STORY EXCERPT

“I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Andrew Sloan, but you can call me Drew.” Drew stuck his hand forward. The neighbor gripped it, and, like the time Drew touched his forearm, Drew immediately noticed how warm his skin was.

“My name is James Thorn. I’m glad to finally meet you.”

Drew tilted his head as he studied James. He couldn’t tell if James was being sarcastic or not. His voice was too monotone to reflect one way to the other. Drew didn’t want to ruin what seemed to be their most civil exchange to date, so he ignored it. When they shook hands, Drew lingered in his grasp. Every time he really looked at James to consider him and pause versus glare in frustration, Drew got stupid. His brain shorted out, and all he could do was stare. James didn’t maintain eye contact, but he also didn’t jerk away from Drew’s touch. James let Drew hold his hand while he looked to the skyline again, then back at the dogs. Something about James called to Drew on a carnal level and maybe more. He felt pulled toward the broad-shouldered neighbor. If James hadn’t cleared his throat before whistling to the straying dogs, Drew probably would have held his hand and stared until the sun set.

“Oh, sorry, I, um, yeah.” Really fucking eloquent. It was no wonder James hated Drew. James was probably afraid Drew’s stupidity was contagious. Drew knew what made him stare. It was James’s eyes. Drew could get lost gazing into them. They were dark and deep-set. Smoldering. That was the word Drew would have been thinking had his brain been working at all.

“You’ve done that before. Why?”

Drew looked back to the dogs. If James was going to ask him questions, Drew would need to look somewhere else in order to be able to form a coherent answer.

“Done what?”

“Well.” James exhaled deeply with his eyes closed before continuing. “You seem smart, you know, capable of speaking or making general conversation. But you stammer randomly. Is it something I’m doing to upset you? I’ll stop whatever it is if you tell me.”

Great, now James was being sweet and concerned over Drew’s stammering. How could Drew tell James to stop being gorgeous? Drew didn’t want to have this conversation, so he sat and said nothing.

“Are you going to answer me? I don’t want to cause you distress.”

Drew huffed, already knowing that James wouldn’t drop it and Drew would have to answer him. Drew would rather James think he was incapable of logical thought than ogling him. “No, you aren’t doing anything to upset me.”

“Okay, good. Is it an external stimulus that distracts you?”

Drew could already tell he was going to get defensive if James kept pressuring him. He didn’t want to admit his attraction. And who says the word “stimulus” during random, non-perverse conversation? Certainly not Drew. “Are you a speech pathologist?”

“No. Why are you avoiding my question?”

Drew crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to answer it, that’s all.”

“You don’t have to get angry. All you had to do was say you didn’t want to answer it. I will always respect your choice.”

James spoke calmly to Drew as if Drew wasn’t being snippy. As if Drew’s attitude had no effect on him at all like he didn’t even see the confusion, lust, or anger steaming off him. He then stood back up and took a step away from Drew, ending their most civil and longest exchange. Drew dropped his hands in his lap and let his head slump forward. He felt defeated. Nothing he said came out right with James. Normally, Drew wouldn’t give a rat’s ass what someone else thought, but James really fucked with his head. James was handsome and well-educated, judging by his choice of verbiage. He took great care of his pet and welcomed Duff into his home, which spoke of his caring nature. He was showing that he could carry on a conversation. And when they touched, it was electric. Even now, his hand burned from James’s touch, and he wanted to reach toward him and feel the warmth again. But their wavelengths kept crossing. Just when he thought James and he might be hitting it off, they shorted out again. Drew opted to sit quietly and let the dogs play. His sulking didn’t need to ruin the pets’ playtime.

ADULT EXCERPT

James had barely shut and locked the door when Drew attacked him, taking him to the ground in the entryway. He pulled at James’s clothes, struggling to remove them as he straddled James’s legs. He jumped off James when the shifter chuckled. Drew needed skin. He needed this man beneath him. He wanted to belong to him. He wanted to feel James move inside him and mark him as taken. That impulse was driving him. It had to be part of the shifter mating. Drew had never experienced anything like this before. He’d wanted sex before, but this went so much more deeply. He saw him committing to forever with this man.

Drew pulled James’s basketball shorts down, exposing his cock. The head was dark and glistened with the remnants of pre-cum that hadn’t collected on his clothes. Drew gripped the thickness in his hand and tilted it toward his mouth, grateful to finally feel the warmth of his lover again. The tangy flavor delighted him, and he sucked hard, trying to pull more of the liquid out. Drew traced the ridges with his tongue and worked the length in and out of his mouth. When James’s hands wound tightly into Andrew’s hair, he knew he was doing it right.

“Fuck, that’s good.”

Drew hummed his agreement, and James’s shouted, “Oh, yes!” He thrust his hips upward, and Drew choked on the length. He pulled the cock from his mouth and wiped at his mouth and eyes with the back of his hands.

“Get naked, James.” Drew yanked his shoes and clothes off quickly, tossing them around the entryway.

“Right here?” James’s voice raised with the question, but Drew’s need for this man was too great. He needed to be with James more than he needed to breathe. The few touches and tastes that he was able to get had only incited his desires. He could no longer comprehend how he had spent so long away from James. Anger and confusion didn’t seem like valid reasons when he could be wrapped in James’s arms or lying beneath his body. It had to be the bond driving Drew.

“Naked. Now. Where’s the lube.” Andrew jumped to his feet. He would run home naked for lube if it meant that he would get fucked sooner.

“It’s upstairs in my bedroom.”

“Get naked.”

Andrew raced up the stairs to James’s room. It was put back to right after the damage that Drew had heard him do the last time that he was over. Drew yanked open the bedside table and rifled through the drawer, looking for the lubricant. As soon as it was in hand, Drew was tearing back downstairs.

James was naked and glorious. He was also just about to walk up the stairs. Drew was not having that. He wanted hard, fast sex on any flat surface. Finding a bed and getting comfy wasn’t necessary. He needed them to join together, needed James’s marks on him, his scent. The compulsion rode him, and Drew assumed it was because James wasn’t fully human.

Drew pushed the bottle of lube into James’s hand as he walked past him to the small area rug in the center of the living room.

“Drew, where are you going?”

Instead of answering him, Drew dropped to the ground on his hands and knees. Their clothes lay scattered around him on the floor. He grabbed James’s tee and wadded it up beneath his head. Now his ass was tilted up in invitation to James, who seemed to figure out how badly Drew wanted this to happen. Drew would have thought the need would be driving James as mad, if not more so.

James’s caress was light as his hand traveled up Drew’s thighs toward his ass. James straddled Drew’s calves and pulled Drew’s ass cheeks apart. Cool air rushed across the puckered surface of his anus.

“Do that again.” James’s request was needy, and his voice breathy.

“What? This.” Drew flexed the muscles of his ass, making his hole pucker and open.

“Yes, that!” He did it a few more times, delighting in the attention from James. James placed his thumbs near the opening, holding Drew wide. The feeling of hot breath on his skin was Drew’s only clue to what was to come. James licked up and down the crease, slicking the way. After several passes, Drew felt James push his tongue into the exhausted muscle. He stabbed repeatedly inside and relaxed him. Drew rocked backward into James, encouraging him on, enjoying the warmth of James’s body on him and the trickle of spit inside his body.

Drew’s skin pimpled as sweat was wicked away by the breeze of a ceiling fan. His whole body grew tight as the pleasure built in his core. But it wasn’t enough.

“More. I need more.”

James pulled away, and Drew heard the snick of a bottle. Two lubed fingers pushed inside him, probing and reaching. James plunged his fingers in and out. Lube coated the insides of Drew’s channel and slicked the way for their play. James rubbed his hands over Drew’s back, caressing each plane and divot. Drew felt completely loved and treasured.

James plundered Drew’s body, and Drew was happy to allow it. He relished in James’s attentiveness and care. Andrew could sense the love pouring off James, and it was a heady feeling. Drew wanted to wallow in James’s affection. He wanted to be swallowed whole by it. He couldn’t get enough of it.