Page 13 of Shock & Awe
“You have some?” Kelly asked, his eyes going wider and his mouth beginning to water.
Nick gave him a sly grin and stood. He patted Kelly’s head as he walked by him, heading for the kitchen.
“Wait a minute,” Kelly grunted, reaching out to grasp Nick’s arm. “That’s all I get the morning after?”
Nick stutter-stepped and backtracked to look down at Kelly. “What? I gave you drugs and I’m fixing your breakfast on a tray, what more do you want?”
Kelly grinned and gave Nick’s arm a little tug. He could see Nick biting his tongue when he smiled, and something about it kicked Kelly’s sex drive into gear. “You’re really going to make me ask for it?”
Nick raised an eyebrow, smiling wider.
Kelly rolled his eyes and sagged his shoulders, tugging Nick again. “Give me a kiss!”
Nick sighed, glancing around the room as he fought a smile. He might have been trying to come up with a reason not to, or he might have been fighting the fact that he wanted to. He finally put a hand on Kelly’s head and bent over him, narrowing his eyes when he peered into Kelly’s. He smiled and pressed his nose and lips against Kelly’s cheek before giving him a gentle kiss, then moved away before Kelly could seek more, leaving Kelly sitting there filled with warmth and nerves.
Kelly smiled, watching Nick’s reflection in the dark television as he moved around in the kitchen, making Kelly’s pancakes. Nick knew he liked pancakes with M&M’s in them. Kelly had married a woman who’d never even known such a simple fact about him, who’d never cared to learn.
He let himself ponder that. Ponder Nick. Every time he’d woken up in the hospital in New Orleans, Nick had been there. Sometimes Ty had been there as well, sitting with him, talking with Nick, or curled up asleep in the chair in the corner. But Nick had been there every time without fail. He’d sat in the chair and read. He’d slept curled up on the couch that was too short for him, or with his head resting on the bed near Kelly’s hand. He’d stolen Kelly’s lunch instead of leaving to go to the cafeteria, and then called to get him more when he woke.
Nick hadn’t left his side, and when the time had come for Kelly to be discharged, Nick hadn’t even discussed coming home with him. He’d simply assumed he would. People searched their entire lives for someone to just care about them. Somehow Kelly had taken that feeling for granted.
Nick returned and set a plate of pancakes down on the table by Kelly’s side. Kelly watched him, still caught up on the idea of someone who would literally lay down his life for him, who had almost done so on several occasions. Kelly had loved Nick for years, just like he loved the rest of the team. Who was to say that couldn’t be more? Where was it written that either of them had to go through life looking for someone who understood them when they had each other right here? Why did that have to be off the table just because Kelly had spent his entire life pursuing women? He felt like a door had been opened last night, a door he’d never known existed.
Nick had a toothpick in his mouth, chewing on it as he laid out Kelly’s breakfast where he could reach it. Kelly plucked the toothpick out. “Dangerous,” he grumbled.
Nick snorted, but as he was turning away, Kelly grabbed his shirtfront and pulled him closer. Nick almost stumbled over the side table, and he had to put both hands on the arms of Kelly’s chair to keep himself from pitching forward into Kelly’s lap. His eyes were wide.
“How long do I have to recover, exactly?” Kelly demanded.
“What?”
“How long are you going to fumble around before you’ll sit back down and talk to me?”
Nick blinked a few times, his eyes seeming to turn greener as Kelly watched. Kelly smiled, growing warmer. He tightened his grip on Nick’s shirtfront so the man couldn’t escape.
“Look, I love you,” Kelly told him. “You love me. We’ve bled for each other. Why can’t that turn into more?”
“Kels . . .”
“Stop. Before you argue with me, just think about it objectively without adding in who we are.”
“Who we are is kind of a big deal.”
Kelly let him go and took a deep breath. “Sit down, I want to talk about this.”
Nick didn’t sit. Instead he leaned closer, close enough that Kelly’s heart stuttered and he closed his eyes. He could feel Nick’s breath on his lips, feel the scratch of stubble against his chin. “Your pancakes are getting cold,” Nick whispered before pulling back.
Kelly’s eyes drifted open to stare at the plate of perfect golden pancakes with melting M&M’s made into smiley face patterns. He laughed and met Nick’s eyes again. Nick was grinning. He hesitated briefly before he pressed another gentle kiss to Kelly’s lips. This time he extended it, turning it a little less chaste and adding a little more tongue and teeth.
Kelly took stock of his racing heart, his shallow breaths, the fluttering in his stomach. He hadn’t felt like this since he’d been a teenager, and he liked it. It wasn’t some stranger in a smoky bar giving him that adventurous feeling, either, it was one of his oldest and dearest friends. He tried to push forward to deepen the kiss, but Nick pulled away from him, running his thumb over his lips.
“Eat. I’m not fixing you more,” Nick muttered. He stepped away, but his hand landed on Kelly’s shoulder and squeezed. “We’ll talk after. I promise.”
Kelly nodded, satisfied. Because Nick O’Flaherty always kept his promises.
When Kelly woke, he realized Nick had just waited for his painkillers to kick in and then given him the slip. He had opened up the windows and the doors to the back deck to allow the breeze to sweep through the cabin, then gone outside and hadn’t come back before Kelly began to doze.
Kelly struggled with the lever on the side of the recliner and finally got the leg down so he could try to stand. He gasped at the pain and stopped moving as soon as he stood, afraid to take another step. His painkillers had worn off. How long had he been asleep?