Page 52 of Cross & Crown

Nick laughed weakly. “Well, he was. And Cross was a

hitter. He didn’t do jobs like this.”

Kelly rested his chin on Nick’s shoulder, face so close that

Nick couldn’t even turn his head to meet his eyes. Instead,

they looked at each other in the mirror. It made Nick smile,

and he tried to hide it by pressing his lips together hard.

“So, why bring him up?” Kelly asked before kissing Nick’s

bare skin.

Nick shivered and closed his eyes. “He was there when

he should be in hiding. He might know something. Might be

involved.”

“How do you find him?” Kelly kissed him again, moving

down Nick’s arm.

Nick grunted. “I don’t know. I’ll give Ty a call later, see if

he has any advice. Actually . . . I’ll call Garrett; Cross and Ty didn’t get along very well.”

“Surprise,” Kelly sang, and he kissed the back of Nick’s

shoulder a last time and then flopped to the mattress. “Okay,

I’m sorry I woke you. Come here and keep me warm.”

Nick lay back down, sliding his body against Kelly’s

and finally settling with his head on Kelly’s shoulder.

Kelly’s fingers drifted through his hair, trying to soothe

him to sleep. But Nick’s mind was whirring now. He kissed

Kelly’s chest, humming.

52

“You want to go in right now and start working on this,

don’t you?” Kelly asked, deadpan.

Nick raised his head. “Sort of. Do you mind?”

Kelly chuckled and shook his head. “My fault for waking

the sleeping dog. Go on.”

Nick kissed him quickly and rolled out of bed to get

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