Page 68 of Loving a Warrior

“Hey, working out got me through some really tough times.” Matt nudged Shane’s foot with his. “In college, every time I wanted to drink, I’d hit the gym instead.” He gave a rueful smile. “I did a lot of working out.”

He looked over at Shane when he rested a hand on Matt’s forearm and squeezed. “Do you ever, uh, still want to drink?”

“Most of the time, no.” Matt shrugged. “The class-up party, I had no problem staying away from it even though a few guys tried to egg me on. A few firm ‘noes’ and that’s usually the end of it.” He paused, wincing. “But that time with you at the street taco place…”

Shane pushed to one elbow. “That first time we had dinner together? Why?”

“I dunno. Some liquid courage, I guess.”

“Courage? Like you-were-afraid-of-me courage?”

“Yeah, but not so much of you…of what you represented.” Matt rolled his shoulders. “I saw you with Alexis in the parking lot that first day, so I assumed you were straight. Up until a few minutes before our dinner, I’d actually thought you were married to her. I didn’t understand myself, or my reaction to you, so right at that moment I really wanted a fucking drink.”

At that Shane sat all the way up, his eyes solemn.

“I won’t drink around you anymore,” he said quietly. “Not because I don’t think you can handle it, but just—”

“As a show of solidarity?”

“Yeah. Teammate to teammate.”

After glancing around briefly, Matt leaned in to give him a kiss, his chest tightening at the feel of Shane’s soft lips against his. He pulled away reluctantly, letting out a sigh.

“Lemme guess. We don’t have time.”

Matt shook his head. “No, I have a dive practical this afternoon. But… I did have an idea.”

“Yeah?” Shane kissed Matt’s bare shoulder, then bit down lightly on the muscle. “What’s that?”

Matt gulped as fire raced along his nerve endings. “Well,” he croaked, “you know we’re gonna get two weeks off for the holidays, right?”

Shane crinkled his nose, looking mystified. “So?”

“So I was thinking, a week with our families, and a week getting whatever this is—” Matt sawed his hand back and forth between them “—out of our systems.”

“Out of our systems. Oh.”

Matt held his breath as Shane turned to gaze out over the ocean. When he didn’t say anything, Matt elbowed him gently. “Earth to Shane. Isn’t that a great idea? We can sleep as long as we want, eat like pigs and fuck our brains out.”

When Shane finally turned to look at him, there was a tinge of sadness in his eyes, quickly masked. “A week alone with you? Hell to the fucking yes. I’m in.”

“Good.” Matt leaned over to give him an exuberant kiss. “I was thinking Vegas.” He jumped to his feet and hauled Shane to his, delivering a sharp smack to Shane’s sand-covered ass. “Now let’s get going.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Hey, didn’t anyone invite Soup?”

The guys standing in Shane’s living room sent each other a few guilty glances.

“I didn’t. Did you?”

“Nah. He always fuckin’ says no when we invite him places anyway.”

Damn. Shane grabbed his phone and tapped out a quick text: Hey, get-together at my house tonight. Gonna show everyone how to use their H gear!

No answer right away, so he stuck his phone in his pocket, anger tightening his lips. How could they not invite Matt? He hadn’t because he’d assumed someone who saw him every day would.

“Sorry, Hov.” Aaron clapped Shane on the back. “He’s said no so many times, we’ve just stopped asking.”