Under the Skin by Nicki Bennett & Ariel Tachna Page A

taking what Patrick offered.
    Patrick froze in his arms, the diminutive as much a surprise to him as it had been to Alexei. “Alex… Lyoha.”
    “Where you hear that?” It was the last thing he’d thought to hear from Patrick in response to his unintended slip.
    “On the phone,” Patrick replied, not pulling away as Alexei expected him to. “I heard someone in the background call you by that name. I thought…. Never mind what I thought. Forget I said anything.”
    Just for a moment, Alexei let himself lean against Patrick’s back. “Lyosha,” he corrected softly, offering the more intimate diminutive knowing Patrick wouldn’t know the difference.
    “Lyosha,” Patrick echoed, and Alexei closed his eyes until their spasms eased before pulling out, tossing the condom into the overflowing trash bin.
    Patrick righted his clothes slowly before turning back to face Alexei, denying him a glimpse of the body he’d handled so freely moments before. “Have you identified the killer?” Patrick asked, his voice softer than Alexei had ever heard it. He bent to pick up the folder of pictures he’d dropped when Alexei had grabbed him, not bothering to show them to Alexei again.
    “You ask questions I cannot answer,” Alexei responded, unable to continue the pretense even if it destroyed the spurious pretext for their meetings.
    “Are you reneging on our deal, Boczar?” Patrick demanded, every shred of relaxation fleeing from his body.
    How quickly I regressed from “Lyosha” back to “Boczar,” Alexei thought as he buttoned his topcoat. He’d do well to remember what his true value was to the policeman. “Killer will give no further trouble,” he answered tersely, the admission the most assurance he could give. He forced himself not to try to meet Patrick’s eyes as he stepped around the younger man to unlatch the door.
    “Alexei,” Patrick said, but Alexei didn’t look up. “Lyosha.” That got his attention, as Patrick no doubt desired. “Be safe.”
    “And you,” Alexei answered, holding Patrick’s gaze before nodding and walking back out to the crowded station. He knew as he left that he should end things there, but he also knew that the next time Patrick called, he would agree to meet with him again.
    Now, watching the smoke tendrils twist and diffuse as he lay in his bed, Alexei knew nothing had changed since that day. The policeman was working his way under his skin as surely as the tattoos that marked his flesh, and, Alexei suspected, as permanently.

Chapter 5

     
    T HE docks in the industrial district of south Chicago were not the most welcoming place even at the height of summer daylight. On a cold spring night in early April, they were positively forbidding. Patrick’s lips twisted wryly. A perfect place to meet his forbidding lover. At least this time, once they were together, they would have a little more comfort than they usually did. His neighbor Daphne’s small cruiser had a cabin large enough for them to share, and if he had his way, tonight, they would have time to share it. He had persuaded her to let him borrow the boat for a few hours, not giving her any details, but she hadn’t needed any. She’d just handed him the keys and told him to wash the sheets on the bunk when he was done.
    He shifted restlessly in the small seat of the cockpit as he waited for Alexei to make his appearance. He’d agreed to bring the boat to the warehouse docks from the marina where Daphne usually kept it berthed, sensing his lover would be more comfortable meeting him here than at the more public marina. Patrick chuckled a little, thinking the boat was as out of place here for its cleanliness as it was there for its small size. He glanced at his watch impatiently as he sat in the rocking darkness, all the running lights extinguished so he would not draw undue attention to his presence. Once they were out on the lake, well away from any prying eyes, he would light up the controls so he could see them