STORY EXCERPT

Christopher wouldn’t allow himself to think. He moved quickly, not even taking time to remove his makeup. Instead, he grabbed his belongings, threw them into his satchel, and then headed for the stage door. He thrust it open quickly and stepped out into the night. He had gotten only a few steps when he sensed something in the shadows. He stopped a moment and looked. When he saw nothing, he began walking toward the street.

“Christopher,” a voice said.

Christopher stopped in his tracks. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to see you one more time.”

“Look, I don’t want to be rude, but I’m in something of a rush here.”

“You’re lying, and you know it,” Cato whispered as he stepped out of the shadow and reached a hand toward Christopher’s face.

“Don’t,” Christopher whispered, moving his head away from Cato’s touch.

“I know your problem. You’re afraid that if I touch you, just once, the way I want to touch you, you’d burst into flame.”

“Is there anything else?” Christopher asked.

“Admit it,” Cato murmured as he looked at Christopher, his blond hair edged in red from the reflection of the stage door light. “Just admit it. That’s all I ask.”

“All right, yes, it’s true,” Christopher whispered shakily. “I know your type. Hell, you’d burn me to a cinder and laugh while you did it. You put on a nice show, but you’re cruel, heartless, and how many have already fallen in love with you, only to be cast aside when you grew tired of them?”

“My God, is that what this is all about?”

“It’s not only that. I…I haven’t had a lot of lovers. You’re more experienced. I might not…please you. What if I couldn’t do some of the things you asked of me?”

Cato’s face drew nearer while Christopher’s heart beat a crazy tattoo. “Christopher, my God, what do you think I am? I wouldn’t demand more of you than you could give.”

Cato’s breath smelled of cloves. It brought back the memory of their last kiss—and the first—and all the other kisses he’d had in his life that he now knew weren’t nearly as good as Cato’s. He’d tried for days not to think of it, but the moment would always come rushing back—the breathless ride of a roller coaster, the faintest brush of his tongue against Cato’s.

“You want me,” Cato said, the words low in his throat, as his electric-blue eyes gleamed in the darkness, and his presence filled the dark alleyway. Potently male, simmering with juices, and brimming with heat. “I know you do.” A sexy curl of his lip as he drew closer sent a thrill through Christopher. “You smell like that stupid makeup you wear, and you glitter like a new toy on Christmas. I can also smell something sweet. Maybe it’s sweet soap. So very, very sweet.”

A sharp push on the stage door sounded, making Christopher jerk as if stung. Cato pulled him back, and they both heard an angry male voice say, “Open the fuckin’ door, dude. I’m in a hurry.”

As soon as the two men were out the door and walking down the alleyway, Cato whispered in Christopher’s ear, “I love you, Christopher.”

Christopher turned and looked at Cato, at his luminous eyes, his kissable lips, and his face, so handsome and strong. “That can’t be. It’s too soon. Besides, you’ve come into my life at the wrong time, Cato. There’s simply no room for a relationship at this point. I…I can’t get involved.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” Christopher said and then hesitated a moment before he spoke again. “Why don’t you make this easy for both of us and go? Why do you keep showing up? Are you stalking me?”

Cato chuckled. “It must seem like that, I know. And I’ve said good-bye to you so many times, but I just can’t seem to let go. Would it do any good to ask you to at least try?”

Christopher hesitated for a moment and then looked at Cato with his green eyes glittering. “I can’t stand to be smothered.”

“Neither can I.”

“No serious involvement. No ‘til death do us part stuff. Just a nice, friendly—”

All at once, they were in each other’s arms.

Tasting Cato was like taking a sip of the finest wine ever made. His flavor burst onto Christopher’s tongue in full bloom. There was a slight edge of tartness, which was like adding a taste of danger to the elegance.

ADULT EXCERPT

Heat flamed within Christopher. A roaring filled his ears and he gasped. His heart slowed, but then sped up again when he heard him growl. It was low, his mouth hot as he moved it over Christopher’s lips, no longer silencing him, but tasting and exploring his mouth with his tongue. The strong arm that held him now pulled him closer while Cato’s other hand lifted to lace his fingers through his hair. He tugged, turning Christopher toward him for a fuller embrace, and then his kiss went deeper.

Christopher moaned as the man’s tongue met his and explored his mouth like he owned it—and for a moment, he did. Christopher forgot everything. Everything around them had dropped away, and there was only the stranger’s lips on his, demanding. Promising. The heat from his body warmed Christopher as he returned his kiss, pushing closer into his hard body, forgetting reality.

Pure strength surrounded him. Hot. Dangerous. Tempting. Then a horn honked, and awareness crashed into him. He jerked his head back, his lips bruised and tingling, his mind spinning. The electric blue of the man’s pirate’s eyes held Christopher’s gaze captive.

“Don’t cry out. I only want to love you,” Cato whispered. The sound of his voice had deepened into something guttural, something that added to the fluttering in Christopher’s lower stomach.

When their lips met again, Christopher took the stranger’s bottom lip between his teeth to bite—to cause him pain—to force him to let him go, but before he knew what was happening, it became erotic, and he was sucking it, responding to the man’s rough treatment with desire burning through his veins, his erection building to match his. Their two cocks pushed against each other wantonly. When Christopher felt it beneath his clothes, a stab of—what was it? Fear? No. It was the impossibility of a situation that had become unbelievably real in a back alley behind the club.

“Oh, God, I can’t do this,” Christopher whispered to himself, his strength gone when he gave a halfhearted try to push him away.

“Be quiet,” Cato said, his lips feasting on Christopher’s neck and chest as he pulled at his clothes.

Before Christopher knew what was happening, the stranger had pushed him against the wall of the building, his clothes slowly disappearing beneath the grabbing fury of two hands that were now pushing his thighs apart. The next thing he felt was the man’s hands fondling his cock. A velvet thrill flooded through him, causing him to press his hips forward in an effort to push his cock harder against his hand.

“Oh, God,” Christopher moaned. “I can’t let this happen, and yet I don’t want to stop it. I don’t know you. I don’t know anything about you. What’s wrong with me?”

Christopher could feel his large, muscled frame against him as he floated in a pleasing aroma of expensive men’s cologne. The stranger was deliciously heavy, making desire mount in Christopher and causing his legs to clench his body as he felt him pushing Christopher to the ground. Sensations crashed through him like an unruly storm. He was locked in a passion he’d never known before, and as the stranger pressed his cock into Christopher’s hole and began to plunge in and out of him in a hot, hungry rhythm, he tumbled and fell into another world.

The bustling city thrived around them as they moved together on the ground, the ugliness around them fading as they painted over it with the beautiful colors of desire and passion.