Nobody's Son (23 page)

Jesus.
The realization hit Shaun like a slap across the face. His face heated, and he forced himself not to look at Con, because he knew he’d give himself away.

But seriously, how could he
not
fall in love with Conrad Brooks? As if it wasn’t enough that he had the face and body of a god, he was funny, smart, and an amazing lover. He’d taught Shaun to swim, helped him figure what to do about coming out, and then pretty much saved his life when the thing with Willis Erwin had gone south. He’d have to be an idiot not to respond to all that.

Something in his expression must have betrayed his thoughts, because Con leaned in close, worry creasing his forehead. “You look a little green around the gills,” he murmured. “Maybe you should go lie down for a while.”

“Yes, baby, you need to rest.” Gran looked worried too now, but more in a
why did they let you out of the hospital so soon?
way than a
let me cuddle you until you feel better way
. Or maybe that was the drugs talking and Con didn’t actually want to curl around Shaun until his shoulder healed.

No matter how much Shaun might want him to do just that.

“C’mon.” Con pushed to his feet. “Let’s get you settled into bed.” He glanced at Gran. “Do you think he’ll be okay going downstairs? Or is there a place up here….”

“I’ll be fine,” Shaun interrupted. “The stairs are fine, and there’s a handrail and everything.”

He tried to stand as easily as Con had, but the stabbing pain stopped him short, and then Con was there, helping him up.

“Do you need something to drink, baby?” Gran had stood up too and hovered a couple of feet away. “I can bring some juice down.”

Shaun managed a grimace through the residual ache. “Plenty in my fridge,” he said. “But thanks. I’ll see you later?”

Gran leaned in to kiss his cheek. “I’ll be here, baby. You rest up, y’hear?”

Shaun nodded obediently and let Con lead him to the basement door, which still sat in the back corner of the kitchen. Darnell hadn’t tried to change that when he’d finished the downstairs space, but he had built new and greatly improved stairs, so Shaun hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he’d be fine. Still, he had to admit, if only to himself, that having Con there to help him made things easier. Between the pain in his shoulder, the fuzziness from the drugs, and the residual exhaustion from spending a couple of days in the hospital, he was more than ready to collapse by the time they got to his bed.

“Sit.” Before he could react to Con giving orders, Shaun was sitting on the edge of the bed, and Con was crouching on the floor in front of him.

“As much as I like the way this is going,” Shaun said, “I don’t think I’m up for that.”

Con tossed him a half-withering, half-amused look. “Shoes,” he said as he reached for the laces on Shaun’s sneakers.

“I knew that.” And some part of Shaun’s drugged brain had, even though he liked the other scenario better. He watched as Con removed his shoes and then as he turned to rearrange the pillows at the head of Shaun’s bed—which, Shaun noticed, had been made with fresh sheets that smelled of the Downy his gran preferred.

“Now.” Con turned to Shaun. “Let me help you lie down.”

Shaun didn’t argue, partly because he knew he’d be in for a world of hurt if he tried it on his own and partly because he kind of liked having Con taking care of him. He let Con guide him down onto the mattress, settling him into the pile of pillows so that both his head and his injured shoulder were supported.

“If I take off your pants, are you going to make suggestive comments?”

Shaun licked his lips. “Probably,” he admitted. “It’s not me. It’s the Percocet.”

Con snorted. “Right.” He went for the pants anyway, but he worked so quickly—or the drugs slowed down Shaun’s brain enough—that by the time he thought of something appropriately inappropriate to say, Con was already done and pulling the sheet up over him.

“Hey.” Shaun blinked up at him. “Aren’t you gonna cuddle me?”

Con stared at him for a long moment before his mouth curved into a slow smile. “I think that can be arranged.”

He slid off the bed but only so he could lose his own shoes and jeans before climbing back in and curving himself along Shaun’s uninjured side. “Better?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmmm.”

They fell silent, but even as tired as Shaun was, his mind didn’t want to shut down. Eventually, Con spoke into the quiet.

“You aren’t sleeping.”

Shaun turned his head to meet Con’s gaze. “Neither are you.”

“I didn’t just have a bullet pulled out of my shoulder,” Con pointed out.

“A bullet put there by a man who claimed to be my father,” Shaun retorted. “That’s not exactly the kind of thing that’s easy to let go of.”

Con studied his face. “Do you want to know?”

“Know what? Why he thought shooting me would solve all his problems?”

Con lifted one hand to run his fingertips over Shaun’s cheek. “No,” he replied. “Do you want to know if he really is your father?”

Shaun didn’t have to consider. That part he’d already decided. “No,” he said. “Either he is, in which case I’m stuck with an asshole who put a bullet in me, or he’s not, in which case it doesn’t matter.” He shrugged his good shoulder. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m fine being nobody’s son.”

“That’s all right, then.” Con kissed his temple. “It doesn’t matter to me. Only thing I need to know is that you’re the man I love.”

Shocked, Shaun pushed back to stare at Con, who smiled back serenely. “What did you say?”

“I said,” Con murmured, sliding his hand down to cup the side of Shaun’s neck, “that I’m in love with you. Is that all right with you?”

Shaun started to tremble. “Oh, yeah,” he managed. “Oh, hell yeah.”

He pushed up to reach Con’s mouth to kiss him, the warmth in his chest spreading through his whole body. His skin buzzed like he’d been doused with champagne, and his heart was so light he thought he’d float right off the bed. He might have, if Con hadn’t rolled forward to cover Shaun’s body with his, careful to avoid Shaun’s bad shoulder.

A thought intruded, and he wrenched himself away from Con’s mouth. “Oh Jesus,” he blurted out. “I forgot to say me too. I mean, I love you. Too. I….”

Con let out a belly laugh. “Well, thank God for that.” He pulled back, but he didn’t go far, and he stroked his big hand down Shaun’s body to settle on his hip. “I know we can’t get up to much with your shoulder and all,” Con said, “but how about we stay right here and celebrate a while longer?”

Shaun grinned. “Best idea I’ve heard all day.”

SHAUN WINCED
as he pulled on a T-shirt. Even after a month, his shoulder still hurt most days, especially if he stretched out his left arm. It would probably end up aching when the weather changed too, like his gran always said about the ankle she’d broken nearly twenty years earlier.

He chuckled as he slid his wallet into his back pocket—his
right
pocket, so that didn’t hurt.
Not old enough to have a weather-predicting body.

The knock on the basement door came right on time. Shaun smiled involuntarily and crossed to answer it.

Con filled the doorway, like he had when they first met, but only for a second before he grinned and stepped forward to pull Shaun against him.

“Hi there.” The flirtatious tone came naturally to Shaun now. How shy could you be around someone who’d seen every inch of your body and watched you come in his arms?

“Hi, yourself.”

Con’s kisses were something Shaun would never get used to. Each one took on a life of its own, sometimes sweet and tender, other times hot and demanding. This one was firm, familiar, and just a little bit teasing, and Shaun fell into it, his body, heart, and mind responding as one.

Con broke the kiss just as it showed the potential for morphing into something more. He smiled. “Much as I’d love to continue this,” he said, “we have a party to get to.”

Shaun laughed softly. “Not the place for it anyway.” Shaun’s basement space was fairly soundproof, but he just couldn’t deal with the thought of having sex just feet away from his gran. A little making out was all they’d managed.

This time, though, they had a plan. Shaun turned and picked up his small duffel bag. When Cory told them he’d planned a surprise party for Jimmy’s birthday—“his last birthday, ’cause you know he’ll never admit being any older than thirty-nine”—Con had suggested, almost shyly, that Shaun plan to stay over at his place that night. Even knowing Con would be prepared, Shaun had buried his embarrassment and picked up a pack of condoms and a bottle of lube—at a pharmacy nowhere near home. Yeah, they’d explored each other’s bodies pretty thoroughly before the shooting, but since then, they hadn’t had much chance to be alone together.

Shaun really,
really
wanted them to be alone together.

“SURPRISE!”

Shaun laughed when he saw the look on Jimmy’s face. Apparently Cory and Mikey really
had
managed to keep their lover in the dark. Once Jimmy had finished alternately berating and then kissing the hell out of Cory and Mikey, he made the rounds of the rest of the group. Aside from Con and Shaun, that included Evan and Riley, Xavier and Taylor—who were still as joined at the hip as they had been at Labor Day—and a handful of other guys Shaun hadn’t met, though a few looked familiar. It was entirely possible some of them had passed through the resort during the summer, maybe in the earlier weeks, when Shaun was still getting his feet under him.

When Jimmy reached Shaun, his grin nearly splitting his face, he grabbed Shaun in a huge bear hug. Never mind that Shaun had a good five inches of height on him. “You! I can’t believe you willingly came to a party!”

Shaun laughed and returned the hug. “I get to keep my clothes on for this.”

“For now, anyway,” Con chimed in.

Jimmy pulled back and gave Shaun a look. “Gotta watch out for that one,” he stage-whispered. “He’s sneaky.”

He cut his eyes to the side to catch Con’s gaze, and they both burst into laughter. Shaun just shook his head. It would take years to figure out all the private jokes between those two, if that was even possible.

Lucky for him, he had years. Pretty much as long as he wanted. And he definitely wanted.

Jimmy had moved on to hugging Con by then, and Shaun had to bite back a laugh at the picture they made, Con’s long body folded nearly in half to reach down to Jimmy’s height.

After Jimmy moved on to glad-hand more guests, Shaun nudged Con with an elbow. “Did you and Jimmy ever…?”

Con cleared his throat. “We, um… worked together.”

Shaun moved in closer. “Not a problem. Seriously. I’m just trying to visualize how that would’ve worked out. Like Doberman meets dachshund.”

Con laughed and wrapped an arm around Shaun’s shoulders. “You never heard ‘everyone’s the same height lying down’?”

Shaun snorted. “Maybe if all you’re worried about is lining up the important parts, yeah.”

Con laughed. “Wasn’t much more than that. Really. I mean, we hooked up when we first met, and then we did a couple of scenes together. But it was never more than that.” He turned his head to catch Shaun’s gaze. “Never had much more than that at all. Not until now.”

Warmth rushed through Shaun, and he slid his hand into Con’s, wanting more than anything to be alone with him.

CON CLEARLY
was feeling the same way as Shaun. He rarely left Shaun’s side for the couple of hours they stayed at the party, and as soon as he could manage it, he started making their excuses so they could leave. Jimmy teased him for going so soon, but only briefly, and Shaun wondered if the electricity arcing between them was visible. He wouldn’t have been surprised.

The drive to Con’s new apartment in Decatur took an eon, but when they arrived, all Shaun remembered was the warmth of Con’s thigh under his hand where it had rested the entire time. Con took Shaun’s hand in his again to lead him to the door, unlocking and opening it one-handed so he didn’t have to let go.

Shaun stopped after they stepped inside. He smelled something spicy and…. “Is something burning?”

“I hope not.” Con locked the door behind them and then led Shaun down the short hallway toward the bedroom. Shaun could see light flickering, but it wasn’t until Con pulled him in front of him, into the doorway, that he got the full picture.

“Wow.”

He wanted to make a joke, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. He didn’t know how Con had done it—obviously someone had done the legwork while they were at the party—but he had gone all-out. There were candles on the dresser, the bedside lamps were turned low, and a scattering of rose petals adorned the comforter. Soft jazz filtered into the room, where the air smelled sweet and spicy, like cinnamon and vanilla.

Yeah, maybe it was a little over the top, but the idea that Con would go to all that trouble to try to make Shaun happy….

Con slid a hand onto Shaun’s hip and spoke next to his right ear. “You like?”

Shaun smiled and leaned back against Con’s broad chest. “Yeah,” he breathed. “You didn’t need to do all this. But thank you.”

Con chuckled, and Shaun could hear the nerves he was clearly trying to hide. “I know it’s clichéd—”

Shaun spun around. “No. It’s sweet. I like seeing that side of you. I know not many people do.” He ran his hands up Con’s arms, scratching his fingernails lightly along Con’s skin. “It’s just… sweet isn’t really what I was hoping for tonight.”

Con’s smile transformed in an instant, from tentative to feral. Shaun felt the switch all the way to his bones, but just for a second, because Con’s mouth came down on his, and Shaun closed his eyes and turned himself over mind, body, and soul. He knew Con wouldn’t let him down.

Con undressed him slowly, taking his time to touch and kiss each part of him as he bared his skin. Con’s own clothes came off in a few short tugs, but before Shaun finished admiring Con’s gorgeous body, Con had grabbed him and tossed him onto the mattress. A laugh burst out of Shaun as he bounced, and then Con was there, covering him, all smooth, warm skin over firm muscle, hard dick pressing against Shaun’s thigh. The laughter drained away, and Shaun moaned, the sound cut off by another blazing-hot kiss. His senses filled with the feel of Con’s body, the sound of their harsh breathing, the smell of the still-burning candles and the rose petals being crushed by their bodies. He felt drunk from arousal and clung to Con’s solid bulk to stay tethered in reality.