Discovering Dalton (Manchester Menage Collection #2) (20 page)

“Yeah,” Liam sighed out.

“Okay, it’s no big deal you saying his name or shit to me, Liam. Enjoy lunch and I’ll see you tonight.”

“Okay. Don’t work too hard.”

Troy sighed when he ended the call. Liam was doing things he never did for anyone, unless it was Troy that is, and it made Troy’s stomach spin like he was on a roller-coaster.

Chapter
22

L
iam walked Dalton out of Aspire, catching his hand quickly before he could wander off. When Liam suggested a walk by the canal not too far away, Dalton had been indecisive about saying yes. Liam could see he felt like he should be spending every waking moment with his dad before he passed away, but he also needed to think about himself, and with Dalton unable to do that, Liam stepped up and just took over that role for him. Troy needed this type of care from time to time and it was a position Liam knew and understood well.

Dalton looked up from their joined hands, brows slightly lifted as they always did whenever Liam took hold of his hand, then he simply let Liam walk beside him in silence. Considering he wasn’t sure what was going on inside his head, Dalton wasn’t anxious when they touched, maybe before, or after, but while they had contact, everything seemed cool between them.

Maybe he shut off and just went with it. Maybe he felt like Liam did, that it was right to touch and be close. It was harder to not touch than just do it for Liam. Holding back during lunch made him sweat more than the heat. The urge to reach out and just pull Dalton into his arms was overpoweringly strong, and one Liam wasn’t really used to feeling for anyone other than Troy.

“You feel better now you’ve eaten?” Liam squeezed Dalton’s hand and he received a nod back, small smile playing on the edges of Dalton’s lips.

“It was good. How come I didn’t know about that place before now?”

Liam chuckled. “Well, you’re obviously hanging out in the wrong places, Dee.”

“I'm going to stop by again before it moves and grab something.”

Dalton hadn’t eaten much, but what he had he seemed to enjoy. Liam was genuinely pissed off about Zappinie’s closing. Both he and Troy had been going there for over ten years and although it would be opening up in the city centre, it was too far from them to use for their lunches. Maybe on a day when they were town they would pop in and say hi to Marco who ran it and grab a bite to eat.

“When they get set up in their new place, you should come with me and eat there. The guy who owns it, Marco, said he’s setting up a few tables where you can eat in.”

Dalton walked beside him for a few quiet moments then looked up at him, obviously thinking hard about something, but not too sure about saying anything. Liam waited patiently when Dalton turned back to the path ahead, eyes forward, teeth playing with his top lip while he continued to internalise whatever was on his mind. Eventually, Dalton sucked in a big breath and came to a halt, both of them standing beside the canal, looking over the scenic view.

“Who’s T?”

Liam continued to look out at the canal, but his hand tensed in response to Dalton’s question and Dalton tugged his hand free from his and folded them over his chest, quickly meeting his eyes with those stunning blue ones, a little flare of anger in them. “He’s my foster brother, the one I live with. I mentioned him before.”

“Not by name.” Dalton relaxed a little, but was still holding himself too tight. “From what the other guys were saying, I thought he was a boyfriend.”

“I don’t have boyfriends. I told you that too. I'm not hiding anything, Dee. I'm pretty much an open book.”

“So… you and him live together? You're close then?”

“Yeah, we’re good friends, always have been. Well, if you forget the first year or so, we kinda took time to gel, but after that, we stuck together.” Liam stood back, allowing a couple walking their dog to pass by before moving beside Dalton again, running a thumb down Dalton’s cheek, tugging the bottom lip free from his teeth. “I guess I didn’t think anything of it, but obviously what was said, which wasn’t much, you took the wrong way. Why didn’t you ask me before it was on your mind so much?”

Dalton shrugged before starting to walk again, hands in his pockets and his head turned to the side away from Liam. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s any of my business really. It’s not like whatever this is between us gives me the right to question anything you do.”

“Well…” Liam paused. Dalton was sort of right, but it felt all wrong to Liam. “Why shouldn’t you question stuff like that?”

“Because… because it’s nothing to do with me who you see or think about seeing. This is just…” He huffed loudly and it made Liam smile. “I don’t know.”

“We’re friends.”

“I don’t do the stuff we do with friends, Liam.”

“You haven’t done the stuff we’ve done with anyone except Kelly, so maybe this is a new thing for you.” Liam bumped his shoulder to Dalton’s and got a snort.

“I don’t think so. I'm not going to be picking up strangers for a quick… whatever. That’s not me.”

“You don’t really know what’s going to happen. Never say never.”

Dalton leaned against the stone wall beside the canal’s narrow towpath and looked up into Liam’s eyes. “You're encouraging me to sleep around?” He smirked and it made Liam’s heart beat a little faster. The guy was slutty and innocent all at the same time and it affected Liam in all the right ways.

“No… not really.” Liam ran his fingers through his hair, looking off into the distance and trying to think why he was feeling suddenly angry.

He didn’t want Dalton with anyone else, and part of that was confusing because, one, he didn’t want to be stuck in a relationship with someone in the closet, two, he was a copper and didn’t really fit in with Liam’s circle of friends, and three, he wanted to experience all those firsts with Dalton, not anyone else, but what afterwards? After they’d become friends, after they’d experimented and shared everything Liam had in mind for the two of them, did he really want to just let that all go and see Dalton be happy with someone else? Why shouldn’t he be happy with Liam? Why couldn’t Liam at least try to be happy with him?

“I don’t really want you running off with anyone else. If I'm honest, which I always am, I don’t want to even think about you with anyone else.” Liam laughed at the stupidity of the situation, he laughed at himself and how mental this whole situation was. “This was supposed to be something else and now I'm confused over how I feel about you and what I want.”

“Well, at least that brings you down to the same level I am. Liam…” Dalton shifted from the wall and began walking again. “I’d like to say I wasn’t as confused as I was when we first kissed, but I seem to be more confused than ever.”

“It’s not confusing, only when you think too hard about what’s happening.” Liam took his hand and Dalton looked down at them again. “This doesn’t bother you. When we touch, it’s easy, right?” Liam stopped walking, gently pulling Dalton to a stop and pressing him backward against the wall. “I know it doesn’t because that’s how it feels to me. I don’t go around holding hands like this. I don’t make an effort to care outside of the bedroom, or wherever I am, but it just feels right with you.”

“Liam…” Dalton sucked in a breath when Liam moved closer, his lips dangerously close to Dalton’s.

Everything about Dalton screamed at Liam to kiss him, there wasn’t any hesitation, it was just expected and wanted, so Liam moved in, pressing their lips together, sliding his against Dalton’s until he was given an invitation from Dalton’s parted lips to seek entry and tangle their tongues together in a kiss worthy of any horny teenager.

It was deep and intense, Liam running his strong hands over Dalton’s back, working lower until he captured one of Dalton’s strong ass cheeks in his grip and squeezed. They both moaned, Dalton’s body now pressing against Liam’s. Dalton was reacting just as Liam was, and he worked a leg between the muscular thighs of Dalton, pressing his knee into Dalton’s cock and rubbing him as the kiss deepened, their breath mixing, hot and heavy, Dalton’s fingertips digging into his shoulders, both of them getting too worked up for the open and very public display.

Liam broke off from the tasty mouth on his and leaned his forehead against Dalton’s, both breathing fast and not really ready to separate. “You have the best mouth I’ve ever had the pleasure of kissing.”

“I like kissing,” Dalton murmured against his lips.

“Has it ever felt this good?” Liam wanted him to say no. He wanted to be the one to wake up the dormant sexual feeling he knew Dalton had brimming under the cold exterior.

“No,” Dalton breathed out the word, the sound going straight to Liam’s cock, his hard flesh now tenting the jogging pants he wore and making it all too obvious just how much that kiss affected him.

“Me neither.” Liam pulled back half an inch so he could meet Dalton’s eyes, soft smile on his lips, thumb tracing the puffy lips of the blond trapped in his arms. “I want you a lot.”

“I can feel how much you want me.” Dalton smiled impishly, the humor he’d lost recently brightening his blue eyes and lifting his whole face in a way which made Liam’s stomach flip. “If I wasn’t so new to this whole man thingy, would you have had me in bed yet, or would I have even caught your attention?”

“You think I want you because you’re fresh and shiny?” Liam kissed him again, more tenderly and softly this time. “I don’t. It’s a part of it, I won’t lie, but that’s not all. Everything about you calls to me, Dee. It always has done, right from the first time you walked into Aspire with Milo pushing you along in front of him. Although I'm proud of everything we’ve accomplished over the months, and I can see how fit you’ve become, I always thought you were eye-catching.”

Dalton frowned slightly. Liam knew Dalton didn’t understand why he would take a second look at him when they first met, but honestly, Dalton had never been ugly. Yeah, he’d been a little heavier and carried less muscle, but no matter what size he’d been, Dalton was still attractive. It had been deeper than just a physical attraction, over the months Liam had found Dalton called to him on every level, levels Liam didn’t know existed inside himself until he opened up and let the intriguing Dalton worm his way through his thick, rhino style skin and burrow deep within his chest.

“You don’t believe me, but you don’t believe how I want you now either, so what can I do to make you realise how good looking you are, Dee? You’ve got mirrors, you know how you look. Don’t you see why I would be attracted to you?”

“Now, yeah, maybe.” Dalton looked down the path and Liam followed his gaze, seeing another older couple with three small dogs bounding toward them. Liam sighed and stepped away from Dalton, sitting on the grass verge, making sure his erection was covered from view while Dalton joined him. “I’ve never really been confident in how I look. I was always too skinny, then I was too short, then I was overweight and
still
short.” He grinned at Liam.

“You're not short. You're around five ten—that’s average. You just feel short because you hang out with me and Milo.”

“Yeah, but I could do with a few extra inches in height.”

“Wear heels.” Liam gave him a shove, laughing at Dalton’s big grin.

“I doubt I could walk in them. Did you see how that guy Blue danced around in those killer shoes?” Dalton shook his head. “I'm not one for heels, but I admire how he pulled off the look.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him around the clubs. One thing he doesn’t lack is confidence.”

“Have you and him ever…”

“No.” Liam laughed, taking Dalton’s hand in his and holding it tightly. “Never gonna happen. Not my type at all. He’s pretty an all. Like a peacock all bright and proud, but I don’t go for men like him. Like Milo and Danny’s new guy.”

“Samuel.” Dalton picked a handful of grass and let it fly in the breeze. “I don’t think Milo knew that was going to happen. Like you said, never say never, right?”

“You encouraging me to try out this Blue and see what comes of it?” Liam watched Dalton’s smile widen.

“No.”

“Good.” Liam looked into Dalton’s eyes and smiled. “It’s getting late. How about I give you that lift to the police station so you can collect your car and get off to see your dad.”

“Thanks.” Dalton stood up, grabbing Liam and hoisting him to his feet. “I can jog back if you’re busy.”

“You're not jogging after the state I found you in earlier. I’ve got a spare helmet you can wear so it’s no trouble.”

“A helmet?” Dalton paused walking and looked up at him. “A bike? I don’t know, Liam. I’ve never been on one before.”

“You’ll be safe. It’s a big one. I'm not going to be speeding around. Not with a copper on my back anyway.”

Dalton huffed. “I'm not sure I am one anymore.”

“You are, and you’re a good one.”

“I don’t know.” Dalton put his hands back in his pockets and watched his feet hitting the sandy path.

“You are.” Liam wrapped an arm around Dalton’s waist, pulling him closer. “You just need time to feel like that again. In a few weeks, you’ll be back there and feeling better than ever.”

“You have more confidence than I do. I don’t know what I’ll be doing in a few weeks.”

“Well, I don’t know everything, but I do know one thing you’ll be sure to be doing in a few weeks, and that’s be in my bed with this plump mouth around my cock while I watch you suck me off.”

Dalton stiffened, his cheeks colouring, breath speeding up.

“I think you’ll be an amazingly hot fuck, Dee.”

“Liam!” Dalton laughed as he punched his arm.

“What? I have fantasies I need to live out. In fact, I have many, many to live out with you.”