Hell & High Water (THIRDS 1)

“Yeah. Your ex never made you breakfast?”

Dex scoffed. “Lou might know good food, but that doesn’t mean he can cook it. I did all the cooking. He brought home leftovers. Not that I’m knocking the leftovers, ’cause they were pretty damn tasty, but if there weren’t any, it was up to me. He also slept in, and I got up early, so you know. Passing boats in the night and all that crap.”

“Well, there’s breakfast for you.” He pressed his lips to Dex’s neck, sending a shiver through him. “You know what else you need?”

“Hm?” Dex melted into him, at this point not caring about anything other than Sloane’s large hands squeezing his ass cheeks.

“I think you need to undress me, get me in the shower, and show me how much you appreciate my making you breakfast.”

Dex’s face went up in flames, and he nodded fervently. “I can do that.” His heart jolted and his pulse pounded at the sight of Sloane’s pupils dilating, the lust in them making Dex ache. Licking his bottom lip, Dex snapped out of it. He grabbed the hem of Sloane’s T-shirt and pulled it up over his head, tossing it to one side before moving onto his belt and fumbling to unbuckle it. There was no time or patience for finesse. He wanted Sloane naked as quickly as possible. Dex’s muscles still ached, his body was still in need of recovery, but his brain pushed all that aside at the idea of doing all manner of naughty things in the shower. It was amazing what a guy could endure when sex was on offer.

As soon as he had Sloane naked in front of him, he grabbed his hand and pulled him into the shower, turning on the water to a nice warm temperature. He turned and met Sloane’s gaze.

“What’ll it be?”

A sinful look came onto Sloane’s face, and Sloane backed up against the wall. “I want to see you on your knees with my dick in your mouth.”

Holy fuck. “Okay,” was all that managed to find its way out of Dex’s mouth. Frankly, he was surprised his brain was still functioning enough to say that much. He got down on his knees, Sloane’s hard erection in front of him. With a shaky hand, he guided it into his mouth and started sucking and licking. He kept his eyes open, the water hitting his ass and the backs of his legs as he popped off Sloane to trail his tongue up the side of his cock, up to the top, and over the slit. Sloane let out a low moan, his bottom lip between his teeth as he slipped one hand into Dex’s hair, fingers curling tight around his damp locks. Sloane tentatively thrust forward, and Dex opened his mouth.

“Oh God. Yeah,” Sloane moaned, slowly fucking Dex’s mouth, his dick moving slow at first, drawing nearly all the way out and then just as slowly, all the way in. Dex pressed his lips tight against Sloane’s hard cock, his fingers

digging into Sloane’s ass and his free hand palming his own cock. “Fuck. That’s it, Dex. Oh God, like that.” Sloane’s other hand found its way into Dex’s hair, but he didn’t mind the pull. Seeing the look of pleasure on Sloane’s face made the discomfort worth it. Sloane started pumping into Dex’s mouth in earnest until he lost his rhythm, one hand behind Dex’s head, holding it as he fucked his mouth. “Dex….”

Dex hummed, and Sloane let out a strangled cry as he shot his load. Dex swallowed around his partner’s cock, doing his best to take all of it, and another shudder went through Sloane. He doubled over, his arms wrapped around Dex’s head as he emptied down Dex’s throat. A few heartbeats later, Dex came hard. Sloane slowly pulled out of Dex’s mouth, leaning back against the tiny brown and white shower titles. Dex stood, ignoring the pain in his knees and back. He kissed Sloane, loving the low groan Sloane released at tasting himself on Dex’s lips. They kissed until the water started cooling, and then Dex pulled Sloane under it, lathering him up and washing him, relishing in the feel of Sloane’s firm body. They finished up and dried each other off before getting dressed. In companionable silence, they headed downstairs where Sloane popped the tasty breakfast bagel he’d made for Dex in the toaster-oven to warm up before making Dex a great cup of coffee.

They took Sloane’s sleek, black, Chevy Impala to work since Sloane had driven him home from the hospital in it. For some reason, Dex had expected Sloane to drive an SUV or something similar, but seeing him sitting comfortably behind the wheel surrounded by the classy jet black interior, Dex decided it was a good look for him. It fit with Sloane’s smooth looks and mysterious appeal. They didn’t discuss what had happened that morning or the night before, and as Dex suspected, when Sloane recognized Dex wasn’t going to bring it up, he relaxed. There was no need for the “we need to keep this quiet” conversation. Dex was fully aware what was at stake, and he had no intention of screwing everything up. He might have a big mouth but not when it came to what mattered.

Once at HQ, they changed into their uniforms and headed up to Unit Alpha. Dex had even caught Sloane smiling on more than one occasion. Knowing he had been the one to put that smile on his face had Dex grinning like a dope. When they reached the Defense Department, Dex was surprised by all the warm greetings he received. Everyone was genuinely happy to see him, a nice change from how he’d been greeted at the Sixth precinct after his ex-partner’s arrest. Sloane patted Dex’s back.

“Welcome home, Dex.”

Coming from Sloane, Dex couldn’t have soared any higher. Seconds after booting up their desks, Destructive Delta was ordered to meet in briefing room “A.” His team—with the exception of Ash—all greeted him with hugs or pats on the backs. It was amazing how quickly he was growing attached to these guys. He took a seat at the table between Sloane and Rosa, grinning at Ash who sat across from them beside Cael, with his usual grumpy frown on his face. Well, it was time to get to work. While Hudson and Nina were talking to Tony at the front of the room, Dex opened his backpack, stuck his hand inside and pulled out his new puppet pal.

Ash’s eyes went huge. “What the fuck is that?”

Dex grinned. “Sloane got it for me at the hospital gift shop on our way out.” It was a hand puppet of a lion with a big brown nose and a fluffy brown mane sticking up every which way. Dex lowered his voice, growling as his fingers moved the puppet’s little paws. “Hi, I’m Ash. My hobbies include shooting things, shooting things, and uh, shooting things. Oh and I like fish.”

Everyone around the table burst into laughter except for Ash who turned his stunned gaze on Sloane. “Are you serious?”

Sloane shrugged. “It was the only way I could distract him long enough to get him to the car. Besides, he was hurt and he liked it. I couldn’t say no.”

“Yes you could have,” Ash ground out through his teeth. “That’s just wrong.”

“No, that’s wrong,” Rosa said, pointing at Dex who was sliding his fist in and out of the puppet, making moaning noises.

“Ooh, yeah, you like that don’t you.”

“Son of a bitch!” Ash lunged for the puppet and Dex gasped, holding his puppet Ash against his chest.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on him! We’re in love. Nothing you can say or do will change what we have between us.” He petted puppet Ash’s mane, speaking quietly. “It’s okay. I’m here now. He can’t hurt you.” He placed a kiss to its nose.

“You have problems,” Ash said, jutting a finger at Dex.

Rosa laughed and hugged Dex. “I missed you.”

“Okay, listen up.” Tony stood at the podium. “The lab results for Ortiz have come in, and Hudson’s going to fill you in on what they’ve found. It took slightly longer than anticipated because there was some research to be done first in order to confirm what the examiners suspected.”

Hudson took the podium, tapping the display and bringing up an image of some tropical beach with black sand. “This is Punalu’u Beach in Hawaii. As you can see, it consists of black sand, traces of which were found on Ortiz, who we can confirm has never been to Punalu’u Beach in his lifetime, much less around the time of his murder, nor had his wife or any of their brunch guests. However, we submitted the sample to Themis, and we immediately got a hit. There is one establishment that imports this exact sand from Punalu’u.” Hudson cleared his throat and stepped to one side, his expression troubled. Something was going on.