by Sasha Goldie
Jerking open the refrigerator door, I looked for a soda, but I’d forgotten to buy any when I’d shopped. The half-empty bottle of wine Nate and I had shared was still there, though. Of course.
I stared at it while the chilly air floated out of the fridge and into the room. That night had been great. He hadn’t even let me finish my chicken before pulling me into the bedroom. The open dryer caught my eye when I closed the door, trying not to think about what had come after dinner.
It still had a small load. There, something I could do to occupy my mind until some business came in the shop. I pulled out the clothes and set them on top of the dryer to fold. The first thing I picked up to fold was one of Nate's undershirts. It must've gotten mixed in with mine, but he wore a size smaller.
I shook it out and held it to my face, wishing it still smelled like him. Maybe his pillow still did. I walked into the guest room to see he'd made the bed but hadn't changed the sheets. Slipping under the covers, I breathed deep, inhaling his clean citrus smell.
Tears leaked out of my eyes, absorbed by the pillow. Curling my body around the spare pillow, I fell asleep, my heart aching.
When I woke, my eyes landed on a white square on the floor of the closet. Blinking the sleep out of my eyes, I sat up. What was it?
When I got closer, I realized it was a business card. Nate's. It had his office number on it.
I'd told him it wasn't a fling. The ball was in his court. I put the card in my pocket and left the bed rumpled. Who cared, anyway? There wouldn’t be anyone to see it messy but me.
Walking around my home wasn’t helping me at all. I hadn’t been this upset when Scott had left me. Needing fresh air, I decided to go visit Tyler. As I sat down in my Mustang, I realized I didn’t know which hospital he was at. We had a small county hospital, but the severe cases were often airlifted to the bigger hospital in Bend, and sometimes they were sent to Portland.
Stopping in the diner to ask Daisy was a bad idea and a good idea, depending on how I looked at it. I never got to go visit Tyler, but at least my mind was distracted from thoughts of whether or not I should call Nate.
"Ian, thank goodness," Duke said as soon as I walked through the door. "I don’t know what I’m doing."
"Duke, what are you doing here? Who’s running your store?"
"Don’t be silly, boy, it’s a parts and feed store. I left a note on the door letting people know where I am. If they need something they can come here. Nobody that shops there is a stranger anyway."
He had a point. I often left my shop in the same way. Nate probably would’ve been shocked to know that half the time my doors were unlocked. Plus, the customers generally knew how to find me. I’d either be on a tow or at a shop on Main Street. Or Carson’s. Not a lot of options.
"What can I help with?"
Duke shrugged and looked around helplessly He’d been married to Daisy for over sixty years and they’d owned the diner for over thirty. Yet, he looked like someone was asking him to perform brain surgery. "Go help Daisy in the kitchen, Duke." He escaped with a terrified look on his face. The breakfast rush was in full swing, so I jumped in with coffees, making sure Duke had taken orders.
Who knew I’d have such a knack at running the front of a diner?
With one eye on the clock, I passed the time until Nate’s auction quickly. Running all around the restaurant was a sure way to keep my mind occupied. Once the auction was over and the land sold, I could move on and let Nate go.
Somehow.
Nate
As soon as Crissy and Dawson came to a firm agreement, I stepped a few feet away to call the other potential investors while they banged out the details and filled in a contract. Crissy was not one to let things like signing and locking in a deal go undone while they waited on me to update the others.
Before the auction was even due to start, I’d managed to sell the property, work out a public relations deal with a reputable nonprofit, send all my other potential clients home with a heartfelt apology, and slide into the conversation how much I’d like to run a Bend location. Crissy gave me a look that said she’d be picking my brain later.
I left the details to her. Sitting at the table, I waited for a moment in the conversation that I could interject myself. "Crissy," I said firmly. "I appreciate you coming down here to help me, and since you’re here, I have a huge favor to ask."
She just arched an eyebrow. Typical Crissy. "What now?"
Sucking in a deep breath, I blurted out the words before I lost my nerve. "You know the guy I met in Three Lakes?"
Nod. Did she have a heart? She wasn’t giving me an inch.
"I have to go fight for him." The rock in my gut gained about ten pounds while I waited to see her response.
"This is why you wanted to open a Bend location?" she asked, then pursed her lips.
I nodded back at her, my heart beating so fast my face started to flush.
An enormous grin broke across her face. "Go get him. I’ll finish up here, and you can sign your part back at the office, tomorrow." Her emphasis told me all I needed to know. I had to be back in Portland to sort out my career tomorrow morning. If my butt wasn’t in the office when hers was, all her goodwill would be out the window. Of that I was positive.
"You’re amazing." I nearly bent down and kissed her cheek but thought better of it at the last minute. Instead, I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Thank you."
As I hurried to the elevator to pack, I heard Dawson ask, "You don’t mind that he is just bailing on you?"
Her voice had never sounded so wistful, not in my presence, anyway. "No, not when he’s met someone that makes his eyes light up like that."
Well, hell. She did have a heart. Who knew?
I hit the hotel room at nearly a run, throwing all my stuff back in the bag and cursing myself for allowing my things to be thrown all over the room in less than twelve hours. What if Ian sold the shop before I got back to Three Lakes? Highly unlikely, of course, but my mind wasn’t exactly on the right path.
My panic spurred me to pack faster. I’d never thrown my belongings into my suitcases so haphazardly before. It made my skin crawl to do it. But, I couldn’t wait another minute to get to Ian.
Fifteen minutes later, I passed by Dawson and Crissy downstairs, talking and laughing. Crissy tucked her hair behind her ear demurely, and her body language had changed in the time I’d packed. She was flirting!
"Thanks again," I called as I rushed out of the lobby. I didn’t wait to hear their response. After a fill-up, I sped out of the city with my heart in my throat, ready to find Ian and tell him it hadn’t been a fling for me, either.
27
Ian
Trudging home from the diner, completely exhausted again, I tried to think about the sale of the shop, but without Nate to share in my new life, it seemed duller. I knew changes were needed, but how drastic was too drastic? Would I be miserable if I sold the shop and moved to Bend or Portland? What about farther away? If I wanted to, I could go to California and live by the beach. Or try the desert climate. It was supposed to be good for seasonal allergies.
The nip in the late spring air caused a shiver, and I tugged my jacket tighter around me. Aunt Dot, little old lady I'd known for all my life drove by, clutching the wheel and peering over the dash. It was far too late for her to be out, but if she'd run out of her Pall Mall cigarettes, she'd go out any time of day or night. Everyone called her aunt, though nobody knew whose aunt she actually was.
Where would I be when she died? I should be at her funeral, helping carry her casket. I couldn't do that from Portland.
I turned the corner to my shop but turned back to look at the dark town. We only had three street lights on Main Street, so I couldn't see much in the dark, but I saw enough. My life was in this town, my roots. Even if I moved, or remodeled, sold the shop or not, I couldn't leave Three Lakes.
I'd have to turn down the proposal. I guessed it was probably good it hadn't worked out with Nate. If I
'd left and been miserable, I might've blamed him for pushing me to move.
With a sad smile at the town I loved, I trudged toward the shop, head down. Getting past the heartache wouldn't be fun.
Nate's car sat directly in front of the door to the shop. I gaped at him, lying exactly the same way he had the first time I'd seen him, broken down on the side of the road. His dark brown hair was disheveled, and he hadn't noticed me staring at him.
The military had taught me to walk quietly, and it was a habit I'd never broken.
"Nate?" I said tentatively. I startled him, and he jumped up, making my heart pump faster, but I tried to tell it to shut up. I'd been hopeful when I'd seen him the day before, too, and that had gone to shit.
"The conservation bought the land," he said in a rush. "And if all goes to plan, I’m going to open a branch of our company in Bend. If we buy or build a house on the county line, I could get to work in Bend pretty quickly, and you could get here in no time." He smiled at me, but his face was utterly terrified. I realized he'd been worried I might reject him.
I launched myself at him, pressing against his car so I could reach his face. Wrapping my hands around his cheeks, I pulled his lips to mine without any pretense.
It was a kiss to rival all other kisses. Fireworks exploded in my mind, and Nate scooted closer, going limp against my chest. I moved my hands around his back and pulled him up, flush against my body. "I love you," I whispered when I could actually come up for air.
"For fuck's sake, Ian, I love you, too."
Pulling him upwards, he wrapped his legs around my waist, resting his butt on the edge of his car. "Inside," he said in a low voice. "Please."
Wrapping my hands around his ass, I lifted him up, carrying him into the shop with a considerable amount of difficulty. He let out a little squeal that nearly made me snort, then set his lips in on my neck, kissing and licking as I struggled to the door while trying not to show it. It worked in romance novels, and with small women—or maybe if I'd been a bit more muscular—but Nate wasn't a tiny man himself. "Get the door?" I asked with a small gasp.
Nate burst out laughing. "Why the hell did you try to carry me?" he asked as he dropped his legs to the floor.
"I thought it would be romantic." I kissed him again as I locked the door behind me. "Not so much."
"You get an A for effort." His own efforts not to laugh were valiant, but I could see he was fighting a losing battle, so I altered the mood, grabbing the back of his short hair and pulling his head back so he looked up at me.
"What took you so long?" I asked, looking down at the man I loved.
"I was stupid and didn't know what I wanted. Now I do, and I'm sorry it took me another day to get to the same conclusion."
My lips on his interrupted his apology. I couldn't wait to be inside him and have him inside me. "Take your shirt off," I told him firmly as I tightened my grip on his hair. His breathing intensified, telling me he liked my aggression.
At least it made him forget about my fumble a few minutes before. Drawing my head back enough to watch the progression of his hands on his buttons, my anticipation grew, as did my erection, which had appeared the moment he'd asked if we could live together.
"I'll sell the shop. I'll move wherever you are," the words fell out of my mouth, my resolution that I wanted to stay in Three Lakes completely flying from my head.
"No," Nate said firmly as I released my hold on his hair. He framed my face, taking my ears into his fingers and rubbing gently. "You'd be miserable anywhere else. I think you should move, get your own place, or our own place, get out of the shadow of your dad, absolutely. But you love this town." He kissed my lips gently. "You're a part of this town. I'd never want to change that, change you."
I couldn't ask for a better partner. "I love you so much," I growled as I claimed his mouth again, taking his hand and pulling him toward the stairs. He went first, his ass right in my face. I couldn't keep my hands off of it as he walked slowly up. "You're doing it on purpose," I said with a laugh when I realized he was arching his back so I'd be faced with a plump, firm temptation.
"Of course I am." He ran up the last few stairs and I followed quickly, straight to my bedroom where he'd already shed his shirt and was working on his buckle. I yanked my tee off, throwing it into the corner, then sat on the edge of the bed to take off my boots.
"No," Nate said, his top button undone. "Leave them on."
Oh, fuck yes. I yanked them off long enough to pull my jeans and underwear off, then put them back on.
"I want to look down and see them on your feet as you fuck me." He pulled his pants off, the bulge of his erection pressing against his briefs. I needed to touch him, taste him. He teased me, pulling his underwear off slowly, tantalizingly, letting his erection spring free.
As he sat on the bed beside me, I got to my knees, pulling him into my mouth as quickly as I could. Humming my pleasure against his shaft, I bobbed up and down, no desire to waste time on foreplay. I needed to come and wanted to taste his.
Working him with every bit of enthusiasm I'd ever had, I sucked, licked and used my lips to give him the perfect amount of pleasure.
I didn't have long enough hair for him to grip, but he grabbed the back of my neck, guiding me to the speed he liked best. His cock slid down my throat, long enough for me to have to relax my gag reflex to give him maximum pleasure.
"I'm going to come." I'd already realized that when his hips had started flexing every time my mouth went down. Relaxing my mouth, I let him pump up and down into my mouth, setting his own pace. Hot cum shot into the back of my throat, his cock so deep inside me that I barely tasted it. Swallowing like a champ, I kept from choking, sucking until I was sure he'd finished his orgasm. Wiping the moisture from around my mouth, I looked up at him with a smile.
"Your turn," he said, leaning forward to press a kiss on my lips. "Fuck me with those boots on."
Gladly. I moved to my bedside table for a condom and lube, the thought that I probably should've used a condom to suck his dick flashing through my mind. I trusted him to be honest about his health, though.
When I turned back to the bed, he was on his knees near the edge where he'd be able to watch me between his legs.
Fuck, he was so sexy. His firm ass was just waiting on me to take it, tight and ready.
I spread the lube on him and me, pressing myself into him quickly. I ached for him, to feel him tighten around me. He relaxed, pushing back to help me enter him more quickly. "You like taking my cock?" I asked.
"Yes," he whispered. "Fuck me, Ian."
I didn't make him wait, thrusting the rest of the way inside him with a slap of skin. "That sound is so hot," he said, so I pulled back and did it again, slapping my skin against his with a delicious sound.
My orgasm began to tingle quickly, my cock so happy to be inside him again that I couldn't hold it back. I changed my tempo once I was sure he was used to me, going harder and faster as I relished the feel of his body around mine.
Coming hard into the condom, I shouted his name, squeezing his hips and pushing as far forward as I could, to get the most out of the man I loved, that I'd spend my life with.
"I love you," I said simply before pulling out and collapsing on the bed beside him, wearing nothing but my boots.
"I love you, too, Ian. So much."
Wrapping my arms around him, we fell asleep, sweaty and naked, comfortable together.
"I have to go back to Portland," Nate said regretfully. "But not for long, and definitely not forever."
"Yeah," I squeezed him. "I figured you would. Maybe we can work it out so I can go with you some and you can come back here."
"And if they don't open the new Bend office, I'll just open my own. Why not?"
"That's perfect," I exclaimed. "Even if you don't, I make enough to keep us comfortable, if not rolling in it. You'll have the ability to do what you wish, on your own time."
He turned his head and kissed my arm. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For giving me options. For letting me be who I need to be. For not being too mad at me for taking too long to come back to Three Lakes."
"I'll be here for you, Nate, no matter what. Whether we're in Three Lakes, Bend, or Portland, it's me and you now."
I pulled him close, content in the knowledge that we were committed to making it work until we could live together and build a future.
28
Nate
Ian's arms snaked around my waist. "This the last of it?" He kissed the back of my neck.
"This is it. It's done." We looked around my bedroom in my Portland apartment, now devoid of any personality. Everything but my bed had been shipped to our temporary home in Three Lakes.
The past four months had been a real whirlwind. I'd made it back to Portland to meet Crissy the next day just in time. I looked like pure hell when I got there, but I made it. She took me to meet the illustrious Mr. Crye. He'd been completely underwhelming. Standing barely five foot three, he wore a wrinkled suit and smiled big when he saw me. "Ah," he'd said in delight. "Mr. Semkins! Finally, finally. It's a pleasure. I hear you're going to head up my Bend office?"
And that was how I'd learned I'd gotten my own office.
"You ready to really do this?" Ian asked, pulling me from the memory.
"I'm more than ready to give up having only weekends with you. One weekend here, one there." There'd been many we'd had to stay apart if he had a big job or I did. I'd also had to spend a lot of time in Bend, setting up the office. It was finally ready to go. We'd decided to look for a renter for the apartment over the shop and hadn't expected to find someone very quickly, but an old friend of Ian's came back into town and didn't want to continue staying with his parents. That meant then we had to find a place to live. We'd decided to build on Ian's land, designing our dream home from the ground up. It would take a couple of years to get it perfect, find the right builder, and have it done exactly to our specifications, so we found a house just outside Three Lakes to rent. We'd have everything settled in about a week, finally in our home, out of Ian's, out of mine. Ours.
