Page 55 of Never Stay Gone
Shane smiled. He kissed Dakota’s chin, and his nose, and his lips, then took his hand and kissed his knuckles. “Jesus, Dakota. You might kill me.”
“That’s you, killin’ me. I ain’tthatgood a lover. That’s all you.”
“We’re pretty damn good together, aren’t we?”
Dakota’s heart twanged. His throat clenched. “Yeah. We are.”
Shane must have heard the tightness in his voice. He ran his fingers over the back of Dakota’s hand, cupped Dakota’s cheek with his other palm. “We’re going to be good together for the rest of our lives. I swear: I’m never letting you go. Not again.”
Dakota crumpled into Shane, burying his face in Shane’s chest as he clung to Shane’s arms, as he pressed their bodies so close together he thought maybe he could merge their atoms and molecules if he just pressed a little bit closer. He wanted to be as close to Shane as he was when he was inside him—closer, even. Wanted to be inside Shane’s heart and stay there, so Shane would never forget about him or leave him behind.
Shane held him, his lips moving through Dakota’s hair, whispering “I love you”as the motel room’s air conditioner kicked on.
“Stay awake with me,” Dakota rumbled. “Don’t go to sleep.”
“Why not? I want to fall asleep in your arms again, like we used to do in my truck.”
Dakota gnawed on his lip. He wanted that too. Wanted to hear Shane’s heartbeat beneath his cheek, steady and there. He’d bought an old-school watch before deploying to Afghanistan, and he used to fall asleep with his head pillowed on his wrist, listening to theticktocklike he could pretend it was Shane’s heart. “I don’t want this to disappear,” Dakota finally said. “I don’t wanna close my eyes and then all this goes away ’cause it’s just another dream I’ve had. Heath gave me that bottle of bourbon. What if I drank it all and passed out, and this is just my ’magination?”
“It’s not.” Shane brushed his lips over Dakota’s temple. “I promise, it’s not.”
Chapter Fourteen
Morning sunlight split the curtains,spearing through a crack in the old fabric and zeroing in on Dakota’s closed eyelids. He groaned and buried his face in his pillow.
He ached. A good ache, the kind of ache in his belly and his back that said he’d had a real good time the night before. His pillow, the bed, the air, it all smelled like sex. And like Shane—
Shane.
Dakota bolted upright, scrambling from his belly-down slumber to his elbows and knees. He looked right, off the edge of the bed. Sheets torn free, the comforter half on the floor. Looked left—
“Morning.”
There was Shane, lying on his side, face half-hidden in his pillow. He reached out, put his hand on Dakota’s arm. Smiled. “I told you I’d be here when you woke up.”
That shaft of light glinted off Dakota’s ring. It was still around Shane’s neck, still looped through the same chain Shane had worn in high school.I promise.
Dakota collapsed to the mattress, burying his face in Shane’s neck as he wrapped his arms around Shane’s waist. Shane was still naked, deliciously, gloriously naked, all of him pressed firmly against all of Dakota. “You don’t know how many dreams I’ve had that started like last night.” He grinned and kissed Shane’s jaw. “None of ’em ever wentthatgood, though.”
Shane threw his leg over Dakota’s and ground his hips against Dakota’s morning erection. “We’ve got time for a quickie.”
Dakota rolled on top of Shane and pushed him into the mattress. “I don’t do quick,” he growled. “Specially not with you.”
After, they had to rush, jumping into the shower together not because it was romantic but because they needed to move their asses. Shane hauled his duffels out of his truck bed and threw them in the corner of Dakota’s motel room, then rooted around for a clean pair of Wranglers, uniform shirt, underwear, and socks. Dakota tried to make the bed a bit, tried to make the room not look like two men had just had the best sex of their lives in there. No luck.
He slipped the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and hoped the maid wouldn’t come in.
“I’ll drive, if you want,” Shane offered as they walked out to the parking lot. The sun was already a hammer slamming down on Rustler. Heat rose in shimmering waves over the lonely highway heading back into town.
“Nah. I gotta head out to the truck stop. I wanna check in with Jared. He was pretty rattled when we left yesterday.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“Why don’t you get a head start on all the leads Heath was runnin’ down for us last night? He was supposed to call up to Odessa and try to get some information out of ’em on Frank. Chase down that phone number he called Jackson from too. And the pathologist might have called back. I can talk to her, though.”
Shane looked grateful. “Thanks.” He leaned against his truck door, eyeing Dakota.
Dakota looked up and down the empty stretch of sun-scorched road. They were all alone. Not even the curtains in the motel’s office were twitching. He crossed from his truck to Shane’s, bracketing Shane between his arms as he leaned in for a quick kiss. “I can also pick you up that shit cappuccino you like.”
