Chapter Six #2
They talked through dinner, cleared the table, and continued talking as they finished the wine.
Ethan told Liam more about his grandmother and her shop, about the first tattoo she’d ever let him do on a real person, which apparently had come out slightly lopsided.
Liam told Ethan about his family and the chaos of growing up in a clan house with too many people and not enough space.
He made Ethan laugh, and it felt like he’d won something every time.
They eventually moved to the couch, and Liam’s heart moved faster. Ethan sat close enough that their thighs touched, and neither of them moved away. They both seemed to want the same thing. Liam hoped they did.
“You’re staring,” Ethan said without looking at Liam.
“I know,” Liam said. He didn’t apologize for it. He wasn’t going to stop, either.
Ethan finally turned, but whatever he’d been about to say didn’t make it out. Liam closed the distance between them slowly enough that Ethan could’ve stopped him if he’d wanted to.
He didn’t seem to want to. That much was obvious in the way he leaned in, and when their mouths met, it was softer than the kiss they’d shared outside the station. It was more deliberate, and instead of relief, it felt like a beginning.
Liam brought his hand up to Ethan’s cheek, tilting his face slightly, and felt Ethan breathe against his lips.
Liam pulled Ethan closer without really thinking about it, and Ethan came easily, moving on the cushion until he was half-turned toward Liam, one hand curled into the front of Liam’s shirt.
The kiss deepened. Liam wasn’t in a hurry, and he wanted to learn the way Ethan kissed, the way he made small sounds when Liam’s thumb brushed along his cheek, the way his grip on Liam’s shirt tightened whenever Liam tilted his head and changed the angle.
Liam wanted to memorize all of it, even though this was far from the only time, but the first of many for them.
Ethan ended up with his back against the arm of the couch and Liam leaning over him.
Liam’s elbow nearly bumped into the wine glass on the coffee table, and they both pulled back to look at it, and then at each other.
They laughed, and Ethan reached up to push the hair back from Liam’s forehead.
Ethan’s eyes were dark and soft, and the look on his face made Liam’s chest ache in the best way.
“Hey,” Ethan murmured.
“Hey.”
Ethan pulled Liam back down. Liam felt Ethan’s hands slide under his shirt, his fingers spreading against his sides, and he had to remind himself to breathe.
He pressed closer, one knee between Ethan’s thighs, and felt Ethan’s breath hitch.
He wanted more of those sounds, so he moved his mouth down Ethan’s jaw, then to the side of his neck, and Ethan turned his head to give him more room. His fingers curled against Liam’s back.
“Liam,” Ethan said quietly.
“I know,” Liam murmured against Ethan’s throat. He knew. This thing between them mattered too much to rush. He wanted Ethan to be sure he was in his life to stay before taking it further, even though he also desperately wanted to lay Ethan out on the couch and kiss every inch of his skin.
He kissed Ethan’s neck, then his jaw and the corner of his mouth.
Ethan shivered. His eyes were a little hazy, and he reached for Liam when Liam leaned back.
Liam wanted Ethan to feel wanted because he suspected it wasn’t something that had happened often enough, but there was only so much he could resist.
He settled beside Ethan, still breathing a little hard, and Ethan moved to lean against his side.
His head ended up on Liam’s shoulder as if it belonged there.
Liam rested his cheek against the top of Ethan’s head and breathed him in.
They had all the time in the world to do more during their next date, but Liam wanted Ethan to trust him, and he knew it would take more than a dinner for that to happen.
“I like you,” Liam said.
Ethan was quiet for a moment. “I like you, too. It’s a bit inconvenient.”
Liam smiled. He had no idea where Ethan was going. “Oh?”
“I had a whole system. I was very comfortable being alone.”
“And now?”
Ethan tipped his head back to look up at Liam. “And now you’re here, and you brought me sunflowers, and you ate everything on your plate and told me the salmon was perfect.”
“It was perfect.”
“It was a little overcooked.”
“It was perfect,” Liam repeated firmly.
Ethan laughed, and Liam kissed him again because he could. Ethan was warm and laughing, and Liam wanted to kiss him until his lips chapped.
They stayed tangled on the couch, talking and falling silent, then talking again.
At one point, Ethan traced the edge of the tattoo on Liam’s shoulder through his shirt, and Liam had to concentrate very hard on not making it obvious how much that affected him.
He was doing well. He was being perfectly reasonable about it all, even though he wanted to drag Ethan to his bedroom.
Liam’s phone rang. Liam tensed before he even looked at the screen. He didn’t want to leave Ethan.
He sat up, as did Ethan. Liam grabbed the phone and frowned when he saw it was his captain. There could only be one reason for Taylor to call him when he wasn’t on shift.
“Go,” Ethan said.
“I haven’t even—”
“Liam. Go. Your captain isn’t calling to chat.”
Liam answered. Taylor’s voice was tight and clipped when he explained that an industrial building on the east side was in flames. All off-duty personnel were being called in, including Liam.
He didn’t have a choice. He moved fast, pulling on his jacket and patting his pockets for his keys.
Ethan had stood, too. He was watching Liam with an expression that was composed, the way someone’s expression looked when they were used to keeping their feelings to themselves.
Liam didn’t like it, but he had to go anyway.
“I’m sorry,” Liam said, because he was. The evening had been exactly what he’d hoped it would be, and he didn’t want it to end, especially not this way.
“Don’t be,” Ethan said. “It’s your job. Go do it.”
Liam moved toward him. He took Ethan’s face in both hands and kissed him hard. Ethan’s hands came up to grab his wrists, and he pulled back just enough to look at Ethan.
“I’m coming back,” he said.
Something changed in Ethan’s expression. “Eventually, yeah, I know.”
“We’re finishing this, if not tonight, another night.”
“I know that, too.” Ethan stepped back, though his fingers lingered for a moment before letting go of Liam. “Be careful. I mean it.”
“I’m a dragon shifter. Fire can’t hurt me.”
“Buildings can.” Ethan’s voice was slightly trembling. “So be careful, for me if not for yourself.”
Liam looked at him for one more second. He wanted to say something that would explain what he was feeling, but he didn’t have the words for it.
Maybe he would, eventually. “I will,” he said instead, and then he was out the door, his heart pulling him back toward the man standing in the doorway behind him and pulling him away toward whatever was burning on the east side of the city.
He was halfway to his truck when his phone buzzed with a text. He glanced at it as he unlocked the door.
The salmon was overcooked.
Liam laughed and got in the truck.
* * * *
ETHAN PACED THE LENGTH of his living room. He’d had to let Liam go, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the sound of whatever was happening. Why were so many firefighters needed that Liam had been called back on his day off? What was going on?
At least it should be pretty easy for Ethan to find out where it was happening. He grabbed his phone from the coffee table and fell down on the couch, opening social media. He navigated to a local group, grimacing when the first thing he saw was a picture of a fire burning.
He swallowed. There was a video, too, and things looked pretty bad.
He’d already known they would be, but seeing it was different, and the thought of Liam and his friends going in there?
It was terrifying. Liam was a dragon shifter, so the fire itself couldn’t do much to him, but he wasn’t invincible.
Something could fall on him, or he could fall, or he could break something.
He could be in there somewhere, hurt, and Ethan wouldn’t know.
Ethan sucked in a breath. He knew he couldn’t follow Liam to every fire he was called to, and that wasn’t his plan.
He also knew that he should stay home. He would be of no use even if he went there.
Hell, he might be a hindrance because he was sure that he wouldn’t be the only one watching.
He needed to be close to Liam, though. He needed to see with his own two eyes that Liam was okay.
What if they were right and this was the work of an arsonist? What if that person was still there, waiting to hurt someone, and they decided to hurt Liam?
Ethan realized that even if that was the case, there was very little he could do, but he also couldn’t stay at home, watching this from his couch.
He wouldn’t be able to sleep until he was sure Liam was okay, and it would be hours before that happened.
Liam was too busy to call, and that was fine, but it didn’t mean Ethan couldn’t find a different way to reassure himself.
Besides, if shifters were involved this time, too, he wanted to help.
No matter how little he might be able to do, it would be better than sitting at home waiting.
Honestly, anything would be better than that.
He felt like he was about to scream, and it had only been an hour.