[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

kiss him? For someone trained to improvise under life or death circumstances, this dilemma was
kicking his ass.
 Hey, Cliff said, stepping through the door. Although his tone was casual, the tightness of his
square jaw spoke volumes about his best friend s level of tension. Hell, Cliff had probably spent the
whole return trip from San Diego worrying how Ryan would greet him after the other night. If only he
knew&
 Smells good in here. Did you cook dinner? Cliff asked as he crossed to his bedroom door and
tossed his overnight bag inside.
Deciding to go with the flow, Ryan nodded.  Sort of. Ty gave me a head start. All I had to do was
stick it in the oven. He said you went to San Diego&  Awkward much?
Cliff looked down at him for a long moment, his steel gray eyes narrowed, the lines fanning away
from his normal smiling expression.  Yeah& uh, Rhino? Are we okay? Did I fuck things up between
us the other night?
That was his Cliff never met a problem he wouldn t tackle head on. He smiled and stepped
closer.  It didn t mess anything up for me, Snides. How about for you? You left pretty quick yesterday
morning& 
He placed a hand on Cliff s heavily muscled forearm.
 Uh& yeah. I had a meeting set up with the new detective assigned to the case. We didn t exactly
get around to talking about that with the Super Bowl and 
Ryan traced his fingers over Cliff s bicep, the heated skin sending shots of electricity through his
fingertips.  Go on& 
 I& uhm&  Cliff s gaze lingered on Ryan s fingers.  My uh& paperwork. Had to finish Ryan?
Their gazes locked. Cliff s eyes widened and his tongue skated over his lower lip.
Intentional or not, Ryan took the gesture as an invitation and closed the distance between them. He
slid his hand along Cliff s shoulder to cup the back of the taller man s neck, then applied a not-so-
subtle pressure. Leaning into the move, he closed the final distance separating them and captured
Cliff s mouth in a kiss. For half a second, he thought it might be that easy. Lips parted on a sigh,
tongues touched, and they melted against each other. Almost immediately though, Cliff stiffened and
jerked back.
 What are you doing?
 I thought it was obvious. It s called kissing.
 Yes, I know what it s called. What I don t get is why  Cliff yanked his arm back from Ryan s
loose grip.  Give me a fucking break, Ryan. That was a one-time event. I never should have done it
and I sure as hell don t plan to be on permanent BJ duty until you get back to Coronado and find a
woman to fuck.
 So not what I m thinking, Cliff. I should have&  Ryan shook his head.  Shit. We should have
talked first, I guess.
 Ya think? What s this about, Ryan?
Needing a few minutes to get his thoughts together, Ryan turned away and walked toward the
kitchen.  Want a beer? he asked as he opened the fridge and removed a bottle of sparkling water for
himself.
 Do I need one? No don t answer that. I ll have what you re having. Now, will you please
explain?
 Yeah& I think I will. Ryan twisted the top from a bottle and placed it on the counter for Cliff,
before opening his own bottle. He took a long drink before starting his explanation. As well as they
knew each other, this just wasn t a conversation he d ever expected to have. It was why he d changed
his mind about how to proceed half a dozen times over the last two days.
However, they were long past the go-no-go decision point. He d committed to action when he d
kissed Cliff, so now it was time to follow through.  I had breakfast and a long talk with Ty yesterday.
He had some interesting observations about how the two of us act around each other. He forced me to
look at some assumptions I d always made. Cliff, you know how people have teased us for years
about acting like a married couple?
Cliff was shaking his head& not as if he didn t know, but as if he could deny what Ryan was about
to say.  You re straight, Rhino. That doesn t just change overnight. We re friends. Best friends 
Ryan smiled.  Yeah, we are and have been for twenty years. We ve shared more than most couples
and maybe people have been seeing something we didn t we couldn t because we ve always
defined the difference between us as gay and straight.
 That s because we are. Rhino& you don t just turn gay because you got your rocks off when
another guy sucks you off.
 I don t think I am gay. How I feel about women in the generic sense hasn t changed. But how I
feel about you or rather how I feel about our relationship has changed. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]