STORY EXCERPT

“I’m a moral man with questionable moral practices.”

Again, Billy’s gaze wandered over the buttocks of the man sleeping in his bed. If he truly had warped morals, he would tie him up, fuck him raw, and then toss him out on his thoroughly banged bottom. But since Billy wasn’t into that kind of garbage, he sat on the edge of his bed and wondered what to do. What was the correct moral thing for him to do in this situation?

The answer was complicated by the fact the man had done the wrong thing by breaking into Billy’s apartment. Or had he? Billy left the bedside. The front door of his apartment had been locked when he returned because he’d almost dropped a bag of groceries trying to unlock it. But that didn’t mean he’d locked it when he’d left. This man could have found the door unlocked, entered, and gone to sleep.

Closing his eyes, Billy pictured himself leaving for Red Butte. He’d pulled on his shoes, slipped his wallet in his back pocket, pulled on a baseball cap, dragging it low to shade his face even though it was dark out. He only covered up to thwart anyone trying to get a picture of him from a distance. He saw himself exiting the apartment and…yes. He had locked the door because he thought he’d heard someone coming up the stairs. In order to have his hands free, he’d quickly locked the door and stuffed the keys in his front pocket because he’d had to pull them out to get into his car.

So, he’d locked the only door into and out of his home. Next, he went in a methodical circle examining the windows. Since he was standing in the living room, he started there. Both of the windows were closed and locked, as was the window above the kitchen sink. He found the problem in the bathroom. The vent fan in the ceiling was broken so he’d been cracking the window open after his morning showers. He remembered doing so this morning, and the window had been open when he’d showered this evening. Billy was sure it was psychological that he found the need to shower twice a day. Apparently, his little cleanliness issue allowed his slumbering bedmate a way into his place.

Checking the window again, he realized only a very small person could fit through that space. Even though the damage had been done, Billy closed and locked the window. There was no sense inviting more trouble in. And for some very strange reason he didn’t want his interloper to get out.

Billy returned to his bedroom, slid off his shorts, and found his playmate had swaddled the blankets back around himself. As much as he wanted to wake him up, he also didn’t want to. He’d obviously come here for a reason. Maybe he wanted a story. Billy wanted a warm body to sleep next to. Maybe the two of them could come to a trade.

“I should probably give you a name. Something descriptive.” Billy sighed as he looked down at—“Teddy. Because a man named Billy needs to have his teddy bear.” Although, in Billy’s adult fantasies, he didn’t just hold Teddy’s hand.

Billy slid into his bed and found that alluring scent was stronger now. Moving slowly, he stretched out so that he and Teddy were pressed together. Since both of them were nude, Billy was able to feel how smooth Teddy’s skin was. Maybe Teddy had used some lotion and that was what was making that wickedly alluring scent. Billy took mental inventory of the items in his bathroom, but he didn’t recall anything with that delectable aroma.

When Teddy moaned and wrapped his arm around Billy, he almost pushed him away. Almost. But something stopped him. Whoever he was, he was obviously exhausted. Maybe he didn’t have any connection to the news. Whatever his story, it would have to wait for the morning because Billy was too exhausted to worry about it now.

“Please.”

Billy lifted up and gazed down at the man in his bed. “What?”

“Please.” He clung to Billy’s shoulders and pressed his face against his chest. “I don’t want to go back.”

“Back where?”

“Back to the room with red-painted walls.”

Billy had no idea where that was, but red was a color that said stop, danger, or pain. In the club, red placards were placed on a door to indicate the participants were enacting a heavy scene that would involve screaming and bloodletting. It was a warning to other club members that they might want to stay away.

“Please.”

“I won’t make you go back.” Something about the way Teddy clung to him told Billy he wasn’t here for anything other than protection. For whatever reason, Teddy had come here because he felt safe.

“Thank you.” Teddy relaxed and fell back into a deep slumber.

Carefully, Billy slid back out of bed and pulled his shorts on. He felt like the worst kind of pervert. What the hell had he been thinking? Sliding into bed with a stranger when both of them were naked was practically begging for trouble. The only thing Billy could figure was that the smell, that goddamned compelling aroma, had infiltrated his mind and temporarily short-circuited his better judgment. But no more.

Billy grabbed a blanket and a pillow from the linen closet near the bathroom and stretched out on the couch. He got up, moved the couch over three feet so that it blocked the front door, and settled back in. From his vantage point, he could see into his bedroom. He supposed Teddy could always climb out the window, but he would hear him long before he could make a clean getaway. But that wasn’t why he’d blocked the door. That was just what he told himself. The real truth was he wanted to keep out the people who wanted to take Teddy back. Somehow, it was just emotionally safer to tell himself he was keeping Teddy in.

Sooner or later Billy was going to find out exactly who the man in his bed was and just what in the hell he was wanted for. But for now, Billy would watch over him, and protect him, because that was what a moral man did.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Let me please you. It will ease your pain and perhaps give us the time that you seek.” Cody wasn’t sure if his idea would work, but he was willing to try. He wanted to make his mate happy and show him they did belong together. Cody didn’t understand his reluctance, not completely, but maybe it was different for an alpha. As soon as Cody saw his powerful mate, he was ready to commit himself. Obviously, he did not fully appeal to Billy. But he would. He just had to show him that fate was not wrong.

“Let’s try pleasing each other.” Billy turned and shut the wind machine off. He took Cody’s hand away from his cock and used it to pull him over to his bed. “Lie down.”

Cody did as he was told. He watched with confused interest as his mate undressed and then joined him on the bed, but he lay down in the opposite direction. On the verge of asking for an explanation, he didn’t need one when his mate sucked Cody’s cock into his mouth. The intensity of his hot mouth over his cool flesh was astonishingly good. When Cody realized his mate’s cock was before his mouth, he followed suit. As soon as he sucked Billy’s prick inside, he uttered a growl that made Cody whimper in answer. They were making all the right mating sounds, but they were not technically mating. Or were they? And then all thought left his mind when his mate cupped Cody’s buttocks into his massive hands.

Rocking him back and forth caused Cody to quite literally fuck his mate’s mouth, which was wickedly wrong, making the act exciting in and of itself. Only his alpha mate should fuck, but this wasn’t totally bad because Cody was not penetrating his mate’s bottom. That would be the most wrong way of things that he could think of. This was somewhat strange, but it felt very good, and as he continued to rock his hips, he found himself sucking more of his mate’s cock within his mouth.

When Billy rolled and lifted him up, Cody was confused and pulled his mouth away until he realized this way his mate was able to pull more of Cody’s cock into his mouth. Looking down, Cody watched in a hypnotized trance as his prick went in and out of Billy’s firmly sucking mouth. With a cry of shock, Cody came. He thought for sure Billy would spit him out and be angry, but he did the opposite. Billy drank Cody’s release and seemed to find pleasure in doing so.

Now Cody turned his attention back to his mate’s cock and sucked him all the way down to the base. He cupped his hands around his balls, loving the heat and weight of them. Each pull drew a bit more of his mate’s essence out of him, but he knew if he kept going he would be rewarded with the full of his mate’s pleasure. Cody kept trying to make him climax, but his mate seemed to have tremendous self-control.

“Relax. Whoa. Slow down.” Billy eased Cody away from him.

Feeling like a failure, Cody hung his head.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” Billy sat up and encouraged Cody to sit up. Before he knew it, his mate’s powerful arms were around him, holding him, and all that did was make Cody feel worse.

“I can’t even please you!”

“What? Oh, God, Cody. I just wanted it to last.”

“I thought you wanted to ease us from our urge to mate?”

“Yeah, but, I didn’t want to go off super-fast.”

“But you made me go—oh. Only a beta climaxes fast. I’ve heard that.” Cody reached down and stroked his mate’s cock. He wanted to taste him almost desperately.

“No, that’s not what I was—just—let’s go do something else.”

“But I haven’t eased you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Billy stood up, and Cody knew he was going to pull his shorts on.

Desperate to please his mate in turn, Cody reached out, pulled him to the edge of the bed, and determinedly sucked his cock back into his mouth. He looked up to make sure he was pleasing his mate. When his gaze locked on Billy’s, he saw a curious thing. His mate lifted one edge of his mouth and snarled. It was so rough and alpha Cody shivered. He had a strange idea that his mate enjoyed standing and being sucked rather than lying down for it. Unsure what the difference was, Cody didn’t care as long as he got to finish what he started.

“Close your eyes.”

Cody did and discovered that not looking made him more aware of the feel of his mate’s cock in his mouth. He was big and now so hard it was almost difficult to handle taking him in too deep.

“Use your hand. Wrap it around my shaft and stroke up and down to help get me off.”

His words were spoken harshly, and Cody didn’t understand why that excited him so, but it did. He loved the sound of rough passion altering his mate’s voice from deep to tough and almost cruel. It was curious because Cody intuitively knew Billy didn’t want to hurt him, but Billy enjoyed standing above him and telling him what to do. His obvious enjoyment spilled over into Cody.

When Billy groaned and cupped his hand on the top of Cody’s head, Cody let out a long whimper of surrender. Just as he thought, his mate responded with a series of guttural growls and flicked his hips. If not for his self-control, he would have drilled his cock deep into Cody’s mouth, but he held back. Shallow thrusts mimicked what Billy would hopefully do to Cody’s bottom someday. The thought of that excited Cody, making him tighten his fist and suck harder.