Page 45 of Out of the Shadows
“You said you’re used to dealing with this sort of stuff, and earlier when we were in the woods you also said you were used to tracking people. So what does that make you? A part-time stalker?”
He snorts. “A stalker? I do wonder sometimes how your mind works… No, not a stalker, part-time or otherwise. I was in the British Reserve Army, which used to be called the Territorials, for a few years. It was some time ago now. I had to learn a lot of basic field medicine.”
“Oh. That’s handy.”
No wonder he was in his element in the woods, being all butch and issuing instructions — and looking really hot and rugged.
I puff up the duvet, thankfully covering most of my body. Daniel’s been great, no two ways I can deny it, but I really, really,reallydon’t want to be thinking about him in uniform… But I bet he looked great in his fatigues—
“… more than first-aid if I’m honest.”
He’s been talking whilst I’ve been lost in a very inappropriate fantasy.
“I was forced to deal with some pretty serious stuff.” A shadow passes across his eyes, and he frowns as though he’s remembering something he’d rather forget.
“So, erm, tracking,” I say to fill the sudden silence. “Do you find much use for it on the mean streets of the West End?”
He throws his head back and laughs, shattering and dispelling the shadow that just a second ago darkened his features.
“It’s not a particular skill I find I have much need to call upon, but you can’t deny it came in useful today.”
He looks at me and smiles. It’s a lovely smile, light and loose and easy, and it brightens up this man who’s so much more serious than the one I remember from five years ago.
What’s happened to him during that time? The stupid article from that ridiculous online magazine, Hot Fox, bursts into my mind.
A beautiful woman, an engagement, but no wedding. Why was there no marriage, and what did it do to him? He and the very attractive Ms. Laferty would certainly have made a fine-looking pair. So what broke them up? What made them abandon their plans to trip off into the sunset together and live out their happy ever after? Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough to stop them staying friends, not if they were sharing drinks and cosy chat in The Breaker’s Yard.
I want to ask, I want to know, but I bite my tongue. Finding out why he’s a dab hand with bandages and a packet of frozen peas is one thing, but why an engagement never turned into marriage and a couple of kids, that really is alien territory.Maybe if I dig around on the internet some more…?
A few days ago I wouldn’t have thought twice, when all we seemed to do was snarl at each other, but now? No, it feels like a wrong and kind of salacious thing to do. I know all about break-ups and I won’t delve into his.
“You do realise I did it deliberately, don’t you? I mean, it got me out of tramping through the woods, and it’ll get me out of any more inane outdoor exercises.”
“Inane outdoor exercises, yes, but not inane indoor ones. Tomorrow morning there’s some sort of assault course. We’re going to be split up into teams to tackle it, and in the afternoon I think we’re going to be making things with bits of paper and—”
“Used toilet rolls, empty washing-up liquid bottles, and chewing gum?”
He chuckles. “Yes, that’s pretty much it.”
“How much is this costing? I mean, we didn’t have to come all the way down to Devon to do this, did we?”
“And miss out on all that sheep wrangling, and playing at being commandos in the woods?”
“Don’t forget my near death encounter with a tree root, and all those bears.”
He shakes his head and gives me a look that makes it clear there’s no hope for me.
“As to how much it’s all costing, the answer is far too much, but I think it’s helped to build some bridges. Don’t you?”
It’s not my workmates he’s talking about, whose voices and laughter are drifting along the corridor, but I’m clearly taking too long to answer because his face takes on a more serious expression as he pushes himself to standing.
“I think this is enough ice for now. I’ll just go and return these to the freezer and—”
He swings around and staggers, his arms windmilling in an effort to keep upright. It’s the revenge of the slippery rag rug and before I can do anything to prevent it I know exactly what’s going to happen. It’s a replay but this time the tables are turned.
Daniel lands on top of me, somehow missing my ankle thank god, forcing the breath from both of us. His eyes, his very blue, very intense eyes, are huge with shock and his full lips are parted. He’s just a kiss away, and—
I crush my lips to his. It’s stupid, it’s dangerous, it’s risky, he could shove me back and demand to know what the hell I think I’m playing at and he’d have every right.Never kiss a straight guy, never kiss a straight guy…I paid the price before… But… He’s not pushing me away, he’s not fighting me off… Daniel Russo is kissing me back, with a hunger and heat that sends starbursts behind my eyes, electricity through my blood, and heat to my dick.
