TAKE ME HOME (27 page)

Kyle’s eyes widened. He scrambled for the front of his jeans and threw them open. “You have the best ideas.”

“I do.” Because no matter what they’d been through on the train, this trip was the best idea he’d ever had.

He just hoped when they got to Ohio, he’d still feel that way.

He wanted to believe Kyle’s actions and words meant something—wanted to believe what Kyle had said in the cabin about a relationship.

Because if it wasn’t true, losing this was going to be worse than six months ago. Worse than losing the job. Worse than anything.

Take Me Home

141

“Maybe we should leave the room for a while.” Kyle was finding it hard to concentrate on revising the chapters he’d already written, and time was ticking by in that annoying way it had a tendency to do. He couldn’t send the pages to Sue Ann yet. There was an element missing from his writing. The ideas were good, but the spark that was undeniably his style wasn’t there, and he couldn’t get it back. His mind was on something else.

Since he’d talked to Shepfield, a nagging doubt had lingered. Shepfield had been telling the truth, he was sure of that, but the guy had also left something out.

Across the small room, Evan lifted his gaze from the notebook he’d been scribbling in for an hour. He was wearing his glasses, a snug white T-shirt, low-rise jeans, and nothing else, looking so damn sexy. That was the other thing that was making it hard to concentrate.

“Why should we leave?” Evan asked.

“So someone will come after the journal again, and we can get a look at who it is.”

“Did you miss the part where they might be dangerous?”

“We can’t very well find out what’s going on if we just sit here.” Evan pushed his glasses up and glared at Kyle, a determined I’m-going-to-kick-your-ass look.

Fine. Kyle faced his laptop and opened his manuscript again.

Five minutes later, he’d read the same sentence three times. He closed his computer and grabbed the journal from his bag. He had marked several sections as he’d read the final pages, and there was one entry he kept coming back to. His grandpa and Joe’s drive from Colorado to Ohio.

I know now that sleeping with the closest friend I’ve ever had was one of my worst mistakes. It would have been easier if I’d never traveled down this road with him. Because now walking away seems impossible. But I have to. No matter what we feel, no matter how good our time together has been.

We are too different. We want different things. We want different lives. I’ll always care for him, but he can no longer be my future. I have to let him go, let him meet someone else, let him have a life, let him be happy without me.

Focusing on what was best for Joe made every decision, every action easier.

Kyle stopped reading.

Mac.

Part of Kyle had been determined to make it work between Mac and his best friend, but his grandpa’s words confirmed what he hadn’t wanted to face.

142

Sloan Parker

He had been too close to the storyline without realizing it. Without understanding what he’d been feeling for Evan, he’d been inserting his own life into his novel. He’d been hoping for the past six months, whether he wanted to accept it or even acknowledge it, for something to happen between him and Evan, for it to be more than friendship, more than sex, and he couldn’t write his novel with an ending other than the one he’d wanted for himself.

He got out a pen and the pad of sticky notes, wrote a quick note, and stuck it to the journal’s page. He closed the book and watched Evan again. He was tapping the pen to his cheek, his eyes scanning the notebook on his lap, that serious concentrated frown that meant he was on to something. Not frustrated. About to explode with excitement.

In a flash, Evan leaned over the notebook and put the pen to paper.

Kyle smirked. Without a single doubt, he knew what he wanted. Nothing else mattered but that truth. It was stronger than any fear, any reasons why he’d stayed away from relationships.

From love.

A confidence he never thought he’d have when he’d first admitted to Lorrie she might be right about what he was feeling for Evan surged through him. He picked up his laptop again. He had to give Mac the future he’d known all along the man needed. Even if that was the opposite of what he wanted for himself and Evan.

It had been a mistake for Mac to become lovers with his friend. His future was with the cop.

And that didn’t have to mean anything for Kyle’s own life. For his future with Evan.

When he had that pivotal scene done, he returned to the beginning of the book and finished revising the chapters he needed to send to Sue Ann, then outlined the major points for the rest of the book, typing furiously to get it all down. He didn’t stop writing when Evan whispered that he was going to go call his mom and left the room. Or when Evan returned and wrote more in his notebook. They were quiet as they worked, and a few hours later, Kyle felt a hand thread through the back of his hair. Then the hand moved lower and another joined it to massage his shoulders.

He closed his eyes and let the warmth and relaxation of Evan’s fingertips work through him.

Evan leaned against his back and whispered, “Take a break.” Then his lips were on Kyle’s neck. Kyle tilted his head to the side and let Evan explore. Everywhere. Anywhere he wanted.

“Sounds good. What—” He sucked in a sharp breath. It was hard to talk with Evan’s mouth working his blood to the surface.

Evan stopped and walked around him. He sank to his knees. “Yes, what were you going to say?” He popped the top button on Kyle’s pants, the palm of his hand rubbing his cock through the jeans.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked.

Evan smiled, his attention on undoing Kyle’s pants. “I thought maybe you’d want to do a little reading.”

Kyle shifted in the chair, pushing his dick closer to Evan’s face. “Reading, huh?”

“Yeah.” With his free hand, Evan reached backward for something on the bed. “You read this nice article about Jake Gallagher while I blow you.” He took the magazine from Evan. “Read the article? I don’t think so.” Take Me Home

143

“Okay.” Evan pushed the magazine toward Kyle while his other hand continued to work on getting his pants open. “Look at the pictures, then. There’s more inside with his shirt off.”

“No way.” Kyle tossed the magazine over his shoulder. “I’d rather watch something else.” He squirmed again until he had his ass to the edge of the chair. Something better—much better.

Evan had the jeans open. He worked them down Kyle’s hips, and Kyle lifted his ass to help get them lower. His hard cock was straining against his briefs. Would the crazy, hard-in-an-instant erections ever stop around Evan? That sent doubt trickling along his thoughts. Passion never lasted long. What would they be like in five years? Ten? Would Evan still drive him crazy? Would he still surprise Kyle? Take the lead in that confident way that drove Kyle nuts?

Would they still touch each other with an intensity that heightened every moment of arousal?

Would they fuck each other against the hall wall because they couldn’t wait to get to a bed?

Guess he’d find out. He had every intention of seeing what it was like to be with someone that long.

Evan peeled back Kyle’s underwear and gripped his cock. He tilted it toward his mouth, his warm breath blowing across Kyle’s slit. Kyle breathed deep and waited. To see those full lips open wider, to feel that moist tongue stroke him and the wet heat of Evan’s mouth drag over his dick. Then Evan surprised him yet again. He kissed the tip of his cock, closed his eyes, and rubbed his cheek along Kyle’s length, like a cat lazily marking his territory with his scent. The frames on Evan’s glasses bumped the head of his cock.

A hiss escaped Kyle’s throat. Uncontrollably, he surged off the seat. “Ev…” Evan dropped his hand to Kyle’s thigh and forced him to remain still.

On the upstroke of cheek to dick, Evan tongued under the head of Kyle’s red, swollen cock. Another hiss, louder, longer, and Evan clutched his thighs in both hands. He was killing him. Slowly. Kyle wanted to grab that blond hair and sink into his mouth, fuck him like mad.

One slow touch to his dick and he was out of control.

Evan sat back and pulled his glasses off. He leaned forward again.

“No,” Kyle said.

Evan stilled and threw him a questioning look.

“Leave them on. You look fucking hot like that.”

The hint of a blush appeared on Evan’s cheeks before he slipped the glasses on and finally sank his mouth onto Kyle’s cock, giving him the longest, most intense blowjob he’d ever had.

And not once did he stop watching Evan’s blue eyes through the lenses. Or worry about whether sex with Evan would always be like this.

They had a long time to find out.

Evan made one last note in his notebook. He was vibrating with excitement. He couldn’t wait to get back to LA and really get going on the new script. He’d had a ton of plot lines and character details rolling around in his head during the past twenty-four hours. He set the notebook on his bag. Kyle was asleep on his side, his face pressed against Evan’s hip, his left arm draped over Evan’s body like he’d done all night long. They hadn’t turned the bed back into a bench since their first night in the room. Didn’t look like they would need to today either.

144

Sloan Parker

At this rate Kyle would miss the entire morning, their last on the train, but he’d spent so much of the past two days writing, he probably needed the extra sleep.

Evan, on the other hand, had gotten too much. He felt like he’d slept through so much of his life lately. He was finally awake, finally alive again.

They’d be in Chicago by early afternoon. He couldn’t imagine leaving the room they’d shared for such a short time. So much had happened there, so much had changed between them.

He wanted to believe it would continue when they stepped off the train, that the Kyle who’d emerged in the last five days was ready for exactly what he’d said he wanted.

Evan spotted the blinking battery light on Kyle’s laptop. The cord was dangling off the table. He carefully slid his leg out from under Kyle’s, got up, and plugged in the computer. The journal sat open on the table beside it.

Kyle had said he wanted him to read it. He took a seat in the chair and read a few lines. A lot of what Kyle had already told him. He flipped the page. More about Victor’s travels with Joe, and their adventures. Evan flipped through more pages and stopped on one with a sticky note.

The journal read…

I know now that sleeping with the closest friend I’ve ever had was one of my worst mistakes.

That struck a nerve. Had him gripping the journal in clenched hands. He eased up. Victor’s words were not Kyle’s.

Or at least he thought not. Then he read Kyle’s note on the side of the page.

Thanks, Grandpa. I could not have said it better.

No. That was not the Kyle he’d slept beside all night. The one who’d held him and gently kissed every scratch on his cheek and the scrape above his eye before they’d fallen asleep.

Evan read the rest of the journal entry.

We want different lives. I’ll always care for him, but he can no longer be my future. I have to let him go, let him meet someone else, let him have a life, let him be happy without me.

Then he read Kyle’s note again.

When had he written that? He hadn’t acted like it had been a mistake. Or had Evan missed something because he was so damn happy? Maybe once they’d gotten on the train again, Kyle had wished he could take back what he’d said in the cabin.

But it didn’t seem like that was true the previous night.

Before the soft kisses, before the tender way Kyle had wrapped his arm around him, the sex had been off-the-charts explosive. Evan had gone down on Kyle while he’d been sitting in the chair, and then Kyle had taken him to bed, and they’d made out like sex-crazed teenagers.

When Kyle had gotten it up again, he’d fucked Evan, touching him everywhere with his hands, his lips, his dick. It was like Kyle had wanted it all, hard and intense, and he’d planned to have it all night long.

Take Me Home

145

Maybe he’d known that was going to be their last time. Maybe that was why he’d been so out of control.

Seeing Evan floating in the river had freaked Kyle out. That was obvious by the way he’d clung to him on the couch in the cabin. Maybe that was why he’d said he wanted to try to make a relationship work. Maybe he’d meant it. For now.

What about in six months? A year? Two? Would Kyle run when he couldn’t live with his mistake any longer?

No. Kyle had been telling the truth. Evan had felt it in his touch, in his kiss. The note in the journal didn’t mean anything.

He took in the details of Kyle on the bed. His dark hair sticking out all over on the pillow they’d shared a moment ago. His long, lean legs protruding out the bottom of the white sheet.

And that sheet accentuating the perfect curve of his ass.

Kyle was his now.

He believed that with everything he was.

His phone beeped, and he checked the display. Another message from Dennis. He sent a reply. When they got back to LA, he had to talk to him. He had to explain in person.

Kyle would understand. After everything they’d shared, he’d understand Evan had to do this.

146

Sloan Parker

Kyle awoke to the sound of a phone beeping. He stretched and opened his eyes, not wanting to face the fact that their days on the train were almost over. In Ohio, he stayed with his parents and Evan with his mom. What would they do this year? He couldn’t ask Evan. How much of an asshole did that make him? But it wasn’t like he’d ever experienced bringing a guy home with him.

Beside him on the bed was a handwritten note from Evan.

Went to get lunch.

An alert on Evan’s phone beeped again. Maybe it was his mom checking on their status.

Kyle hesitated, then picked it up and read the text.

From Dickhead. At the airport. I’ll see you soon.