STORY EXCERPT

“Freeze!” Sheriff Joseph Nash shouted. He could see a man leaning over a prone body on the floor of the small country market he had been called to. He pointed the gun at the man and repeated his command. “Freeze! Sheriff! Don’t move a muscle.”

Much to his astonishment, the man continued to do something over the body beneath him. Joe couldn’t figure out what. All he knew was that he had gotten a call that there had been a holdup at Garner’s Country Market, with shots fired.

“I said freeze! Do you want to get shot?”

Joe couldn’t say who was more surprised, himself, now that he was now looking at the sexiest moss-green eyes he had ever seen in his life, or the beautiful honey-blond-haired man looking at the gun pointed in his direction.

The man blinked at the gun a couple of times before raising his striking green eyes to Joe’s. Much to Joe’s surprise, he motioned with his hand for Joe to come closer, then turned back to the bleeding man on the floor and continued working on him.

Joe took a couple more cautious steps into the room to get a better look at the man on the floor. Damn! It was Old Man Garner himself. He was covered in blood. Hearing the sudden steps of his deputies coming through the door, Joe put his gun back in its holster and knelt next to Garner.

“What happened? Did you see who did this?” He looked down at the injured man. “Is he going to make it?” He noticed several things at once. The man had rubber gloves covering his hands, and his clothes were splattered with blood.

The man across from him looked up from what he was doing, exasperation written all over his face as he applied pressure to the gunshot wound in Old Man Garner’s chest. As he did, the sound of the ambulance pulling up could be heard. The man looked up as the paramedics wheeled the gurney in.

He quickly scooted out of the way as the paramedics lifted Garner onto the gurney and wheeled him out of the building and into the ambulance. The man looked down at the blood on his glove-covered hands, seeming appalled by what he saw. He looked up at Joe questioningly.

“Guess you’d like to wash up a bit, huh?” When the young man nodded, Joe led the man to the back of the store and the restroom. He waited outside while the man cleaned up, wondering who in the hell he was and what he knew about the holdup and shooting.

Five minutes later the door opened, and the man, a bit cleaner, walked out. He took a deep breath when he saw Joe leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. He finally nodded his head as he came to stand in front of Joe.

“I have some questions for you.”

The beautiful man nodded, his head bent down.

“Would you like some water first? I imagine you could use it considering…” He gestured around the store with his hand. Again the man nodded.

“I think we can come up with something,” Joe replied as he waved for the man to precede him. He turned and followed the man through a doorway and back into the main room of the store. Reaching into a small refrigerated cabinet, he pulled out bottled water and handed it to him.

Joe watched as he opened it and took a long swig, the sight of his Adam’s apple moving in his throat making him squirm a bit. Joe took in the younger man’s good looks. He had a long, sleek neck that just begged to be nibbled on. He stood several inches shorter than Joe’s six foot three, maybe five foot seven or so and one hundred and fifty pounds. But he carried it very well.

His body was compact but well defined with rippling muscles and strong, sleek bodylines. He had light honey blond hair that curled in waves down to his shoulders. But it was his beautiful moss green eyes that mesmerized Joe. He could stare into those eyes for hours.

It was hard for him to concentrate on the job he was here to do when faced with such a perfect example of masculine beauty. He knew he could spend hours just looking at the little man in front of him. Unfortunately, work took precedence.

“So, want to tell me who you are and what you’re doing here?” Joe finally asked as the man screwed the cap back onto the bottled water. The young man just shrugged his shoulders.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Nate…” Joe began, only to stop when Nate placed his hand on his chest over his heart.

“Shh, you need to be quiet,” Nate whispered.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on reading Joe’s emotions. He could feel his hands heat up where they touched Joe’s skin, wondering if Joe felt the same heat. Nate suddenly inhaled. His eyes popped open to look up at Joe in surprise, sudden heat filling his eyes. “Joe,” he whispered. It had been hard to reach Joe’s emotions and sort them out, harder than he had ever encountered before.

When he finally did, Nate was filled with rolling hot lust and desire. Joe’s emotions were practically on fire, and Nate wanted nothing more than to climb inside of Joe and be warmed by that fire.

He felt Joe gently cup his face and look down into his eyes. “What am I feeling, baby?”

“You…you want me?” Nate asked breathlessly, as if he couldn’t believe the emotions he was getting from Joe.

“Oh yeah,” Joe whispered back.

Nate could see all that Joe was feeling in his eyes. He was aroused and wanting but apprehensive at the same time. “Does that bother you?”

“Even knowing…even knowing what I am? You still want me?” Nate’s voice was filled with disbelief and uncertainty.

“Yes.” One word, one simple word. How could one simple word fill Nate with such joy and happiness and scare him out of his mind at the same time? Would Joe still feel the same if he knew everything?

“Joe…I haven’t told you everything. How can you feel this way? You don’t even know me. I could be some horrible person or an axe murderer for all you know.”

“Are you?” Joe asked with a small smirk.

“Am I what?” Nate was so caught up in his thoughts he lost track of the conversation.

“Are you an axe murderer?”

“No! Of course not!” Nate exclaimed, sitting up on his knees and facing Joe. Joe just scooted back to lean against the headboard, chuckling at the outraged look on Nate’s face.

“Well, see, not a problem then.”

“But…but…I haven’t told you…You don’t know…” Nate stammered.

Joe grabbed his hands. “Nate, I don’t care. Do you understand? I don’t care. Even if you were an axe murderer, I wouldn’t care. I’d insist on some serious therapy, but other than that, unless you tell me you don’t want me, the rest doesn’t matter to me.”

Nate could tell that Joe was telling him the truth. He could feel it. “But don’t you want to know…”

“Come here, baby.” Joe held his arms out to Nate, careful to keep the sheet pulled up to cover his naked groin.

Nate slowly crawled over to lean against Joe. He let out a small yelp of surprise when Joe lifted him up to straddle his thighs, pulling his face down to his. His legs slid down to rest on the mattress on each side of Joe’s warm body.

Joe took Nate’s face in his hands. “I just need to know one thing from you. Do you want me? Do you feel anything for me at all?”

“Yeesss,” Nate moaned out, his eyes falling closed. “But there’s so much you don’t know.”

“That’s the only thing I need to know. You will tell me the rest when you’re ready. I know this is sudden, but I felt a connection to you the minute I saw you. It’s only getting stronger the more I’m with you. I’m not one to sit around and wait for things to happen. If I see something I want, I’m going to go after it. And I want you!”

Joe leaned up and took Nate’s lips with his, his tongue fighting its way in, demanding entrance in a way that Nate was helpless to resist. Nate opened his mouth allowing Joe in. He explored with his tongue, feeling every inch of Nate’s mouth.

He felt Joe’s hands moved down his face, tracing across his naked shoulders and back to grab his hips. Nate groaned when Joe pressed their erections together. Nate’s emotions were in overdrive. He could feel the touch of Joe’s hands on his hips, his knees at his back, the hard cock underneath him grinding against his. The desire and caring coming off of Joe swirled around him in one big red haze. It was addictive. He wanted more. Burying his hands in Joe’s long black hair, he pressed their chests together, moving his hips against Joe’s.

“Joe,” Nate whispered desperately against his lips. He was frantic. He could feel something coming, something building in Joe and himself, but he didn’t know what it was. It frightened him, this unknown feeling.

“It’s okay, baby. Let it happen. I’ll be here to catch you.” Joe watched in awe as Nate’s eyes glazed over, his head falling back as he cried out. Reaching between them, Joe shoved his hand under the waistband of Nate’s pajamas, grabbing his throbbing cock just as he exploded, filling Joe’s hand with thick ropes of white cum.