Page 28 of Cross & Crown

He’d grown accustomed to the smells of pine and snow and

earth, the sounds of the wind whispering through branches

and animals skittering through the underbrush coming from

his open windows.

The waves lapping at the hull near his head were a sound

from the past he hadn’t thought he’d sleep to again. The hustle and bustle of Boston in the distance was completely foreign to

him. All the times he’d visited Nick before, he’d always been

too drunk by nightfall to care.

He stuffed his nose into Nick’s curls and inhaled deeply.

Nick smelled of the sea, salty and cool. He always had, even

in the middle of the desert with the hot sun pounding down

on their backs or climbing the freezing shale mountains of

Afghanistan. Or maybe the sea had always smelled of Nick.

Kelly had a hard time deciphering which came first in his

mind.

“We can get a hotel, if you want,” Nick offered. He was

waking up, his voice becoming clear and strong even as he

rested his head against Kelly’s chest. “You’re here for another two weeks, no point in you not sleeping the whole time.”

Kelly’s lips twitched on a sigh. “I’d rather be here.”

Nick rested his chin against Kelly’s chest, rol ing over to

his stomach and gazing up at him. Kelly stroked his hair, then

let his fingers travel down his back, tracing hard muscles under bare skin. Nick shivered when Kelly’s fingers trailed over one

of the long scars on his back.

28

“I need to get used to it anyway, right?” Kelly asked, but

the question caused a flurry of butterflies in his stomach. He

and Nick hadn’t talked much about their future. In fact, they’d only gotten as far as telling each other they were in it for the long haul, but they still didn’t have details worked out. Where would they go, what would they do? Would they compromise

and move somewhere new, would one of them quit his job, or

would they share time between both homes like they’d been

doing? They hadn’t even begun to think of any of that stuff.