STORY EXCERPT

“What the hell happened to you?”

Paulo Santelli ignored the question as he hurried through the front lobby of Sex Gods. That deep, dark, oh-so-sexy voice had been haunting his dreams since the first time he had heard it more than two years before. That voice had the capability to drive his cock from limp and loose to tight and hard as a rock with a single word. Sadly, though his coworkers at the gay club thought he was a smartass wisecracker, in truth, Paulo was too shy to do anything about the attraction he had felt for the voice’s owner since that first night.

Not only did he not want to talk about it, but thanks to Dan’s handiwork, he was three hours late for his shift. The club had been open for more than an hour and Heaven only knew how screwed up the kitchen was by now. Kenny, the latest in a long string of kitchen help, had agreed to arrive early to do the prep work even though Paulo preferred to do it himself. But if Kenny had screwed up too much, Riley would be looking for a new cook’s assistant in the morning. Or maybe he would just replace Paulo for being too picky and temperamental and showing up late tonight.

Dropping his head forward, he pulled his shoulder-length black hair forward to hide the bruised left side of his face. Then Paulo hurried into the club and wound his way through the Friday night crowd that seemed to grow each week. Lifting a hand to acknowledge Riley’s greeting, he ducked behind the bar. He did not take a full breath until he reached the kitchen.

He went straight to the back office and clocked in. Then, returning to the kitchen’s storeroom, he grabbed one of the new black aprons Riley had bought just the week before for the kitchen crew to wear.

Raising his hands to drop the apron’s top loop over his head, he sucked a sharp breath through gritted teeth to keep from crying out as pain shot out from the left side of his chest. He blinked back tears as he bent his arms behind his back to tie the apron strings. Despite his best efforts, several tears fell as he reached up and pulled his hair back into a ponytail. There was no way he would be able to braid it tonight so he shoved the ponytail down the back of his T-shirt before pulling on the baseball cap the health inspector demanded the food preparers wear while working in the kitchen. It was hot, but better than wearing a hairnet.

Dropping his arms once more to his sides, he took several breaths before wiping his cheeks dry. Shifting his focus to cooking for the next several hours, he stepped out of the office and headed to the only place in the world he felt truly comfortable. The one place Dan could not hurt him. The kitchen was his world, his sanctuary. Here he was king.

Kenny was at the stove, tending to the meats, and Toby was washing dishes. If he was very lucky, he could get across the room to his station in the back corner without either of them noticing his bruises.

But, as had been demonstrated on a regular basis lately, Lady Luck had apparently deserted him. Jack Landers, the owner of the voice, stood in the middle of his kitchen, looking like the big, sexy, mountain of a bouncer that he was. His feet were planted wide, and his arms were crossed over that barn door wide chest that Paulo had fantasized about licking from one end to the other for as long as the big man had worked at the club.

Several times over the past few years, Paulo had considered making a pass at the man. His own shyness combined with the Muldoon brothers’ policy about not dating coworkers stopped him every time. After all, the man was a good ten inches taller and eighty pounds heavier than Paulo’s five foot eight inch, one fifty pound body. If he wanted to, Jack could have taken him apart in seconds. In his current battered and bruised condition that was the last thing Paulo needed.

One look at the ex-Marine’s face had Paulo dropping his eyes and taking a half-step back in fear. Jack looked like he wanted to take someone apart.

“What do you need, Jack?” he asked as he walked around the man to get to his favorite corner, as far from the door into the bar as he could get. He stayed well out of the big man’s reach, but could tell without looking that Jack watched every step he made. He swore he could feel the man’s celery-green gaze touching him.

“I want to know what the hell happened to you,” the man said, his deep dark voice demanded.

Paulo ignored him as he looked over the orders hanging over the stove, then did a quick check of the plates, baskets, and everything else they would need for the rest of the evening.

They were running low on silverware packets so he grabbed a big stack of napkins and the clean silverware racks. Without a word, he began putting packets together. It was not his job, but it would keep him busy, at least long enough for Jack to get bored and leave his safe haven.

When an arm grabbed his arm and spun him around, he squealed, partly in surprised fear, and partly in response to the pain that the quick move shot through him. In the next moment, he found himself sitting on the counter in the corner as Jack stepped in close, forcing his legs to spread to make room for the big man’s hips.

Paulo held his breath as the big man leaned in until they were nose to nose. “What. The hell. Happened. To you?”

ADULT EXCERPT

Jack knew Paulo was trying to distract him, but what else was he to do with a lap full of sexy, naked man? He gave in and let Paulo lead him where he would. After all, Paulo was injured, and the last thing he wanted to do was add to the man’s pain.

It was long minutes later before Paulo broke the kiss and leaned back. Jack planted his hands on the man’s hips to keep himself from taking over and becoming a steamroller. His injured baby needed to know he could count on Jack to give his word and then follow through with action. Opening his eyes, he looked into Paulo’s. Though he was in pain, there was also arousal burning in their dark chocolate brown depths.

His cock throbbed with each beat of his heart as Paulo slowly opened the fastenings of his jeans. When fingers reached in and fished out his cock, Jack hissed and pressed his fingers deeper into Paulo’s flesh. “Careful, baby. It’s got a hair trigger this morning.”

Paulo’s smile was a wicked one as he took Jack’s hands one at a time and laid palms down on the mattress. “Don’t move them or I’ll stop,” he said just before he began to knee-walk backward until he was straddling Jack’s calves.

He nodded his agreement, then used his arms to lever his body off the bed when Paulo reached up to pull his jeans down.

“Oooo, that looks yummy,” Paulo said as he leaned down until his lips were right over Jack’s lap, “the perfect breakfast dessert.”

With that, he wrapped one hand around the base of Jack’s cock to hold it out from where it lay against his belly. Then, parting his lips, he took just the head into his mouth.

“Oh, fuck, baby, that feels good,” Jack managed, barely, to keep his hands planted on the bed.

Keeping his hips still was another story. They began to bounce up and down, pushing a little deeper into Paulo’s hot, wet, mouth.

But the man on top of him had other ideas. He lifted his head and looked up into Jack’s eyes. His lips were turned up in a grin that screamed hot, dirty sex was foremost on his mind. “Uh-uh, sweetheart. You move, and I’ll stop. And that wouldn’t be any fun for either of us, right?”

Jack heard a whining sigh come from his lips. Then, taking another breath to calm himself, he pointed out, “But I’m supposed to be taking care of you.”

“Don’t worry, you will,” Paulo said as he returned to mouthing the head of Jack’s cock.

After that all talking ceased, replaced by moans and groans as Paulo bathed his entire cock from tip to balls. Each lick, each suck, each swallow ratcheted his need a little higher, until he was one panting gasp from orgasm.

When his lower spine began to tingle and his balls pulled up close to his body, he tried to pull his cock out of Paulo’s mouth. But the man refused to release him and just kept licking.

Not wanting to come quite yet, Jack flipped them so Paulo was lying on his back on the mattress and he was on top. Then he eased his body up, pulling in a sharp breath when Paulo lips tightened and he sucked harder in an attempt to keep his cock where he was. But Jack pulled free, then moved to kneel over Paulo’s body so they were nose to nose.

“Now it’s my turn, baby,” he said. “So just lie back, relax, and let me love on you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

With that, he closed the distance and kissed his baby soft and deep as he worked out the logistics of loving the injured man without hurting him any more than he already was.

* * * *

Paulo wanted to cooperate because he was in pain, but his body wanted a different kind of hurting. The kind of ache only Jack’s cock in his ass could give him. “Fuck me, Jack,” he breathed when the big man released his lips and slowly kissed, licked, and stroked his way from lips to chest to belly. “Please, Jack, take me now.”

At his pleading, Jack pushed up to kneel between his wide spread legs. Instead of matching his actions to Paulo’s demands, Jack smiled down at him as his hand wrapped around Paulo’s cock and stroked it. “In a minute, baby. First I need to get you ready.”

Paulo watched as Jack reached over and grabbed a condom and a bottle of lube from the top drawer of the nightstand. After sheathing his cock, he then lifted Paulo’s hips and shoved a pillow under his lower back before letting Paulo’s body down again.

Then he pushed Paulo’s legs up to rest on his body. “Hold your legs up, baby,” he said.

Paulo did as ordered, holding his calves with his hands and spreading them so everything he had between his legs was on display. Closing his eyes, he pressed the back of his head into the mattress as Jack dribbled cold slick between his ass cheeks. He pulled in a deep breath when Jack began to rub it over, and around, and through his puckered star.

Breathing stopped when a single finger pressed for entry. Then he worked to stay focused on relaxing the muscles of his ass and not tightening up when a second digit joined the first a few minutes later. The feel of those fingers sliding in and out had his arousal spiraled higher even as he tried to move his lower body and impale himself even further on Jack’s fingers.

When a third finger joined in the party, he let out a low moan. When Jack twisted his hand and stroked fingertips over his prostate, the sound turned into a squeal of need.

“Please Jack, fuck me. Fuck me now,” he begged.