo made his way over

to where Riley stood.

“

You take lives, you are a murderer.”

“

You know, the last guy I took off this planet was a guy

that just loved fucking young boys. A pedophile, and a
rich one. You think he would serve one day in jail if he
got busted?” Mateo smirked at the look on Riley’s face.
“Of course not, his high priced lawyers would have
gotten him off, probably in more ways than one. The
world isn’t black and white Riley, bad shit happens to
good people. You should know that better than anyone
right now.”

“

Fine, I get it, ok?” Riley snapped.

Mateo grabbed his arm and looked at him. “No, you

don’t, I’ve seen some fucked up shit, Riley. Some people
do not deserve to breathe air, like rapists, murderers, and
pedophiles. Sick people, who get off doing what they do
at the expense of others. The way I see it, I’ve saved
more lives by taking them out. So, you can pass
judgment on me if you’d like, but we both know I won’t
have to answer to you.” Mateo brushed past Riley and
went back into the house.

“

Well shit.” Riley stayed outside for another half hour

before going back inside. He found Mateo at the stove
cooking, and it smelled really good. He felt like shit. No
matter what, the guy had saved his life. Jesus, the man
had an ass. Riley wanted to run his tongue down those
ass cheeks and bury himself in them. Again, here was
checking out the guy that had tried to kill him today. God,
but he couldn’t stop. The jeans Mateo wore accentuated
his ass and carved out a beautiful portrait of his thighs
and cock. What was the expression? His jeans were so
tight you could tell his religion? Mateo was definitely
Catholic.

“

Um, is there something I can do?”

“

Not right now.” Mateo looked over his shoulder at

Riley. “I need to show you the house though. There is an
alarm system on it, and the windows are all bullet proof.
The walls are lined with steel too, so we are perfectly
safe here. You need to memorize the code.” Mateo sat
down at the dining room table and ran his fingers through
his hair. “No one knows about this place but me and my
boss.”

Over the next few hours, Mateo showed Riley the

house. He made Riley repeat the door code to him over
and over, again and again, backwards and forwards.
Once Mateo hit the keypad again, the locking mechanism
engaged and a loud sound vibrated through the house.

“

What is that sound?” Riley looked up at the ceiling and

walls.

“

That would be the locks on all the doors and windows.

I told you Riley, you are quite safe here.” Mateo went
back to the kitchen and sat down again. Derek’s kitchen

itself was small, but it had a much larger dining room that
sat just off to the side. Mateo watched the pots on the
stove.

“

You’re tired huh?” Riley sat down across from him. “I

think I might be in shock or something.”

“

You are.” Mateo looked at the time. “We need to eat,

get cleaned up and go to bed. I’ll show you where you’re
sleeping and where everything is.”

Riley nodded and tried to keep his eyes focused. The

adrenaline high was wearing off and his body started
shaking. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“

Down the hall second door on the right.” Mateo

watched Riley running down the hall. He heard Riley’s
retching and got up to grab a glass out of the cabinet. He
filled it with cold water and went to the bathroom. Riley
was crouched in front of the toilet, knuckles white,
holding onto the bowl. “Here ya go.” Mateo handed the
glass of water to Riley.

Riley looked at the glass being offered. “I bet you think

I’m just this stupid, scared idiot, huh?”

“

I think you have been thrust into a situation you know

nothing about. I’m not a babysitter. They have guys that
do this job, but for right now you’re stuck with me.” Mateo
sighed and stood up. “The best thing for you right now is
sleep.” Mateo showed Riley to his room and left to get
him a plate of food, in case he got hungry. Making his
way back down the hallway with the plate, Mateo could
hear Riley in the room mumbling. He stood in the partially
open door watching Riley change. Mateo licked his lips
as his eyes traveled slowly up Riley’s lean physique.
“Here’s some food.”

“

Oh shit!” Riley jumped at the voice and turned to see

Mateo in the door. “Um… thanks. Goodnight, Mateo.”

“

We can tour the rest of the house in the morning. Just

know that you are safe here and I’m right down the hall.
I’m a light sleeper.” Mateo pulled the Desert Eagle .44
from the waistband of his pants. “And I’m armed at all
times.”

“

Okay.” Mateo left and Riley took in his surroundings.

Certificates of training lined the wall, along with pictures
of Mateo and a group of men. Riley made his way closer
and looked at the picture of the guys. Two Native
Americans and a blonde were smiling back at him.
Another man with quite a bit of rank was flipping the
camera man off. Riley smiled at Mateo in the picture. He
was by far the better looking of the bunch, at least in his
opinion. Too tired to take a shower, Riley climbed into
bed and pulled the comforter up to his chin. The food
smelled amazing but his stomach was still protesting. He
closed his eyes and wondered what would happen to
him. He was on the run with an assassin, the one sent to
kill him. The events of the day played back in his mind
and Riley tried to figure out why he had been chosen for
death. Riley finally succumbed to the pull of sleep.

~~Chapter Five~~

Derek Jacobs sat at his desk going through promotion

paperwork. He hated the paperwork part of his job. He
loved being in the thick of shit, but the higher you were in
rank, the less time you spent boots on the ground. When
Mateo and the rest of his company had decided not to re-
enlist he understood. Too many rules to play by, too
many men killed. When James Pruitt from Homeland
Security called Derek with the idea of a new team, Derek
had jumped on it and recommended his men. For the last
ten years his job consisted of running the team, sending
them out on their missions, and getting them back safe.
Now though, they had a leak, and the bureaus had been
all over it. He sighed, picked up one of his darts, threw it
at his door, and barely missed the private walking
through it.

“

Um…Sir?”

“

What?” Derek looked up.

“

There’s a guy on the phone. Says you owe him fifty

bucks because the stripper in Thailand was a man and
you—”

“

What line?” Derek narrowed his eyes.

“

Two, Sir.”

“

Get the fuck out of my office Private.”

“

Yes Sir.”

Derek picked up the phone. “You fucking asshole.”

“

Hey, Derek.”

“

Jesus Christ, Mat, you have no idea what you just

did.”

“

Yes I do, I was right with you. The rumors will spread

that the General fucked a man. So anyway, you got any
info for me on this fucked up shit?”

“

We’ve got a leak in the department. Someone

accessed the phone records of all our operatives and
guess whose number is at the very top?”

“

Mine.” Mateo sighed and closed his eyes. “Jesus.”

“

Look you didn’t shoot the guy. Riley Flynn is important

Mat. We’ve put this guy through every security measure
there is. He’s trustworthy and that’s why we keep him
and pay him well to supply us. You are going to have to
keep him alive until we can get a team together to take
over. We have our guys looking into it and as soon as I
know something I will contact you. In the meantime I’m
going to need all the information you can give me. Which
building you were on, which building you think the
shooter was on etc. We’re going to access all the
cameras we can to see if we can get this guy’s face.”

“

Was anyone else hurt at the scene?”

“

No, we have the local police helping us as well. They

pulled the bullet from the building so they’ll be looking at
ballistics.” Derek sighed running a hand through his hair.
“You safe?”

“

As safe as I’m going to be eating Jack in the Box.”

Mateo smiled into the phone.

Derek smiled. Mateo was at his house in Arizona. “The

KFC is better.”

“

They have crack straws.”

“

That’s McDonalds. I’ll call you when I get some more

info.” Derek looked at the number for the Office of
Homeland Security. His fingers stopped at ‘P’. “Look Mat,
I know you’re not good at the whole safe house thing…”

“

I’ll manage.” Mateo sighed loudly. Mateo went over all

the information Derek needed. The high rise he was on
as well as the one he thought the shooter was on. The
trajectory of the bullets on the building Mateo was on put

the shooter to the west of his position. “So that’s all I can
think of for now.”

“

Alright, take care of yourself.”

“

You too, I expect payment soon.”

“

Fuck you, Mat.” Derek cracked up.

“

Love you too.” Mateo hung up and leaned against the

wall of his room looking at Riley. Derek’s house had five
bedrooms and when Mateo needed a place to crash
other than Naomi’s, this was where he came. He and
Derek had been close when they were enlisted together,
and that bond had carried over. When you were with a
group of guys day in and day out for over ten years you
got close. Mateo cleared his throat and Riley opened one
eye. “Are you hungry?”

“

What time is it?” Riley rolled over on his back and

stared at the ceiling. “I was hoping this was all a
nightmare.”

“

Sorry, it’s reality, and it’s almost noon.”

Riley sat up on the edge of the bed and looked at

Mateo in sweat pants and shirtless. Sinewy muscles
rippled with every tiny movement. “I am hungry.” Riley
looked at the plate of food next to the bed from the night
before and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about not eating it, I
bet it was good.”

“

Well you can find out, come on.” Mateo turned and

made his way back to the kitchen. He pulled out a plate
and a glass and went about filling the plate with the
dinner from the night before. “You want a soda?” Mateo
called over his shoulder.

“

Sure.” Riley came into the kitchen and sat down at the

pine table. “Can I ask you something?”

“

I kill people for one reason Riley. If I don’t they will

keep doing what they are doing. We killed a pedophile a
year ago. Guess what they found buried under his
house?” Mateo put the plate in front of Riley and handed
him a fork. Mateo saw Riley shiver. “Yeah, five kids all

under the age of ten. That’s why I do what I do.”

Riley looked at his plate and suddenly wasn’t so

hungry. “That’s sick.” He whispered.

“

They could never get enough on the guy for it to

stick.” Mateo sat down and sipped his soda looking at
Riley. “I volunteered for that one. Human traffickers,
rapist’s, murderer’s, kiddie porn, pedophiles and the
occasional high ranking officials that can’t stop killing
their own people. It’s my job, Riley, and I do it without
even blinking.” Mateo sat back in the chair and eyed
Riley. “What’s your story?”

“

I thought you knew it all?”

“

I watched you.” Mateo smirked when Riley shivered

again. “I know most of it.”

“

After my Mother died, my Dad didn’t know what to do

with me. I went to boarding school for a while in England.
When I came back, I was put in all the advanced classes.
I swear there were some days I wished I’d died along with

my Mother.” Riley took a bite of the Lasagna and looked
at Mateo. “This is really good.”

“

Thanks, I learned to cook in the military.”

“

What about your family?” Riley saw Mateo’s eyes

darken and shut his mouth. “Never mind, it’s none of my
business.”

“

I have some phone calls to make.” Mateo stood and

looked down at Riley. “If you need anything I’ll be in the
garage.”

“

Okay.” Riley said. He watched Mateo leave. Sitting in

his chair pushing his food around with his fork, he
thought. Riley wanted to know more about this man that
saved his life. After cleaning the kitchen, Riley walked
around the house trying to get a feel for the man that
owned it. Pictures of Mateo and his guys were scattered
on the walls and Riley could see they were all close. He
looked through the books on the shelf in the family room.
He picked out a mystery novel and sat on the couch
curling his legs under him. After reading half of the book,

Riley knew the ending.

He looked up at the clock and saw it was almost five. It

would be dinnertime soon. Riley put the book back on the
shelf and noticed Mateo’s wallet, keys and badge on the
side table. The badge had a skull with a blade through
the top of the head just like the tattoo on Mateo’s chest. It
looked like a police badge in shape, but the writing was
in Latin. Riley had taken Latin in college. “Mors Cum
Terrore Novo Venit.” Riley tilted the badge. “Death Has
Come with a New Terror.”

“

Find something?”

Mateo’s voice actually made him jump, and Riley

turned badge over. He felt like a child, caught with his
hand in the cookie jar. “Oh sorry, I was just looking
around. Is this real?” Riley held up the badge.

Mateo crossed the room and took the badge. “Yes, it’s

real. Ever heard of The A-Team?”

“

The what?”

Mateo sighed. “Oh Lord, come with me.”

Mateo set up the DVD player and made popcorn. He

settled onto the couch and patted the spot next to him.
“Come here.” Mateo concentrated on the TV as Riley sat
down next to him. Not too close, but not at the end either.
Mateo pressed ‘play’ and sat back, offering Riley the
popcorn bag.

“

Thanks.” Riley took a handful and popped it into his

mouth.

“

Welcome.” Mateo watched Riley out of his peripheral

vision throughout the entire movie. “God, Bradley Cooper
gives me a hard on.” Mateo pinched his cock and looked
over at Riley. Mateo almost laughed out loud. Riley’s
mouth was hanging open in surprise.

“

You’re….you’re gay?” Riley whispered.

“

Yes, now be quiet this is a good part.” Mateo turned

his attentions back to the movie and tried not to laugh as
Riley moved a tad closer to him. Mateo could tell Riley
was really into it. When it was over, Mateo got up and
took the movie out. “So that’s kind of what I do. Except I
have the military backing me up instead of blowing me
up, along with a shit load of other agencies. ”

“

I didn’t think.” Riley looked around the room trying

everything not to meet Mateo’s eyes. “I mean, you just
didn’t seem like…” Riley blew out a sigh in frustration.
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

Mateo arched a brow. “What?”

“

You’re gay.”

“

I thought I already answered that question.” Mateo

leaned against the wall watching Riley’s face turn beet
red. “You have a problem with gays?”

“

No!” Riley slapped his hand over his mouth.

“

Wow, that’s quite the reaction.”

“

Look, my Dad hates gays. He tried to drill it into my

head that being gay was a sin.” Riley looked at Mateo. “I
don’t agree.”

“

Well, I guess that’s a good thing.” Mateo eyed Riley’s

crotch. “So, we should eat huh?” Mateo walked into the
kitchen.

“

I can help cook too if you’d like.” Riley looked in the

fridge. “There’s still lasagna?”

“

I’m used to cooking for a lot of people, it’s a habit.”

Mateo shrugged and grabbed a plate. Spooning the
lasagna on it, he put it in the microwave and set it for two
minutes. Riley was shifting from foot to foot like he had to
pee. “You okay?”

“

Yes.” Riley looked at Mateo’s physique, the way he

carried himself, the tattoos on his biceps and chest. “Just
surprised.”

“

That I’m gay?” Mateo heard the ding of the microwave

and pulled his plate out. “Why? Not all gay guys look the
same.”

“

But you’re like, tough.”

Mateo sat at the table and leaned back in his chair. “So

all gay guys are limp wristed?”

“

No.” Riley sighed. “I’m saying everything wrong. I’ll just

shut up now.” Riley put his plate in the microwave and
turned to find Mateo right in his face.

“

Say what you were going to say.” Mateo leaned in

rubbing his thigh against Riley’s.

“

I uh…well…I just meant that…” Mateo’s hazel eyes

were smoldering and Riley swore his heart beat could be
heard. He was relieved to hear the microwave ding. He
grabbed his plate out of it and brushed his dick against
Mateo’s thigh trying to get around him. His cock went
from zero to seven inches in seconds. “Um, so yeah, I

guess I’ll go eat in the room and then hit the hay.”

“

Sure.” Mateo watched Riley walk by him to the

bedroom. “If you need me you know where I am.”

Riley stopped in the hall and turned to look at Mateo.

“You said you watched me.”

“

Yes.” Mateo smiled seductively.

“

All the time?” Riley knew Mateo had seen him go into

Diabolique now. There was no mistaking that look, his
secret was out.

“

Yes, but I haven’t said a word, Riley. Are you really

that scared of people knowing you’re gay?”

“

Good night Mateo.” Riley practically ran to his room.

Mateo sat at the table and grabbed his hard dick.

“Jesus, I need to get laid.”

~~Chapter Six~~

Derek called the next morning with news. They were

going to move Riley to another safe house, and he was
to be guarded by men that were actually paid to babysit.

“

You can now take that vacation.”

“

So, anyway, get on with it. Just give me the damn

information.”

Mateo sat back on the chair looking out the

window, Riley was in the pool swimming laps.

“

I have set up a meeting with James for you, in a public

place.”

Mateo furrowed his brow. “Why do I hear laughter in

your voice?”

“

There are clowns there.”

“

Oh, for fucks sake.” Mateo slumped in the chair. Once

a year Tucson had a state fair, and it was held maybe an
hour from his current location. He and Derek had gone to
it a few years back. “You know damn well I hate clowns.”

“

Never understood why.” Derek chuckled. “There’s an

LGBT booth.”

“

Maybe you should go then, Derek.”

“

Fuck off, Mateo. Anyway, James will meet you there.”

“

At the gay and lesbian booth?”

“

Yep,”

“

Fine, when?”

“

Wednesday at noon.”

“

I’ll be there.” Mateo hung up and watched Riley getting

out of the pool. Water cascaded down Riley’s strong
chest and along his abs. “Jesus, get a grip Mat.” Mateo
swallowed hard watching Riley dry his hair, the towel
sliding across his toned body. Instant hard-on. He
adjusted his dick in his shorts, and tried to keep it
together as Riley came back in the house.

“

Hey, everything okay?” Riley sat down at the kitchen

table.

“

We have a meeting with James Pruitt Wednesday at

the State Fair.”

“

Really?” Riley smiled and sat back in the chair. “I’ve

never been to one.”

Mateo looked shocked. “Never?”

“

Nope.” Riley shrugged. “No time.”

“

Too bad I’m going on business.”

Riley sat forward and looked at Mateo with a sly smile.

“Can’t I go too? We can have some fun. I mean we’d be
safe right? You’d protect me.”

“

Out in the open, Riley?” Mateo shook his head.

“

Oh come on! No one’s been snooping around here

and you haven’t heard anything right?”

“

Well no…”

“

And no one knows about this place or the meeting

except for you and two people you trust with your life. So
we could actually have fun right? Please Mateo?”

Mateo knew he was fucked. Riley’s ocean-blue eyes

were getting to him. “Fine, but you stay by me at all times
and you will wear a wig.”

“

Okay.” Riley giggled.

“

Oh lord.” Mateo rolled his eyes.

~~*~~

Mateo pulled into the dirt parking lot of the State Fair at

eleven in the morning. The sun was already up and
blazing its heat on the fair. He watched the fair goers
closely, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Once he
was satisfied there was no immediate threat, he allowed
Riley out of the car. Mateo made sure to have a gun with
a full clip on his person. They made their way over to the
first booth, and Mateo sat watching Riley throwing darts
at balloons. The games were rigged and he knew it. He
didn’t think Riley did though. Riley was getting frustrated
when the dart would bounce off the balloon.

Riley was wearing his Arizona wildcats hat, Ray Bans,

and a blonde wig that touched his shoulders.

His choice

of disguise. Mateo almost had to laugh, but it seemed to
work. Riley was in tan cargo shorts with a plain white t-
shirt and flip flops. Not his usual attire, which would

explain why no one even batted an eye lash at him. Well
people looked at him, but not because they knew who he
was. His spectacular ass was the reason for the
attention.

“

Riley, stop wasting your money.” Mateo watched him

hand over another five dollar bill.

“

I want the purple hippo.” Riley smiled and threw the

dart. It bounced again and Riley cursed softly. The next
dart hit the balloon and the carnie gave Riley a rubber
ducky. Riley pouted and handed it to the kid next to him.

Mateo looked around at all the booths and found

another one with the purple hippo. He grabbed Riley’s
hand and they made their way over. He dropped a five
dollar bill on the counter and looked at the carnie. “Give
me the gun.”

Riley watched as Mateo held the rifle up to his

shoulder and shot the entire center of the target. No
wonder the guy was good at his job; there was nothing
left in the red zone. “Jesus.” Riley whispered.

“

Give me the fucking purple hippo.” Mateo put the gun

down and gave the carnie a wry smile.

They were eating cotton candy, and Mateo smiled at

Riley holding his purple hippo. The guy was happy with
the little things in life, which is what made him so different
than most rich people. He could have easily dropped
money on the damn counter and had the hippo in his
hands in a second, but Riley wanted to win it and that
made him different. Mateo actually respected him for it.
That didn’t stop him from stepping up there and winning
the damn thing for him though. If he’d waited for Riley to
win it, they’d be at the fair until they closed.

Riley looked athletic enough, but he was clumsy and

didn’t have much hand eye coordination. Ergo, Mateo
getting him the damn hippo. Mateo actually felt sorry for
Riley in a way. He’d missed out on being a kid. They
were standing by the LGBT booth at precisely noon, and
Mateo looked around for James. He saw him making his
way over with a smile on his face. James was a good
looking guy, short brown hair and amazing blue eyes. He
wasn’t tall, but what he lacked in height he made up for in
muscles.

“

James.”

“

Mateo.” James looked Riley Flynn over. “Riley, I’m

Special Agent Pruitt with Homeland security. I’m sorry
you’ve been put into this situation.”

Riley shook James’ hand. “Well, Mateo’s been taking

good care of me.”

“

Oh has he now?” James arched a brow smiling at

Mateo.

Mateo cleared his throat and gave James a dirty look.

“So what’s the plan? When are we changing safe
houses, and who will be watching Riley?”

“

You’re not coming with me?” Riley looked up at Mateo.

“I thought you were coming too?”

“

This isn’t my job description Riley, I don’t do safe

houses.”

“

But I don’t want you to leave, I’m comfortable with

you.” Riley took Mateo’s hand. It was the first real contact
Riley had made with Mateo.

James smiled demonically. “Oh I can arrange for Mateo

to go with you.”

“

Really?” Riley looked at Special Agent Pruitt. “You

could do that?”

“

I can do whatever I want.” James chuckled at Mateo’s

look of frustration. “Look, I’m sorry to be the one to tell
you this, but we located the missing chips. They were in
your father’s house.”

“

Wait, my Dad? Why?”

“

Your father decided doing business with a foreign

country was lucrative, he tried to sell them guidance
chips but an attack of conscience had him bowing out of

the deal before the transaction went through. So money
went into his hands but no chips went to the buyer.”

“

He’s going to prison, isn’t he?” Riley sighed heavily.

“

Yes, he pled guilty. No trial.” James looked at Mateo.

“We are still investigating the shooter. We found video
surveillance of him leaving the building. He got into a red
sedan and we followed him on all the cameras to the
airport. Edgar Flynn is helping with the investigation as
much as he can, but he was never given a name so he
can’t help us out much there. We haven’t found the leak
yet, but we will keep looking. We’ve got our best hackers
on this one.”

“

So when are we transferring Riley then?” Mateo kept

his eye out on the fair goers.

“

Monday at ten in the morning, you two need to be at

the office of the FBI in Phoenix. We’ll take you and Riley
to the safe house.” James smiled and took Riley’s hand.
“It was good to meet you, can’t wait to see how long it
takes for Mateo to go stir crazy.”

“

Asshole.” Mateo narrowed his eyes looking at James.

“See you Friday.” He took Riley’s bicep and led him
away. “Come on let’s go get a corn dog.”

They walked towards the tents after saying goodbye to

James and Mateo felt his body relaxing a bit. Being on
high alert was making his muscles sore. It seemed as if
Riley wanted to taste every damn food there was at the
fair. After the third funnel cake, Mateo was feeling
queasy. Riley dragged him to every ride there was, and
Mateo was pretty sure he’d throw up when they were
upside down on one of them. Riley was screaming like a
little boy and Mateo couldn’t help but laugh.

They hit more booths and Mateo won Riley more

prizes, a giant cowboy hat, a gorilla and a pink duck.
Riley gave away his Gorilla and pink duck to two little
kids, but kept his hat, and of course the fucking purple
hippo. Mateo felt a hand on his wrist and turned quickly,
hand going to his gun. He saw an old lady looking at him.
She had huge gold hoop earrings and her hair was
covered by a silk scarf. Just great, a gypsy fortune teller.

Mateo sighed.

“

He is your love.” She smiled at Mateo showing a gold

tooth.

“

How much, lady?” Mateo took out his wallet.

“

Oh no, I tell you for free. This man, he is your love.

You must protect him.”

Mateo looked at Riley with his eyebrow raised. When

he turned back she was gone. He looked around but she
had vanished. He heard Riley’s soft chuckle and looked
over at him. “Shut up.”

“

I’m your love.” Riley smiled and walked towards the

big top tent.

“

Jesus.” Mateo rolled his eyes. He was never going to

hear the end of it.

It was finally getting dark and the visiting band came

out on stage. Mateo heard the announcer’s voice telling
them it was Cheap Trick and Riley smiled, dragging
Mateo over to the main stage. The band came out and
the first song Mateo recognized right away. It was “The
Flame”, and he felt Riley take his hand.

“

Let’s dance!” Riley bounced up and down, his fifty

gallon hat bopping up and down.

“

I don’t dance, Riley.”

“

Please? Come on, I never got to do any of this stuff.”

Mateo looked at Riley, he was pouting. It was fucking

endearing, and he sighed in defeat. “Fine.”

Riley actually giggled, and Mateo couldn’t help but

smile. He took him in his arms and held him close as they
swayed to the music. The damn hat was hitting him in the
face and he pulled it off looking into Riley’s big blue eyes.
He almost sighed. Dammit, he was developing feelings
for Riley.

Riley’s arms came around his neck, and Mateo pulled

Riley in closer resting a hand on his ass, his other hand
at the small of Riley’s back. Mateo’s lower body was
responding quite quickly to Riley being close to him, and
he argued with his dick to behave. Mateo finally closed
his eyes and breathed in Riley’s scent. They swayed
slowly and Mateo was listening to the lyrics of the song.
Shit, how appropriate. “I always loved this song.” Mateo
whispered in Riley’s ear.

“

You’re a good dancer.” Riley closed his eyes and hid

his face in the crook of Mateo’s neck. He inhaled Mateo’s
scent and that’s when it hit him. Mateo’s cologne was the
same cologne he had smelled at the curtain room. Riley
pushed away a little and looked in Mateo’s eyes. Was
Mateo the man from the curtain room? Riley’s heart was
pounding in his chest and the way Mateo was looking at
him just then…

“

Riley?” Mateo looked into Riley’s eyes. His fingers

caressed Riley’s cheek with the pad of his thumb as his
hand moved to the nape of Riley’s neck. There was
something in Riley’s eyes; it wasn’t the look he’d seen so
many times before from countless men. It wasn’t lust. It

was a look of longing. Mateo dipped his head, hovering
inches from Riley’s mouth. As their eyes met, Mateo
could see Riley wanted to be kissed. Their breaths mixed
as Mateo brushed his lips across Riley’s softly. Mateo’s
tongue teased across the seam of Riley’s lips, and his
mouth opened to him. Their tongues twined, Mateo’s
fingers threading into the hair at the nape of Riley’s neck
pulling him in, deepening the kiss. God he knew this
mouth, the kiss was one he’d never forget. Mateo broke
from the kiss breathing heavily. “It’s you. You’re the guy
from the curtain room.”

“

Yes.” Riley’s body was shaking in Mateo’s arms. He

looked around them to see if anyone had noticed, and
found other men were dancing together. They were
kissing, and oblivious to everyone around them.

“

We need to go.” Mateo took Riley’s hand, leading him

away from the stage. Once he got Riley in the car, they
headed back towards Derek’s. Mateo kept his eyes on
the road, all while thinking about the situation. Riley was
the man from the curtain room. Riley had sucked his dick
twice. Riley was the man that had kissed him, the kiss
that knocked him on his ass. They were back at the
house and Mateo hit the keypad to get in. Once the door

shut behind them he set it again. The locking mechanism
engaged and Mateo stood in front of Riley.

Riley looked up into Mateo’s eyes. “I…I guess we need

to talk abou—”

Riley was cut off. Mateo grabbed him by the back of

the neck, crushing their lips together. A groan rose from
Riley’s chest as Mateo’s hands gripped his ass,
squeezing. Mateo picked him up under his thighs
carrying him to the dining room table. Riley’s shirt was
coming off fast, and then Mateo’s strong hands were
exploring his chest. Mateo’s hands made their way to the
button of Riley’s pants, popping the button and lowering
the zipper with a purr. His hand gripped Riley’s leaking
dick, sliding up and down his shaft sending waves of
pleasure through him. “Oh God…”

“

You like that?” Mateo licked Riley’s bottom lip, sucking

it in and biting it.

“

Harder.” Riley moaned, drowning in the sensations he

felt when Mateo licked his neck and bit his collar bone.

He felt a soft sucking and realized Mateo was marking
him. Damn that was sexy…

“

Fuck. I thought about you that first night, your lips

wrapped around my dick. You are fucking talented. The
second time was just as good if not better.” Mateo
whispered in his ear. “I would love to feel your ass
wrapped around me.”

“

Ungh.” Riley whimpered. He wanted to speak, he

really did, but his senses were on overload. Between
Mateo’s hand and mouth, he was having a hard time
trying to put two damn words together. He settled for
tearing Mateo’s shirt off and smiled when he was
rewarded with a soft gasp. His hands found Mateo’s
succulent ass and he sunk his fingers in it pulling Mateo
closer to him. “Bed.” Riley managed to spit it out.

“

Oh fuck yes.” Mateo picked him up and they made

their way down the hall to Mateo’s room kissing and
pulling at each other’s clothes. They landed on the bed,
and Mateo went to work pulling off Riley’s pants. Riley’s
boxers came down and Mateo got a good look at that
cock that he loved. It curved slightly to the side and lay

glistening on Riley’s hip. “Hot damn!” Mateo leaned over
and ran his tongue through the slit, relishing the taste of
Riley. His tongue made a slow circle around the crown
and he sucked on it, wrapping his lips around the velvet
smooth skin.

“

Fuck.” Riley’s head went back as Mateo continued to

suck and tease his cock. He hadn’t let anyone give him
head in a long time, and this was so fucking good. He
fisted the sheets as Mateo took him in deeper.

“

I have to taste you, all of you.” Mateo groaned pushing

Riley’s legs up by his ears. Mateo almost bent him in half
and lowered his own head, tongue swiping at Riley’s
aching hole. He pressed his thumbs in opening him up
and slid his tongue in hearing Riley’s ragged breaths and
low groans.

“

Holy shit!” Riley was ripping the sheets off the bed.

Fuck. Mateo knew what he was doing. He had never had
a rim job, and the feel of it… There were no words to
describe how it felt. Riley’s dick was aching and he
gripped it, stroking himself. He watched Mateo as he
continued to lap at him, flicking him, teasing him with

every tongue stroke. His dick just kept getting harder.
Mateo’s face was buried in his ass. Licking, sucking
every damn inch of him, teasing Riley to the brink, and
then falling back. Mateo’s eyes locked on his as he
flicked his tongue around Riley’s hole, his tongue lapping
and teasing, his fingers playing with Riley’s balls.
“Please…” Riley begged, his dick was going to explode if
he didn’t get something and soon. The pressure in his
balls was building and he wanted Mateo in his ass.

“

You want to feel me inside you?”

“

Yes…” Riley nodded his head eyes glazed, and

watched as Mateo grabbed his wallet pulling a condom
out. He pulled a bottle of lube out of the drawer and
covered his fingers with it. He slid one finger in, feeling
Riley’s chute tighten around it as he passed the ring of
muscles.

“

Fuck that’s tight.” Mateo groaned thinking how nice it

was going to be sliding into that hot tight ass.

He slipped another finger in, feeling resistance from

Riley. He let his legs down and leaned over him kissing
him softly. His tongue teased Riley’s bottom lip and then
slid inside that warm mouth, searching every damn
delicious corner. Riley’s soft moans were turning him on
and he teased his hole with the tip of his cock. Riley was
writhing beneath him and Mateo couldn’t help but think
Riley couldn’t look more beautiful than he did in the
throes of passion.

“

Fuck me.” Riley grabbed him pulling him down.

Mateo slipped the condom on and pressed the head in,

feeling Riley clamping down on him immediately.
“Shhh…” Mateo kissed him and bit his lips softly. “Relax
and let me in.”

“

Ohhh…” Riley tried. He didn’t want Mateo to know

he’d never been with a man and had zilch experience. He
tried to relax as Mateo kissed him, a warm teasing
tongue played with his own. He loved the taste of Mateo,
and the man sure knew how to kiss. The more Mateo slid
in, the more he would tense up. He couldn’t relax, as
hard as he tried. He felt Mateo stop and his eyes flew up
to see Mateo looking at him.

“

Why didn’t you say something?” Mateo caressed

Riley’s inner thigh.

Riley felt the blush hitting his cheeks. “I haven’t done

this before, and I didn’t want you to stop.”

“

The last thing I want to do is hurt you, we don’t have to

do this.”

“

No, I want to, I just…I can’t seem to relax.”

“

Just breathe.” Mateo leaned down and took Riley in

his arms, kissing him. His hand found the bottle of lube
and he applied more to Riley and himself. He slipped his
finger in, watching Riley’s face the whole time. He forgot
how young Riley was, and he obviously didn’t sleep
around. The thought of what could have happened hit
him, and he looked down in Riley’s face. He had almost
taken Riley’s life. One shot one kill, the motto of a sniper.
But Mateo couldn’t do it and he should have known it
wasn’t meant to be when he couldn’t pull the trigger.

“

What’s wrong?” Riley looked in Mateo’s eyes seeing

almost what looked like confusion and possibly regret.
God, he felt like an idiot. He was inexperienced, and
obviously Mateo wasn’t used to having to slow down for
some kid that didn’t know jack shit about fucking.

“

Nothing.” Mateo saw the look in Riley’s eyes and

smiled. “Just hang on. We’ll take it slow ok?” Riley had a
small smile on his face. Mateo shook his head clear and
pressed another finger in, his thumb caressing Riley’s
balls as he worked his two fingers in a circle. “Want
another one?”

“

Yes.” Riley felt the pressure of another finger. He

closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing as
they pressed up looking for that one spot. Mateo grazed
his prostate and Riley let out a loud moan.

Oh God, but

that felt fucking good. Riley spread his legs out further
and pressed down on Mateo’s fingers, fucking them. With
slow deep strokes, Mateo’s fingers rubbed his prostate.
His stomach knotted and warmth spread throughout his
body.

“

Feels good?” Mateo nipped at Riley’s bottom lip.

“

More.” Riley felt the fingers sliding in up to the knuckle

and let out another low groan as Mateo brushed his
prostate again.

“

Okay, relax now.” Mateo pulled out his fingers and

slipped inside Riley slowly. He managed to get the head
in before Riley clamped down on him. He smiled when
Riley blushed again and his mouth opened to apologize.
Mateo took his mouth and gave him a slow lingering kiss.

“

Mmmm...” Their tongues met, and Riley’s hands went

to Mateo’s hair holding him firmly in place. It was just like
the last kiss in the curtain room, soft, exploratory and
downright sensual. Riley didn’t even realize Mateo’s balls
were on his ass until they came up for air.

“

Better?” Mateo smiled at him. Riley’s hair was slicked

back with sweat and his lips were slightly bruised. Riley’s
blue eyes looked back into Mateo’s hazel ones.

“

Yes.” Riley closed his eyes as Mateo pulled out

slowly. He tried to brace himself for the pain.

“

Close your eyes.” Mateo ran his lips over Riley’s ear

whispering. “Don’t wait for it, relax and welcome it.”

“

Okay.” Riley closed his eyes and felt Mateo’s dick

gliding over his prostate. After a few more slow thrusts,
the pain became pleasure and he gripped Mateo’s
shoulders hooking a leg around his waist, pulling him in.

It took every ounce of control Mateo had not to slam

into him, that warm tight ass surrounding his dick. He’d
never had an ass this tight. He slid back into Riley
harder, waiting for a reaction. There was a low rumble in
Riley’s throat, so Mateo did it again. “Jesus Riley.” Mateo
drew back slowly, closing his eyes as his arms shook. He
pushed back in just as slow, feeling every nerve in his
cock screaming to go faster, harder. Riley’s hips were
thrusting into his and Mateo couldn’t hold back anymore.
He drew back and slammed into Riley. A loud gasp
entered Mateo’s mouth from Riley’s and he thought he’d
gone too far. Riley’s hips came up to meet him again.
They moved together, and Mateo held Riley’s shoulder
as he slammed into him harder with each thrust. Their

balls slapping against each other, Mateo felt his pulling
up tight. Hooking Riley’s legs under his arms and hoisting
him up, Mateo slammed into him at an angle.

“

Ohhh Fuck…” Thick ropes of cum shot up Riley’s

stomach almost hitting his chin and a loud guttural moan
escaped his lips.

“

Fuck, that’s sexy!” Mateo growled slamming into Riley

with piston fast strokes until his own orgasm hit. He shot
into the rubber full force, feeling his whole body shake as
a hoarse cry left his lips. He collapsed on top of Riley,
breathing hard. His fucking brain had just left with the
rest of him into a little latex bag. Mateo kissed Riley’s
shoulder, softly running his tongue across it, working his
way to that beautiful neck. He kissed it softly, hearing
Riley’s slow even breaths. “You ok?” Mateo ran his hand
through Riley’s hair.

Riley nodded and tried to find his voice. The man had

just fucked the shit out of him. Now he knew where the
expression had come from. “Yes.”

Mateo rose up on one arm and looked down in Riley’s

face. He had a look of complete and utter satisfaction on
it. “Are you sore?”

“

Hell yeah I am.” Riley snorted and laughed at himself

for doing it.

gn="

You should have said something before. I could

have prepared you better, or shit, I could have
bottomed.”

Riley’s eyes went wide. “Now you tell me?”

“

Sorry.” Mateo pulled out slowly, rolling onto his back,

and stared at the ceiling. It was comical how life took its
twists and turns. The guy he would have killed happened
to be the best blow job he’d ever had. What a waste that
would have been. He still couldn’t believe Riley was the
man from the curtain room, he just seemed so shy. It was
hard to imagine him being the same forceful guy he’d
encountered twice. Riley’s eyes were closed, and his
chest was rising and falling slowly now. Mateo ran his
finger down Riley’s chest, watching the skin break out in

tiny bumps.

“

Thanks…you know, for being patient.” Riley watched

as Mateo got up and headed for the bathroom naked.
Mateo had a nice round ass with dimples on each side.
He almost sighed looking at it.

“

No problem.” Mateo watched as the blush crept into

Riley’s cheeks, he leaned down and kissed his lips softly.
Pulling away from the kiss, Mateo realized the situation
was getting far too comfortable. He needed to put some
distance between them. Mateo opened the bedroom door
and looked at Riley. “We should get some sleep.”

“

Okay.” Riley realized Mateo was kicking him out. He’d

just lost his virginity and was being kicked to the curb.
The hurt and shame washed over him like a tsunami and
Riley couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. His leg
tangled in the sheet and he almost tripped. A strong arm
grabbed him before he hit the floor. “Let go of me.” Riley
snarled.

“

What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“

Just let me go okay? You got what you wanted from

me!” Riley pulled his arm back. Okay fine, so he was
naïve about fucking, but he knew when he was being
used and it wasn’t a good feeling.

“

Jesus! What the hell Riley?” Mateo pulled Riley

around to face him. He could see the tears just under the
surface.

Ah fuck.

“

I get it okay? You fucked the virgin and now you’re

done. Just let me go. I’ll sleep in the other room.”

Mateo sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.

“Just get in the bed.”

“

Fuck you.”

“

Get. On. The. Bed.” Riley crossed his arms and

looked up at him with a petulant glare. Mateo picked
Riley up and threw him on the bed. Riley bounced once
and Mateo jumped on top of him. “Look, this is new to me
okay? I don’t sleep with people after I fuck them. I’m

usually a mile away after the act, so please calm the fuck
down.”

“

You know everything about me! I don’t know shit about

you, and you seem to like it that way.”

“

What do you want to know Riley? I’m an assassin, I kill

people. I’ve never been married and I don’t plan on it in
the future.”

“

Where did you grow up?”

“

Everywhere,” Mateo sat back straddling Riley. “I was a

foster kid, okay?”

“

But don’t…I mean foster kids eventually get

adopted….” Riley saw the flash of anger in Mateo’s eyes
and swallowed hard. “I…I’m sorry.”

“

No one wanted me okay? Happy now?”

“

I want you.” Riley sat up and reached out to Mateo.

“

Riley…” Mateo sighed and grabbed Riley’s hand.

“God this is a bad idea. You have no idea who I am. This
thing you have for me, it’ll pass and you’ll find the right
guy.”

“

I want you. I know you want me too, Mateo. The way

you kiss me and touch me, it’s not robotic. You have
feelings for me, and they come out when you kiss me.”

“

Just...” Mateo stood up and backed away from the

bed. “Just go to sleep.”

“

So I can stay?”

“

No cuddling.” Mateo pointed a finger at Riley.

“

Okay, no cuddling.” Riley rolled over on the bed and

pulled the blanket up. “Good Night Mateo.”

“

Good night Riley.” Mateo used the restroom and when

he came back, he found Riley fast asleep. He crawled
into the bed and lay on his side looking at Riley’s face.
The feelings he was having were foreign to him. Mateo
had never been so attracted to someone. And kissing?
That was a no-no, and yet he’d kissed Riley more than
once. Mateo picked Riley’s hand up gently, and kissed
his fingertip. Riley moaned softly and nestled into
Mateo’s side.

Crap, cuddling. Warmth from Riley settled

into Mateo’s bones and he closed his eyes. Riley would
be transferred to another safe house soon. Lord knows
he didn’t want to be stuck in a safe house, but the idea of
not being with Riley suddenly didn’t feel right.

Oh shit,

I’m getting attached. Mateo looked into the beautiful face
of Riley Flynn. He moved a stray strand of hair and
kissed his forehead. Fatigue took over and Mateo
welcomed it.

~~Chapter Seven~~

Mateo rolled over, feeling something under his arm. It

was

not Riley. He opened his eyes to see a purple hippo

staring at him. Sun light streamed through the curtains
and he looked at the clock, it was almost ten. The smell
of eggs drifted into the room. He put the hippo on the
nightstand and smiled at it, Riley and his fucking hippo.
He threw some sweats on and made his way into the
kitchen. Riley was at the stove, spatula in hand, making
eggs. There were tortillas on the counter next to a jar of
salsa, cheese and a container of sour cream. Mateo
made his way behind Riley, wrapping an arm around his
waist and kissing his shoulder.

“

Good morning.”

“

Morning. I made breakfast burritos. I figured we could

maybe watch TV and relax, if you want.” Riley closed his
eyes as Mateo’s tongue slid up his neck and around his
ear lobe, causing Riley to drop the spatula. He tipped his
head back, tilting his face up to meet Mateo’s lips. A

warm mouth covered his and a tongue teased. Mateo’s
hand was stroking his cock and Riley felt himself getting
hard quickly. Riley leaned back into Mateo’s hips
brushing his ass over Mateo’s dick. “We can eat in the
family room.”

Mateo smiled and flicked his ear lobe. “Really? After all

my hard work getting you excited we are going to watch
TV?”

Riley turned and put his arms around Mateo’s neck. “It

doesn’t take much you know, everything about you gets
my dick hard.”

“

I know the feeling.” Mateo leaned in and kissed him

again. Keeping the kisses soft, he used his tongue to
explore, learn, and search. Riley’s mouth tasted like
coffee and cinnamon, and Mateo groaned as Riley’s
hands started wandering. Soft hands slid up his chest,
playing with his nipples. Another foreign feeling washed
over Mateo. Butterflies. He’d heard about it in all the
stupid love movies Naomi used to rent. The feeling of
butterflies in one’s stomach at the touch of their lover’s
hand, the one they were meant to be with. Causing

sweaty palms and stomach flip flops in the unexpected
lovers. Until now he’d laughed at it.

What the hell is

going on with me? He felt like a damn pre-teen. Mateo
pulled back, smiling at Riley, whose eyes were still
closed. He kissed his nose and stepped back. Mateo
grabbed a plate and fixed himself a burrito, grabbing
Riley by the hand, they settled onto the futon in the family
room watching TV.

“

Why do women do that?” Riley bit into his burrito.

“

Do what?”

“

Say that only one man could be the daddy of their

baby, and then find out he isn’t? I mean on national TV
no less.” Riley shook his head.

“

I love how he pauses for so long with the results.”

Mateo chuckled. “He’s Satan.”

Riley giggled. “Then they cry and say, well maybe it

was that one guy.”

They sat and watched TV for what seemed like hours,

leaning into each other and laughing at the stupidity of
daytime shows. Riley channel surfed and stopped on one
channel.

Riley perked up and looked at Mateo.

“

I missed this show for like a week! I wonder if the guy

knows his wife slept with his brother.”

Mateo grabbed the remote and held it above his head.

“I draw the line at daytime soaps, Riley.”

“

Oh come on!” Riley grabbed for the remote. “I gotta

know!”

At the dramatic music coming from the TV, they both

stopped fighting for the remote and turned their heads
towards the set. Screaming, followed by fighting, ending
in a loud slap.

Mateo looked at Riley. “Yeah, I think he knows now.”

When the soap was over Riley stood up stretching and

smiled at Mateo who was shaking his head. “What?”

“

It’s just so ridiculous the husband is

way hotter than

the brother.” Mateo chuckled.

Riley threw a pillow at Mateo. “Ha! You got into it!”

“

I’m going outside to do something manly now.” Mateo

stood up and pulled Riley into a tight embrace. “What are
you going to do?”

Faint? Mateo’s strong arms wrapped around him, and

Riley was being devoured. His breath left him as Mateo
kissed him with rough, punishing kisses. Riley broke for
air. “Cook?” Riley squeaked.

“

That’s what I like to hear.” Mateo smacked Riley’s ass.

“I’ll be in the garage if you need me.”

As soon as Mateo left, Riley looked for something to

make. He found chicken breasts in the fridge along with
some red and green peppers. Oh, and look, he found
onions. Riley looked through the spice cabinet and found
cayenne pepper and some other spices he would need.
He pulled a bag of tortillas out and went to work. He
could hear Mateo banging something in the garage and
smiled. He loved the feel of Mateo’s dick in his ass. It
was like it was meant to be in there. The man was
absolutely beautiful, the ways his eyes sparkled. Mateo’s
hair was thick and soft and his body… Riley’s stomach
flipped just thinking about his biceps. Leaning against the
counter, he remembered Mateo’s hands on his body and
his tongue everywhere. Riley shook his head. “What was
I doing again?”

~~*~~

Mateo looked through all the ammo boxes in the

garage; he knew Derek had kept a box of the groups old
things from Afghanistan. He yanked the lid off one of the
boxes and pulled out a silver bracelet. It had a flat
smooth surface and links so you could adjust it, to make
it smaller or larger. Mateo and his team used them in Iraq

and Afghanistan. When they were separated, the
bracelets became homing devices, and any of the team
could locate the other. He was going to put the tracking
bracelet to good use. Looking for the dremel, he set the
bracelet down on the counter and held it firmly with his
fingers. Working with precision, he flipped the bracelet
over and closed his eyes. He’d changed since he met
Riley. He would have never let anyone this close to him
in the past, and now he was sleeping with Riley, not to
mention kissing him. Mateo turned the bracelet over in
his fingers. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about
the man from the curtain room since that first night. Now
Riley was with him. Mateo held the bracelet and pushed
down inscribing it with the dremel. When he was finished,
he held it up. “Jesus, I’m screwed.” Mateo grabbed his
cell phone from its clip and called Naomi.

“

Hello?”

“

Hey Naomi.”

“

Oh lord, I can hear it in your voice. Talk, Mateo.”

Mateo went into the long, drawn out story of how he’d

saved Riley. How Riley was the man from the curtain
room that he’d kissed. He’d been talking nonstop since
Naomi said hello. He finally took a breath of air.

“

Still there?”

“

Jesus Mat.” Naomi giggled. “You’re falling for the

guy!”

“

What?” Mateo dropped the bracelet. “No I’m not!”

“

Oh yes you are. Oh my God, this is so fucking

awesome! I can’t believe Riley Flynn is the guy from the
curtain room! Damn Mat, you know he’s in the closet
then.”

“

I’m not going to worry about it. I have a job to do, and

when it’s done, I’ll go on with my life.”

“

Yeah, I can hear how serious you are.” Naomi

chuckled.

“

Oh fuck off.” Mateo smiled and bent down to grab the

bracelet. “I have to go, we’ll talk soon okay? Lay low until
this is over.”

“

Yeah, no problem. Bye, Mat.”

Mateo shoved the bracelet in his pocket and turned as

he heard the back door of the house close. Riley was
making his way out to the garage, and Mateo watched
every move as he walked. Yeah, he was so screwed.

“

Hey.” Mateo looked Riley up and down.

“

Hey, I’m…I’m done.”

“

Good, I’m starving.”

Riley set the table as Mateo went to wash his hands.

He put the plates and utensils down, along with some
glasses. His mind drifted again and he felt Mateo’s hand

sliding over his ass.

“

Hey.”

“

You’re thinking about sex.” Mateo smiled at Riley’s sly

grin.

“

I was thinking about you.” Riley handed him a plate.

Mateo looked at the dish and smiled. “Fajitas?”

“

Yes, you like them right?” Riley handed him a tortilla

and spooned the chicken and spices onto the plate.

“

I’ll let you know in a minute.” Mateo leaned in and

gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

Riley watched Mateo eat like a starving man. He smiled

when Mateo helped himself to seconds and then thirds. It
was nice to see someone appreciate his cooking. Mandy
the bimbo, complained that they were rich and should eat
out all the time to be seen. God, Riley hated that empty
headed bitch. He ended up chuckling at the thought,

which earned him an amused look from Mateo.

“

I was thinking about how much Mandy hated eating

in.”

“

Maybe you should have eaten her out.” Mateo smiled

at the look of disgust on Riley’s face. “You did fuck her
right?”

“

With like eight condoms on.”

Mateo laughed loud. “Oh my, the gay guy had to fuck a

woman.”

“

A lot of it had to do with my Father. I think somehow he

knew I was gay. When I was younger, he tried everything
to make me manlier. I guess I’m pretty.” Riley rolled his
eyes.

“

You are pretty.” Mateo smiled. “I’m not saying that in a

bad way.”

Riley gave him a look, and pressed on. “So anyway, I

started dating girls just to throw him off. I figured if I
didn’t, he would start setting me up. So, I asked a girl out
and it went from there. In college I didn’t even try to be
with a guy, because I was always afraid it would get out
somehow. I got more and more curious about being gay,
so I finally decided to go and learn a few things.”

Mateo looked at Riley. God, but he was beautiful. The

way his eyes sparkled when he looked at him, his lips
begging to be kissed… “Wait, was that the first time
you’d ever given a guy head?”

Riley nodded taking a bite of his fajita. “Yep.”

“

Well fuck me running, you

are good at it.” Mateo sat

back in his chair and laughed shaking his head.
“Unbelievable.”

After dinner was cleaned up, Mateo took Riley out to

the pool. Mateo undressed Riley, kneeling before him.
Riley’s dick was already at full mast, leaking small beads
of pre-come on his abdomen. The chestnut colored

pubes were soft, and Mateo ran his face alongside
Riley’s groin. “You smell so good.”

“

Mateo…” Riley’s head fell back as Mateo’s warm

mouth enveloped his cock. Mateo’s tongue flicked at his
slit and slid inside applying enough sweet pressure for
Riley’s legs to shake. Finger’s teased his balls,
squeezing softly as the suction began on the crown of his
cock. Never in his life had he gotten head this fucking
good. Mandy had sucked him off a few times, but it was a
far cry from Mateo’s blow job. Threading his fingers in
Mateo’s hair, Riley’s hips moved, sending his cock down
Mateo’s throat.

Riley stopped, thinking he’d gagged Mateo, but he

didn’t even flinch. Riley’s ass clenched as Mateo took his
full length, sucking hard around the sensitive cap all
while his hand kept a tight hard drag on his cock. The
pressure in his balls mounted, and Riley’s ass began to
spasm. He ground his teeth and tried to warn Mateo, but
it was too late. Riley’s head snapped back and a loud
grunt pierced the night air as his dick spurt down Mateo’s
throat.

Riley’s legs were shaking and his hips were still

bucking as Mateo licked and sucked every last drop from
his now softening dick. “Oh my God…” Then his feet left
the ground and he was in Mateo’s arms.

When did

Mateo get naked? They got in the pool and Riley lay on
his back looking at the clear sky. There wasn’t a cloud on
the horizon, and every constellation could be seen. He
closed his eyes and felt Mateo’s hand sliding up his
stomach. Riley reached for the side of the pool and
wrapped his legs around Mateo’s waist, his arms
stretched out. He felt Mateo’s hand at the small of his
back as the other one ran up and down his stomach and
chest.

“

Jesus, you are breathtaking, Riley.” Mateo’s hand

glided over Riley’s flawless skin. Every touch of his
fingers had the muscles rippling underneath them, and
the heat was flowing from Riley, even in the cool water.
God, Riley was perfect. His cock laid semi hard on his
stomach, bobbing in the water and Mateo had the urge to
pull it in, warm it under his tongue. Mateo pulled Riley up
and his arms went around his back, as Riley’s came
around his neck. He looked at Riley’s lips, slightly parted,
waiting to be licked and played with. Groaning, Mateo
took Riley’s mouth again. God, he’d never wanted to kiss
anyone, and now he couldn’t stop.

“

Mateo...” Riley opened his mouth and Mateo’s tongue

slid in, probing, sliding across his teeth then biting his
tongue softly. Small, unintelligible whimpers escaped his
lips, as Mateo’s mouth closed over his, pulling him in
closer. Their tongues were rubbing and sucking, and
Riley felt his cock getting harder on Mateo’s stomach.
Riley maneuvered his body lower, sliding slowly up
Mateo’s body, dragging their painful erections over one
another.

“

Oh fuck.” Jesus, he was addicted to this kid. He’d

never wanted to fuck someone so much and so often.
Just kissing Riley had him in a daze. Riley’s legs were
wrapped around his waist and his hips were moving up
and down on Mateo’s bare stomach. All that sweet
friction against his skin was making a delicious warmth
spread through him. Riley’s hands were in his hair,
gripping it, pulling. His tongue was diving into Mateo’s
mouth, and he swore he was going to cum just from
kissing him. Mateo broke the kiss looking in Riley’s eyes.
“We should go in.”

Riley pouted then smiled. “Okay.”

“

Oh no you don’t, no sex.”

Riley pursed his lips. “Fine,”

“

Come on.” Mateo laughed, picking him up.

They spent a couple hours playing board games. They

played Monopoly, and of course Riley bought all the
good properties, making sure he’d loaded them up with
hotels. Fuck if Mateo wasn’t going to jail every other turn.
He was bankrupt within an hour, and he swore Riley was
fucking giggling every time he had to pay some
outrageous amount of money for landing on Boardwalk. It
was a sad and pathetic loss, and Mateo swore off
Monopoly with Riley in the future. Mateo pulled the
Scrabble game out, and Riley smiled. They pulled out the
tiles, and Riley set them up. Looking them over, he found
his first word and smiled, putting it down.

“

Triple word score.”

Mateo arched a brow. “Fuck?”

“

We can use those words.” Riley smiled, grabbing more

tiles.

As the game went on, Mateo was getting the hint.

Between fuck, ass, me, dick, hard and a few other choice
words, he knew how the Scrabble game was going to
end. He looked up at Riley and saw him playing with a
tile in his mouth. His tongue seemed to be folding over on
itself and Mateo swallowed hard.

“

You can tie a cherry stem with your tongue can’t you?”

Riley smiled letting his tongue do a slow sweep of his

top and bottom lip. “Yep.”

Mateo swallowed hard and gripped his dick, it felt like

iron in his shorts. “So, we should go to bed?”

“

Okay.” Riley put the game away and went to the

bedroom removing his clothing all the way down the hall

leaving a trail for Mateo.

Mateo picked the clothes up on his way to his room.

Riley was lying on his side, naked in the bed.

“

Riley…”

“

Mateo…”

“

No.”

Mateo snickered at the look of defeat on Riley’s face.

He crawled in the bed and pulled Riley in close, relishing
the musky scent of the man mixed with chlorine. “Go to
sleep you little slut.”

“

You’re naked. You can’t dangle a carrot in front of my

nose and expect me not to want a bite.” Riley grumbled.

Frowning, Mateo lifted the sheet and looked at his hard

cock. “It’s bigger than a carrot.”

“

Fucking eggplant is what it is.” Riley chortled softly.

“

Are you okay with going to a new safe house?” Mateo

smoothed Riley’s hair back and looked in his eyes.

“

Yes, but I’m glad you’re going with me. I feel safe with

you, Mateo.”

Mateo’s knuckles ran across Riley’s cheek softly. “Get

some sleep, I’m not leaving you.” Riley threw his arm
over Mateo’s chest and one leg across his mid-section.
Mateo expected to be uncomfortable, but wasn’t. Riley
felt right against him. “Good night, Riley.”

“

Good night.”

~~Chapter Eight~~

Over the next three days, Mateo was reminded of why

he hated babysitting duty. Stuck in the house watching
movies and playing board games was about to drive him
into a mental institution. Riley was just as bitchy as he
was. Mateo had kept in contact with Derek, and they
were no closer to finding the leak. After the fourth loud
sigh of boredom from Riley, Mateo had had enough.

“

That’s it, pack a bag.”

Riley looked up from his crossword puzzle. “What?”

“

Just do it, before I change my mind.”

~~

They’d been on the road for almost an hour playing

road trip games. Mateo didn’t have a clue how to play
until Riley decided to educate him on ‘I Spy’, and the
license plate game. So far, they’d found California plates
were the most repetitive, with a few Washington plates
thrown in, and the winner was a New York. With six
hours to go, Mateo knew at some point he’d have to talk
to Riley more about his life. Riley hadn’t been asking
questions, and Mateo found that he wanted to tell Riley
about some of his life. “I never fucked Derek.”

Riley was shocked at the voice. It had been quiet for

about twenty minutes, and he’d thought for sure they
would start playing another game, but they hadn’t. Now
Mateo had confided in him about something he’d been
curious about for some time. “Oh.”

“

That’s it? Oh?” Mateo looked over at him and smiled.

Riley had his hands in his lap. Mateo knew he wanted to
ask what they had done together. “He sucked my dick a
few times and I jacked him off, but that’s it. I’m not one to
hide my sexuality Riley, and Derek is. Besides, it was
never a romantic thing and I never felt for him—” Mateo
stopped himself. He’d almost said.

What I feel for you.

“

What?” Riley turned in the seat to look at him. Mateo’s

fingers were gripping the steering wheel, and Riley felt it
best to drop the subject, and fast. “Um, so… any

boyfriends?”

“

Nope, never wanted one. My life is complicated

enough without adding another person to the mix.” Which
was true, but he had been breaking that rule for some
time with Riley. They were fucking and kissing, and
Mateo wanted him all the damn time. As far as he was
concerned, Riley was his.

“

Oh.” Riley felt himself sliding lower into the seat. So,

that’s all he was, a fuck. He had thought for sure Mateo
wanted more from him. He could feel it, but he wasn’t
going to push. Riley leaned his head against the seat
and closed his eyes. Sleep came quickly.

Mateo had to stop for gas once. They grabbed drinks

and snacks and were on their way again in no time.

Back on the road, Riley was driving him crazy. He was

eating chips and the sound was irritating him. Riley would
pop the chip in his mouth then crunch so damn loud it
made Mateo’s skin crawl. “Do you always chew with your
mouth open?”

“

Do you always have to be an asshole?” Riley smiled,

popping another chip in his mouth.

“

Hey, I resemble that remark, dip shit.”

“

Dip shit?” Riley arched a brow. “Fucktard.”

“

Fuckmunch.”

The insult parade went on for another fifteen minutes,

and Mateo learned some new ones from Riley. Then
came the all too popular ‘You’re So Stupid’ jokes, but
they shied away from ‘Your Momma’ jokes. Mateo knew
about Riley’s mother from his Intel, and he wasn’t going
to bring it up before Riley did. They pulled into the Grand
Canyon around six at night and Mateo got out to stretch
his legs. Riley got out and stood in awe, overlooking the
canyon.

“

It’s so beautiful.” Riley looked over at Mateo. “I’ve

never been here, how did you know?”

“

I figured you didn’t get out a lot being the CEO of your

own company, so I took a guess that you hadn’t been
here.”

Riley made his way over and took Mateo in his arms,

giving him a tight hug; he kissed his neck and smiled.

“Thank you.”

They lugged all the gear to the camping grounds, and

Mateo set up the tent as Riley started a fire. Riley
unpacked the cooler and had to smile. On the top was
chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers. Fixings
for S’mores. God, he hadn’t had them since his Mother
died. He could hear Mateo cursing inside the tent and
then a loud cracking noise.

“

Goddammit!”

Riley suppressed a laugh and made his way over;

Mateo came out holding a broken tent pole.

“

Well that’s just great, I broke the stabilizing pole.”

Mateo frowned.

Riley looked at the broken pole and smiled. He took it

from Mateo and took off into the woods. It didn’t take long
before he’d found a tree branch roughly the same height
and thick enough to hold the fabric of the tent up. He sat
in front of the fire and pulled a knife out making a groove
in the tip small enough to slide into the notch in the tent.
Mateo sat down next to him and smiled.

“

Boy scouts?”

“

Yep, my Mom wanted me to get all the badges.” Riley

smiled, nodding his head to the cooler. “Are you making
dinner?”

“

Are you hungry?” Mateo pulled the beef patties out

and threw them on the grill in the fire pit. When he looked
up, Riley was looking right at him.

“

Yeah, I am.”

Mateo felt his temperature rise. It had to be the sultriest

look yet, and the fire light on Riley’s face was making it
that much sexier. He swallowed hard and looked at the
tree branch. “Think it will work?”

“

I’ll go test it.” Riley made his way into the tent and saw

that Mateo had already set up an air mattress for them;
he slid the branch up into the notch and hoped it would
hold. It did.

They sat around the fire eating and talking, not about

anything in particular, at first. Mateo went into more detail
about how he came into his line of work, and Riley told
him more about his childhood. Riley looked up at the sky.

him more about his childhood. Riley looked up at the sky.
It had finally gotten dark and the famous sunset was
back. There were more purple hues in the sky than any
other color tonight. It was beautiful. The sounds of the
Colorado River could be heard, as well as coyotes. “I
always wanted to come here with my mom.” Riley said it
softly.

Mateo looked up. The one thing he had wanted to ask,

and Riley was putting it out there. He didn’t know if he
should press for more or not. He didn’t remember his
parents, Riley did. “Oh?”

“

I just remember thinking, where did that truck come

from? And then it hit us. I don’t remember much, but I do
remember her telling me she loved me.”

Mateo took Riley’s hand in his. He could see the

memories in Riley’s eyes. He could hear it in the way he
sighed, the edge in his voice, the cry just under the
surface waiting to pass the eyelashes and fall. “I’m sorry
Riley.”

Riley tried to smile; he felt Mateo’s hand in his and

threaded their fingers together. “It’s okay. It was fourteen
years ago and sometimes I think about her at night you

know? When I couldn’t sleep and the day was shitty,
she’d have some stupid remark that made me laugh.
Something like, “Well at least you didn’t get kicked in the
nuts.”

Mateo chuckled and pulled Riley into his lap. “She was

right; a kick to the testicles is painful.”

“

So is death when you are the one to survive.” Riley

looked in Mateo’s eyes and could see the guilt in them.
Guilt for what he had almost done. Riley leaned in and
kissed his lips softly, running his hands through Mateo’s
thick black hair. “Let’s make S’mores.” Riley whispered in
his ear.

Mateo couldn’t help but burst out laughing. A laugh that

came from way down deep in his gut. “Seriously? You
kiss me like that and say let’s make some marshmallow
chocolaty goodness?”

Riley looked at him and waggled his eyebrows. “I didn’t

say where I was

putting the marshmallow chocolaty

goodness.”

“

Well hell.” Mateo winked. Pulling the bag of

marshmallows out of the cooler along with the chocolate

and crackers, he gave Riley a stick and they toasted their
marshmallows over the fire. “How come yours are always
golden brown and mine are black?” Mateo looked at
Riley’s marshmallow. It was toasted to a golden brown
and perfect.

“

Here.” Riley used his fingers to slide the marshmallow

off his stick, and fed it to Mateo. “How’s that?”

Mateo pulled Riley to his lips and kissed him. Riley’s

mouth opened immediately and they shared the
marshmallow between them. “Mmm… damn that tastes
better with you on it.” Mateo licked Riley’s lip. “It’s like a
whole new dessert, just for me.”

Riley pulled away from the kiss and felt Mateo’s

fingertips under his chin pulling his face up. He looked
into very warm hazel eyes and saw something in them;
something he wanted to say was love but was too afraid
to even think it. Mateo leaned in again and this time the
kiss was even softer. A feather- light touch to his lips was
followed by Mateo’s tongue sliding over his bottom lip.
He opened his mouth and Mateo slid in, warm and soft
like silk. Fingers at the nape of his neck with a hand
strategically placed at the base of his spine, and Riley
was in Mateo’s arms walking toward the tent. And then
the pleasure came in waves. Mateo’s tongue all over his

body, hands in his hair, on his face, stroking his dick and
as soon as he would catch his breath Mateo would take it
from him again. It started with soft wet kisses trailed
down his chest and gentle suckling on his dick. Then
there were tongues swirling, hands stroking and then the
gentle pressure of Mateo sliding in. All was right with the
world, now that Mateo Esposito was making love to him.
Riley felt it in every thrust, every kiss, every whispered
word followed by a soft sigh and a gentle caress. When
the release came it was just as sweet as any candy he’d
ever tasted, and he rode the wave as it came and kept
on coming.

“

Oh God, Mateo…” Riley’s body shuddered as his

orgasm flowed. He gripped Mateo tighter and wrapped
his arms around his neck.

“

I know…” Mateo could feel Riley’s heartbeat on his

chest. He’d never felt like that with another human being.
The connection had been so strong it was like they were
one person; moving together, moaning together and
coming together as one. He closed his eyes and listened
to Riley’s even breaths until it lulled him to sleep.

~~Chapter Nine~~

Morning had them trekking down the Canyon and

Mateo felt it everywhere. It’s not like he wasn’t ready for
it, but the downward grade of the Canyon reminded him
that at some point, they would have to head back up.
Riley loved it! It didn’t seem to faze him one bit, and
Mateo wanted to trip him for it. He smiled and smacked
his ass instead. They went down a good two miles before
Mateo reminded Riley it was two miles back up.

They had made love last night, or rather; Mateo had

made love to Riley last night. For the first time in his life
he had feelings for someone. They’d lain there looking
into each other’s eyes and not a word was spoken.
They’d just exchanged soft kisses between them until
they both fell asleep. Mateo knew he was on dangerous
ground; he’d never fallen in love. Never wanted to, in
fact. And now he knew he was falling in love with Riley.
They had about a mile to go when Mateo’s back up cell
rang showing Derek’s number. He sat on a rock and
answered the phone.

“

What’s up?”

Derek’s voice came through with a slightly panicked

tone. “Are you guys okay?”

Mateo looked at Riley. “We aren’t there, we took a side

trip. You know me and safe houses Derek. Am I
grounded?” Mateo chuckled softly.

“

Look, the motion sensors went off around the house,

Mat. Someone knows where you are with Riley. Stay
where you are and I’ll call you right back.”

Mateo snapped his phone shut and looked at Riley. He

was covered in sweat, and hot damn the man looked fine
as all hell. “Motion sensors went off around the house.”

“

You think they found us?” Riley sat down next to him

and smoothed Mateo’s hair from his forehead.

“

I don’t know. There’s tons of wild life around his

property. Javelina’s, bobcats, it could be a fucking quail
for all I know, but we aren’t going back there until I know
for sure it’s safe. I’m not taking chances with your life
Riley.” It was better to play it down for him. The last thing
Mateo needed on his hands was a stressed out Riley

Mateo needed on his hands was a stressed out Riley
Flynn. God, Riley’s blue eyes entranced his ass every
time. Mateo leaned in and their lips met softly.

“

I know. I trust you Mateo.” Riley pulled away slowly,

looking in his eyes. “We should head back up we still
have a mile to go.”

By the time they hit the top ridge, the sun was going

down. They both grabbed a change of clothing and made
their way to the showers. Riley stood under the warm
spray and let the water massage his sore muscles. He
hurt all over, but it felt good too. He put his head back
and felt fingers massaging his scalp; strong slow strokes
running through his hair, and then soaped hands running
up his abs. He leaned back into Mateo and sighed.

“

God, that feels so good.” Riley felt Mateo’s mouth on

him leaving light kisses on his shoulders and back. His
strong hands ran down Riley’s thighs, and Riley spread
his legs when Mateo’s hand pushed between them.
There were more soft touches as Mateo ran his fingers
over Riley’s balls; he leaned back further and rested his
head on Mateo’s shoulder. Slow soft strokes ran up his
hard length and Riley moaned pushing his ass even
further back into Mateo.

“

You are so beautiful, Riley.” Mateo ran his tongue

around Riley’s ear lobe as he continued his gentle
strokes of Riley’s dick, and the soft massaging on his
balls. Mateo kept his touches light, barely a whisper
across soft skin, his mouth leaving light wet kisses along
Riley’s neck. His hand stroked Riley from root to tip,
squeezing softly around the crown he ran his thumb over
the top, feeling the pre-come leaking from his slit. “Turn
around.”

Riley turned and Mateo sank to his knees in front of

him. He felt Mateo’s mouth on him and knew it was going
to be a very short blow job. Mateo had worked him up so
tight he was going to unwind really, really fast. Fingers
pushed up, searching for his sweet spot. Mateo took him
in deep, opening his throat and swallowing Riley up.
Fisting his hands in Mateo’s hair, Riley’s head whipped
back and a low growl rolled from his throat. Mateo’s
tongue ran up the underside of his pulsing cock, and he
felt his balls filling. With Riley’s toes curling and his
fingers gripping tight, the explosion came, almost
knocking him on his ass. His hips jerked and bucked into
Mateo’s mouth as he emptied into the back of Mateo’s
throat with a shout.

Mateo made his way up slowly and ran his hands over

Riley’s ass. “Fuck if I’m not addicted to you.”

Riley’s legs went out and Mateo caught him easily. He

turned the shower off, wrapping them both up in towels.
Mateo made his way back to the tent with Riley wrapped
in his arms, face hidden in his neck. He put Riley down
and pulled boxers on him, then went about putting his
own on and crawled onto the bed, pulling Riley into his
arms. He ran his face through Riley’s hair, breathing
deep, taking in his scent. Mateo placed a soft kiss on his
lips and closed his eyes.

“

Mateo?”

Mateo looked down to see Riley’s big blue eyes

looking at him. “What is it?”

“

How long will we stay here?”

“

As long as we can.”

~~Chapter Ten~~

The next morning had them packing up and moving to

Havasupai falls. Mateo had never been there, but had
heard all the stories of how beautiful it was. They’d been
going downhill for a good mile now, and Mateo was
already groaning, thinking about how hard it was going to
be on the trip back up. They still had nine miles to go. Six
miles of the hike were flat, thank God. Riley was smiling
the whole time, his eyes took everything in. The canyon
was beautiful and Mateo couldn’t wait to get to the camp
ground. They followed the creek for what seemed like
miles. That in itself was alluring. The water was so
beautiful that Mateo wanted to jump in and stay there.
Then the waterfall came into view. Or should he say falls,
there were two. He let out a small gasp.

“

Oh my God!” Riley sat staring. The water was a

beautiful blue-green color. It poured down from the rock
like a spout, and hit the water below. “Oh, I wanna go
swimming!”

Mateo laughed and ran his arm over his sweaty brow.

“You and me both. Let’s get unpacked first.”

“

Oooh, there’s a beach, Mateo!” Riley pointed to the

white sands.

Mateo grabbed his arm, pulling him in the direction of

the camp site. They unpacked their gear first, and Mateo
put the tent on the ground. He could tell Riley was trying
to stay focused on the task at hand, but his head kept
drifting towards the sound of the waterfalls. “Oh just go
Riley, I’ll catch up.”

Riley pouted. “No, I want you to come with me.”

Mateo stripped his shirt off and smiled. He grabbed

Riley’s arm and pulled him into his chest. “Fine, but I’m
fucking you under that waterfall.”

Riley smiled and licked Mateo’s lips slowly. “Okay.”

Just hitting the cool water had Mateo moaning. God, it

felt so good. His muscles started to relax and he let
himself float. There weren’t many people around, but that
didn’t surprise him. The hike down to the falls was an
attack on your body. Every muscle hurt and screamed as
he moved. Riley was under the waterfall running his

hands through his hair and Mateo swam over to him. He
placed a soft kiss on Riley’s belly button. “Sexy.”

“

A few more hours and then we can come back out

here. Alone.”

“

Mmm….but you taste so good now.” Mateo ran a hand

up Riley’s thigh, brushing his cock.

Riley jumped over Mateo and hit the cool water, going

under. He felt a hand on his ankle and was pulled back
up into Mateo’s warmth. His hands went around Mateo’s
neck, and then Riley entwined his legs around his waist
as their lips met in a feverish kiss.

“

I’m hungry.” Riley licked the inside of Mateo’s mouth.

“

Fuck, so am I.” Mateo crushed him to his chest,

deepening the kiss. Things were getting out of hand, and
fast.

Riley squeezed Mateo’s hand and felt it reciprocated.

They made their way back to the campsite, and Mateo
finished the tent as Riley once again, made the fire. Riley
placed the chicken on the grill and brushed the barbeque

sauce on with a fork. He watched as Mateo finished
cleaning up, then took a seat next to him and cracked
open a bottle of water.

“

Who was your first kiss, Mateo?” Riley took the bottle

from him taking a quick sip.

Mateo smiled and kissed Riley softly, taking the bottle

back. “You.”

“

Don’t lie.” Riley smacked his hand.

Mateo sighed and sat back, watching the blue flames

in the fire. “It was my foster brother Mark, who was
yours?”

Riley nestled into Mateo’s shoulder. “Jenifer Evans, we

were playing truth or dare, and I was dared to kiss her.”

Riley let out a soft chuckle, kissing Mateo’s neck.

Mateo’s eyes closed as Riley ran his tongue up his

jaw, and slid swiftly into Mateo’s lap. Mateo gripped him
at the nape of the neck and pulled him up making their
way to the tent. Riley dropped, grabbed the lube, and lay
down.

down.

“

I thought we were going to do it under the falls?”

Mateo watched Riley putting the lube on his finger.

“

We are, but I need to prepare.”

“

Please, let me.” Mateo took the lube from Riley and

squeezed some onto his fingers. When he looked up,
Riley was already preparing himself. Two of Riley’s digits
were already pressed up inside him. Mateo took Riley’s
hand and replaced it with his own. Sliding his fingers in,
he rubbed up, finding Riley’s pleasure zone immediately.

“

Mateo…that feels so good.” Riley spread his legs out

wide and welcomed Mateo’s fingers.

“

Damn, you’re tight.” Mateo removed his fingers,

hearing the soft whine from Riley at the sudden loss.
Mateo pulled Riley up and took his hand. They snuck
quickly down to the waterfalls. A quick look around told
them they were the only ones out tonight, and Mateo
picked Riley up, taking him in. They made their way
under the falls as Riley pulled Mateo’s swim shorts down
freeing his cock. His own shorts were down and hanging

off one leg as he positioned Mateo where he wanted him
and slid down, feeling heat shooting up his tunnel.

“

Oh…fuck Mateo.” Riley wrapped his arms around

Mateo’s neck and the two of them worked together. Legs
tight around Mateo’s waist, Riley pushed down as Mateo
pushed up.

Mateo managed to keep a slow grind as Riley wrapped

around him, holding on. The friction in the water was
making it hard for him to keep his balance, so he walked
them towards shore, Riley still hanging on. Once back on
land, Mateo fumbled his way back to the tent with Riley
attacking his mouth. He barely made it to the bed and
they fell onto it together. He slid back in to Riley’s warmth
with a satisfied sigh, and swiveled his hips, setting off a
slow low groan from Riley. A deep stroke and Mateo
angled himself higher, thrusting in. Mateo got his rhythm
hitting Riley at all different angles, throwing his leg up
over his shoulder and pulling him in closer. The slapping
of skin loud in the tent, Mateo closed his eyes and felt
every fucking ridge in Riley’s ass. Every small movement
of muscle had Mateo’s cock throbbing as he held on. “Oh
God, Riley…you feel so good.”

“

Harder…Mateo…” Riley panted.

Wave after sweet wave hit Riley. His ass was

clenching and unclenching around Mateo’s cock. The
buildup in his balls was so fierce he wanted to cry and let
go, screaming like a fucking banshee. Mateo pounded
him into the fucking air mattress and he swore he heard a
soft hiss. Mateo’s hand wrapped around his cock, and
Riley felt the slamming rhythm slow down to a gentle
thrust. His stomach quivered and his fucking toes curled
as Mateo pumped his cock.

When release finally came, Riley could hear

everything. Mateo’s loud groan mixed with the sound of
the water from the falls, and his breath in his throat as he
came, crying out. Ropes of ejaculate shot up his chest
and over Mateo’s hand. Riley’s eyes closed, and he
concentrated on his breathing as Mateo licked his chest
and made his way down, trailing his tongue across his
abs. Riley wanted to say it.

Needed to say it, because

God help him, he was in love. He wanted Mateo to know
that another human being loved him, no matter what he
did, because he was one hell of a man.

“

Mateo?” Riley whispered. Almost hoping Mateo

wouldn’t hear him, so that he wouldn’t have to say the
one thing that might drive Mateo away and keep him from

Riley’s grasp forever.

“

Hmmm.”

“

Good Night.”

“

Good Night, Riley.”

~~Chapter Eleven~~

Mateo woke to his cell phone ringing. Grabbing it, he

exited the tent so as to not wake Riley.

“

Hello?”

“

Hey Mat, it’s Derek.”

“

What’s the word?”

“

Get down to the FBI office in Phoenix. We are

transferring Riley today.”

“

We’ll be there in about four hours.”

“

Where in the fuck are you?” Derek looked at the time.

“

Just be ready.” Mateo hung up and looked at the sun

rising. They needed to get on the road. He opened the
tent flap and watched Riley sleep. Riley had become
much more to him than he’d bargained for. He kissed
him, slept with him and made love to him. Mateo had
never made love to anyone. He fucked them and left. He
couldn’t imagine not seeing and being with Riley every
second of everyday.

What is wrong with me?

After a hot shower then a cold one; after fantasizing

about Riley, Mateo got dressed in jeans and a tight black
t-shirt. The perks of being the non-A-Team? No uniform.
Riley was still sleeping at six, and Mateo crawled up the
bed hovering over him. He kissed Riley’s shoulder
making his way closer to those perfect lips. Mateo
nudged Riley’s cheek with his nose and heard a soft
sigh. “Hey you.”

Riley opened his eyes. Stretching, he said. “Hi, what

time is it?”

“

Six, Derek called. We need to go to the office today.

So, let’s go eat and get on the road.”

After they’d eaten, Riley grabbed what clothing he had

and left for the shower building. Quickly rinsing off, he
grabbed his toiletries and left the building. He stopped to
take one last look at the beautiful view of the canyon. He
would miss it here. He made his way back to the tent site
and helped Mateo clean up. As they were putting the
dishes away Mateo pulled Riley into him and tilted his
face up with his fingertips.

“

You okay?”

“

Truthfully, my stomach’s all knotted up.” Riley closed

his eyes as Mateo’s lips brushed his in a feather light
kiss.

“

I got you something.” Mateo pulled the tracking

bracelet from his pocket and handed it to Riley.

Riley looked at it. It was a silver bracelet with his name

on it. He looked up and smiled. “It’s beautiful, thank you.”

“

I know it’s not gold or platinum, but it serves a

purpose. It’s a tracking bracelet. If anything happens to
you, I will be able to find you. I want to keep you safe.”
Mateo looked in his eyes. His hand went to Riley’s face,
and his thumb caressed his cheek. It was that look of
awe on Riley’s face that always tugged at him. The guy
could have whatever he wanted in life, but a piece-of-shit
silver bracelet made the guy almost cry.

Riley ran his fingertip over his name and looked at

Mateo. “Can you put it on me?”

Mateo put the bracelet on and turned it over so that

Riley’s name was facing up. Riley was giving him that
look again. Mateo leaned in, and their lips met. Slow and
soft at first, and then it became more urgent. It was one
of those kisses that had you wondering which side was
up, and trying to catch your breath like you just ran a 5K.
Riley’s mouth was like the transporter on the Enterprise.
It felt like his whole body was being torn apart and then
put back together piece by piece. So yeah, he was a bit
of a Trekkie, but he could almost hear Scotty screaming,
“He’s giving you all he’s got!” Mateo broke the kiss,
looking into Riley’s eyes. “Ready?”

“

Yes.”

The freeway was busy as they passed through

Flagstaff, then it lightened up a bit. The car ride was
quiet as Mateo thought about what was going to happen.
He played everything over and over in his mind. They
would go over the plan again and again, but Mateo’s
stomach kept churning. If anything happened to Riley, he
would never forgive himself. Mateo looked over at Riley;
he was clasping his hands together and chewing on his
bottom lip. Anxiety poured off the man. Mateo took Riley’s
hand in his own and squeezed, hoping to calm him a bit.

They passed the signs for the airport, and Mateo

watched as the traffic slowed down to a crawl. He pulled
off the 17 and onto the side roads to the office. Mateo
scanned as much of the area as he could and checked
his rearview mirror to see if they were being followed. He
turned onto Indian School Road and waited to see if
anyone turned with him. Another turn onto North Second
Ave and Mateo could feel Riley trembling in the seat.

“

Hey, it’s okay.”

“

Don’t leave my side okay?” Riley looked at Mateo,

pleading with his eyes.

“

I won’t leave you, Riley.” Mateo pulled through to the

security gate and punched in his code. The gate opened
slowly and Mateo pulled in, parking at the rear of the
building. Mateo got out of his car and looked around
before getting Riley out and escorting him to the building
at nearly a run. They made their way into the building
and were escorted through security. Mateo set the
machine off and one of the guards looked at him.

“

Give me your sidearm sir.”

Mateo flashed his badge. “Um, fuck no, dick head.”

James came out of the elevator and smiled. “Let Mr.

Esposito through George. He’ll kill you before you get his
gun, and then we’ll have to call the carpet cleaners in.”
Agent Pruitt chuckled. “How are you Riley? Everything
go okay?”

“

Yes, thank you, Special Agent Pruitt.”

“

Call me James please.” James shook Riley’s hand.

His eyes met with Mateo’s and he saw something
unfamiliar in them. Fear? “Mateo, what’s up?”

“

Nothing.” Mateo looked around the lobby. “Can we

just get a move on?” Mateo took Riley’s hand in a firm
grip and looked into his eyes. “I’m right here, okay?”

They passed another security desk and James

punched in his code for the elevator. The elevator doors
opened and they all stepped on. There were three other
men in there with them besides Agent Pruitt, and Mateo
kept Riley secured behind him. His eyes darted back and
forth noting where their guns were and monitoring every
damn breath in the elevator. They got off on the second
floor and made their way to the conference room. James
opened the door for them and Mateo walked in first,
making sure Riley was behind him. His eyes caught
Derek first. He was sitting at the head of the table with
two other military men flanking him. Men in suits took up
the other six chairs, and James took the last seat. Mateo
narrowed his eyes at one of the suited men, and the man

got up, giving his seat to Riley.

“

So.” Derek cleared his throat. “This is how things will

go down this morning. You will be escorted by Downey,
Phillips, Ripley and Lyons to the safe house by van.”
Derek nodded towards the suited men. “They are
qualified in every way for this Mateo, so don’t even try to
argue.”

“

We’ll leave as soon as we get all the details of the

transfer ironed out.” James looked at Riley. “Anything
you need we can provide, and Mr. Esposito will be with
you at all times, Mr. Flynn.”

“

Damn right I will be.” Mateo squeezed Riley’s hand.

They spent at least an hour going over the safe house

location. Only trusted men would be allowed anywhere
near Riley.

They were escorted back down the hall and loaded

onto the elevator. Mateo stood with Riley in the back,
looking from one man to another, all armed. There were

at least fifteen people crowded into the elevator and the
more floors they went down, the more Mateo had a
sinking feeling in his gut. He felt Riley’s hand in his, and
looked over when Riley squeezed it. He had a quizzical
look on his face, and Mateo tried to smile. Something
was eating at him. The hair on the back of his neck was
standing straight up, and the sinking feeling got worse.

They came out on the bottom floor parking garage and

Mateo looked up. There were cameras everywhere, and
the large group moved towards an unmarked white van.
Now his skin was on fire, and warning flares went off in
his head. They got into the van and waited for the FBI
Ford Excursion to pull out first. Another Excursion pulled
in behind them, and the procession left the parking
garage. Once the van turned onto Indianola Ave, Mateo
was sweating fucking bullets. He looked at the James in
the front seat. “Something’s wrong.”

“

What?” James turned around.

Mateo saw the suburban pulling in front of the

procession of cars and looked behind them to see more
cars blocking them in. “Shit! We’re blocked in!” Mateo

grabbed his gun and pushed Riley down onto the floor of
the van. Mateo saw men coming at them with rifles and
masks, and then the air around them turned white. Mateo
felt the van tremble and a loud hissing could be heard.
“Goddammit, they blew out the fucking tires!” Mateo
looked at all the FBI men exiting the cars and opening fire
on the men in the street. Ripley and Lyons were running
across the busy road, taking fire and firing back.
Pedestrians were running for cover, and Mateo was
looking around trying to find a way to protect Riley.

“

Get Riley back to the building, Mateo!” James

shouted.

Mateo exited the van with Riley; the air was filling with

tear gas as more men exited the vehicles. Mateo made
his way towards the building with Riley, staying low to the
ground. He covered his nose and tried to squint through
all the smoke. He saw boots coming his way, and then a
loud shot went off. “Cover your nose and mouth!” Mateo
shouted, grabbing Riley’s hand tighter. They stayed
close to the ground trying to make a run for the building.
He felt a white hot pain shoot through his left arm and
lost his grip on Riley. As he was yanked from him, he
heard Riley shouting.

“

Mateo!”

“

Riley!” Mateo ran through the smoke coughing.

“Riley!”

“

Mateo!”

“

Where are you?” Mateo couldn’t see shit. The smoke

was so damn thick. He felt the bile rising in his throat
when he couldn’t find Riley. “Riley!”

“

Mateo! I’m here!” Riley felt the burn in his throat, and

his eyes were watering. He felt a hand on his arm and
looked up. It wasn’t Mateo. A man with a gas mask had
him in a vice-like grip. “Let go of me!”

Mateo heard Riley’s panicked voice and ran toward it.

The smoke was so thick he could barely see. “Riley!
Where are you?”

“

Some asshole’s got a hold of me!” Riley struggled and

punched the guy in the face; he felt a white hot pain in
his own, as knuckles hit his eye. “Mateo!”

“

Goddammit!” As Mateo ran, he saw a black van. Riley

was being thrown into the back with three more men
following him in. Mateo continued running after it through
the chaos filled street. “No!”

He was never a speed runner, but watching Riley’s

face in the back of that van with his hand pressed to the
window, Mateo felt a new found adrenaline rush. He ran
after the van, out into the intersection, and right into
oncoming traffic. The van went up on two wheels, and
Mateo kept after it trying to shoot out the tires. The van
hit the pavement and the driver opened her up. Mateo
kept running, Riley’s face was still pressed to the window
…and then he was gone. The van turned the corner and
Mateo couldn’t keep up. He sank to his knees in the
middle of the street, oblivious to the cars honking at him,
and threw up.

He was vaguely aware of being in the middle of the

road a few minutes later. A car came to a screeching halt

in front of him and the driver got out yelling something at
him. Mateo pointed his gun at the man’s head and the
guy got back in his car in a fucking hurry. Sirens. He
could hear sirens and voices shouting at him, but couldn’t
distinguish the voices. Someone was going to pay, Riley
was gone. He had failed to protect him, and now Riley
was gone.

“

Mateo!” Derek shook him. He was in a daze and blood

was pouring out of his arm. Mateo’s shirt was soaked
with blood, vomit and sweat. Derek took his own shirt off;
applying pressure to Mateo’s wound.

“

He’s gone.” Mateo looked in Derek’s eyes. “They took

him.”

And then Mateo did the one thing he’d never done his

whole life. He fainted.

~~Chapter Twelve~~

Mateo’s eyes opened slowly and he saw a white

ceiling. The soft beeping of a heart monitor met his ears.
He looked over to his left and saw James hooked up to a
heart monitor with an IV drip. Mateo tried to sit up and felt
a pain in his left arm. He’d been shot, that much he
remembered. That and the look on Riley’s face.

“

Lay back.” Derek stood in the corner of the room.

Face white, bags under his eyes.

“

Where am I?” Mateo sat up and looked around the

room.

“

St. Joseph’s Medical. You got lucky, the bullet just

grazed you.” Derek made his way over. “Riley’s gone.”

“

No shit, captain obvious.” Mateo yanked the IV line out

and got out of bed.

“

That’s General Obvious to you.” Derek tried to smile.

“I’m sorry, Mateo. I thought he’d be safer—”

“

Well he’s not is he?” Mateo shouted. “He was safer

with me!”

Derek knew that look, it was the same look of rage

Mateo had on every mission they had ever been on. The
man would scour the earth to find Riley, even if it killed
him. “You’re in love with him.” Derek said it quietly.

Mateo grabbed his pants, yanking them on. He hissed

through the pain of putting his shirt on. He turned and
looked at Derek. Mateo knew Derek had done everything
in his power to help. He couldn’t bring himself to be
pissed at him; they’d been friends a long time. “Yeah, I
love him.”

“

Look Mat, there’s some shit I need to tell you and

you’re not going to like it.”

Mateo sat down on the bed. “What shit?”

“

Remember when I said Riley had been through every

security measure we had?”

“

Yeah.”

“

He has access to classified documents…”

Mateo’s brain processed the information for a second,

and he stood up. “Are you shitting me? These people
could torture him for what he knows!”

“

That’s not all.” Derek hung his head.

“

Oh shit, there’s more?” Mateo shouted.

Derek leaned against the wall and sighed deeply, lifting

his head. “We got a clear picture of the man that took a
shot at the two of you. His name is Nassir Rigel.”

Mateo blinked and his mouth dropped open. “Oh no,

please tell me he’s no relation…”

“

To Zaman. Yes, it’s his son.” Derek watched as

Mateo’s body started shaking in anger. “We know now,
that he had someone helping him access the files. He
knows who you are, and figured he’d take out two birds
with one stone. He hadn’t banked on you getting out of
his sights and rescuing Riley. Now he’ll hold him for
ransom. Not only for the chips, but for what Riley knows.”

“

We have to get him back. Derek, I promised him.”

Mateo’s heart was pounding and the panic hit. “I
promised…”

“

Well then, what’s first?” Derek grabbed his jacket.

“

He’s got a tracking bracelet on, so first stop is your

house to get the monitor.” Mateo looked at James and
then back at Derek. “Is he going to make it?”

“

Yes. He was shot in his leg. They missed his artery by

inches.” Derek stood over Pruitt with a small smile on his
face, running his thumb over the soft, thin skin on the top
of Pruitt’s hand.

Mateo looked at Derek; the way he was looking at

Pruitt spoke volumes. “You care about him.”

Derek straightened up and pulled his jacket on. “Let’s

go.”

~~

The drive back to Benson was quiet as Mateo looked

out the window. Riley was gone. The look on Riley’s face
as the van drove away, was one of pure panic. Mateo felt
the bile rising in his throat as he thought about what
could be happening to him right now. They pulled into the
driveway, and Mateo went straight into the house and
grabbed the monitor off the dresser. His eye caught the
purple hippo on the freshly made bed and he felt his
heart ache. His vision was getting blurry and he realized
he was crying. He was fucking crying, for the first time in
his life.

“

Mateo?”

Mateo wiped his eyes and took one last look around.

“Let’s go.”

~~Chapter Thirteen~~

As Riley opened his eye, he felt a blast of heat,

instantly followed by the worst smell he’d encountered in
his life. It smelled like someone had taken a shit on a
cookie sheet, and put it in the oven on four hundred
degrees. The sweat was pouring down his back and
Riley could taste blood on his lips. His right eye was
swollen shut; fuck, the whole right side of his face was in
pain. He looked down and saw his hands tied to a chair,
the bracelet still on his wrist. His heart ached thinking
about Mateo.

When he’d been ripped from Mateo’s grip, his first

thought was that Mateo was hurt. In Riley’s panic to find
him, he’d been grabbed. The look on Mateo’s face as he
chased the van was of fear, and he knew Mateo was
blaming himself right now. Riley tried to keep himself
calm as he looked around the room. There were guns
lined up against the wall, and hand grenades as well as
rocket launchers were spread out in a row on the floor.

The room was dark, but he knew the floor was dirt. He
could see logs in the wall, covered in mud; and
something that looked like a window. Nothing but desert
as far as the eye could see. Riley’s throat was sore, and
tasted like it was full of cotton. He could hear men talking
somewhere in the building, and it sounded Arabic. One of
the men walked in the room and looked at him. The man
grabbed a newspaper and made his way over.

“

Mr. Flynn, Good morning.”

“

Where am I?” Riley looked up at him. The guy was

maybe five foot nine, black curly hair with eyes just as
dark. A full growth of beard hung from his face.

“

That is not important, please hold this.”

Riley looked at the newspaper in his hand and saw that

two days had gone by. “You want the chips.”

“

But of course we do, now please smile for the

camera.”

Riley snorted. “Fuck you.”

“

If you do not cooperate, we will kill Mr. Esposito.”

Riley’s head jerked up. “What?”

“

Ah, now that I have your attention, smile for the fucking

camera.”

Riley slumped in the chair and felt the tears coming.

They had Mateo. His stomach was churning and he felt
the back of his throat start to burn. A flash went off; he
felt a pain in his head, and then nothing.

~~*~~

Mateo let out a loud exasperated sigh. The government

liked to have their meetings and talk and talk and talk; he
wanted to take action

now. Riley had been gone for two

days and the monitor was giving him a clear signal where
he was. He looked down at the photocopied picture of

Riley and felt his heart lurch. His face was black and
blue, one eye closed shut and a split lip. Riley had a
newspaper in his hands and he looked scared to death.
Mateo closed his eyes and stood up.

“

This is all well and good, but the longer you all stand

around discussing the how and when, the less chance
we have of finding Riley alive. God forbid, he’s probably
being tortured for what he knows. So you’ll excuse me
when I say fuck all of you, I’m leaving to rescue him
myself, whether you like it or not.”

“

Mateo.” Derek looked at him; he knew Mateo would go

on his own and probably get himself killed in the process.

“

No Derek, I’m going out there and bringing him back

with or without help.” Mateo heard the loud slam of the
door and looked up to see the rest of his team filing into
the room. Josh front and center, flanked by Sam and
Troy.

Josh smiled manically. “Where’s the party? We heard a

rumor about some ass that needs kickin’, so here we

are.”

“

Thank fucking God.” Mateo let out a loud sigh of relief.

“Hey Josh.”

The nagging thought of what might be happening to

Riley kept him from relaxing too much. Now as he stood,
staring at the men he’d fought with and bled with, he
finally had a sense of hope. Josh Montgomery was one
hell of a bad ass, and Mateo smiled. Josh hadn’t
changed. All six foot three of the man was still intact, as
well as his short buzz cut, blonde hair and fierce green
eyes. The many tattoos surrounding his biceps were
intentionally visible.

“

We get that a lot,” Josh smiled putting his hand out.

“Damn good to see you, Mat. When General ‘Fuck it’
called, we jumped on the first plane out. As always,
ready, willing and able.” Mateo looked like shit. Josh’s
eyes scanned the room and he winked at Derek.

Mateo laughed. That was the most perfect description

of Derek he’s ever heard. Every time they got in a sticky

situation, Derek would say “Fuck it” and in they went,
guns blazing. The rest of the guys were lining up behind
him, all armed to the hilt and in full uniform. Mateo had
never been so happy to see them.

“

I brought some of the guys with me. You remember

Troy and Sam, don’tcha, Mat?” Josh walked over to
Mateo and put his arm around him.

Mateo put his hand out. Sam Waters and Troy Bishop

were the biggest guys on their team and had earned a
much deserved reputation for their methods. Just like the
rest of the team, they had no mercy. “Holy shit, did you
guys have your Wheaties?”

“

Every day my friend.” Sam fist bumped Mateo and

winked.

“

I believe we have a team.” Mateo looked at the men in

the room.

James smiled crossing his arms. “Get the cleanup crew

on the phone, Mateo Esposito and the Skull Blasters are

on their way.”

“

Hooah!”

~~*~~

Riley was tossed into the shower naked, and a bar of

soap was thrown at him. A man stood on the outside of
the shower with a gun, leering at him. Riley turned his
back and started washing his face. He could see the
water running red from his head, and knew they’d hit him.
His head was aching, he hurt all over, and he’d barely
eaten in the last seventy two hours. Riley knew someone
had seen the picture of him by now, but he wasn’t
holding out much hope. The Government had the
coveted chips and Mateo was being held captive
somewhere. They wouldn’t come running for him anytime
soon, he was just a guy with a lot of money.

Riley leaned against the shower wall and thought

about Mateo. He was in love with him. He had been for a
while now. He should have told him. The thought of
never seeing Mateo again had him crying softly in the
shower. Wiping his eyes, he decided he wasn’t going to
let them break him. If he died, then so be it. Riley wasn’t

really alive right now anyway. The thought of Mateo dead
or hurt was crippling him.

“

You are done.”

Riley turned to see the man with the beard looking at

him. The man’s eyes traveled up and down Riley’s body,
and Riley felt the urge to throw up on him. He grabbed
his towel and wrapped it around his hips, covering
himself as he got out. Riley heard shouting, and then two
more men ran in the room grabbing his arms. “Get him on
the chopper!”

“

What’s going on?” Riley held the slipping towel across

his mid-section. He felt something crack across the base
of his skull, and then blackness.

~~*~~

Mateo was boarding a C-130 when the monitor went

off, telling him Riley was moving. He looked up at Derek.
“They are moving him, find out why.”

The rest of the men spread out. Mateo sat back in the

seat and listened to the roar of the engines as the plane
started up and moved down the runway. He felt a hand
slip into his and looked over to see Josh looking at him
with a small smile.

“

We’ll get him back.”

Mateo closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “I have to. I

promised to protect him, and look what happened.”

“

Hey man, you did the best you could.” Josh looked at

Mateo. The guy was head over heels in love, and it
showed all over his face. When they’d first found out
Mateo was gay, it’d been a shock, but that was it. They
all respected him, and Josh knew they’d go into battle
with Mateo any day of the week.

“

If anything happens to him…” Mateo almost choked on

the words. He looked at his duffle bag, and saw the hint
of purple fabric and one eye from the hippo. Riley’s
hippo.

“

It won’t, you know how we get when we don’t have our

caffeine, Mat.” Josh squeezed his hand. “I’m so irritated
right now.”

Mateo tried to smile. “Yeah? So am I.”

~~*~~

A quick stop in Germany had them refueled and back

on their way. Their next stop was Baghdad; they’d take a
military convoy to their final destination. Al Maghayar was
a small town on the border of Jordan and Syria. Derek
had information leading them here. They’d moved Riley
after a local group attacked them. Riley’s bracelet was
giving off a strong signal, and Mateo could only hope he
wasn’t hurt, or that they weren’t just transporting a body.
His stomach lurched at the thought, and he put his head
between his knees.

Josh sat with Derek, watching Mateo. He looked over

at Derek and smiled. “He finally fell in love.”

Derek smiled at the man he’d met at eighteen. Mateo

had come a long way since then. He had gotten out of
the military and gone into the business of killing people;
only to have the one mark he couldn’t kill become the
man that finally captured his heart. Mateo Esposito had
finally fallen in love. “Stubborn ass.” He murmured.

Derek’s eyes fell on James. He was sitting back with

his eyes closed, so Derek studied his face. He knew
Pruitt had been in the Army four years before he’d left for
bigger and better things, but Derek wasn’t comfortable
with him coming along for the ride. It was going to get
bumpy and he was already nursing a bad leg. Derek
excused himself, and went to sit next to James.

“

Stop staring at me.” James smiled without opening his

eyes.

“

James.” Derek looked at him; he looked so small just

then. “I don’t like this. You haven’t been in combat for
years.”

“

Calm down, Girl Scout, I’m just your eyes and ears on

this one.”

Derek wanted to run his hands through that hair just to

see how soft it was, but he knew he couldn’t. Not with his
whole team on the plane in close quarters.

“

Okay, good.”

James opened his eyes and looked at him. “Gee, for a

second there it sounded like you cared about me.”

Derek frowned, his brow crinkling. “That’s not fair, you

know I do.”

James sighed and sat back, closing his eyes. “But not

in that way.”

Derek sighed. He did care about him in that way, a

whole hell of a lot in that way. Fuck.

~~~

On the other side of the plane, the rest of Mateo’s team

was getting their gear on. Josh sat back with Troy and
Sam, watching the rest of the guys. Ten of the Army’s
best Rangers were called in to assist. Not that they
needed the help, but they took it anyway. This wasn’t
new territory for them; rescue missions were part of the
norm. This one was different in a big way, however. They
were going to rescue the man Mateo was in love with.

“

It’s going to get bloody.” Josh sat with Sam and Troy,

watching Mateo sharpen his knife.

“

When isn’t it?” Troy sat back closing his eyes.

“

Mateo’s not going to stop until he’s killed everyone.”

Sam crossed his arms over his chest.

Josh looked at Troy and Sam. “Then I guess we’ve got

his back, same as always.”

~~Chapter Fourteen~~

They landed in Baghdad and went to the nearest Army

camp. Fortunately, Derek was still in charge of this
particular piece of sand. They hit the command center
first. Mateo paced back and forth as Derek waited for the
drone to feed them aerial pictures of Riley’s coordinates.
Josh and the rest of the guys stood at parade rest, hands
behind their backs. Waiting.

“

This is taking too long.” Mateo looked outside at the

camp. Soldiers were doing PT. It was still early morning
here, too early. Mateo needed another damn cup of
coffee. Lord knew he missed it sometimes. The regimen,
being part of a team; but now, he looked at all the guys
running around and almost felt sorry for them. They were
risking their lives on a daily basis, even though most
people didn’t appreciate it.

“

You know this is the best way, Mateo. We need the

schematics of the building before we run in guns blazing.
We can’t risk hitting it straight on without knowing where

Riley is.” Derek looked up from the computer.

“

I just…” Mateo sighed. “I can’t just stand here and

wait.”

“

Let’s go to the range then.” Josh made his way over to

Mateo and grabbed his arm. “You know how you love
shooting people; we can use pictures of people we hate.”

Mateo tried to smile. “Politicians?”

“

Oh yeah, I like that idea.” Josh laughed and took

Mateo’s hand. “Later General. Come on guys.”

~~*~~

The minute they got Riley’s location in the structure,

Mateo went into assassin mode. They went by helicopter
to Al-Rutba, and then took a hummer the rest of the way
to Al Maghayar. Arriving under the cover of darkness,

they followed the monitor to within five miles of Riley’s
signal, and spread out on foot. Over the sounds of night,
and boots walking, Mateo could hear Josh whistling
Queen’s “Another one bites the dust.” Mateo had to
smile, Josh never changed. They hadn’t run into anyone
for a good half hour, when they met with their first batch
of resistance. Mateo and the rest of the men took them
out quietly, but kept one alive to report back that
everything was clear. The asshole wasn’t going to
cooperate until Mateo slid his knife under his balls,
promising that he would cut them off and keep him alive.
Then he was tripping over himself to help.

All in all, the fifteen man team surrounded the small

complex where Riley was being held. Derek gave them
the signal to go around back, while he, Mateo and Josh
took the side. Mateo counted at least twenty men in one
room, all eating and drinking, enjoying some down time.
He raised an eyebrow at Derek and smiled.

Derek sighed. He knew what was coming next.

Smacking Josh in the shoulder, he mouthed. “Fuck it.”

They flew into the room and Mateo took them out one

by one. Derek and Josh were on the other side, as all
hell broke loose; when Sam and Troy flew in with the
back- up team. Gun shots were going off in a constant
barrage. There was so much smoke, Mateo needed to
narrow his eyes to see who was still breathing. His eyes
made contact with a man who was limping out the door.
Mateo took off after him.

“

Mateo!” Derek tracked him running across the room.

“Goddammit! Josh, come on!”

Mateo ran down the hall and made a mental note of

how many rooms he passed. He came to the last door on
the right and kicked it down. His training had him
automatically drop and sweep the room. It was empty,
Riley had been moved. Mateo turned and saw the man
he’d been chasing slip through an open door at the other
end of the room. Mateo took off after him. As soon as the
guy realized Mateo was following him, he ran. Mateo was
running right behind him, and squeezed a round off into
the back of his leg. As soon as the asshole hit the
ground, Mateo was on him, pulling his face up. “Where
the fuck is he?”

The man started babbling in his native language, and

Mateo grabbed his hair. Pulling his neck back further, he
put a knife to it. “Fuck you, you little shit. You don’t think I
understand what you’re saying? Where the fuck is Riley
Flynn?”

~~

Riley’s head snapped up at the sound of gunshots. He

tried to get loose and couldn’t, the knots were too tight.
He jumped up and down in the chair trying to get closer
to the door but ended up falling on his side landing on his
right wrist. Pain exploded up his wrist and into his arm.
Riley bit back a scream, and rolled himself off his broken
his wrist. He bit through the pain and tried wiggling loose.
The chair had cracked on the armrest, and he managed
to get his left hand free. Riley worked on untying his right
hand as fast he could. He heard the shouting as it got
closer, and then the one voice he longed for.

“

Riley!”

“

Mateo!” Riley felt his voice go hoarse, as tears stung

the back of his throat. He tried again. “Mateo! I’m in
here!”

Riley felt someone pulling him up, and saw that the

man with the black hair and beady eyes. The asshole put
him in a head lock, pulling him to his feet. Riley tried to
fight back, but the blade nicking his throat stopped him
short. Mateo burst through the door and came to a sliding
stop.

“

Let him go Nassir, this is between you and me.” Mateo

looked at Riley. He was filthy. His chestnut brown locks
were plastered to his face with sweat, blood covered his
nose, his eye was swollen shut, and his beautiful lip was
split.

“

I do not think so, Mr. Esposito.” Nassir snarled. “You

killed my Father. I believe I have something in my
possession that means a lot to you.” Nassir slid the knife
along Riley’s throat.

“

Stop!” As Mateo moved forward, Nassir put more

pressure down on the knife. Small droplets of blood slid
down Riley’s neck. “Just…stop. Look, take me instead.”

Nassir laughed and narrowed his eyes at Mateo. “You

show your hand too easily. How much would it hurt you if
I kill him, eh?”

The loud shouts in the hallway caught their attention,

and Riley took that moment to make his move. Not
knowing what the fuck he was doing, he stomped his
right foot down on Nassir’s and elbowed him in the ribs.
Sliding out of the man’s weakened grip, he rolled off to
the side. As soon as he was clear, Mateo jumped on
Nassir. Riley ran across the room looking for anything he
could use as a weapon while Mateo and Nassir fought
each other.

“

I’m going to fucking kill you.” Mateo growled, punching

Nassir in the face and grabbing him around the neck. His
left arm still sore, he lost his grip. Nassir flipped them
over pinning Mateo down. The knife was precariously
close to his eye, and Mateo pushed back harder with his
right arm. A shot went off. Mateo looked up into Nassir’s
eyes. Blood pooled out of the side of his neck and he
was gurgling. Mateo shoved him off and slid away,
getting back on his feet. Riley stood a few feet away, gun
in hand, eyes glazed. “Riley?” Mateo crossed the
distance between them and took the gun from Riley’s

shaking hands. “Look at me.”

Riley looked deep into Mateo’s hazel eyes. “Mateo…”

Riley’s eyes went wide as another man ran into the room,
gun pointed at Mateo’s back. “No!” He pulled Mateo
around as the shot went off, and felt it hit his right
shoulder. It felt like a hot poker had been shoved through
it.

Mateo looked up with murder in his eyes as Riley

slumped into his arms. Next thing he knew, Derek and
Josh had taken the guy out. He looked down to see Riley
cradled in his arms, bleeding. “Jesus Christ Riley! What
were you thinking?” Mateo put pressure on Riley’s
shoulder. “Get on the radio! We need a chopper!”

“

Love you, Mateo.” Riley murmured. He looked up,

then everything went dark.

~~*~~

Riley woke up slowly. His throat hurt like hell, and his

shoulder was on fire. He looked over at his wrist and saw
it was in a cast. Mateo’s head was on the bed right next

to him, and he seemed to be sleeping. Riley tried to find
his voice, but ended up poking him with his free finger
instead. Mateo’s head popped up, and he smiled, seeing
Riley.

“

Hey, you’re finally awake.” Mateo’s heart raced as

Riley smiled at him. Riley was battered and bruised, but
no worse for wear. They’d had to set his wrist and pull a
bullet out of his shoulder, but hell, he was alive.

“

Where are we?” Riley’s voice came out as a harsh

whisper.

“

Germany. We had you transferred as soon as you

were stable.” Mateo ran his hand through Riley’s soft
hair. “What were you thinking taking a bullet for me? Are
you crazy?”

Riley smiled and tried to touch Mateo’s face. Mateo

leaned into his hand, helping him out. Riley looked in his
eyes. “I love you.”

Mateo looked at Riley’s angelic face and sighed.

“That’s the drugs talking.”

Riley smiled and tried to pull him in, but Mateo leaned

over and kissed him softly, trying not to hit the split in his
lip.

“

I love you Mateo.”

Mateo caressed Riley’s face and looked into his big

blue eyes. “I love you too, Riley Flynn.”

~~*~~

Over the next few days, Riley stayed in the hospital in

Germany recuperating. Mateo was making arrangements
for him to be flown back to Phoenix, to do the rest of his
recuperating at home. Riley was eating his burger when
Derek came in with a smile. He sat down next to the bed
and looked Riley over.

“

Mateo’s in the shower, I told him he smelled.”

Riley chuckled. “He’s so stubborn.”

“

He’s in love with you. It damn near killed him when

they took you.” Derek sat back, watching Riley pull the
pickles off his burger.

“

They told me they had him. I thought…” Riley shook

his head. He didn’t

want to think about it.

“

Trust me. If they’d gotten Mateo, they would have

brought him back soon after.” Derek smiled as Riley
laughed.

“

Can I ask you a question about him?”

Derek sat back and folded his arms. “Is it personal?”

“

Yes. I’ll understand if you don’t want to tell me though,

I know how much Mateo values his privacy.”

Derek laughed loud; the sound reverberated through

the small room. “Oh ask away Riley.”

“

When’s his birthday?”

“

That’s it? That’s all you want to ask?” Derek smiled at

him. Riley was blushing.

“

He won’t tell me how old he is.”

“

He’s thirty two, and his birthday is Christmas Eve. The

only reason I even know that much, is because I was his
commanding officer.” Derek heard a soft cough and
turned to see Josh in the doorway. “Hey, what’s up?”

“

Um boss, James is looking for you.” Josh winked.

“

I’ll see you soon, Riley. Take care of yourself, and

watch out for Mateo for me.” Derek shook Riley’s hand.

“

Will do, General.” Riley saluted him.

Josh sat down and looked at Riley. Big blues eyes

were smiling back at him. Jesus, no wonder Mat was so
taken with the guy. He had an innocence about him,
which made sense in a way. Mateo was far from
innocent, and maybe in some small way, being with Riley
had cleansed him a bit. “So, how are you feeling?”

Riley sat up and popped a fry in his mouth. “I’m doing

better, I think. I’ve had enough excitement to last me a
lifetime.”

“

You sure you want to be with Mat then?” Josh sat

back and chuckled.

Riley lay back and looked at his hippo. He smiled when

he thought about how Mateo had brought it with him. An
assassin, carrying a purple hippo around. “Yeah, I’m
sure.”

“

I’ll tell you what man.” Josh shook his head. “I’ve never

seen Mat like that. He’s in love with you.”

“

Josh…”

Josh rolled his eyes and smiled at Riley. “Yes Mateo?”

Josh turned in the chair and saw Mateo leaning against
the door. “You know it’s true, ya big baby.”

“

Get out, shit head.” Mateo made his way over to the

bed and smacked Josh upside the head.

Josh excused himself, laughing, giving Riley and Mateo

privacy.

Mateo sat on the edge of the bed and fed Riley a fry.

He leaned over and kissed him, licking the salt off Riley’s
bottom lip. “How’s the hippo?”

Riley laughed and looked at Mateo. His eyes were

sparkling, and he looked happy. Riley pulled Mateo onto
the bed, up against his good side, and nestled into him.
Mateo’s arms went around him and he sighed, the
warmth sinking into his bones. “Can we go back soon?”

“

Yep, I’m taking you home.” Mateo ran his hand

through Riley’s hair.

“

Really?” Riley looked up and kissed Mateo’s chin.

“

Yes. Just be prepared, the guys are coming back with

us to pull security for a while. With all the cameras and
news crews, it’s going to be a pain in the ass.”

“

As long as I have you.” Riley smiled and pulled Mateo

down to his lips.

“

You had me the minute you kissed me.”

~~*~~

Derek made his way down the hall and saw James

talking to another man. He had a cane in his hand, and
Derek could see he was trying hard not to use it. Derek
made his way over, smiling and looking at James’ nice
tight ass on the way.

Stop it. “Hey, you look better.”

James smiled and looked up at Derek. Damn, he loved

the fact that the guy stood so much taller than him. It was
fucking hotter than hell. “I’m going back with them, what
are you up to?”

“

Going to sign off on leave, and head to Steilacoom to

do some fishing.”

James tilted his head. “You go all the way to

Washington State to fish?”

“

Hell yes, I have a boat out there and I love taking it out

on the sound. You should come with.”

Oh fuck, did he

just say that out loud?

James could see the look of shock on Derek’s face,

and decided to let him off the hook. “No can do. I only
have a week off, but name one after me.” James smiled,
and made his way back down the hall.

Derek leaned up against the wall and sighed. The truth

was, he would have loved to have time spent alone with
James. The guy was funny and sexy as hell. “Fuck.”

~~Chapter Fifteen~~

Mateo sat by the pool at Riley’s house in the lounge

chair, while the Arizona heat brought a line of sweat
across his forehead. Riley was in the pool swimming.
Well, sort of. He couldn’t get his cast wet, and they spent
a lot of time arguing over Riley wanting to take it off.
They’d only been back a week, and the cast was going
to have to stay on for another five. Mateo was sure Riley
would have it off in three. When he wanted something,
those big blue peepers made you sigh and give him
whatever he wanted. God, he hated that.

Ok so that was a lie. Mateo loved that Riley could

manipulate him in to just about anything. They were
sleeping in the same king sized bed, and Mateo would
wake up every morning with Riley plastered to him like
they were sharing a single. Every morning, he’d wake
with a dick pressed against his stomach, ass, or even
one time, his face. They had also argued about sex.
Riley wanted it, and Mateo wanted to wait. Mateo smiled
at the memory.

“

No absolutely not, Riley.”

Riley pouted and licked his lips. “Please?”

“

No. No touching, sucking, feeling, teasing…”

“

What about fucking?” Smiling, Riley ran his hand up

Mateo’s thighs, cupping his cock and squeezing.

“

That’s touching, and no.”

Right now, Riley was getting out of the pool naked.

Even after being in the cold water, his cock was still long
and smacking the side of his upper thigh, hard as a
fucking rock. He could probably carve out an ice
sculpture with his dick, it was so fucking hard. Mateo felt
his mouth watering.

“

You’re fantasizing.” Riley bent over right in Mateo’s

face, grabbing his towel.

“

Not against the rules.” Mateo wanted to lick that

puckered hole, slam his cock in so hard Riley screamed
for more.

Riley ran the towel up and over his cock, then let it fall

to the ground. His hand gripped his cock and he stroked
it, letting his head fall back as he jerked and pulled his
cock hard. Making his balls tense up and crawl upwards
towards his body. “Oh fuck yeah.” Riley’s voice was
harsh and sultry.

Oh fuck me… Mateo watched Riley jacking himself off,

and felt his cock stretching the limits of his shorts. His
own cock was trying to come out and play and Mateo
kept shutting him up. Riley’s hand moved slowly up and
down stretching around, gripping in long hard strokes.
His long slender fingers brushed the tip of his cock on
the way up, and he wrapped his fingers around the
crown; squeezing, letting a loud moan escape his lips.
Drops of pre-come glistened on the beautiful, pink, cut
head.

Mateo dropped to his knees in front of Riley. God

Mateo dropped to his knees in front of Riley. God

damn, but he couldn’t stop himself. He moved Riley’s
hand out of the way and ran his tongue from the base up,
licking Riley like one big, long popsicle. His tongue
swirled around the head tasting warm pre-come on his
tongue. Mateo took Riley in until his nose was pressed
into that soft patch of hair right above his beautiful cock.
God, the smell of Riley had him jacking himself off as he
sucked and licked him. Mateo’s fingers played at Riley’s
hole, and he heard a soft groan as one pushed in,
twisting and rubbing; looking for Riley’s sweet spot.
There was a sharp intake of breath, and Mateo smiled,
mouth full of cock. Bingo, he’d found it.

Mateo’s fingers went to work, as his tongue licked and

sucked Riley until his legs were shaking. Mateo kept a
steady rhythm, and was rewarded with a hot stream of
cum down his throat, and a long harsh groan from Riley
as he emptied into Mateo’s mouth. Riley’s breaths were
shallow and ragged, as Mateo continued to suck and
tease him until he was semi hard again. Mateo pressed a
soft kiss to the tip of Riley’s cock and then made his way
back up, licking and sucking every inch of Riley until he
got to his lips. Sucking on Riley’s bottom lip, Mateo lifted
him and took him in the house.

“

That was all the rules.” Riley moaned in Mateo’s

mouth.

“

Haven’t fucked you yet.” Mateo put Riley on the bed

and took his pants down. “I’m about to break that one
too.”

Riley’s shoulder was still sore, and Mateo tried not to

move him too much. It had been over a week since they’d
been together, and Mateo wanted Riley. Like now.
Mateo’s pants were down and he was stroking himself,
watching Riley on the bed. His tongue made a sweep of
his lips, as his eyes roamed Riley’s body. Even with all
the bruising, Riley was still utter perfection. Riley was
arching his back on the bed, fingers at his balls, cradling
them in his hand.

“

Goddamn, you are so fucking hot.” Mateo climbed up

Riley’s body and took his mouth. Running his tongue
across Riley’s teeth, he plunged in, tasting him.
Mmmm…, the sweet taste of Riley Flynn. God, he would
never get tired of this man.

Riley was making things extremely hard on him. Mateo

was trying to take things easy, and Riley was pulling him
in, wrapping his legs around him. God help him. He

in, wrapping his legs around him. God help him. He
wanted to slam into Riley and

keep slamming into him

until his own eyes rolled out of his head. He wanted to
come so hard that Riley felt it in his chest. As it was, he
kept the thrusts slow and deep. The feel of Riley’s
warmth encased him as he slid back and forth in that hot,
warm tunnel, feeling every fucking ridge. The crown of
his cock sliding over Riley’s prostate made his legs
shake, and his ass clench.

“

Fuck Mateo…. Please.” Riley arched his back,

hanging onto the headboard, and brought himself down
hard on Mateo’s cock.

“

Oh fuck.” Mateo let out a hiss and grabbed Riley’s

legs, hauling them over his shoulders. His hands came
down by Riley’s head, and he slammed into him full force.

“

Ohhh. God yes!” Riley hung onto the head board,

white knuckled, teeth biting his bottom lip to keep from
screaming at the top of his lungs.

Mateo thrust into him harder, his own fingers buried in

Riley’s pillow. He pulled out, hearing a soft whine, and

thrust in again hearing Riley’s moan of need. The bed
was rocking back and forth as Mateo fucked Riley into
oblivion, every thrust harder than the previous one.
Mateo felt his balls tighten. He could feel the buildup in
his fucking spine. He held back with every ounce of
strength he had, waiting for Riley. Riley was writhing on
the bed, jacking off furiously. As Mateo thrust in once
again, he heard a loud crack. Riley’s cry reverberated
through the room, and cum splashed on his stomach. As
Riley’s whole body shuddered with the aftershocks,
Mateo let loose. His own orgasm ripped through him and
into Riley. Exploding at maximum speed, Mateo let out a
loud groan and collapsed across Riley, trying to avoid the
right shoulder he was favoring.

It took a few minutes, before they realized the loud

crack had been the bed frame breaking. A few seconds
later, the whole bed collapsed, with them still in the
middle of it. Riley laughed out loud, and then the giggle
fest started. Mateo didn’t know if it was the drugs he was
on for the pain or what, but he found himself laughing
right along with him. They’d just finally calmed down,
when Mateo kissed Riley softly. Mateo used his tongue
to tease Riley’s lips and taste his tongue. He sucked on it
and bit it softly, before taking Riley’s mouth and making it
his own.

“

God, I love how you kiss me.” Riley took Mateo’s face

into his hands and looked deep into his eyes. “I’ve
missed you so much.”

Mateo ran his fingers over Riley’s black eye and kissed

the bruised skin. “I was scared shitless you know. I
couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening to you.”

“

They told me they would kill you if I didn’t cooperate.

Just the thought of them torturing you…”

Mateo caressed Riley’s cheek and smiled. “No one will

ever hurt you again, Riley.”

“

I love you.” Riley ran a fingertip over Mateo’s lips

softly.

Mateo looked into those huge blue pools and felt his

heart aching. All his life no one had wanted him. Now, he
had Riley; who not only wanted him but loved him. Mateo
knew he’d finally found love. He’d never felt like this
before. The tightness in his chest when Riley was taken;
Mateo closed his eyes. “I love you too.”

They stayed on the broken bed. It still worked even

though it was now on the floor. Mateo wrapped Riley up
in his arms and ran his nose over his neck, kissing it
softly; loving Riley’s soft sighs. He closed his eyes; this
was his home now, right here with Riley. He had a home
and a boyfriend. Two things he’d never wanted, and now
he was happy with both. It was a foreign feeling, yet
Mateo hoped it would stick. After countless foster homes,
he knew things didn’t always last. Mateo was actually
hoping it did this time.

~~*~~

Mateo was in Riley’s kitchen making breakfast the next

morning. The damn thing was bigger than Derek’s whole
house. Everything in it was stainless steel. Mateo knew
he could be a pain in the ass when it came to things
being clean. He was going to have to talk to Riley about
stainless steel and fingerprints. He had no idea why, but
it drove him up the fucking wall. Josh came in and ran his
hand across the fridge, smiling at him. As he opened the
fridge, Josh made sure his hand was pressed on the
door and not the handle, as he pulled the orange juice

out.

“

Good morning.” Josh sat at the island and drank right

from the carton.

“

I swear, if I had my gun, Josh.”

Josh chuckled and put the orange juice down, smiling

at Mateo. Mateo looked so happy. “Where’s Riley?”

Mateo smiled to himself. Riley had been so worn out

last night he hadn’t moved a muscle this morning when
Mateo rolled out of bed. “Still sleeping.”

Josh let out a soft whistle. “Fucked the shit out of him

huh?”

Mateo rolled his eyes and grabbed the juice from Josh,

which led to a gasp and a pout. Mateo gave him a cup of
coffee, and Josh perked right up with a wide smile. “Ah…
caffeine, my friend. How I have missed you.”

“

Thanks. You know, for helping out, Josh.”

“

You know me, I love adventure.” Josh waggled his

eyebrows smiling.

“

Anyway.” Mateo leaned against the counter. “Naomi’s

coming by today, so please behave yourself.”

“

Is she hot?” Josh slid off the stool and looked for more

food in the fridge; making sure his hand was on the door,
leaving a nice big handprint.

“

She’s smart, so I doubt you’ll get laid, dumbass.”

Mateo pulled out a sponge and wiped the fridge door.
Josh put his hand on it again, and Mateo kicked him in
the shin.

“

Ouch, that hurt my pride, and my cock is upset with

you now.” Josh pouted. He put more sugar in his coffee
and made his way back to the stool. “You missed a spot.”
Josh motioned to the fridge.

“

Fuck off.”

Riley strolled into the kitchen and looked at Josh sitting

on the stool. Mateo was wiping the fridge down in frenzy,
and Riley cocked an eyebrow at Josh motioning to
Mateo.

“

Neat freak.” Josh rolled his eyes and smiled, sipping

his coffee.

Mateo turned to see Riley freshly showered, hair still

wet and hanging partially in his eyes. His sweats sat low
on his hips, showing off his gorgeous wash board abs.
Riley wasn’t as big as Mateo, but he was well defined.
The two hours he spent at the gym everyday had made
him sexy as all hell, and Mateo’s cock was rising in his
pants. Josh looked from one to the other and coughed
quietly.

“

Ok. So, yeah...I’m going to head out.” Josh stood up

and smiled at Riley. “I’ll be in the pool.”

“

Don’t pee in it.” Mateo looked at Josh, brow raised.

“

Does it have that blue dye shit in it or something?”

“

No.” Mateo tilted his head. “Why?”

“

Nuthin.” Josh drawled, and ran out of the kitchen

smiling.

“

Ass!” Mateo called after him.

Riley cracked up and sat on the island stool. Mateo

handed him a plate and a cup of coffee. Leaning over
Riley, he kissed him softly. “Morning, handsome.”

Derek came in the kitchen fresh from the shower, and

smiled at Mateo with Riley. The guy was so far gone it
was almost sickeningly sweet. He felt a cavity coming on.
When they’d been in Bosnia, they were stuck up in the
mountains for two weeks. The second week, Derek had
gotten bored. He and Mateo had been wrestling when
he’d ended up on top of Mateo, and felt his cock hard on

his thigh. He still hadn’t been sure of his sexuality at the
time, but when his cock had risen to the occasion, he had
finally admitted to himself that he was gay. The rest of
that week consisted of Mateo jacking him, and Derek
sucking Mateo’s cock. Time flew by fast after that.

“

Good morning.”

Derek’s head snapped back to the present, and he

smiled at Riley. “You look better.”

“

Agent Pruitt is in the backyard, I told him to soak in the

Jacuzzi. I guess he needed to talk to you.” Riley smiled.
He was pretty sure Agent Pruitt had a crush on Derek.

“

Oh, okay. I’ll guess I’ll be back in a sec for food.”

Derek looked at Mateo. “Pull the hanger out of your
mouth.”

“

Huh?”

“

Never mind.” Derek chuckled, making his way out

back. James was getting out of the Jacuzzi, grabbing for
his walking cane. The shot to his thigh was still bothering
him. “James.”

James turned around and looked at him. “Hey

General.”

Derek made his way over and helped him onto the

chair. James was shorter than him by quite a few inches,
and he outweighed him by quite a few pounds. James’
blue eyes looked up into his, and Derek wanted to kiss
him. He wanted so badly to push him back on the lounge
chair and fuck the shit out of him. Derek’s only problem
was that no matter how many feeling he had for James,
he wouldn’t act on them. He was a General for fucks
sake.

“

James.” Derek pulled his face around. “I do care.”

“

But not enough. It’s okay. I’ve always known it

wouldn’t work.” James got up and looked down at Derek.
It was the only way he

could look down on him; when he

was sitting. God, that alone turned him on. Not to

mention the man was drop dead gorgeous in dress blues.
“I get it, Derek. I’ll see you at the next meeting.”

Derek watched him leave and sat back in the chair with

a loud sigh. Jesus, he knew he was being an idiot. He
had so many feelings for James, but his job was his life,
and James wasn’t the kind of guy that snuck around and
hid who he was. Derek envied him that. He was cleared
for leave, and yet he was still in Arizona. He wanted to
see James again and now couldn’t bring himself to board
that plane for Washington.

“

Still lying to yourself, I see.” Mateo leaned up against

the wall. Derek hadn’t changed at all. “I could always tell
him that you suck cock fabulously.”

“

Fuck off Mateo.” Derek stood up and made his way

towards the gate of the backyard. He wasn’t going to get
into it with Mateo now.

“

You’re going to lose out on an opportunity because

you are scared. I hope it’s worth it.” Mateo watched
Derek slam the gate behind him. It would take a whole

hell of a lot for Derek to come out. He understood what
Derek was going through. While Mateo was in the Army,
he’d kept his mouth shut. But being in the unit he was in
now, he screamed it. Mateo made his way back inside
the house and sat down next to Riley.

“

What is it, babe?” Riley cupped Mateo’s face.

“

It’s nothing.” Mateo smiled and kissed him.

~~*~~

Naomi showed up at four in the afternoon. Sam and

Troy escorted her into the kitchen, and Mateo smiled as
she walked in. He got up and hugged her hard.

“

I was so worried about you.”

“

I am fine.” Naomi looked around the kitchen. “Nice

place.”

“

It’s huge. I need a GPS to get around the damn place.”

Mateo got a coffee cup out of the cupboard and filled it
with coffee. “Sugar?”

“

No, black is fine.” Naomi looked around the house.

“So where is Riley?”

Mateo’s phone rang. He picked it up and motioned to

Naomi. “He’s around somewhere, probably out at the
pool. Why don’t you go say hi? I know he wants to meet
you.”

“

I’ll go do that.” Naomi smiled, then looked left than

right. “Um, which way is it?”

“

Through those doors.” Mateo smiled as Naomi went

outside. He hit ‘talk’.

“

Esposito here.”

“

Mat, thank god.” Derek let out a breath of relief. “We

know who the leak is. It’s Naomi, Mat. She’s Zaman’s

daughter.” Derek waited for Mateo to speak. The line
was silent. “Mat? Did you hear me?”

“

She’s here, Derek.” Mateo put the phone down and

ran for the pool…

~~*~~

Riley lay back in the chair letting the warm sun seep

into him. It was a beautiful day, as always. There was a
soft breeze cooling him, just cool enough to keep him out
of the water for now. His Oakley’s propped on his head,
Riley took a sip of his lemonade. A woman came out of
the house and Riley sat up in his chair.

“

Hi. Are you a friend of Mateo’s?” Riley noticed the gun

in her hand and leapt from the chair.

“

Hello Riley. I’m Nimah Rigel. Of course, that’s my real

name. Mateo only knows me as Naomi. So, you are the
one that captured Mateo’s heart.” Nimah looked Riley
over from head to toe. “I can see why he’s so taken with
you.”

“

He cares for you Naomi. He was worried that

something would happen to you.” Riley backed up
towards the house, looking for anyone he could signal to.

“

He killed my father and then he killed my brother. I’m

the only one left now. For years, I worked my way up to
Intelligence to find out which man killed my father.
Imagine my surprise when I found out it was the man that
slept at my house. I waited for the right time, and it finally
came.” Nimah raised the gun and pointed it at Riley.

“

You’re wrong.” Riley stood his ground. “I killed your

brother. He was going to kill Mateo.”

“

You’re lying!” Nimah snarled.

“

No, I’m not. I’m sorry for your loss, but I’d do it again. I

love Mateo, and I will kill anyone that tries to hurt him. He
would do the same for you.”

Nimah heard footsteps running, and then Mateo flew

out from around the side of house. “Don’t move, Mat! I
swear I’ll put a bullet in his head.”

“

Don’t do this, Naomi. We’ve been friends for five

years, are you going to stand there and tell me you never
cared at all? The nights you came home with a broken
heart, I sat up with you and held you. When you puked, I
held your hair. We took care of each other, Naomi. You
can’t fake a friendship like that.” Mateo made his way
closer. “I don’t care who you are, or what your real name
is, because I know the real you. You’d never hurt me
Naomi, you’re my best friend. If you kill Riley, you know it
will kill me.”

“

You really are in love with him, aren’t you?” Nimah

studied Mateo’s face. In all the years she’d known Mateo,
he’d never been in love. The man that stood before her
now truly was.

“

I am in love with him. I love you too, you know that.”

Mateo walked closer.

Nimah put the gun to her chin. “I’m not going to prison,

Mateo.”

“

Don’t! We can work something out, I promise. Just

don’t…okay?” Mateo put his hands up. “I’m not going to
try anything, just hand over the gun okay?”

“

You can’t help me.” Nimah closed her eyes.

“Goodbye, Mateo.”

Mateo lunged at the same time Riley did. The gunshot

echoed through the canyon. Birds flew into the sky, and
then all was quiet.

~~Chapter Sixteen~~

Mateo walked down the sterile white hallway and

stopped at the sign-in desk. He flashed his badge and
waited for the door to click open. A red light above the
door changed to green, and Mateo stepped through. He
was patted down by two large guards and escorted to a
visitor room. Naomi sat in the corner with her knees
pulled up to her chin, looking out the window. Mateo sat
down on the chair across from her.

“

Hey Naomi, how are they treating you?”

“

Three squares a day.” Nimah turned to look at Mateo.

“Is Riley okay?”

“

He’s got some minor bruising, but he’s just glad he

stopped you.” Mateo took her hand. “

I’m glad he stopped

you.”

“

He shouldn’t have. I told my brother where to find you.

It was so easy to track your every movement, Mateo. The
watch I gave you for your thirtieth birthday?” Nimah
motioned to Mateo’s Swiss Military watch. “I tracked you
with it, along with your cell phone. Nassir was going to
take you out and then grab Riley, but you changed the
game plan on your own.” Nimah shrugged. “You never
saw me coming, and I could have killed you so many
times as you slept.”

“

Why didn’t you then? I was drunk half the time. Your

father attacked our base Naomi. He was killing innocent
people.”

“

Like you haven’t?” Nimah took a deep breath. “It

doesn’t matter now. I’ll spend the rest of my life in prison.
I would rather have died.”

“

I’m glad you didn’t, I would have missed you.” Mateo

moved Naomi’s hair behind her ear. He lowered his hand
and looked at the floor. “I love you Naomi. I hope
someday you can… I don’t know; change how you feel
about me.”

Mateo walked to the door and heard Naomi’s small

voice.

“

I do love you Mateo. Part of me knows I shouldn’t.”

“

I’m glad part of you does.” Mateo gave her a sad

smile. “Thank you.”

Mateo walked out hearing the door click shut behind

him.

~~*~~

Mateo sat looking quietly out the window of the limo.

They’d just left the Arizona center after shopping all day.
Mateo clasped his hands together and tried not to look at
Riley. They’d fought, albeit quietly, right in the middle of
the damn center. Mateo had reached for Riley’s hand
while they were shopping, only to have Riley pull away
from him.

Now the unease from before came back front and

center, and he knew why. Riley wasn’t out of the closet.
He’d wanted to go out to dinner again, and Riley
suggested they stay in because of the cameras following
them all the time. But today proved why Riley loved the
sanctuary of the house. So he could keep his dirty little
secret, namely Mateo. As soon as they got into the
house, Mateo went to the bedroom, Riley right on his
heels.

“

Look I’m sorry, ok? It was just a reaction. You know I’m

not out.”

Mateo turned and looked at him. “When will you be?”

Riley looked shocked. “I…I don’t know, I hadn’t thought

about it. Things are great the way they are.”

“

Sure they are. As long as I don’t hold your hand, or

touch you in public, right. Are you ashamed of me?”

Riley blinked. “God no! I’m just… I don’t know if I’m

ready yet, Mateo. Can’t you understand that?”

“

Honestly? No, I can’t. I don’t think I could live like that

Riley. Pretending to be someone I’m not. Jesus, I did it
for years in the Army, it was hell. I want to be able to hold
your hand, and kiss you in public. I want people to know
we’re together.”

“

I’m just…God, I want that too but not just yet.”

“

Then when, Riley? When will you be okay to come out

and tell the world you’re gay and in love with me?”

“

Things are so good right now, can’t we just keep it the

way it is?” Riley looked at Mateo. He could feel him
slipping through his fingers, and wanted so badly to stop
it from happening.

“

I can’t live like that. I do enough sneaking around in my

job Riley. I don’t want that for my relationship too.”

“

So what are you saying? I come out or we’re over?”

Riley felt the sweat running down his back. God, please

don’t say that’s it……please….

“

I’m saying… shit… I don’t know

what I’m saying. I have

to get out of here.”

“

Just give me some time Mateo, please? Will you at

least come to the press conference?”

The front door slammed and Riley stood staring at the

oak door, willing himself to run after Mateo. Could he
really do it? All the times they had been together, no one
knew who he was. They could hold hands and kiss
without people knowing it was Riley Flynn doing the
kissing. “Oh shit, what did I just do?”

~~*~~

Mateo begged James to send him somewhere.

Anywhere, just get him out of the same state as Riley.
They hadn’t spoken since Mateo had walked out, and
Mateo had just changed phones, again. He didn’t want to
hear the man’s voice, and he avoided the TV at all times.
His fucking heart hurt, and he felt Riley’s absence in his
fucking soul. God, love sucked. Two days without Riley

felt like a fucking year. His phone ringing brought him out
of his daze, and he looked at the number. Josh.

“

What’s up buttercup?” Mateo snickered.

“

Where are you?”

“

I’m in the lovely Peruvian mountains watching crack

dealers. Where are you?” Mateo chuckled looking
through his scope.

“

Right behind you.”

Mateo spun around at the voice and dropped his

weapon down. “Asshole, I could have shot you.”

“

Nah.” Josh smiled and sat down.

Mateo had to hold back a laugh, Josh looked

ridiculous. He had a ghillie suit on, and he looked like a
fucking walking tree. “Jesus, did you get that one at a

second hand store?” Twigs poked up from the hat.

“

I made it, and back off my suit, you ass.” Josh looked

at him. Mateo looked like hell. “Anyway,” Josh rolled his
eyes. “I guess Riley’s been calling everyone, trying to
figure out where you are. The guy is pathetic and missing
you like crazy.”

“

Well, he obviously doesn’t love me that much; he

couldn’t or wouldn’t come out of the closet for me.”

Josh sighed and took Mateo’s hand. “God, it’s so

obvious you love him. Don’t you want to be with him?”

“

I do, but I’m not going to sneak around Josh. I do that

enough as an assassin. God knows I don’t want my love
life the same way. Do I love him? Of course I do, I always
will.” Mateo cocked a brow at Josh. “What are you doing
here?”

Josh sighed and leaned back on his elbows. “I’m here

to relieve you so you can go get Riley. That’s what
James said, I swear. Riley’s been calling him, a lot.”

“

Whatever.” Mateo sighed and looked through the

scope again.

“

God, I hope you know what you’re doing Mat. When

you find love, you have to hold onto it and never let go.”

Mateo arched a brow. “Titanic?”

“

Fuck you.” Josh smacked Mateo. “My Mom said that.”

“

I like her.” Mateo sat back on the dirt. “She always

makes me cookies.”

“

Yeah? Well she agrees with me on Riley. Pull your

head out of your ass and take him back. Be patient with
him, because he

will come out for you Mateo. You’re all

he has left in this world. His Dad’s in prison, and won’t
even see his own son.”

Mateo sat up. “No shit?”

“

Nope, no shit. Riley tried to visit him and was turned

away, repeatedly.”

“

Son of a bitch,” Mateo sighed. “After everything that

man did, he has the gall to turn his back on the son he
betrayed.”

“

Fix it Mat, because I’ve never seen you so happy as

when you’re with him, and so miserable without. The
poor guy is suffering without you. Sam and Troy say he
bakes all day, when he’s not at work.”

“

Bakes? Like bread and stuff?”

“

Yes, and they are going to weigh five hundred pounds

soon.” Josh lay back and threaded his fingers behind his
head.

“

Wait, why are Sam and Troy still there? Is Riley in

danger?” Mateo stood up.

“

No, they are just keeping him company before their

next job. They really like Riley. You should go home,
Mateo. You know that’s what you really want.”

Mateo looked up at the sky. Ugly grey rain clouds were

forming. They were about to get one hell of a storm. “I’ll
think about it.”

~~*~~

Riley got home from work and walked through the

house. Everywhere he looked he saw Mateo. It still hurt.
His heart ached for Mateo’s touch, his kiss. He took a
long hot shower and sighed, looking at the bracelet on
his wrist. He hadn’t taken it off. It was dirty now. He
needed to clean it, and flour was stuck in it from the last
time he made bread. He took it off and dropped it in his
jewelry cleaner, then made his way back to the room,
putting his sweats on. His wallet lay open on his
nightstand, and he picked it up; pulling the fair ticket out.

God, he had been so stupid. He loved Mateo, he

always would. Being without him was worse than

anything that could happen to him if he came out. He
made his way back into the bathroom and shook the
jewelry cleaner box, hearing the bracelet slosh around.
He took it out and it slipped through his fingers hitting the
bathroom tile with a loud clink. It lay upside down, shining
against the bathroom light, and that’s Riley noticed the
writing on the underside. Riley picked it up and looked at
it. There, written in the silver, were four words

. You are

my love.

Riley gasped and looked closer. Was he seeing

things? No, it did say those words, the words from the
gypsy fortune teller at the fair. But he’d never taken the
bracelet off. Not once from the moment Mateo had put it
on him at the Grand Canyon. So, Mateo had inscribed it
while they were still at the house? Riley looked in the
mirror at his pale face, bags under his eyes. Mateo loved
him, and he’d hurt him worse than any of those foster
family ever could. He’d basically said Mateo wasn’t worth
him coming out. “Fuck.”

~~*~~

Riley stood in front of the podium with camera’s going

off on every side of him. He wished he’d brought the

hippo. He could at least have put it under the podium and
held it, but now he only the bracelet. He ran his thumb
over the wording Mateo had inscribed there, and took a
deep breath…

“

Ladies and Gentleman, I’m glad you could come today.

I’m going to make this brief, and I will not be answering
any questions when I am done.” Riley took a deep breath
and looked at the camera. “Flynn Electronics will be
operating out of Sierra Vista, as well as right here in
Phoenix. We will be bringing five thousand jobs to the
area in the fall. I know you’ve heard about my father and
what happened to me, so I’m not even going to rehash it.
What I will say, is that a very special man watched my
back. He took care of me, and moved heaven and earth
to keep me safe. So I want that man to know how grateful
I am.” Riley took a deep breath and gripped the podium.
“I also want him to know that I am in love with him. I’m so
sorry I hurt him, and I will do whatever it takes to get him
back. Thank you.” Riley left the podium and was
escorted into the building by Sam and Troy. His hands
were shaking, and he could hear the reporters going
crazy outside. He looked up at Sam and tried to smile.

“

You did good kid.” Sam clapped him on the back,

sending him a few steps forward.

“

I hope Mateo heard it.” Riley sat down in the chair.

“

I’m sure he did.” Troy crouched down and looked at

him. “You were very brave Riley. You coming out like that
took guts.”

“

I just want him back.” Riley put his face in his hands.

~~*~~

They made their way out to the secured parking

garage, and Riley shuffled is feet, slowly making his way
to the limo. When he looked up he saw Mateo leaning
against the car, with his hippo. “Mateo?”

“

Wow, when you come out, you go

all out.” Mateo

smiled. “I would have been here sooner, but I had to stop
at the house and pick up a friend of mine.” Mateo
wiggled the hippo back and forth. “I’m surprised you left
him at home.”

Riley felt the tears coming and looked into Mateo’s

eyes. “Does this mean…?”

Mateo smiled and crooked his finger at Riley. “Josh

was trying to convince me you were talking to him when
you looked at the camera.”

“

I was talking—”

Mateo grabbed him and kissed him hard. God, but he’d

missed Riley. He’d missed the touch of his hand, his lips,
his ass curled against him in the morning. Mateo’s hand
grabbed Riley’s, pulling him closer. Using his tongue,
probing, tasting, touching. They pulled away from the
kiss, and Mateo cupped Riley’s face. “I love you, Riley
Flynn.”

Riley broke down, and felt Mateo’s arms around him.

This is where he belonged, with the man he loved. “I love
you too.”

~~*~~

Riley fucked him in the limo on the way home, and

fucked him on every flat surface in the house. He even
fucked Mateo on some not so flat surfaces in the house.
By the time they actually got in the bed, Mateo couldn’t
stand. And then Riley was on him again, bending him in
half so that Mateo’s knee caps were in his fucking ears.
As Riley rimmed the shit out of him, he tongued his ass
and pumped Mateo’s cock until he swore he had nothing
left to shoot out his aching cock.

The pleasure ride wasn’t ending any time soon. He’d

missed Mateo, and wasn’t going to stop until Mateo was
begging him to. He pumped Mateo hard as he dove deep
into Mateo’s warm chute, tasting every damn delicious
drop of the man splayed out in front of him like a fucking
buffet. His lips were bruised, and he didn’t fucking care.
He sank two fingers into Mateo up to the knuckle, and
started feasting on his dick again. His head bobbing, he
opened his throat to take Mateo all the way in and
fucking swallowed him. Mateo’s cock seared the sides of
his mouth, and the back of his throat. And fuck what a
ride it was. Sweat was pouring off of him as he picked up
Mateo’s legs and plunged into his ass with no mercy, all

while gripping his cock and twisting his hand at the very
tip. The deep, fast strokes and quick jerks of Mateo’s
cock had Riley on the edge of the cliff. His balls were
tightening, ass clenching ready for the bomb to go off in
his balls.

“

Fuck I love you.” Riley bit Mateo’s lips and sucked his

bottom one in, all while slamming him with such force the
bed moved.

“

Fuck…Riley.” Mateo was going to fucking come again.

Jesus, did the time apart from Riley give him extra cum?
How the fuck was he still alive?

Riley shot in his ass, and Mateo shot all over himself,

Riley, the bed, and maybe a few other places. His
orgasm just kept coming, hitting him in waves until he
collapsed out of breath

and spunk. The two of them were

breathing hard, and Riley rolled off, laying on his back
staring at the ceiling.

“

Fuck me.” Riley smiled, taking Mateo’s hand.

“

I can’t… fuck… shit… I don’t think I can even pee right

now.” Mateo threaded their fingers together. “My God
Riley, you need to come out of the closet more often.”
Mateo laughed and kissed Riley, yanking him back over
on top of him. He grabbed Riley’s ass cheeks, squeezing
them.

“

I can’t feel my legs.” Riley giggled, pressing his

forehead to Mateo’s.

“

I can’t feel my body.” Mateo wiggled his toes. “I still

have feeling. Good.”

Riley held his breath, and asked the one question he’d

been dying to ask from the moment he realized he was in
love with Mateo. “Mateo, do you want kids?” It was so
quiet, Riley started sweating.

“

With you? Yes.” Mateo smiled, and heard Riley

exhale. “But I want a specific clause in our wills. If
anything happens to us, they go to Josh, Derek, Troy or
Sam okay?”

“

They?” Riley sat up looking in his eyes.

“

Hell yeah, we are having one of yours and one of

mine.” Mateo smiled at the shocked look on Riley’s face.
“Oh come on, you can afford it. Let’s go for twins, maybe
even quad—”

Riley silenced him with a mind blowing kiss.

~~Epilogue~~

One year later…

Mateo stood in the blazing sun of Arizona, wiping his

forehead. Sweat ran down his back as he walked hand in
hand with Riley towards the big top tent. The fair was
back in town, and Riley had begged and pleaded to go.
Mateo finally gave in after Riley had given him a mind
numbing blow job. This would explain coming to the fair
where clowns were present. Riley wore his U of A hat
with his Ray Bans, cargo shorts and a T-shirt that read:
“

Get over it!” Two men were kissing on the front of the

shirt.

Riley had come a long way from the closet and Mateo

loved him for it. Mateo pulled his husband into his arms
and held him close. As hot as it was, it didn’t compare to
the heat he and Riley shared. Caressing Riley’s smooth
face, Mateo kissed him. The passion and fire exploded
between them, and when they finally pulled away from
each other, they were both breathing hard.

“

Wow.” Riley breathed.

Derek strolled up with James and Josh.

“

Jesus, get a fucking room.” Derek winked.

“

Oh, I don’t know.” Josh held his chin. “It’s kind of hot.”

“

Lord, shut up hetero.” James smacked Josh’s arm.

“

Why am I always the abused one?” Josh pouted.

“Oooh! Cotton candy!”

James shook his head, watching Josh run off. “What a

fucking child.”

“

He’s reliving his youth.” Mateo shook his head, smiling

at his friend. “Some of us didn’t have a happy childhood,
huh babe?” Mateo squeezed Riley’s hand.

“

Look, the same band is playing.” Riley looked at the

marquee. “And the fortune teller is here too.”

“

Shall we go see her?” Mateo dragged Riley toward the

tent. “Be back in a few minutes.”

Derek watched Mateo go into the fortune teller tent

with Riley. “Maybe we should go in there?”

“

Why? So she can tell me I’m going to die jacking off?”

James shook his head. “No thanks.”

“

Come on James, I’m sure you’ve had dates.” Derek

looked at James. The idea of James with anyone else
made his stomach lurch.

James looked up at Derek. “I only want one man, he

just doesn’t want me.”

Derek crossed his arms as James made his way to the

food tables. He felt a presence next to him and rolled his
eyes. Josh was sucking down cotton candy.

“

Jesus, Montgomery.”

“

Why don’t you just ask him out Boss? It’s so obvious

you want to.” Josh licked cotton candy off his fingers.

“

Fuck Josh, are you always this direct? Wait, what the

fuck am I saying?” Derek rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

~~*~~

The fortune teller tent was cold. Riley shivered and

leaned into Mateo. The woman at the table was not the
same one from the year before. She looked over them
with a careful eye, and then spoke.

“

You have been through much together. Danger, heart

break, and still you came together. He is your love.”

“

Funny you should say that.” Mateo sat down. “We

were here last year and an old woman told us the same
thing.”

“

Old woman? I was here last year. I don’t recall an old

woman.”

“

Yes, she had a gold tooth.” Riley sat down on Mateo’s

lap.

The fortune teller took out her wallet and handed them

a picture. “Is this the old lady?”

“

Yes, it is.” Mateo looked at the picture. The same old

lady was holding the hand of another woman. It was the
woman in front of them.

“

My Grandmother, she loves to come with me.”

“

She came right up to us, took my hand, and told me

Riley was my love and that I should protect him.” Mateo
squeezed Riley tighter to him.

The fortune teller nodded. “She must have seen great

passion in you, as do I. You will live very many happy
years together, and have beautiful children.”

“

Cool.” Riley giggled. “Anything else?”

“

Love one another.”

Mateo stood and handed the woman a twenty. “Thank

you, have a good night.”

“

Please tell the General to come in.” The fortune teller

smiled slyly. “I must speak with him.”

“

How did you…?” Riley looked outside the tent. Sure

enough, Derek was pacing in front of it. He looked back
at the woman and she smiled.

Mateo and Riley left the tent and were soon joined by

Sam and Troy. Josh had come back over with James,

and one by one they all went to see the fortune teller.
They stood by the main stage afterwards, and Mateo
looked at the rest of the group. Their faces clouded with
confusion.

“

Okay, what the fuck guys?” Mateo pulled Riley to him

and encircled him in his arms.

“

That was…” Troy started.

“

Weird as fuck.” Sam finished.

“

No shit.” Josh ran a hand through his short buzz cut. “I

will find a surprising love. What does that mean?”

“

My love will have eyes like the stars, and I must be

open to it.” Sam arched a brow.

“

Really?” Troy looked over at Sam. “Mine will have

eyes the color of Emeralds.”

They all looked at Josh.

“

Oh, fuck all of you. I am not the only guy with green

eyes.” Josh stammered. “Besides, could you actually see
me with Troy?”

They all looked over at Troy and then back at Josh.

“

Oh for fucks sake.” Josh sighed and threw his hands

up in the air.

“

So James.” Riley eyed the shorter man. “What did she

say to you?”

“

I will have many men, all dying for me to love them.”

James smiled and walked towards the stage.

“

Wait, what?” Derek ran after him.

Mateo cracked up. “Oh, that’s funny.”

The band came out and Mateo pulled Riley into his

arms. The first sounds of a love ballad flowed over the
night air, and Mateo inhaled his husband’s masculine
scent. They swayed to the same song they had a year
ago.

“

Babe?” Riley kissed Mateo’s chin.

“

Yes?”

“

I thought we could check out a house tomorrow over in

Pearce. Are you up for it?”

“

I sure am.” Mateo nuzzled Riley’s neck. “God, I’m so

happy I kissed you that night at Diabolique.”

Riley giggled. “Because I am your love.”

Mateo pulled away looking at Riley’s face. “Yes, you

are my love Riley Flynn.”

~~*~~

Mateo lay in bed naked, waiting for Riley. His cock

already rock hard, he stroked slowly. The ride home from
the fair had been interesting. Riley had been all over him,
sucking his cock, and Mateo thought for sure he’d wrap
his Impala around a tree. “Riley…”

“

Yes?” Riley came out of the bathroom, and stopped,

staring. Damn but Mateo was a hell of a sight to see.
Strong legs and defined chest all glowed in the damn
light of the moon. Fuck.

Riley made his way over and climbed up Mateo’s body,

dragging his hard cock along his thigh. It left a long trail
of pre-come on its way to rest on Mateo’s stomach. A soft
run of his tongue over Mateo’s lips, and he pulled away
with a sly smile as Mateo chased him for more. His
tongue trailed down Mateo’s jaw line and over his neck.
Riley’s hard leaking cock slid down Mateo’s stomach as
he made his way down, stopping to tease a nipple with a
gentle tug of his teeth.

“

Fuck, I love you babe.” Mateo let his leg fall off to the

side and closed his eyes as Riley continued to lick a path

side and closed his eyes as Riley continued to lick a path
south.

The soft touch of Riley’s tongue gliding down his abs

warmed his skin. Feather light licks across the tip of his
weeping cock, slow long strokes from root to tip, and a
tight suck on the head, had Mateo gripping the
headboard of their broken bed. They had kept it for the
simple fact that it held memories. Bang your head scream
from the top of your lungs and shoot cum all over the
damn place memories. A teasing finger was dipping in
and out of Mateo’s hole, rubbing around the edges and
pressing in then pulling out.

Mateo’s legs were up, and Riley bent him in half to lap

at his quivering hole. That hot tongue glided in and out,
leaving Mateo a stupid, shaking, sweaty idiot on the bed.
This is how it was with them. Sex wasn’t just about sex; it
was about pleasing the other. As little experience as
Riley had, he’d become an expert in the art of making
love, because he

was in love. It wasn’t about the

slamming and pounding, it was about the quiet whispers
and the soft caresses, pleasing each other with soft
strokes. Not to say that they didn’t have amazing mind
blowing sex, because Riley could ride him until he was a
mess of raw nerves, crying out for satisfaction. And when

the rush came, it just kept coming.

Riley’s fingers slid in, and then Mateo felt something

else. A smooth roundness invading him; he raised an
eyebrow at Riley. “What is that?”

Riley smiled and leaned over kissing Mateo, his tongue

teasing just inside. “I’m experimenting. I bet I can make
you cum in five minutes or less.”

Another push and Mateo’s eyes went wide. “Anal

beads?”

Riley flicked Mateo’s tongue, coaxing it out to play. He

sucked the tip and covered Mateo’s mouth with his own,
sliding in and taking charge. “Mmm.”

Mateo broke the kiss. Fuck, but that felt good. He’d

never gone this route though. “I want new appliances if I
can hold out, no stainless steel.”

“

That’s it?” Riley smiled pushing in another bead. He

felt it pop through the barrier, and Mateo let out a gasp.

“

Fuck…yes, that’s it.”

And fuck, that

was it. Mateo felt the beads pop in one

by one, and Riley sucked his cock until he came,
screaming. His legs were shaking, sweat was pouring off
him, and then Riley slid in and he was fucking gone! He
was hard again in less than a minute flat, and Riley rode
him like a fucking rodeo cowboy. He not only came within
the five minutes, he came five times in the span of an
hour. Mateo lay on his back looking at the ceiling. A mess
of spunk and sweat and Riley draped over him like a
blanket. “Oh my God, I can’t move.”

Riley giggled and ran his hand over Mateo’s abs,

feeling the ridges. He looked up at Mateo and kissed his
chin. “You know, we can get regular appliances. You
didn’t have to ask for that.”

“

You little shit!” Mateo rolled over pinning him to the

bed. “You never said what you wanted.”

Riley looked into those hazel eyes and almost sighed.

Mateo was beautiful in every way possible, caring and
thoughtful. An assassin sure, but a caring one
nonetheless. And even though he hated stainless steel
appliances, and hated the fact that Riley squeezed the
toothpaste from the middle and not the end; if that was
the worst the man brought to the table, Riley could live
with that for a long time.

“

I have everything I could possibly ever want.”

~~The End~~