Chapter Seven

For nearly thirty minutes, Valentine followed Stone through the crumbling remains of buildings. His mate was apparently fascinated with the weather-beaten and overgrown structural remains. Stone even spouted off a few facts about logging that had happened in the area in the past.

Well, what do ya know. My mate's a history nut.

Valentine thought that was damn endearing, considering he was a large, fit trucker.

Once Stone had explored to his heart's content, Valentine led the way to the lake's edge. The mist of the waterfall felt fantastic against his heated skin. Hanging around Stone had that effect on him.

After spreading out the blanket, with Stone's help when gripping it in his left hand proved awkward, Valentine sat on one corner and opened the basket. He spread the contents on the blanket. Valentine hadn't had a clue what his human would be interested in, so he'd brought an assortment of different things.

There were three types of finger sandwiches—turkey, roast beef, and egg salad. The fruit salad contained chunks of watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, kiwi, strawberries, green grapes, and slices of mandarin oranges. He'd included containers of potato salad, pasta salad, and French onion dip with chips. For drinks, he had a canteen of wine, a six-pack of beer, and several cans of soda, as well as bottles of water.

"How the hell did you fit all that in that basket?" Stone asked, staring at the assortment in surprise. As he settled across from Valentine, he shook his head. "It must have been heavy as hell. I wish you would have told me." Looking troubled, Stone told him, "I could at least have carried the blanket."

Valentine grinned at Stone. The fact that his mate worried about him warmed him from the inside out in a completely non-sexual way. He really liked it.

"It wasn't so heavy," Valentine reassured. As much as he liked that Stone was concerned about him, he didn't actually want to see him worried. It was just a nice sentiment. "Besides, the trail was easy, and the blanket was just resting on my shoulder. Not so hard to handle." Hoping to get Stone to focus on something else—namely, the food he'd provided—Valentine admitted, "I really had no idea what would interest you, so if you don't like something, don't feel obligated to eat it."

Stone relaxed, letting out a chuckle. "Don't worry. I won't." Smirking at him, he took the paper plate Valentine held out to him. "I don't do much that I don't want to, Val." Stone shrugged. "You'll figure that out sooner or later."

Valentine smiled back, inordinately pleased that Stone was making an innuendo that he would be around long enough for Valentine to learn things about him.

After placing plastic serving spoons in the different dishes, Valentine asked, "What would you like to drink?" He watched with pleasure as Stone began helping himself and told him of his drink options.

Stone's attention fell on the six-pack of beer, and he appeared to be reading the label. After a second, he nodded toward it. "I'm not familiar with that brand, but I'll give it a shot." With a chuckle, he added, "Worst case scenario, I won't like it, and I'll have a water."

"Not a soda?" Valentine asked. After easing a can out of the plastic ring, he popped the cap and held it out. "Like a different flavor?"

"Naw," Stone replied, taking the offered beverage. "Just not a soda fan. Too much sugar. Too much carbonation. Too sweet. There's a few that I like, but it's just not worth the hassle to buy them on the regular." After taking a swig and swallowing, Stone hummed as if he were analyzing the taste. "Not bad."

Evidently, he had been.

Recalling the bottle of iced tea Stone had placed on his porch railing, Valentine absently commented, "I'll keep the fridge stocked with tea, then."

Stone began to nod, then paused and tipped his head a little. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at him for a long moment.

Valentine could imagine what his mate was thinking—that's a very couply thing to do... or that screamed of relationship... or—

"I guess I'd appreciate that," Stone mused so softly that Valentine almost missed it. Then Stone cleared his throat and shoved a corner of a small roast beef sandwich into his mouth.

Okay. Headway.

I'll take it.

After taking a bite of a turkey sandwich, nearly biting the mini sandwich in half, Valentine chewed as he took in what food Stone had favored. He'd taken quite a bit of fruit salad, but he'd picked out the honeydew. While he'd taken a small amount of pasta salad, he'd taken much more of the potato salad, adding mustard to it from single-use packets Valentine had brought with the intention of using them on the sandwiches.

Interesting.

Every once in a while, Stone would reach into the chip bag and dip it into the French onion dip. He would pop it into his mouth and hum almost obscenely. If Valentine had to guess, Stone didn't eat the stuff often, even though he obviously enjoyed it... a lot.

Their conversation was relaxed and lowkey.

Valentine did his best to keep any sexual content out of it. He didn't want his mate to feel uncomfortable or pressured. Instead, Valentine was hoping that Stone would just get used to his company, to the idea of them hanging out together.

That didn't mean Valentine didn't occasionally take the opportunity to touch Stone. When he handed him a couple of napkins, he teased his fingertips against Stone's palm. While passing over another beer, Valentine slid his knuckles over Stone's. At one point, he couldn't resist leaning over with a napkin and wiping a dab of mustard from his lip.

Stone turned just the faintest hint of pink and turned his attention toward the water, so Valentine immediately found another banal subject.

"I'm going to guess from your fit body that you work out quite a bit," Valentine guessed, sweeping his gaze over him appreciatively. "I know the stereotype of truck drivers is fat, overweight, a bit unkempt." Seeing the way Stone's eyes widened, Valentine quickly added, "But you're none of those."

Barking a laugh, Stone grinned at him. "Yeah, there's a number of truckers who give us a bad name, but we're not all like that." Then he winced and shrugged. "Okay. A lot of them are. Maybe that's why I'm usually pretty mindful of what I eat and drink, and I have a weight set in my second bedroom that I use four or five times a week." Stone smiled as his expression turned a little vacant. "I also have some rope and obstacle courses set up in the forest behind my house. Great to loosen up sore muscles after long days in a bouncy truck seat."

"That's awesome, Stone," Valentine commented, meaning it. "I love the great outdoors, too." As a bear shifter, that was a given, but Stone didn't know that yet. "Never tried a rope course, and I don't know how agile I'd be with obstacles, but I wouldn't mind giving it a shot."

Stone stared at him for a long moment, as if judging Valentine's honesty. "Okay," he finally replied. Shifting in his seat, he asked, "So, uh, what about you? What do you do for fun?" Then he paused with another roast beef sandwich poised before his mouth. "How long have you lived around here?" Furrowing his brows, Stone asked, "Where did you see me that I didn't notice you?" As if realizing how that sounded, Stone quickly pointed at him. "I mean, you and your friends are sort of hard to miss."

Valentine grinned as he chuckled. "We are, that's for sure." He wasn't offended. Bear shifters were normally pretty big in human form. "And we like card games, and I don't just mean poker." Chuckling, Valentine shared, "We're a pretty competitive bunch, and we recently found a card game called Dutch Blitz. We bought the expansion pack so we can all play." Thinking of the yelling and hollering that often filled the house when they all stood around the table flipping cards as fast as they could, Valentine laughed. "Yeah, that can get rowdy."

"I don't know that one."

On instinct, when Valentine heard that admission, he told him, "I'll teach you. It's a lot of fun."

To his pleasure, Stone shrugged and nodded. "Okay."

For another few minutes, Valentine and Stone again focused mostly on eating. There were a few quiet hums of enjoyment and grunts of pleasure. After a bit, Stone leaned back on one hand and rubbed his belly with the other.

"That was really good, Val," Stone stated appreciatively. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Valentine would have preened if it wouldn't have made him look ridiculous. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Stone looked over the offerings as he asked, "Did you really prepare all this yourself?"

Valentine chuckled while shaking his head. "Not a chance," he admitted. "I had a lot of help from the guys."

Cocking his head, Stone pointed out, "You and your friends refer to the guys and friends of friends quite a bit. Can you explain that a little?" He frowned. "Are you living with friends from the area or something after your, uh"—he hesitated a couple of seconds before finishing—"your ordeal."

Thinking about his ordeal, Valentine swallowed hard. That was one word for it. He knew he would have to explain it all to Stone eventually. Still, he knew that time was still a ways off.

Thank the gods.

That was going to be a painful conversation.

"Um, I'll try to explain a little," Valentine told him slowly, thinking quickly about how to do just that.

Valentine built on the premise that Kontra was the leader of his own platoon of men who'd turned into a biker gang, and they specialized in rehabilitating those traumatized by war. He explained how, after they were rescued, he and his buddies were put in Kontra's care. He left out any mention of the paranormal, not wanting to send his mate running for the hills.

"Damn, it's good that those guys were available to help you," Stone murmured with an expression of concern. He opened his mouth as if to ask something but snapped his jaw shut just as quickly.

"You can ask me anything, Stone," Valentine told him with a reassuring smile. "If I can't answer, I'll be honest about that, too."

Nodding, Stone still hesitated. After sweeping his gaze around the clearing, his attention fell on the large pool created by the waterfall. He frowned at it for a short while, and Valentine took a sip of his beer, letting him sort his thoughts.

Finally, Stone mused, "I really thought you would've tried to get me naked and in the water by now."

Valentine choked on his swallow of beer. Coughing hard, he managed to get control of himself before he sprayed it everywhere and made a complete ass of himself. As Valentine breathed through his nose, he took in Stone's amused expression.

"Sorry about that," Stone offered, although he didn't sound at all sincere.

"Ha, ha," Valentine muttered, frowning at him. Then he sobered and admitted, "If I thought there was a chance, I would have already asked, but I was trying to be a gentleman." Seeing Stone arch his brow in surprise and disbelief, Valentine added, "And I didn't want to pressure you. Even though I know you're attracted to me, I didn't want to send you running or somethin'."

Stone licked his lips. Sweeping his gaze over Valentine, he swallowed hard enough to cause his Adam's apple to bob. Finally, he nodded once.

"Yeah. Yeah, I find you attractive," Stone admitted, causing Valentine's heartrate to spike. "Never felt actual attraction to a guy even though I've gotten hard around them before."

It was Valentine's turn to pin Stone with a questioning look.

With a shrug, Stone didn't meet his gaze as he explained, "Went to clubs and shit while on leave. Been hit on by guys. Took advantage of their offers to suck me off."

Hearing about others touching their mate was never something a shifter wanted, but Valentine stayed his desire to growl possessively. Instead, he jerked a nod. "So." He couldn't help that his voice came out a little gruff. "You don't have an issue with getting a blowjob from a man?"

"No, I don't." Stone stared at him, a tick setting off in his jaw.

Slipping his attention to Stone's groin, Valentine took in the bulge behind the man's fly. "So." His smile turned lascivious as he eased to his knees. "If I were to come over there, you'd let me open your pants and suck on your meat?"

As odd and out of the blue as his proposition seemed to be, the idea of tasting Stone's flesh made his mouth water, and Valentine would be more than happy to take advantage of his mate's need.

"Yeah," Stone let out on a breathy huff. "Yeah, I'd totally let you do that."

"Perfect," Valentine rumbled.

Rocking forward, Valentine reached for Stone. As his mate watched him with intense blue eyes, arousal swimming within their depths—mixed a little with wariness—Valentine vowed to erase every other past lover's mouth from his human's mind... or at least surpass their memories.