STORY EXCERPT

“Politicians don’t give straight answers, either,” Seth quipped, shrugging and sipping his drink. It earned a right good chuckle from everyone in the room.

Seth preened. Aw, yes. One point for comedy!

“Well, I’m glad you came back to visit. Camden Cove will always be here for you,” Gareth replied, all official one moment, and then super casual the next. “And hey, thanks for coming, man.”

“I figured I can come by tomorrow or whenever they discharge you so you can get a proper bite to eat,” Hunter said. He turned to Seth. “Glad you have someone taking care of you.”

Seth could almost feel his cheeks heat up.

“Who, you mean Seth?” Gareth said, giving a fake scoff and smiling at his brother. “I learned the darnedest thing yesterday. Did you know that—”

Seth’s eyes widened. His heart started pounding a mile a minute, and he knew it wasn’t because of the shit coffee he was drinking. That thing was just basically water. His voice was higher in pitch, kind of squeaky, even, as he spoke. “Ah ah ah, look, the seagulls outside are mating—”

“Don’t be silly. Seagulls are birds. They lay eggs,” Gareth corrected, but he smirked. “You’re right, though. I’m sorry. Not my story to tell. You can tell them in your own time.”

His big brother then winked. Seth sighed.

Seth would have killed the man, but a snapshot of the news headline flashed in his head. Homosexual shut-in kills his brother, the mayor. 

That was going to be screwed up.

“Actually, the reason I came here wasn’t just to check up on you. That was the major point of the visit, but actually, I heard something interesting from my mother yesterday when I got into town,” Hunter said.

Just when Seth felt relief, he felt another pang of panic again. “Oh?” he said, his voice a smidge higher than usual.

“Yeah. Annemarie made an excellent point yesterday, and then she treated us to some delicious fish tacos. You really need to get that recipe,” Octavian said. “Anyway, continue.”

Hunter leaned back and sighed. “We kind of had a nice, sincere talk about long-term relationships. It’s really odd, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it these past few months, and I feel like I’m finally ready to get out there and start dating, you know?”

“You mean aside from the models and the women in bikinis constantly rubbing up against you in your Instagram feed?” Gareth asked.

Octavian laughed. Seth offered the tiniest of smirks.

“Hey, those girls were perfectly fine until they started to want to be serious, and then I found out they weren’t actually very serious at all,” Hunter replied, trying to defend himself.

Octavian shook his head. “I’m not sure ladies who post collages about their tramp stamps while they’re drinking straight from a bottle of vodka, and then post their mug shots right after, are the kind of women you’d want to bring home to your mother.”

Hunter opened his mouth, then closed it after a few moments, imitating a bobbling fish perfectly as he tried to scramble for an answer. A tongue-tied lawyer? I don’t see that often!

Cue cheesy laugh track here.

“Well, I mean, to be fair, they could be perfectly pleasant women, but people who do those sorts of things do get sort of a bad rep. Sure, they’re fun, and you know it from their social media, but there are people who post Bible verses and look real nice and perfect on the outside but are inwardly the shittiest of people,” Seth replied.

Hunter gestured to Seth. “See? Thank you, Seth. I knew I could count on you. You’re a good guy.”

“That being said, though, the fact that a majority of them cheated on you does either shed some light on them as people, or you as a boyfriend,” Seth said, playfully poking fun at Hunter. “I’m hoping it’s the former, rather than the latter.”

Octavian laughed. “He’s read you like a book, Hunter.”

“Well, I mean, we didn’t grow up next to each other for nothing,” Hunter said. He scratched the tip of his nose, and then looked flustered for a moment. “This isn’t exactly the best place to come right out with it, but, er, Seth.”

Seth blinked and turned to Hunter. He tilted his head in question. “Yeah?”

“Would you uh, maybe like to go out tomorrow night? Just the two of us.”

The room turned quiet. Seth’s eyes widened.

Octavian’s lips quirked upward, seemingly unable to stop the wide grin on his face, just as Gareth leaned back against the hospital bed, fighting the urge to laugh. Seth could hear the way Gareth was trying to stifle his laughter. It sounded like an asthmatic dog having just run a ten-mile marathon.

Still, the ringing from his ears wasn’t just from his tinnitus. His eyes were wide and he’d almost dropped the coffee he was holding. Gingerly placing the paper cup on the side, he stared at Hunter, whose strong, defined eyebrows were furrowed as he bit down on one corner of his lower lip, looking worried.

“A…a…a…”

The words wouldn’t really come out of Seth’s mouth. He was sure he wasn’t making any sense at all. So maybe, just maybe, he was going to get through this with some good old-fashioned word vomit.

That seemed like a good idea. All the processing power in his mind went straight to Seth’s emotional center, anyway. It felt like his brain had just suffered through a fatal crash error and needed to restart.

Seth paused. “Are you serious?”

Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Of course I am.”

“You’re… You’re joking, right?”

Well, that word vomit didn’t go quite as expected.

He couldn’t believe he was hearing this now, of all days. Really? Right here? In front of his hospitalized brother, some guy he didn’t know who was apparently Hunter’s boss, and this early in the morning?

Screw you too, brain.

ADULT EXCERPT

“I want you so badly.”

Those five little words sent a shiver of exhilaration and anticipation through Seth’s body. This had been a fantasy he’d had for the longest time, and to have it go so well in reality when it could have gone horribly, horribly poorly—well, Seth wouldn’t have traded that feeling for anything in the world.

Seth moaned. He ran his fingers up and down Hunter’s chest, clasping at his gym-hardened pecs. A single look into Hunter’s mesmerizing, dark eyes was all it took to make Seth’s breath hitch. The depth of those brown eyes was almost too much, and Hunter was looking at him with such hunger and intensity that Seth could only squirm in reply.

And his cock hardened in response, too. He pressed his body right up against Hunter, unaware that the man was waiting for his answer.

“Well?” Hunter asked.

Seth blinked. A slow smile spread on his face. He wanted to fight it. He wanted to prolong the agony a little bit, so to speak, but he knew he couldn’t. All his thoughts were of Hunter, and this moment.

He’d played it over and over in his head, but the fantasies were so much more lame than the reality. This was just so much better.

Each time he thought about him and Hunter being together, he had some kind of Fabio-esque book cover fantasy where they were on the beach, the sun setting, the waves crashing, turbulent like their emotions. Hunter was wearing a white button-up that was unbuttoned all the way, and his chest was wet from seawater, or sweat, or…something. Seth didn’t care. His eyes were transfixed into Hunter’s deep, dark brown eyes, staring him down, making him drown in desire.

But this reality, where he could actually touch the guy and see how he responded—and listen to the softest of guttural moans that came from Hunter’s lips—was even better.

“Okay,” he replied, sighing in fake defeat. “I want you, too.”

Nothing else needed to be said. Without another word, Seth suddenly found himself on his back, his lower body lifted up until his ass was raised above his head. He let out a little gush of laughter from being manhandled so randomly, but Hunter was quickly tugging off the rest of his clothes until Seth was fully naked, bewildered, and baring everything to the man he’d dreamt about for a good third of his life, maybe more.

“That excited?” Seth said, unable to stop the thundering in his chest.

Hunter grinned, looming above him with a glimmer of playfulness in his eyes. That twinkle of mischief made Seth’s breath hitch, and when he pressed his lips right against Seth’s rear, tongue lashing in slow, sinuous swipes at his entrance, it was all Seth could do to stop from moaning a little too loudly. Hunter held both Seth’s ankles in a firm hold, spreading him outward while letting Seth’s body lean against his own.

“Oh God,” Seth cried out as he felt Hunter’s tongue swipe against his pucker. “That… That feels so good.”

“Nobody is here, querido. You can let yourself moan and cry as much as you like.”

Hunter half-chuckled against his rear, tongue swirling gently, pushing forward just enough to make Seth squeak softly, before pulling away. All the while, he pressed in one finger to trace around Seth’s rear, and then two, and then three. He only braced his fingers in, but didn’t dare push them yet. He didn’t have lube, after all, and Seth certainly hoped he wasn’t going to get three, lube-less fingers inside his ass! Hunter gently slid the digits forward and back, tracing over his pucker, teasing him and making Seth quiver.

“I don’t think I can wait too long, querido,” Hunter said, his voice harsh and soft at the same time, filled with need. “My heart’s pounding so fast. Too fast. I’ve never felt this way.”

Seth couldn’t help the slow smile spreading on his face, until the corners of his lips felt like they were from ear to ear. “Me, too.”

“Lube?” Hunter asked.

Seth paused. “What?”

“Do you have lube or condoms, Seth?” Hunter repeated a little more clearly.

It took a moment for the haze in Seth’s head to clear before he reached over to the shelf beside his bed. Knocking over a memento or two from his childhood, he grabbed the little triangular bottle of lube and tossed it over at Hunter.

“No condoms, sadly. I wasn’t expecting to get laid tonight,” Seth said. “But the lube… Well, lube’s just fun, right?”

Wow. Awkward.

“That’s okay,” Hunter replied, looking like he was fighting off a smile when he heard Seth talking about his little bottle of lube. “I have one in my wallet. Condom, I mean.”

Seth had a quip ready to lob at Hunter but was immediately stifled by the feeling of lips against his.

Confident to the point of cocky? Maybe.

Sexy? Absolutely.