“Which is?”
“Fuelby Metallica. I went through a bit of a heavy metal phase in high school.”
I’ve never heard it, but I’m making a point to listen to it when I leave.
“What about this one?” I graze his ribs lightly; Dev sucks in his stomach in reaction to my touch.
“It’s Latin,” he informs breathy. “It reads ‘If I can’t move heaven, I will raise hell.’”
“I like it.” I tickle my fingertip over his skin to the Roman numerals running vertically down his side. “And this?”
“It’s the date I officially became a doctor.” He presses my hand over the ink, linking us together. I breathe raggedly, the warmth of his body about to give me heatstroke.
Fuck, he’s so gorgeous and irresistible, especially when he’s this close, tempting me like a goddamn devil.
If Reese wasn’t in the other room, and what happened between us didn’t haunt me, I’d say fuck it all and jump Dev, right here right now.
But I don’t. I gain some composure and back away.
“Kayla,” Dev protests, but I need to stick to my guns.
“I need to go.”
“You need to stay.”
I shake my head. That is the worst possible idea. I know exactly where I’d end up. And I’m just not prepared to go there.
“Tell Reese I’ll see him tomorrow.”
Dev watches reluctantly as I keep backing away, his eyes full of lustful unrest.
I slip out soundlessly, my entire body throbbing.
Once parked in my driveway, I sit in my truck in the dark, and just to torture myself further, I downloadFuelby Metallica and listen to each and every energetic word. It’s getting harder and harder to resist him. As the bass pounds through my speakers, I come to the realization that one day very soon, I’m going to fall into the pitch-black ravine that is Devlin Dane and become lost forever.
10
Dev
Today felt like the longest day of my life.
I open the throttle and accelerate down the backcountry road. Only rolling hills and green pastures for miles. The only other living soul I encounter is the occasional grazing cow. I speed up and down the countryside leaning into the sharp curves as the serenity of the backcountry helps clear my head. I’ve missed this. The wide open, untouched land. The beauty of nowhere. I lived the fast life, working in a big city. But it wasn’t the fast I was looking for. I wanted more freedom and less pretentious attitude. I wanted to be where people were genuine, and what you saw was what you got. And I knew exactly where to find that. The place I grew up. It may not be fancy. There are no strip malls or shopping outlets, but the main road through town has two decent restaurants and a few small, -family-owned shops. It’s simple and uncomplicated. To most, it may not be much, but to me it’s home.
I pull up to the road that leads to my house a little later than usual. It’s almost dark, but not quite. There’s still enough light to see Kayla sitting on the front porch as the night sky creeps in over our heads.
I park my bike right in front of her and hop off. I don’t take her sitting out here with a beer as a good sign.
“Rough day?” I take a seat next to her.
“You could say that.” She takes a long sip from the bottle.
“I have a cure for that.”
“Do tell?” She entertains me.
“A rough night.” I smile suggestively.
She grunts and rolls her eyes. “I’ll pass.”
