“I think you’re right.” Neither of them were dressed for walking a long distance in the snow. “I’m sorry, Rayne. This is my fault. I should have made sure I had my phone and double checked the truck.”
“You couldn’t have predicted this.” Rayne tugged his knitted hat more securely over his ears and tucked his hands into his coat pockets. “I don’t suppose you have an emergency thermal blanket?” he asked hopefully.
“Actually, I do.” Emilio turned to the back again, reaching behind Rayne’s seat and pulled out an emergency kit. His mother had insisted that all the family vehicles have them. “There should be a blanket in here, and flares, and food bars. I can put a flare out behind the truck, so people will know we’re in trouble.”
“That’s great!” Rayne’s expression brightened. “We can stay warm, we won’t get too hungry, and we can keep the truck visible. Thank goodness.”
“Yeah, and maybe someone will come by,” Emilio said. He got out of the truck to place the flares, setting one twenty feet ahead and another twenty feet behind the truck. By the time he got back in, he was shivering. “Remind me next time to break down in the summer, okay?”
“I know it might be a little weird, but I’m okay with sharing body heat under the blanket if you are,” Rayne said as he scooted toward the middle of the bench seat. He’d already unfolded the blanket and had half of it draped over himself.
Emilio remembered how Rayne was always the first to feel the cold. “No, I understand,” he said, telling himself that he was doing the same thing he’d have done with anyone he’d been stranded with. So he put his arm along the back of the seat, silently inviting Rayne to cuddle against him to stay warm.
Rayne’s sigh of relief was audible as he accepted the invitation and nestled against Emilio’s side. He arranged the blanket so it covered both of them from the shoulders down and held it securely in place. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Sure.” Emilio tried to ignore the warmth of Rayne pressed against him, but the position they were in brought back a lot of memories. How many times had they snuggled together in a car, at the drive-in, at Fourth of July fireworks, or just parking out along one of the many mountain roads so they could be alone? “It could be worse, right? We could have been stuck with Mrs. Greer.”
“I’d rather take my chances with a bear or bull elk in the dark,” Rayne said with a little snort. He sighed again, a more content sound this time, and he settled in, leaning his head back against Emilio’s shoulder. “This is familiar, although to be an authentic reenactment, we’d have to shed some clothes, and the windows need to be steamed up.”
“I haven’t steamed up any windows in a long time,” Emilio said quietly.
“Neither have I,” Rayne said. “I don’t think it would have worked out for me and Tony in the long run anyway. He didn’t have as much…” He paused, seeming to choose his words carefully. “As much passion as I’m used to.”
Emilio knew he shouldn’t want to hear about Rayne’s lover, but this sounded like a criticism, and one where Emilio might have come out the better man. “How so?”
“I guess I got spoiled by you,” Rayne said, lifting his head so he could look at Emilio with a rueful little smile. “You were always so enthusiastic about the things you cared about. You felt things deeply, and you never shied away from expressing what you felt. Tony was much more reserved. I got used to it eventually, but it wasn’t easy.”
“I’m surprised you’d settle for someone so… boring,” Emilio said. “And he’s the one who broke up with you? I would have thought you would’ve been tired of someone like that in a month.”
“He wasn’t boring, really, and we had a lot in common plus decent chemistry.” Rayne gave a little shrug. “He was different, that’s all.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was soft. “He wasn’t you.”
“Well, no one is,” Emilio replied, keeping his tone light. “And while chemistry matters, it isn’t everything. It takes…” He paused, thinking about it. “It takes knowing the other person almost as well as you know yourself, flaws and all, and wanting them anyway. Not just tolerating them. It’s like when a couple dances together. They don’t have to be great individually, as long as what they have together makes magic.”
“We synced up pretty well back in the day, I think,” Rayne said, resting his head on Emilio’s shoulder again.
“We did.” Emilio sighed. “How much of it had to do with youth and hormones, do you think? Or the fact we were the only gay boys in town?”
“Not that much,” Rayne said as he adjusted the blanket to cover Emilio a little more. “We were friends long before we started making out. If youth, hormones, and proximity were the only reasons we hooked up back then, I wouldn’t have thought about you as much as I did over the past twelve years. I wouldn’t still find you attractive either.” He lifted his head to look at Emilio, offering an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Apparently it’s easier to be honest in the dark. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can forget I said anything.”
Maybe Rayne was right, and honesty really was easier in the dark. That would be the reason why Emilio leaned closer. “I thought about you all the time,” he confessed. “Every time I walked down the street, I kept wondering if I’d see you. When I would practice in the playhouse, I wondered if you would suddenly pop out of the wings with that naughty smile. When I kissed someone, I never gave up wishing that when I opened my eyes, I’d see your face. I guess it’s pretty pathetic to be so hung up on someone who had moved on. I should have, but I never did get over you.”
“I’m not sure I did either. I mean, I’m right back here where I started.” Rayne released a long, slow breath. “I have what I thought I wanted when I left home: my own interior design business in a big city. By my twenty-year-old self’s standards, I’m a success, and I should be happy, but I’m not. Coming back here and working on the playhouse is the first thing that’s made me happy in years, and I’m ridiculously excited to pitch my idea about the craft market to the arts council.” He sat up and shifted to face Emilio, and in the dim and eerie light of the flares, his angular face appeared more somber than usual. “When I think about the men I’ve dated since moving to Atlanta, I realize I’ve been looking for another Emilio, but there’s only you.” He skimmed his fingertips along Emilio’s cheek, his expression softening with a smile. “The original.”
How long had it been since someone had looked at him the way Rayne was doing now? How long since someone had touched him with such tenderness. Emilio wasn’t touch starved, not coming from a big, affectionate family the way he did, but hewasstarving for something. For the passion that had been missing from his life since Rayne left. For the heady rush of desire, and knowing he was desired in return. It was probably foolish to think they could rekindle anything after so long, but Emilio had to find out if the spark was still there.
With a soft sound of hunger Emilio leaned in, pulling Rayne closer and capturing Rayne’s lips. There was nothing timid about the kiss, nothing of exploration or hesitation. He’d kissed Rayne thousands of times, and he knew how Rayne liked to be kissed, so he held nothing back. If there was no spark, he’d know it soon enough. They both would. Rayne froze, and Emilio felt as well as heard him gasp, but his hesitation lasted only a moment. A low, throaty moan escaped Rayne as he parted his lips and buried his fingers in Emilio’s thick hair, holding him in place.
Rayne tasted just as good as Emilio remembered, and Emilio’s heart rate sped up as Rayne moaned and surrendered to the kiss. Emilio didn’t hesitate to deepen it, plundering Rayne’s mouth, giving Rayne all the passion he claimed to have missed. If this was to be the last time they ever kissed, Emilio wanted Rayne to remember it, to compare every kiss to this one. Rayne met Emilio’s passion and returned it, his moans growing louder and his fingers tightening in Emilio’s hair. His hunger was that of a man who knew what he wanted, not of the inexperienced boy he’d once been.
This was what Emilio wanted, what heneeded. Growling low in his throat, Emilio pushed Rayne back, following him down without breaking the kiss. He wanted to feel Rayne beneath him, to memorize the way it felt. As soon as his back hit the seat, Rayne wound both arms around Emilio, clinging to him as if he never wanted to let go.
Emilio pressed Rayne down, reveling in the way they fit together, as if they had been made for each other. Rayne’s body was lean and hard beneath him, and Emilio moved his mouth from Rayne’s so he could press his mouth against the pulse that beat at the side Rayne’s neck. He groaned, then rocked against Rayne once, and again, wanting more. Wanting everything. Rayne hooked one leg around Emilio’s hips and rocked his hips, his breath coming in shallow pants.
They might have gone further—perhaps even too far—if they hadn’t been interrupted by the honking of a horn. Dazed, Emilio pulled back and then had to shade his eyes from the glare of headlights shining into the truck. He wasn’t certain whether he was more relieved or annoyed at the timing of the rescue, but he sighed, holding out a hand to help Rayne back up.
“I think we’re saved,” he said wryly.
“That’s not what I’d call it.” Rayne grumbled as he clasped Emilio’s hand and sat up. He ran his fingers through his hair and blew out a sharp breath. “I suppose we should be glad we aren’t going to be stuck here all night,” he said, but his tone didn’t sound convincing.
“I suppose,” Emilio agreed. He looked at Rayne closely in the harsh lights, seeing how his lips were swollen from their kisses and the way his face was still flushed with desire. The sight made Emilio want to pick up where they’d left off, but that wasn’t an option, so he opened the driver’s side door, preparing to get out to greet their rescuers. “We probablyarea little old for desperate groping in a truck.”
Rayne flashed that old, familiar wicked smile at him before opening the passenger side door. “On the contrary, I think we just proved you’re never too old for desperate groping in a truck.”
Emilio snorted, but then turned his attention to greeting the older man who had stopped to help them. It only took him a few minutes to figure out the problem was a loose lead, and after adjusting the connection he waved them on their way back to Holiday Pines.
Now that they’d had a little time to cool off—literally and figuratively—Emilio wasn’t certain what the kiss meant in the grand scheme of things. Rayne had said something about moving back to Holiday Pines, but as far as Emilio knew, that was just talk. And talking was probably what they needed to do before things went any further. For all Emilio knew, Rayne was just interested in a holiday fling before going back to Atlanta and picking up right where he’d left off. Making assumptions had led to heartbreak for him once before, so he wasn’t going to make any now.
No, if they were to have anything beyond one incredible kiss, Rayne would have to convince Emilio there was a white picket fence in the future and not just twelve more years of loneliness.
