Chapter Twelve

KARL scrunched his nose and buried his face in his pillow. His warm, solid, steadily rising and falling pillow. A warm, solid, steadily rising pillow was attached to Dan’s finger as it gently traced his mouth.

“Stop that.” His voice came out croaky and pleased, effectively undermining his attempt to sound annoyed.

He wasn’t the least annoyed. He was besotted and brimming over with contentment. Dan was safe, whole, and in his bed, in his cabin. Karl breathed in and savored Dan’s scent and the funk of their spent night and skin.

Dan hummed a low laugh and pulled him into a kiss. In response Karl sighed and tangled his hands in Dan’s hair. He reveled in Dan’s warm taste, the midday sunlight as it spilled over the bed, and the heat of Dan’s body as he pressed every inch of it against him.

Dan palmed his ass with one hand and flicked his nipple with the other. Tremors of pleasure rippled through him.

“Fuck,” he muttered and pushed Dan down. He caught Dan’s chin and tilted Dan back to get a harder angle and deepen the kiss.

Dan moaned as he yielded, and Karl liked that even more.

He moved away and roamed to kiss here, there, everywhere, and finally he licked the fast-beating thump of Dan’s pulse in the cup of Dan’s collarbone.

Dan’s breath hitched, and he wrapped his arms around Karl and held him close. Karl slowed his pace and indulged Dan wanting to just hold on, and skimmed his hands up and down Dan’s sides as he bit a soft hickey on Dan’s neck. When he pulled back to admire his handwork, Dan smiled at him, gaze clear and untroubled.

They rested facing each other.

“I thought Curtis would do way worse.” Dan skated a fingertip this way and that across Karl’s skin. It was a new and different tactile need. Dan seemed unable to keep from touching Karl for long, and Karl certainly didn’t object.

“Eh.” Karl shrugged like he knew all along that they’d be let off relatively easy. “Curtis is tough and expects the best, but he’s not a stickler to the point of abuse or irrationality. If we’d let it drag on any more—say Axe got away with the drugs or was doing anyone harm—I think we’d have been in for it. But as it stands, he understood.”

“Yeah, understood and threatened our careers.” Dan drew a diminishing spiral on the rise of Karl’s hip. “But he only threatened so I’d take it—like we were totally caught speeding, but he let us off with a warning as long as we don’t do it again.”

“And seeing as we will have no reason to? I’d say we’re good.” Karl’s voice squeaked when Dan’s light touch grazed his cock.

Dan snickered. He pushed onto his palm and tenderly laid gentle kisses on Karl’s stitches.

“How do they feel?”

“Fine.” Karl resisted the urge to scratch them.

Dan raised an eyebrow, and Karl let himself swipe the silky length of one with his thumb. He’d wanted to do that since they met. “That’s not just a stock answer—it really is fine. They’re a little tight and a little itchy but I’ve had some excellent distraction from it.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s basically medicinal.”

Dan grinned. Then he leaned in and captured Karl’s mouth in another kiss.

Karl laughed. He was horny and happy, and he couldn’t pretend he didn’t want Dan in every way.

“I’ve been meaning to mention—Ridge invited us to his place.”

“Who’s Ridge?”

Dan dug a knuckle into him. “You know, my good friend who helped us. With his technogenius and all.”

“Why do I need to meet Ridge?” Karl hated the insidious creep of jealousy that slithered into him, but it wormed its way there all the same.

“Because I like him. And I haven’t had many good friends in life, so it seems like they should all know each other. If you two met, that’d take care of it.”

Karl frowned.

“And I want him to meet who I like better.” Dan rose onto his elbow. “Also, he’s in Hawaii.”

The insidious creep of jealousy and every other uncomfortable thought evaporated. Karl would never distrust Dan, and he did want to meet Ridge. He just needed a moment to get over himself.

“Hawaii, you say?” Karl dragged Dan down for a kiss. “I think I could be persuaded.”

“I’m as excellent at persuading as I am at distracting.”

“Well, then. Done deal.” Karl opened his arms, and Dan snuggled in.

“So are we gonna tell anyone? About this—us, I mean?” Dan resumed his fingertip drawing, so Karl knew he wasn’t anxious about it.

“Sure? I’m not going to hide it, but I don’t need a party. After we meet Ridge, you can meet my folks—ugh, Florida—but then there’s Katmai, which is great.”

Dan caught his hand and squeezed, so Karl figured he was doing okay.

“Way I see it, they’ll know because it’s not like I’ll be acting any different just because we’re at the station. I’m not gonna be able to not touch you or worry about you or whatever. And there’s no regs we’re sidestepping, so it’s all good.” Karl paused and wondered if that’s what Dan wanted or wanted to hear. “Right?”

He felt Dan’s smile against his skin. “Very right. All good.”

“Okay. Good.”

Dan slowed his drawing and turned it into hesitant tapping. Karl took a deep breath and waited for Dan’s sudden worry to reveal itself. He was reassured when it didn’t take long.

“How about when we’re not at the station?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just…. It’s really nice here, and I was just saying how I would get a place exactly like this, with a view of the ocean and all, if I didn’t live in at the station.”

“Ah.” Karl caught Dan’s hand and lifted those busy, worried fingers to his lips. He kissed them, one at a time. “How about we stay here when we’re not at the station? You’ll have to pitch in with the chores, but I think I can put up with you.”

Dan pushed up again to see his expression. “Really?”

“Sure, really.” Karl frowned at Dan’s disbelief. “Why?”

“I just didn’t expect it to be that easy. But I’m glad it was.”

Dan beamed at him, and the light that danced in his eyes matched the light that burned in Karl. His heart was fit to burst. He cupped Dan’s cheek and pulled them together so their foreheads touched.

“Why make it hard when it’s exactly what I want? Besides, I can keep a good eye on you this way. And have you chop firewood.”

“I’m going to be a champ firewood chopper.”

“I know.” Karl reveled in the lazy comfort of just being with Dan, but his last question bothered him. “Do you want to stay here?” He thought it was evident, but he had to be sure.

“Duh—this sweet place, ocean view, huge fireplace? There’s a few other things here I like too.”

Karl tightened his arms. “Not the cabin. Alaska. Big, forbidding, treacherous, isolated—”

“Gorgeous, rewarding, challenging—you’re here, and that’d be enough, but ‘I also just love the thrill and scenery and everything, and the station and everybody is super great, so I want to be here too’ Alaska?” Dan raised his eyebrow again, and again Karl had to stroke it. “Yeah, I’m good to stay.”

“Let’s see what you say after the sixth month of a mean winter.” Karl’s heart raced, but he got his tone bone dry.

“I’ll say—throw another log on the fire and come back to bed.” Dan kissed Karl’s forehead, the tip of his nose, and too fleetingly, his lips.

Karl laughed and gathered Dan to him. “You naturalized much faster than most. You’re practically native born.”

“I had a good mentor—the best.”

Dan stayed in his hold for a minute and then got back to kissing and tracing patterns on him, and the thorough, languid attention drugged Karl into a light doze. He woke again to Dan curled against his chest.

Karl stretched his arms overhead and let out a satisfied sigh. “Nice of Curtis to give us a few days’ R & R. I guess he was relieved that we survived. Plus we busted the meth sale. Plus the tiny station kinda needs us around. That all worked in our favor.”

“Yeah. Too bad we haven’t rested any.” Dan pinched him. “But your recovery isn’t half-bad for an old man.”

Karl grumbled, shot up suddenly, and flipped Dan under him.

“First, I’m not the one who kept us up all night begging to get fucked again. Second, recovery isn’t even one of the Rs.”

Dan’s eyes drooped, and his legs widened suggestively. “Whatever.”

“Whatever I’m right, you mean. This isn’t about relaxation anyway.”

“Clearly,” Dan muttered and licked his lips as Karl pushed his hardening cock against Dan’s thigh.

Before he got very far, their radios went off. Karl dropped his head to Dan’s chest, groaned, and rolled over to grab his.

“Radin? Get yourself back to the station. We’ve got a tough rescue developing that’s gonna take all hands.” Jameson paused. “You know where Worth is?”

Karl raised an eyebrow at Dan’s ridiculous pantomiming to be quiet and sneaking away.

“Yes, I’ve got an idea. I’ll round him up. Copy and be there A-sap.”

He put the radio down and rolled back to get a last kiss. But he only caught an eyeful of Dan’s bare ass going down the loft steps to where they’d left their clothes.

“Well, Radin? C’mon—get a move on,” Dan called.

Karl channeled arousal and annoyance into movement, and he could tell Dan did the same. Excitement and duty surged in him, and he was ready. He lived for this, and having Dan at his side just made it complete. They checked on each other and smiled, and then they dressed and gathered up in tandem with efficient purpose.

Karl snagged the sandwiches they hadn’t eaten earlier—they’d used the counter for something else entirely—and Dan grabbed some water.

His Jeep took the opportunity to be fussy, and he removed the key. “C’mon sweetheart,” he crooned and tried the starting sequence again. On the second try, the engine dutifully fired up, and he kissed the steering wheel, eased away from the cabin and down the drive. He hit the gas once they were on the road.

“After this call, we can take a load of your stuff back.” Karl shifted and concentrated on driving. He wanted to see Dan’s reaction to that plan, but he wouldn’t be able to keep them on the road and do so at the same time.

Dan’s hand squeezing his thigh and happy silence were an acceptable alternative.

Rain began to patter the windshield as they rounded the Northy, and it rained harder as they topped the rise that led to the station.

“Shit.” Karl threw on the wipers and scanned the area. There were dark, low clouds to the southwest.

“And a brassy green sky to the east,” Dan finished, reading Karl’s mind.

He shook his head. “Yup. Damn.”

Karl cut overland via rutted grassy tracks rather than waste time going the long way through Eider. They pulled into the station, and he backed into the little ramp, ate his sandwich in four bolted-down bites, and made ready to run out into the howling wind and freezing rain.

“Well. It won’t get any nicer out there. Goddammit.”

Dan snickered.

“What? What are you grinning about?”

“It’s just you’re so by-the-book as a Coastie, and you’re like, really thoughtful and conscientious, but you cuss like a merchant marine.” Dan’s eyes sparkled. “I love it.”

Karl had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but that last bit threw him.

Dan used his dismay to advantage and pulled him into a quick, hard kiss.

“Kinda like everything else.”

Karl swallowed. “No one’s ever called me conscientious before, except maybe on a performance evaluation.”

“Well, you are. And your performance is amazing.” Dan somehow managed to sound crude and sincere at the same time.

“Yeah, actually. True. I am.” Karl couldn’t argue it—looking out for others was integral to who he was and why he was so good at this job. He made a short, musing sound, and appreciated that in his rattletrap Jeep, outside the place he felt he’d found his calling and other half with the people he liked most in life, in the middle of a squalling gale was where they’d make their declarations. “I love you too.”

Dan’s eyes went wide. His hands convulsed on Karl’s shoulders, and his pupils blew and then contracted to fine, intense points. Then his expression softened, and he brushed a soft kiss over Karl’s mouth and withdrew.

Thunder shook the world, and lightning coated them in eerie yellow blue light.

“Hey, kid. You ready?”

Dan smiled, opened the door, and braved the storm. He walked around the Jeep and held out his hand. Karl took it, and together they faced the rain—cold, piercing, perfect—and ran inside.