Their Bounty (Four Mercenaries 1)

"Or a picnic? It's so nice today.” Clover looked at the sun, hidden behind shades and an SPF50 sunscreen. “I love the outdoors, but I rarely got a chance to go anywhere.” He hesitated. Boar was the cutest freckled killing machine Clover had ever met, and his body felt so soft when he wasn’t in fighting mode. “I can’t drive. Because of the eye thing.”

Boar stopped Clover when he attempted to give him back the baseball cap. “So that you don’t burn,” he said, but when he adjusted the hat for him, it seemed like yet another excuse to touch Clover.

If he didn’t know better, he’d assume Boar was falling for him. “It’s so hot I might have to take my new shirt off in the woods. You ready to get your hands dirty with sunscreen?”

Boar rolled his eyes but opened the passenger door for Clover. “Tease. Better tell me what you want to eat. My treat.”

Just like everything else. Clover had never felt so pampered.

He didn’t know how Boar felt about affection in public, so he only entwined their fingers once they were in the car. Boar’s hand was so massive and hot around his own. Would those fists ever turn against him? He couldn’t imagine that happening, but what if they did? Men could be unpredictable when things didn’t go their way.

“Burgers and milkshakes. The simple life.”

For now, Boar tightened the thick fingers on his hand, as if they were a pair of lovers about to go on their first real date.

There were no fancy drive-throughs in the area, but the burgers smelled good enough once they drove off from the restaurant and toward their hidden cabin. They could have also taken hot food for the others, but it seemed Boar was intent on hogging Clover for the afternoon. He parked the car by a narrow road about ten minutes away from where they were all staying. The grass here was so green it looked unreal. Succulent, he’d call it. Nothing like dried-up patchy lawns around where he’d used to live.

The sun shone so brightly Boar spread their brand new blanket in the shade. Nature looked pristine, with butterflies and other small insects flying between colorful flowers, and birds singing serenades in the trees above. Clover felt as if he’d stepped into a Disney movie, even if his prince always had a gun on him and was one of the three men who used Clover for sexual relief—because that was the truth of the matter, regardless of how much they all tried to cover it with niceties.

Clover tried not to think about it too much and unpacked the food while Boar smoothed out the edges of the blanket, and they settled close to a tiny stream, hidden from the road by trees and bushes. If it wasn’t for all the packaging and their clothes, Clover could have believed he’d traveled in time.

“So… Pyro’s not gonna be jealous?” Clover asked, watching Boar from behind the coffee-flavored milkshake, which contained so much sugar he was feeling high already.

Boar’s brows twitched, and he chewed on a piece of his burger before answering. “Why? He knows I’m with you.”

“But does he know you’re courting me?” Clover winked at Boar with a grin, trying to adjust his behavior to his partner’s needs. He should enjoy the good times while they lasted. Breathe in the scent of nature, feel the breeze tangle his hair, enjoy the adoring gaze that was already stripping him. Despite the fears scratching at the back of his mind, he hadn’t felt this relaxed in years. He hardly minded being the object of such intense lust.

Boar shifted closer, until their arms touched, which sent a jolt to Clover’s stomach. He couldn’t remember anyone approaching him with so much hesitation. Maybe it never happened. Nobody had ever wooed Clover, and while he couldn’t quite get his head around it, the fact that Boar was trying so hard to win his favor put a smile on Clover’s face.

“He likes you, too,” Boar said, like a seasoned diplomat, not a mercenary.

“He definitely likes putting his dick in me,” Clover snorted, hiding his face behind the burger, because he wasn’t sure how to act anymore. People weren’t nice for no reason.

Boar chuckled. “Yeah. He’s very toppy. That’s why... yeah, we like having a third with us, because I also prefer that. I mean… love is hard sometimes.”

The word ‘love’ rolled off Boar’s tongue as if it was the easiest thing to say, while Clover had never confessed it to anyone. “Y-yeah. This thing with you guys is new for me. I don’t even know what to call it, but it’s surprisingly comfortable. All of you make it so. Like all this stuff you do for me is no big deal, and the sex itself is great. Makes me relax.” But the more he spoke and the more Boar’s smile grew, the less in control Clover felt, so he changed the topic. “How did you meet Pyro?”