Ash grinned and sat the Braves cap on his head. “Thank you. I didn’t want to break in a new one. This is my favorite.”
Eli grabbed two walking sticks from the mudroom. Jabbers bolted outside, but once he saw Eli and Ash heading off, he fell in beside Eli at a sedate trot. “How did you get him to heel so well?”
“He’s putting on his good manners for you. Wait until he smells something interesting and takes off to make friends.”
They headed out toward the trees behind Eli’s house, the air cool and damp against their skin. There was a quiet solitude about the afternoon, broken only by the sound of Jabbers snuffling along the path, his tail whipping the undergrowth. There was a look of contentment on Eli’s face, as if his argument with the other professor just a bit ago had been completely forgotten.
Much to Ash’s surprise, he found himself enjoying the hike despite the wet. The scenery was spectacular, and Eli kept pointing out things that he missed and telling him about some of his favorite trails he’d been on over the summer. Neither one of them brought up the reason why they had come out here: to talk about the next step between them. Ash was content with the company, and if Eli wasn’t inclined to murky up the day with relationship talk, then that was fine by him.
The trees opened up on the right side of the path as the ground dropped away to follow along a creek rippling over rock outcroppings. In the distance Ash could hear the muted roar of a waterfall. The rain had stopped completely, though the air was still heavy with moisture. White mist gathered around the rocks, obscuring the trees except for a few ethereal branches. It was like there was no one left in the world but the two of them and Jabbers.
Ash kept stealing glances at his companion. Eli’s long legs moved over the uneven ground with the ease of long practice. He set a hard pace, not flagging at all, and Ash had to revise his opinion that most professors were soft. Not that Eli had seemed at all soft last night. “Okay, now I believe you go hiking every day. I thought you were just bullshitting me.”
Eli flashed him a grin. “Lu swears I was one of those crazy trailblazers in a past life. Out by myself for months on end, hiking, rock climbing, camping. I love it all.”
Ash’s gaze slid down to Eli’s ass as the trail narrowed and he took the lead. Maybe they could strike a deal. They’d behave on campus and misbehave off of it… misbehave several times. The trail widened again, and Ash moved up beside him and was about to take Eli by the hand so they could talk when Jabbers broke the silence with excited baying, his whole body stiffening. Ash followed the dog’s intent stare as a raspy, eerie shriek rent the air.
“What the hell is that?” It sounded like something out of a horror movie.
Eli lunged forward and grabbed Jabbers’s collar just as the beagle prepared to bound across the creek to confront the caterwauling creature that looked like a mutant cross between a beaver and a ferret. “It’s a fisher cat,” Eli said, crouching down to look his dog in the eyes. “Jabbers, stay,” he said firmly. “Remember what happened the last time you tried to take one of them on?”
Ash watched with bemusement as the animal gave one last defiant screech before scampering off into the trees. Jabbers whined, casting Eli a look of betrayal. “I guess you run into all kinds of animals around here,” he said as Eli let go of Jabbers’s collar and straightened after waiting a moment to see if the dog would bolt.
“Mostly deer, and up at my camp you can often spot moose or bear too. Moose are so curious, it’s not unheard of to find one peering in a window. I think you’d like it there.” Eli cast him an unreadable look, and Ash wasn’t sure if it was an invitation or regret. “Some of my cousins and I built a camp up north. They use it for hunting, and I go up for hiking and fishing about once a month for a long weekend.”
Ash started an ongoing argument in his head. Half of him wanted to be the one to call it off to save face and keep Eli from risking his career and the other half wanted to say to the hell with everyone else and kiss Eli until there wasn’t any other thought but the heat between them.
“Sounds like it would be fun sometime.” He would not turn down a weekend of privacy, naked Eli, and a bit of camping. Ash came to a halt as the creek fell away a few yards later to tumble down in a long, silver cascade into a wide natural pool below. “Oh wow, that’s gorgeous.”
“Yeah, some days I’ll hike all the way down and go swimming. It’s far too cold for that today.” Eli scrambled up onto a rock by the path and gave Ash a look filled with regret. Ash echoed that feeling with a pang in his chest. He’d totally missed his chance.
“We should’ve fucked like rabbits last night,” Ash said in response to all the unspoken things he saw echoed in Eli’s expression. “I understand. You want hands off till the end of the semester. I’m disappointed, but I understand.”
Eli smiled with relief in his eyes. “I know you do. Britton, the dipshit you saw earlier, would love nothing more than to see me lose my chance at tenure. So much so that I’m surprised he hasn’t invented something yet. I guess his lack of imagination is what thwarts him.”
“And if he had any idea about us he’d make trouble.” Ash had seen and heard that for himself. “I didn’t think there were any set rules about relationships with students.”
Eli pulled a canteen off a clip on his belt and took a swig before recapping it and tossing it to Ash. “There aren’t. Too many people would get caught up in scandals if that were the case. It’s frowned upon, though, and Britton would twist it around to make it seem like some kind of power play on my part, a using my charisma to coerce students into being my sex slaves kind of thing. Definitely not my style.”
Ash choked on his sip of water. “Didn’t think it was. Sounds like he’d be much happier if he got some himself.”
The idea that someone would actually believe that Ash would let himself be coerced into a situation he didn’t want was ludicrous. Still, those who were in charge didn’t know him from any other student. If Eli had been a professor in the Criminal Justice program, that would be different. A man like Britton wouldn’t investigate the situation as much as take the fact that a teacher and a student were carrying on a sexual relationship and twist it into the most sordid scenario possible.
And that thought just irked the hell out of him.
“He wouldn’t know what to do with sex if it was freely offered. I’m surprised he hasn’t moldered in his office yet.” Eli’s lips twisted in a sour expression. “I hate having someone else dictate my actions, but he’s the head of the department so I’m stuck with him until the end of the year.”
“I was half afraid he was going to send you into open rebellion and then I’d have to be the voice of reason.” And Ash didn’t want to contemplate what it would take to turn Eli from a course of action once he’d decided on one. There had been a wicked glint in his eyes earlier when he’d faced Britton that had reminded Ash of his best friend Kurtis Wakefield. Heaven help the person who crossed Kurtis. His notion of retaliation was inventive and pointed. He never went over the line into cruelty, but his target would remember what had happened for a long time.
“Oh, I considered it,” Eli said.
“What changed your mind?” Ash found another boulder and pulled himself up to sit. The rock was cool and damp, the skies still a solid gray, but it was good to be outdoors after a day of being cooped up. Even better to be in Eli’s company. If they were going to have to behave, he wanted to get what he could, while he could.
“Because if we were to have an illicit affair—” Eli’s lips quirked in a wicked, heated smile that stirred Ash’s desire. “And believe me, I love the words illicit and affair, and we were to get caught, then it would be a scandal.” His expression turned serious, his blue-gray eyes as somber as the sky. “And that could affect you as well as me. I don’t want people thinking you’re a dirty secret or that there is anything at all sleazy about what we’re doing together. I’d rather be with you openly.”
This time, the warmth that filled A
sh had nothing to do with sex. There had been several times, when he was on active duty, that he had wished for the same thing. To be able to be with the guy he was seeing without living a lie. He wasn’t an idiot: things would be tough in the DCIS, or FBI, or the even the police. There were repercussions in all the careers that interested him. He could handle those. But he hated the lying. It ate at him.
“Well, then, now that’s been decided. Do I get to flirt with you? I don’t know if I can pretend for the next several months that I don’t find you sexy.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with a little harmless flirting,” Eli responded with a gleam in his eyes.
“What about fantasizing?” Ash asked, flashing a grin at him. Surprisingly, he realized that he kind of liked this idea. The heat they could build up over the next couple of months would be epic. “You are the hottest professor I’ve ever had. My thoughts are bound to stray from time to time.”
“Just as long as you don’t let it affect your class work.” Eli turned his mouth into a prim line, eliciting a laugh from Ash, before he let it relax. “I’m sure I’ll be having a number of fantasies myself. Our thoughts are our own. And it’s not like when I see you about town I’m going to ignore you. Who I’m friends with outside of work is my own business, and that I can defend.”
“Sounds like you intend on walking the line.”
“Walking the line is what I do best.”
Wayne’s heart clenched and adrenaline shot through him as pulled down Eli’s road and saw his Jeep along with a strange truck outside the house. He almost turned right back around until he reminded himself that he had a legitimate reason for being here. It would look odd if he started avoiding Eli now. And the truck didn’t belong to Sheriff Cooper, so there was no reason to freak out.
Wayne counted on Eli being unobservant and forgetful after Wayne had fucked up his first and second break-in. It was that yapping mutt’s fault. Somehow, Jabbers had stolen Wayne’s glove without him noticing. He’d almost had a coronary when he’d seen it on Eli’s kitchen counter. At first he thought he’d dropped it, but then he’d seen the teeth marks. He’d grabbed it without thinking it through and now he regretted his rashness. Eli might dismiss one odd occurrence, but he wasn’t likely to dismiss several.
Stupid idiot. He was going to blow it all if he didn’t get his shit together. He wasn’t cut out for a life of crime. He didn’t understand how people found it to be thrilling. He was more likely to end up with an ulcer.
He’d explored the attic earlier and ground his teeth at the decades’ worth of junk that had been collected and stuffed up there. It would take forever to search, but if the baseball cards were there, no one would know or remember if he took them. And it was better to have them there instead of in some damned hidey-hole safe, or in Tennessee with that thieving, cheating rat bastard.
Wayne didn’t hear Jabbers when he got out of the truck, which meant that Eli was probably off on one of his hikes. He glanced at the mudroom door and saw that only the screen door was shut; the other was wide open to allow a breeze to go through the kitchen.
He frowned in thought as he tugged on his gloves and started to unload the cordwood. Now might be a good time to lift Eli’s office keys. He’d have to search there too.
Wayne chewed on his lip as he started to stack the wood against the shed. He had no way of knowing how long Eli had been gone or who he was with. Wayne had better wait for another opportunity. He’d watch Eli for a few weeks, get his routine down, and then he’d have plenty of time to grab the keys, make copies, and return them before the man even realized they were missing.
Feeling better with a plan in mind instead of picking the impulsive option, Wayne began to whistle as he went to work with more confidence. He had only stacked a few armloads when the sound of Jabbers’s barking alerted him to Eli’s return. His stomach churned. Good thing he hadn’t tried to make a copy of the key this afternoon.
Wayne steeled himself as Jabbers ran up to him, tail wagging. It was easier to look at the dog than in Eli’s direction. The betrayal still burned hot in his mind, and he’d give anything not to have to look the man in the eye. Wayne finished stacking his load and then grabbed a rawhide treat from his truck. Bribery worked wonders, and he needed to stay friends with Jabbers if he was going to keep on snooping around.
He waved the treat in the air and Jabbers jumped, trying to snatch it out of his hand. “Not this time, troublemaker. Sit, Jabbers!” The dog immediately plopped down, baying in his excitement. Wayne tossed him the treat, and Jabbers jumped up and caught it midair. “Now remember what listening to me gets you.” Last night was not going to happen again. No siree.
“How’s it going, Wayne?”
Wayne glanced over as Eli emerged from the trees with Ash Gallagher. He’d seen him on Jonas’s construction crew over the summer and again last night with Eli at Dingers. And here he was, looking all cozy with Eli. Wayne narrowed his eyes. It had been awhile since Eli had dated, and on another day he’d have been happy for him. Today he just wanted to tell Ash to get out while he could.
“It’s going.” Wayne nodded to Ash and grabbed another armload of wood. Eli’s expression was open and friendly, and some of Wayne’s anxiety eased. Eli mustn’t have noticed anything odd, then. Damn, how could the man have looked him in the eye and said that he knew nothing about those cards? It still made him sick. “Dad’s recovering slower than the doctors would like, but he’s a stubborn one.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Eli said as they walked up, and Wayne ground his teeth at the false sympathy. “Wayne, have you met Ash Gallagher?”
“Not officially. Jonas had good things to say about you.” Wayne stripped off his glove and reached out to shake Ash’s hand. He had the oddest feeling that the man was measuring him. Those eyes studied him the way he’d seen Sheriff Cooper watch someone he didn’t trust. “We don’t get many outsiders settling into our part of town.”
“It’s a good town, suits me for the time being.” Ash’s eyes flicked to Wayne’s hands and the chewed-up glove. Wayne stuffed it in his back pocket and cursed his guilty flush. “I see you got your glove back from Eli’s kitchen.”
“How’d you know?” Wayne blurted out without thinking, as a little spurt of panic grabbed his throat.
Ash met his eyes again. If anything, the man made him more nervous than Jabbers. “Eli mentioned that Jabbers found one, and I can see that he gnawed the hell out of it. Eli couldn’t figure out where it had disappeared to.”
“Oh, good,” Eli said with a smile. “I was wondering if it was yours. That solves that mystery. I’m glad you got it back.”
To Wayne’s relief, Eli let it go at that, though Ash was still looking at him with speculation in his eyes. Anger blossomed into a hot knot. Who was this fucking outsider to question what he did? “I needed them to haul the wood today.” He winced at his defensive tone. That sounded like he was feeling guilty and he wasn’t, dammit. Not one bit.
“Just let me grab my gloves and I’ll give you a hand.” Eli looked at Ash and seemed to hesitate. “You sticking around?”
Ash cast him a look of regret, and Wayne took the opportunity to exit out of the conversation. He turned and began to grab an armload of wood, listening intently in case he came up as a topic.
“I wish I could. I have a standing date with my best friend once every couple of weeks to chat online. He’s stationed in Afghanistan right now.”
“So I’ll see you Wednesday?”
“Definitely, Doc,” Ash said in a teasing voice.
Wayne trudged away with his armload, grateful that conversation seemed to be entirely about the two of them. When he returned, Ash was gone. Good. Those sidelong looks of his made him nervous. Eli didn’t seem inclined to chatter, so that was another bonus. He wasn’t sure that he could stomach being pleasant with him. With Jabbers off somewhere, gnawing on his prize instead of underfoot, the day had taken a turn for the better.
Ash frowned as he drove
off. There was something not right about Wayne. The man had been skittish from the start of the conversation and he had not liked being questioned about that glove. Now, maybe things were different up here in this small town, but if Wayne had just needed that glove to haul wood, then why the hell did he act like Ash had caught him in the middle of being where he didn’t belong? It didn’t make any sense, especially when Eli didn’t seem bothered by Wayne going into his house to fetch it. Other unanswered questions bothered him, like where did Jabbers find that glove and how had Wayne known to look for it in Eli’s house?
Ash flexed his hand, feeling the scar tissue tug on his arm. He’d learned the hard way about not trusting his instincts. He’d made that mistake during his second stint in Iraq. He’d looked into those eyes and had been fooled, right before the world exploded around him. A fanatic’s gaze was soulless, all personality burned away and replaced with one driving goal. And he’d dismissed that gaze and let that woman’s outward appearance fool him. Not anymore.
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