D is for Deacon (Men of ALPHAbet Mountain)

I dropped my pencil and rushed across the shop to meet him at the door, throwing it open as he approached. I felt almost giddy as he came toward me. It had only been a week, but it felt like it had been forever since I saw him, and I was so happy just to have him close to me again.

Deacon smiled widely and wrapped his arms around me. I giggled as he scooped me up off my feet and spun me around. We shared a kiss before he put me back on my feet.

“How was hunting?” I asked.

“Cold and pretty boring for most of it,” he said, making me laugh. “But we ended up bagging a couple of deer. They’ll produce about a hundred pounds of venison combined, so we’ll all get a good amount.”

“That’s good,” I said.

“How about you? What have you been up to today?”

I opened up my hands to the side, indicating the shop. “You’re looking at it.”

“Something wrong with my shop?”

I didn’t even realize Gus had come out of the private room until I heard his voice behind me. I turned around and watched the newly inked customer coming out of the room.

“No, Uncle Gus,” I said. “I was just telling Deacon that I’ve been manning the desk today.”

“Good to see you, Deacon. You can chill in the waiting area until Becky is done if you want,” he said.

“Thanks, Gus,” Deacon said.

Gus went to talk to the client and give him instructions on how to care for his new tattoo. Deacon turned laughing eyes toward me.

“I guess I’ll just be over there waiting for you, Becky,” he said.

I shook my head. “Don’t call me Becky.”

“Why not? I think it’s adorable, Becky,” he said, starting to laugh.

“Okay, enough of that,” I said, playfully pushing him in the direction of the waiting area couch.

He sat down and pulled out his phone. I watched him go through a couple of commands, then settle in and stare at the screen. I didn’t hear any sound, so I figured he was reading an e-book.

A little over an hour later, he came up to the desk.

“I’m going to grab something for dinner. What can I bring back for you?” he asked.

“I don’t have a particular taste for anything,” I said.

“I’ll find something,” he said and leaned over for a kiss.

He came back half an hour later with two bulging bags. He unloaded containers from different restaurants around Ashford and gestured at me to join him.

“What do you have going on here?” I asked, walking over and looking at all the options he had spread out on the table in the waiting area.

“A little bit of everything,” he said. “Call Gus in to join us.”

I went to get my uncle. He had just finished a client and didn’t have another for a little while, so he came out and pulled chairs around the table so we could all sit together and eat. We used the plastic cutlery Deacon took out of one of the bags to work our way through the sampler of different flavors.

The whole meal was fraught with tension between us. I could feel myself gravitating to Deacon, and he and I stole glances and found ways to brush our hands against each other. Finally, Gus rolled his eyes.

“Just leave already,” he said. “You only have about twenty minutes left in your shift. Just go.”

“Thank you, Gus,” I said, hopping up.

I went to the desk to get my things and kissed my uncle on his cheek before taking hold of Deacon’s hand and pulling him out to his truck. He laughed as he opened the door so I could get in. He walked around and climbed in beside me, then cranked the engine and looked over at me.

“Where to?” he asked.

I was nearly breathless with my desire for him and didn’t want to wait another second.

“Take me home.”

We barely made it in the door before we were on each other. My lips crashed into his, and his hand was behind my head, pulling me into him further. His tongue was inside my mouth and mine in his, tasting each other as our bodies ground into each other in the doorway.

Giggling, I broke away and ran toward the bedroom. I could hear the door slam and his laughter behind me as I ran, and I looked over my shoulder once. He was yanking off his jacket and tossing it onto the floor of the living room as I got into the bedroom door. I kicked my shoes off and tossed them at the wall before jumping onto the bed, yanking at my jeans, so they slid off me.

There was no pretense anymore. Especially when he stopped at the door of my room, his smoldering eyes burning into me as I kicked my pants off and threw them aside. I sat up, my heart thudding in my chest as he watched me. He stood still at the doorway as I pulled my shirt up and over my head and let it fall gently to the floor.