Chapter Fourteen In the Pines #3
Harrison stepped past him, angling the beam of his phone at the ground where Jake had pointed.
The light slid across a narrow strip of flattened earth, weaving between the trees.
At first glance, it looked exactly like every other deer trail criss-crossing the woodland.
A track animals made over years of moving the same way.
Flattened grass. A shallow groove in the soil where hooves and boots had both passed at some point.
Most people wouldn’t notice it.
But Harrison did.
He crouched, lowering the light to follow the faint line as it threaded between the trunks and dipped away towards the darker slope beyond.
Somewhere below, Jake could hear the faint rush of the river through the trees.
Harrison reached down, brushing a thumb across the flattened earth before glancing ahead, following the line until the darkness swallowed it.
His focus sharpened, as if the rest of the world seemed to fall away.
As if he were mentally mapping the ground, testing the logic.
And Jake watched him instead of the track.
The way he tilted the light, adjusting the angle to catch the impressions in the soil.
And the faint crease forming between his brows as he followed where the deer trail disappeared into the undergrowth.
It did something strange to Jake’s chest.
Because this was the first time in thirteen years he’d seen someone stand here and actually try to understand the place instead of just searching it, as if someone else could see the woods the way he did.
Harrison stood, then took a step forward to get a better look, but his boot clipped the hidden rise of a root where the ground dipped sharply beside the path.
He lurched, and Jake moved before the thought had finished forming, grabbing Harrison’s arm and hauling him back to him before he tipped sideways down the slope.
“Careful.” Jake’s breath misted through the cold air, giving a halo to Harrison’s features. “We got bumpy terrain up here.”
Harrison stumbled against him before catching himself, one shoulder brushing Jake’s chest. “So I’m discovering.”
Jake steadied him.
Then forgot to let go.
Harrison was close enough that Jake could feel the heat of him through their coats. Close enough to catch the faint trace of something clean beneath the cold air. Soap. Day-old aftershave. Beer on his breath. Jake dropped his gaze to Harrison’s mouth.
Fuck.
He let go of his arm. “Sorry.”
“No harm done.” Harrison started walking again, as if trying to remove himself from the physical contact. “You know this place well?”
Jake stayed where he was. “Grew up running through these woods.”
“And you never really left.”
Jake drew a breath. Because there it was again. Harrison seeing something Jake hadn’t fucking told him.
“Hard to leave somewhere that keeps part of you.”
Harrison went quiet. Glanced over his shoulder.
Jake tilted his neck. “Guess you know summat about that too, aye?”
Harrison’s gaze dropped to the path. “Yeah. Somewhat.”
That should’ve been the end of it. Especially as Harrison started walking again.
But Jake heard himself say, “I’m really fucking sorry about the blanket.”
Harrison stopped. Looked back at him. “Sorry?”
“Blanket. When you fell asleep the other morning.” Jake took a few steps to get back beside him. Christ, why had he started this? “I put it over you.”
“I know.”
“Aye, obviously you know. You must’ve woken up under the fucking thing wondering what the hell I were doing.
” Jake gave an awkward puff of laughter.
“I dunno why I did it. You were there, completely out of it, and you looked knackered. Didn’t fancy our freezing northern Arctic finishing you off.
You southern softies ain’t built for it. ”
Harrison said nothing.
Jake’s smile faltered. “Sorry. Southern softie were probably unnecessary.”
Still nothing.
But Christ, the way Harrison was looking at him.
Not like a detective. Jake knew that look already. The quiet assessment, picking apart whatever Jake said and filing away the useful bits. This wasn’t that.
This was something Jake didn’t know how to read at all.
His stomach gave a nervous little pull. “What?”
Harrison blinked, as though Jake had dragged him back from somewhere. “Nothing.”
“Right.”
Harrison turned and started walking again, but his second step landed badly again. “Shit—”
Jake caught him. Proper that time. He closed one hand around Harrison’s arm, the other landing at his waist as Harrison grabbed Jake’s jacket to steady himself. Jake could feel Harrison breathing. Could feel him twist his fist into the front of his coat.
Jake swallowed. “Y’alright?”
“Yeah…” Harrison didn’t let go though.
Neither did Jake, and he dropped his gaze to Harrison’s mouth.
Harrison saw it.
Fuck.
Jake let go of him and stepped back, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Sorry. Fuck. I shouldn’t—”
Then Harrison’s hand closed around the back of his neck, and Jake barely had time to register the cold fingers tangling into his hair before Harrison pulled him forward and kissed him.
Jake snapped his eyes open.
Christ.
Yeah. Harrison was kissing him.
And it wasn’t what Jake expected. There was no rush to it. No drunken collision of mouths, no immediate grab for more. Harrison kissed him softly. Warmly. Almost carefully, as though he’d made the decision to do it but still wasn’t entirely sure what happened next.
It was really fucking nice.
Then it was gone.
Harrison pulled abruptly and hit the tree behind him. “Jesus.” He closed his eyes. “Sorry.”
Jake was still catching up. “S’alright.”
“No.” Harrison shook his head. “No, I really shouldn’t have done that. Forget it happened.”
Jake stared at him.
Yeah. That was gonna be difficult.
Especially when Harrison’s chest rose and fell as if he’d run all the way up here.
When every breath came out uneven and white in the cold.
And definitely not when he finally opened his eyes and looked straight at Jake again.
Because for a man telling him to forget it, Harrison wasn’t leaving.
He could have stepped around him. Walked away. Put some distance between them.
He didn’t.
He stayed against the tree, watching him.
Waiting.
So Jake took a step closer.
Harrison followed the movement with his eyes. And when Jake came within reach, he lifted his hand and curled his fingers around Jake’s arm. Not pushing him away. Not pulling him closer either.
Holding on.
Fuck.
Jake moved the last little bit himself.
Then he slid his hand along Harrison’s neck, brushing his thumb along the rough skin of his jaw, giving him every chance to turn his head. To tell him no. To step away.
Harrison did none of them.
So Jake kissed him.
Slowly at first. A press of his mouth against Harrison’s, testing whether that first kiss had been a moment of madness Harrison genuinely wanted to take back. Then a breath slipped out of Harrison. Soft. Barely there. Jake felt it against his mouth.
And fuck, that sound.
That tiny loss of control from a man who seemed to hold every part of himself so tightly made something kick hard inside Jake. He wanted to hear it again. So he tightened his grip on Harrison’s neck and pulled him closer.
Harrison came willingly.
No resistance.
And when Jake kissed him again, the spark of it went straight through him. Sharp. Immediate. Nothing like the easy, familiar rush he knew how to deal with.
Too much.
Not enough.
All at fucking once.
Dazed by it, Jake deepened the kiss and eased Harrison back into the tree. Harrison’s mouth moved with his, still careful, but then his fingers tightened around Jake’s arm, and he kissed him back harder.
There.
That was all Jake needed.
And suddenly there was tongue and heat and stubble rasping with the rough inhale of breath between them as the kiss went frantic without force. No more wondering whether Harrison wanted this. He did.
Fuck, he did.
It felt as though it’d been building from the start. The first look. The first conversation. Every time their eyes had caught since.
Jake had no idea where it was going.
Strangely, he didn’t need to.
Because for the first time in longer than he could remember, he didn’t want to rush towards whatever came after the kissing. He didn’t want Harrison up against the tree so he could get his hands under his clothes. Didn’t want to drag him back to the van or find somewhere they wouldn’t be seen.
He wanted this.
Harrison’s mouth on his. His hand gripping his arm. The warmth of him against Jake’s body. Kissing him slowly enough that Jake could actually fucking feel it instead of already thinking about what came next.
And that might have been the strangest part of all.
A rustle from somewhere below broke through it though.
Jake jerked back, head snapping towards the sound. “What the fuck?”
He glanced down. Harrison’s phone had fallen somewhere in the scuffle, and the torchlight cut a beam through the clearing to shine on a badger. Nose twitching. Judging. An indignant grunt following.
“Hey—shoo.” Jake nudged his boot towards it. “Fuck off.”
The badger squealed in outrage before disappearing into the undergrowth, and Jake turned back to find Harrison quietly laughing, still half clinging to his arm.
Fuck, he liked that sound too.
Jake shook his head, smiling, and leaned in until his forehead rested against Harrison’s. “Drawbacks to kissing in the woods.”
“Yeah.” Harrison looked at him, still slightly breathless. “So… we should probably not do that.”
Jake licked his lips, still tasting him. “You sure?”
“It’s… not particularly appropriate.”
“That weren’t what I asked.”