by A. E. Wasp
“No. It’s just that, well, the heart is a muscle, right? If your heart is half as ripped as the rest of yours are, it’s going to beat forever.”
Bryce smiled, his eyes flicking down quickly to check out Dakota. If Dakota hadn’t been watching for it, he would have missed it. He couldn’t be sure, but he was definitely getting some gay or at least appreciative vibes from this guy. He’d felt Bryce’s eyes on his back the whole time he was getting the spare out.
It couldn’t hurt to flirt a little, just in case. It’s not like they were going to date, but flirting was fun. Dakota took in the size of Bryce’s muscles again and remembered the knee brace. If he’d misjudged badly, he could always outrun the guy. But Bryce probably wouldn’t beat up the guy who saved his life, right?
Dakota slid the tire out from underneath the 4Runner and rolled it to the side. Feeling bold, he gave Bryce a much more blatant head-to-toe gaze.
Very, very nice. Long dark hair down to his shoulders, trim beard, and dark eyes framed with those amazing eyelashes. His body was something Dakota had only seen in movies. It made Dakota want to touch him, to find out what all the power would feel like under his hand. At six feet tall, Dakota wasn’t a short guy, but he felt it next to Bryce.
“No, you look pretty damn healthy all over,” he said with a raise of his eyebrows and a smirk. “I don’t think you’re in any danger of a heart attack today.”
Chapter Five
BRYCE
Bryce shifted self-consciously, crossing his arms over his chest with a smile he couldn’t stop sliding across his face. “Um, thanks.”
The way Dakota’s hazel eyes raked slowly over his body gave him butterflies in his stomach, something he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Dakota was definitely flirting with him. Bryce had been flirted with by hundreds of women, and probably some men, thought he’d been too oblivious to notice. He was noticing now.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the whole thing with Robbie and Nikki, and going over his last conversation with Isaac. How many times did people have to call him gay before he had to take a good hard look at himself?
Could he be attracted to men? Nikki had accused him of it more than once during a particularly rough stretch of their breakup.
Apparently, there was only so much denial even he could maintain. Now seemed as good of a time as any to be open to new things. Why not? These next few months were a break from reality. Bryce could entertain new possibilities.
The thought of responding to Dakota’s flirtations, of terrified him, but in a good way. It felt like cresting the top of the first drop on a roller coaster, or like the first time he’d skated out in an official NHL jersey.
He’d start small. Did he want to touch Dakota? If he did what would it feel like? Hard muscles under his hand instead of soft curves. Strong hands gripping him tight and the scrape of stubble against his lips as the kissed.
His dick stirred in his pants as his thoughts slipped seamlessly from contemplation to fantasizing. So obviously, his body wasn’t completely against the idea of kissing a man.
Objectively, Dakota was obviously very handsome. Anybody with eyes could see that.
His sandy blond hair was a tangle of messy waves, flattened a little from his helmet. Bryce wondered if it felt as soft as it looked.
Dakota brushed his hair out of his eyes as he watched Bryce scrutinize him. He looked amused, but he let Bryce look without saying anything.
The scruff on Dakota’s face was darker than his hair, but highlights throughout it glinted gold in the sunlight. His eyes were almost the same shade of blue as the sky, and they stared at Bryce with humor and obvious interest.
Bryce’s mouth was dry, and he licked his lips, but that could be from the altitude and not arousal; he’d better keep checking Dakota out to be sure.
“Everything okay?” Dakota asked.
“Um. Yeah. Fine. Great. Need any help with that tire?”
“No, I’m good. You good?”
“Yeah. Great.”
“Okay.” Dakota squatted down next to the blown tire and pried the hubcap cover off.
Bryce continued his physical inventory of Dakota. He was younger than Bryce, probably mid-twenties. Tall. Not as tall as Bryce, but people seldom were. He was muscular, with a trim waist and broad shoulders.
Bryce wondered briefly what his hands would look like wrapped around Dakota’s hips. Would his fingers meet in the small of his back? Okay, that thought was probably a little gay.
More importantly, though, Dakota was kind and generous. He could have kept driving, but he’d stopped and helped Bryce without cursing him out or making fun of him any more than he deserved.
Adrenaline letdown from his near death experience sent odd bursts of energy skittering across Bryce’s skin, and he stared at the handsome knight who had driven up on his trusty steed to save him.
He was dying to kiss him, he realized suddenly. It was all he could think about.
It was a perfect way to test a theory. Dakota was a sexy stranger he would never see again. Bryce’s stomach dropped. He wasn’t sure if it was because he had just thought of a man as sexy, or the thought of never seeing Dakota again.
“Hey,” said sexy stranger called, interrupting Bryce’s reverie. “Hold this?” Dakota handed Bryce his black leather jacket.
Dakota squatted back down next to the tire. Bryce’s eyes got caught on the strip of skin above his waistband and below his shirt. The way his back muscles strained as he loosened the lug nuts was mesmerizing.
Sweat trickled down the back of Dakota’s neck, and he grunted as the lug wrench slipped off one stubbornly stuck nut.
Bryce laid the leather jacket carefully on the fence. “Here,” he said to Dakota. “I can do that at least.”
Dakota wiped a hand across his forehead and looked up at Bryce, squinting into the sun. “What about your knee?”
Bryce reached down and took the lug wrench out of Dakota’s hand. “It’s fine, I don’t need to kneel.”
Dakota frowned but stood up and moved out of the way as Bryce leaned down and fit the wrench over the lug. “You’re going to pull a muscle. Don’t forget, lefty-loosey,” he coached as Bryce reached for the handle.
“Shut up.” Bryce smiled and pulled the wrench up with one hand, easily loosening the tight nut. He may have flexed his biceps more than was strictly necessary.
Dakota raised his eyebrows when Bryce turned to grin at him. “Okay. That was impressive.” He let his gaze drift all over Bryce’s chest. “How much can you bench press?”
He was definitely flirting now, and all of a sudden past conversations Bryce had had with guys at the gym took on a whole different connotation. How many signals had he missed? Did he give off a gay vibe or did gay guys just hit on anyone and hope for the best?
A motorcycle roared past them on its way down the mountain. What would it feel like to take this road on something like that pressed up against Dakota? Probably amazing. “Two fifty,” he answered finally.
“You could bench press me easily,” Dakota said.
The way he dragged his eyes over Bryce’s muscles sent a shiver down Bryce’s back. “I could bench press myself,” he said. “Wait. That sounds wrong.”
Dakota laughed. He was even more attractive when he was laughing, with his wide smile and bright white teeth. Sunlight picked out the bright gold of stubble and the light sheen of sweat on his neck. Taking the lug wrench back, he squatted back down next to the ruined tire.
Dakota removed the old tire, rolled it out of the way, then slotted the spare on like he’d done it a million times before. He probably had.
Dakota didn’t look gay. He looked like a normal, masculine guy. Isaac looked more like Bryce’s mental picture of a gay guy.
Slim, neat, and smaller than Dakota, Isaac was always fashionably-dressed, nice-smelling, and flirty with everyone. The thing was, Bryce wasn’t attracted to him.
But Robbie was gay, and he was a hockey player
. If he were ten years older, Bryce could see himself maybe being attracted to someone like that.
How was Bryce supposed to tell if a guy was gay or not? Were there secret signs he should look for?
If Bryce couldn’t even tell for sure if he was gay, what made him think he’d be able to tell if other people were? Dakota wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, but that didn’t mean anything. There was only one way to know for sure. He’d have to ask.
Whistling softly under his breath, Dakota tightened the remaining lugs nuts. He stood up, stretching his back with a groan. “Think you can give these a good tightening, Mr. Muscles?” He smiled at Bryce, and another spark leaped between them.
Suddenly, Bryce had to know if he was imaging the attraction between them. The fact that he’d never see this guy again gave him this wild kind of courage.
Bryce wasn’t an impulsive guy. He’d had everything in his life planned out since he was ten years old and had realized that people could make actual money playing hockey. And for the most part, his life had gone as planned. He’d made more money than his little ten-year-old self had even imagined.
The only thing that hadn’t worked out was the wife and kids. Maybe there was a good reason for that. Maybe that was a dream he’d have to set aside.
Pushing that depressing thought away, Bryce decided to seize the day. He felt dizzy, and as if he might throw up, but he’d been in tighter situations. What’s the worst that could happen? Dakota tried to punch him? Bryce had been in fights with guys much bigger than Dakota too many times to count.
Bryce was a stranger in a strange land. Dakota obviously had no idea who Bryce was so he wouldn’t be selling information to some sports gossip website. He had to know, and he didn’t feel like beating around the bush.
“Are you gay?” he asked quickly to Dakota’s back.
Chapter Six
DAKOTA
Well, that was blunt.
Dakota turned to look at the big stranger. “Why do you ask?” He had a fairly good idea why, but he wanted to hear what Bryce had to say. Dakota was getting some serious curious straight boy vibes from him.
“No reason. Just curious.” Bryce blushed. Even that was adorable. This guy looked like he stepped out of a GQ, and now he was trying to flirt with Dakota. At least that’s what Dakota thought he was trying to do. If so, he sucked at it.
Bryce looked sheepish. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business.”
“It’s fine,” Dakota said. “I’m not insulted or anything. It’s just kind of a random question. Unless you’re as bad at flirting as you are at driving.”
Bryce rolled his eyes and covered them with his hand. “Oh, God.” He slid his hand down a little bit, looking at Dakota over the edge of his fingers. “I’m actually better at driving,” he confessed.
“That’s, well, I was going to say that’s hard to believe, but no. No, it isn’t. You have zero game.”
Bryce raised his eyebrows high and crossed his arms over his impressive chest. It did very nice things for his arms. “I’ll have you know in the right circumstances I got game like you wouldn’t believe. You could even say I’m a professional.” He grinned at some secret joke.
“Is that right?” Dakota asked.
The silence stretched, and the tension between them grew. Dakota soaked it in. It had been a long time since he’d felt anything like this mix of attraction and anticipation. He had started to believe he never would again.
“So?” Bryce asked. “Are you?”
“I am, for what it’s worth. Are you?” Wasn’t that the million dollar question? Dakota really hoped the answer was yes. Bryce’s combination of almost intimidating physical strength, sex-god body, and adorable incompetence was doing funny things to Dakota’s heart.
He’d known Bryce for twenty minutes, and he was already wondering how it would feel to have him behind him on the bike. Amazing, was his guess.
Bryce stuck his hands in his pockets, shifted his weight to his good leg with a grimace, and looked down. “I don’t know.”
That was unexpected. “You don’t know?”
Bryce’s blush went from pink to dark-red. “I’ve never…you know. With a guy. But I think I might be.” He sighed, searching for the words. “I think I might be attracted to guys. But I don’t know. How do you know for sure?”
So many answers to that question crowded into Dakota’s brain. He struggled to find an appropriate one, then decided to go with the truth. He grinned, and his voice slipped down into what Kyle had called his sex voice.
“Well,” Dakota answered, “the best way to be sure is to give a guy a blowjob.”
Bryce licked his lips. Dakota was standing close enough to see his pupils dilate despite the bright sunshine. “Yeah? Was that how you knew?”
Dakota laughed. “No. I think I’ve always known. My parents said I told them I was in love with a little boy in my homeschool group when I was seven. A little young for blowjobs. But I did try to kiss him.”
Bryce’s expression was a strange combination of confused and disappointed. “So, I’m probably not. Gay. Right? I mean, I would have known by now if I was. How could I not have known?” That last part was said more to himself than Dakota. “I’m sorry. Ignore me. Thank you for the help.”
There was no way in hell Dakota was letting this drop. If Bryce wanted to have a gay crisis on a Sunday morning on the side of US 34, Dakota wasn’t going to stop him. “Oh, no. Keep going. Obviously, something is on your mind. And now I’m curious. And to be honest, not completely uninvested in the outcome of this conversation.”
The wind picked up, tossing the pine branches until they sounded like a distant surf. The breeze carried a hint of winter on its back, and Bryce shivered.
“Did it really never cross your mind?” Dakota asked.
Bryce shrugged and twisted away from Dakota. “I don’t know. Maybe. There was this one kid on my hockey team when I was fourteen. Joey Delvecchio.”
“Yeah? What about him?”
Bryce gave a soft smile like he was remembering something good. He shook his head. “God. That was twenty years ago. I wonder where he is now? He was just, like, fascinating to me. Everything he did. I wanted to be around him all the time. And he was built, you know? I was all skinny still. And he had a mustache at fourteen. And muscles on his arms.”
“Did you ever do anything with him?”
Bryce’s eyes opened wide. “God no. I could barely talk to him. He was way too cool for me. And a better hockey player back then.”
Dakota nodded. Oh, yeah. That was a gay crush if he’d ever seen one. Imagining Bryce as a scrawny teenager with a crush was too adorable for words.
“So what brought on this soul searching right now? Is it my incredible hotness?” He grinned.
Bryce’s smirk surprised Dakota. “Yeah, actually. Kind of.”
Now it was Dakota’s turn to blush. Which was ridiculous. He’d been hit on much harder and much smoother; these awkward attempts shouldn’t be affecting him.
Bryce chuckled.
“So, supposing you are attracted to men. We won’t give it a label yet. Would it be so bad? Would your family disown you or something?” Dakota asked. Bryce was an adult, but Dakota knew that family opinion still mattered to some people even after they were adults.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Bryce answered, covering his mouth with his hand and shaking his head. “It might be a problem with my job. But,” he pointed at his knee. “I’m kind of on a leave of absence for a while.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“I don’t -,” he started. “I’m so tired of saying I don’t know. How could I not have known? It’s weird to think I wouldn’t be the person I thought I was this whole time. I mean, I was married. To a woman.” His voice rose at the end as if even he couldn’t believe it.
Dakota really wanted to let Bryce talk it out, let him figure things out in his mind. That would be the right thing to do. But it was g
etting colder out here, they were standing on the side of the road, and all Dakota could think of was kissing him. He wanted to get his hands on Bryce’s body in a way he hadn’t wanted anything in a long time. Sex would definitely take his mind off all the bullshit with the farm better than a ride on the bike.
“If you did discover you were gay, or bi, or something other than one hundred percent straight, you’d still be exactly the same person. Maybe even more who you really are.”
“My ex-wife thought I was gay. And she’s known me since I was seventeen.”
Dakota laughed, then slapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Bryce gave a wry smile. “It’s okay.” He gestured to the canyon walls rising over them on either side of the road. “At least I picked a gorgeous place to have a crisis. And a gorgeous guy to have it with.” He blushed again.
Dakota wanted to eat him alive. “You think I’m gorgeous?” He tilted his head and smiled, sticking his hands in his back pockets.
Bryce looked down at the ground, took a deep breath, and looked back up.
Dakota inhaled. Bryce might not be sure if he was gay, but Dakota knew that look. That was lust in Bryce’s eyes.
“Well, thank you for the compliment. You’re smoking hot, but you probably already know that.” Dakota took a few steps towards Bryce. “And you’re curious?”
Bryce pushed back his long hair with both hands and gave a deep sigh. “I’m definitely curious,” he said firmly.
Dakota tried to get a read on the man. He seemed determined and a little bit excited. Dakota licked his bottom lip and saw Bryce’s eyes drop to his mouth. “Why are you having this conversation now? With a total stranger?” Dakota asked.
Bryce smiled. “Because you are a total stranger. And you don’t know who I am.”
No, he didn’t, and he didn’t care. Actually, he liked it better this way. God, the guy was gorgeous. He had deep brown eyes flecked with gold and a smile that could charm birds from the sky.
