He’d never brought up being engaged, never even panicked about it. That was what really gave it away, actually. Nick was notoriously twitchy about commitment. He’d probably disappear into a puff of smoke that spelled out “nope” in the air if Kelly told him he’d proposed while drugged.
Kelly hadn’t brought it up again. Just knowing Nick was thinking permanently while high on Dilaudid and ketamine was sufficient to make him giddy, and he was willing to wait until Nick was comfortable enough to bring it up again.
While sober. But hell, they were still living in two different states, thousands of miles apart. They had bigger issues than forgotten proposals.
Nick interrupted Kelly’s musings by pushing himself up, leaning his elbow on the mattress at Kelly’s side and placing his hand over the bullet scar on Kelly’s chest. “We both know you’d go nuts living on a boat all the time, Kels.”
Kelly swallowed hard, nerves swamping him. Nick really was going to talk about this, about them living together. “And you’d go stir-crazy in a cabin in the woods where you couldn’t see the ocean or meet new people every day,” he said with false cheer. “I’m Navy, baby, I was born for boats.”
Nick’s smile was genuine, but melancholy at best. “Liar.
You need trees and grass.”
“So get me a bonsai tree and I’ll grow my weed on the flybridge.”
“Wrong kind of grass,” Nick said as he pulled himself closer and gave Kelly a slow, teasing kiss. He slid his fingers over Kelly’s cheek before clutching at his hair and resting his weight on Kelly.
Desire tore through Kelly like a wildfire. It always did when Nick touched him. This was his first relationship with another man, but the excitement and adventure had yet to wear off. He was certain that with Nick, it would never fade.
“I guess we need to talk about it, huh?” Nick murmured between kisses.
“Unless you want to keep going like we have,” Kelly said.
“A week here, two there. A month apart. It sucks, babe.”
Nick nodded fervently and dove in for another kiss.
“But I know you and I know me,” Kelly managed to say through Nick’s kisses. “We’ll work it out. I’m good with it for now.”
“Well, I’m not.” Nick said before a long, tense silence. He flopped onto his back with a huff. “So let’s figure it out.”
“Now?” Kelly practically squeaked. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“We’re both up.”
Kelly gestured to himself emphatically. “Up is the appropriate word, yes.”
Nick laughed, the sound warming the cool cabin as it drowned out the waves beating at the hul .
Kelly huffed and rolled to straddle Nick, placing both hands on Nick’s chest and settling onto Nick’s groin, grinning over the fact that Nick was half-hard. Nick shifted beneath him, gripping his thighs. Kelly leaned far to his left to switch on the lamp beside the bed. They both winced away from its dim light, but Kelly was finally able to meet Nick’s incredible green eyes. Nick was gazing at him, indulgent and . . . smitten.
“I love you,” Kelly blurted, unsure of why he felt inclined to say it just then.
“Yeah, you do,” Nick drawled, grinning wider. His expression softened quickly. “I love you too.”
“Fuck first or talk first?” Kelly asked.
Nick pursed his lips, scowling in thought. “What if we go at it first, then fall asleep and forget to talk? Then it’s still a problem in the morning.”
“Valid. But what if we wind up fighting about it? We’ll miss out on the f**king.”
“There’s always makeup sex.”
Kelly pointed at him. “Ooh, and angry sex.”
Nick’s eyebrows rose higher, and he was obviously fighting a smile. “We’ve never had either. Might be fun.”
Kelly couldn’t keep from laughing any longer. He ran his hands over Nick’s chest. “Should I pick a fight?”
Nick’s hands rose higher, settling on Kelly’s waist. “Not just yet,” he murmured, giving Kelly a tug.
Nick sat up to meet him as Kelly leaned over him, and he wrapped his arms around Kelly as they kissed. He crossed his legs, getting more comfortable as Kelly settled into his lap.
“Thought you voted talk before f**k,” Kelly grumbled.
Nick kissed him again, nodding. His hands dragged down Kelly’s back. “I did. We’re talking.”
Kelly laughed. He put both hands on Nick’s shoulders and shimmied his hips, rubbing Nick’s hardening c**k against his.
“No, we’re not.”
“Good, then shut up,” Nick growled. The next kiss was a consuming one, clearly meant to silence Kelly’s habit of rambling when Nick was trying to seduce him.
Nick’s grip tightened, and before Kelly knew what was happening, Nick had wrapped him up and rolled them, pinning Kelly to the mattress with his head at the foot of the bed and his legs wrapped around Nick’s waist.
“Okay, that was fun,” Kelly gasped.
Nick shushed him, then kissed him and rolled his hips.
They’d already taken care of these needs once tonight; almost as soon as their feet had hit the deck of the yacht, Nick’d had Kelly pressed against the hul , kissing him silly. But it had been almost a month since they’d seen each other, and Nick was finally fully healed from his surgery. Kelly had expected nothing less. In fact, he’d be a little pissed if Nick didn’t maul him a few times a day in the first week of his visit.
Nick’s cell phone began to ring as they kissed. The sound was muffled, like it was coming from inside something. Nick pushed up with an aggrieved curse. “I’m not answering that.”
“Aren’t you technically on duty?” Kelly asked.
Nick muttered something unintelligible and rolled toward the head of the bed. He fumbled under his pillow and came out with the phone.
“You keep your phone under your pillow?” Kelly asked with a laugh. This was the first time they’d shared a bed while Nick was on duty. “How does it fit beside your gun and your knife and the lube?”
“Shhh. This is O’Flaherty,” Nick practically growled when he answered. His eyes narrowed and he started toward Kelly as if he intended to continue what they’d started, but then his expression changed from predatory to alarm, his face softening, his eyebrows rising, his motion halting. “When? What happened? Were they attacked?”