“I’m not? I could offer to jack you off with your jeans on. That was our first date, if I remember right.”
“If you could call that a date.” It had been hotter than it sounded, though. Hot little hard-body cowboy making him an offer he had no intention of refusing. Just enough tequila to help him feel powerful.
“I called it a date. I damn near creamed my jeans watching you.”
“That was something, baby. All the good times we’ve had, and I still remember that one well.”
Sky nodded, swaying a little toward him. “My favorite one was that night in Cancun. Remember that? You and me and the beach?”
He caught Sky up in his arms, guessing that sway was the meds starting to kick in. He knew when they did, they’d hit Sky hard. “One of the best.” Sky and the warm, salty breeze, the gentle tide and the moon. Everything that night had been beautiful. “You ready to head to bed?”
“Yeah. Please. I remember how we danced in our room, for hours. Seriously, man, you made my head spin.”
“Maybe we can do it again soon.” He remembered the look in Sky’s eyes the most. The love and wonder. He could have held Sky like that forever. He should have.
Beckett scooped his husband up into his arms again and headed for the stairs. “I’ve got you, baby.”
Don’t drop him, Kevin will kill you. You will kill you.
“God, I love how strong you are.”
Right, because it was so tough, carrying Sky. The man didn’t weigh a buck and a quarter. Still, the words rang with truth.
“Maybe. But I don’t remember ever wanting to arm wrestle you.” Sky always won. Always. Could have been all the tequila, but Sky always won.
He climbed the stairs with Sky and stopped outside his bedroom door, smiling. “Another threshold to carry you over.”
“I’m choosing to believe this is important, honey. That it’s real.”
“I believe it. For me, it’s not a choice. It’s never not been real, even though you weren’t here. Even though you’d never been here.” Beckett carried Sky into his large bedroom, with its heavy, insulated curtains and tall fireplace. He set Sky down carefully on one side of the king-sized bed, the side that had always been Sky’s, just waiting for the cowboy to come home.
“Look at the fireplace, honey. It’s so pretty.” Sky closed his eyes and took a deep, deep breath. “It smells like you in here.”
“Sheets are clean.” He decided this morning that he should change them because that was what you did when you cleaned house, but he knew better. He hadn’t expected to have Sky close this soon, but that hadn’t stopped him from hoping. “The fireplace is super heat-efficient, it has blowers and a special firebox, and—”
He shook his head at himself, grinning. “You don’t care about the firebox, you’re tired.”
He cared, though. He’d done all the research and everything.
He ran his fingers through Sky’s hair, looked at the new scar, and traced it gently with one finger. “This is a good one.”
“There are a lot of new ones. Scars.” Sky nuzzled into his hand with a sigh. “Good thing you think they’re hot.”
“You were always happy when you had new stitches or something to show off. It meant you were feeling good, riding hard.” He started working on Sky’s button-down, opening the buttons one by one. “The scars always had stories. I don’t know if I remember them all, but I do some.”
Sky sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, starting to float away already. “You got a favorite?”
“Hm.” He slid the shirt off Sky’s shoulders and laid it at the end of the bed, before he kneeled and tugged Sky’s sneakers off. “The one on your hairline, on the left side. I was there for that one, remember? You got knocked a little loopy and when I came back after your ride, you kept making eyes and kissy faces at me and all the guys thought you were seriously fucked up.” He laughed, standing up and reaching over to fluff pillows. “Parker’s eyes were huge. I thought he was going to shit himself.”
“Nashville. That was in Nashville. Got my ass handed to me. You’d think I’d remember the wins more, but it’s the ones I didn’t ride.”
“Because the ones you didn’t win made you mad. I remember how you’d get. Not at the arena, but after. Jesus.” They’d had a lot of angry sex, and Beck never once complained. Sky was on fire when he was pissed off.
Beckett kicked off his shoes and tugged his T-shirt off over his head. “Let’s lie down, Stud.”
“All the way, Beck. Please. I won’t tease, but I want to sleep with you, skin to skin.”
“Okay, baby.” He pulled the covers down and helped Sky get bare, which was a longer process than he’d expected, between the hip and the thigh. It had to hurt, but Sky was eager.