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Merrick
Pulling the front door open, I startle at the sight before me.
Gunner and Davis are standing there arm in arm. Gun, per usual, is grinning and sassy, eyes sparkling with mischief in a way that says, “I know something you don’t.”
Davis, on the other hand, is completely lacking in expression, if not slightly uncomfortable in the way he attempts to avoid my eyes. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can’t ignore the twinge of hurt either. This is the first time we’ve seen one another in a week. The first time we’ve faced one another after literally and figuratively stripping ourselves bare last weekend.
I remind myself that this is new for him and that patience must be my guide. But I can’t ignore the need that flares to life in my gut or the desperate tug on my heart that steals my breath. Regardless of our time spent apart, or the intimacy we shared previously, just having him near me feels good.
Gunner’s grin widens and his free hand drifts up and down in front of Davis’s body, Vanna White style. “Look who I found.” He hip checks his companion and winks at me. “He was aimlessly wandering the streets…searching desperately for me. We’re running off to Vegas for a quickie ceremony. Undying love and all.” He laughs and tips his head against Davis’s. “There won’t be anything quick about the honeymoon though, right sweetheart?”
Davis smirks and chuckles, shaking his head. “Ah…no?”
Gunner swoons. “Good answer. I knew you’d have endurance for days.” He presses a wet kiss against Davis’s cheek and right on cue Davis blushes.
I have to rescue the poor man. It’s one thing to have been tossing around in the sheets with me in private, but another to be standing in broad daylight with a flamboyant queen practically molesting him.
“Why don’t you guys come in?” Taking a step back, I’m relieved to see that Gunner loosens his hold on Davis, strolling into the house and pulling off the garish hat he’s wearing and tossing it onto a chair.
Davis shoves his hands into his pockets and offers me a nod as he steps inside. The flare of annoyance that rises in my chest is fast and furious. But really, what did I expect….that he’d pull me into his arms and kiss me breathless?
I wish.
“How are you?” I murmur under my breath, attempting to keep our conversation private. Or as semi-private as I can, given that Gunner is eyeing us from across the room while he primps his hair into order.
“Fine.”
His refusal to actually look me in the eye is off-putting, so I try again. “This is a nice surprise.” Lowering my voice, I lean close and whisper, “I’ve missed you.”
I can almost hear the brick wall that surrounds him imploding and falling into ruins at our feet. He turns his head to look at me, eyes slowly rolling over my face before our gazes lock. In the silence there between us are all the things left unsaid.
Had we been alone, I’d have pulled him into my arms. Kissed him. Taken the time to tell him every single thought I’ve had about him during these days we’ve been apart. If we’d been alone, I’d have silently lead him by the hand to my room, and teased the words from his throat with my lips and tongue.
“Missed you too,” he murmurs.
I melt. Fully. Completely. My entire body dissolves in that moment, my heart exploding in my chest as my forehead drops to his.Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.In the span of those few seconds the world stops spinning, the doubts are silenced, the worries gone. In that brief space and time, I lose my heart to him just a little bit more; tumble deeper into the place I’ve refused to fall completely.
Somewhere in the middle our hands drift together, fingers entwining, squeezing. I hear the rumble of a truck passing by and the obnoxious whine of the dryer down the hall. My heartbeat pounds loudly in my ears, my nose drinking in the warm scent of his skin.
I am so gone over this man.
When we eventually pull apart and suck in big gulps of air, I’m reminded that we’re not alone, when Gunner swoons, “I don’t know about the two of you, but I need a cold shower.” He pivots dramatically, feigns wiping the sweat from his brow as he sashays toward the kitchen, singing, “That was hot! Hot, hot, hot.”
With a chuckle, I glance at Davis, and thankfully find him just as amused as I am. Giving his hand another squeeze, I gesture with my head. “Come on. I think we could all use something cold to drink.”
A few minutes later the three of us are seated around the table on the patio, glasses of iced tea in hand. Gunner is stretched out, head tipped back as he suns himself like a lizard, over-sharing as usual about his date the night before.
“Good lord, but that man needs to understand there is such a thing as too much tongue.” He slides his glasses onto the top of his head and grins, eyeing the two of us intently as if he’s teaching a lesson. “Well, unless he’s using his tongue for other adventures. You won’t hear me complain about too much tongue in other parts of my body. You feel me?”
Christ, Gunner is going to send Davis running for the hills with talk like this. I doubt the man even knows what rimming is, let alone hearing a brash description of the act. “Uh, Gun…can you tone it down a bit?”
Gunner acts insulted, rolling his eyes and blowing out an exasperated breath. “Fine, fine. I’ll behave.”
Davis chuckles. “Somehow, I doubt it.”
I’ve got to give it to my handsome neighbor….just when I think he’s going to run screaming from all of this, he shrugs it off like it’s no big deal. Maybe I have underestimated his acceptance of all the sudden and outrageous changes in his life.
Glancing at Gunner, I ask, “Did you bring your resume for me to look at?”
