by Sean Michael
He reached into Daniel's jeans and snagged the keys, pulling them out. "Let’s go get pancakes, Mr. Young."
"Oh, hell yes. IHOP, here we come."
Damn, that smile was something else.
And he had a feeling it was going to get him into a whole lot of trouble.
Chapter Four
His belly was full. His hand was in a cast. He had a new suitcase, two pairs of jeans and five t-shirts, along with the bare essentials -- razor, shampoo, ball cap, toothpaste, Alan Jackson's Greatest Hits, Merle Haggard boxed set, socks.
Then they got his pain pills and some road munchies and they were off.
Well, Rafe was off.
He was snoozing and half-singing with the radio.
There'd been an argument about what station it should go on, but Rafe had finally sighed, muttered something about just being the guard and it was left on country radio. It had helped Dan’s argument that there was precious little other radio to be found.
It was very dark when Rafe shook his shoulder. "Daniel? You'll need to tell me where to go."
"Uh. Hotel? Hotel works. And food." Fuck, he'd been sleeping hard.
"All right. There's been signs for Ruby's Motel and Diner. It'll be another ten minutes or so." Rafe gave him a smile.
"Cool. Cool. Did I snore?"
"Nope. But you snuffled some and I'm pretty sure you were drooling." Rafe grinned wickedly.
"Bitch." He chuckled, grimacing as he whapped his cast against the car door. "This thing's unwieldy as fuck."
"Careful, Daniel. You don't want to hurt yourself worse." Rafe had been horrified that he'd needed the cast. "I don't want to be responsible for you not being able to play anymore..."
"The doctor says it's just a precaution. Four weeks isn't bad." And if he was a little worried, well, he wasn't saying.
Rafe nodded, but didn't look happy about it at all.
"Oh, here we are!" Rafe turned into Ruby's, parking on the motel side.
He opened the door, one of his songs playing on the radio. "Man, I should've bought coats. You sign us in? I don't want publicity."
"Yeah, not to mention I haven't a clue what cover story they've got out on you right now and we don't want to blow that. Order me the brisket and a Coke, okay?"
"Yeah, gimme my cap." His lip was swollen enough to make him less recognizable.
He went in, kept his head down and ordered a barbeque plate, a burger and onion rings and two Cokes from a hefty red-head in a warm-looking grey sweater. "Oh, and two coconut cream pie slices, please ma'am."
"Sure thing, honey. You look like you've been on the wrong end of a couple of fists, sugar."
"Yeah, tore it up a little. Happens sometimes, you know?"
"You take care of yourself now, sugar. Some girl's gotta be worried about you." She gave him a wink and headed off, just as Rafe was coming in.
Rafe sat down across from him. "Your lip's pretty colorful -- is it hurting?"
"Nah. It's just pretty." He gave Rafe a grin. "You get a room for the night?"
"I did. It's. I." Rafe blushed nicely.
"Good sized bed?" He could eat the kid up with a spoon.
Rafe's color got darker and he nodded. "It was king sized or twins. They didn't have any rooms with two doubles vacant. I figured we'd have more room in the king than the two twins. I wasn't assuming anything at all."
"No? I am." Oh, cute as could be.
"Oh. Oh!" And didn't that blush get all the darker. Poor kid was going to be purple any minute. "It was nice," Rafe admitted, not quite meeting his eyes.
"I can handle nice." He let his voice lower. "And not so nice."
"Mr. Young!" Rafe sounded shocked, those dark brown eyes looked it, too.
"What? Am I supposed to pretend?"
"Well... no, I guess not." Rafe ducked his head. "What's not so nice?"
He leaned forward, whispered. "I'm thinking some of the things we got up to this morning were less nice than not."
He wondered if Rafe was going to be able to pass that color off as a sunburn. "I liked this morning. I bought lube and condoms."
"Yeah? I'd like a few hours reliving the moment. Maybe we could be naked."
Rafe laughed, the sound almost a snort. "Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice."
"Nice." He started laughing, the sound drawing looks and grins, but he couldn't help it.
Rafe kicked him under the table. "Nice is a good word, Daniel."
"Nice is a nice word, Angel."
Rafe rolled his eyes. "You do know my name, right?"
"Yes. Rafael, which is really exceptionally neat. Are you Italian?"
"My grandparents on my father's side, yeah." The waitress came with their food, big, full plates and Rafe actually moaned at the sight of it.
He chuckled, shook his head. Must take a shitload of food for a guy that size. "Eat up."
Rafe nodded and dug in, eating like he was starving. Which he likely was as they hadn't eaten since IHOP.
"This is fantastic." He nodded, having a hell of a time eating his hamburger one-handed. Rafe was about halfway through his meal when he reached out, touching Dan on the back of his good hand. "How about I cut that for you?"
He found himself blushing now, nodding. "Do you mind?"
"Nope. I'm an uncle of many, remember?" Rafe winked and quickly cut his hamburger up into bite sized pieces.
"Thanks. I'm a little gimpy." Just a little.
"Not where it counts," Rafe told him softly, eyes warm.
"Yeah. Let's get our dessert to go."
"Okay." Rafe's foot slid along his calf. "Sounds good."
Oh, now. That was almost flirtatious. Impressive.
"That it does."
Rafe grinned, head ducking, but smile sweet. "Maybe even nice."
"Maybe." He laughed again, shook his head. "There's a song in that."
"Is that how you get your inspiration? The things people say?"
"Lots of times, yeah. Sometimes it just hits me."
"Yeah? Cool. I like most of your songs."
"You do?" He found himself blushing, cheeks burning. That felt incredibly good.
Rafe nodded. "And I'm not sucking up, I swear."
"Thanks, man. I didn't think you'd know my music."
"What -- because I'm a 'Yankee'?"
"Yeah, actually. And because you're young and don't wear cowboy boots."
"It's not my usual music, but I bought your albums when your name came into the case. Kind of listened to them a lot, to try and get a bead on you and the genre."
"What did you learn?" He leaned back, nibbling on his fries.
"It's not all twangy, someone shot my dog so I shot his daddy shit."
He chuckled and nodded. "Not all of it. Wait for the next album, Angel."
"Don't tell me you're leaving country music for rock and roll." Rafe's eyes twinkled.
"Not fucking likely. I love what I do, balls to bones. Won't give it up for love or money." Hell, if this hadn't been the last concert? He'd be on the road right now.
Rafe chuckled and finished the last of his brisket. "That was really good." That foot was back, sliding along his calf.
"It wasn't bad. Let’s get that dessert and go." He had better ideas than polite chitchat in the restaurant.
"Yeah, did you already order it? If not, I want to try the coconut cream pie, they say it's the best in the south on their menu."
"I did and that's what I picked. It sounded good."
Rafe gave him a smile. "Yeah, cream pie sounds good." Damn, the kid was cute when he tried to flirt.
"It's one of a dozen things that does."
"You know a dozen ways?"
"At least." Especially if you multiplied by two.
"Oh." Rafe's eyes were glued to him. Rafe licked his lips.
"Uh-huh. Pie. To go. I'll pay."
"If I pay it goes on the agency's tab."
"Oh, even better. I like that." He grinned, levered himself up and headed for the counter. "Could we
get that pie to go, honey? I'm beat."
Rafe came up beside him and took out his wallet, paying cash. "I need a receipt, please."
She gave Rafe a long look. "You're not responsible for this boy's bruises are you?"
Rafe choked and sort of shook his head. "Um, not exactly."
"He's my rescuer, actually. Pulled my butt out of the fire." Rafe so owed him.
Rafe shot him a grateful look and grabbed his change, leaving their waitress a large tip. The kid headed out at all but a run.
He watched the kid go, chuckling under his breath.
"He's a doll-baby." The waitress gave him a wink.
Dan just nodded. "He is. He just doesn't like to admit it. Yet."
He headed out the door, humming along with the radio. It was going to be a grand evening. He could tell.
Chapter Five
Rafe was blushing so hard the tips of his ears were burning. Fuck, what that waitress must have thought of him. Thing was, he was kind of responsible for Daniel's injuries, now wasn't he? He'd been the one to tackle Daniel and give him the fat lip and if Rafe had been doing his job, Daniel wouldn't have had to take out the militia guy and save both their asses.
As he opened the door to their room with the big old king sized bed, he couldn't help but think that he was doing a pretty poor job at looking out for his primary. And to top it off, he was dallying with the man as well. It was a strange word, but he could just hear it in his head in Deputy Chief Carson's sharp voice. Dallying.
Maybe he should make sure he stopped doing that. Be professional from here on out. The thought of doing that put a pang in his stomach, almost like he'd been sucker punched.
A dull kick to the door made him jump, Dan's voice ringing out. "Little help? My hands are full."
"Oh! Sorry!" Damn it. He shook his head at himself. He had to get it together.
He opened the door for Dan. "Sorry. I suck."
"Good to know." One of the pieces of pie was handed over, Dan offering him a grin. God, the man was too confident for his own good.
That grin made him feel good though, even if he was blushing harder than ever at how Dan had interpreted his comment. He opened his container and made a soft noise, embarrassment forgotten. "Oh, this looks wonderful. How come it's the middle of nowhere places that have the best food?"
"They have to keep the same folks coming back over and over." Dan settled on the end of the bed, cap tossed off. "I grew up working at a little coffee shop -- nothing fancy, biscuits and meatloaf and hamburgers -- but I tell you, the same people came in every damned day."
"Yeah? So you can cook? I can put together pasta with tomatoes and spices and stuff. Homemade pizza. Nothing fancy, Italian style." Rafe passed a fork to Dan and sat next to him on the bed. "I definitely can't cook dessert, let alone something incredible like this."
"I'm not big on baking, but I can follow instructions well enough." Dan balanced the box on his thighs, holding the top with the tips of the casted fingers.
"You okay there?" Rafe asked, watching Dan's lips move. "I could bring a chair over or something for you to set your container on."
"Nah, I got it." Dan licked some whipped cream off the fork, tongue sliding.
Rafe groaned, eyes dropping down to his pie. Oh, his good intentions were disappearing fast.
"Good pie, huh?" Dan smiled, nodded, making soft, satisfied noises that were remarkably similar to ones he heard earlier.
He swallowed and nodded, eyes meeting Dan's again. He could barely taste the pie now, which was a shame, but his whole focus was on Dan and his cock was taking notice and distracting his mouth from the pie.
Dan moaned soft, scooped a bite up onto one finger and offered it over.
"Oh." He leaned over and licked at Dan's finger and then, moaning softly, wrapped his lips around it and sucked it clean of the sweet stuff. Dan's skin was salty and male beneath the cream. His cock liked that more than the sweet and he let his eyes close, kept sucking.
The dessert boxes got pushed away, Daniel scooting over to land in his lap. "Oh, man. You're special."
He gasped and laughed softly, arms automatically going around Daniel, holding him. "You're the special one, Daniel. Famous singer and all..." Sexy.
"Oh, hat acts are a dime a dozen. I'm just a guy." Daniel leaned down, lips brushing against his own.
"Just a guy who makes me ache," murmured Rafe, pushing into the kiss.
Daniel wrapped those arms around him, the kiss going deep and sharp-edged, hungry and hot, just like that. Pie forgotten, he opened his mouth wide and leaned back on the bed, Daniel's weight feeling good on top of him. His hands slid and grabbed that sweet ass, squeezed.
Daniel was hard against him, hips rocking and rubbing them together. A part of his brain reminded him that they were supposed to do it without any clothes this time, but most of him was focused on responding eagerly, humping up, hands wandering.
"Mmm... touch me. You've got sweet hands."
Moaning softly, he tugged at Daniel's shirt, pulling it out of the tight jeans so he could run his hands up along Daniel's back. Warm, smooth skin met his fingertips, making him moan again.
"Oh. Oh, that's good. Oh, just fine, Angel."
He felt too good himself to argue about the nickname, fingers too busy learning the trail of Daniel's bony spine. And now that he was touching skin he wanted more. "Naked."
"Oh, hell yes. Been wanting to see those muscles for hours."
That had him blushing again and he rolled Daniel off, figuring if he was going to be the one making them naked, and given Daniel's hand, that was a fair bet, then he needed to get it all done at once and without distractions or it just wasn't going to happen.
He opened Daniel's shirt, fingers not quite steady. "You're not so bad yourself," he murmured. Daniel wasn't ripped or anything, but his lean body had strong, clean lined muscles that just drew his fingers.
"You like? You can see it all." Daniel stretched, thighs spread for him.
He nodded, swallowing as his fingers and eyes followed the little glory trail that disappeared down into Daniel's jeans. His fingers went from not quite steady to outright trembling, but he got Daniel's jeans undone and damn, the man wasn't wearing any underwear.
"You too, Angel. You, too. I want to see it all."
He nodded, but he was far more interested in touching the acreage of skin pulling off Daniel's jeans and boots revealed, his fingertips sliding along Daniel's legs, the hairs tickling. Daniel chuckled, moaned, just offered up all of these sweet little sounds.
He bent and kissed the skin on the inside of Daniel's knee, and then farther up, his kiss spreading Daniel's legs out a little, letting loose a waft of heat that smelled like Daniel and like pure man. He moaned, hips jerking, cock leaking inside his pants.
"Fuck, Rafael. Skin. Skin, Angel."
He nodded and groaned. "Yeah, feels good. Warm. Smells good, too." Such lovely skin.
Daniel spread a little farther, heavy balls drawing up a little.
"Oh, pretty." He reached out and touched, sliding them gently in his fingers and then the long cock that curved up and ended in wet kisses on Daniel's belly. He nosed the balls next, breathing in deeply before licking, dragging his tongue over the soft skin. His hips were working the bed, humping like crazy.
"C'mon Angel. Please. Let me see." Oh, man. No one'd ever sounded like they'd wanted him so much before. It pushed him out of his daze, made him realize what Daniel was asking, what the man wanted and he nodded, licked his lips.
"Sorry," he muttered, standing and stripping down quickly. It was something that usually would have made him a little embarrassed, stripping in front of another guy like that, while the man watched, but Daniel... he felt more sexy than shy doing this for Daniel. And with his cast, it wasn't like Daniel could do it very well himself, now was it? Finally he stood there, naked, gazing down at the lines and planes of Daniel's body.
"Oh, sweet fuck. You're beautiful. Fucking stunning." Daniel sounded like
a starving man.
That did make him blush, his cock jerking against his belly. He climbed back onto the bed, lying next to Daniel so they could kiss, so he could touch and rub against Daniel. Oh, this had been good before, but naked it was just wonderful. Daniel cuddled right in, moaning and purring, long cock snuggled against his.