"Shut up. Tell everyone to f.u.c.king shut up," Haris screamed.

And in the momentary silence, he heard a faint snuffle. Dropping to his knees, he lifted up the bed skirt, yanked away a board and in the gloom he saw the dark eyes of the guy he loved staring back at him.

Haris reached underneath and pulled Tyler out. His tattered clothes came with him. Haris peeled the tape off his mouth and Tyler sucked in a deep breath. Haris wrapped his arms around him and trembled as he hugged him.

"You didn't count to a hundred," Tyler croaked. "My turn to hide again."

"Are you okay?" a policeman asked as he cut away the ties around Tyler's wrists.

"Yeah. The cavalry arrived just in time."

Haris let him go long enough to rip off his coat and put it round him and then held him again.

"He was willing," Prescott barked.

"No, I f.u.c.king wasn't," Tyler shouted back. He turned frightened eyes to Haris. "One of the men who pays to f.u.c.k at Prescott's parties is a senior policeman. That's how they knew. Prescott cancelled the event. I was the only one on the menu."

The lump in Haris's throat grew large enough to choke him. The second time he'd almost lost him. I could have lost him forever.

"We'll need a statement," said one of the policemen.

"Not tonight," Haris said.

"Yes tonight." Tyler sighed. "I want this over and done with."

Haris found Tyler's shoes, brought them over and helped him put them on. When Haris stood up, Tyler smiled at him.

"I looked up your name," Tyler said. "Guess what it means."

"I know what it means."

"Man who mends roofs."

Haris laughed. "No, it doesn't."

"Oh no, that's me." Tyler laid his head on Haris's shoulder. "Haris means vigilant guardian."

By the time they returned from the police station, Tyler was fast asleep in the pa.s.senger seat. Haris unbuckled his seat belt, leaned over and kissed him. Tyler's eyes opened.

"We're back home," Haris said.

"Home," Tyler whispered, and hearing that word fall from his lips sent fire rushing through Haris's veins.

When he opened the door of the house, Wilson and Alcide came out of the kitchen. Tyler kicked off his shoes, started to take off the coat and then stopped. Haris's stupid c.o.c.k perked up because under that coat, Tyler was naked.

"Have the bad guys been rounded up and taken to jail?" Wilson asked. "I was so disappointed not to be involved in the operation, although the constant ache in my arthritic hip might have made me a little slow."

"Everything's fine," Tyler said.

Not quite, but at least Lu, Mex and Prescott had been arrested. Haris had already called Stan and asked him to provide a bodyguard for Tyler for the time being. Tyler had slept through that call-he hoped.

Tyler bent down to Alcide and the dog licked his face. "Who's a good boy? You happy to see me?"

"Is there anything I can do for either of you, sir?"

"We're going upstairs." Haris took off his shoes. "It's been quite an evening."

"Then I'll wish you a good night and see you in the morning. I'm glad...I'm glad everything's worked out."

Haris followed Tyler up the stairs.

"I need a shower," Tyler muttered.

"How about a bath?"

"Is there room for two?" Tyler asked.

"Yes."

"Good, I'll give Steve a call."

Haris laughed. "Christ, you nearly died tonight and you can still crack jokes?"

Tyler widened his eyes. "I'm not joking."

"Well, it's a big tub. We might be able to fit three in."

Tyler smiled and wrapped his arms around his neck. "You're more than enough for me."

Haris choked up. They didn't often share endearments and as much as he knew, or thought he knew, of how they felt about each other, he cherished moments like this.

"You have the end with the taps," Tyler muttered against his lips. "And I get to play with the duck first."

Haris swallowed hard. I can't let him go. I want him to be mine. I want him forever.

Tyler lay next to a sleeping Haris, wondering if he dare close his eyes. When he'd been thrust under the bed and been unable to move, hardly able to breathe, it had catapulted him back to the day his family had died. He'd thought he was going to die tonight. If it hadn't been for Haris, he probably would have. By the time the police had searched the building, it would have been over.

Haris had the perfect opportunity to tell him he loved him. When they'd finished in the bath, they'd crawled into bed and Haris had lain facing him, holding his hand. I could have told him. Just said the words. But it had become an issue for Tyler that Haris say it first. The longer they went without saying it, the more important it was that Tyler didn't blurt it out.

The problem was maybe Haris didn't love him. He cared for him, Tyler knew that. But love? Did he not feel as Tyler did, that he'd break apart if he didn't have Haris to come home to? That the only thing that gave his life meaning was the pair of them together?

Tyler would wait. There was an obvious time to wait until. The end of the contract. He just hoped it wouldn't be the end of them.

Chapter Twenty-Four.

Tyler's body healed faster than his mind. Cuts sealed up and bruises faded but the memory of what Lu, Mex and Prescott planned to do to him had sunk deep into his soul. The police had a.s.sured him that even though the three men were out on bail, they wouldn't dare come near him. When Haris told Tyler he'd asked Stan to keep an eye on him, he pretended to be annoyed but actually, he was grateful.

Lu had cooperated and blamed Prescott for everything. Mex said nothing. By accessing Prescott's phone records, the police had managed to trace the others like Tyler who'd been paid to have s.e.x and the older men who'd paid Prescott. A few had admitted it, enough that there was a case against him. Tyler was relieved he wasn't on his own.

Haris told him he felt guilty that he'd pushed Jeremy to tell the truth about Prescott and Gerald. One call to the police and the undercover operation had unraveled. The senior policeman who was one of Prescott's paying guests had caught wind of what another force was up to and he'd sent the warning. Tyler just wanted to forget the whole thing, forget he'd ever been to a single party.

Tyler finished his dissertation, bar the appendices and as Christmas fast approached, for the first time that he could remember, he looked forward to the holiday. While Haris was at work, he and Wilson shopped and cooked. The house came alive with lights and music and the scent of Christmas. They had a party for Haris's friends and though he asked Tyler to invite his too, there was no one around to come. Jeremy was on holiday in Wales with his parents. The band had all left London. When he'd seen how Haris shone, how much people liked and respected him, Tyler fell in love with him even more, even though he hadn't thought it possible. He still couldn't believe a successful, polished guy like Haris would want him.

The words might have remained unsaid but Tyler wanted to believe they were in love. It wasn't just f.u.c.king. They knew each other's body better than their own. Tyler was aware of every dip and rise of his lover's body, every muscle, every scar, every place to drive him wild.

He loved to drive him wild.

He loved to make him laugh.

He loved him.

When Christmas Day came, Tyler woke at three, woke at four, woke at five, his heart pounding.

Haris laughed as they f.u.c.ked-again. "Is this the only way I can get you to go back to sleep?"

Tyler hadn't felt this excitement since he'd had a family. He couldn't wait to see Haris's face when he opened his gifts. He wanted to help cook the dinner. He wanted to sit and watch the Queen's speech. He wanted to fall asleep halfway through the feature film with his stomach stuffed and his hand buried in a tin of Quality Street. He wanted the Christmas he'd longed for with the man he loved.

He insisted that Wilson and Alcide join them when they opened presents.

"Go and call him," Tyler said.

"He doesn't usually-"

"We're a family, aren't we?"

Wilson came in wearing his old dressing gown and carrying presents he hadn't put under the tree with theirs. He looked so overwhelmed that Tyler wrapped his arms around him and hugged him. An action that stunned the garrulous Wilson into silence.

Hard to tell who was more excited as they unwrapped the gifts. Haris's eyes shone a brilliant green, his lovely lips curved in a continual smile. He laughed at the things Tyler had bought him. A bowtie that lit up, the game Monopoly he'd bought secondhand, a lottery ticket, an electric pencil sharpener and a five-pound voucher for a tattoo parlor. Haris didn't laugh at the song Tyler had written especially for him, called "Our World" but a look pa.s.sed between them that said everything.

"I don't think I'd even get a single feather tattooed for a fiver," Haris said.

"You could have my name on your b.u.t.t. Well, maybe just the T."

"Mine now," Wilson said. "I've bought you identical gifts so you have to open them at the same time."

Mugs with their names on them, a blue and a gray scarf, and flashing clips to wear when they went running. Haris had persuaded him into a daily get fit routine and Tyler wouldn't have got out of bed at that time in the morning for anyone else. Tyler was thrilled with everything.

Between them, he and Haris had bought Wilson a pedometer because he always complained how far he walked around the house, a Santa Claus ap.r.o.n, a set of vampire movies Tyler had found in the same charity shop as the Monopoly game, a set of plastic food boxes because Wilson hated them, cherries in dark chocolate because he loved them and a book about Hawaii because he really wanted to go there.

Alcide was given a new lead, doggie chocolate, a set of soft toys to play with and a bone that he immediately took behind the couch and started to eat.

Then it was Tyler's turn. Haris had bought him a set of pencils covered in musical notes, a box of tissues smothered in stars that lit up when you pulled a tissue out, a trivia book about New York, a packet of hand warmers which made him laugh because he was always complaining Haris's fingers were cold, and a mysterious object in a small box that could apparently float in midair.

There were still a lot of presents under the tree and Tyler started to chew the inside of his cheeks. He was going to kill Haris if he'd bought proper gifts because he didn't have anything left to give him.

Haris handed several more parcels to Wilson who sighed over a new dressing gown, a cookbook and a small television for the kitchen. The last gift was an envelope. Wilson's fingers trembled as he took out the card.

"It's...too much, sir."

"No, it isn't."

Tyler shuffled back through the piles of wrapping paper to read what it said. A holiday in Hawaii. Wow.

"I'll just go and prepare breakfast," Wilson rose to his feet. "Thank you so much. Both of you. I'll work out how to use the pedometer and I'll be able to check how many miles I've walked today. I'm estimating at least thirty-three and a third. Come on, Alcide. Bacon."

The dog dragged the bone out with him.

"That was really nice of you," Tyler said. "What do you usually give him? Tea towels and aftershave?"

Haris laughed. "I usually pay for him to go on vacation in Europe."

"What are all those things still under the tree?"

"They're for you."

Tyler sighed. "We said five pound presents. I-"

"You said that. I didn't." He picked out a package from under the tree and handed it to Tyler.

"I hope you've not bought me a laptop."

"s.h.i.t." Haris pulled the parcel back. Then he laughed. "No, I got the message there. No laptop."

"Oh d.a.m.n. Why do you listen to me?" Tyler opened the box to find another inside and then another until finally he gasped. "f.u.c.king h.e.l.l."

"Do you like it?"

"How can I not like a Breitling watch?" And he did like it, but... "Thanks seems a bit weak."

"I'll take a b.l.o.w.j.o.b later."

Tyler laughed but his heart clenched.

"I hope these fit," Haris said and handed over a large package.

Inside was ski gear. Expensive ski gear.

"I've booked us a trip to Aspen. We fly the day after tomorrow. We come back via New York. That's why I bought the trivia book. You can memorize it and keep me entertained."

Oh G.o.d. Tyler looked across into Haris's face and he couldn't be mad with him though a little bit of him was. He threw himself across the floor, knocked Haris onto his back and kissed him.

Haris kissed him back and then pulled away. "You're p.i.s.sed off with me."