Dante Scene

I recommend waiting until after you’ve read the book to read deleted scenes. It will help you better understand characters and the dynamics of the story in the deleted scene. Stop reading here if you haven’t read Delivering Dante yet.

In an early draft of Delivering Dante, I sent AJ and Dante on a very different road trip that included a trip to Zion National Park. When I finished the first draft of Delivering Dante, I wasn’t happy with it. So I started over and wrote it very differently. This was in the deleted draft and didn’t make it into the final version at all. As such, it is also unedited and all mistakes are mine.

Just a reminder, because I deleted it, this scene doesn’t actually take place in the final version of Delivering Dante. It is not a scene that now takes place off the page. It is a scene that doesn’t exist at all in Dante’s life the way I ended up writing it. Hope you enjoy this peek behind the curtain of an author’s process!

Deleted scene from Delivering Dante by Lucy Lennox

Dante

The next two days were heavenly. We headed back toward Arches and took our time hiking around the area our first full day on the road. The following day, we drove across Utah to Zion National Park. I’d always wanted to go there. My brother-in-law Teddy had been there for a photoshoot and told me how intense the views were from Angels Landing and how dangerous the slot canyons were when flash-flooding occurred.

We decided to try the challenging Angels Landing hike which was difficult mostly because of the heat that day. But we were well-prepared with plenty of water and snacks. It was pretty crowded since it was late June, but I wore a baseball cap and sunglasses to hide from both the sun and any of the tourists who happened to be familiar with a certain San Francisco lifestyle feature that had gone viral.

As we stood in the parking lot so AJ could put on some sunscreen, I texted Teddy to tell him where I was.

Dante: We’re hiking Angel’s Landing today so I was thinking about you. Any suggestions?

Teddy: Don’t look down.

Dante: Then how are we supposed to see the views?

Teddy: There are some really nice photographs of them in the gift shop by a famous photographer.

Dante: So I’ve heard.

Teddy: Take plenty of water. It’s probably hot there.

Dante: Got it. Anything else?

Teddy: Yes, but hang on. I believe your brother has some words for you.

My phone rang instantly and the caller ID showed it was Teddy.

“Hey Jamie,” I said.

“How’d you know it was me and not Teddy?” he asked.

“Because I know what you’re getting ready to say.”

“No you don’t.”

“Ten bucks says you’re going to warn me about slot canyons,” I said with a grin. AJ stepped over to me to rub sunscreen on my face while I spoke. I took the opportunity to put my hand on his fly just to make sure my favorite parts were coming with us on the hike. They were.

“Fuck,” Jamie muttered. “It’s not a joke, Dante. Don’t go near those fucking things. Even the Narrows. Promise me.”

“I promise, Jamie. How’s everyone there?”

“Good. Chloe got stung by a bee and had a bad reaction so they had to go to the urgent care. Teddy and I took Hazel to this awesome alpine slide thing. It was so fun. Wish you were still here so you could have come with us,” he said.

“I know. But I’m having a good time with AJ. We went hiking at Arches and now we’re in Zion before going to the Grand Canyon. Didn’t you do a stint here before Denali?” I asked. AJ had stepped behind me to put sunscreen on the back of my neck and he squeezed my neck when I mentioned having a good time with him.

“Yeah a couple of years before Denali. You’ll enjoy it — just please be careful.”

“Dude, I will. I promise.” I could hear Teddy yelling something in the background.

“No, babe. I’m not asking him that. Stop,” he said away from the phone.

“What does he want to know?” I asked.

“Nothing, ignore him,” Jamie warned. “You don’t want to know.”

“Well, now I do. What is it?”

He sighed. “He wants to know if you lost your virginity finally. Tell him it’s none of his business.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “It’s none of his business.” I couldn’t help but smile, knowing it would kill Jamie not to ask me now that the subject had come up.

“But…”

“Mmm?” I asked.

“I mean, it’s just that… well, if you wanted to talk about it. I mean, I’m here for you and everything,” Jamie babbled. “If you wanted to tell me, that is.”

“Okay, thanks.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. More noise in the background on his end. Teddy begging for details, no doubt.

“Jesus fuck, just tell me if you did it, Dante!” he finally barked.

I exploded into laughter and AJ stepped in front of me, looking at me like I was a raving lunatic.

“What the hell?” AJ asked in a low voice.

“My brother Jamie wants to know if you popped my cherry, AJ. Would you like to speak to him?” I asked innocently, holding out the phone.

AJ accidentally squeezed a giant dollop of sunscreen out from the top of the tube and it landed in a splat on the pavement. His face turned beet red. “Uh, no thanks. And by that I mean not only no but hell no. Thank you but no thank you. And also, when hell freezes over. In case I was unclear,” AJ said before capping the sunscreen and chucking it back in the camper.

I laughed and put the phone back to my ear. “Apparently AJ would like to keep his private life private. Imagine that.”

“You tell that guy if he’s going to be a part of the Marian family, there ain’t no such thing as a private life,” Jamie teased. I heard Teddy in the background yelling his agreement.

My stomach was flipping around at the mention of AJ becoming a part of the family.

“That’s a smidge premature old man,” I warned.

Jamie laughed. “I see. Well at least tell me one thing. Do you like him?”

My eyes darted over to the man standing by the vehicle. His eyes were closed and his face was tipped up to the morning sun, exposing a long stretch of neck with the masculine outline of his Adam’s apple front and center. The sight made my stomach pool somewhere around my knees.

“Ah, yup.”

Jamie’s laugh was understanding and he made a sound of approval before his husband took the phone from him.

“Dante, have fun out there, okay?” Teddy said.

“That’s the plan.”

“You know I’m not normally one for getting mixed up in someone else’s relationship but since I do consider myself to be one of your brothers, I want to give you just one piece of advice.”

I smiled, enjoying the feeling of a man I admired wanting to own his spot as one of my brothers. If you counted my brothers-in-law, I had twelve brothers. Sometimes I imagined them standing around me in a protective circle of strength and it humbled me. I knew they’d do anything to help me.

“What is it Teddy?” I asked.

“Well, it’s not so much advice as it is a story about when I met your brother.”

Teddy was a wildlife photographer who’d tried like hell to get my brother Jamie to allow him to come to Denali in Alaska to take photos of him with the wild animals he cared for. After misunderstandings and the challenge of a long distance relationship, they finally figured it out.

“Go on,” I said.

“When I met him, I knew I really liked him. But I also knew that I had the kind of job that would never be fair on him. So I tried like hell to fight against falling for Jamie. I stayed away and tried to convince myself it was better for both of us.”

“I know. But you kept showing up anyway,” I said.

“I did. Because I loved him. I still thought it would be better if I was strong enough to leave and let him find a way to move on. Until he came and found me, and I realized keeping us apart for my job was the stupidest thing ever. No job is more important than the man you love.”

“Why are you telling me this, Teddy?”

“Because I have a feeling, AJ is going to pull a Teddy,” he said gently. “And when he does, you need to be ready to call him on that bullshit.”

***

When we returned to the campground that evening after a fun but exhausting day at Zion, we took a shower together in one of the private bathrooms available in the campground services building. Since our camper had the world’s tiniest shower stall, we relished the opportunity to take a shower together in a big bathroom and soap each other up.

I’d never shared a shower before but had always daydreamed about it. Showering with AJ was better than the fantasy. I got to see his naked body in the bright light, feel his heavenly skin with sliding, soapy hands, and push him up against the wall to kiss the hell out of him when the first two things drove me crazy with need.

My cock slipped between his thighs and I let out a guttural moan, thrusting back and forth between his soapy muscles. He squeezed his legs together around my cock and I groaned again.

“Mm-hm, just like that,” he encouraged. “Keep going.”

He was as hard as I was and my stomach kept glancing off his long stiff length as I thrust in and out of the slippery pocket his legs made.

“Jesus, that feels so good, AJ,” I gasped as I felt his fingers grab my ass to encourage my thrusting. “Fuck.”

That last word came out as more of a desperate whimper, but I didn’t give a shit. All I cared about was getting off with my dick between AJ’s powerful thighs.

“Faster, Dante,” he said in a deep breathy voice right into my ear. “Love the feel of you fucking my legs, knowing my body is going to make you come undone. I can feel your cock tugging against my balls and sliding against my hole. You’re driving me crazy. I want you to come. Want it all over me.”

Oh fuckinghell he knew just how to tip me over the edge with his words. I shouted his name as the pressure in my balls exploded and my hips slammed into him for the final time.

I was pretty sure I came all over the shower wall as opposed to him, but it felt fucking fantastic so I didn’t care. When my orgasm finished, I knelt down in front of AJ, but he was already jacking himself off. As soon as he saw me kneel, his eyes widened and he began to come, trying desperately to back up since my face was right there.

But I leaned in, grabbing AJ’s ass with both hands and holding him close. I looked up at him from under my lashes and saw his eyes just about roll back in his head as cum landed on my chest, my lips, my cheek.

“Shit,” he hissed, reaching his hand out to wipe my cheek. “Baby, I didn’t mean to—” His apology screeched to a halt as his eyes noticed my tongue reaching out to lick my lips slowly — my eyes remaining locked on his.

“Oh my god,” he whispered reverently, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping. I pulled my salty tongue back into my mouth and swallowed just as his knees began to buckle.

We ended up sitting in a pile together on the shower floor, kissing and cradling each other until we were nothing but a big pile of cartoon hearts. AJ looked at me like he was a waterboy who’d just won the MVP award after the big game. As if he’d never in a million years expected to receive something so wonderful. It made me feel invincible. But more than that.

It made me feel loved.