Dalton, Tymber - Stoneface (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (4 page)

Stoneface.
As hard and craggy and cold at times as those damn presidents carved into the Black Hills not too far down the road from their house.

Tim wouldn’t complain. He felt loved beyond measure and knew Jack would rather die than hurt him. Not to mention he suspected Jack would kill anyone who ever tried to hurt him. He was protective in a sweet and wonderful way. Tim would readily take his reserved, dependable lover over any carefree Cali party boy who didn’t care to think past the end of the week, much less the rest of their life.

By the time Jack emerged from their bedroom, dressed and hair still damp, Tim had Jack’s breakfast ready. Jack walked through the kitchen and scooped the wrapped sandwich from the counter after leaning in for a good-bye kiss.

“Thanks, babe. See you tonight.” Jack started to step away from the counter, then returned for one last, lingering kiss. “I promise I won’t leave you hanging tonight.” He reached up and touched Tim’s chin before he brushed another kiss across his lips. “Love you.”

Tim smiled. “Love you, too. Go catch some bad guys. Make this town safe for the rest of us.”

Jack’s lips curled in a faint smile before he left. That was as close to happy as Tim usually saw Jack.

He’d consider it a win.

Tim headed for the shower. Lots to do, including finishing Gwen’s latest book so he could write the review. After Jack fell asleep the night before, Tim had gone ahead and read her book, all but the last twenty pages or so. He could easily stand there and jerk off in the shower if he thought about her books too hard. Sure she was a straight chick writing male-male erotica, but she wrote damn good erotica that stiffened his cock without hesitation. Not to mention her stories rocked.

Especially the ménages with two guys and a girl. He slowly smiled and resisted the urge to stroke his stiffening cock. One of these days he’d grow a nutsac and work up the nerve to ask her where she got her fantastic ideas.

And if she wanted any help with “research” in real life.

* * * *

“Ellis Books and Bites…Yes, we carry books.” Tim tried not to roll his eyes even though the person was on the phone and not standing in front of him. “Yes, we carry fiction books…Yes, we carry mysteries…Can I look up a particular book for you?” He tried to keep a smile in his voice, but from the way the caller droned on it proved difficult to maintain his happy place. “We’re open until nine tonight…Yes…Thank you.” He hung up and let out a relieved sigh.

Celia, his store manager, giggled. “You’re not in Laguna Beach anymore, Toto.”

“Tell me about it. Remind me why I let Jackson talk me into moving to Rapid City?”

“Because you’re a good boyfriend.”

“Keep reminding me of that.”

“How’s the other store doing anyway?”

“I’m flying out there next week to help with inventory, but so far, so good.” Tim had taken a risk to open a second store in Rapid City, but his theory was why not try it if he’d be living here anyway? They’d moved the profitable internet operations to Rapid City, where real estate was cheaper, and converted the unneeded storage and office space in the Laguna Beach store into more café and display space. He paid a fraction of the price for a third larger storefront here in Rapid City, where he opened a second Ellis Books and Bites a year earlier. The Laguna Beach store brought in more money gross every month, but the reduced operating expenses in Rapid City translated into a nicer net profit every month, plenty to justify keeping it open since it housed their online operations.

It also kept him busy and from going stir crazy with boredom.

“How’s Jackson’s mom?”

Tim shrugged. “Good days and bad. His dad’s coping. Jesus, keep reminding me I’m a good boyfriend, kiddo.”

He handed her the phone and retreated to his office to do paperwork and check for new orders. They handled specialty and rare books through the internet, which helped supplement income for the brick and mortar stores. A side business as a third-party distributor for e-books helped even more. With Jackson’s mom in a slow and losing battle against Alzheimer’s, he couldn’t refuse to move with his partner when two years ago he said he needed to quit the LAPD and return to his hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota, to be close to his parents.

Considering Tim had never lived anywhere but in the Laguna Beach area, residing on the outskirts of the Black Hills and suffering through his first brutal South Dakota winter had been quite an adjustment for the native California beach boy.

One he’d made out of love.

After he wiped out his little Toyota during his first snowstorm on a patch of black ice, Jack made him promise not to drive on winter roads again until he could teach him how, and made sure to drive him to and from work every day. While Tim could now navigate winter roads in relative safety, he preferred to let Jack do the bulk of the winter driving. It still terrified him, especially the hills.

And around Rapid City, there were a lot of hills. Thank god it’d been three months since their last snow, although he wasn’t looking forward to the return of winter.

He turned back to his laptop, which he had set on the counter. At two in the afternoon, their lunch rush had thinned. “Read through this for me and proof it, would you?”

She turned the computer toward her. “What is it?”

“My review of Gwen’s latest book.”

Celia laughed. “Why not just copy the last several reviews you did and put one of those in there. You’ll gush about her anyway. You’d think you had a fangirl crush on her.”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “Hey, I’m a friend of the author, and she’s a damn good writer.” He leaned against the counter. “Maybe I can talk her into coming out here for a book signing sometime.”

“Internet stalker is more like it, not friend.” She paged through the review and made a few corrections before turning the computer back to him. “There you go.”

“I am not a stalker. Okay, maybe not friends, but we’re more than acquaintances. We’re flirty e-mail buddies. That counts for something.”

“You barely know anything about her personally. If you were straight and single you would be chasing her for her phone number.”

“I would not.”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, so maybe I would, but that’s beside the point.” He glanced through the review one more time before posting it to the store’s blog, then zapped an e-mail off to Gwen letting her know he’d posted it. “She really is good. She’s cute, too.”

“Oh, do not tell me you cruised for a pic of her?”

“I can’t help it if she was tagged on Facebook, can I?” He brought up a photo and showed her. “Look, her and her sister.” Gwen had curly brown hair not quite to her shoulders, and sweet brown eyes. Her sister, Amy, shared her sister’s brown eyes, but looked like she dyed her straight hair dark blonde, judging from her dark eyebrows and roots.

Celia shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“If straight women can fangirl Adam Lambert, I can fangirl Gwen.” He closed the browser screen.

“You’re in lurrrrv.”

“Am not.”

“You are. Bet you’re sporting wood right now, aren’t you?”

Celia got away with teasing him like that only because he’d known her since high school. He’d asked her to move to Rapid City to help open and run the store. “Am not,” he fibbed.

Well, only a little fib. He wasn’t stiff, just…interested. He tugged on his trousers to adjust them.

She tried to peek over the counter. “Liar.” She turned when the front bell jingled as a customer came in. “We’ll pick this up later.” She went to greet them.

He smiled as he put his laptop under the counter. She could be a ballbuster, but he loved her like a sister. After they’d tried sleeping together as teenagers, he realized that maybe he did prefer dicks to chicks. He considered himself homoflexible. There were a few women he wouldn’t mind doing.

Gwen definitely topped that list.

He adjusted his trousers again.

Jack walked in a moment later and waved when he spotted Tim. As Jack approached, Tim’s cock fully stiffened. Okay, so since he was with Jack he had effectively become homosexual, because he wouldn’t give him up for anything.

“Hey,” Tim said before he leaned over the counter and kissed him. “What are you doing here this time of day?”

“I can’t come harass my boyfriend when I want?”

Tim grinned. “Sure, but are you doing it on the taxpayers’ dime or yours?”

“Late lunch break. Got caught up investigating a robbery. Thought I’d come bug you.”

“I’m flattered.” He led Jack over to the cafe, behind the counter. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Just a quick and easy sandwich.” He leaned against the wall and watched Tim put it together.

Tim could see from the look on Jack’s face that his mind was elsewhere. “Did you talk to your dad this morning?”

Jack nodded.

“How’s your mom?”

Jack’s expression clouded. “Dad said they’re trying another medicine,” he quietly said. “Started her on it yesterday.” He took the offered plate. “Thanks, babe.”

Tim made him a cappuccino and followed him to the back corner table he preferred. He slid the steaming cup in front of Jack and brushed his fingers over his hand. As Tim sat, Jack caught his hand and held it without looking up from his plate. “Thank you, Tim.”

Jack’s soft tone worried Tim. “For what?”

Jack finally looked up. Tim didn’t miss the way his eyes looked too bright, as if close to tears. “For coming back here with me. I couldn’t do this without you.”

Tim squeezed his hand and tried to lighten the mood. “Hey, you think some stupid snow is going to scare me away from you, think again. I told you, you’re stuck with me, Stoneface.”

Jack finally managed a faint smile. “I love you.”

Tim wanted to sit there and talk with him, but the front bell jangled, signaling a customer. Tim turned and waved. “I’ll be right with you.” He stood, and Jack pulled him in for a quick kiss.

“Thanks for taking such good care of me, babe,” Jack said.

“You’re my man. What the hell else do you think I’d do?” Tim released his hand after a final squeeze and headed over to the book counter where the customer waited.

* * * *

Jack tried not to think about the conversation he’d had with his father on the way to Tim’s store. Nothing would stop the inevitable advance of his mother’s Alzheimer’s. He knew that and accepted it, but it didn’t make dealing with it any easier.

As he ate, he watched Tim take care of the customer. He knew how damn lucky he was to have Tim. Part of him had seriously expected Tim to reject the idea of moving. Maybe not outright, but to say he’d take a few months to transition things so he could move out and join him and then…not.

He’d never expected Tim to immediately, that very night in fact, jump into list-writing mode of everything he’d have to do to get them ready to move. It wasn’t until they spent their first night together in their new home in Rapid City that Jack could finally let go of his fear and accept Tim really was there for the long haul.

Before Tim, after Jack moved to California, he’d had a few relationships, none lasting more than a couple of months. Then there was a long, lonely stretch where he didn’t bother dating. He’d go to Mel’s grave and talk to her, then go home and try to sleep without drinking himself into oblivion first.

Then he responded to a robbery at a shop in the same complex as Tim’s store. Jack hadn’t missed how Tim, a friend of the victim, didn’t take his blue eyes off him while he took the victim’s statement. When he’d finished the interview and turned to go, Tim had followed him outside.