STORY EXCERPT

He couldn’t think of a time when Sidney hadn’t been there for him. And now he wasn’t. Melvin felt adrift in a new town with a new job and new apartment, and it was a bit scary. Gone was that wondrous feeling he’d had when first arriving in Fever’s Edge. Reality had set in, and Melvin knew had to deal with the real world.

It wasn’t as if he could go back to his own life. Even if he’d wanted to, which he didn’t, it was too dangerous. He and Sidney had been kidnapped right from an alley, and although Melvin had been whisked away to safety, Sidney hadn’t.

But they’d landed in Fever’s Edge, and Melvin was determined to make the best of it.

He just missed his mom really badly. The guy she’d been dating for a while had taken her on some cruise, so he couldn’t even call her just to hear a familiar voice because he didn’t want to disturb her good time.

“Sure, we can do lunch.” Elijah let Melvin go. “Pizza?”

Melvin groaned. He lived above Papa’s Pizza, and at first, the smells had been amazing, but now the idea of eating pizza turned him off.

“Or we can get burgers and fries from Cresting Moon.” Melvin wasn’t sure he could afford the restaurant, but the diner was a no-go. That was where Sidney worked, and seeing his best friend only reminded Melvin of how alone he truly was.

Sure, he’d made great friends at the mansion, but it wasn’t the same as the decade-long friendship with Sidney. They’d been so close that Melvin’s mother had unofficially adopted Sidney two years before graduation.

And now Melvin stood on the street, tossed out of Budding Sensations because of his dumb allergies, feeling as if someone had kicked his puppy.

Which he didn’t have, although he had seriously considered getting a pet. He just wasn’t sure if he was ready for the responsibility of an animal.

That was a huge commitment, and costly.

“Cresting Moon sounds great,” Elijah said, pulling Melvin from his thoughts. “Noon?”

“I’ll meet you there.” Melvin looked both ways before he crossed the street and headed toward Sweet Mercy Bakery. He loved his job, and his boss was super sweet, but working around all that temptation hadn’t helped Melvin’s waistline.

“Hey, wait up!”

Melvin turned once he stepped onto the sidewalk to see Seth walking toward him. Christ on a saltine cracker. Seth was hot as hell, with a body to die for. Melvin just couldn’t figure out why the guy constantly wore that hat on his head. It was a nice look, but he’d love to see Seth without those sunglasses and that hat.

“Heading into work?” Seth asked as he joined Melvin on his walk to the bakery. He stopped and frowned. “Why do you look like you’ve been crying?”

Melvin touched his eyes and winced. Hadn’t Shane said they were puffy? Hadn’t Elijah said he looked as if he were crying? Worse, his nose was starting to run, and Melvin didn’t have any tissue on him.

He sniffed deeply and shook his head. “I’m not crying.”

Seth cupped Melvin’s face and turned his head from side to side. Jesus. The guy did that a lot. Touched him, and it always sent his heart into overdrive.

“Looks like crying to me.” Seth let his face go and nodded. “Now tell me what has you so upset.”

Melvin started walking, desperate to get to work and find some tissue. He just wished he had his Benadryl with him. He’d tried all the other allergy medication, but none of them seemed to work.

He was doomed to spend the rest of his life with allergies, inhalers, and being around sexy men he had no hope of being with.

“Pizza.” Melvin used the hem of his shirt to wipe his nose. He had no other choice unless he wanted to let it just run.

“Here.” Seth handed him a handkerchief out of his back pocket.

Melvin took it. “Thank you.”

He mopped up the mess as he continued to walk.

“Now tell me why pizza has you crying.”

Dear lord. Why did Melvin find it hard to think whenever Seth was around? It was as if his brain slammed a door and refused to come out.

“Who said I was crying over pizza?”

“Well, you did.” Seth held open the bakery door when they arrived. He walked right in, not giving Melvin room to breathe. “Is there another reason your eyes are all puffy and watery?”

“Mondays. I’m allergic to Mondays.” He went to the back—thankfully Seth hadn’t followed him—and changed into his work shirt, tossing the snotty one into the tiny locker. He washed his hands and face at the sink before returning to where he’d left Seth.

The guy was still there, gazing into the display case. Mercy stood behind the case, but he was busy on the phone.

“Was there something you wanted?” he asked Seth.

“An answer.” Seth tucked his glasses on top of his head and drilled those piercing blue eyes into Melvin. They were like laser beams searching for the truth.

Melvin rolled his eyes and sighed. “I have allergies, Seth.”

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Seth cocked his head to the side. “There’s no shame in that. A lot of people have allergies.”

Melvin had lived at the mansion for two weeks before he’d moved out. In that time he’d discovered that the men who lived there weren’t human. They were shifters.

They had unbelievable strength.

They had unbelievable hearing.

They had unbelievable sexiness.

They were perfect in every way.

Melvin was not.

And he did not want to point out his imperfections to this stud. “Was there something you wanted to buy?”

“Dinner.” Seth leaned an arm on the display case. That was another thing. A lot of the shifters were freakishly tall. Seth’s arm rested with no effort on the tall glass case. Melvin was no good at guessing height, but he estimated Seth to be around six feet three inches. That was eight inches taller than Melvin.

“Come again?”

“You. Me. Food.” Seth smiled, and Melvin sighed. He stiffened when he realized he’d made that noise out loud. “I want to have dinner with you. To celebrate your new place. My treat.”

How was Melvin supposed to sit across from Seth for an hour and not make a fool of himself? It was inevitable. Melvin always made a fool of himself whenever Seth was around.

It was like some kind of dork button was pushed and Melvin performed beautifully.

ADULT EXCERPT

Seth wasn’t sure when he’d dozed off, but he woke to the dead silence of the apartment. Melvin was still lying against him, but his mate was sprawled out and drooling, letting out tiny little snores.

And Seth’s back was killing him. The couch wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on.

As he lay there, Seth tried to figure out how to carry Melvin to bed without waking him. The guy was spread out over Seth, making moving quietly damn near impossible.

He glanced down at Melvin, the moonlight spilling in through the living room window casting a glow around his mate. How on earth could Melvin ever think he was boring?

That baffled Seth.

His mate was funny, sweet, and was quickly stealing Seth’s heart. Seth wasn’t lying about never committing to a relationship or being nervous. It was the truth. Seth had played the bachelor life for as long as he could recall, and committing himself to someone did give him pause.

But shifters looked for their mates their entire lives. At least, that was what Seth had heard over the centuries. It was a magical moment when two beings bound their souls together.

Too bad no one told him how unsure some people were. Not that he didn’t want to mate Melvin. He did. But Melvin wasn’t the only person afraid of relationships.

He brushed his hand through Melvin’s dark hair, gazing at his thick lashes, his perfectly arched brows, cute little nose, and those plump lips that made all kinds of fantasies run through Seth’s head.

He wasn’t even going to lie. Right now, sex was at the forefront of his brain. It had been months since he’d gotten laid. There just wasn’t anyone in town who’d interested him enough.

Not until Melvin had landed there.

Not since he’d discovered that Melvin was his mate when he was getting the human out of harm’s way.

Melvin stirred, wiping at his mouth as his eyes slowly fluttered open.

“How long have I been out of it?” Melvin asked.

Seth’s eyes were glued to the man’s mouth when his tongue flicked out and licked his bottom lip. Before he knew what he was doing, Seth leaned in and kissed his mate, groaning at how good he tasted.

Seth licked at the upper lip and was granted entry to the warm wet cavern. The kiss sent the pit of his stomach into a wild swirl as he pressed Melvin’s lips to his, caressing his mouth more than kissing it.

Their tongues dueled and fought over who would control the kiss as Seth pinned Melvin against the couch. As if in slow motion, Melvin’s head tilted back as Seth kissed his throat. Melvin moaned as Seth teased his flesh with his lips, and the sound sent shivers through him.

He moved back to Melvin’s mouth, and their tongues tangled in an intimate glide, his emotions whirling and skidding, the need to claim almost overwhelming.

Seth pulled back, gazing down at his mate, and then their mouths crashed together again, hungrier and more desperate than before, muffling the sounds of their pleasure. Melvin tried to push at Seth, but Seth saw there was no true effort behind the move.

Melvin arched his back, opening his mouth wider, and Seth felt as if he were burning in their kiss. He guided one of Melvin’s hands to his aching cock. He thought the man would try and push him away again, but Melvin’s touch was oddly soft and caressing.

The smoldering flames he saw in Melvin’s eyes startled him. He smiled when his mate’s cheeks colored under Seth’s gaze.

As long as Seth didn’t bite, then he wouldn’t bind Melvin to him. He knew his mate wasn’t ready for that, to commit, to give Seth his heart. At the moment, Seth would accept the man’s body, even if his heart wasn’t a part of the act.

Melvin didn’t protest when Seth released his wrists and began to remove his mate’s pants. He tossed them aside and then stood, undressing. Melvin’s eyes stayed riveted to Seth as he lowered himself to the couch, blanketing his mate, careful of his weight.

He braced himself by his hands on either side of Melvin’s head as he leaned down to recapture Melvin’s kiss-swollen lips. Melvin’s arms wrapped around Seth’s neck, his lips opened to Seth’s.

But it wasn’t submission Melvin gave him. It was a man demanding with harsh groans and subtle touches. Shudders of pleasure raced beneath Seth’s skin as his free hand began to caress Melvin, moving up the man’s back, over his waist, and up Melvin’s side as his tongue stroked his mate’s mouth.

He slid his hand lower, searching for and finding the heated length of Melvin’s cock as it pressed against Seth’s side. Thick and iron-hard, throbbing beneath his touch, the silken flesh was like a flame in Seth’s hand.

Melvin’s head fell back. His hips arched against Seth’s touch as his fingers began to slowly stroke the man’s heated flesh. Seth gave a low growl when Melvin tangled his fingers in Seth’s hair. His mate gave a light tug, and pleasure surged through him.

Damn, if Seth didn’t fuck Melvin he was going to die from the need. He had to get inside his mate. He had to fill him, thrust inside him. Feel the pleasure that exploded into complete nirvana when he came inside his mate.

His cock hardened to painful intensity at the need.

“Seth.”

“Just sex,” he said. “I know you’re not ready to be claimed.”

Even though it pained him to say that. He wanted more than just sex with his mate but knew that was all Melvin had to offer at the moment. Releasing his mate’s cock, Seth moved farther up the couch. “Suck me.”

He leaned over and fed his hardening dick to Melvin’s panting mouth. His mate took Seth’s erection into his mouth in one swift move and sucked ferociously. Seth hissed as he pushed his cock to the back of Melvin’s throat, waiting for the man’s reflexive swallow to squeeze the sensitive tip before retreating and fucking into him again.

Every time Melvin’s gaze met Seth’s, Seth’s heart turned over in response. His fingers curled into the back of the couch as he watched his cock repeatedly disappear between Melvin’s lips.

Seth suppressed the growl rumbling in his chest. That wasn’t what Melvin wanted. He didn’t want to be claimed. The human had made that perfectly clear when he’d confessed that relationships scared him. And for his mate, Seth would do anything, even if not biting him was maddening.