Maybe these kinds of “accidents” happened sometimes, but a heavy feeling had been sitting in Jake’s stomach all day. He didn’t like it. Loose ends were frustrating as hell. First Danny’s car accident and now this? He wasn’t sure if he believed in coincidences…. Could anyone’s luck really be that bad? But if it wasn’t a coincidence, what else could it be? Neither events seemed in any way connected, both too random.
Despite having no evidence to the contrary, he couldn’t escape the voice in the back of his mind that this all somehow led back to Hobbs. He just didn’t know how or why, leaving his logic forcing that voice of suspicion away. There was every chance he wanted to pin this on Hobbs because of his own personal history with the man, and it’d mean the bastard would be seeing the inside of a jail cell sooner rather than later.
Of course, the bad feeling might be due to the fact that Danny could have easily died. A few inches closer to the middle of his chest, and he might have bled out in Jake’s arms before the ambulance even got there.
And that was exactly why he shouldn’t have been entertaining the notion of starting anything with Danny…. Who was he kidding? Things had started between them. Whenever he was around Danny, it was like a power greater than himself was driving him, like he had no control over what he said and did, instinct making him forget every sound reason he had to keep away. Letting himself get any deeper was just asking for trouble. Danny had his own issues—which under any other circumstances, wouldn’t have bothered him—but adding in his own situation, the two of them was probably a disaster waiting to happen.
He’d come to Everness for one single reason. He owed it to his brother and Hobbs’s other victims to keep his head in the game and not get distracted by the undeniably gorgeous Danny Jones. The problem was, now he’d met Danny, now he’d kissed Danny, it wouldn’t be as simple as deciding he didn’t want to have anything to do with him. The utter panic he’d felt that morning when he’d realized Danny had been shot told him exactly how strongly his emotions were already engaged. He was already in deep, whether it would bring them nothing but trouble or not.
But what if his attention got caught up with Danny and he missed an opportunity to see Hobbs brought to justice? What if Hobbs had been responsible for the murder of Jeremiah Williams and more people were killed while he was too busy chasing Danny’s sexy ass around town?
Funny, hadn’t he been telling Danny earlier what-ifs never helped? No, thinking like that definitely hadn’t helped anything, so instead he’d put all of his energy into trying to find any clues—to no avail.
Sheriff Hayes had let him know in the middle of the afternoon that Danny had been sent home from hospital. The bolt had only done superficial damage in the flesh of his shoulder, and there hadn’t been any need to keep him overnight. He just needed to rest it for a few days and it should heal quickly. For the remainder of the day, when Jake hadn’t been obsessing over finding the perp, he’d been distracted over his plan to call Danny as soon as he got home. It was now six o’clock, and if it hadn’t been for some asshole with a crossbow, he would have been getting ready to pick up Danny for their first date.
Great. Now he was even more pissed off. He yanked his phone out of his pocket to call him like he’d promised. Except suddenly that wasn’t good enough. He didn’t just want to talk to Danny; he wanted to see him, even if they had to stand on opposite sides of the room and pretend the hell out of not being gay in front of his parents.
He shoved his feet back into his boots and went out his door again. He walked the block and a half to Danny’s house, hoping with every step Danny wouldn’t be annoyed or freaked-out over this. Though he’d agreed to keep things quiet between them, they hadn’t put down any ground rules, so he didn’t actually know if Danny would consider this crossing some kind of line.
Still, he wasn’t worried enough that he thought about turning around and going home. Or even hesitating for a moment before he rapped sharply on the door.
It was answered a moment later by Danny’s mom. He’d met her briefly in the hospital when she’d arrived in tears with Danny’s father glowering behind her. He’d left right away before Danny could wake up and blurt out anything that might give away his true feelings. Hopefully those extra happy drugs had worn off now, even if he had enjoyed the blissed-out, soppy side of Danny.
“Officer, is there news?” Mrs. Jones asked, pulling the door wider. “Please, come in.”
He sent her a respectful nod as he stepped across the threshold into the house. “Thank you, ma’am. But I’m sorry, no progress has been made. We found the weapon and it’s been sent away for analysis, but that might take a while. I just dropped by to see how Danny was doing.”
“Oh, did Sheriff Hayes send you? That was nice of him.”
“So, Danny is okay?” he prompted, not correcting her assumption that he was here on behest of the sheriff.
“He’s a little sore, but he was very lucky. We were just about to sit down for dinner.”
He automatically backed up a step, ignoring the stab of disappointment that he wasn’t going to see Danny after all. “Well, I should leave you to it.”
“Have you eaten? I suppose not if you’ve just come from the station. You’re welcome to join us if you’re not on duty.”
“Mom, who was at the—” Danny appeared at the end of the hallway in the back of the house, presumably where it opened into the kitchen. “Um, hi.”
Jake had to bite his lip over a smile at Danny’s obviously pleased astonishment—that possibly held a hint of panic.
“Sheriff Hayes sent one of his officers to check you were doing okay. Wasn’t that nice of him?” Mrs. Jones turned to him with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I don’t know you name.”
“Sorry, ma’am, I should have introduced myself right away. Deputy Jake Perez.”
She nodded with a smile. “Well, Deputy, since you’re here, you have to stay for dinner. It’s the least I can do after what you did for Daniel. Who knows what might have happened if the pair of you hadn’t bumped into each other?”
As though he’d already agreed, Mrs. Jones walked briskly down the hallway toward Danny.
“Go wash up, now. I have to set another place before the food gets cold.”
Mrs. Jones passed Danny and disappeared into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of sight, Danny hurried down the hallway toward him. He steeled himself, expecting a lecture, ending with Danny telling him he had to leave.
Except Danny came right up and stepped into him, wrapping his good arm around him, since his other arm was in a sling. Jake returned the embrace lightly, not wanting to accidentally hurt him. Unfortunately, the hug ended almost as quickly as it had started and Danny stepped back, a little flustered.
“Thanks for everything you did today,” Danny said in a quiet voice.
“You don’t have to thank me for that.” He kept his own voice lowered, assuming Danny didn’t want his parents to overhear them.
“Why, because it’s your job?” Danny added a smile after the words that were a little forced.
“No, because I care about you and you scared about a decade off my life.”
Danny appeared taken aback by that, and then seemed to find everything else in the room interesting except for him.
“I’m sorry our plans for tonight got ruined,” Danny murmured.
“Me too. But don’t worry, we’ll make up for it.” He reached out and plucked teasingly but quickly at Danny’s T-shirt where it was resting on his jeans to get his attention. It worked, because Danny’s gaze met his in surprise. “Besides, having dinner with your parents has got to be the next best thing, right?”
Danny laughed but then cut himself off suddenly with a grimace, pressing a hand into his shoulder. “Ow. No laughing.”
“Hurts, huh? I guess this means you’re not high anymore.”
“Those drugs wore off hours ago.” Danny tugged at the sling where it was resting against his neck as though it was uncomfortable. �
�Everything is a bit hazy, but I remember enough. You made sure— You looked after me in a way no one else could have. I don’t know how I can ever—”
“Danny.” He couldn’t help himself; he had to step closer and catch Danny’s hand. He couldn’t stand not touching him for another second. “Listen, you don’t owe me anything. Of course I’m going to look after you. Even if we weren’t— Even if you were just my friend, I still would have done the same thing.”
“You’re a really good guy, Jake.” There was a note of honest admiration in his voice.
“I’m not as good as you think I am, Danny, believe me.” If Danny knew the real reason why he’d come to Everness, he might not think he was so great anymore.
“You deserve to be with someone who doesn’t want to keep you a secret.” Danny pulled his hand away and backed up a step.
“I told you I don’t care about that,” he said carefully. Had Danny changed his mind since they’d spoken this morning? Decided he couldn’t handle being with him after all? Maybe he should take the out, since he’d spent half the day stressing over the complication this thing with Danny could be to his plans, but the idea of breaking things off left his chest feeling tight.
“Well, maybe you should,” Danny replied stubbornly.
“Except I don’t. So what’s really going on here?” He crossed his arms and caught Danny with a firm look. He didn’t mind keeping things low-key between them, but he definitely wasn’t the sort of person who enjoyed playing games.
“It’s about you being ridiculously amazing and me being so messed up right now.” Danny’s expression tightened, like he was angry. Jake got the feeling it was probably all directed inward. “It’s about this not being fair for you.”
“I think I should get to decide what’s fair for me and what isn’t,” he replied quietly. “It’s been a long day, and I know you’re probably tired and in pain. If you don’t want me here, I’ll make my excuses to your mom and head home. Just don’t stress about this, please. If I didn’t want to put myself in this position, I wouldn’t be here.”
Danny nodded and blew out a weary-sounding sigh. “It’s probably going to be totally awkward, but I would really love it if you stayed for dinner. Having you here is actually making me feel better.”
“Then I’ll stay and endure the most awkward family dinner with my boyfriend’s parents, even if they have no idea who I am.”
Danny had frozen on the spot and was staring at him with an expression of—
Actually, he had no idea what that expression was.
“Danny, what is it? Is your shoulder okay?” He stepped forward and started to reach out, but Danny caught his hand.
“Just— You said—” Danny tugged himself closer using the grip on their joined hands. “You called me your boyfriend and I think I had a mini heart attack.”
Oh damn, every time he thought Danny couldn’t get any more adorable…. “Didn’t you say you had a boyfriend when you were at college in Houston?”
Danny shrugged, features drawing down. “I call him my ex, but we weren’t officially together. At least, he never called me his boyfriend. And he was sleeping with other people, so it’s not like we were exclusive.”
“I’m starting to think this ex of yours was a class A jerk,” he muttered. Honestly, he couldn’t understand why a guy would want anyone else if they had Danny.
Danny smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “Sounds pretty accurate.”
He caught Danny’s gaze, settling a serious look on him. “If you don’t want to do labels, that’s fine. But you should know there isn’t anyone else, and there won’t ever be while we’re together. I can definitely promise you that much. But if I’m jumping the gun—”
“No,” Danny interrupted quickly but with a firm note to his voice. “I want that. All of it. Especially the boyfriend part.”
“Good. Now that we’ve got that established, can we go eat? I’m starving.”
Danny gave a low laugh. “I forgot. Don’t get between you and food, right? We better get to the kitchen. But first—”
Danny glanced over his shoulder, and before Jake could work out what he was up to, he’d turned back to him, clamped a hand on the back of his neck, and pulled him in for a kiss. Not a quick, chaste, stolen kiss. No. This was all open mouth, tongue sliding along his, body pressed up against him, flaring with instant lush heat.
By the time Danny let him go, his head was spinning and he could no longer remember what day of the week it was. Damn. The guy could kiss like no one’s business. There was a distinct possibility he’d just gone into heart failure.
“You coming, Jake? Thought you wanted to eat.”
While he’d been trying to pick his sanity up from wherever it had collapsed, Danny had walked halfway down the hallway and was now smirking at him over his shoulder.
“Oh, I am so getting you back for that later,” he murmured as he hurried to catch up with him.
Chapter Nine
DANNY WAS somewhere between heaven and hell as he sat down at the kitchen table across from Jake and started helping his mom serve up the food. His dad hadn’t come over from the garage yet, but his mom still made up his plate and then took it back to the stove to keep it warm.
“This looks great, Mrs. Jones. Can’t remember the last time I ate a home-cooked meal.” Jake picked up his knife and fork but was clearly waiting for the rest of them before he started.
His mom looked pleased, smiling but playing it down. “It’s just a pot roast, vegetables, and some corn bread. You don’t have anyone to cook for you?”
Jake shook his head with a short smile. “I live alone. Don’t get me wrong, I can grill a mean burger or steak, but anything more than that is out of my scope.”
“Sounds like you could use some pointers from Danny.” His mom sent him a fond look before delicately tucking into her food. “He’s a better cook than me these days. He made the pot roast and the corn bread. I can only claim responsibility for the vegetables.”
He’d always enjoyed cooking; the times he and his mom had spent in the kitchen together when he’d been growing up had ended up being an escape, since his dad never ventured in unless it was to get a beer. It’d been their own private domain, and the fact he’d proven to have a knack for food had simply been a bonus. He glanced over to see Jake staring at him appraisingly.
“Well, maybe I’ll have to get him over to my house one evening to give me some lessons.”
How Jake managed to say that and keep a completely straight face, Danny had no idea. Even his tone had barely held a hint of suggestiveness. But Danny could still tell what he was really thinking. A second later when his mom had turned her attention to the food in front of her, Jake finally let a smile slip free and sent him a wink.
He gave him an admonishing frown as he picked up his fork, but it only made Jake’s grin widen. His heart skittered, even as a weird kind of calmness stole through him at Jake’s presence across from him. Danny had been stewing himself into ridiculous heights of worry all afternoon since leaving the hospital.
Between the car accident, the dead body, the guy he’d seen lurking in the street late last night, and now the crossbow, he was starting to feel like he had some kind of target on his back and been battling a deep-seated unease in his gut. Except that was paranoid and crazy, so he’d put it down to some weird side effect from the drugs and instead put all his concentration into not giving in to his impulse to call or message Jake. He’d been working and said he’d call later, leaving Danny counting down the hours until evening and wondering if and when Jake would follow through on his promise. Coming to see him had been so much better than a phone call, even if he couldn’t wrap himself around Jake’s leanly muscled body like he wanted to.
“So how long ago did you move to Everness, Jake?” his mom asked, pulling Danny out of his whirling thoughts.
“Only a few weeks ago, ma’am,” Jake replied as he dug into his food.
Danny relaxed a
nd started forking some of his own food, thinking he could chill now Jake was no longer silently flirting with him. Except something brushed his ankle, and then he felt Jake’s leg pressing against his own.
He stabbed a vegetable far harder than necessary and resisted the urge to look up.
“And how are you finding it so far?” his mom continued.
“It’s definitely a different pace to what I’m used to.” Jake had a light, innocent tone to his voice, giving no indication that his foot was rubbing up and down Danny’s calf. Had he toed his boots off under the table?
“You grew up in a city, then?” his mom enquired.
“Dallas, ma’am.” Jake’s voice was downright cheery now, and Danny finally let himself look up.
Jake’s gaze was on him, a smile flitting over his lips as he chewed his food. While somehow remaining completely still in his upper body, he slid his foot past Danny’s knee to the inside of his leg.
Danny set down his fork and gulped some water, because he was starting to get kind of hot. The worst thing was, he knew he should be annoyed or find some way to get Jake to stop, but he was enjoying it too much. It was ridiculous, especially since he was the one who kept going on about his worry over being caught.
Except this was what he’d been missing. Why he’d sometimes walked around feeling like there was a pit in his heart, or something missing inside him. These little gestures of affection people shared. Tiny signals telling him Jake was just as excited to get to know him as he was to find out everything about Jake.
The back door to the house banged and Jake abruptly dropped his foot, straightening in his seat as Danny’s father walked into the house. He paused as he saw Jake, who sent him a polite nod.
“Mr. Jones.”
“Didn’t know we were having company tonight.” His dad got his food and set the plate down hard on the table, making it clatter and his mom flinch slightly.
“It wasn’t planned,” his mom said in a placating voice. “Alan sent Deputy Perez over to check on Daniel, and I invited him to stay for dinner. It’s the least we can do after what he did for us.”
Take Down Page 8