by Cameron Dane
“None.” Devlin’s heart and belly fluttered, and he felt himself blush. “But if I had, that’s what I would tell them.”
“Glad to hear that I would at least still be special.”
“You’re not just special, Garrick.” Devlin tried to look through the blindfold to where he imagined Garrick would be standing. “You’re everything.”
A thud hit Devlin’s ears, then a wonderfully colorful curse filled the garage. “Damn it.” Garrick mixed in a sharp whistle with another four-letter word. “You make me trip over my own feet when you say shit like that.”
God, he’s so fucking sweet.
Devlin swallowed down a swell of love that wanted to take him over and make him bawl like a pussy. “I’d tell you to strip me naked, bend me over and fuck me where I stand, but I don’t want to spend our evening taking you to the emergency room.”
“Thank you for the courtesy.” The Sahara desert had nothing on the dryness in Garrick’s tone. “Okay. You can take off the blindfold.”
Devlin stripped the piece of fabric off over his head. He blinked a half dozen times to adjust to the shock of light suddenly attacking his eyes again, and then everything cleared, and an absolute vision filled Devlin’s gaze.
Sweet mother. It’s perfect.
Devlin blinked and looked again, but his eyes did not deceive him. Before him, Garrick had himself laid out across the hood of a car--his ass probably leaving an imprint on the windshield because he didn’t have on a stitch of clothing. The man was insanely sexy, as always, but he fucking had himself draped over a cherry specimen of a ’77 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird--exactly in the pristine shape Devlin had always dreamed of owning, and Devlin couldn’t much process anything more than that. Shiny black in color, with the exact gold trim along the sides, firebird design beautifully depicted on the hood, and snowflake rims recreated with the right color of paint and everything.
It’s everything I’ve always wanted. And more.
Garrick swept an arm across his front like a game show model. “So? What do you think?”
Devlin rushed to the car and ran his hands along the side of its perfect, sexy shape. “Whoa,” he whispered. Maddie had never mentioned the car again after showing it to him that first time. With everything that had happened since, Devlin had totally forgotten she’d found it and was restoring it to its original state.
He opened the passenger side door and leaned a knee on one of the custom seats, inhaling some spray she must have used to recreate a new car smell. He looked to the back, and whistled. The car fucking even had the specialty bucket seats in the back. Then Devlin looked toward the front and his attention caught on the shine glinting right in front of his eyes. “Oh, damn it.” He reached out and fingered the shiny, raised pyramid stamped metal running across the front of the instrument panel. “There’s a diamond design panel and everything.”
Garrick rolled over on the hood and looked in at Garrick through the windshield. “Yep.” Pride infused his voice. “It’s the perfect recreation. Every detail is right. Straight down to the CB radio.”
Son of a bitch. Devlin shot out of the car. Our talk. He rounded the open door to Garrick and stooped down so they were at eye level. Everything was right there in the man’s eyes. It didn’t matter that they were blue; Devlin could see the truth filtering through. Of course.
“You did this,” Devlin said, his voice choked. He flipped back through those few conversations he’d had with Maddie about the Trans Am and it hit him that she’d never actually said she found the car herself. “Maddie didn’t find the car to refurbish. You did.”
Garrick shrugged. “I brought it in. Your sister knows you well, though. The second she saw it, she said she had a buyer and wanted to do the work herself. I volunteered to lend a hand.” He shifted upright and reached out to caress Devlin’s cheek. “It was a way I could be close to you, even though I didn’t have the nerve to face you yet.”
Devlin turned his head and kissed Garrick’s hand. “It’s beautiful, Garrick.”
The sweetest damned smile--something Devlin got the privilege to see every day now--tilted Garrick’s lips at the edges. “Not as beautiful as your face the second you laid eyes on it,” Garrick told him softly.
Flashes of eating sandwiches while sitting across from a tattooed man in an ugly motel room filled Devlin’s head. “I can’t believe you remembered that silly thing I said that day.”
“I remember everything you tell me. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”
“Yeah,” Devlin agreed, his tone a bit gruff suddenly, “me too. So.” He let his gaze wander down the length of Garrick’s enticing physique, pleased to see the man’s cock respond with a visible jump. “What’s with the nakedness? Not that I’m complaining.” He arched a brow as he looked some more. “But you can’t have thought I’d need extra incentive to love this car.”
With a deep breath that expanded his chest, Garrick blurted, “How would you feel about parking this cock-on-wheels next to my battered old truck every night?”
Devlin jerked his attention away from Garrick’s growing prick and shot right up to his face again. “What are you saying?”
Garrick didn’t blink or look away. “I’m saying I want us to live together.”
Oh, Holy Mother.
Devlin grabbed the open car door to his left as his legs went weak on him.
Two months had passed since the night Randy had broken into Grace’s home and changed all their lives. A reporter had indeed come to ask Grace some questions about Randy, about his presence in Redemption, and if Grace had known about it. However, Wyn had also been right in his guess that the reporter wouldn’t have any interest in the tenant above the garage, and Garrick had not even been mentioned in the article that ran a few days later.
Devlin and Garrick had spent almost every night together since then, the only exceptions being when Devlin had gotten the okay to go back to work and had to do his overnight shifts at the firehouse. Garrick’s room was cramped with two people, and Devlin’s place had Maddie, so what exactly was he suggesting?
Maybe... Devlin’s heart leapt right into his throat. No. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Devlin couldn’t help it, his chest started to pound at the possibilities even though he told himself not to hope.
“Damn it.” Garrick smacked his hand against the hood of the car. “You’re looking completely shell-shocked, Devlin, but hear me out.” He grabbed Devlin’s hand and pulled him around to the front of the car. He slid there too and braced his feet on the front fender. “Shit, I’m kind of springing this on myself as much as I am you, beautiful. You know the people who live one house across and to the left of Grace? The Sheridans?” At Devlin’s nod, Garrick went on. “The wife told Grace today that the husband found out his work is moving him to Virginia in two months. She asked Grace if she would list the house for them. Grace was telling me about it,” Garrick took Devlin’s hands in a loose hold, “and I told her to hold off for a day.”
“You did?” So much hope filled those two words Devlin barely choked them out.
Garrick drew Devlin between his legs. “I know it’s a big step and happening very quickly, but what do you think? Do you want to buy it with me?” He fiddled with the buttons on Devlin’s shirt, darting his focus between them and Devlin’s eyes as he spoke. “It’s a bigger step of trust for you,” Garrick said. “We’d have to work it so that yours is the only name on the paperwork. I still don’t feel like I can risk too much scrutiny.”
He looked up into Devlin’s eyes, and his hands went from playing with Devlin’s shirt to grasping it in a twisting hold. “But I promise I love you and want to live with you all the time--in our own place--and this is close to the Fines, so we can still check in with Shawn and Chloe every day. I promise you can trust me with your credit score. I would never leave you ever, period, and I swear I would never renege on my half of the mortgage payment and bills. Whatever you need me to do to make you feel safe taking this risk, I am
willing and want to do it for you.” Earnestness shaped every line of Garrick’s being, and his eyes shone with just as much love as Devlin was sure his own did. “Will you buy a house and build a life together with me?”
Oh, Holy Mother. Devlin gulped down a grapefruit-sized lump lodged in his throat. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He could not break from the brightness in Garrick’s gaze. “I-I...”
Garrick’s face fell as quickly as his hands did from Devlin’s shirt. “It’s too much too fast. I knew I shouldn’t have put you on the sp--”
Devlin clamped his hand over Garrick’s mouth. Snap the fuck out of it, Morgan, before you ruin this moment and kill every damned thing you’ve always wanted with this man. “Yes.” Devlin laughed out loud, filling the garage with the joyful noise. “Yes!”
His eyes burned bright, the green once again somehow magically beaming through the blue. “Yes?” Garrick parroted. The word came out muffled around Devlin’s hand.
Devlin shoved Garrick back onto the hood of the car and crawled up on top of it himself, stalking his man with each scoot Garrick took backward until the man’s spine hit the windshield and he could move no more. The second Garrick could go no further, Devlin settled in between the spread of his legs, rubbed their cocks together, and let his mouth descend and brush against Garrick’s.
With each brush and scrape of his lips across Garrick’s, Devlin whispered another “Yes.” He ran his hands down the sides of Garrick’s body, reveling in the warm, firm flesh burning with life under his palms. “You can tell me all about the specs of the house right after we put your nakedness to good use in celebration.”
“Mmm...” Garrick pushed the flat of his hands down Devlin’s back and kept right on going, slipping them into the back of Devlin’s jeans to caress and knead his ass. “I stocked your glove compartment with lube.”
“I always thought you were a smart, prepared man. Maybe you can take me on a full tour of the car a little later.” With their gazes fully connected, Devlin reached between their bodies and closed his hand around Garrick’s rigid shaft. “Right after I show my thanks.”
Garrick rocked up into the contact, his chuckle warm against Devlin’s mouth. “Will do, beautiful.” He spread his legs and locked them around Devlin. “It’s a deal.”
No coherent words were heard after that. Just the sounds of Devlin’s clothing rustling as it was removed and hit the concrete floor. Then nothing but the sounds of sweat-slick bodies rubbing against one another and across the smooth metal beneath them, and finally the cries of pleasure as two beings merged into one and found completion in one another’s arms.
Hours later, after Devlin got that tour of the car, and Garrick filled him in on all the specs, Devlin declared the hood of his new Trans Am his favorite part of the vehicle.
Funny. Garrick was partial to it too.
Disclaimer
The tattooing in this story, as well as its removal, is a fictionalized interpretation of emerging tattoo ink technology and in no way reflects the actual results of any testing or trial research happening in this field.
The End
About the Author:
I am an Air Force brat and spent most of my growing up years living overseas in Italy and England, as well as Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia while we were stateside. I now live in Florida once again with my big, wonderfully pushy family and my three-legged cat, Harry. I have been reading romance novels since I was twelve years old, and twenty years later I still adore them. Currently, I have an unexplainable obsession with hockey goaltenders, and an unabashed affection for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
I’d love to hear from you! Visit me on the Web at http://www.camerondane.com
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