Wholehearted by Cate Ashwood Page B

kisses were becoming deeper and more fevered. Declan needed to feel skin on skin. He dipped his hand to Lucas’s waist and tugged on the drawstring that held his pants right. Lucas’s eyes shot open, and he forcefully pushed Declan off him.
    “Stop, no!” he shouted.
    “Lucas, I’m sorry.” Declan tried to reach for him, but Lucas shot off the bed and across the room before Declan could get to him.
    “Oh God,” he cried, scrubbing his hand down his face.
    “Lucas, tell me what’s wrong,” Declan said.
    “I don’t know. It was good. It felt so good, and then I couldn’t breathe, and I just panicked.”
    Declan stepped across the room, but stopped short of touching the other man. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I was moving a little fast. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”
    “You weren’t, though. I mean, I’m not some blushing virgin. I’ve done this before, but I’ve never….”
    “Freaked out?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You wanna talk about it?”
    Lucas shrugged.
    “C’mon, just come and sit on the bed with me. I won’t touch you. I promise.”
    “But I want you to touch me.”
    Declan grinned. “Well, then I’ll touch you a little, but we’ll just go slow. No pressure.”
    Declan picked up Lucas’s hand and led him to the bed. He pulled back the covers and motioned for him to climb in. Lucas did, shimmying over to make room for Declan. Declan climbed in after him and sat down beside him, leaning his back against the headboard but keeping a few inches of space between them.
    “So what went through your head a moment ago?”
    “I don’t know exactly. It felt good, really good to be kissing you and my body wanted to be there, but my head just kinda spun, and I freaked.”
    “It’s not a big deal, Lucas. We don’t have to do anything. Not tonight, not ever if you don’t want to. Let’s just take it slow. You’re here for at least six weeks, there’s no rush,” Declan assured him. He was already beginning to hope that the six weeks would turn into a lot longer, like forever kind of longer, but he wasn’t ready to let Lucas know yet. If he was scared by a couple of kisses, there was no way he was ready to hear about the things Declan was starting to feel for him.
    Declan thrummed his fingers against his chest, keeping them busy and avoiding reaching out to intertwine them with Lucas’s.
    “You feeling tired?”
    “A little.”
    Declan leaned over and twisted the knob to turn off the bedside light, bathing the room in darkness.
    “Close your eyes, then. You should try to get some sleep.”
    Lucas spoke then, his voice almost too quiet for Declan to hear. “Can you stay? Just for a bit.”
    “Stay?” Declan asked, a bit dumbfounded.
    “Yeah, just lie with me, and talk to me for a bit.”
    “What do you wanna talk about?”
    “I dunno. Anything, I guess.”
    Declan hesitated, knowing that this was his moment. He could take this opportunity to come clean with Lucas about his reasons for leaving Texas. “You wanna hear how I ended up in Hope Cove?”
    “Yeah,” Lucas said softly.
    Declan lay down next to Lucas, over the covers, but close enough that he could feel the other man’s body heat through the cotton. The room was dark; he couldn’t see anything, but he could hear the steady breathing as Lucas waited for Declan to tell his story.
    “After I graduated from Arizona State, I moved to Texas to work at the police department in Austin. It was great for the first few months. I was a rookie beat cop. I got the worst shifts and the shittiest assignments. I was basically the department bitch, but I loved every second of it. Flicking those lights on and blasting off across town to swoop in and save the day got my adrenaline going like nothing else.
    “I loved the job, and no matter what kind of hell the other guys put me through, I took everything in stride, just happy to be part of the boys in blue. I’d been there a few months working with a different partner almost every