Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
Dante kept his arms crossed tight, resisting the temptation to touch Shannon.
The other man was behaving himself and hadn’t given any indication that he wanted a repeat of last weekend.
It was his dick which had gotten entirely the wrong idea about the reasons Shannon was in his house.
Renting the room to him would be dangerous.
Because one conversation might lead to a few beers, which might lead to something else, and he didn’t do that.
He didn’t do that in town either, and yet he hadn’t been able to refuse.
He should’ve been able to enjoy the casual flirtation at Pride without following through, but somehow, he’d found himself outside Shannon’s motel room… and then inside.
Perhaps if Shannon had been more truthful, it would’ve been easier to walk away.
Or perhaps he’d only heard what he wanted to believe—it wasn’t as though he’d asked any questions.
They’d barely spoken more than enough words to confirm that they both wanted the same thing.
From the way Shannon kept glancing at him like he wanted to do more than talk about the room, and the way his dick pressed uncomfortably against the fly of his jeans, he was reasonably sure they both still wanted the same thing.
But that broke every rule he had about hooking up.
He only ever did it when he went to the city for supplies—not everything could be ordered online, and he also liked to talk to other people also in the business.
They were also shows where he could turn a good profit, and classes that he wanted to do.
As much as he liked Foggy Basin, there were benefits to be found in the city, one of them being anonymity.
He was sure Shannon would disagree with that.
He was confident and perky and acted as though he knew exactly how to get what he wanted.
Dante had already fallen into that trap once and enjoyed every moment of it.
Sharon was the kind of guy who’d probably never thought twice about coming out.
He simply existed with his perfectly styled hair, dark eyes, and lips that made it appear as if he were about to smile about some inside joke.
It wasn’t as though Dante needed the money that came from renting the room.
His business made more than enough to support himself and maintain the property.
He rented the room because his mother had.
It was supposed to be a guest room or mother-in-law suite or something; however, his mother had always let medical professionals stay there when they first moved into the area.
She said it helped pay for the horses. After three months of looking after her horses, he knew it was a lie.
His mother would’ve already made Shannon a coffee and be learning his life story. She’d like him, and that was enough. “You can rent the room.”
Shannon smiled and put his hand over his heart. “Thank you.”
“Aside from cleaning up after yourself, there are a couple of other rules. No messing around with my tools or interrupting classes, and no bringing people home.” He didn’t usually specify that, but he didn’t usually feel like he had to.
Shannon’s eyebrows lifted, and his lips curved in a dangerous grin. “Jealous?”
“Don’t make me change my mind. It’s my house, and I value my privacy.” He sounded gruff even to his own ears.
“I was teasing.”
“Don’t.” Why was he being so horrible?
“Okay, noted.” The almost-smile left Shannon’s lips, and he became far too serious.
Of course he had a serious side to him; he was a fucking paramedic.
He wouldn’t be laughing and joking and teasing while someone was literally dying in front of him.
He’d seen how quickly people could go from joking to serious.
It was all dark humor until the bullets started pinging off metal or stone or whatever he was taking cover behind.
“So when can I move in? And do I get a house key? Is there anything else I need to know…does the gate at the bottom of the driveway get locked?”
Dante barked out a laugh. “I don’t think the gate has been closed in at least twenty years.
The hinges are probably rusted into position.
” His parents had closed the gate when they were kids mostly to stop them from riding their bikes on the road.
By the time he and his sister had reached high school, the gate had been firmly in the open position.
“The house key is on the room key, and you can move in whenever you want. A week’s rent is due up front. ”
“Cash?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay…so tomorrow?”
“Sure. Class starts at eight and finishes at four, so come after.”
“I can do that.”
He didn’t have a fucking choice, as the last thing he wanted was Shannon turning up and distracting the class. Nor did he want to be explaining who Shannon was. What if the students thought his boyfriend was moving in?
It might impact business.
It would definitely lead to gossip. Both outcomes were unacceptable.
“Why don’t we make it six? You bring the pizza, I’ll supply the beers, and we’ll call it a welcome dinner.”
Shannon’s eyebrows twitched, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut as he nodded. Dante was sure it was more dangerous when his mouth was closed because then Shannon could be thinking anything, and it led to him assuming the worst.
It was going to be so much harder not to have thoughts about what happened in the motel room when Shannon was under the same roof.
“Deal.” Shannon stuck out his hand, and Dante shook it. He was a little too aware of the dirt smudge on his skin and the roughness of his hand compared to Shannon’s.
Which led to the memory of Shannon saying his palm was too rough for a hand job. He clamped his teeth together, trying to stifle the embarrassment, but he failed, and heat spread across his chest and up his throat. “Don’t make me regret this.”
Shannon grinned and winked. “No one regrets me.”
Dante bit back the growl that wanted to form because it might’ve come out more like a groan. He was damn sure plenty of people had regrets that involved Shannon. Guys like him never stopped to look back at the trail of devastation they left.
He’d been one of them once. Not openly out the way Shannon was, but he hadn’t cared who he slept with. On deployment, what happened overseas stayed overseas, and as long as the guy’s wife never found out, it was all good, right?
Until it wasn’t.
No wife wanted to find out that her husband had a boyfriend while he was away.
And the husband hadn’t been able to live with the fallout, though that wasn’t the official reason his body was shipped home in a body bag.
It had been pure luck that no one knew he’d been the boyfriend.
After that, Dante kept his dick in his pants on bases both at home and out of the country.
He was not going to be the reason someone’s life fell apart.
But when Karma was serving, there wasn’t an option to step out of the meal line. Three months later, he’d woken up in a hospital in Germany. He hadn’t even been sent home yet, though it was clear that was his next stop, when he got the call that upended his life completely.
“If that’s true, what are you doing in Foggy Basin?
” It wasn’t the kind of place people came to because they were looking for a good time or a fast life.
It was a small town where everyone knew everyone, the good and the bad.
It attracted artisans and craftspeople and people who craved a bit of space to breathe.
“Do you want the quick answer or the long answer?”
He wanted the full answer, not the glossy brochure that left out the ugly scars that everyone had, even if they didn’t wear them on their skin, but he had to finish cleaning up the workshop and prep for tomorrow. “I’d like the truth.”
“Do I get to ask the same question and get an honest answer?”
Dante pressed his lips together. He should’ve expected that. He was surprised Shannon hadn’t heard all the gossip about the old riding school before coming out here. Or maybe he had, and he wanted to hear it from him. “If you’ve got time to waste, we can talk while I sort out the workshop.”
“I’ve been working night shift for the last three nights, so I am wide awake.”
And far too perky, but then Dante had been up since five in the morning and spent the best part of the day guiding a group of five through the process of creating their own blade. Tomorrow, they’d put a handle on it. “Okay…just remember the first rule.”
Shannon frowned. “No hooking up?”
Dante glared at him. No hooking up wasn’t usually a rule he needed, and he suspected he’d made it more for himself. “No touching.”
Shannon lifted his hands and then tucked them both into the back pockets of his jeans. “Lead the way.”