Marking What's Mine (A Marksman's Tale Book 1) Read online

  I could drive down to Riverside and let off a little steam. I hadn’t had sex in a month, and jerking off to thoughts of fucking Mac didn’t count. Since I couldn’t have him, the next best bet was to drive on out of town and find me a man to chase Mac out of my head. For fuck’s sake, it was already a month, and my attraction had not waned in the least. In fact, it had done the opposite.

  With a curse, I got out of the car and entered the house, pausing at the door to listen if Mac was here or not. He had covered a late shift and got off this morning so he would have the day free. Since he wouldn’t report to work until 10PM I could imagine he and Paulie spending the day together. They had become sort of inseparable, but I tried my best to stay out of that relationship, whatever it was.

  “Hey, you’re home!” Paulie announced, hurrying down the stairs. “Before you say anything, yes I know it was my turn to cook which I didn’t, but I’m going now to pick us up takeout.”

  “Really, Paulie, takeout won’t solve your lack of skills in the kitchen,” I admonished him. “You actually have to spend some time in the kitchen to improve.”

  “Or I can admit I just stink and allow it to be somebody else’s problem,” he said, sounding chirpier than usual. He leveled narrowed eyes at me. “Now be truthful. Do you really want me to cook or would you rather I pick us up Italian?”

  “Uh…” Italian sounded good, and Paulie really couldn’t cook worth one damn. He was limited to preparing pancakes and eggs for breakfast. On the one hand I wanted to teach him a lesson, but on the other my stomach couldn’t take another of his hard lessons tonight.

  “Exactly what I thought,” he said on a laugh. “There’s no problem with admitting weaknesses, you know. I’ll check with Mac and see if he wants to come.”

  I groaned. “Can we have one evening without him being here? Are you two dating?”

  He paused at the door and frowned at me. “We’re just friends. He’s a pretty cool guy. Why does it bother you so much when he’s here anyway? Is he like a terrible cop or something?”

  “No, it’s just that- I just don’t want you to get hurt, Paulie.”

  His frown turned into a smile. “That’s so sweet, but as I said, we’re just friends. It’s nice to have someone I can hang out with while I’m here.”

  “Still, can we just do us tonight?”

  He shrugged. “Alright, whatever you say. I guess I’ve been inconsiderate having him over all the time. We can spend more time at his place.”

  Before I could fathom if I preferred them at my place or Mac’s, Paulie was already gone. These two guys were going to be the death of me. I trudged to the kitchen and retrieved a cold beer from the fridge. I downed it and threw the can in the garbage disposal. I went straight to the bathroom and took a shower. I was toweling off in my bedroom when the doorbell rang.

  I grabbed a pair of shorts from the chest of drawers, forgoing underwear. Although I wasn’t expecting anyone, I didn’t like having the door go unanswered.

  Peering through the keyhole revealed Mac standing on the porch. As much as I wished he hadn’t stopped by, I couldn’t pretend he wasn’t there so I opened the door to him.

  “Hey,” he said and slid his hands into the front pockets of his Bermuda shorts.

  “Paulie went out,” I remarked. “He should be back in fifteen minutes or so. I’ll let him know you stopped by.”

  “I’m not here to see Paulie. Not really. I wanted to borrow a wrench. My sink’s dripping.”

  “Oh.” Would it be cruel of me to let him wait on the porch while I got the wrench from the basement? “Come on in,” I invited on a sigh. “I’ll fetch it for you.”

  I should have told him he could wait there in the hall because he followed me. Fully aware of him at my back, I stopped at the door that led to the basement and tried to make conversation to interrupt the awkward flow of nervous energy between us.

  “You may be wondering why the tool kit is all the way down here in the basement,” I stated though he didn’t answer. “Paulie hid them there. I used to tinker around a lot on my days off, and he insisted I needed to rest and get other people to take care of things around the house.”

  “Paulie’s a thoughtful guy,” he remarked. “It was nice of you to take him in after the crash.”

  Ah, yes, the crash that claimed both my parents lives. “I took him in before the crash,” I answered, my tone bitter as I flicked on the light for the basement and opened the door. The lock needed to be fixed as it could only be opened from the outside.

  “Oh, he never mentioned that.”

  I stepped down the short staircase of the basement. “Well, Paulie doesn’t like thinking about the way our parents acted when they found out we were both gay. I left home at seventeen, joined the police academy at twenty. I always knew Paulie would have a difficult time when he admitted to me at thirteen that he was gay. He was optimistic that our parents had changed. They didn’t. Taking him in was the best decision I ever made.”

  I paused when I heard the soft thud of the door closing. Standing at the last step, I turned toward him and groaned.

  “What?” he asked.

  “The door. It doesn’t open from inside. Now we’re stuck.”

  “What?” He turned and jiggled the doorknob. “Shit, you’re right. What do we do?”

  I shrugged. “Paulie should be back in a few minutes. If not, we break the door down.”

  His face reddened as he continued down the steps with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I always seem to mess things up.”

  That earned him a frown from me as I ignored all the boxes piled up in the basement and headed for the tool kit. I couldn’t believe I still had Jackson’s shit stowed away. He was supposed to return for them, but he never did. I had ignored them since I rarely came into the basement, and they weren’t in anybody’s way.

  “You do a pretty decent job at work,” I told him, reaching the toolbox and dropping it on the floor with a clang. “Better than most rookies I’ve worked with. A bit stubborn at times, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

  He scoffed. “Barfing at that crime scene hardly earned me a lot of respect in your eyes.”

  That surprised me. “It was your first time seeing a body in that condition. It doesn’t make me think any less of you.”

  He rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands still in his pockets. “Did you throw up at your first dead body?”

  I returned my attention to the toolkit to find the wrench he asked for. “I was just twenty when I joined the Academy, but I’d seen a lot of things that made me a tough cookie. I always had an attitude that shit happens in life. We deal with them as they come.”

  “Is that the attitude you used with us?”

  I froze and clamped my eyes shut. Why couldn’t he learn to leave well enough alone? “Mac.” My tone was strained in warning.

  “I know. I know. We shouldn’t talk about it just pretend every time I see you I don’t remember how good it felt for you to fuck me that weekend. Or that I’m still waiting to reciprocate.”

  I dropped the wrench and stood. Without speaking I closed the distance between us. I’d tried to fight this for too long, but he kept opening a can of worms, and I could no longer ignore the bait. Cupping the back of his head, I smashed my lips to his and kissed him. He moaned, that small sexy sound deep in his throat that ignited my blood. I backed him up against one wall and crushed my body to his. His hard chest and legs bumped mine. I released his head and pushed my hands beneath his T-shirt.

  “Fuck, Connor.” He tore his lips from mine and gasped for breath. Before he could say anything else and ruin the moment, I kissed him again, caressing the hard planes of his chest. My fingers brushed against his nipples, and his body jerked in response. He became a puppet beneath my skillful hands, a bow, and I the archer as his body bowed and quivered at my command.

  He reached between my thighs and cupped my hard cock. I broke the kiss and placed my forehead against his. I closed my eyes, the
veins in my neck pulsing as I allowed him free reign with my person. I should be stopping him, but it felt too good. I wanted him to do more.

  As though he sensed the direction of my thoughts, he slipped his hand into the waistband of my shorts and his hand connected with my naked cock. I hissed a breath between my teeth as he boldly stroked me. He had me right in the palms of his hands, in more ways than one. When he reversed our positions so I had my back against the wall, I spread my legs, telling him what I wanted without so many words.

  “I just showered,” I quipped just for the hell of it.

  He grinned, remembering our first time as I did. I was relieved we could joke about it now.

  “Did you now?” he asked before yanking my shorts down my thighs. He went down onto his knees and with a hand clasping the base of my cock positioned his lips over its head. My hips jerked, and I leaned into the wall as his lips slid down my cock.

  “Fuck, Mac!” I groaned, paralyzed by the pleasure that ran through my system. I shuddered, and when I was able to move started to slowly thrust in and out of his mouth. He clutched my hips, moaning at the back of his throat as his head bobbed up and down.

  It had been too long, too damn long since I’d had him in this position. I didn’t just want him to give me a blow job. I wanted him braced against the wall while I fucked him but couldn’t. Paulie would know when he let us out. The only option I had was to enjoy what he offered right now.

  Over and over he sucked me deeper into his mouth. Tilting my cock upward, he licked the underside, rooting below to find my balls. After thoroughly sucking my balls, he returned to finding the head of my cock, his tongue stroking the slit. This time when his mouth descended my shaft, I couldn’t hold back. I cupped the back of his head and thrust rhythmically into his mouth.

  With a groan, I slid my cock down his throat and gave in to the orgasm that hit me. A jet stream of cum spurted down his throat.

  “Fuck,” I grunted, jerking the base of my cock, milking myself into his mouth. When I was all spent, I collapsed against the wall at my back.

  Cupping his head, I pulled him to his feet and kissed him. He swallowed my load, but I could still taste myself on his tongue.

  “Your turn,” I told him, determined to give back.

  He allowed me to turn him against the wall, but he placed a hand over mine when I reached for his shorts. “Unlike you I didn’t just shower, Con. Just this morning.”

  Smiling at him, I removed his hands and peeled back his shorts. By my estimate, I had less than five minutes before Paulie would be home.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Connor, will you hurry up and put on your manties, Mac is here!”

  My hand shook slightly as I finished buttoning my shirt. This was a bad idea, as bad as exchanging blowjobs with Mac in the basement a week ago. I had been trying to avoid him ever since which was sneaky of me. I kept him on the late shift when I would be away from work. When his shift started I would be at home. How could I face him and the expectations in his eyes after Paulie had let us out of the basement? He had taken far longer than we had anticipated returning to the house. He had given us enough time to not only finish up with Mac’s orgasm but discussing my marriage.

  I groaned, now wishing I had avoided that conversation.

  “What are all these boxes down here?” Mac asked as he pulled up his shorts. Now that the deed was done we were both back to being awkward and wondering what next? How did I tell him there was nothing next? I still had nothing to offer him no matter how badly I wished things were different between us and I was ten years younger instead of almost twenty.

  I glanced around at the boxes and then decided this was probably the opportunity to make him understand my position.

  “They are my ex-husband’s,” I answered.

  He paused, fixing his shirt to stare at me in surprise. “You were married?”

  I gave a humorless chuckle. “For almost two years. I’d been way in over my head.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Two years ago.”

  “And his stuff is still here?” He sounded incredulous. “Does that mean you’re not over him?”

  I scoffed. “Nothing of the sort. It just never bothered me to have them thrown out. He was supposed to come get them.”

  He didn’t have to say anything. The way he avoided my gaze said it all.

  “Our marriage was a mistake I was able to admit when I signed the divorce papers,” I told him, wondering what was taking Paulie so long. I kept my eyes on him as I continued. “He was way too young for me. I was thirty-six and he twenty-six. After a year, I discovered he was fucking one of his buddies. He thought it was fun and that it shouldn’t matter but swore he wouldn’t do it again after I made my feelings on the matter clear. He didn’t keep his word, but each time I forgave him. A few months later he left me and moved in with that friend. Last time I heard, they are still married.”

  “What an asshole,” Mac remarked. “Sounds like you’re better off without somebody like that.”

  “That I’m sure. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

  “And that’s why you won’t give us a chance,” he concluded. “You think because I’m twenty-one I’m going to do the same thing as your ex.”

  “I’d rather not find out.”

  “Well, that sucks,” he murmured. “You’re judging me not based on my own demerits but somebody else’s. I bet he was like that before you married him. I’m not like that, Connor.”

  I snapped back to the present when I heard Paulie yelling for me again. Shit, I should have never agreed with this carpool idea. Why did I always let Paulie drag me into these things? He had roped me into driving with him and only yesterday informed me that Mac would be coming with us. If I had withdrawn at that point he would have figured out why. He had already looked suspicious when he’d let Mac and me out of the basement. I swore he could smell the sex on us, but I must have been paranoid because he didn’t mention it.

  I took one last look at myself in the mirror and scowled for making the extra effort tonight. It wasn’t so much that at the auction I would be representing the precinct, but that I wanted to look good for Mac.

  The guys were both waiting at the foot of the stairs. As I descended I saw the teasing gleam in Paulie’s eyes. “Whoa, Connor, you didn’t tell me you were also up for auction. I think you’re at least good for five dollars. What do you think, Mac?”

  “Hmm,” came from Mac but nothing else. I couldn’t miss the way he openly stared at me though, his eyes full of affection.

  “Can it, Paulie,” I told him. “Or we’ll leave you behind.”

  “On that note, I’ll go get the car,” he announced and set off for the garage, leaving me alone with Mac.

  “Five dollars doesn’t come close to it,” Mac said as soon as we were alone.

  When he took me by the hand and pulled me down the last step, I went along with it. I ended up in his arms locking lips with him in the sweetest kiss I could ever remember being given. Man, was I screwed.

  “We can’t do any of that tonight,” I told him, pulling away. “In fact—”

  “I know, I know, we shouldn’t be doing this any at all. I got the message loud and clear with you avoiding me again.”

  The blast of a car horn jolted us apart. Without a word, we joined Paulie. I insisted that Mac sit up front beside Paulie, so I had the back all to myself. Having Mac in the backseat would just remind me of my latest fancy, topping him in the back of his squad car.

  I remained silent while Paulie and Mac chatted all the way to the community center. I had to admit that listening to them was refreshing and kept a smile on my lips. The two got along together so well. I didn’t doubt Paulie for a minute that they were just friends, and Mac was too honest to spin both of us around like that. At least, I hoped so. The last person I had trusted had worked me over big time. Still, Mac was nothing like Jackson. I felt it. But, what if I was wrong this time?

  Deci
ding to enjoy the moment of tonight, which had turned into a bigger deal than we could have ever anticipated, I pushed thoughts of my ex from my mind. For one night I didn’t want to think about my relationship woes with Mac either but just to enjoy the night. The event had brought a huge turnout that left the auditorium of the community center packed. The local newspaper was there covering the event as well.

  Since Mac was auctioning himself, we separated, and Paulie and I took our seats after I mingled and shook the hands of visiting officers who had come to support us. When the MC, the coach of the Academy announced that they were about to begin, Paulie and I settled several seats up front so we didn’t miss anything. I had stayed out of the planning as much as possible but knew the participants were all being uniformed for the event.

  To say I was stunned when the first officer came on stage was an understatement. No one had told me the uniforms were being amended for the auction. Shaw came out in a sexier, modified version of our uniform, suspenders and pants, which left him bare-chested.

  “Officer Clinton Shaw is 32 years old, measuring 6 feet 2 inches and weighing two-hundred and eighteen pounds.”

  As the MC continued to list Shaw’s attributes, the man pranced around the stage to the soft music playing in the background. He posed for the crowd, flexing his muscles and by God, was he oiled?

  “Man, this is even better than I’d thought.” Beside me, Paulie was fairly bouncing at the sight of the half-dressed officers that made their appearances. One by one they were haggled over like fruits in a market, and I was shocked at the price women and men both were willing to pay to “buy” their choice for the night. I had to check the lineup section of the program to find out when Mac would be up. I was suddenly nervous about who would buy him.

  We had an intermission in which I was interviewed by the local newspaper. I ensured that I didn’t take any of the glory for the night but brought to attention the work, Mac, Miller, and Burns had put into the function. I returned to my seat just in time for the next officer to be introduced. Officer Julian MacKenzie.