Jumping at Shadows by R.G. Green Read Free Book Online Page B

work.
    They had both put on sweats but had forgone sweatshirts—or even T-shirts—given the warmth inside their house. The TV was turned on to a cop drama, but the volume remained low, allowing for Eric’s recounting of the meeting with his group. With that now behind them, the fingers and tongue grew bolder, and Eric let his own hand begin to burrow between T.J.’s fleece-covered thighs. He inched it a little higher when those thighs opened just a bit.
    The hardest part was over, he reminded himself as he leaned into his lover’s warmth. He had presented his plan, and his team—as he had already begun to think of them—was considering it. At least they hadn’t rejected it out of hand. They still could, he knew, but they hadn’t yet, he was sure, or the captain would have called him by now. They were still on board, and the relief Eric felt was very real—he needed them, badly. He didn’t have the skills for Internet stalking, and if he tried it, it was likely that one of that very group would be providing evidence against him during his own trial. If any of the three balked….
    He yelped when a fingernail flicked his nipple and felt a sheepish smile form when the tongue immediately returned to its task at his ear, with a little nip added in for emphasis.
    “You’ve put the wheels in motion, and worrying about what might happen isn’t going to keep it from happening, good or bad,” T.J. told him with quiet firmness, following the words with another gentle nip.
    Eric let out his breath as he opened his hand to cover the fingers still teasing his nipple, though he was careful to encourage their motion rather than stop it. “I know,” he conceded, dragging his other hand a little higher up T.J.’s leg, “and you don’t have to tell me I’m counting on their help a lot more than I should. But they are all I have right now, and I need them.”
    Another slightly stinging flick accompanied the gentle bite on his neck, and Eric squeezed just below T.J.’s balls in response. “And,” he added, tilting his neck to give T.J. better access, “I think this is the one time that Victor may actually help me. He’s got his fingers in so many pots that the threats he poses are pretty widespread. Bribing a judge just shows how close those threats are getting to us personally.”
    A sharper bite, then the nibbling turned to nuzzling, and T.J. let his free hand slide over the dusting of hair on Eric’s stomach. “It always seems to have to hit close to home to get people to consider a threat credible,” he murmured against Eric’s skin. “As long as it’s happening to someone else, it’s never quite as threatening.” He bit gently at the pulse his lips found, then licked the spot to soothe it. “The same way it took Victor Kroger’s trashing the work you spent the last year doing and then walking away untouched to make you decide to really go after him.”
    Eric blinked. What had T.J. just said? His hand froze between T.J.’s thighs as the words drifted over him and slowly sank in. Victor Kroger was the worst kind of scum, destroying others willingly and without remorse, both directly and indirectly, never giving his deeds a second thought, let alone an ounce of regret. And Eric had gone after him….
    Pulling away from the mouth on his neck, he turned to find T.J. already watching him, and the arousal they had been courting stalled out when he saw the tranquility in T.J.’s expression, a tranquility that said he knew exactly what words he had used. Eric felt his nerves prickling, getting ready to jump.
    “That’s not fair,” he whispered harshly, the sound rough with the mixture of rising anger and aborted lust. “And this isn’t about Victor ‘trashing’ my work. It’s about putting Victor away before he can hurt anybody else. That’s the only thing this has been about, then and now.” His voice had gotten louder as he spoke, and he ignored the wariness that crept into T.J.’s expression. He was