BAB 12

Oh Pino was so not dropping this. "Did Chris and I hook up later? Is that what you're asking?"

Zaki tugged his ear, the only crack in his formidable expression.

"Is there a planet where that's your business?" Finished with the cats, Pino stood, pulling himself to his full height not that it did much to make him equal to Zaki, but he tried to make up for that with a killer glare. "Look. I'm beyond grateful for the place to stay. But who I sleep with, that's my business"

"Not here." Zaki met him glare for glare.

"Zaki. I'm gay. G-A-Y," he spelled out. Anger gave his words a bite, but at least part of that edge was frustration that no, he had not taken Chris up on his invitation to text. He hadn't been able to think of him without Zaki creeping into his thoughts, and it was Zaki's warm body and scent that dominated Pino's memories. "I have gay sex. Whether I do it here or go back to someone else's place, I'm still gay. And I'm not looking to hide that. Or have you vet my hookups. Not even for a sweet housing deal."

If anything, seeing Zaki again, all imposing, even in faded blue jeans and a T-shirt, made Pino more determined to get laid soon. He couldn't keep mooning over Zaki and his muscles and his glower.

"I know." Zaki grimaced, not backing down from the lethal expression. "And I'm not asking you to sign a celibacy promise. Just be discreet."

"I'm not sure that's possible," Pino said honestly. He'd grown up in Berkeley to an uber liberal single mom who greeted his ten-year-old crush on a Disney Channel hero with blanket acceptance. Unlike whatever game Zaki was playing, Pino hadn't even glimpsed a closet door his whole life.

"Try," Zaki growled. "I need"

"Hey, guys," Josiah called, "some people are here."

Zaki gave Pino one last censuring look before heading out of the room. Pino carefully shut the cats up one of them getting out in a strange neighborhood was all this day needed. And fuck, why did even arguing with a guy who wanted him to "be discreet" twist him in knots? He should be angry, not mooning over the impossible.

Zaki hurried back to the empty living room, Pino behind him, to find Josiah standing with Senior Chief Weber and oh fuck. He'd brought his tweenage kid along. And Harper. Fuck. Harper might be his friend, but that didn't mean Zaki was ready for him to meet Pino.

"Nelson," the senior chief greeted him. "Thought you guys could use some extra hands to make fast work of the unloading. I ran into Harper at the gym, and he offered to tag along."

Ha. A SEAL did not "offer" with the senior chief, although he had a talent for making a guy think that a direct order was really one's own idea.

"Happy to help, bro. So is this the new roomie?" Harper asked. He was tall and built like one of Zaki's sister's Ken dolls gleaming golden hair and skin with perfectly proportioned muscles. Zaki didn't have to look back over his shoulder to know that Pino was unashamedly checking him out. Because of course he was. It was what Pino did.

And if Zaki had been unable to resist doing the same more than once, then Pino was sure to be powerless under the spell of Harper's charm. Introductions were made all around and sure enough Pino gaze lingered just a bit too long on Harper. Pino eyes slid to Zaki, and Zaki gave what he hoped was a subtle shake of his head. Do not flirt. That was all they needed.

"Let's get this done." Introductions done, the senior chief rubbed his hands together. "Dorrell can handle the light stuff."

"Plenty of that." Pino laughed in a way that made a warning prickle go up Zaki back. What exactly did Pino have in there? Zaki approached the back of the truck like it might be an IED, but Pino's stuff was stored in perfectly ordinary brown boxes, most of which seemed to have held organic food or Prime purchases in past lives.

Idiot. Were you really expecting rainbow boxes? Loose sex toys? Stacks of go-go shorts?

Wait. He could not be thinking of Pino owning shorts like the guys had worn at the gay bar. And he really couldn't be thinking about Pino and sex toys in the same sentence. Or getting curious about which ones Pino might own.

"Here." Josiah interrupted Zaki's internal flailing by unloading a stack of electronic equipment into his arms.

"Whoa. You've got Xbox, PS4 and one sick-looking gaming machine." Harper paused from his own stack of boxes to inspect the goodies Josiah and Zaki were carrying. Even Zaki had to admit that Pino had a pretty sweet setup.

"Hey, Mountain Boy, do you like pizza?" Harper called to Pino. Zaki was glad he had a quasi normal name like most of the guys on the team, Harper was totally the type to latch on to a name's nickname potential.

"Yup." Pino grinned way too brightly at Harper.

"Good. I'm going to be over. A lot. No one in the barracks has a setup this sick."

"I love a great gaming night," Pino said, clearly intent on ignoring the death glare Zaki was sending him. "Anytime. And bring your friends."

No, Zaki did not need Pino spending more time around Harper or God help him, the rest of the team. "We'll probably be too busy doing the work around here," Zaki groused.

"No, you won't." The senior chief gave him a stern look. "The work will get done. Make sure you get your R and R in too. I don't want you dragging in drills because you're killing yourself here."

"That's why he has me," Pino said a bit too brightly. "This place has decent bones. It'll be fun work."

Zaki did not "have" Pino, but he knew that any protesting was only going to make him look more suspicious, so he settled for a noncommittal noise.