Half an hour after Marc and Bill had left, Colin was beginning to wonder if staying at Dane's was such a good idea after all. The man would tip-toe around him one moment, and the next he'd busy himself with what looked like make-work as if he were regretting his decision.
Finally, Colin had had enough. When Dane walked back into the living room, totally ignoring Colin's presence, the young man jumped up from the sofa and placed himself in Dane's path.
Dane stopped in surprise, then tried to veer around Colin.
"Stay still for a damned minute," Colin growled, gripping Dane's arm.
"Colin," Dane warned, trying to shake his arm free.
"Don't 'Colin' me. I want to know what's going on with you. This afternoon we seemed to be friends, I guess. Now you're treating me like I was someone you're stuck with and wish would go away."
"I have things I need to do. I'm sorry I don't have time to entertain you. Read a book, watch TV. Hell, do anything rather than staring at me like a lost…" Dane's mouth tightened to keep the last word in.
"There you go again. I'm not a puppy that you need to…" Colin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I have no right to pressure you after all you've been doing for me. Look, show me my room and I'll do like you said, watch TV or something."
Dane shook his head. "I'm the one who's at fault. You're totally right, I have been trying to avoid you, but not for the reason you think. I don't mind you being here in the least and that's the problem."
"Whoa up, you want to run that by me again?"
"Not really," Dane told him with a slight smile.
"Oh no, you don't. You're not dropping something like that and not clarifying it. You want me here? Why? Are you lonely and want company? Because if that's it, you're for sure not taking advantage of my presence."
"Yeah, well, if I take advantage of your presence, I might try to take advantage of you and that is not happening. So maybe you should go to your room. It's down the hall on the left." Dane's face was filled with apprehension and panic. He spat the words out as fast as he could before turning away from Colin.
Colin took a deep breath as he processed what Dane had said. "Why can't it happen if we both want it?"
"Because you're not ready, Colin." Dane took a deep breath. "And I'm a cop, and you're my case, to put it bluntly. So even if you were…" Dane's words trailed off as he considered the ramifications of Colin's even being there, to say the least of his taking advantage of the situation.
"The hell I'm not ready. You were with me at the hospital. I'm fine, just fine." He stepped in front of Dane and looked up at him, needing to have him confirm that. "You know I am," he whispered.
Dane couldn't stand the hope in Colin's eyes, but he couldn't turn away from him again either. So he did what he considered was probably the worst thing at this moment, he gathered Colin into his arms. "You may be physically able to have sex now, but I'm not willing to chance what it could do to you emotionally," he said very softly.
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