TAKE ME HOME (25 page)

“I liked it.”

His cheeks full of food, Evan stared at Kyle. Finally, he gulped down a swallow. “Yeah?” He shoved in another bite before he said something embarrassing.

“It was the best sex of my life.”

It suddenly became impossible to swallow. If Kyle didn’t stop saying stuff like that, Evan was never going to finish a meal again. He’d choke on everything he tried to eat.

Kyle ran his tongue along the skin of Evan’s neck, loving the shudder that worked its way through his body. It reminded him of that night in the hallway at his apartment. Evan up against the wall, their bodies moving together, his lips on Evan’s skin, and Evan’s hand on his ass. Only this time, they were naked and wet, the warm water of the shower raining down on them, filling the small bathroom with the sound of a light rainfall. Not the best water pressure but better than a freezing dunk in the river.

He bit and sucked at Evan’s skin. He liked the idea of a mark on Evan’s body coming from him instead of the fall into the river.

Evan gasped and bucked against him.

Damn, he had to quit doing that. Kyle pulled back. “Careful of your ankle.”

“It barely hurts.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t stand. You could get on your knees.” He liked that idea. He threw Evan a smirk. “And while you’re down there…”

“Nope.” Evan pressed on Kyle’s shoulders, encouraging him to his knees. “You’re going to suck me off.” His voice wasn’t harsh. It was matter of fact. A statement of what he wanted.

Kyle nodded. He couldn’t get enough of Evan’s cock. He buried his face against the wet blond hair above Evan’s dick and breathed deep, taking in the scent of the soap they’d borrowed, and under that, the scent of Evan’s need. He gripped the hard cock in his hand and gave a slow stroke, teasing the sensitive skin under the head. Leaning forward, he licked the tip, savoring the salty flavor.

He’d never get enough of this.

He drew Evan into his mouth, wetting the length with his saliva, focusing on taking in as much as he could, then concentrating on the suction as he drew back.

“God, that feels good.” Evan leaned back against the shower wall. “Touch your dick. Jerk off. Make yourself come while my cum fills your mouth.” Holy shit. Evan was going to kill him talking like that. Kyle took hold of his own cock with his free hand and sucked harder on Evan’s. Then he did something with his hand and tongue as he pulled up that Evan must have liked.

“Oh God. Do that again.”

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Kyle did. He didn’t think he could get any more creative or give a better blowjob than he was. He looked up and found Evan staring down at him, panting, his mouth open, his tongue wetting his lips. He was close. That inspired Kyle. He bobbed his head faster, his hand on his own cock working at the same speed as his mouth, the two touches in sync. Evan’s hand landed on the back of his head. Not holding him there, more like moving with him, becoming a part of the blowjob. Evan’s fingers dug into his hair, and a moment later, he groaned and came.

The warm cum hitting Kyle’s tongue and the back of his throat felt like an awakening, opening the door to a place where sex wasn’t about power or control or taking what he wanted.

He sat back and continued jerking off, speeding toward his release.

Evan grabbed Kyle’s hand still wrapped around the base of his cock. He sucked two fingers into his mouth. When he released them, he spit on the ends and said, “Stick your fingers up your ass. I want to watch you fuck yourself.”

Damn. Where had this Evan been hiding? Kyle reached back and groaned as his fingers made their way exactly where Evan had instructed. He gave several more quick pumps to his dick. “Fuck. Ev!” He fell forward and pressed his forehead to Evan’s hip as he shot. And shot.

And shot more, coating Evan’s calf with his cum. He threw his head back and focused in on Evan’s eyes.

Evan couldn’t get over the way Kyle looked right then. On his knees, staring up at him, his wet hair plastered to his forehead in a way he’d never wear it in public, one hand still on his dick, his fingers up his ass. Evan had never seen anything look better. He brushed the tips of his fingers along Kyle’s cheek, over the dark stubble.

When Kyle spoke, he slowly removed his hands from his own body and ran them up Evan’s thighs, the touch surging excitement throughout Evan again. So did Kyle’s words. “I love the way you tell me what to do. I can’t believe you’ve never been like this before. It seems so…”

“Natural.” It did. Like a part of him was waking up, finally finding the road home after being stuck in a blinding storm so far from where he needed to be. “I wasn’t like this with—” Kyle stood and put a finger to his lips. “I don’t want to know. All I care is how you are now. With me.” He leaned in and kissed Evan. A long, drawn-out kiss that was all about that one touch. Not sex. Not getting off. Kyle spoke again with his lips lingering over Evan’s. “I can do this.”

“You keep saying that, but you don’t really say what you mean.”

“Us…me…you…you and me…”

Evan smiled as Kyle fumbled with the words.

“Dating,” Kyle said. “A relationship.”

“You think you’re ready? I mean, you’re awfully young to be doing something like this.”

“I think I might be. I mean, I—hey, you’re teasing me.” It took a minute or two for Kyle to join Evan in his laughter. Evan couldn’t remember when he’d ever laughed so much before or after sex. Reluctantly, he shut off the cooling water.

A loud scraping sound came from outside the bathroom, like someone had run into one of the wooden chairs in the dining room.

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“Shit!” Kyle pulled aside the shower curtain and grabbed the two towels they’d found in a hall closet. He threw one to Evan. “The cabin owners must be home.” Perfect timing.

For Evan, maybe.

Kyle had been about to do some teasing of his own that involved wrestling Evan to the blankets in front of the fire, holding him down, and riding his cock for an hour or two, pausing anytime Evan got close to coming.

Evan rushed to dry off. “Guess we really have to go now.” His voice sounded more disappointed than Kyle liked hearing. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop the inevitable.

They had to get back on the train and head home.

Kyle hurried to dress. He didn’t want to explain what they were doing in someone else’s cabin while naked. Evan joined him. When they were fully clothed, they headed into the living room.

“Hello?” Kyle called out. “We were trapped in the storm and needed a place to stop.” Silence. No one was there.

But someone had been. The blankets were in a pile like they’d been kicked around, and his backpack was open, its contents strewn across the floor.

“Fuck.” Kyle crossed the room. He grabbed his pack and searched through the items on the floor.

Evan stood in the hall doorway. “The apartment. The train. Now this. It all has to be about the journal.”

Kyle sifted through the bottom of his bag. “Dammit. It’s gone.”

“The journal? It’s right here.” Evan pointed to the floor on the far side of the couch where the journal was half hidden under a side table. “Maybe whoever was here didn’t see it before we interrupted him.” He picked up the journal and handed it to Kyle.

It was dry and looked like it had stayed that way during their stroll through the river.

“What was it doing under there?”

“I saw it sticking out of your bag earlier. I was going to take a look, see if there was more about the bank robbery, but I decided it wouldn’t be right for me to read it.”

“I’d like you to. I don’t think Grandpa would mind so long as it was you. You already know what’s in it. Maybe when we get back to the train.” He ran a hand through his hair, fighting his need to pace around the room, curse at someone, punch their lights out. He said,

“They must have followed us here.”

“It’s got to be the same person who searched our room on the train.”

“But that wasn’t just us.”

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Evan picked up a blanket from the floor. “Maybe they were covering their tracks. Or they weren’t sure which room was ours.”

“Yeah.” Kyle set the journal on the couch and dropped to sit beside it. “I guess I don’t want to believe Grandpa did it.”

Evan sat beside him. “Did what?”

“Those guys wanted him and Joe to hide the money for them.”

“How much money was it?”

“It doesn’t say.”

“Did he do it?”

“I think so. I was just getting to that part when you came back into the room yesterday.

Since then I’ve been a little…distracted.” Not that he’d go back and do anything differently.

Except for Evan’s ass ending up in that river.

The assured smile on Evan’s face looked good. “It’ll be light enough to head out soon.

Maybe you should read more before we go.”

“Yeah.” Kyle picked up the journal and leafed through it until he reached the part where he’d left off. He read aloud.

“I knew I had to leave, to go home. So when Joe spoke up today and told them we’d hide the money, I didn’t protest. I knew it was the wrong move, but I couldn’t do anything except hide the truth.

“They didn’t want to know where we’d take the money. If they didn’t end up in prison, or perhaps even if they did, they’d find one of us later to show them where the money was. Until then, Joe and I would be the only two people to know where we would hide it.

“The threesome left to retrieve the money where they’d temporarily stashed it as they’d fled Denver. The rain that had been threatening us all day finally came, turning into a downpour before long. Joe and I waited in our tent. He didn’t speak as he slowly undressed me, as he kissed and caressed my body, as we made love. After, he held me and said, ‘In Ohio. We’ll go together. That way it’ll always be close to one of us.’ Without having to say anything to him, he knew where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

“An hour later, we loaded the trunk of our car with the bags that held the stamp of the Denver Bank and Trust, and we left Colorado.”

Kyle stopped reading and closed the journal. “I guess he did it.”

“What are you doing?” Evan asked. “You aren’t going to read anymore?”

“Not now. We have to get back to the train. They’ve got to be ready to leave by now.

They’ll probably send search-and-rescue out after us soon, if they haven’t already.” Evan nodded, then said, “You need to read the rest as soon as you can, though.”

“Yeah.” A part of him didn’t want to know the rest. Another part knew he owed it to his grandpa and what he’d written in the letter to Kyle about learning from his mistakes. “I have to read it.”

“Maybe it says where they hid the money. Maybe no one ever came for it, and it’s still there.”

“I can’t imagine Grandpa would put that in writing.” Why? He’d talked about his male lover in the journal. After Kyle got back to the train, after he made sure Evan was safe, he’d read 134

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the rest. And he’d deal with whoever was after the journal. He started picking up the remaining blankets. “Let’s go. I want to see who was here.”

Evan stopped him. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to find out who broke in here. He’s probably headed back to the train. Maybe we can catch up. I’ve got to try and make a deal with him.”

“He works for the network. He’s probably been paid a shitload of money.”

“Then I’ll talk to Hastings myself. They might as well give up. They are not getting this journal. And I’m not letting anyone else find out about it. Grandpa didn’t know what else to do.

He was afraid. It was a different time. If he didn’t want his kids or his grandkids to know about his relationship with Joe, or about what he did to help those bank robbers, then I have to respect that.”

“I don’t want to betray him either.”

That had never crossed Kyle’s mind. Not once. Not even with Evan’s career on the line. “I know that.” He faced the window; the sun was rising.

“What are you thinking?” Evan asked.

“They’ve gone to all this trouble. Whoever this guy is, he’s going to take another shot on the train. I’ll just have to convince him there’s nothing in the journal about where the money is.”

“Sure.” Evan rolled up a blanket and threw it at the couch. “Because I bet he’ll stop to talk to you and believe whatever you say.”

“I have to try. I have to find out who hired him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe it’s not your boss.”

“He’s not my boss. Then who?”

“Maybe someone who thinks this money belongs to him. There were four men involved in that bank robbery.”

“They’d all be in their eighties. Or older. If they’re still alive.”

“Not their kids. Not their grandkids.”

“And what makes you think you can talk them out of wanting to take a look at the journal?”

“I don’t know.” He had to try.

“They could be dangerous. This isn’t one of your mysteries.”

“Well, it’s certainly inspiring one.”

“I noticed that.” Evan watched him for a moment, then added, “I’m glad you’re writing again.”

“Thanks to you. And Grandpa.” He walked to the dining room table and wrote a note explaining why they’d stayed in the cabin, and leaving it with his name, number, and some cash.

The sun had risen, and light poured into the cabin, making it look like a different place than where they’d spent the night together. Would they ever have another night like the one they’d just shared?

“What are you thinking now?” There Evan went again, making him put his thoughts to words. With two best-selling novels, he’d have figured he’d be better at it than he was.

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“I’m going to miss this place.” He’d never said that about somewhere he’d spent less than twelve hours. “I liked it here. I liked you here.”

“Me too.”

Unrestrained, more words poured out of Kyle. Maybe that was what it meant to be in love with someone. You showed them everything. Even what you didn’t want anyone to see. “What if I can’t write when we get to Ohio? What if everything is different when this trip is over?” Evan didn’t answer right away. He pinched his bottom lip between his teeth. Slowly, he released it, and said, “You’ll write. Because sometimes different is better.” They were silent, their gazes locked for a long while, and then Evan added, “You haven’t told me yet.”