Page 22 of Castaway Heat
Shiloh lookedup at the night sky, his back on the sand and his belly full of fresh fish. He’d never seen a sky so full of stars. With light pollution back home, there was little chance he’d ever have seen a sky like that one without being washed ashore. Out in the middle of nothing, the night sky was dazzling, even with the moon full and bright. He rolled his head and looked at Ronin. “If we get rescued, this is the one thing I’ll miss from this place.”
“Whenwe get rescued,” Ronin murmured. He was silent a few seconds, linking his fingers with Shiloh’s. “You’ll miss the quiet with only the waves crashing on the shore—or the stars?”
“Okay, there will betwothings I’ll miss from this place.”
Ronin chuckled. Shiloh loved the deep rumble of Ronin’s chuckles. He hadn’t had cause to do much of it over the last weeks, but the few times he did, it was music to Shiloh’s ears.
“What’s the first thing you’ll do once we get home?” Shiloh asked his mate.
“Take a hot shower for at least an hour,” Ronin replied. “And then maybe sleep for a week.” He rolled his head and eyed Shiloh. “With you in my arms.”
“For the shower or the sleep?”
Ronin frowned, fighting a smile.“Both,obviously.”
“Not a bad plan,” Shiloh whispered.
“What about you?”
“I agree to shower and sleep, but between those, I want amassive,juicy bacon cheeseburger, a mountain of french fries, and the largest chocolate shake they can bring me. It’ll probably tear up my stomach after the last few weeks on the canned diet, but I don’t even care. It would be worth it.”
Ronin laughed. Not just a chuckle, but a full laugh. “At least you’ll have toilet paper and won’t have to use leaves at that point.”
“Oh, gods,toilet paper.Yes!” Shiloh sighed. “You don’t realize just how much you appreciate the small conveniences until you go without them.”
“At least I figured out the water pressure problem and we can shower again. I doubt those leaves do the greatest of jobs.”
Shiloh rolled onto his side, facing Ronin. “I’m grateful you fixed that.”
Ronin turned his head and smiled. “Less fixed and more rigged. Hopefully it lasts. Long enough, anyway.”
Shiloh scooted over and rested his head on Ronin’s shoulder. Ronin dragged him even closer, pulling one of Shiloh’s legs over a thick thigh. He rubbed Shiloh’s back with a broad, warm hand, the comfort it provided welcome. But as the minutes passed, that caress over his back spun his body tighter instead of relaxing him.
Shiloh sensed it was coming… and was scared to jinx it by saying a word. He lay there, fighting the urge to mount his alpha. A bead of slick eased out of his hole, slid along his taint and the back of his sac.
“It’s happening, isn’t it?”
Shiloh lifted his head and looked at Ronin. “You feel something?”
“Arousal and tension, but it’s something more than that.” He pressed a kiss to Shiloh’s forehead.“Hunger.”
“I feel it, too,” Shiloh whispered. “I’ve had heats before, so it’s not exactly new… but even as it nears, it feels different.”
Ronin brushed a hand through Shiloh’s hair. “Maybe we should go into the house, shower as much sand out of our crevices as we can and climb into bed where you’ll be safer and more comfortable—before it gets any closer.”
Shiloh chuckled. “What? You don’t want to have sadomasochistic sex with sand in our privates?”
“The time to experiment with S&Misn’tduring a heat and even if it was, we’re most definitelynotusing volcanic grains of glass as a form of punishment,” Ronin said with a grin before rising and brushing off sand clinging to his legs. He helped Shiloh up and did the same.
He paused under the stars before they left the beach and kissed his Shiloh.
Shiloh stared up at him, the moon and the heavens a halo around his head. His heart pounded hard in his chest and he wasn’t sure if it was his heat… or it was something more.
Ronin smiled down at him, the breeze coming in off the ocean blowing his too-long hair. “I love you.”
As soon asthe words rolled off his tongue, Ronin was shocked he’d said them.
Shiloh looked up at him, wide-eyed. “Youloveme?”
