Full Domain (Nice Guys 3)

With a soft brush of his hand, Aaron’s fingers slid across Kreed’s shoulder as he passed by. The need to just touch him, connect with him in some small way, was overwhelming. Those fast reflexes had Kreed grabbing his fingers before he sat.

“Did you get done?” Kreed asked, drawing Aaron’s hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles before turning and kissing his palm. It was a sweet move that effectively zapped the melancholy messing with his head. He had right now and needed to live in this moment, worry about life later.

“Nah, not really, but it’s hard to concentrate when all this is waiting for me.” Aaron gestured toward the ocean before leaning in for a soft kiss and dropping down in the recliner next to Kreed. Kreed reached inside the cooler, pulled out an ice cold beer, and handed it to him.

“I got us a bottle of whisky along with beer. Shots with beer chasers. That’s always a good time waiting to happen. Colt texted me the name of a club he said we need to hit,” Kreed said, tossing his empty beer bottle in a bucket and grabbing a new one, along with the whisky and shot glass. He twisted the top and flipped the cap in the trash bucket. He sat the beer between his legs and poured a shot. Kreed downed it then poured another shot. “Here. Your turn,” Kreed said as he handed over the small glass.

Aaron took the glass. “If I wasn’t already a sure thing, I’d think you were trying to get me drunk so you could get in my pants,” he said and gave Kreed a wink as he tossed back the shot. The amber liquid burned as it slid down his throat. He quickly grabbed his beer and tipped it back, letting it chase the burn down to his stomach.

Kreed lifted his brow. “Drunk sex could be fun.”

“Yeah, it could.” Any kind of sex with Kreed was fun. Why did he have to like this guy so damn much? Aaron took another sip of his beer and dug his toes into the cool sand, trying to force the tension from his body.

“The weather’s nice here, isn’t it?” Aaron picked at the label on his beer.

“Yeah. Are we gettin’ weird again?” Kreed asked. He was so good at picking up moods. Aaron needed to always remember that about Kreed. He could tune in to the most subtle emotions with no words spoken. He was just too intuitive. Kreed reached across the armrest and took his hand, threading his fingers through Aaron’s. “I don’t want us to get weird.”

“We don’t have a lot in common, Kreed,” Aaron finally replied, trying to find something easy to say to help validate what Kreed might be picking up on. He certainly couldn’t say what he was really thinking at the moment—that he was falling hard and it was killing him that he had to fight it tooth and nail because he wasn’t who Kreed thought.

Just the thought made Aaron squeeze Kreed’s hand a little tighter. Man, he fucking wished things were different and he could stay with this guy.

“We have to build our common,” Kreed said, giving him a sideways glance, taking a long drink.

“You know, that sounds like someone who’s been in a relationship before.” Aaron tried to change the subject, surprised at the jealousy that one sentence evoked.

Kreed gave a sharp grunt kind of laugh. Okay, that laugh spiked his jealousy to a whole new level. Maybe the deputy marshal had been in a relationship before. He turned fully toward Kreed and watched as the man took another drink. How had this never been fully discussed? Possessiveness slithered up his spine and coiled around his heart. All this time, he’d worried about hiding himself from Kreed, when he had no idea what was really going on with the guy.

When Kreed didn’t respond, Aaron pushed. “Tell me.”

Kreed’s face twisted in thought before he lifted his beer for another drink, then said, “I wouldn’t call it a relationship. Even if I would, he didn’t. It was one-sided—brief. I was in the navy. Of course I wasn’t out yet, because back then you didn’t come out, and he was on a different team. It was the first time I had emotions with sex, so I figured that meant a relationship—you know, all that was in my head; I never said it out loud. He definitely never said it. Then he got deployed and didn’t come back for me. That’s it, end of story.”

“How long ago was this?” Aaron asked after absorbing all the information.

“Are you trying to make me feel old?” Kreed released Aaron’s hand to pour them another round of shots.

“Definitely not, but you’ve been out of the military for like ten years, right?” Kreed had tried to gloss over the details, but this was too important—at least to Aaron, who had again made a huge error in his line of thinking as he realized he’d assumed because these emotions were new to him that they’d be new to Kreed. How had he allowed himself to be so self-absorbed that he’d never asked these questions?

“Yeah, I left when I was about your age. How old are you?” Kreed asked. He must really want out of this conversation; he was trying hard to move the dialog to another topic.

“You know how old I am. Quit changing the subject.” Frustrated with the lack of response, he figured he’d just start asking very direct questions. “So he meant something to you? Did he hurt you?”

“I don’t know. I guess at the time it hurt,” Kreed said, shrugging it off.

“Enough for you to remember him,” Aaron pointed out, and Kreed tipped his beer bottle in Aaron’s direction in a toasting gesture.

“You’re smart, kid. Why’re we still talking about this?” Kreed teased and poured two more shots of whisky.

“I’m not a kid, remember?” Aaron downed his shot and stared at Kreed. Jealousy didn’t suit Aaron at all, but he couldn’t help it. He was jealous about a man he didn’t even know and who was no longer in Kreed’s life…and over someone he couldn’t even have, which was incredibly stupid.