Back Where He Belongs by Isobel Starling

Author:Isobel Starling [Starling, Isobel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

TRUNK

Kier lay in bed focusing on the eerie creaking and tapping sounds around the cottage as the wind howled outside. He was pleasantly drunk and snugly warm under a thick duvet and extra blankets, but Kier couldn’t settle. It had been a long, intense day. In the darkness, the feelings he’d suppressed for so long could not be held back any longer. Old memories were excavated and laid out for him to reconsider with new eyes.

He’d found himself in the most unexpected of places, with the one man who knew him better than he knew himself sleeping in the next room. Fear and doubt clutched at his gut warring with lust, love, and longing.

Dougie looked so damn sexy, and even more attractive than when he was younger. Age suited him, as did the dark beard that framed his jaw. The warmth in Kier’s gut told him he was where he was meant to be, but his stubborn head told him determinedly that this stop-over was just a happy accident, and when the weather settled he would go to his family farm, have his vacation with them and then return to Australia. Nothing’s changed, nothing will change. But even as he thought those thoughts Kier knew he was lying to himself.

The fact the Dougie slept in the next room pricked at Kier like pins. The fierce hug they shared before they both turned-in hadn’t been enough. Closeness tugged all the threads that bound his heart to Douglas—reminding him of the years they’d shared—from childhood innocence to the sexual awakening of inquisitive teens, then to the discovery that they loved one another. They’d had the kind of intense bond that Kier couldn’t explain. It was primal and intuitive. Douglas had been Kier’s private universe, and the long-denied memories made his heart ache.

Douglas’s wish to come out when they’d finished uni and live openly as a couple had been too much for Kier to cope with back then. Fear, self-doubt, and restlessness pulled him from his lover's arms. Leaving was the only solution he could think of, but the most cutting feeling that surfaced from the long-repressed memories was one of shame. Kier was desperately ashamed of his behavior.

Kier’s thoughts drifted back to the trunk in the lounge. He was sure that the contents held too many painful memories for Dougie and he’d have cleared it out. It was probably full of books. But now the house was silent. Dougie was in bed, and Mac was curled up in his doggie bed in his master’s bedroom. Kier lay there listening to the storm rattle the windows for a few minutes longer before curiosity got the better of him. He rose and left the bedroom.

He tried to step quietly, so as not to rouse Dougie, but the floorboards of the old cottage had other ideas and creaked alarmingly with his every step.

Kier made his way downstairs and stepped into the lounge. The room was warm, but the wind still found entrance through nooks and crannies of the old cottage, sending a chill to Kier’s bones.

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