Page 18 of Nicks and Cuts

Long enough to want to do more than kiss him.

He really needed to stop thinking about Shannon and get on with what needed to be done. He’d been putting off the supply run because Shannon was on nights and he hadn’t wanted to leave him sleeping in the house alone during the day and then coming back to an empty house while he was away—it didn’t matter that he slept in an empty house all the time.

But he needed the break from the man. He couldn’t stop thinking about him, and no good would come of it. A night in the city was exactly what he needed. He’d find someone like he usually did and enjoy himself, but the idea didn’t thrill him the way it usually did.

There was no buzz of excitement because all he wanted to do was go downstairs and put the gym to very inappropriate use. If he did that, he’d never be able to use it again without remembering.

He stripped off and stepped into the shower—keeping it a little colder than he liked—unable to forget about the shower he’d shared with Shannon either. The blonde paramedic was taking over his life. The temperature of the water made no difference to his hard-on, so he gave in, letting his imagination fill in what might’ve happened if it stayed downstairs.

They would’ve pulled their shirts off between kisses. Shorts would’ve been next. He’d drop to his knees and slowly peel down Shannon’s leggings, nuzzling at his dick and balls before taking the head in his mouth. He groaned, head bowed as his hand worked over his shaft, remembering what Shannon had tasted like. He needed another taste.

The cool water drummed on his shoulders as he imagined pulling him down to the mats, crawling over him to pin him and grind against him…his breath caught as he came.

“Fuck.” He tipped his face to the water, trying to clear his mind, and swore again. He wasn’t horny; he had it bad.

CHAPTER

TEN

Shannon wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong. He was pretty sure nothing, but Dante took off the next day, leaving a note that he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow evening. After the kiss, he had been hoping to do something else on his day off. Now he had nothing to do but kill time.

He would not have said no to spending the entire day in bed with Dante.

Instead, he spent it doing laundry and other sensible tasks.

Lame.

He didn’t want to be jealous thinking about what Dante might be getting up to, though he was pretty damn sure that the supply run was an excuse to head into the city where no one knew who he was. Hell, he’d probably do the same if he was in Dante’s position.

That position being so deeply in the closet wasn’t sure if Dante knew where the door was, even though Shannon was holding it open.

In the afternoon, he headed into town to pick up some groceries so he could make lunches for the week and because he wasn’t an asshole, he’d also cook dinner when Dante returned.

While Dante could cook, and Shannon was never going to turn down a meal that he didn’t have to make, Dante’s cooking was best described as simple.

He made roasts and steak…basically a piece of meat that could be served with vegetables. Which was fine, except he was used to a little more cultural variety. Not because he was classy or anything, but because growing up it was cheaper to eat Mexican-style beans, lentil curry, or a bowl of pasta with cheese and not much else.

A fully vegetarian dinner might be pushing their friendship a touch too far, but he could make dahl for his lunches and do something with pasta for dinner tomorrow. Since it was just him tonight, he’d pick something up from the Foggy Basin grocery store.

As he drove, he made a mental shopping list, hoping that the store had what he wanted. If not, he’d make do. He found a parking spot pretty easily and went in.

While he’d been in the store a couple of times, he figured he was still the new face in town, especially now that Pride was well and truly over and anyone from out of town who was visiting had left. He wandered down the aisles, tossing stuff into his trolley, not rushing because no one was going to ask him why it was taking so long or if he really needed that. He was going to skip the aisle where all the treats lived out of habit, but no one was going to tell him off for sabotaging their macros and meal plan.

Fuck it, he was going to buy some cookies. No, he was going to make fucking cookies. The big, fat kind filled with choc bits like his mother used to make. It wasn’t as though he had any other plans for the afternoon.

He hadn’t thoroughly checked out Dante’s pantry, so he was going to err on the side of caution and buy everything the cookies needed. He leaned on his trolley while he searched for a recipe that seemed pretty much the same as what he’d helped his mother make. It meant doubling back to some of the aisles to buy flour and baking powder, sugar, and two different kinds of choc bits.

Did Dante have baking paper?

He added that to the trolley too. By the time he reached the checkout, he had more stuff than he expected to be buying.

“You’ve been in a few times now… Have you just moved to town?” the tall blond man at the checkout asked.

“Yeah. New paramedic.” He offered his hand because that seemed like the right thing to do in a small town where he’d seen this guy in the grocery store several times. “I’m Shannon.”

“Dillon,” he said as he shook Shannon’s hand. “So you found a place to stay easy enough?” He asked while ringing up the groceries, clearly used to holding the conversation and scanning things at the same time.

“Yes, just renting a room while I get a feel for the area.”