Page 64 of Off the Trail

“Holy motherfucking shit on a stick,” I say, because I’m coming, too, hard and unstoppable.

Shawn rolls his hips, opens his eyes. “You have the dirtiest mouth on you when you’re coming,” he says, sounding drunk.

“It’s involuntary, I swear.”

He grins, his mouth soft. “I like it. You’re uninhibited.”

I smile and ease out of him, grabbing a handful of tissues from a box on the coffee table to catch some of the mess and deposit the condom into. “You’re pretty uninhibited yourself.”

I drop the tissues on the ground, grab a couple of fresh ones, and hand them to him. Before he cleans up, he pushes a finger through the come on his belly. “That was so hot, Blaze.”

“Yeah?” I lean down and kiss him on the mouth. “Did I live up to the elf king’s performance?” One night last week, Shawn told me about the book series he’d stumbled upon in The Snug and how, uh, inspiring he found it.

“He’s an elf prince,” he corrects, laughing. “And you were even better. I knew you would be.”

I love the idea of him thinking about me, fantasizing about me. “Maybe I should read one of those books to get some ideas for next time. But now I gotta check the stew.”

“Is that what smells so good? You cooked?”

“I cooked like a month ago. You get defrosted leftovers and biscuits from a mix.” I get up and contemplate putting my clothes back on. In the end, I throw on my boxers and jeans, put on my flannel but leave it unbuttoned. “You can shower if you want. Clean towels in the bathroom.”

He looks incredible naked on the couch, lit up by the flickering fire that permeates the room with the gentle smell of burning logs and warm orange light. He’s still got come glistening on his abs, and he smiles at me like I’ve promised him a four-star meal. “Sounds good. Give me a minute.”

Openly, I watch him walk away buck naked, his enticing backside lit up by the fire and tempting me to forget about dinner and jump in the shower with him.

Humming, I wander over to the kitchen and check on the stew. It’s bubbling away so I mix up the biscuits and throw them in the oven, setting the timer because I have a feeling if I do get into the shower with Shawn, we’ll be facing charred lumps of dough by the time I remember them on my own.

But before I can knock on the bathroom door, he’s coming out freshly scrubbed, towel wrapped around his narrow waist.

“That was fast.”

“No reason to linger without you in there with me.”

Holy shit. I want to push him back in there and get him all dirty again, but he’s probably hungry.

“I’ll be quick, too. If you hear a beeping noise, can you take the biscuits out of the oven?”

“Sure thing.”

A little while later we’re eating on the couch, and Shawn’s noises of appreciation are going straight to my dick. “Are you sure Nolan didn’t make this? It’s so good.”

“Anything tastes good after spending a day working in the fresh air,” I reason. “Not to mention our…other activities. But I’m glad you like it.”

“Seriously, this is amazing. I wish I could cook.”

“You could learn.”

“Maybe I will,” he says. “I was talking about this with Davy the other day when I was getting a massage. They said they didn’t go to school for massage therapy until they turned forty. And Marika didn’t open the retreat until she was, what—fifty? I’m not too old to learn new things. And I like learning stuff, getting good at stuff. It took me twenty years to get good at baseball, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I could be good at.”

I grin. “That’s awesome, Shawn.”

“And I was thinking⁠—”

“What?”

He lifts his shoulders, drops them down. “Just, I don’t know. I think I should stick around here for a while, keep learning from the guys on the crew. It’s nice being a part of a team again.”

My skin abruptly feels cold, even though the fire has warmed up the house nicely. “You want to hang around here?”