Never Stay Gone: Big Bend Texas Rangers 1 by Bauer Tal

Author:Bauer, Tal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Dakota was restless, jittery like he’d taken a hit of caffeine straight to the heart. He wanted to run his hands all over Shane, memorize his body so he could trace him in the darkness and with his eyes closed. He wanted to count the freckles on Shane’s cheeks and shoulders with his lips, run his fingers up the rise of his spine and into the dip of his lower back as he lay on his belly on Dakota’s motel bed, face buried in Dakota’s pillow, the sheet tangled around his knees.

And he wanted to run. Get the fuck out of that motel room, get the fuck out of town. Get away, as fast as he could, before Shane broke his heart again.

Dakota slithered from the edge of the bed and backed naked into the corner of the room. He scrubbed his hands over his face, peering over his fingertips at Shane’s still, sleeping form. He was so fucking beautiful. The agony of having Shane back in his arms, in his bed, saying things Dakota had only ever heard in his dreams—it was like burning alive, the slow death of the desert broiling Dakota’s heart and soul from his oh-so-weary bones.

Was any of what they’d done wise? Shane had just been dumped. When Dakota had left him at the truck stop two hours before Shane showed up at his motel door, he was still engaged. Still a spoken-for man, with a woman he’d been with for five years.

Five years. So much longer than him and me.

Had Shane been desperate and aching for something after that? Shane’s life was parched of love, it sounded like. After Shelly ended things, had Shane come running to the one place he knew he would get care and affection again?

What would happen when Shane woke up? When he realized they’d made love, and that he’d said all those things to Dakota? Admitted all those things about himself?

Maybe Dakota should say Fuck it to the case and to the world. Load Shane into his truck right now. Mexico was an hour away. How far could they get with the fifty bucks in Dakota’s wallet?

What did the rest of the world matter, if he lost Shane again? He could almost hear Shane’s hesitant voice, see his eyes slide away from Dakota as he said, I think we made a mistake. I can’t—

Dakota grabbed his jeans from where Shane had left them crumpled on the carpet. His hands were shaking as he grabbed his cigarettes and the lighter. He undid the flimsy chain on the motel door and slipped outside, barefoot, as quiet as he could.

He leaned against his tailgate and lit a cigarette. Took a long, deep drag. The parking lot smelled like hot asphalt and dust, along with the sweet smell of sage drifting on the breeze. Emptiness surrounded the motel. The darkness was so absolute, it swallowed up the scattered lights of the far-flung ranches and the outskirts of Rustler. Velvet black yawned in front of Dakota.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.