Cold Shadow (Cold Country #2)(26)

So, Quinn kissed him goodbye and watched him drive away. About that time, Emma was up and ready for breakfast. It was the first day of summer vacation and the kid just could not sleep in. Odd, how he had to drag her out of bed on school mornings. After breakfast, they dressed and packed and hugged and kissed and sang songs. She was excited to get to go away with Grannie Annie for the week; even more excited to know she would be going to Disney World for the first time in her life. Quinn wanted to take her himself, but there never seemed to be time anymore.

There never seemed to be time for anything anymore. A public appearance here, a recording session there, a charity event, one more summer tour. His manager, Maria, had nearly killed him when he called her and canceled rehearsal for the coming week. She saw the bottom line and only the bottom line. Quinn was only interested in seeing one bottom and it belonged to Nathan Truman. That Nathan's bottom was the first thing he neglected and the thing he missed most was starting to weigh heavily on him.

That Nathan was upset over these murders just enforced the feeling that something was wrong. Nate didn't sleep much when he was working a case. Thank God they lived in a small county with very little crime, or the man would never sleep. But he was sleeping now and that was what mattered. He'd continue to sleep, too, if Quinn had anything to say about it.

Quinn had watched him turn his phone off the second he walked in the door. His announcement that he was officially on vacation and wasn't turning the damn thing back on for ten days had caught Quinn completely off guard. That Quinn ended up sprawled on the couch less than five minutes after that with a hot, naked man filling him from behind … well, that was just fabulous. Damn, he was still trembling from that.

A night of sex and food and no children or deputies calling was what Nathan needed, and sleep. Quinn traced Nathan's jawline with his finger, he loved the dark stubble that grew there. Nate flinched slightly at the touch, a sigh followed with a slight twitch of his lip but he didn't wake up.

Drifting in that place of half asleep and not really awake, Quinn felt Nathan shift, he could sense the tension that gripped him. And the way Nathan sat up slowly, as if trying not to wake him, alarmed Quinn more than anything. Nathan sat on the side of the bed, his face in his hands. Quinn could see him tremble.

Quinn reached out, running his fingers over the tail of the dragon tattoo, his touch soft, but even so, he still startled Nate whose eyes were wild when he swung around to look at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." Quinn eased toward him looking for warmth, hoping to comfort. "The nightmares are back, aren't they?"

Nate never told him much about the dreams, and that was fine. The terror in his eyes when they came was enough to scare Quinn to death. He didn't want to know the details. His own nightmares over the incident, as they came to call it, were bad enough. Bad enough that he hid them from Nate.

"I didn't have a nightmare. Go back to sleep, Quinn." His skin was so cold. Nate hated the cold. He didn't blame him; after all, he'd died from hypothermia and blood loss. His heart stopped for two minutes, two whole minutes in which Quinn had fallen completely apart. The EMT wouldn't give up, though, shocking his heart one last time. The blip on the little screen had been the greatest sound in the world, the stronger blips that followed all but wiped out the sound the machine made when he died. "I'm just tired and cold."



       
         
       
        

"And … ? Come on, Nate, I know you. Something is eating at you. I thought you would be happy to turn the case over to the FBI. I thought it would be fine when Drew came-" The strangled laugh that escaped his lover's mouth stopped him. "It's not the case, is it?"

"No." He flinched away from Quinn's fingers, drawing his arms around himself in that way he did sometimes when he was trying to stay in control and failing miserably.

Quinn rose on his knees and wrapped his arms around his lover from behind, crossing his arms over Nate's. "Tell me what happened."

He waited for what seemed like forever, and just when he was about to give up and try a different tactic, he felt more than heard the sob that wracked Nate's body. "I cheated."

"On what? Your taxes? Some cop exam I don't know about?" Quinn didn't want to think what he was thinking. The way Nate's eyes had roamed when they were out these past couple of months. He knew it was coming. Hell, he'd expected it a long time ago. Despite what he claimed, Nate wasn't gay, he liked women, and Quinn could see the appreciation in his eyes when he thought Quinn wasn't looking.