Wild Raspberries by Jane Davitt Read Free Book Online Page B

three pairs of boxer shorts because not being able to change his was making his skin crawl. The green ones with holly berries weren’t too bad, but only the price tag made him feel good about the pink ones covered in Valentine hearts and the yellow pair covered in hopping rabbits.
    Then he’d headed for the thrift store he’d noticed as they drove in. He wasn’t wearing someone else’s underwear — he’d go commando before he did that — but hand-me-down clothes didn’t bother him.
    Tyler, moving nimbly and using a cane, an Ace bandage on his ankle, looked pissed even before he spotted the purchases Dan had made. The man had one hell of a nice smile, but he didn’t let it out to play very often.
    When he was a few feet away, he tossed the keys to Dan. “Drugstore, then back to my place.”
    “You need to work on your pick-up lines,” Dan said.
    Tyler’s hand shot out, the cane clattering to the ground, and Dan yelped as he was thrust up against the truck door, Tyler’s hand fisted in his shirt. “Listen to me,” Tyler said, his breath warm on Dan’s face. “I need help for a day or two, and you need somewhere to lick your wounds. Fine. You can drive me back and stick around if you want. But you keep coming out with comments like that and we’re going to have a problem.” He raised his eyebrows. “Do you want me to have a problem with you?”
    Dan licked his dry lips enough for him to be able to form words. Common sense should have made him back down, but he’d never been good at that. He’d faced down bullies before, and although Tyler came across more as someone who didn’t realize how intimidating he was, it didn’t mean he was going to cave under pressure however it was applied. “Mister, I won’t kick a man with a cane, but if you don’t move your hand, I’ll rethink that.”
    Tyler’s face was so close that Dan could see right into the light gray of his eyes, flecked with darker gray, the lashes thick and soft. It was like staring up at the night sky and feeling yourself falling into it in a dizzying, topsy-turvy tumble.
    Tyler blinked once and let him go. Dan unlocked the passenger side door, tossed his bags into the truck bed now that he was sure of what he was doing, and walked on strangely wobbly legs around to the other side. He turned the key and pulled away, wondering what he would’ve done if Tyler hadn’t backed down. On the whole, he was glad he hadn’t had to find out.
    “Drugstore’s coming up,” he said into the sticky silence a minute later. “Want me to go in for you?”
    Tyler moved the cane so that it wasn’t knocking against Dan’s knee as he drove, which was possibly an apology. “No.”
    Dan sighed and parked as close as he could get to the drugstore’s entrance. He turned the engine off and took out the keys. “Here.”
    Tyler stared at him. “You don’t have to do that. I trust you not to drive away — and, yeah, if you did, I would track you down.”
    “A cop comes around and finds me in a truck I don’t own and I’m not insured to drive, and I’m in trouble.” Dan pushed the keys unto Tyler’s hand and got out of the truck. He leaned back in just long enough to say sweetly, “I won’t even bother offering you a hand getting out with your cane and all, seeing as my head’s been bitten off twice already.”
    Slamming the door before Tyler could reply was very satisfying.
    ***
    The long, mellow light of early evening was spilling over the cabin when they returned. Tyler made one more stop and picked up take-out Indian food from a restaurant on the outskirts of town, empty of everyone but a waiter desultorily straightening starched white tablecloths.
    “I give it six months before this place folds,” Tyler had told Dan in the truck. “The people here are more the burgers and pizza type.”
    So was Dan, given a choice. “But you aren’t?”
    “Nope.” Tyler looked almost human talking about something mundane like food. “I like it spicy and