Page 37 of Cross & Crown

transferred the finger to Kelly. “Boyfriend. You want to sit

down and tell me what happened?”

JD cleared his throat and nodded, glancing again at Kelly

and Hagan as a flush rose to his cheeks.

“Guys, give us a minute, huh?” Nick said as JD headed

for the beds in the hotel room. Nick stopped and took Kelly’s

arm, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry, this’ll be a couple minutes.”

“It’s okay.” Kelly’s heart was still fluttering from the fact

that Nick had so readily claimed him in front of anyone and

everyone, from the possessive glint in Nick’s eyes. He would

have sat out in the hall waiting all night just to see that glint in Nick’s eyes again.

He headed out of the room with Hagan, glancing back to

see JD sitting on the end of one of the beds and Nick settling

onto the dresser opposite him so they could talk. He looked

very professional about it, if you discounted the sweatpants

that were drenched at the bottom and the plastic flip-flops he

was wearing.

The door fell closed and Kelly was left with the two

cops in the hallway. He stuffed his hands into his pockets

37

and bounced up onto his toes. “So!” he said cheerfully.

“This is fun.”

“This guy’s a fucking basket case,” Hagan grunted. “Might

be here awhile. Want some coffee?”

Kelly shook his head and leaned his back against the wal .

He slid down to sit, propping his arms against his knees. If

there was one thing spec ops knew how to do, it was sleep

sitting up.

Nick kept crossing his arms and then forcing himself to

stop, resting his hands in his lap instead. He didn’t want to

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