“No.” But because he was always honest, he had to tell Shea everything. “What I do miss is being part of a family. But he doesn’t. He’s been gone for two years now, and every month I’d send him an update on Stacey’s progress. I figured we may not be together, but he’d want to know.” He gazed down at his hands. “At least I know I would. Anyway, about a month ago, after sending him another update, he emailed me and said he’s getting married and moving to Hong Kong with his new husband. And that I should stop with the updates. That he’s not interested in her anymore, and she probably doesn’t remember him, so it wouldn’t matter to her.” A horrible-sounding laugh escaped him as he struggled not to fall apart. “And oh, yeah, by the way, he’d been cheating on me for years. But it’s my fault because I gave so much time to Stacey, there was nothing left for him.”
Shea’s arms came around him. “It’s okay. You don’t gotta be the tough guy ’round me.”
“I tried. All I ever wanted was a home and a family. Someone to always be there for me. I wanted to be a father. Be that man who’d walk into the house and have his kids run to him so he could scoop them up and tell them Daddy’s home and have it mean something. Stupid, huh? That’s television. A fantasy.”
“It doesn’t have to be. You’ve got that, only it’s not the exact way you pictured it. You don’t need your ex to make a family. That little girl worships you. You’re a family of two. Who says there’s anythin’ wrong with that?”
He laid his head on Shea’s broad chest. “What could he have said to her that would make her so scared?”
“You’re not gonna find out tonight.” Shea’s lips rested against his temple, and his hands moved in slow, gentle circles on his shoulders. Jake’s tightly wound insides unclenched, and the simmering fire always present between him and Shea ignited.
He reached up, seeking, and Shea met his mouth halfway in a greedy, desperate kiss.
“I need you, Shea. Tonight. Now.”
“I’m right here. Not goin’ anywhere unless I take you with me.”
Chapter Seventeen
Shea drew his T-shirt up and pulled off his boots. As he undressed, Jake did the same until they were both naked in the near darkness. They stood together, their shafts brushing, sending electric shocks along Shea’s spine. He caught Jake around the waist and pressed his mouth at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.
“Let me make you forget about everythin’ tonight. Everythin’ but you ’n me.”
He pushed Jake onto the bed, and he sat there waiting, those pale-green eyes alight even in the darkness, and Shea had to restrain himself from jumping him. With so little time left before Jake would leave, Shea planned to take it slow. Make each moment count. He joined Jake on the bed and pushed him down, then began to kiss around his ankles. Jake braced himself up on his elbows.
“What’re you doing there?” He grabbed his erection. “We’re up here. Waiting.”
Shea chuckled. “Darlin’, I have plans. Now hush up. Y’all are doin’ way too much talking for me.” He resumed kissing up the length of Jake’s legs, lifting his calves to suck the tender skin behind his knees. Jake sighed and shifted under him.
“That feels good.”
“Mmhmm.” Good wasn’t good enough. Not for what Shea had in mind. By the time he finished with Jake, Shea wanted him incapable of speech or movement. Working his way up those strong, quivering thighs, Shea reined in his desire to take Jake’s beautiful cock in his mouth. He could see how much Jake wanted him, smelled his desire. But when Jake left the ranch and returned home alone, Shea wanted him to remember how his whole body was made love to. And that Shea was the only man who could make him come alive.
“Oh, Shea, please.” Jake groaned and gripped himself, but Shea ignored him and instead lapped a wet circle around his belly button. He followed the trail of hair leading up his muscled abs to his strong chest. “Damn you.”
“Uh-huh, keep cursing me to the devil.” Shea nipped the rosy points of Jake’s nipples, then suckled away until he could barely keep Jake from writhing off the bed.
“I—you, come on, fuck me,” Jake panted out, his hand moving up and down his reddened