Order (Tattoos and Ties Duet #2)(26)

“Alexa, play If Our Love Is Wrong by Calum Scott,” Alec called out, reaching to shut the door behind him. Keyes stopped in the middle of the doorframe, crowding Alec.

“Are you sure we’re okay?” He tried again, staring intently at Alec, needing to find the answers to all the questioning nagging at his heart.

“I haven’t been happier. Just tired. My legs feel like noodles. I’ve been bad on my workout.” Alec lifted to kiss him. Keyes wrapped his arm around Alec, wanting to believe Alec and needing the moment to help ease his worried heart. Alec grinned up at him, gave his normal wink, but left his hold almost immediately. Keyes watched Alec go straight to the patio table, setting the plates in each of their spots. He didn’t scoot their chairs closer together like he normally did.

Something was off between them.





Saturday Night





Alec couldn’t lift another weight or run another mile. His body fucking hurt. Dammit if the curse words weren’t streaming in vivid clarity through his mind, damning his traitorous dick. He wanted Key so badly. Sure, he’d gone weeks without sex before, usually a hand job had done the trick. Yet, now, Alec couldn’t seem to jack himself enough to calm his greedy dick, and Keyes Dixon wasn’t helping matters at all.

Of course, he’d been overly attracted to Key’s whole look the moment he laid eyes on him—Alec had never pretended otherwise—but something had changed, and now only this specific bad boy did it for him. The sexy head of hair and beard that had turned every shade of color between honey and blond… Oh man, his biker was one hot guy. Even Key’s long eyelashes were multi-colored wisps of sexy.

They rarely spoke about Key’s work except to say business had gotten better and he’d struck a deal with his right-hand man to close the shop in the evenings, letting him get on the road to Alec’s place a little earlier. By the look of his biker’s hard body, with all those toned and defined stomach muscles, Key did a lot of the physical labor himself. And dammit, Key had gotten used to going shirtless around Alec’s house. The mental image of Key’s hard chest caused Alec to trip over his feet in the cool-down portion of his treadmill run. Luckily, he caught himself the exact same moment his home security system alerted him of the backdoor opening. Shit, Key was already home. Alec was past the point of exhaustion, yet his dick tented in his shorts, jutting straight out like a fucking heat-seeking missile.

“Alec?” Key called from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah,” his voice croaked as he mashed the heel of his palm against the hard as steel shaft in his shorts. Even Key’s voice caused his dick to twitch. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

What the hell was he going to do? Sex was a fucking natural part of life. Alec should be up for sainthood for having Key in his bed every night and not fucking the guy senseless. How long did he have to wait? What was an appropriate amount of time to legitimize all these feelings so his biker knew what they had was more than just sex?

Alec went to his upstairs bathroom and shoved his overly excited cock under a stream of cold water. Hopefully, he’d calmed the damn thing down enough to at least get downstairs, say hello, then run take a quick cold shower.

He trotted down the stairs, rolling the tight muscles in his shoulders as he hit the bottom step, barely turning the corner before running smack into Key. Alec stopped short, took an immediate step backward, and looked at the guy from top to bottom. Key had on new jeans, new boots—more designer than work—and a button-down the color of his striking blue eyes, both sleeves rolled a couple of times. He’d left his hair loose, and the silky strands tempted Alec’s eager fingers. Key’s beard had been trimmed, and he wore jewelry—skulls, chains, and sexy leather straps. They fit this man perfectly.

Oh hell. Key had always been mouthwatering, but this… “You’re handsome.”

Key chuckled. “Surprised about that?”

“No…”

His lover outright laughed at him this time. Alec was never at a loss for words, not ever. He could talk his way out of a box and had before, but this was such a surprise.

Key ran his hands down the length of his pressed shirt. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his eyes followed his hands roaming over his clothing. “Bad choice? I got others.”

Alec forced himself to move before he dropped to his knees to show Key exactly what he thought about his look. Instead, he puckered for the one welcome-home kiss he’d allow himself to have. Against his will, Alec’s lips lingered. His entire body tightened, and he clenched his fists, forcing himself to break away, settling back on his heels as he looked up into Key’s bright eyes. “You’re stunning, and you smell amazing. Your hair’s even different.”

“That woman who fixed me up before used the hairdryer. She called someone in the mall who hooked me up with the rest.” Oh hell, Key had done all this for him.

Alec couldn’t help his lift of the chin for another kiss. As handsome as Key was with the clothes on, all Alec wanted to do was peel him out of them.

“You surprised me. I’ve always thought of you as handsome, but you clean up really well. Let me run and shower and throw on a change of clothes. I thought we could run up to Whole Foods,” Alec said and bypassed Key to head for the seclusion of the master bathroom.

“We can’t go to the grocery store together,” Key said from behind him as if Alec had lost his mind.