Restless

He’s restless. He’s been restless for a while, and it’s showing.

It’s just…now’s not the best time for his grabby hands and sleep deprivation and serious libido to be cropping up.

And I’ll admit, I’ve been tired too. We’ve both been busy, the work’s been steady lately, and Bob and I just got done with a murder case for Murphy. So yeah, we’re tired and I think we both need a vacation.

But see, when I’m sleep deprived and exhausted, I catch myself staring into space or nodding off in my desk chair. I get cranky and I eat constantly.

When Bob’s sleep deprived, he gets restless. Translation: horny. All the fucking time. From the minute he wakes up until the minute we eventually get to bed (if we even do), he’s constantly grabbing at me, those long fingers running trails through my hair and over my skin.

And if he can’t have me right then and there, he’ll disappear for a little while, then come back, face still slightly flushed but looking more calm than he had been earlier. It didn’t dawn on me at first what was going on, but one time I had gone upstairs after the last appointment for the day to see where Bob had wandered off to. First off, he’d been even more horrid than normal that day, even taking a chance and grabbing me as I went into the kitchen for a glass of water for a teary-eyed woman who thought her husband was cheating on her.

“Bob!” I managed as he pulled on my shirt and locked his lips with mine. He pressed me into the wall, hands everywhere, hips gently rolling against mine. I had to really fight back a groan as I felt his hard cock press against me.

“There’s a client out there,” I said, pulling away. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“You,” he purred back.

I managed to evade him that time by asking him to at least wait until the office appointments were done for the day. I promised him lots of sex and that I’d let him top all he wanted if he’d just let me get through the last two clients. He’d nodded, looking dejected, but he still had that mischievous glint in his eye I’d come to know so well.

So when I’d gone upstairs looking for him, I wasn’t surprised that he was already on the bed. And naked. And waiting for me.

What did surprise me was that he was on his knees, facing me, and that one hand was slowly moving up and down his stiff cock while the other was pinching one of his nipples. He was masturbating in front of me, eyes partially closed, lips pink and wet, alabaster skin already damp. He rubbed his thumb over the tip of his penis, smearing pre-cum over the nearly-purple skin. He opened his eyes and smiled before dipping his nail into the slit, his hips jerking forward as he hissed my name.

This is what I deal with every day.

He’s even gotten so bad that he grabbed my ass, in public, while we were waiting in line at a sub shop for lunch.

I had been mortified, and I looked around, panicked that somebody saw my boyfriend practically caress my ass right in broad daylight, in front of dozens of other people.

“Calm down, Harry,” he whispered in my ear, sneaky fingers touching my belt. “No one saw.”

“No one saw?” I spat back, angry and embarrassed…and so turned on I could barely see straight. Nobody warned me Bob had the libido of fifty Italian men on any normal day…triple that when he’s running on nothing but caffeine, carbs and sex for a week. Diet of champions, and, apparently, perverted sex deviants named Hrothbert of Bainbridge.

He pulled his fingers away, chuckling at the flush that crept up my neck as a lady with her two kids shot a rather nasty glare at me. I hunched my shoulders and gritted my teeth, stepping up in line to order.

The sub shop has tables outside, so that’s where we sat once we had our food. Bob loves being outside anymore. At first, he was a bit wary of leaving the apartment. I’d be wary, too, if all I’d known for half a millennia had been my student’s apartment and the inside of my own skull. Now he loves it, and is constantly begging me to have sex with him on the roof of our building. I replied, in a rather calm voice, that the only way I’d do it is if he got me drunk enough. I know for a fact that he stored that information away for a later date.

He sat down across from me, eyes roaming over the people we sat amongst and the street just behind me. Traffic whizzed by, the occasional car horn permeating the sound of throngs of people going by. It was lunchtime, and in this section of Chicago, the sandwich and sub shops were packed in together, ready and waiting to serve the masses of hungry cubicle workers looking for some daylight and free space to walk around after being cramped in their gray boxes all morning.

I started to eat, watching him watching the people around us. His blue eyes missed nothing; not the lady who had given me a dirty look wiping mustard off her son’s mouth, not the businessmen who loosened their ties and joked amongst themselves, their eyes wandering over to the gaggle of young women just a table away. He also didn’t miss Morgan strolling towards us. I knew he was there, too, but I didn’t so much as blink when he came up to our table.

“Dresden” he said, looking down at us and our food with what looked like disgust. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the mayo that was currently squishing out of my sandwich, or if it was just a general kind of disgust. I was going to eat the damn sandwich either way.

Bob slid his eyes up to Morgan’s face, then back down and over to mine. His raised eyebrows almost made me laugh, but I managed to push it down before saying, “Something we can help you with, Morgan?”

Since Bob became corporeal, Morgan’s been kind of…jumpy around him. Yeah, I think jumpy is the right word. What can I say? Morgan might be a Warden, but Bob was, and slowly is becoming again, a bad-assed necromancer.

Okay, poor choice of words there. He is still a bad-ass, just not a necromancer. Not this time around. But Bob is wicked powerful, even at only half strength. What made him corporeal also zapped a good amount of Bob’s power, but he was slowly regaining it, making progress every day.

That is, when he’s not groping my ass in public. Or shoving me against the lab door, hot lips on mine, tongue in my mouth, body pressed against me, hand creeping down my chest toward my pants…

“Dresden!”

I shook my head and gave a cough. “Huh? Yeah, right, Morgan. What’s up?”

Morgan rolled his eyes, making such a immature expression seem almost respectable. “I wanted to tell you that I’ve been sent to give you a job.”

I looked across the table and saw Bob slowly finish chewing the bite he had in his mouth. He took the time to swallow the food properly before blinking at Morgan. “What exactly is it that the Council wants us to do?”

He cast a leery eye at Bob, who gave a virtually imperceptible shrug and continued eating. The last time they’d met, it had been right after he’d helped me knock out a warlock that had set up shop just inside the city. This guy had been offering his services like a mercenary to those with a need to off someone and a large bank account. Morgan had shown up with his Warden cronies and trainees in just enough time to see Bob fling a hand out and send the warlock hurtling into a brick wall about fifty yards away, then repel the magic the warlock sent back at him with another flick of his hand.

I needed my hockey stick to do that kind of physical defensive magic. Bob flicked his hand and sent a decently powerful warlock flying without so much as mussing his hair. We all have our devices…I guess. All I remember is getting up off the ground (because I’d been sent flying just a minute earlier, which I‘m sure doesn‘t come as a surprise) and looking over at Morgan. One of the baby Wardens he had with him whistled appreciatively at Bob’s skill and power, then had the gall (or lack of intelligence, if you look at it that way) to ask Morgan when he was going to teach them that kind of defensive magic. All he got in response from Morgan was a wounded growl and a look of death.

“I need you--we need you to spy on a shipment of magically-tainted hallucinatory drugs being sent to the city. We know where it‘s going, but we need you to witness the drugs being bought with the intention of reselling them on the street.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him, taking another bite before answering. “And where exactly is this shipment going?”

The look I got from Bob told me that wasn’t the question I should have asked, but I was curious. He would have asked “Who’s supposed to receive the shipment?”, but I won’t split hairs. Bob will win. He almost always wins, and if he doesn’t, we still somehow wind up in bed, sweaty and naked and panting, his cock in me, and I’m telling him he was right anyways.

Morgan cleared his throat and looked down. He actually looked uncomfortable. “The Velvet Lounge,” he said in a quiet voice.

I choked on the bit of sandwich I had in my mouth, getting it firmly lodged in my throat. I sputtered a bit before finally getting it down. It burned, but I was able to manage a rather firm, “No way in hell, Morgan.”

Bob‘s eyes widened just a tiny bit, and he started fiddling with that damn ring of his. “I’d have to second Harry on that. Surely you’ve one of your young Wardens wouldn’t mind taking such a job.”

Morgan shook his head. “Harry and Bianca have a history together. He knows where she keeps contraband in her club, and we know the drop off is going to take place before the club opens in the first-floor parlor. You two simply need to witness the transaction and get in touch with me. Myself and a few other Wardens will handle the rest. There is no negotiation on this, Dresden.”

He handed Bob a small copper circle and me a folded sheet of paper. “The circle’s for summoning me the second the transaction takes place, and the paper has the details of the drop off on it.” He folded his arms across his chest, eyes flitting over the people around us before saying, “I’m supposed to tell you that if you do this, and do it right, you’ll be receiving a check for your services from the Council. The amount’s on the paper, and it‘s been signed by myself and Mai.”

And he left. No goodbye, no wish of good luck. No option but to take the job. He just gave us one last look of warning, and left.

Bob put the copper circle in his pocket and continued eating, curious eyes watching me unfold the paper and read the details out loud. “First floor parlor, blah blah, hallucinatory drugs laced with magic, yeah…” I froze as my eyes caught sight of the exact amount of money the Council was going to pay me.

After a long silence, Bob cleared his throat. “Something wrong, Harry?”

I shook my head, the movement feeling as if I was drugged. “Nope.” And then I gaped some more.

Bob stood, grabbed my tray, and dumped them both in a nearby trash can. He walked back over and stood behind me, hand on my shoulder, like he always did. “Oh my,” he said after moment. “Now I understand your silence, Harry.”

“Yep.” I re-read the number again. “Guess you and me are taking that vacation after all.”

I stood and we started down the street, back to the apartment. I folded the paper up and stuck it in my pocket as we went. I knew Bob would hold his hand out to me once we’d passed the park full of kids and their parents and had gotten onto a fairly deserted street. He knew how I felt about even the slightest public display of affection.

But I had a piece of paper in my pocket guaranteeing that, on the condition we did the job, there would be a check for $10,000 in my possession the minute Morgan got there. For that amount of money, everyone else could go fuck themselves. Go ahead and stare.

I’m going to hold hands with my boyfriend.

*******************************************************************************************


“Dammit.”

I chuckled as Bob’s aggravated voice sounded behind me. “Not so loud, Bob,” I said, trying to keep my tone serious. If I didn’t, I’d probably wind up on the ground laughing. This was about the…hell, I don’t know, fifth or sixth time Bob had run into something on our little journey through the woods to Bianca’s club. This place was fairly new, set back in the woods around the lake, just outside of Chicago, about a twenty minute drive from our place. I’d only been here once, a few months before Bob became corporeal. Bianca had paid me to play bodyguard for one night, after she realized that her little seduction routine didn’t work on me anymore and that she‘d actually have to hire me. Some competition had moved into the area, and she was feeling skittish about her safety on the opening night of her club.

She made the mistake of leaving me to my own devices for about an hour while she readied the club for its debut evening. When someone leaves me alone in a place I don’t know, and I don’t completely trust the person to begin with, I tend to snoop around. I’d like to think it’s the private eye in me, this instinct to lurk in the shadows and find the dirty little secrets of everyone. Really, I’m just too curious for my own damn good. Long story short, I found a rather suspicious supply of some rare and dangerous magical artifacts tucked away in a back storeroom. It wasn’t illegal to own any of it, but in the wrong hands, you could make a hell of a mess with some of that stuff. I said nothing directly to Bianca about it, but I left a few hints about what I knew. I don’t know whether she got them or not, but by the end of the night, she was ready to be rid of me. Apparently, I can be annoying as hell if I put my mind to it.

We finally managed to shuffle up to the back of the building. The place wasn’t well lit on the outside, so I was assuming it was a “you’ll come if you know about it” kind of thing. The first-floor “parlor” was really a giant room with big windows and lots of dark velvet furniture and a marble fireplace. Goth sophistication at its finest, I suppose. Bianca used the room to schmooze wealthy patrons with pricey wine while beautiful, young, barely dressed men and women waltzed around serving exotic appetizers and selling their nubile flesh to the highest bidder.

The lack of outside lighting would hide us long enough to see the deal go down, and since this was supposed to take place before the club opened, our chances of being seen went down even more. The less eyes around, the better for us.

I crept up to the window looking in on the front parlor, having to crouch to keep my head out of sight. I looked inside and scanned the room. One of Bianca’s women was adjusting roses in a vase, and I saw a cell phone lying on the black marble table in the middle of the room. It was sleek, dark, and expensive. Just like Bianca.

“I don’t think we’ll have to wait long,” I whispered to Bob, who was right beside me, also peeking inside. He was close enough that all I had to do was extend my arm a little in order to grab his hand. “We see money exchanged, we summon Morgan, we take our check for ten grand and get out of this city for a while. You have somewhere particular in mind you want to go to, Bob?”

Bob followed my lead, and with only a tiny look of disgust at the grass, sat down against the back wall of the building, hidden in the shadows and away from the eyes of anyone passing through the room. “Somewhere with blue water,” he said quietly, head leaning back against the brick. “I’ve never seen truly blue water before.”

I smiled, my hand tightening around his. “I think we can manage that. Some Caribbean island somewhere.”

He hummed in approval, eyes darting to the window as someone passed through. I took a quick glance; another person carrying in yet more roses. There were roses all over the room. Hope no one has allergies.

A few more employees came and went, adjusting this or dusting that, and I had Bob check his pocket watch. The drop was supposed to take place at 10:45 pm, and it was now 10:30, so we only had a little while longer to wait.

“Bob, I think we should just keep this position the whole time,” I whispered, my eyes trained on the room. “Keeping to the shadows is our best-”

My words stopped suddenly as I felt two warm lips on my neck just as Bob’s body pressed into mine.

I turned quickly and was grabbed by my jacket collar, brought into a kiss that sent my head spinning. Bob’s kisses were easily capable of rendering me speechless, and when I asked him who had taught him to kiss like that, all I got in response was a deep chuckle and a raise of two white eyebrows. Point taken. I never asked again, part of me not wanting to know. And then again…part of me really wanted to know. Low, sexy voice and accent aside, Bob has a certain…skill when it comes to telling stories. It’s easy to get spellbound when he talks. Now just imagine him telling a story that’s not exactly for innocent ears, that rumbling tone coming from those beautiful, talented lips…

Yeah. I had the same reaction too.

Bob’s lips covered mine, and I made a small noise of surrender and allowed his tongue inside my mouth, the warm, wet rush of it making my head spin.

Of course, this was the minute that the tiny bit of my brain that actually uses common sense smacked me upside the head. “Bob,” I breathed, “stop.”

He pulled back slowly, letting his lips linger enough to almost make me change my mind. But his hands were still curled in my jacket, and his eyes were inches from mine. “Why?”

Jesus. Why, he asks. Horny bastard. He knew if he applied enough pressure, I’d probably have sex with him right now, outside Bianca’s club. We had enough time, and he was certainly up for it. “Because we’re on a job,” I managed to hiss back at him, eyes darting over to the window as Cecily, one of Bianca’s top women, came into the room and set a small, black envelope with gold filigree etching along the edges. It had to be the money envelope. I was just about betting on it.

“Almost time,” I finally said to Bob, giving him a pointed look. “We need to be watching.”

I turned back to the window and heard him shift beside me, assuming that he was moving back to a crouching position. I was wrong.

The press of fingers on my thigh made me tense. I looked down and saw five pale fingers splayed out over my jean-covered thigh.

"Bob, stop that.” I swatted at the offending hand with a perturbed look.

"No."

"As much as I love it when you get demanding and bitchy, Bob, it might not be a good idea to alert everyone inside of our presence!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

Bob smiled, and I rolled my eyes. "Stop."

"No, I will not stop."

“Fine. But that hand better not wander any farther to the right.” I trained my eyes back on the window just as Bianca, looking as luscious and dangerous as ever, saunter in the room with two men in black suits right behind her; her hired muscle for the night. Right behind them was a silver-haired, impeccably dressed man with what was obviously a bodyguard. The bodyguard was carrying a wooden box in his burly arms, and the silver-haired man nodded at him as they took their place on the other side of the table, across from Bianca. The three meatheads were all packing; it was the way the guns made their jackets pooch. The silver-haired man might have been carrying a gun, but if he was, I couldn’t tell.

“That man reeks of money,” Bob said in my ear, his fingers digging into the flesh on my leg. With anyone else, I would register the clutching of his fingers as anxiety or nerves. Not with Bob. Those fingers on my thigh were meant to be erotic, and it was working. With Bob, everything was erotic. Hell, cheese was erotic if cheese was somehow involved with Bob. Normally, cheese is funny in just about any context. I’d bet my cat and my mother’s pentacle necklace that Bob could make cheese be the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen once he was through with it.

“You aren’t kidding me,” I said eventually, trying to make myself focus on what was taking place just inside. I was sort of sweaty and a little shaky, like I’d had one too many beers. Instead, I just had a drug deal going down in front of me, the promise of ten grand upon delivery of said drug deal, and my lover’s hand caressing my thigh. I’m such a wuss.

“He’s not from around here,” Bob continued, his eyes fixed on the man as he reached down and flipped the lid back on the box. “He’s European, maybe Romanian. I’ve heard things about drug manufacturing there.” The man gestured to Bianca, and she sat down in front of the box and reached inside, pulling out a cloth covered package. Bianca took it with a hesitant hand, her eyes flickering to the window just as I looked at her.

“Shit!” I pulled Bob down to the ground with me, praying to every god and goddess I knew of that she hadn’t seen us. I waited for the yells and gunshots to start sounding, but after a few moments of listening to my own ragged breath and my heartbeat in my ears, I looked over at Bob.

He was grinning at me, head turned to the side to look at me as he laid on his back, one hand on his chest. “That was rather sudden,” he said dryly.

“I thought she saw us,” I said, grabbing Bob’s arm and helping him back up. He brushed at a stray leaf on his jacket, still smiling. “What?”

“You’re jumpy,” he replied, nodding his head at the window. “Normally, you’re just tense on a job like this.”

What was I supposed to tell him? I could admit to the fact that he’d been a tease for the past half an hour and it had made me so horny I could barely see straight, but that would just make him smile and increase his already inflated ego. He knows he’s a sex-god, I know he’s a sex-god, and he likes other people to know that I know that. Horny, egotistical bastard.

I said nothing, figuring silence was my best bet. We hadn’t missed much; Bianca had just unwrapped the package and was inspecting a clear plastic parcel full of a rather suspicious-looking powdery substance. She took the tiny penknife one of her bodyguards offered her and cut a small slit in the corner of the package, dipping the knife in and bringing out a few grains of the powder. She put the knife to her tongue, closed her eyes, and then smiled.

“Just give the man the money so I can get Morgan here and nail your ass, bitch,” I muttered. I was so focused on what was taking place in front of me that I hadn’t noticed Bob move right beside me, his body brushing against mine. A whisper of cloth made me turn my head. I saw Bob pull the copper circle out of his jacket pocket and hold it out.

“I think maybe we should get this ready now,” he whispered to me. “I suspect Bianca’s going to give this man his money at any moment.”

I nodded, and he shuffled back a few feet, putting the circle on the ground in front of him. He held his hand out over it, palm down, and the space between his hand and the circle glowed a dim green. I turned back to the window and witnessed Bianca handing the man the envelope that had been on the table earlier. He opened it and pulled out a stack of bills.

“Call him, Bob,” I said. “The deal’s gone down.”

A flash of light nearly blinded me, and I was sure everyone inside had seen it, but when the spots cleared from my eyes, I looked inside and saw that no one had even blinked. Morgan must have cloaked the circle to prevent us from being seen as we summoned him.

“The money’s been exchanged for the drugs?” came Morgan’s voice from behind me. I spun on my heels, and making sure I was still in the shadows, stood and faced the man. He was in his tan trenchcoat, like normal, and behind him were five similarly dressed, freshly schooled newbie Wardens. He nodded to them, and they spread out, sneaking around the corners of the building. Bob stood with me, blue eyes watching the baby Wardens move out.

“You get your drug dealer and one evil bitch of a vampire, and we get our ten grand,” I said with what I thought was a congenial smile.

Morgan glared at me, but he reached inside his coat and pulled out an envelope. I reached out and snatched it from him, then grabbed Bob’s hand, turning to leave.

“The Council won’t always pay you to do things for them, Harry,” he warned, eyes fixed on the Wardens, who were now inside the parlor and busting ass, slinging spells left and right to incapacitate those inside. They’d probably get a hell of a fight from Bianca, but it wasn’t my fight, therefore, not my concern.

But I didn’t entirely trust Morgan or the Council, so I ripped open the envelope right in front of him and yanked out the check. It was authentic, made out in my name and signed by Ancient Mai. I grinned at Bob and waved the check at Morgan. “Bob and I are going to be out of town for a while, so don’t call. We’ll let you know when we’re back.”

I heard Morgan mumble something about smart-ass wizards, but I didn’t care.

Bob and I worked our way back through the woods and back to my Jeep. Once inside, I tucked the check safely in my wallet and grabbed Bob by the neck, kissing him with all the fever I had been keeping pent up for the past hour.

We both eventually pulled back, panting and watching each other with dilated eyes. He gave me a slow, silky smile that had me hurriedly cranking over the engine and peeling out of the side street we’d parked on.

“In a hurry, are we?”

I gave an appreciative hum as Bob’s hand slinked up my arm to my neck. His strong fingers pressed into the back of my neck, right underneath the base of my skull. “You bet your ass we are,” I said back, eyes trained on the road but mind back at home, in bed, with Bob.

“So, are we still going to the Caribbean?” he asked, the expectation in his voice making me look at him, and the eagerness on his face was almost…I daresay, cute.

“We will go wherever you want to, Bob,” I replied, eyes locking with his briefly before I set my sight back on the road.

His fingers pressed more firmly into my neck, and he leaned over in his seat and his lips brushed my temple. “Thank you, Harry.”

**********************************************************************

“Do you really need another beer, Harry?”

I looked at Bob over the top of my sunglasses. “Yes, I do really need another beer.” I looked back at the gorgeous blue water in front of me, flicking the top off my fourth beer and swigging down a huge gulp before I reached out and grabbed his hand. The sun was just going down, and Bob and I were sitting outside our resort cabin. There wasn’t another soul around for at least a quarter of a mile, and it was just a short boat ride across the island to the main resort buildings, where the pools and spa and restaurants were housed.

It was, in short, paradise, and Bob and I both knew it.

“Know what else I need, Bob?”

He glanced over at me, one white eyebrow raised. “I can only guess.”

I stood and pulled him to his feet. He groaned a little, not wanting to leave the beach recliner just yet. I yanked him to me, our bare chests touching. My beer dropped to the ground, tipping over and spilling into the sand as I ran my hands through his hair.

“I think we’ve seen enough of the sunset, Bob.”

I caught a flash of a smile just as he leaned in and kissed me, hot and heavy. It was another one of those head-spinning kisses that had me feeling like I’d finished that fourth beer.

He pulled back, lips wet and pink and looking like they needed another tasting. “I thought we came to the Caribbean for the blue water and the fantastic scenery, Harry.”

I chuckled, my lips against his ear, my cock brushing against his. “But we haven’t tried out the loveseat on the back deck yet, Bob.”