The day was winding to a close, although none of them had checkout times. Tech definitely wanted to see if Steele was willing to come by soon and finally scratch the itch he’d been suffering from for months. Toys were such a poor substitute for the real thing. He needed the warmth, the hardness of a man’s body pressing down on him. A lot of guys were turned off by his look and even more by his profession. When he first made detective he thought he’d have to beat guys off with a stick – damn, he’d been so young and naive – but he realized his job was demanding and it took a very strong man to handle it. He hadn’t met that man yet and feared he wouldn’t. He’d still have to keep things casual with Steele. There’s just no way he could do heartbreak again. Hell, look at Day, for heaven’s sake. The man was a mess right now. Everyone knew why, too.
Tech didn’t bother Steele when he came back in from their briefing with the captain and two of the ATF sergeants who the Feds sent over. The Enforcers had interviewed their suspect then they had tons of paperwork and statements to complete, so he stayed quiet and worked on his algorithm for Chen. He was watching the code run through again when he felt the back of a chair bump into his. He turned around, a broad smile spreading across his face when he saw Steele leaning as far back as his chair allowed, peeking around Tech’s shoulder to see what he was doing.
“What is all that?” He looked at Tech’s laptop. “You hacking into the Matrix?”
Tech’s laugh burst from him, causing Syn and Day to look over at them from their desks. Day just dropped his head back down to his work, but Syn threw Tech a quick wink. He tried to hide his blush, turning his attention back to Steele, who was still crowding his space.
“Real cute. Don’t you have work to do, detective?”
“I’m finished. You said you were gonna quiz me on the map. I’m ready.” Steele didn’t care who was around or who was watching him. He was brave and upfront with his flirting. Tech guessed after seeing God and Day and Ruxs and Green paired up, that he’d probably not be frowned upon for making his interest known, but Tech still preferred privacy. He wanted to ask Steele to go to the breakroom with him but the tightness in the front of his pants prevented that, he couldn’t let Steele ask him to step out of the office right now, either. The way the sexy Marine was staring at him, his chair arm to arm with Tech’s, he felt like Steele would lean over and take exactly what he wanted again.
Tech quickly hit a few keys on his keyboard and turned back to look at Steele. The expression of shock and humor on his face made Tech chuckle and shrug his shoulders. With only a couple clicks, he’d sent a voice message to Steele’s earpiece asking him what Tech couldn’t voice in the open:
Will you meet me in the breakroom downstairs in 20 minutes?
Steele’s grin was doing nothing to help Tech’s little problem. As if he got the hint that Tech didn’t want to make a show of the little dance they were doing, Steele nodded and mouthed, “Twenty minutes,” and rolled back over to his desk. He didn’t know why, but Tech released air that’d been trapped in his chest. Steele made him feel overwhelmed with feelings he hadn’t had to deal with since his last relationship. The excitement of something new, the anticipation of a kiss, a touch, was all there again, but he didn’t want it to be.
Steele left immediately, but Tech sat there thinking about women giving birth, letting his erection recede so he could get up. It only took a few minutes, but he waited a full fifteen before he got up, taking his YETI cup with him. When he got downstairs, there was no one in the breakroom. He didn’t expect to see any other officers because this was the one that never had fresh coffee. The television was broken and so was the refrigerator. Most of the officers used the breakroom on the first floor. He did expect to see Steele. He opened his cup and dumped the water off the ice, grabbed one of the warm Pepsis out the cabinet and poured it in. When he turned around, Steele was standing there leaning against the doorjamb.
“Are you out?” Steele led off, his face impassive and difficult to read.
Tech frowned. Where did that come from? “Of course. What am I, sixteen?”
“Why the secrecy, then? I don’t think your boss cares if I see you personally.” Steele walked inside and pushed the doorstopper aside, letting the heavy door slam shut behind him.