Page 18 of Cold Winter Nights
“The guy killed himself, bullet to the temple.” Bile rose in his throat as he remembered the headline. “Right there in his own home, where his wife and kids were just in the other…”
Royal didn’t realize he was shaking. Seconds later he was on his feet and in Stone’s big arms. Stone was several inches taller than him, but at the perfect height for Royal to wrap his arms around his waist and press his forehead against his chest and hide.
He sagged forward and Stone held him tight, held him up until he had the courage he needed to go on.
“After the news spread like wildfire and my bosses came in, I thought I was going to be fired or fucking brought up oncharges. And that’s when the stabbing pain in my chest started—I thought for sure I was having a heart attack.”
“But it’d been much worse, Stone. They told me to ‘chalk it up…it happens’. And that regardless of the outcome, it’d taken guts for me to do what I did and to…to ‘keep up the good work.’”
Stone wove his strong fingers through his hair and gave it a gentle tug until Royal was gazing up at him. Moisture stung the corners of his eyes, realizing he’d never given himself a chance to grieve the moment his humanity died.
But there was no judgment or criticism in Stone’s eyes, only care and understanding reflecting back at him.
“I must’ve passed out in the meeting because I woke up in the hospital,alone. My assistants, bosses, no one came to see if I was dead or alive.” Emotions made Royal’s voice sound like gravel being crunched under tires.
“For fucks sake.” Stone slid his hand over Royal’s hair then down until his palm was completely covering the right side of his neck.
“After a shit-ton of tests, they told me I’d had a massive panic attack. My blood pressure was one eighty-three over a hundred and I was in full hypertensive crisis.”
Royal could no longer resist as he eased his hand along Stone’s cheek to feel the texture of his beard. It was just as soft as he’d hoped. It felt as if he were running his fingers through a thick, cashmere blanket.
“When I was discharged, I went home and looked up this place and how to get here. I went to bed but I didn’t sleep. I went into my office the next day and I quit.”
Royal tried to suppress the shudder when Stone rubbed his thumb over his jaw, staring at him with a comforting but ravenous glare, his mouth so close his breath was mingling with his.
Fuck... he smells so good.
Stone’s scent was an earthy, heady concoction of freshly cut cedar and pine, mingled with the musky aroma of sweat. It was a reminder of Stone’s hard work, a tantalizing reminder of his raw, masculine beauty.
“Stone,” he whispered, pain and desire tinging his voice.
“You came to the right place, Royal.” Stone gritted, “Manhattan doesn’t deserve you.”
Stone
Stone stood at the foot of the stairs leading to Royal’s room, clinging to the sensitive moment they’d shared.
He’d kept his mind and heart behind a strict no-access barrier since his husband’s passing. But now, in the quiet of the night, standing so close to Royal, that barrier was close to being breached and he wasn’t fighting to stop it.
Royal was a stark contrast to Ben, the opposite in every way a man could be.
Royal was lithe and shorter than him by several inches. He was clean-shaven and mellow-spoken, the kind of guy who wore his exhaustion and worry like a second skin.
But the town’s friendliness was already working its way into Royal’s bones. The burdened, guilt-ridden mentality and solemn demeanor he’d brought with him was slowly eroding. And Stone was very attracted to the man underneath all that.
It’d been a long time for Stone, but he still recognized desire when he saw it. Royal was searching his face as if he were trying to catch a fleeting moment of reciprocated interest.
Stone lowered his guard and stared back.
He’s too young, too beautiful for me.
Royal’s light brown eyes were the color of earth after a misty rain. He’d gotten rid of the stuffy clothes, polished boots, and money-thirsty corporate mentality—the kind of man Stone knewhe could never relate to. And now, donned a humbled spirit beneath a plush sweater and denims that fit him like a second skin.
Stone had just had his hand in Royal’s hair—it smelled of citrus and the jasmine flowers growing in the forest behind his cabin.
His pulse thrummed in his ears, his breath coming a little faster than normal. His throat felt dry and tight with a kind of hunger he’d forgotten existed—an all-consuming craving.
Royal’s gaze seared into him and before he knew what he was saying, it was already coming out of his mouth.