Page 63 of Loving a Warrior

“So gorgeous he steals my breath.”

Matt closed the last of the gap between them, his mouth soft on Shane’s, his tongue gently seeking. They tasted each other with long, deep, unhurried kisses that curled Shane’s toes and made his cock ache.

“Well.” Matt pulled slightly away, his breathing ragged and eyes glittering with arousal. “Here’s another thing checked off my bucket list.”

“Yeah?” Shane nuzzled his nose against Matt’s cheek. “What’s that?”

“Making out with a sexy man on the beach.”

“Really? So any sexy man will do?” Shane pretended to pout, loving how Matt’s gaze dropped to his mouth.

“Nah.” Matt rubbed his thumb over Shane’s lower lip. “I kinda like this certain clown. Maybe you know him.”

Shane studied him in the moonlight, the relaxed openness on his face, the softness in his eyes. Matt with his guard down was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life. He ran his palm along Matt’s hip, under his tank top and around to the small of his back. “Wanna make out some more?”

In answer Matt pulled Shane’s mouth to his. When the kiss ended, Shane buried his face against Matt’s shoulder. “If we don’t stop now,” he whispered, “I’m not gonna want to stop. Public indecency much?”

Matt stroked his hair, giving a husky chuckle. “In a public park, on a public beach, in your backyard…with us the stupidity factor is pretty high, isn’t it?”

In more ways than one.

Unable to keep from drifting his lips along Matt’s collarbone, Shane whispered, “Seriously.” He lifted his head and looked at him. “But if you come home with me tonight, we can crawl into bed and not come up for air until we have to.”

He knew what Matt’s answer would be even before Matt pushed him away to sit up and link his arms around his knees.

“I know this’ll come as a complete shock to you, but I don’t open up to people all that much.”

Shane quirked his lips. “No, not a shock.”

“Adding sex to the mix right now, I don’t think—”

“I understand.” And he did. Intimacy and vulnerability went hand in hand for Matt, and he’d obviously reached his vulnerability quotient for the day.

With a smile of relief, Matt got to his feet and helped Shane to his. They took turns brushing the sand off each other’s backs, making sure to include a few playful gropes in the process.

“I think I’ll just run back to the base from here,” Matt said, patting a zippered pocket on his shorts. “Got my ID.”

He started to turn away but Shane reached out and caught his hand. “Hey, thanks for—you know.” He cleared his throat. “What you told me tonight, about yourself, well, you made me see things from a different perspective at least.”

“Good” was all Matt said, and he squeezed Shane’s fingers once before letting go of him to make his way across the sand and up toward the road.

Shane watched him until he disappeared off into the distance, and he just knew…

Someday Matt was going to break his heart.

Chapter Sixteen

“Crawl to the whistle, gents!”

Matt sat at the training center reception desk, trying with all his might not to look at the double glass doors that led to the grinder. It was dark out and he wouldn’t be able to see anything except his own reflection anyway, but besides the fact he’d been warned to stay the fuck away from those doors, the thought of what was about to happen out there…

Just another watch. Just another Sunday night, except for the fact that Shane’s class would soon be herded out of their pizza-smelling classroom and ushered into hell. It was Matt’s rotten luck he’d drawn the mid watch at the center and for all intents and purposes would have a front-row seat to the carnage.

He hoped he wouldn’t burst into tears when the shooting started.

The painful memories drove him up and out of his chair. He paced restlessly along the length of the hallway, his eyes going for the millionth time to the beefcake calendar tacked up on a bulletin board outside the conference room. Mr. October. A guy wearing a Speedo, his oiled muscles gleaming, stood with his weight canted on one hip and hands linked behind his head to showcase his physique. And it was an impressive one. The white swimsuit left nothing to the imagination, riding so low in front it revealed a tiny slice of pubic hair over an enormous bulge. Whoever the model was, he was supremely fit and undeniably sexy.

But he had nothing on Shane.