Page 78 of Loving a Warrior

“Took you long enough,” he snapped as he pushed his way inside. “Traffic from the airport was insane and I need to piss like you wouldn’t believe.”

He stalked toward the bathroom and slammed the door, leaving Shane standing there with his mouth hanging open, anger bubbling hotly to the surface. What an asshole!

“Yeah, good to see you, too,” he called sarcastically before picking up Matt’s discarded bags and hurling them onto the bed. Stomping to the window, Shane leaned against it with one shoulder and stared unseeingly out at the city below. So much for a tender reunion.

He grunted. Tender? Ah, who was he kidding? This wasn’t supposed to be some romantic getaway, this was just a chance to finally scratch an inconvenient itch so they could get back to more important things. They’d have this trip, and then they’d be moving on. Right? Right.

So call it what it is, dumbass. The beginning of the end.

The bathroom door was wrenched open, and Shane took a deep breath before turning to confront Matt’s baleful glare. Annoyance and weariness swept over him. Fuck, if you’re gonna play it like this, why did you even bother to come?

Their eyes locked. Matt’s face was rigid, his lips pressed tightly together, hands clenched into fists. He looked pissed, but underneath the irrational anger, Shane could sense the pain lurking along the edges, the same pain that was twisting his own stomach into knots. Goodbyes were never easy—God, they sucked—but this one was gonna be its own special brand of hell.

His pique drained away.

“Hey,” he said softly. “I’m sorry traffic was awful.”

“Yeah, well…” Matt blew out a breath, rocking up on the balls of his feet like he was about to bolt, like all he was waiting for was Shane to give him a reason.

Oh, no. You can try, but I’m not going to let you push me away. Not like this.

“So what now, clown?” Matt’s voice was impatient, his body language growing even more forbidding by the second.

Desperate, Shane was racking his brain for a response when suddenly—thank Christ—inspiration struck.

“So,” he said brightly, “how about a workout?”

* * *

They decided on rock climbing.

After a quick trip to a climbing store to rent some equipment and get some site recommendations, Shane found himself standing at the bottom of a cliff that loomed some one hundred feet in the air.

The store clerk had told him there were cool views of the Strip from the top and that it was a good place to practice lead climbing and belaying.

Now Shane gazed ruefully up at the cliff face. He’d made the right call in suggesting this as a way to reconnect with Matt, but now he was gonna end the day blubbering like a baby while clinging by his fingertips to a goddamn rock. Not a good look for him.

“Nothing to be afraid of.” Matt appeared next to him and tilted his head back to stare up, too. “No way I’m gonna let you smear this gorgeous body all over the ground.” He smacked Shane’s ass smartly. “At least not till I’m done with it.”

Shane glared at him. “The things I do for you.”

“I’m more interested in the things you’ll do to me.” Matt winked, then turned to step into his sit harness and clip several cams to it. “I’ll lead first, and you belay.”

Shane pulled on his own harness, then threaded the rope into the friction brake, feeding it out carefully as Matt nimbly started to climb. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what to do. Rock climbing was something he and Jon had done together every summer for years. The problem was, he didn’t like it then, and he didn’t like it now.

“Think I’m gonna free-climb for a while, Shay-Shay.” Jon’s hazel eyes were sparkling with adrenaline. “See ya in a few.”

Shane sat obediently at the bottom of the cliff, waiting for him to come back, all the while worrying himself sick. Finally he leaned against a rock and fell asleep, waking abruptly when Jon nudged his shoulder.

“Where’ve you been?” Shane demanded, his ass and neck screaming from their uncomfortable position.

Jon shrugged. “Met a group of girls camping at the top, hung out for a while.” He grinned. “Totally didn’t think I’d be there so long.” He slung his arm around Shane’s shoulders. “C’mon, Shay. Don’t be mad. I had a lot of fun.”

Shaking off the memories, Shane watched Matt carefully until he reached the top of the first pitch.

“Okay, your turn. I got the belay.”

Shane climbed up in Matt’s wake using his cams, removing them as he passed. Matt kept a careful slack in the rope, ready to hit the brake if he called that he was falling. When he reached the ledge, Matt leaned in to give him a short, hard kiss. “Good job. You wanna lead this next one?”