Chapter Four
His back itched. Nathan tried to ignore the sensation of a million little ants crawling all over him. It had been years since he felt that particular sensation which had started this afternoon. The area of skin affected growing larger as the night wore on.
It wasn't the murders. No, it hadn't started until Andrew Walker crowded him in the meadow. Walker with his dark hair and angular face and big hazel eyes and fine-as-hell ass that made Nathan think of...shit-
He flipped the steaks, watching as Drew and Quinn played with Emma on the playground. Both men laughed as they bounced the little girl on the trampoline. Rolling together when they managed to lose their balance, touching and playing. They looked right together. More right than he looked with Quinn.
Sometimes he wondered about those three days he'd lost. They'd been trapped together at the hospital by a blizzard with nothing to do but wait for him to either wake up or die. They'd bonded. He'd seen that much. Sometimes he wondered exactly how they'd bonded.
Walker had asked him if he was jealous that day he woke up. He'd said no. There wasn't anything to be jealous of. Walker was unquestioningly heterosexual. But Quinn … Well, Quinn could seduce a stone statue into loving him if he wanted to. He'd seen it happen over the last couple of years. The way he sucked people into his life with a tilt of his beautiful head, a twinkle in those incredible blue eyes. The media adored him. The whole fucking country adored him. Because he knew how to play them, he'd done what so many entertainers before him hadn't dared: He'd come out of the closet on national television, and instead of being persecuted for it, he'd gained more fans.
True to his word, he'd kept the media away from Nathan. Their private life had somehow stayed private. Sometimes Nathan went to events with him. Quinn loved dressing him up. Loved showing him off, and Nathan let him. But his name had never leaked. Never. It was amazing.
"Hey, can I kiss the cook?" Quinn caught him by surprise when he wrapped his arms around him from behind. He didn't wait for permission before leaning in for a kiss, his tongue just flicking Nathan's.
"What was that for?" Nathan had to fight the urge to lean against his chest and lose himself.
"Because you are scaring the steaks with the dirty looks you're giving them. Baby, what's bothering you? Really." Quinn rested his chin on his shoulder, his arms still around his waist.
"I hate that you're taller than me. It's been bugging me for years." That he had no idea what was really bothering him just bothered him more. "And that you're blond and blue-eyed. A god thrown down here to torment us mere mortals with your beauty."
"Well, as long as it's something earth-shattering like that, I guess you'll just have to live." Quinn's hands slipped lower, going beneath the apron he'd tied on. "I want you so much. God, I missed you."
Only Drew and Emma were around to see, and Emma was too busy forcing Drew to push her on the swing. But when Drew looked their way, his gaze met Nathan's before he hastily averted his eyes. "When do you have to go back? Oh, God, Quinn, don't do that out here." Quinn's hand gripped him, squeezing him through his shorts. It felt so fucking good, he couldn't help pressing against it for a second.
"I have to be back in Nashville on Monday. We kick off the tour July 5th. I want to take you inside and love you. I was going to when I got back, but there you were with Drew. Is he staying with us?"
"No, Mama is putting him up in my old room. She thinks he's a god. That's why she went all out on the food. That cake in there must have cost a fortune."
"You are so fucking jealous of him. Listen to yourself. He saved your lousy life. Be grateful."
"You saved my life, twice."
"Not without Walker, I didn't. Either time. Nate, I want you to fuck me like you did that day in the Keys. I dream about it sometimes, about how good it felt, so good I exploded without being touched."
"Jesus, Quinn. Tonight, after dinner. After the rugrat goes to bed."
Quinn groaned against his shoulder. "Why did we have a kid again?"
"I think I'm the wrong person to ask that. I wasn't around for the baby-making part."
"You'd look good with my baby in your belly."
"Cut it out, Quinn. People are watching."
"It's just Drew."
"That's what bothers me."
Quinn squeezed him one last time and stepped away, leaving him feeling cold and alone in the middle of a warm June evening with the sun still glowing softly just over the horizon. He shivered. He couldn't help it.