Free Only by Helenkay Dimon

twitch in his neck or his pants. Seeing Wade had the same effect it always did. The churning started, then the rush of heat. It had been that way from the beginning and the epic fight that ended with Wade kicking Eli not only out of his bed but out of the building hadn’t cooled Eli’s need one bit.
    Watching Wade flirt with the blond with the swimmer’s build and expensive suit forced a different kind of heat through Eli’s veins. So did the way Wade smiled before the guy returned to his table across the room.
    Eli knew the other man. Recognized him from a photo he saw in one of Wade’s nightstand drawers in the condo above the club. Eli hated the live version of the man.
    But Wade’s smile brought back memories. Eli remembered months ago waking up from his wounds, including the one Jarrett inflicted when Eli showed up on his doorstep after almost being killed in an attack made to look like an accident. Wade had stood guard over Eli’s bedside. He was the six-three enforcer with shoulders as wide as a doorframe, or so it seemed.
    Back then the military haircut and scruff around Wade’s chin had Elijah wishing for something other than an escape from the building. And when he’d brushed the back of his hand against Wade’s fly and got a look of smoky interest in return, it was fucking game on until Wade called an end to everything.
    They’d lived and slept together upstairs for months while Eli recuperated and after. As he began investigating who was systematically eliminating his CIA Spectrum front and why, the rage inside him had simmered. Most of it was directed at Becca, and finding her back in Jarrett’s protection set Eli off. His hate spewed and Wade walked in at the wrong time.
    It all ended after that. Wade refused to listen back then and they’d been apart ever since. Eli could count almost down to the hour since he’d last run his hands over Wade or been inside him. Wade put up the wall. All the calls and texts did nothing to knock it down.
    And now this fucking blond popped out of nowhere.
    Elijah couldn’t sit still another second. He walked up to the bar and stood right in front of Wade to force a confrontation. Up close, Eli saw the ease on Wade’s face. The comfort, as if their time apart had been good for him while it scratched and scraped at Eli.
    Wade used his towel to dry out a glass. “Elijah. It looks like you’re getting along well with Bast.”
    â€œThe job is fine.” The last thing Eli wanted was mundane bullshit chatter, but since some old guy with a bad comb-over sat at the bar two chairs down and didn’t seem to be moving on, Elijah had little choice.
    Without asking, Wade put a glass in front of Eli and poured a beer. The right one. His favorite.
    â€œNot exactly like your last job,” Wade said.
    â€œBast prefers if I don’t kill people on company time.”
    That comment got the intruder moving. He grabbed his glass and headed for a booth filled with three other men in gray suits.
    â€œSounds like Bast. Lawyers are funny that way.” Wade actually smiled as he looked at the retreating man’s back. “You scared that guy away.”
    â€œHe shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
    â€œThat’s a favorite pastime at the club.”
    Enough mindless talk. Eli had a point and jumped to it. “You were talking with Shawn a few minutes ago. When did he start sniffing around again?”
    Elijah knew exactly who the blond was and what he once meant to Wade. They were together for months before Eli arrived at the building.
    â€œExcuse me?” Wade’s smile was long gone now.
    â€œYou heard me.”
    Wade slammed the glass against the counter with a loud whack. The rattle of silverware and rumble of conversation in the club’s dining room covered it, but did not hide the scowl. “It was your tone that ticked me off.”
    â€œIf the problem wasn’t the subject, then