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tears kept coming until Nate finally fell asleep.
* * *
Brandon felt a slight stirring next to him and opened his eyes to see Nate, propped up on his good elbow
looking at him. He smiled. Hi.
Hi.
Brandon wasn t sure how to proceed next. Finally, he said, Are you all right?
Not quite, but I will be. Tears filled Nate s beautiful eyes. I ll always miss her, you know? For a long
time, Amy was all I had.
Brandon reached out and stroked his unshaven cheek. I know, but you aren t alone anymore, Nate.
You have a family now who wants to help you. He lowered his voice. You have me.
The tears started falling then. I know that, and it scared the hell out of me. All I could think about was if
losing Amy hurt that bad, what would it be like to lose you? I mean, Wilson is still out there, even if my
father is in custody. What if he comes to finish the job? I was trying to protect myself. Nate reached out
his right arm and flexed his fingers awkwardly around Brandon s hand. His cast had been damaged
during the blast. When the ER doctor who treated him after the explosion took it off, he d replaced it
with a cotton sling. For the first time, Brandon noticed that Nate wasn t wearing it. How s your arm?
Better. I don t even need the sling anymore. He looked down at their joined hands. It s well enough to
do something I ve wanted to do since before the car accident.
Brandon raised a brow. What s that?
Hold you with both arms.
Brandon wanted to cry out his relief. He also wanted to jump into Nate s arms and do all the things he d
been denied for so long. Rather than rush him, though, he said, Why don t we get you cleaned up first?
No offense, babe, but you re looking kinda scruffy.
Nate rubbed his fingers over his scraggly chin and laughed, the sound rusty from disuse. Yeah, I guess I
am. Not exactly a sex object, am I?
If you knew what I was thinking about doing to you right now, you wouldn t even ask that. He got up
and offered Nate his hand. Come on.
Brandon led him into the bathroom and turned on the taps. While the sink was filling, Brandon gathered
Nate s shaving cream from the medicine cabinet. Instead of reaching for Nate s safety razor, he grabbed
his own straight razor.
Nate eyed him with suspicion. There s no way I m going to shave myself with that, Bran. Grandma
Taylor may have fixed my quilt for which I owe her a big thank you, by the way but I doubt she ll be
able to patch me up if I shave with that thing. I ll turn my face into hamburger meat.
I don t want you to try shaving with it. You aren t used to using a straight razor. He swirled a
washcloth around in the sink and then moved closer to where Nate was standing. I m going to do it for
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you.
Brandon
Let me do this for you, Nate. You know I ll be careful. I would never hurt you.
Nate looked up into his eyes. I know. He eyed the razor again and then sighed. Where do you want
me?
Brandon positioned him so that he was leaning with his back against the sink. I think this ought to be
about right.
You ll have to reach around me to get to the water.
Brandon grinned. I know.
Nate rolled his eyes. I should have known you had ulterior motives.
Brandon smoothed the warm cloth over Nate s heavy stubble. How does that feel?
Nate closed his eyes as Brandon s fingers worked the cloth against his skin. Good. It feels good.
When he was satisfied that the hair was sufficiently softened, Brandon tossed the cloth onto the counter
and reached around Nate to get the shaving cream. He sprayed a big glob of cream into his hand and
smoothed it all over Nate s face and neck. When he reached for the razor, he expected Nate to flinch,
but he didn t.
Brandon brought the edge of the blade against Nate s cheek and removed a wide strip of hair with one
smooth stroke. When he reached around Nate to rinse it off, Brandon s groin pressed directly into
Nate s growing erection.
Brandon grinned. Someone s decided to wake up, I see.
Nate s eyes became cloudy. I know. I tried not to get turned on, but with you leaning up against me like
that, I couldn t help it.
Brandon took off another strip of Nate s beard. Why were you trying not to get an erection? It s
perfectly natural, under the circumstances. He paused with the razor in midair as reasoning dawned.
You feel guilty about wanting me when Amy s only been gone for a few weeks.
Nate nodded in misery. Brandon wanted to take him into his arms, but he didn t. Nate was grieving, and
Brandon was going to have to be careful not to do or say anything to make it worse. He resumed shaving
him without saying a word. Finally Nate said, Aren t you going to tell me how stupid that is?
Brandon rinsed the razor and started on another strip of hair. Nope. Amy was your friend. You have the
right to mourn her however you see fit.
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