I walk toward the parking lot, shaking my head. Anticipation vibrates through my body and suddenly I’m not just walking toward my truck, I’m walking toward the elephant in the room that’s been tap dancing around Dacen and me for the last week. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about it. Nervous, but excited. When I get to my truck I lean against the tailgate and wait. A soft wind breezes by, carrying with it the fresh scent of lake water and pine trees. It’s calming, always has been for me, and I close my eyes and inhale it deep into my lungs. The sound of shoes against gravel catches my attention and my eyes fly open. Dacen strides toward me with a certain swagger in his step I’m not sure he’s even aware of and stops about two feet away. He sticks his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and slowly rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet a few times.
“Becker. Hey.” I lift my chin in his direction in that annoying way guys do.
Something flickers in his eyes but it’s gone with his next blink. “I got your message.” He worries his bottom lip between his teeth. I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling a little unsettled right now. For all the bravado and directness of my text message, I still feel like I’ve been on one of those spinning rides at the fair one too many times and left to stumble my way through the crowd alone. “Obviously,” he adds as an afterthought. He reaches up and runs his fingers through his hair. The movement exposes more of his stomach. I take a step forward and close most of the distance between us.
“Obviously,” I parrot back in a low voice. My fingers have a mind of their own. I may feel off my game around him, but somehow my body still knows what it wants. One hand runs along Dacen’s neck. His pulse flutters rapidly beneath my fingers. My other hand snakes down to the hem of his grey shirt, tugging on it, and then wraps around his side. A sense of rightness pours through my body in staggering waves, hitting me hard and nearly knocking me over on my ass. Dacen inhales shakily like his body is experiencing the same shock. My hand moves beneath his shirt and I bite back a groan as my palm settles against his smooth, warm skin. This simple connection is electrifying. And it’s like this every time we touch.
“Jesus,” I breathe out.
Finally, Dacen touches me too. His palms drift slowly up my biceps and around to my chest. I’ve never hated a piece of fabric more than I do right now. My t-shirt separates Dacen’s hands from my skin and that’s got to be at least a misdemeanor offense. He remedies that by reaching beneath my shirt and sliding his hands from my stomach up to my pecs, and when his fingers brush along my nipples a massive jolt of lust zips through every inch of me. Every damn inch. “Dacen,” I choke out in a strangled breath. “Maybe we could… go somewhere a little more private.”
Dacen slips a hand out and touches my cheek. I can only imagine what he sees but after a few seconds, he nods. “That would probably be a good idea.” He whispers the words against my lips and presses his to mine in a soft kiss. A soft kiss that takes a very different direction when he tugs my bottom lip with his teeth and fuses his hard body to mine.
I pull my head away and take a measured breath in through my mouth so I don’t inhale any of his scent—it’s still imprinted in my brain from the other day, and if it hits my bloodstream right now, all bets are off. When he drifts a hand down between us and strokes me, a warning rumbles deep in my chest.
“If you don’t back up right now,” my words are a whispered growl, “I’m gonna drag your ass into the bed of my truck and make you come so fucking hard the people on the other side of the lake will feel the aftershock.”
My complete unease with PDA is nowhere to be found at the moment, although we’re alone anyway. Dacen leans back and I inspect him while he peers up at me. His eyes are blazing, and he nibbles the side of his lip like he’s actually considering the options. When he strokes me again I want to both smile and shake him for his complete disregard of my warning. I settle for capturing his earlobe with my mouth and lazily suck on it like I’ve got all damn day and I’m not about to explode with need. I straighten up again and he kind of falls forward as if his body’s trying to follow my mouth.
“Here, or somewhere less public? Better decide quickly, D.”
His breath hitches and after a few more agonizing seconds he takes a small step backward, letting his hands slide down until they fall away. My body revolts from the loss of his touch. My nipples demand he return his hands right-fucking-now. The only thing to do now is to get us where we’re going. But where exactly are we headed? Such a loaded question. I pull my keys out of my pocket and reach them over in Dacen’s direction.
“Have you had anything to drink?” He shakes his head and reaches over to take the keys but I pull them back quickly. “You’re not going to have one of those sneezing fits again are you?”
“No,” he laughs. “I told you it’s from the sun.”
“Thank God,” I mutter.
His laughter fills the empty space around us and he snatches the keys from me. “What would you have done if we were stranded here right now because we’d both been drinking?”
The answer falls from my lips without missing a beat. “I told you, hop in the bed of the truck. Failing that, I’d pitch a fucking tent and put up a Do Not Disturb sign.” Dacen glances down at my pants and grins. The joke hovers on his lips but he refrains from speaking it aloud. “Shut up,” I grumble and shove him gently toward the driver’s side door. I open it for him and he climbs up and in.
“Wow, what a Southern gentleman you are, Ryne.” I shut the door in his face and make my way to the passenger side and hop in. “I take it back,” Dacen remarks dryly as I snap my buckle into place. He starts the engine and moves the gear shift into reverse. “You’re not so much a Southern gentleman.”
My eyes focus on him as he carefully pulls out of the parking space and then shifts into first gear. “Nah, I’m really not.” I pause to watch as he presses down on the clutch and shifts into second gear. “A Southern gentleman would not comment on how fucking sexy your forearm is as you shift.”
Dacen snorts and sneaks a quick glance over to me. “Exactly how many beers did you drink this evening?”
“Does it matter?” It wasn’t much. Tyler and I split a six-pack between the two of us, and that was over the course of several hours.
He glances over at me again. “No…” The word hangs in the air between us. “But if you’re not totally with it we should probably not do this. Not right now anyway. I don’t want you to regret anything.”
I don’t like the way Dacen’s brows pinch together and his lips turn down. I may not know what the hell I’m doing, admittedly my brain feels a bit like a chaotic jumble right now. But it’s not from the beer. Sure, the alcohol might have partially fueled my decision to text him, but alcohol or no alcohol, something is going on between us, physically anyway. Even I’m not stupid enough to try to deny that anymore. The physical proof is too damning.
“Just shut up and drive.”
“Bossy.”
I check him out in my peripheral vision and he’s smiling again. I stay silent and turn my face toward the window so he doesn’t see the smile that’s trying to take up residence on it.
* * *
Dacen pulls upin front of his house and shuts the truck off. I stare out the window, eyeballing the front door silently. Dacen opens his door and hops out.
“You coming? Or were you just planning on sitting out here all night? You should definitely come. In fact, I can help with that.” He twirls my keyring around one of his pointer fingers, catching it each time it swings around to his open palm.
My dick responds to his words. Whatever’s been brewing and trying to flicker to life between the two of us is screaming at me, telling me to get out of the goddamn truck and follow his ass inside the house. It’s a curiosity I am keen to explore again. But it’s only physical. I swallow hard to move the lump in my throat past my Adam’s apple. Just physical. That’s all I do. But especially because that’s all there can ever be between someone like me and someone like Dacen Becker. He’s too bright and pure for someone like me. Not in the sexual sense, because he’s definitely got a wicked streak a mile long, but I’ve got no capacity for emotional shit and he’s someone who needs that. Of course, that won’t stop me from enjoying his body for a while, because I’m apparently a selfish bastard. The smart thing would be to avoid this altogether, but my dick promptly dismisses that option so I get out of the truck and follow him up the sidewalk.
