Little Wolf (48 page)

He fell back with a tired sigh that made Tim frown into his chest. “Happy now?”

Nathaniel was lucky the things he did to Tim made Tim see stars. But Tim was going to blow him again soon. Maybe they could negotiate. For every two times he made Tim lose it, Tim got to have his way with Nathaniel’s body. But not tonight. Tonight Nathaniel was supposed to be resting.

“I am going to take care of you,” Tim huffed, unsure if he was more pleased or irritated. He was sticky and extremely unfucked, and his legs didn’t seem to want to take his weight—probably because he didn’t want to move. “I’m serious,” he added.

Nathaniel patted him. “In the morning.”

The fact that Nathaniel seemed to believe what he was saying was the only reassuring part about it. Tim huffed at him again to be sure. “Damn right in the morning.” He slid his cheek into Nathaniel’s chest hair and caught his breath. His thoughts were winding down as if Nathaniel’s skin against his and the sound of Nathaniel’s breathing were enough to calm him. The promise of more sex was nice, but this was nice too, and Tim could see why Nathaniel would say this would heal him better than any hospital.

A small knot between his shoulders Tim had barely been aware of eased away at the thought. Nathaniel would be better. Everything else could wait.

T
IM
ROSE
with the sun, which was a nice way of saying he woke up crusty and stiff from sleeping next to Nathaniel on a couch that wouldn’t have been able to comfortably fit Nathaniel alone. The movement made Nathaniel stir, so Tim hurried to the bathroom and then to the kitchen and the phone before Nathaniel fully awoke.

Someone he didn’t know answered his call to the station. Tim told whoever it was that Nathaniel was fine and then added that Nathaniel would not be coming in to work. There was a grumble from the area of the couch that might have been a protest. Tim ignored it and went on to tell the flustered deputy that their sheriff was going to be busy all day with Tim. Tim went breathless for that last part, mostly on purpose. Then he hung up and called Robin’s Egg. He didn’t have to go breathless for her; she immediately exclaimed in delight at someone, probably Cosmo, about, “reconnecting after a life-threatening event” and ended the call before Tim could say anything else.

Nathaniel sat up and ripped off his chest tape in one painful-looking move. “You didn’t have to offer yourself up like that.”

Tim was naked and covered in semen and love bites. He feigned innocence. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Nathaniel couldn’t seem weak, so the town was welcome to think Tim was a needy little crybaby who wanted Nathaniel around him for an affirmation of feelings all-day fuckfest. It wasn’t entirely a lie anyway. Tim glanced over to meet Nathaniel’s Very Serious Stare with one of his own. “But you aren’t going into town today. You’re recovering, and we have sex to have and things to discuss.”

Tim’s courage failed him there, so he went to the cabinets and the fridge and came over to Nathaniel with a bowl of Zoe’s brightly colored cereal. “I’m starving, but you need to eat more than I do. We can do a real meal later or….” He trailed off at the look Nathaniel gave him.

Nathaniel ate a few spoonfuls with a strange expression on his face, as if he either wasn’t sure what to think about the taste of his neon food or wasn’t sure what to make of Tim.

“What?” Tim snapped and went back to the kitchen. He was getting cranky enough to pour himself a bowl. “I can’t possibly surprise you. I thought you knew everything already about my—” He furiously munched cereal. “—feelings.”

Nathaniel ate a bit more. “It’s been a long time since someone barked at me.”

Tim hadn’t barked. There had been no barking. But perhaps his tone had been too imperious. “Was it that bad?”

“No.” Nathaniel put down his bowl, which was empty despite the artificial not-fruit flavor of the cereal. “I can get used to those ‘feelings.’”

The blush that crept down to Tim’s neck wasn’t fair. He put his bowl down with his breakfast unfinished. He needed more than cereal after the past twelve hours, but he wanted other things first. Like for Nathaniel to understand how not okay yesterday was. “People should take care of you, you know,” he remarked while playing with his spoon, “not just worship and bone you.”

“Bone?” Nathaniel sighed. “And you were doing so well.”

It might not have been the best choice of words in a discussion of Tim’s feelings, but it had gotten the message across. “Whatever, old man.” Tim lifted his gaze. “My point is, I’m not much good at it, but I might as well try since I’m here. For a while anyway.”

Nathaniel turned his head away.

“We’ve got a whole day. We could watch all your movies. Play countless games of chess.” Tim would have to prepare something better to eat first, but other than that, he didn’t know what to do. He’d never taken a vacation day. He’d bet Nathaniel hadn’t either, and unlike Tim, Nathaniel had something to take a vacation from.

“I thought there was something in particular you wanted me to do this morning,” Nathaniel commented. He was probably part fox, he was so sly.

“First, you need to shower. I have limits, and dried come is one of them.” Tim was fairly certain he would have forgotten all about the cracked mess all over both of them if Nathaniel touched him, but the tape adhesive residue, all of that, needed to go. In the light of day it was harder to ignore. So was the reason for it.

Nathaniel turned back to him. He studied Tim for a while, not bothering to pretend he wasn’t, then stretched and stood up. Tim could use a shower too, but he stayed where he was while Nathaniel tested his range of motion, and watched the play of Nathaniel’s muscles with equal parts concern and lust. Nathaniel took a deep breath and held it, evidently testing his lungs, evidently familiar with that sort of wound, which was something Tim was going to ask about later.

“I’m okay,” Nathaniel offered in Tim’s general direction without looking at him, and then he headed down the hallway. Tension seemed to hover in the air behind him for a moment, an electric spike Tim was getting to know well. He stepped around the counter to peer down the hall, but Nathaniel was already in his bedroom. Tim heard the shower turn on. He crept a bit closer. “Tim?” Nathaniel appeared in the bedroom doorway, naked but holding a towel. “Could you help me with something?”

When Tim came up to him, Nathaniel wrapped his arms around Tim’s waist and scooped him off his feet. He
was
part fox. But Tim shimmied up and wrapped his legs around him, because anyone else would have done the same in his position, and Nathaniel’s hands came down to help. He carried Tim into the bathroom with a small grunt, either for the effort or for the way Tim bit his shoulder. He put Tim down once they were both in the shower and the door was closed.

They had very little room to move. Tim had even less with the way Nathaniel crowded into his space. Tim glared at him, refusing to be impressed by the sight of water sluicing over Nathaniel’s skin or the way Nathaniel stepped in to shield him.

In the shower Tim couldn’t smell much of anything; the steady stream of water in the small space both washed away and amplified all the surface scents to a near-useless degree. Everything was a reassuring blur. His back was cold against tiles that hadn’t heated from the steam yet, but he didn’t move as Nathaniel ran his hands down his sides. He was so serious. Tim took a breath, then curled his arms around Nathaniel’s neck and let Nathaniel use the wall to help hold him up.

Nathaniel didn’t seem ready to let go of him. “I wouldn’t like it if you were hurt either.” His words were unnecessarily loud. A nicer wolf than Tim would have let Nathaniel put him down or rushed to reassure him that he wouldn’t get hurt. Tim was an asshole with a heart he was learning to figure out. He shook his head and dropped it to rest against Nathaniel’s neck. Nathaniel held him tighter. “That’s why I don’t plan on letting anything happen to you.”

“Me?” Tim wished he had sharper teeth, anything more useful than what he did have. He pushed a hand down to the sticky patches of Nathaniel’s skin where the chest tape had been. “I don’t give a shit about me, here. I… I think I love you.” It was quieter than it should have been, very nearly a whine.

Nathaniel’s breathing took on a raspy, wet sound, as if his lungs had been damaged after all.

“But you knew that.” Tim could remember being so afraid of Nathaniel in the first few moments of knowing him that his heart had nearly burst from his chest. His legs had almost failed him. He’d gone cold and hot and Nathaniel had only stared at him, his gaze the definition of hungry. Now Tim wanted to pounce on Nathaniel and never let him up again. “Have I always felt like this?” Even if Nathaniel didn’t know everything, he’d know that.

“No.” Nathaniel rubbed his palm over Tim’s back where his skin was cool from the tile. “Not at first.” He spoke into Tim’s hair. “You wanted me, despite your fear. Then you were less scared. You were wary of me and then irritated…. I’ve never been so happy to irritate someone.” He wasn’t making sense, but Tim didn’t say a word. Nathaniel was telling him something important. “And after that—” Tim felt the light pressure of a kiss over his ear. “—you came to me when you needed help, and I knew a part of you trusted me.” Tim turned his face away at the memory, but Nathaniel kept talking. “That’s not a bad thing, Little Wolf.” He nosed at Tim’s hair some more. “I love you too.”

Tim eased back. Water was streaming from Nathaniel’s hair into his face, but his expectant, determined expression was unchanged. “It will make us stronger, even if it doesn’t feel that way now,” Nathaniel continued, the faintest tremor in his voice. “Even if you’re still scared.”

Tim scowled, unconvinced. He used both hands to wipe water from Nathaniel’s face and tried to resent the obvious pleasure Nathaniel took in the small gesture. There should be lines of people waiting to do stupid, useless things like that. There had to be weres out there far more suited to it, weres whose mere presence in a town wouldn’t lead to Nathaniel almost being killed. If Tim had never run, this would never have happened.

Tim dropped his head. “We need to talk,” he mumbled, and put his feet on the ground. Nathaniel took a while to release him, then slid his hands down to Tim’s hips to drag Tim under the spray with him. While Tim was sputtering in surprise, Nathaniel reached for the bottle of soap. A moment later he was rubbing handfuls over his chest while staring down at Tim. Tim was no dummy. He slid his hands up the wet, soapy surface of Nathaniel’s chest and took over the job of washing Nathaniel. He shut his eyes when Nathaniel did the same to him, then moved to let them both rinse off.

He half thought Nathaniel was trying to distract him with sex, but when Nathaniel turned the water off and reached out to grab a towel, Tim could tell Nathaniel was determined to hear whatever Tim had to say. His jaw was clenched tight, and though he dried Tim off with gentle, sure motions, he barely bothered to dry himself.

Tim watched him in and out of the mirror. Some of the bruises from the crash were still very, very faintly visible. Tim pulled his towel tight around himself and wished he were dressed. Starting this naked and damp in Nathaniel’s bathroom did not put him in a position of power.

“What makes you think it wasn’t an accident?” Tim began without preamble. It was his fault. He needed to know.

Nathaniel braced his hands on the sink. “Almost no one drives on that road, and when they do, it’s not at that speed, and not in a shiny black luxury class SUV. Zoe suspected it from the tracks alone—acceleration, no braking. But intentional or not, it’s still a hit-and-run. Zoe and the others are searching for the car now.”

The SUV was probably in a semitruck somewhere, or hidden on a rented property until it could be smuggled out of the area.

Tim kept his grip on his towel. “Did you tell anyone you’d be driving that way? Notice anyone following you?”

“No, and no.”

Tim didn’t think Nathaniel had expected technical questions.

“And the impact came from the side. An access road. I’d say someone saw me and either took their chance or sped ahead to wait for another one.” Nathaniel sighed.

Luca had always been good at covering his tracks and taking advantage of any opportunities that came his way. “A cowardly strike when you weren’t expecting it.” Tim was familiar with his methods. He’d always cornered Tim when they were alone in the house. He never left deep marks and didn’t seem to care if his attempt was successful as long as it rattled Tim. “He won’t confront you directly unless he has to. Oh sure, he talks big, and I’ve seen him spar to keep his skills up, but whatever my uncle thinks of him, he fights more like a reptile than a wolf. All apologies to dragons.”

Nathaniel frowned. Tim turned and went into the bedroom, stumbling over the soiled blankets they’d left on the floor. He sat on the bed and waited for Nathaniel to follow after him. He didn’t have long.

“Want to run that by me again?” Beautiful fucking alpha male
would
continue this conversation while stark-naked.