Torch (Unbreakable Bonds 3)

“Look, Ward, I’m sorry about the house. Could they save…”

“No.”

Noah flinched at the single word and Rowe cursed himself. He didn’t know what to say. He was doing this wrong.

“I’m sorry. Fuck,” Noah whispered on a heavy exhale. “I’m sorry I ever opened my mouth. I shouldn’t …I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business what you do. If I had paid attention to why we were there in the first place, maybe we could have stopped both of them. Saved the house.”

To hell with talking.

Dropping the sweater in the empty chair behind the desk, Rowe closed the distance between them in four long strides. He captured Noah’s face in both hands and pulled him forward, opening his mouth over Noah’s. A sharp gasp left Noah, sucking in Rowe’s exhale just before their lips met in a searing kiss. Their tongues tangled, Rowe dominating him until the other man moaned and melted, his arms wrapping tightly around Rowe.

Rowe wanted this. He wanted Noah in his arms all the time. He wanted all of his moans, laughs, and smiles. He even wanted Noah shouting and pulling at his hair because Rowe was driving him insane. He wanted him barefoot and shirtless on the couch, snuggled between the dogs with a guitar in his lap on a Saturday.

And as he kissed Noah in that moment, he knew he’d come too fucking close to losing one more moment of that because he was still holding on to the past. Rowe would never stop loving Mel, but his wife was gone and their life together was over. He was getting another shot to have something too damn amazing to pass up. A third shot if he wanted to be completely honest because he could have had this with Noah before.

Breaking off the kiss, Rowe grabbed Noah by the arms and maneuvered him until the man was seated on the edge of the empty desk. Noah blinked wide blue eyes at him, his lips already swollen from the kiss, as Rowe stepped between his knees so he could look him directly in the eyes. He reached up and ran some of the strands of Noah’s hair through his fingers. It was cool and damp, but not the same silky texture he was accustomed to when he used the shampoo at home.

“No peppermint,” he murmured, talking to himself.

“Had to make do with some old soap I found.”

Rowe licked his lips and finally met Noah’s questioning gaze. Yeah, it was no wonder the man was confused. He was throwing so many mixed signals he was stunned Noah was even still there, rather than telling him to fuck off. “Maybe…maybe I like you smelling like peppermint and my soap. And maybe I like the idea of you having the right to tell me when I’m fucking up my life.”

A hand tightened ever so slightly on his waist and Noah’s breathing stuttered. “Anything else you like?”

“I like you in my house. And in my bed. I like you talking to my friends over dinner and playing with the dogs. I like you in every inch of my life.”

“Does this mean you’re going to tell me how I’m fucking up my life?”

A smirk lifted one corner of Rowe’s mouth. “Like you could fucking stop me.”

“True.”

“I love you, Noah. Love you so damn much. You can’t leave, but you’ve gotta know that I’m not an easy person to be with. I’m cranky and stubborn and my temper is too damn short—”

Noah’s laugh cut him off. “I know you, Ward.”

Rowe pushed on, shaking his head. “I’ve changed since we were in the Rangers. I—”

He stopped Rowe again, brushing his thumb over Rowe’s lower lip. “And I know you. When I told you that I loved you, I wasn’t talking about the cocky son of a bitch I met in the Army. I was talking about the man standing in front of me right now. I love you and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thank fucking Christ,” Rowe muttered before pulling Noah closer for another kiss.

Unfortunately, the kiss was cut short by shouts and clapping that sounded like they were coming from just outside the door. Rowe and Noah broke apart to find Snow, Jude, Ian, and Lucas all crowded around the window in the upper half of the door to the office. The quartet laughed and clapped, making it clear they had been watching the show the entire time. Even through the door, they could hear Lucas calling down to Andrei, who’d been stuck watching their prisoner, that they were kissing. Lovely.

“Guess we better get back to work,” Noah murmured.

Rowe looked at Noah and a slow smile split his face. “You know, for the first time in long time, I really don’t want to.”

A chuckle rumbled from Noah as he wrapped both his arms and legs around Rowe, drawing him in so that he was wrapped in a cocoon of Noah. “That’s okay. When we’re done with work, I’m going to fuck you so long and so hard the only word you’re going to know is my name.”