Ambrose (The Theriot Family 5)

He stumbled and almost went down, but he kept himself upright and turned to face me.

“You would never make it back on your own.” Eric scowled at me but didn’t argue because he knew I was right. “You have no idea where we are and no signal to use your GPS. Don’t make me fight you. I’ve had a long day, and I want to get home.

“We could have gone to my house.”

“And led them right there?” I couldn’t believe he’d think I would take that risk.

“Did you see someone else watching us?”

“No, but my gut told me someone was there. Someone damn good at hiding. It wasn’t worth the risk.”

“There must be somewhere closer we could go.”

“Not where I can be sure of our safety.” I knew Eric was plotting how he could get away, but that wasn’t happening, at least not until I could be certain he was safe. We’d come up with a story explaining his disappearance, but for now, he was staying with me because I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt him, and he clearly wasn’t going to listen when I told him to stay out of this. I forced Eric back onto the bike and kicked it into gear.

How are you going to keep him at your cabin? Are you going to tie him up?

The last thing I needed was the image that popped into my head of Eric tied to my bed frame. I nearly ran off the road.

Jesus, he would be hot like that.

I would restrain him if I needed to for his safety, but that fantasy wasn’t happening. I wasn’t going to play out any of my Eric fantasies because, no matter how much I felt toward him, I couldn’t be with him. I couldn’t be with anyone. This wasn’t about me never having been with a man before. I could handle a sudden change in my sexuality a hell of a lot more easily than I could handle a person in my space, a person thinking I was going to be there all the time, that I was going to talk to them or go out with them. After this war with Carlotti ended, I was going to stay at my cabin alone for a long, long time.

Dax would miss you.

He could come visit.

Do you really want to go back to how things were?

No. Yes. I don’t fucking know, but I can’t…

I swung around a tight curve, and Eric’s grip on me tightened. I wanted to grab his hands and pull them together so he fully encircled me. I loved feeling the warm, reassuring heat of him against my back, and I wanted him to press fully against me. He knew how to talk to people and how to make them feel at ease. He even made me feel more relaxed—except when he was risking his life like a fucking fool.

I drove as fast as I could, needing to get home where I could put some distance between me and Eric, not that we’d be very distant in my tiny cabin. It had always seemed plenty big. Why would I need more than I had? But now, I wished I had a house as large as the Theriot family estate in Metairie because there was no way in hell I was going to sleep tonight with Eric right there. I would be able to hear every sound he made, every rustle of the sheets, every…

I could take him to… No, I wasn’t ready for anyone to know that secret yet.

Another sharp turn had Eric sliding into me and gripping tighter. We almost crashed because when he moved closer to me, I felt the hard ridge of his cock press against my ass.

Jesus, he actually did want me. It wasn’t my imagination. I focused on the road, fighting the urge to press back into him. I needed all my concentration to negotiate the terrain. Eric squirmed, trying to move away, but that only made it worse. My own cock started to swell.

I’d never gotten hard for another man before. I’d seen plenty of guys’ dicks. I could have had my share back in my army days or at any of the clubs Corbin and Lance begged to take me to, but the hot men’s bodies I’d seen had been like works of art to me, not something I needed to possess, to touch, to feel against me. They were beautiful, not sexual, but Eric… Jesus, I wanted him. I wanted to know what it would feel like to fuck him, to have his mouth around my dick, and to… fuck, to do the same to him.

I pushed those thoughts away as I turned down the path to my cabin.

When I parked, Eric jumped off so fast I worried he was going to run. “There are gators and nutria all around here. I can track you, but I really don’t feel like wrestling a gator today.”