And Spencer felt compelled to ask.
“You like my home?” He felt more naked than even his scrawny bare ass, flapping in the tent that used to be his skinny jeans.
“It’s a great home,” Theo said softly. “Me, Preston, Oscar and Belinda have dinner together most nights. Did you do that?”
Spencer nodded. “When I was home. Sometimes I’d bring Belinda takeout—but not often enough. They work so hard.”
Theo chuckled. “I took over where you stopped,” he said. “And I told Preston and Oscar to remember when I couldn’t.” He smiled, and a look of peace seemed to suffuse his face. “Good moms need lots of love.”
Spencer “hmmd” noncommittally, but Theo never let him get away with that.
“You wouldn’t know, would you?”
Over the last four weeks, Spencer had steadfastly refused to talk family with Theo. His little speech to Glen had been as bare as he wanted his soul to be. But, dammit, they seemed to be on the same page about so many things. About living in the country, about hard work and service, about being kind to people who were kind to them. Maybe Glen was right.
“I only thought she was a good mom,” he said softly. “Good moms don’t teach their kids to hate. Or that it’s okay for dads to use their fists. Belinda’s a good mom.”
Theo nodded. “Yeah. She is. Who were you taught to hate, Spencer?”
Spence shrugged. “Usual suspects. Anyone not straight, white, typical, or male. Boo-fuckin’-hoo, right?”
Theo let out a little chuff of air, and then, surprisingly, kissed his cheek. “You don’t think that way,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. You’re fine.”
That easy. Spencer turned his head and searched Theo’s warm brown eyes. “You love that family,” he said with a little bit of wonder.
“You don’t?” Theo asked doubtfully.
“No—I mean, yes, I do. I just… uhm, never, you know….”
“Used words like a human. I get it.” Theo seemed to be laughing at him, but Spencer understood. To someone who communicated in ways besides posturing and braggadocio, acknowledging love and kindness was probably a walk in the park.
Spencer managed a smile. “You sure you can deal with my sub-human grunts? You can… you know, have the place on the dog ranch and the job in the office if you room at Oscar and Belinda’s. I don’t think they’d mind.”
“Oh, Spencer,” Theo said gently. “You haven’t even seen what I’ve done to your trailer and you want to get rid of me already?”
Spencer was leaning into him—leaning on him, if truth be known, when he didn’t lean on anybody. “You… you can keep the family, Theo, if you decide that I was a bad idea. You know that, right? I mean….” Oh, he felt so good. So warm, so strong. Spencer remembered the way Theo had leaned on his shoulder on their little raft in the middle of the great void. Would he trust Spencer like that again after seeing him small and weak?
“Spencer?” He was so close.
“What?”
“This.” And Theo leaned in and kissed him, like he had when they’d been on the raft. Spencer closed his eyes, his uncertainty, his nervousness, falling away.
This was kissing. He knew how to kiss.
You opened your mouth and let your partner in.
Theo came in firmly—but not too hot. Almost as though he was trying to gentle Spencer, to lure him, to tease him into committing. Spencer had never been that guy.
He raised his hand to the back of Theo’s head and held him, taking over the kiss, plundering, drinking, like the month in the hospital had sapped his strength, his fire, and Theo was feeding him—water, flame, and blood.
Theo’s hands came up to his shoulders, not to push him away but to touch, to knead, and when his palm brushed Spencer’s nipple through his T-shirt, the charge of electricity that ripped through him was urgent and unmistakable.
And wholly inappropriate for a hospital room.
Spencer tore himself away and paused, eyes wild, panting, Theo’s little whimper of need hitting him in the stomach with want all over again.
“That,” he said, trying to catch his breath, “is very dangerous.”
“That was awesome!” Theo breathed. “Oh, man. Kissing has been so underrated!”
Spencer turned toward him helplessly. “That’s your takeaway here?”
Theo gave him a dreamy smile and an enthusiastic nod. “Oh, buddy. You are so not getting rid of me now.”
Spencer opened his mouth to give him all of the reasons he’d carefully formulated for why Theo needed to get rid of Spencer—leg brace, shitty childhood, bad deeds as an adolescent, no track record in a relationship, period—but what he got when he opened his mouth was a big blank.
And that’s how Damien and Glen found them. Staring into each other’s eyes while Spencer gaped like a trout.
Glen had to clear his throat to get them moving, and Spencer followed the two of them blindly out of the hospital room to the waiting wheelchair in the hall, Theo at his heels.
Damien had brought what they referred to as the Cadillac Black Hawk. He’d had it retrofitted with soundproof panels and luxe seats, and while they could have spoken to Damien through a commlink to the cockpit, that’s not what happened.
What happened was Theo made sure Spencer was comfortable, made sure his leg was elevated, and then took the seat right next to his in spite of the fact that it sat six comfortably, with room for an EMT crew and two patients if they needed it.
And then Theo—without asking, without giving Spencer a chance to say no—leaned his head on Spencer’s shoulder and stayed there. Quietly holding his hand, lacing their fingers, all the way back to the ranch.
It was the damnedest thing.
Spencer couldn’t think of a word to say.
THEO let him off the hook that night. After getting settled into his room again, seeing all the changes, and, of course, meeting Colonel, who could not bear to be parted from him after nearly three weeks’ separation, Spencer was forced to concede he was still healing and needed to rest. Theo had the gall to tuck him in, making him set his clock for five in the afternoon so he could hobble across the property—on the walkway Preston had built for him while he’d been laid up—and have dinner in the big house with, well, everybody.
Because as Damien informed them, Cash had flown in that afternoon, and Glen had left the hospital to pick him up, and Elsie and Josh were arriving at six.
“Who’s running the goddamned business?” Spencer grumbled.
“Two guys Glen hired last week,” Theo told him cheerfully. “Or I should say a guy and a girl. Sadly, not partners like you and Elsie, but I’m pretty sure we’ll cure that.”
“Whatever,” Spencer grumbled, but Theo had gazed at him until his cheeks heated, and he’d been forced into honesty. “It’s nice,” he said reluctantly. “I missed everybody.”
“Was that so rough?” Theo teased, but he was running his hands through Spencer’s hair as he said it.
“You have no idea,” Spencer mumbled—or meant to mumble—but he might have fallen asleep first. He wasn’t sure.