Chapter Eighteen

Shane sat on the couch at Wes’s house later that night, staring into space while still trying to piece together everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours. From finding the photos to the accident on the way into Havenridge. Waking up bound in the abandoned farmhouse. Discovering that Max— Max , of all people—had been his stalker. The fight with Max, and then . . . His mind shied away from what had happened next. It was either Max or Wes. There had been no choice. There would never be a choice where Wes was concerned.

After Wes’s brothers arrived with the sheriff and his deputies, they’d spent a few more hours at the Circle B answering what felt like a million questions while the paramedics checked them out. They were both banged up and bruised, but neither of them had serious enough injuries to warrant a trip to the hospital. Even the bullet that grazed Wes’s biceps required nothing more than a thorough cleaning with antiseptic and a couple of butterfly stitches. Wes refused to get his ribs x-rayed. Whether bruised, fractured, or broken, the treatment was the same: rest.

Shane had made a point of not looking when the sheriff’s deputies carried Max’s body out on a stretcher and into the coroner’s black van.

Guilt churned his stomach, acidic and biting. He would have to tell Sonia that her boyfriend was a stalker and murderer.

And that Shane had killed him.

The couch cushion dipped as Wes sat down beside him, redirecting Shane’s focus to the present. They were alive, and he was finally free of his months-long stalker. He leaned against Wes’s solid body, soaking in his heat .

“You had no choice,” Wes said, not for the first time. His voice was firm, but his words were soft. He wrapped his uninjured arm around Shane’s shoulders and tucked him in tighter.

Shane didn’t know if his thoughts were that visible, or if Wes could read his mind, but then, Wes’s profession meant he’d probably been forced to take a life at some point, too, and understood what Shane was going through.

Shane swallowed with effort. “I know, but I . . .”

. . . killed a man .

“It’s not an easy thing to come to terms with, no matter how justified,” Wes said. “If you hadn’t done what you did, we’d both be dead right now.”

Wes kissed the top of Shane’s head and rested his chin there. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you from that. You should never have been in that position in the first place.”

Shane leaned back and stared at Wes. “Don’t you dare think you’re to blame,” he said with force. “There was no choice, like you said. I’d do it again. It’s just . . .”

“I know, babe,” Wes assured.

“How do I tell Sonia?”

Shane shuddered. Either adrenaline aftershocks, or fear of the look in Sonia’s eyes when she learned the truth.

“Hang on.” Wes stood, and a chill raced through Shane at the loss of Wes’s body heat.

He returned with a glass of water in one hand and a stick of Juicy Fruit gum in the other.

Shane eyed the yellow-wrapped stick and frowned. When was the last time he’d felt the need for that crutch? Certainly not since the argument he’d had with Wes, after learning that Sonia and Doug had briefly been suspects. Was it due to the peace and sense of belonging he felt at Haverstall Mountain, or was it because of the man who had been a constant, unwavering presence at his side? Even the last few times he’d chewed gum, it had been more out of habit than need.

He lifted his gaze to answer questioning blue eyes with a sense of awe.

“Just the water,” he said, the surprise he felt lacing his voice. “I don’t need the gum anymore. ”

Wes tilted his head and smiled as he placed the stick on the coffee table. “What changed?”

Everything .

Shane studied him for a long beat as he took a few sips of refreshing mountain water. He should be honest with Wes, tell him how he felt. That somewhere along the way he’d fallen for the rugged cowboy, and the best part of his day was waking up beside Wes. Shane knew Wes felt the same. He saw it in the way Wes looked at him, and the reverent tone of his deep, rumbling voice. He felt it in the heat of his touch, and the way Wes made his body sing every night in his bed.

Wes was what he’d been looking for his whole life.

Except now that Shane had found him, the circumstances of their lives seemed set on pulling them apart. A plane was leaving tomorrow morning to take Jonas home, and with Max dead and the threat to Shane’s life over, Shane would be on it, too.

What changed ? Wes had asked. Shane swallowed. “I fel— Uh . . .” The words he wanted to say, the feeling that had quietly seeded and grown when he hadn’t been paying attention, caught in his throat. He placed the glass on the table beside the gum that he no longer needed and cleared his throat. He whispered, “You.”

Wes searched his face, the edges of his mouth tipping up and the corners of his eyes softening. Relief flooded through Shane. He’d said the right thing.

Wes leaned forward and Shane met him halfway. The press of Wes’s lips sent a current of adrenaline through his veins. The world made sense with Wes Stonebraker at his side. There had to be some way to make it work, without Wes having to give up the ranch and the wild horses he loved, or Shane having to give up touring. He would never stop making music. He couldn’t. Even if he didn’t love the road, too many people depended on Audio Siren for their livelihoods. He had more than himself to consider.

But in this moment, the only person he wanted to consider was Wes.

He shifted on the couch, angling to be closer, to feel more of Wes’s muscular body, and crawled onto Wes’s lap, straddling him. Wes stared up at him for a moment that seemed to stretch with anticipation, carrying a weight Shane didn’t want to address in that moment. They needed to talk. He knew it as much as he knew Wes did, but they could talk tomorrow.

He leaned down and kissed Wes, sliding his tongue inside Wes’s mouth at his silent beckoning. Wes tasted like love and smelled like home and Shane wanted it all. He couldn’t deepen this kiss enough. Desire sparked and crackled along his every nerve ending.

“Wes,” he whispered against Wes’s mouth. “I need—ungh.”

Wes cupped his ass and pulled him closer, rocking his hips upward.

“What do you need?”

Shane ground down, riding Wes’s rock-hard erection. The friction was glorious and brain-stuttering, but the annoying layers of denim and cotton between them had to go. He didn’t want this to be his last night with Wes, but if it was, then he wanted to feel everything .

Panting, he extracted himself from Wes’s arms and stood. Wes’s groan of dismay following him as he rose. He held out his hand.

“I need you to make love to me.” His voice sounded ragged, as though he’d been singing all night in a small, smoke-filled club.

Wes stood. His tall frame lining up perfectly against Shane’s leaner body. Wes slid his hands up Shane’s arms, and goosebumps rose in their wake. He cupped Shane’s face and stared into his eyes and Shane felt flayed open, his very being exposed for Wes to see his every secret and regret . . . His heart. But Shane didn’t shy away from it. He welcomed Wes inside. Whatever he had, everything that made him who he was, and everything he wanted to become, was there, laid bare at Wes’s feet.

And he wasn’t afraid.

Wes leaned in and pressed his mouth to Shane’s. The kiss felt different this time. More . . . Reverent. Honest. Real. It spoke words neither of them had said aloud yet, but still Shane heard them clear as day.

Wes let his hands slide back down Shane’s arms, and threading their fingers together, he led Shane to the bedroom. Wes walked backward, keeping his gaze locked on Shane and hands clasped, only shooting quick glances over his shoulder to avoid bumping into chairs and walls and navigating the corners into his bedroom.

He sat on the bed and pulled Shane down beside him .

“Are you sure you’re not too exhausted?” Wes asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “Does anything hurt more than you let the paramedics know?”

Shane shook his head. “Nothing could stop me from loving you tonight.” His breath caught realizing what he’d just said, and for a second the whole world seemed to pause while Wes looked at him with joy dancing in his stormy gaze. “What about you? Your ribs?”

“Not even wild horses,” Wes said with a grin that he followed with a nip and tug of Shane’s lower lip. “But we need to be naked.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Shane yanked his borrowed flannel shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor.

“Spoken like a true cowboy.” Wes chuckled as he unbuttoned his shirt.

Shane reached out and slipped the soft flannel material off Wes’s shoulders, his palms covering the muscular roll of Wes’s biceps, careful to avoid the bandage over his bullet graze. The skin smooth and hot beneath his touch. Shane placed a kiss on the ball of Wes’s rotator and shivered in delight when Wes nibbled the lobe of his ear. Wes’s breath was hot and moist, and sent electrical charges racing into Shane’s groin.

“Oh my god, Wes,” he breathed. “I’m already on the edge.”

“Better step back then.” Wes reached between them and began working Shane’s jeans open. “I have plans for you that are going to take all night.”

“Do tell.”

Shane lifted his hips so Wes could tug his jeans and boxer briefs down, then he helped free Wes from the rest of his clothing.

“How about I show you instead?”

Shane crawled up the bed and stretched out, beckoning Wes with a tip of his head and a stroke of his straining erection.

“Ready when you are, Cowboy.”

“Yee-haw,” Wes deadpanned, but desire burned deep in his eyes as he crawled slowly up Shane’s body, kissing a meandering path along every inch of skin.

Shane trembled when Wes sucked at the skin in the crease of his groin. Wes’s stubbled cheek pressing against his cock. Nerve endings lit in an erotic symphony of glorious chaos. Had sex ever been so . . . Intense before? And Wes had only kissed him, just a tease, and he was already skirting the cusp of orgasm.

“Wes,” he pleaded on a whimper that would have embarrassed him at any other time. But not now. Not with Wes. “I’m never going to make it all night . . .” He carded his fingers through Wes’s hair and tugged, pulling him up so their bodies were flush together. “. . . if that’s how you’re going to play.”

“I’d never play with you.” Wes kissed him on the chin. “Drive you to the edge and back, again and again, sure. But . . .” He placed another kiss at the corner of Shane’s mouth. “I could take the edge off.”

“Yesss,” Shane hissed, nodding his head like a dashboard bobblehead. “Please. Now.”

Wes shimmied down his body, flicking the piercings in Shane’s nipples with his tongue as he went. His smile grew as Shane’s moans of pleasure rocked through him. As Wes moved lower, his gaze remained locked and unwavering on Shane, and where desire and affection shone bright in those eyes, so did promise. Shane’s heart swelled, skipping a beat when Wes paused, chin hovering a bare inch over Shane’s leaking cock, his hot breath sending shivers cascading over Shane’s skin. Wes flashed a feral grin before dropping and taking Shane deep into his mouth.

“Oh . . . My . . . Guh . . .”

Reduced to sounds that tried to be words but made no sense inside or outside of his head, Shane rocked into that glorious wet heat, careful not to go too hard or too deep and choke Wes but needing so much more.

Wes pulled off with a soft pop , his lips glistening with saliva. “Don’t hold back. I can take it.” His voice was a rough rumble. “I can take you.”

This man . . . Shane pushed up onto his elbows and watched, rapt, as Wes swallowed him down again. So deep that Wes’s eyes began to glisten and Shane’s whole body shook. The ability to think coherent thoughts no longer possible. Wes pulled back a little and swirled his tongue around Shane’s length as he sucked and swallowed. He rolled Shane’s balls in his hands and the sensory overload was too much. Shane’s brain short-circuited and his body exploded .

Lost to sensation, Shane collapsed back onto the bed, coming with a suddenness and intensity that stole his breath. His release was more powerful than he’d thought possible. Something that nobody before Wes had ever drawn out of him.

Wes stayed on him, taking in every last drop Shane had to spill until he was spent. When he’d rung Shane dry, he sat back on his hunches and made a show of licking his lips. His expression was one of pure pride.

“Happy with yourself,” Shane teased when he found his breath again. “Aren’t you?”

“Clearly, I have reason to be,” Wes quipped.

Shane chuckled as Wes laid down beside him, resting one hand on Shane’s abdomen and a knee over his legs.

“Except now I’m done,” Shane said, already feeling the fatigue of the day biting at the edges of his mind, mingling with the bonelessness of that powerful orgasm.

Wes laughed, nudging his hot, hard length against Shane’s thigh. “Not even close.”

Wes kissed him again, long and slow, making his toes curl, and that tingling rush he got when he’d found the perfect melody or hit the right note, poured into his veins. It might take him a while to get hard again, but Wes was right. The night wasn’t even close to over.

Wes broke the kiss, drawing an embarrassing mewling sound of complaint from Shane, and reached for the night table. Out of the drawer, he grabbed a condom and the lube, dropping the cool items onto Shane’s stomach. Shane sucked his breath in, tightening his abs against the sudden chill.

“I hope you plan on warming those up before you fuck me,” Shane said, knocking the items onto the bed beside him with the back of his hand.

Wes grinned before answering with another passionate, all-consuming kiss that made Shane forget what he’d been thinking.

“Oh, things are about to get real hot,” Wes promised.

And Wes delivered on that promise with fervor. Hands hot enough to leave a scorching path in their wake led the way down Shane’s torso, each touch followed by a languid, reverent kiss. Every press of his lips, every slide of his tongue on Shane’s sensitive skin, sent a fresh charge of desire racing through his system, like a million tiny zaps of lightning.

Wes wrapped a hand around Shane’s cock, gave a gentle tug. He licked the length with his tongue, and Shane trembled inside and out. His dick gave a valiant twitch, not yet ready but eager to be so.

“Turn over,” Wes breathed, nudging Shane’s hip.

Shane rolled over onto his stomach and sighed with pleasure as Wes kneeled between his legs, sliding his hands down Shane’s torso from his shoulders to his butt. He kneaded Shane’s glutes with calloused fingers, thumbs sliding through his crease, and his talented tongue did magical things that once again worked Shane into a writhing ball of need.

Shane slid a hand underneath and gripped himself, his strokes matching the rhythm of Wes’s ministrations until he couldn’t take the teasing anymore.

“Ride me, Cowboy,” Shane begged. “I’m beyond ready.”

“I do love to be in the saddle,” Wes said as he pulled back. The bed rocked and the crackling sound of the condom wrapper tearing open echoed in the room.

“Oh, my god.” Shane chuckled. “When did you get so corny?”

“Born that way, baby.” Wes half grunted, half laughed. “And you love it.”

Yes , I do love you .

Shane was going to reply, say something witty and funny, but hands hot and slick with lube were kneading him, slippery fingers sliding in and out, opening him more. His entire focus narrowed to that one point of contact where pleasure rolled out in waves. Wes tugged Shane’s hips back, lifting his butt off the bed and into Wes’s lap. His hard length pressed at Shane’s entrance, steady and determined until Wes was seated deep inside. He paused, as though knowing Shane needed a second to adjust to his girth. To catch his breath.

“Yes?” Wes rasped.

“So many yeses.”

Wes rocked into him, deeper and harder with each thrust, and Shane pushed back to meet him in equal measure. The rhythm of their bodies was instantaneous. Instinctual. And Shane fell, headlong and eyes wide open, into the well of bliss that was Wes Stonebraker making love to him.

Wes rode him hard and harder, and harder even still. The ability to think now long fled, leaving Shane in a state of pure sensation, pure emotion. There was a connection between them, so tangible, so real, that he knew there would never be another for him. Wes was it.

The pace quickened and the emotions rolling through him intensified. His body coming apart at the seams. Wes pulled out, and for a second, Shane hung in suspended animation while his mind struggled to catch up and make sense of the sudden emptiness.

“Over,” Wes ordered with a strained voice.

Shane rolled to his back and gasped as Wes took both himself and Shane in his rough, calloused hand. He stared into Wes’s stormy eyes and saw love and desire in them and locked on while the whole world spun. Wes stroked them together, bringing Shane to a new height. He shouldn’t even be hard again so soon, but somehow Wes had found a way to reach deeper and make him fly.

Wes’s hand moved faster. Shane dug his fingers into Wes’s strong thighs that caged him. Wes threw his head back, strokes faltering as he came. Shane’s orgasm hit him with so much force he wondered if his entire body truly had broken apart. His shout of release sang in perfect harmony with Wes’s cry.

Wes collapsed beside him, breaths harsh and shallow. Shane reached blindly for Wes’s hand and threaded their fingers together. Wes’s grip was strong, as though afraid to let go. Shane gave his hand a squeeze, somehow knowing Wes would understand he felt the same.

Wes raised their joined hands to his mouth and kissed his knuckles. “As much as I don’t want to move, we need to clean up.”

Shane groaned. He didn’t want to let go. Ever. “Hurry.”

He floated, weightless, in the afterglow while Wes tended to him. His ocean stare never leaving Shane’s face. I love you hovered on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t push the words off and out into the world as uncertainty snaked in, cooling the blissful wave he’d been surfing.

What if this was the end? What if, even if they both wanted to make it work, their lifestyles made it impossible? Would it be unfair, cruel even, to say those words now, on the cusp of his leaving ?

He didn’t know how long it would be until he saw Wes again, if at all. This chapter of their time together was at an end. So, he kept the words to himself. Let the weight of them settle into a corner of his heart where he’d forever carry them. Warm and comforting and harboring a promise of “one day”.

Shane reached over and stroked a finger along Wes’s stubbled jaw. I love you I love you I love you .

Wes sucked the digit into his mouth and rolled his tongue around it before letting go and kissing him.

“Good night, Shane Castle.”

“Good night, Wes Stonebraker,” Shane returned through a constricted throat. There was a finality to the words that stabbed at his heart.

He settled in beside Wes, with his head on Wes’s chest, over his heart where he could hear it beat, steady and soothing. Wes snaked an arm around his shoulders, tucking him in even closer. He closed his eyes.

Somehow, Shane would find a way to keep Wes in his life.

But when the sun rose the next morning, its bright rays spilling onto the floor as it pushed the night back, Shane was still at a loss how to make it work.