Unshackled

Desperate to get just a little bit closer, I shifted my forehead to his neck instead. I’d back away soon. Too soon. But I had to have this. A few seconds of his body heat, his familiar scent.

“I wish you’d see you the way I see you, sir.”

I took a deep breath and felt the day finally draining away. Another battle won.

God, I was tired. It hit so suddenly, too.

“I think it’s more important I see you right now,” he murmured. Then I felt his hands rubbing my arms in soothing strokes. “It’s my turn to take care of you for a while. It’ll make an old man feel useful too.”

Old man.

He wasn’t that old. But it was fucking hot when he talked like that.

“You need a good night’s rest.” One of his hands came up to my neck, and he rubbed me there too. Sweet Jesus, that felt good. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you ready for bed.”

Fuck me.

Even though his tone didn’t hold an ounce of seduction, he had to know none of this was normal, right? Calling me sweetheart, getting me ready for bed. I wasn’t gonna tell him it wasn’t even nine o’clock; he was welcome to take me anywhere and get me ready for anything. Including sleep, because I was all but dead on my feet.

“I suppose I could sleep.” A yawn slipped out for good measure.

The first leg of the journey was the easiest. We flew first class, popped a couple sleeping aids, and passed out.

I was cranky as fuck during our three-hour layover at Heathrow, but Shan was a champ, and the booze in the lounge was free.

By the time we were coming in for landing in Alicante, jet lag and excitement ruled my body, and it made me feel nuts. Overtired, happy, sore, hungry, in great need of a shower, I followed Shan to the car rental place, where he already seemed to know where we were going.

“Is it much farther?” I asked. Several car rental services shared a giant garage right next to the terminal, and this was as far as my research had taken me.

“I think it’s on the third or fourth floor… But you know what?” He came to a stop before a crosswalk near the cabstand. “I’ll go get our car. You stay here and watch our luggage.” He cupped my cheek and smiled sympathetically. “You’re so tired.”

“Aren’t you?” I couldn’t believe how he was still holding it all together, to be honest.

He grinned a little. “Exhausted. But it feels incredible to see some new sights. I haven’t been in this part of Spain since the early nineties.”

“’Cause Daddy’s old.” I nodded.

He snorted and set his carry-on atop his rollaboard. “He’s positively ancient to a spring chicken like you. I’ll be right back.”

I piled my two duffels on the ground and sat down on top of them, and I enjoyed watching him walk away. He’d shed his suit jacket, but travel was no reason to dress like a slob, he said. And his ass in those charcoal pants made me wanna bite my knuckles. Whatever he wore, he made it look classy. His strict etiquette on dress code was hot as fuck to me. He claimed a gentleman could wear shorts for a single occasion—if he was going to the beach or the pool.

I wasn’t gonna be a gentleman here. I made my shit look good, but I lived in swimwear and boardshorts in this part of the world. During the day, at least. For going out to eat at night, I could go so far as to put on a polo and chino shorts.

Thinking back, I realized that even in Shan’s most hard-core sweatpants phase, he hadn’t left the apartment looking anything but sharp, and maybe that was why I paid extra attention to what he wore. Because it was part of his day-to-day structure. He dressed for the occasion and followed a set of rules that I found comforting in a way. He knew when to wear oxfords and when to wear brogues, how to pair a suit and a watch, how to dress for the fall, and he had a tailor and a barber in his contact list. If that didn’t scream inner structure and reliability, I didn’t know what did.

Life threw us enough surprises. I didn’t need my man to be a jack-in-the-box.

Shannon was going to be my man, so help me God.

He returned two smokes later in a nice Mercedes convertible, and I grinned and tossed our luggage into the back seat before getting in next to him.

“We gotta buy snacks and booze on the way.” I scrolled through the Bluetooth connections on my phone to find the car. “Man, I’m wired. And tired. One line of blow and—”

“The answer to that is no,” Shan responded firmly. “You’re far too liberal with drugs, Kellan.”