Feel the Fire (Hotshots 3)

“Uh...yeah...maybe you want a tour? And...” He cast about for another reason to not send Luis on his way. “It’s Friday. You’ve had a week what with the drive up from California and starting with our office. Perhaps you want a beer?”

Head tilting, Luis considered him for a long moment, probably trying to figure out what he was up to, and honestly, Tucker would like to know that too. Finally, he shrugged. “What the hell. Sure. Give me the tour, and we’ll see about the beer. I’m picky about brands.”

“Yup. You went and became a foodie,” Tucker teased as he led the way up the sidewalk. “I can remember when we couldn’t wait to get our hands on any beer, no matter the kind. But as it happens, I’ve got bottles from the brewery we ate at last night. You liked that IPA, right?”

“Yeah. It was decent.” Luis waited for Tucker to unlock the door, then surveyed the open main area of the house. Tucker had let the boys pick a lot of the furnishings, and unlike Heidi’s carefully matching scheme, the room was a bit haphazard. Luis didn’t seem to mind, though, nodding as he took in the oversize leather couch, multitude of kid artwork on the walls, and the farmhouse-style table with benches that the boys had made into everything from a pirate ship to a covered wagon when they were younger. “This is nice. My condo’s in an older building. I kind of moved in a fog after Mike and Dad passed. Tiny kitchen is the big drawback there. I do like the great room like this.”

“Thanks. And sorry about your place—moving sucks enough as it is. Can’t imagine doing it after a loss and injured as well.”

“Yeah. Next time maybe I’ll pick better.” Luis frowned, making Tucker want to chase his hurts away, tease out another of his smiles instead.

“Here, let me grab the beer and I’ll show you the patio and what I’ve done with the container garden.” He plucked two beers from the back of the fridge and opened them before leading the way to his favorite spot in the house. He had a padded porch swing flanked by groupings of containers, facing the postage-stamp yard, which sloped precariously upward, and he’d taken advantage of the incline to terrace more plantings up to the tall privacy fence. Leaving the door open so that the breeze would cool down the living area, he motioned for Luis to have a seat.

However, he hadn’t thought this through enough. Neither twin had the patience for sitting outside with him anymore, so it was mainly his own private thinking space. He didn’t need a lot of seating in an already cramped space. Which meant the two of them sitting side by side on the swing, way too cozy, but claiming a seat on the concrete patio felt like too obvious a retreat. Damn it, why did this have to be so complicated?

Even keeping to his side of the swing, their shoulders still brushed, electricity zooming down his arms. He’d gone years without feeling this kind of desire, and now he was drowning in it. The wind brought a whiff of Luis’s aftershave, the scent quickly becoming Tucker’s new favorite. Luis took a sip of the beer, and the simple act of him swallowing had Tucker close to groaning.

“Damn it, Tucker. Quit looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” Maybe playing dumb would help him.

“Like you’re dying for me to kiss you.”

Or not. Luis always had been the more direct of the two of them. “Sorry,” he mumbled into his beer.

“Sorry? That’s not a denial.” Luis’s laugh was warm and intimate.

“Can’t lie to you.” That was the truth. He never had been able to keep things from Luis—every secret wish and private transgression had been shared once upon a time, and that kind of trust apparently didn’t evaporate even with years apart. “And you can’t tell me you’re not curious.”

If Luis was going to be bold enough to bring up the tension that had been simmering between them, then Tucker was damn well going to call him on his share of it. This wasn’t all Tucker’s overheated imagination.

“I’m curious about lots of bad ideas.” Luis shrugged but his eyes sparkled.

“I’m not denying it would a big mistake,” Tucker was quick to add even as his pulse sped up.

“The worst.” Luis held his gaze, those sparkles giving way to scorching heat. Somehow they’d drawn closer, faces mere centimeters apart now.

“Can’t do it,” he whispered, voice little more than air now, especially once Luis’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“Nope.” Luis was so close now that his breath was warm on Tucker’s cheek.

And then they were kissing, simple as that. One second bantering, the next desperately kissing. No preamble, soft exploration, or tentative feeling out. No, this was flat-out hunger, and Tucker couldn’t get enough. Luis used his grip on Tucker’s shoulder to haul him closer. Groaning, Tucker met him partway, clutching at Luis’s biceps as he welcomed in his questing tongue. Damn. Felt like Luis wanted to devour him, his aggression sexy as fuck, and Tucker moaned against his lips, letting him deepen the kiss. He tasted vaguely like cinnamon and beer, but there was also a familiarity there, a flavor that was Luis’s alone that dominated Tucker’s senses.