Page 82 of Part & Parcel

“We had to hold Kelly back. Took three of us,” Owen told him.

Nick was shaking his head quickly, his eyes closed. “I don’t want to know.”

Kelly pulled his head over and kissed his temple. “Maybe you should, you know?” he suggested quietly.

“You’re not useless, Irish,” Ty whispered. “We all still need you. Eli knew that, that’s why he sent these letters to you, why he charged you with this mission. He knew how much we all still need you.”

Nick was just barely keeping it together, and he finally exhaled a puff of air that disturbed the dust around them. “I love you all,” he said, making a point of including Zane when he met the eyes of each man present. “Thank you.”

Owen clapped his hands, and the sound echoed off the abandoned chrome and stainless steel. “Let’s go find a fancy fucking hotel, get a good night’s sleep, and open that next letter over a steak!”

They found a fancy fucking hotel that fit even Owen’s standards, and went their separate ways to rest up for several hours before dinner, where their next task would be read. Kelly was restless and just wanted to get these last two letters done so they could head home and start living like they were supposed to be: happy and free. But they had these last few hurdles left, and Kelly was determined to get through them unscathed, with Nick right there by his side.

He sat in the bed of their hotel room and gazed at Nick, a soft smile on his face. He realized that he was grinning whenever Nick grinned. Cocking his head to mirror his lover—hisfiancé—whenever Nick did it. Even his hands were following Nick’s lead, fingers fidgeting, running over his lips, grazing his hair in time with Nick’s gestures.

“Are you even listening to me?” Nick demanded after about ten minutes.

Kelly shook his head.

Nick rolled his eyes and stood up from the desk chair. He strolled toward Kelly and put one knee on the foot of the bed. “What’s so important that you can’t bother to listen to my funny fucking story?”

Kelly licked his lips. He’d been losing himself in Nick for ten minutes or more. He sat up straighter, leaning against the padded headboard and taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. He cleared his throat, but he didn’t tear his eyes away from Nick. He had no idea what Nick had been saying, he only knew that Nick had been laughing at his own words, laughing so hard he kept having to start his sentences over. But Kelly hadn’t been listening. His mind had been screaming the same thing, over and over, for hours. For days. Weeks. It seemed like he’d been hearing it for years:

Marry me.

Marry me.Marry me.God, Nick’d actually done it!

Nick crawled onto the bed, and the roll of his shoulders and that mischievous smirk of his made Kelly’s gut cramp, made his heart flutter and his mouth go dry, made his mental wheels stop spinning and screech to a halt in order to concentrate on the piece of artwork that was Nick’s smile.

“Trip’s almost over,” Nick said, his words rumbling across Kelly’s skin and raising the hair on his arms and the back of his neck.

Kelly’s breath caught in his throat, and he pressed his shoulders against the headboard, sprawling a little more. Nick crawled up his lap, his fingers grazing Kelly’s bare thighs, his shadow feeling heavy over Kelly’s knees. He bumped his nose against Kelly’s chin, grinning when his lips met Kelly’s.

“Nick,” Kelly breathed as his eyes fluttered shut.

Nick’s hands slid up under Kelly’s shorts, squeezing his thighs possessively as he kissed him again. “I’m not sure I can go another night without you.”

“I know,” Kelly groaned. He bunched his fingers in the sheets, trying desperately to follow the rules. They hadn’t broken them once, but Ty and Zane had and their fucking iPhones wouldn’t stop playing sad Spanish music! He knew if he got his hands on Nick’s body right now, those rules would go flying out the window, and he had no desire to find out what sort of hell the sulking, indignant ghost of Eli Sanchez would wreak on him and Nick if that happened.

Nick nipped at his lips. “There has to be a loophole.”

“Has to be,” Kelly gasped. He gripped Nick’s hips, his fingers digging in, pulling Nick into his lap. They both moaned pitifully as Nick’s weight settled on Kelly’s half-hard cock.

“Fuck, babe.” Kelly took Nick’s face in his hands and kissed him, and Nick grabbed a handful of Kelly’s hair, holding on as the kiss grew more desperate and raunchy.

Kelly bit Nick’s lip and held it between his teeth as he said, “Don’t squirm or I’ll fucking come all over both of us.”

Nick stilled his hips, his breaths harsh against Kelly’s face, his heartbeat thumping against Kelly’s chest. Kelly released his lip and Nick took advantage to steal another kiss. He started to roll his hips again, either completely unaware that he was doing it, or reaching a new level of evil.

Kelly squeezed his eyes closed and pushed his head against the padding, trying to focus onnotcoming all over Nick’s ass as he writhed.

“Okay, stop, stop,” Kelly hissed as Nick kissed along his jawline and licked Kelly’s neck. “I have to ask you something that might effectively kill the mood here.”

Nick cleared his throat and sat back, meeting Kelly’s eyes for a moment before moving so he was no longer straddling Kelly’s lap. Kelly realized belatedly that it must have been hurting Nick’s knee. He watched the wince flash across Nick’s face when he settled onto the mattress and straightened his leg out.

Kelly licked his lips and waited until he had Nick’s full attention. “When you asked me to top you,” Kelly said, shocked by how hoarse and nervous his voice was.

Nick shifted, inhaling noisily. He nodded for Kelly to go on.

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