One True Thing (43 page)

anything else, just kissed me again and squeezed

his arms tight.

“And what are we celebrating?” The look that

Dusty gave me—teary, happy, like everything in

his world was exactly right—I already knew what

it was. But I let him tell me anyway. It was his

moment, not mine.

“I talked to my sister.” His voice choked up,

but he was smiling so hard.
Thank you for still

wanting him in your life.
I sent a silent message to

Dusty’s sister, wherever she was. I loved seeing

him so happy.

“And?” I prompted.

“She’s going to come visit us this summer, if

it’s cool. We haven’t seen each other since she

was a little girl, and I was just a kid myself. You

don’t mind, do you?”

I pulled him tight. “If I get to see that look on

your face? Never. Your sister is always welcome

here.”

Dusty buried his face in my chest and held on

tight. “I love you,” he whispered against my shirt. I

barely heard him, but it didn’t matter. I felt the

emotions coming off him in waves.

“Love you too.”

Dusty laughed softly through his tears. “This

wasn’t how I meant for tonight to go. I thought I

was done with the crying part.”

I ruffled his hair, which he’d left soft ’cause

he knew I liked to touch it. “She’s your sister, and

you haven’t seen her in years. Cry all you want,

love.”

“Are you starving?” he asked me quietly.

“Not really. How come?” I pushed his hair

out of his eyes.

“Can we wait on dinner for a little bit? I just

need… I guess I just need a little more hugging or

something.” His eyes had teared up again.

I smiled and used my thumb to wipe the tears

away. “Of course. Dinner can wait as long as you

want. Come on. Lemme hold you.” I threaded our

fingers together and tugged him in toward our

room. When we were in there, I stripped Dusty

down slowly, one piece of clothing at a time, just

so I could touch his skin. He was so smooth and

soft. Every inch a new exploration, every dip and

swell somewhere for my hand to curve around. He

sighed happily and slumped into my arms.

“Take your shirt off,” he mumbled. “I want to

feel your skin.”

I pulled my shirt over my head and hummed

appreciatively when he rubbed his hands all over

my back, from my shoulder blades until he dipped

into the waistband of my khakis. We did a slow

kind of dance toward the edge of the bed, Dusty

working on my button and zipper, kissing,

touching. Dusty lay down on the bed, and I was

about to follow him when he swore.

“What?”

“Lube. There isn’t any more in the bedside

table, remember?”

“I’ll get it.” I got caught in my pants on the

way to the bathroom and nearly fell, but managed

to waddle my way there and get what we needed

with Dusty snorting and laughing in the background

the whole time.

“You look like a penguin.” He giggled.

I flopped down on the bed with the lube and

nuzzled into Dusty’s neck. “Well, you do know

what they say about penguins, right?”

“Horny?” He smiled slyly.

I shrugged. “Maybe that. But they do mate for

life.”

Dusty’s smile faded, and was replaced with a

look I couldn’t really describe. “Sometimes

humans do too,” he whispered.

“Yeah.” I leaned over and kissed him until

we were both breathless and holding on to each

other as tight as we could. “Sometimes we do.”

About the Authors

PIPER VAUGHN wrote her first love story at

eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s

known that writing in some form was exactly what

she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves

nothing more than getting lost in a great book—

fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all

(and has a thousand book library to prove it!). She

grew up in Chicago in an ethnically diverse

neighborhood and loves to put faces and characters

of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional

worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all,

she believes that everyone needs a little true love

in their life… even if it’s only in a book.

Visit Piper at her website, http://pipervaughn.com,

or on her blog, http://mjandpiper.blogspot.com,

find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter

@pipervaughn.

M.J. O’Shea grew up, and still lives, in sunny

Washington state and while she loves to visit other

places, she can't imagine calling anywhere else

home. M.J. spent her childhood writing stories.

Sometime in her early teens, the stories turned to

romance. Most of those stories were about her, her

friends, and their favorite cute TV stars. She hopes

she’s come a long way since then.

When M.J.’s not writing, she loves to play the

piano and cook and paint pictures, and of course,

read. She likes sparkly girly girl things, owns at

least twenty different colored headbands, and she

has a little white dog with a ginger eye spot who

sits with her when she writes. Sometimes her dog

comes up with the best ideas for stories… when

she’s not busy napping. She’s a relatively new

author, but the great folks over at Jessewave.com

named her as one of the new M/M authors who

rock in 2010.

Visit

M.J.

O’Shea

at

http://www.mjoshearomance.com or at her blogs,

http://mjoshea.com/

and

http://mjandpiper.blogspot.com. E-mail her at

[email protected] or follow her at

Twitter at MjOsheaSeattle.

Also by VAUGHN & O’SHEA

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Romance from M.J. O’SHEA

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Table of Contents

Title page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

About the Authors

Also by Vaughn & O’Shea

Romance from M.J. O’Shea

• Title page
  
• Copyright
  
• Dedication
  
• Acknowledgement
  
• Prologue
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter Twenty
  
• About the Authors
  
• Also by Vaughn & O’Shea
  
• Romance from M.J. O’Shea