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Luke shook his head. “The piece of shit who was beating the hell out of her was calling her a worthless motherfucker so my guess is no, she doesn’t. At least not one she should be stuck with for the rest of her life.”
Gray’s eyes lifted to meet his and another strange ache went through Luke. What the hell was wrong with him? He snatched up the sandwich and took a bite in an effort to distract himself.
“She’s really not yours?” Gray asked.
Luke forced his eyes to the dog that was sitting politely at Gray’s feet and carefully taking the proffered food. “Nope. I was walking past this old house and heard her yelping. I went to check it out and saw some old guy beating her with a 2 x 4. Fucker had her tied to a tree so she couldn’t get away.” Luke dropped his hand to the dog’s head and stroked over it. “Always wanted a dog like this when I was a kid,” he mused as the shepherd leaned against his leg while still taking the turkey from Gray.
“Looks like you got your wish,” Gray said softly and Luke lifted his eyes to meet Gray’s. It took Luke a minute to find words. A flash of heat went down his spine and he actually had to break the eye contact.
“Right dog, wrong time,” he murmured. “You’ve got a nice place here. Dog like this could keep an eye on things.”
Several long seconds passed before he heard Gray answer. “Think on it,” he said gently and then his big hand was skimming over the dog’s muzzle, just inches from Luke’s fingers. “That dog you wanted as a kid – you have a name picked out?”
“Ripley.” At Gray’s look of confusion Luke said, “You know, that badass chick from theAlienmovies.”
Gray shook his head. “Never saw them.”
“Not even the first one?”
“I wasn’t really a movie kind of kid. Books were more my thing.” Gray glanced at the dog and smiled. “Ripley. It works,” he added thoughtfully.
Luke forced his attention away from the warm smile that was still spread across Gray’s features. “You’re not eating?” he asked as he took another bite of his lunch.
Gray immediately went pale at the mention of food. “Uh, no,” he said quickly.
“You should try to eat something…toast or soup if you have it.”
Another shake of the head and then Gray closed his eyes. Luke quickly stood and put his sandwich on the kitchen counter so it would be out of Gray’s line of sight. “You okay?” he asked as he settled a hand on Gray’s shoulder. The other man’s whole body was drawn tight with tension but he managed a nod and Luke settled back in his seat and waited. It was several minutes before Gray finally opened his eyes.
“Answer me one thing,” Gray said and Luke stiffened but remained silent. “The gun…is it because you’re military or because you need it?”
Luke studied Gray for a moment and then said, “Something tells me you already know the answer.”
Gray was quiet for so long that Luke made a move to stand so he could gather his things to leave. But when Gray’s fingers closed around his wrist, he actually had to stifle a moan because he felt the touch everywhere.
“Just one more question,” Gray said softly.
Luke was still reeling from the fact that this man’s touch was fucking with his body so he just nodded.
“Will you please finish the bookshelf?”
* * *
“Gray.”
Gray opened his eyes as a heavy hand settled on his shoulder. It took him a moment to focus his gaze and when he did, he could see Luke’s dark eyes watching him with concern.
“Sorry,” Gray said as he struggled to sit up on the couch. “Guess I was more tired than I thought,” he mumbled as he tried to ignore the exhaustion that continued to seep through him.
“Drink this,” he heard Luke say a second before a bottle of water was thrust into his hand. The taste of metal immediately coated his tongue and he tried to hand the water back to Luke. “I’m okay.”
“Drink it,” Luke said again and Gray felt a shiver go through him at the rough order. It was on the tip of Gray’s tongue to argue but then he looked down and saw the blanket draped across his lap – the one that hadn’t been there when Gray had sat down on the couch to take a break from helping Luke construct the bookshelf. Not that he’d been helping much to begin with since he didn’t know the first thing about building anything and he’d ended up spending most of his time watching Luke’s powerful body flex and ripple as he’d painstakingly screwed the various pieces of wood together. It had been Luke who’d suggested he sit for a while and Gray could only assume it was because he’d started to look as off balance as he’d felt. The last thing he remembered was sinking into the smooth, soft cushions of the chocolate leather couch and watching Luke’s big hands smoothing over the first shelf he’d attached to the branches that made up the side and back of the bookshelf.
Gray twisted the cap off the bottle and nearly shook his head at how worn out he felt just from doing that. He’d been expecting some fatigue but what he was feeling was off the charts. As expected, his first instinct when the water hit the back of his throat was to spit it out because it tasted so wrong but he closed his eyes and forced down several swallows. At least his stomach didn’t protest and it was only that fact that had Gray sucking down a couple more pulls of the icy liquid before putting the cap back on the bottle. Luke, who was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch, took the water from him and set it down on the end table.
“Keep drinking every few minutes. I’ll get dinner started.”
“Dinner?” Gray said in surprise and then he glanced out the window. Sure enough, it was pitch dark outside.
