FOUR

 

Long before Dane’s shift was over, he had known that Taylor wasn’t going to show up. Why would he? Dane had seen the look on the face of that other little girl, had seen the disapproval in her eyes when he had invited Taylor back.

Hell, if he were completely honest with himself that was part of the reason that he’d broken out of his apathy enough to do it. A lot of it was Taylor himself, and the conversation they’d had. Taylor was one of a group of people who Dane tended to look down on, usually. A townie, someone who had roots, a home, who didn’t wander from place to place.

It was probably an eternal conflict between the two, actually, the wanderers and those who stayed put. Dane knew that most of the people who didn’t roam looked down on him just as much, if not more than he did them. But Taylor hadn’t seemed to be judging him at all. Shy and sweet, Taylor had in actuality been blushing as he spoke to Dane, and the words had come out of him before he’d even thought of them much.

But Taylor would think about it, and probably someone would talk him out of going at all. The sooner Dane got used to the idea, the sooner he could move on to planning something else for the evening.

Only for whatever reason, he turned down the invitations that he did get from the other guys. Those who were twenty-one and over, or who could fake it, were going to hit the bar and drink away most of the money that they had earned that day. Normally, that idea would appeal perfectly to Dane, but he said no. He would catch an early night. God knew that he had thinking to do, and maybe he could make some sort of decision if he spent some time alone.

When he saw Taylor walking through the growing twilight, though, he knew better. Even though he had been so sure that Taylor would never lower himself to coming back, he had been waiting for him nevertheless. Still, he was a bit surprised by how his heart lightened, how a smile came to his lips unbidden.

There was this sort of energy about Taylor, something that threw Dane’s senses right off. Normally, he felt like he could tell when someone was interested in him, and Taylor was giving him those vibes, but he was also so reserved like he was standing just a little bit apart from himself, from Dane, from the energy between them.

Dane had seen a lot of people in his travels, but he had never interacted with anyone quite like Taylor. That was probably part of why Dane was so fascinated with him. It was certainly more than his face, as pretty as it was, or his body, which was slender and boyish and really couldn’t have been any more Dane’s thing.

Okay, so maybe it was a few different things. Regardless of the reason, it had been a very long time since he’d been this fascinated by a man. Or had he ever been? Not that he could remember, anyway. Not this completely and thoroughly, despite the fact, of course, that this could never work and it was truly pointless even to try.

Which didn’t stop him from stepping forward to meet Taylor, who was making a bee-line right for him. And when Dane glanced down at the glowing screen of his phone, he saw that it was just a minute before eight. Somehow, even as little as he knew Taylor, it didn’t surprise him that the other man was someone who would be punctual.

Which left him with the question, now what? He had been so ready to have Taylor just not show up, and when Taylor turned his big, brilliant blue eyes up toward him, just a bit tentative but, for whatever reason, actually trusting Dane, he knew that he was just going to have to wing it.

Luckily, that was something he was pretty good at doing.

“Take me somewhere,” he ordered impulsively. “Show me your favorite place in town.”

It was presumptuous as hell, and he knew it, but the moment that he saw Taylor’s eyes light up, he knew that he had made the right choice.

 

* * *

 

As far as Dane could tell, there wasn’t another person for miles.

They’d loaded up food from the fair that would have cost a ridiculous amount if Dane hadn’t gotten it for free, since it was nearing the end of the night and it would have to be thrown out, anyway. Then Taylor had led the way to a beat up old Toyota, one that Dane recognized as being from the late nineties, and Dane didn’t know exactly what he’d been expecting when he challenged Taylor that way, but this wasn’t it.

The sun was fully down now, and just slightly out of town as they were, when Dane glanced up and saw something that he hadn’t seen, not really, since he was a little boy. Stars. And not just a light sprinkling, like one could see in the city. No, this was diamonds strewn over black velvet, all framed by the tops of the enormous Douglas fir trees which stretched their needles up toward the sky.

It was beautiful. Even Dane couldn’t deny that. They hiked for a short while, and as they went, Dane heard a noise that he didn’t even know how to identify. At first, he thought it must be traffic, but that wasn’t quite right. So then he thought maybe thunder, a summer storm rolling in.

It was neither. He could tell the closer he got, but still, when they came out of the line of trees, when Taylor, who had relaxed quite a bit on the hike up, gave him a shy little grin, Dane felt like he couldn’t breathe for a moment.

Taylor was standing by a waterfall, close enough that flecks of water were dotting his hair now, sparkling like gems in the light of the stars. Dane couldn’t look away. He had never seen a place where a human being belonged as much as Taylor belonged by this waterfall, the torrent cascading down through breaks in the rocks, spray pounding, mist rising so that Dane could smell water even from where he was.

It was too loud right there to speak, and maybe that was for the best. Dane knew himself well enough to know that he would say something to ruin this if he spoke up. Better just to admire it, and Dane paced over the rocky ground to stand beside Taylor and look down, hundreds of feet, it had to be. But Taylor seemed comfortable, and Dane figured that meant this must be safe.

Taylor didn’t seem like the type who was exactly into risky behavior, after all.

When Dane drew his gaze back toward the smaller man, he was somewhat surprised to see that Taylor was watching him again, always watching him. Did he even know that he was doing it, or what ideas Dane might get from the look in his eyes in the silver light of the stars?

Dane smirked a little. If he didn’t know, then Dane would have no objection to showing him. Without any hesitation at all, he draped his arm around Taylor’s slender shoulders, pulling him against him as they stood by the edge of the waterfall.

Taylor’s body tensed up, and Dane looked down at him for a moment. He had thought that there had been something here, but maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe he’d read all the signs wrong. It didn’t happen often, but it also wouldn’t be the first time that he had thought someone had an interest in him and they didn’t.

Just when Dane was thinking that the only right thing for him to do would be to pull his arm away, to stop freaking the poor kid out, Taylor turned to look at him, and there was this look of blurred desperation on his face, something which Dane had never seen before.

It seemed that Taylor was going to keep right on surprising him, because the beautiful young man arched up onto his tiptoes, his slender, small fingers clutching at Dane’s shoulders as Taylor pulled him down. They met in the middle, and the height difference between them didn’t seem to matter all that much once their lips had met.

Taylor kissed with more enthusiasm than skill, but that was sort of arousing to Dane. It seemed Taylor hadn’t kissed very many people, and yet Taylor was allowing himself to kiss Dane. More than that, Taylor seemed to be more than happy when Dane took control, when he swept his tongue into Taylor’s mouth, sweet and warm.

Taylor clung to Dane, and Dane’s arms went around the smaller man, lifting him right up off of his feet. This was the most romantic thing that Dane had ever done, he realized, kiss someone by the starlight at the edge of a waterfall, and he could hate himself for being sappy about it if he didn’t find himself liking it so much.

Carefully, aware of the roar of the rushing water behind them, Dane took a step back toward the woods, toward safety. There was a fallen log nearby, just enough through the line of trees that it dulled the waterfall to a low growl, rather than something far too loud for them to make themselves heard over, and they could have spoken if they wanted to.

Dane didn’t, not particularly. This young man with his sweet, tentative kisses was far more interesting to him than a conversation, which would be awkward right now given how much they clearly both wanted to do this. Dane didn’t even care that the fallen tree beneath him was damp, like everything in this rainforest seemed to be.

His hands slid down to rest on Taylor’s ass, and he adjusted the much smaller man on his lap so that they were facing each other, tugging his pelvis closer to himself, allowing Taylor to feel how hard Dane was and watching him closely to see how much it freaked him out.

Taylor looked back at him, his eyes big and shimmering brighter than any of the stars over their head. There was lust lacing through those eyes, but wariness, too, that no amount of kissing seemed to be able to smooth away.

“I’ve never done this before,” Taylor whispered, barely loudly enough for Dane to hear him say the words.

“Any of it?” Dane’s hands, almost against his will, tightened on the smooth, round, firm curve of Taylor’s ass, hauling him close enough that Dane could feel that, whatever was going on in his mind, Taylor wanted this. His erection, rubbing firmly against Dane’s, made that very clear.

“We’ve gone as far as I’ve ever gone,” Taylor admitted, his face pale as he looked at Dane, shivering a little against him. He pressed his hips forward like he couldn’t quite help himself, but Dane stilled under him because there was such a thing as right and wrong, damn it, even for a guy like him.

“Okay.” Dane drew in a deep breath and then let go of Taylor, let him scramble out of his lap, even if it was the most difficult thing that he’d ever had to do. Those shy, innocent little kisses had driven him to the point where he wanted nothing more than to claim this young man, to see if he couldn’t make his first time the best that it could be.

But who was he kidding? He was leaving in a week, and there was no sense in his body making promises that he couldn’t keep. So he let Taylor go, and there was a bit of a tense silence which spun between them, since neither of them could go back and take away the burning hot kisses which still seared through Dane’s body, and, he was willing to bet, from those wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and parted lips, also through Taylor’s.

“Maybe we should eat,” Taylor whispered, and Dane nodded. It was sort of funny, him having a late night picnic with a gorgeous young virgin out in the woods. Not the sort of thing that he would normally do.

But then, really, he and Taylor were both a little out of their comfort zones here, and Dane found himself unable to resist. He should be running so far and so fast away from this situation, and yet, here he was, feeding mini donuts to a beautiful young man.

Correction. A beautiful young virgin. That was either the hottest thing he’d ever heard or the scariest situation he had ever been in or both.

Come to think of it. It was undeniably both.