“And you became an agent because of what happened?”
“After a failed dream of playing basketball, no thanks to Whiskey Walker.”
Nic let him have that dodge.He’d rather see a smile on Cam’s face than that ravaged look from a moment ago.“What’s Bobby do now?”
Cam rotated on his hip, facing Nic.“Installs security systems.”
“I bet he’s good at that.”
“One of the best.It’ll be useful for when his three kids become unruly teenagers like we were.”
“He’ll track them, won’t he?”
“You bet.”Cam polished off the last of his beer and waited for Nic to finish his, hand out for the empty.“Another?”
Nic nodded.
Cam strolled to the far end of the kitchen, tossed the empties, then opened the fridge door.“We both swung the opposite direction.Playing by the rules.Bobby installing security, me becoming an FBI agent.”
While his head was in the fridge, Nic slid off his stool and crossed the kitchen so he was right there when Cam closed the door.No more dodging.He’d seen the problem with Cam’s story.Had suddenly grasped Jamie’s well-placed concern.
“You’re going back on your deal,” he said.“With Bobby.”
Twisting, avoiding his gaze, Cam grabbed the bottle opener.“He said I’m not.It’s for work.”
Nic stepped closer.“How’s your head doing with that?”
“Still processing.”
“That’s why Jamie was worried.He knows about this.”
“Some of it.”Cam held an open bottle out to Nic.“I’m worried,” he admitted.“I buried that part of myself deep, and now I’m digging it all back up.”
Nic knew a thing or two about that.He’d spent most of his life hiding one secret or another.Maybe if he shared some of those, the things that made him the man he was, Cam would feel more comfortable using his own past on this assignment without fear of losing the present.Because after hearing what he had, Nic was more convinced than ever that Cam was exactly the right person for the job.
He reached past Cam to place his bottle on the cabinet behind him, and with his trailing hand, lifted Cam’s face, catching his dark, swirling gaze.
Considering.
Plenty of other men had seen what Nic was about to show Cam.He’d intended for Cam to see it tonight as it were and had taken all the wraps and bandages from the hospital off at the brewery.But while other men had seen, Nic still hid their meaning from most, explained to only a few, and never gave the full truth to anyone.Cam, though, needed it.Or as much as Nic could give.
Decision made, he removed his hand from under Cam’s chin, stepped back, and began to work free the buttons of his dress shirt.Cam inhaled sharply, bobbled his bottle, and Nic chuckled.The blush across Cam’s cheeks was so beautiful Nic almost reached for him to claim that second kiss, but that wasn’t what Cam needed.Yet.
In the end, Cam made the decision for him, rotating to set his bottle aside.When he turned back around, he full on gasped as his wide eyes roved over Nic’s tattooed skin, leaving a path of fire in their wake.
Nic unhooked the last button and let his hands fall to the side, shirt hanging open.“We’ve all got a past, Boston.”
Cam’s darkening gaze flickered up, seeking permission, and Nic granted it with a nod.Cam didn’t think to warm his hands, cold from the beer bottle, and Nic hissed at the first touch.His fingertips warmed in seconds, though, as they trailed across a torso lightly sprinkled with brown and gray hair and painted in memories.
The eagle, flintlock, anchor, and trident insignia over his left pec, aka “The Budweiser,” inked after he finished BUDs training, once he was officially made a Navy SEAL.
“You got a JAG one too?”Cam asked.
“Hip,” Nic replied, voice full of gravel.He planned on showing Cam the oak leaves and millrind later tonight, Cam’s hands on his body making that all the more inevitable.Now, though, Cam was tracing the list of names beneath his SEAL tat.His team members, including Eddie.
Cam glanced up again, eyes asking a question to which there was a good answer for a change, not a heartbreaking one.“All still here,” Nic said.“I wanted to honor them.They saved me when I was injured in the field.Didn’t leave me behind, so I keep them with me too.”
Cam flattened his palm over the names, a benediction that had Nic closing his eyes and sucking in his own breath, then exhaling again as Cam slid his hand to the other side of his torso, over the quote halfway up his ribs.The only easy day was yesterday.A SEAL favorite.And below it, the skeletal frog and trident also favored by frogs like him, though he’d never seen another SEAL’s inked in rainbow colors.
