Chapter 19 Colton
Colton
“Damn, I’m as full as a bear during salmon season.” Colton leaned back in his chair, staring up at the sky, and listening to the bug zapper buzz and crackle. King George was on the radio, the beer was cold, and Zach was close enough to admire through his mostly closed eyes.
Life was good.
“You dance?” Colton asked. He hadn’t danced in a bit, but he knew how, and it was quiet here, real private, and they could two-step without drawing stares.
“What?”
Surely Zach knew how. He had to see it all the damn time at his shows. “Do you dance?”
“Yes.”
Before he could talk himself out of it, Colton pushed up from his chair, and held his hand out to Zach. “Cool. Wanna?”
Zach let himself be hauled from his chair and spun around in a lazy twirl. Colton had danced in plenty of bars and saloons, in gay bars and straight ones. He’d even danced with a stud of a woman at the Grizzly Rose in Denver. He didn’t stress none of those. Dancing with Zach, however, unnerved him.
Trusting Zach could follow him in this, just like he’d followed Zach when they were playing, he moved.
He liked the way that Zach fit against him, and they shuffled around the yard as Cody Johnson took up where George left off.
Three dances later, Colton went inside to get some drinks. He backed out of the house, and nearly dropped the bottles.
Zach had his shirt tucked into the back of his pants, his thumbs in his waist, and he was kicking up a cloud of dust as he danced across the yard. If he noticed Colton, he didn’t show it. FGL was killing it, and Zach was in a zone.
The guy was all rhythm and music. Like he was built from it. Sweat glistened on his tight, wiry torso. He didn’t have an ounce of fat on his frame, and his muscles were from a man who worked hard, not who worked out hard.
Zach smiled at him with a joyful expression. It was the most carefree he’d seen Zach. “It’s been forever since I could just dance like this.” Zach didn’t stop moving, but made his way to Colton. “And I’ve never danced with a sexy man before.”
Biting back a curse, Colton set the bottles on the steps. Zach tempted him like no one else. His innocent exterior belied the glimpses he caught of the wild child inside. “When this is over, I’m going to make you pay for all this flirting.” He’d pound that ass so hard the bed would break.
“I hope that’s a promise you keep,” Zach said in a low husky voice. Taking a step closer, his eyes glinted with nothing but trouble. “But I’ll remind you just in case.”
Colton’s breath hitched and it rattled his resolve. “I’ll remember. There isn’t a chance in hell I won’t.”
He reached out and wrapped his fingers around Zach’s hips, thumbs pushing in, just the littlest bit. He wanted to dig in, to drag Zach into him and grind them together, and why not? It wasn’t like Zach was a kid, or a suspect.
He could almost hear his uncle lecturing him, sitting in the back of his brain like a toad, listing all the reasons he shouldn’t do what his body was demanding he do. Then he squashed that voice with the heel of his boot.
He’d been good. Kept their interactions by the book—mostly—made sure he put Zach’s safety first. Never jeopardized the investigation. Getting to know Zach better wouldn’t change anything.
All of which was bullshit and he knew it. Getting close meant emotions overrode training, and that’s when bad things happened. The problem was, he already had feelings for Zach; he just hadn’t gotten a real kiss yet.
He grinned, because one of Zach’s eyebrows winged up. “Where’d you go, Cowboy?”
If he shared his thoughts, he knew what Zach would do. He had it hard for Colton, and those pretty eyes were lit up with all the stars in the heavens—or maybe the sparks from the bug light, either way, they were shining.
Zach hadn’t pushed because Colton sent professional signals. One small change and…. “Admiring the amazing view.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Zach moved into Colton’s personal space. He leaned in, sharing breath, letting temptation have its head. “Tell me it’s okay.”
The urge to stay professional melted under the heat of Zach’s gaze. He wasn’t using Colton, not now. This was genuine desire, the kind no one had shown Colton before.
He meant to pull back and say he couldn’t. “Fuck yes.”
Colton brought them together, his hands moving around to cup Zach’s ass and drag him in and mold their bodies tight. Zach moaned, going up on tiptoes to touch their lips together. Then two short beeps on a horn sounded, and they jerked apart.
Momma. Goodie.
He sighed softly, chuckling under his breath. “She is a hateful woman with shitty timing.”
He was pretty sure that was a mom thing, like having eyes in the back of your head and the ability to make grilled cheese.
“Yeah, but she’s your mom.”
Colton understood. Whatever ill thoughts he had of her, losing her would gut him. “No shit on that. But I still can’t wait until my house is done.”
He stepped back and grabbed a beer for himself and a Coke for Zach.
“Did I tell you I built the fence first?”