Rance shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Waiting on Jake to make the first move was like sitting in the dentist’s office. He knew he’d feel better afterwards, but the initial trauma of just having to be there had him climbing the proverbial walls.
“So what type of function is this?” he finally asked. When Jake didn’t respond, Rance amended, “Tomorrow night? Family?”
Jake buttered a muffin and set it before Rance then got one for himself. “Monthly catfish fry. Just a bunch of cousins, aunts, uncles and a few friends. We do this during the full moon.”
Rance couldn’t repress a snort. “You meet according to the almanac timetables? Not vampires, are you?”
“Maybe.” Jake bit into the bread, licking a crumb from his bottom lip then grinning at Rance when he caught him watching.
Asshole
. Rance reached for his drink. He had already embarrassed himself more than once. He felt vulnerable, unsure of himself, totally ill at ease. If he had to remain in Jake’s presence with him silently scrutinizing him and without the Native revealing anything, he’d go crazy.
Jake’s hand snaked across the table to capture Rance’s arm as he moved to leave. “Slow down, okay?” He eyed the rucksack next to Rance. “And when are you gonna dump that shit? Is there someplace you have to be?”
“What am I doing here, Jake? I mean now?” Rance swept the restaurant with a glance. “There’s nobody watching, nobody who can hear us, so tell me—why should I stay?”
“Because you want to?” Jake asked.
“Don’t answer me with a question, damn it. What do you want from me?”
“Remember when I said that once this was over, you and I needed to sort out what’s between us?” Jake released Rance’s arm and traveled to his hand grasping the bag. He turned Rance’s hand over and traced his wrist with his thumb.
Rance felt his pulse jump and his throat go dry. It pissed him off that Jake could get his blood thrumming with such a simple gesture. “Yeah?”
Jake took a long drink of the iced tea before him and scooted his chair back. “Let’s go talk.”
Jake stood and reached for the knapsack, slinging it over his shoulder. Rance looked at him, perplexed. Okay. Now what?
“I’ll be on the boat if you need me,” Jake called to Haley on their way out the door.
Rance felt as if he’d taken that short walk from inside the marina restaurant to the top deck of Jake’s boat many times, even though it had only been two or three. Everything just felt natural, right.
Neither of them talked during the next several minutes. Jake went through the ritual of clearing the marina and heading for the south part of Lake Tenkiller as if he’d been boating since he was a babe, and Rance took in the scenery, the smells and sights as if it might be his last time.
Was this what it would be like with Jake, should he stay? Never knowing where he stood, whether Jake would see him as the guy who’d stolen part of his sister from him or if he saw him as simply a lunatic who had shown up like a drowned rat?
Rance scoffed inwardly. He’d be a fine one to talk. Maybe he
was
a little loony, what with the cellular memory connection to Sarah, but what of Jake and his Native American beliefs? Not to mention the fact that he and his full blood cousins could change species at the blink of an eye?
Rance became so lost in thought that he didn’t hear Jake come up behind him. He wasn’t even aware he was there until he felt his warm breath against his neck.
“Now,” Jake murmured against his ear. “It’s time.”
“Mm-hmm.” Rance settled into the comfort of his arms, feeling Jake’s chest muscles swell against his back as they looked over the lake where he’d navigated. “What did you have in mind?”
Jake’s hands slipped from Rance’s shoulders to his cock and stroked him through his jeans. “I think you know the answer to that.”
Rance turned, facing him, and Jake’s hands continued their slow exploration, drifting to Rance’s hips, cupping his ass and pulling him into his hard heat. “Is this because you think I’ll introduce you and your clan to my sister—who hasn’t spoken to me for months, by the way? So she can be the mother to a new generation of Native American shape-shifters?”
Jake smacked his ass. “What does
my
sister think?”
Rance tried to step back, but Jake held him in place.
“I haven’t felt Sarah in at least two days, and you’re about to piss me off if you think I’m going to chart the rest of my life based on—”
Jake silenced him with a slow, wet, deep kiss. “Rance Maxmillian Clarke, what I feel for you has nothing to do with tribal politics, brotherly affection or the advice I’ve been receiving from my cousins and my mother, not to mention Vera Rogers, who has taken quite a liking to you.”
Rance waited, blood racing. “So what do you feel?”
Jake set his jaw, and instead of the flip answer Rance expected, his Indian softened, his handsome features showing more emotion than Rance had seen on them. Their eyes locked unwaveringly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve allowed myself to feel anything, so I’m not sure what to say right now.”
“The truth would be appreciated,” Rance said, swallowing his pride. He’d known from the moment he set eyes on Jake that rainy night on his boat how he felt about him. And it wasn’t because of any Native American superstition or legend, and it wasn’t because of gratitude for Sarah’s sacrifice.
“I want you.” Jake opened his mouth to say more, but the words never followed.
Rance waited, albeit, impatiently. He had no intentions of helping Jake, but when it appeared Jake was at a loss, Rance couldn’t resist teasing. However, a fair amount of panic prompted the sarcasm. “Okay, is this a craving, like for candy or soda, or do you have some viral sort of want that requires you have sex to cure it? Define
want
, please.” Rance stiffened his back. “I need to know.”
Jake slowly grinned. “Is this need a craving, like for…?”
Rance socked him on the arm. “I flew over a thousand miles, gave up my home, any prospects for a job, my comfort zone. The least you can do is level with me. What does want mean to you?”
Jake drew his face to within a breath of Rance’s, and the dark look in his eyes sent bottle rockets from Rance’s scalp to the soles of his feet. It spoke volumes, more than anything Jake could have uttered, but Rance’s derision seemed to be the impetus Jake needed to air his thoughts. Jake shrugged. “There is no cure. It’s a terminal case.”
Jake threaded his fingers through Rance’s hair and dragged his lips slowly across his, his tongue running along Rance’s lower lip, tasting, sucking, drawing him. This kiss was slow and deliberate, the ultimate panacea Rance craved.
Rance growled and gave back with all his heart, his very soul. It didn’t matter how they’d met or that they’d both lost so much. Jake might not be able to speak the words. Hell, neither could he. But Jake cared for him—Rance knew it—and they could build on that.
Jake kissed his face, his cheeks, his lips, whispering something in Cherokee over and over. Breathlessly, Rance asked what he was saying.
“A-gi-ga-u.”
Rance repeated it. “Ah-gee-gah-ooh? What does it mean?”
Jake grinned, saying it in both Cherokee and English. “Beloved, beloved, beloved.”
Rance sighed. “Jake, damn it. Do you want me or not?”
At that, Jake laughed, but before Rance could take exception and pick a fight with him over his lack of clarity, Jake dragged him below deck, kicked open a half-closed door and shoved Rance unceremoniously onto a king-sized. Then he jumped after him, pinning him to the comforter. Rance looked sideways at Jake’s bulging forceps as their fingers laced. Jake drew their hands downward until Rance let go and fastened his fingers to Jake’s belt.
“So you do have a bed.”
Jake quirked an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“Well, first time we fucked was on the deck, and the only kissing we’ve done was outdoors. I was beginning to wonder if you even had a bed.”
“All ya gotta do is ask if you want to know something.” Jake rolled onto his back and lay next to him. “I figured you might have some questions about what you saw at Blackgum, down in that cave.”
Rance stared at the ceiling. “I’m an educated man, but I’ve never run across anything like this. I wouldn’t know where to begin asking questions.”
“Well, in case it ever crosses your mind, you don’t have to morph into another bird in order to mate with me.” Jake gouged him in the ribs with an elbow to let Rance know it was okay to joke about shape-shifting.
“Good. I may be from Vegas, but I don’t think I’d look good in feathers.”
Jake howled with laughter. “You asshole. Meaning I do?”
Rance shook his head. “Man, I was too busy watching out for that damned bear to even look at you. Sorry to deflate your ego.”
“I’ll have Daniel carve you a totem or an amulet with a bear to wear around your neck for protection. That make you feel better?”
Rance rolled toward him and lifted himself with an elbow. “And who will protect me from you? Daniel might be able to rip my body to shreds, but you have the power to break my heart.”
There, I’ve said it.
Jake seemed unable to come up with an answering joke. He leaned over and kissed Rance again. Tenderly. “I have no intentions of hurting you, my friend.”
Rance tasted the word on his lips. “Friend. Is that what we are?”
“I hope so. It’s a start.” Jake sobered. “There’s no telling how long I’d have wondered about myself, who I was, whether or not Sarah was right. Not that she’d have lied to me at all. But I’d have wondered if her information was correct.”
Rance nodded. “Not to mention…you’d…or at least I would have…wondered as to…”
“Who my mother was?” Jake finished for him.
“Yeah.”
“Well, now I know.” He chuckled. “And I can forgive my father—he will always be my father. But at least now it makes sense, why he was harder on me than the other boys, why he seemed pissed off half the time. God, no wonder he drank. He thought his wife had cheated on him.”
“Lots of men deal with adultery or worse, Jake. That’s no excuse to drink or to take out his frustrations on you. Sorry, but…that’s how I feel.”
Jake kissed him. “Always speak your mind with me.” Then he placed a hand between them, lowered it to Rance’s cock and stroked. “Seems somebody told me they owed me one.”
Rance lifted an eyebrow. “And you said I didn’t.”
“I lied. On your knees, white boy. I’m going to show you how a Native really makes love.”
Rance laughed, but he felt as if his stomach flipped over. “Mind if we undress first? A denim condom might hurt.”
Jake ripped off his own shirt and shimmied out of his jeans while Rance undressed, and while Rance situated himself amongst the pillows on the bed, Jake reached into the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a handful of foil packets and a tube of lube.
“You plan on using all of that?” Rance asked, surprised.
“I might. Then again, you might. I don’t mind which side my bread is buttered.”
Rance assumed their lovemaking would be as jovial and lighthearted as their foreplay, so he was shocked when once he had assumed the position that Jake’s demeanor changed completely. Gone were the wisecracks, and in their place…soft words in Cherokee. Jake’s hands went from playful to purposeful. Each touch a caress. Each caress a silent exclamation point, driving home his devotion.
“You are so beautiful.” Jake’s breath felt hot against Rance’s back. He stroked Rance’s sides, hips, thighs.