STORY EXCERPT

Rogue stood outside the white door, battling the unease in his stomach and the vigorous pace of his heart. He brushed a hand over his wild waves and cast a glance around the complex. Most of the employees were doing details or tending to their daytime jobs. Only a handful—those who would pull all-nighters at Breakers—were hanging around the pool or killing time with some billiards or cards.

If he were about to walk into a self-made disgrace, then he’d be spared the embarrassment of being seen.

Rogue knocked on the door and waited a long, tenuous moment, tapping the side of his leg with his fist. Working off this tension was a bitch. He didn’t suffer anxiety, not ever. He’d learned at a young age that it fucked with the mind. Do now, think later. That was his motto.

And it got him into this goddamn mess.

Rogue groaned and lifted his knuckles to the door.

“Knock all you want.”

Rogue spun and came face to face with Cory. His sunglasses covered his eyes, and the virile emotions Rogue knew those dark lenses protected. He’d caught a glimpse of that emotion earlier when he met Cory’s gaze a split moment before he realized the man was injured. Mason and he arrived at the beach as James dragged the woman away from the water, and an apparent rescue.

Cory popped another fry into his mouth from the plate in his hand and chewed. Rogue swallowed hard, the sight of his jaw moving, drawing out the hollows of his cheeks, gave him an instant hard-on, until the man shouldered past Rogue and slipped into his room. Rogue’s gaze dropped to the white bandage covering a nice stretch of tanned, muscled thigh.

“Came by to see how you’re doing,” Rogue said. The snap of the lock drew his attention back to Cory’s rugged face. The man pushed open the door and stepped in his room without as much as a glance.

“Fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Rogue caught the door with a splayed hand as Cory kicked it shut. “Wait. I was hoping to talk.”

“’Bout what?” Cory tucked the toe of his sneaker behind the door, keeping Rogue out of his room. “Not much to talk about.” He scrunched his nose. “Ah, I’m feeling a little drowsy. They gave me some pain medicine, you know? Makes you tired.”

“Come on, Cory.” He curled his fingers around the door and lifted his sunglasses. He wanted Cory to see he was sincere. “Please?”

“Come on, Rogue.” He chewed on another fry. “Seriously?”

Rogue groaned and rolled his eyes to the sky. The man had a way of using mockery in an innocent fashion. When any other man’s retorts like that might piss him the hell off, Cory’s even-toned words made himworry.

The bet was incentive to mend the wrongs he’d caused, or at least explain to Cory why that other guy was in his room.

Like I should’ve done that night.

Time was scar tissue. The longer it went on, the thicker it became.

“Listen, I want to apologize.” Rogue pinched his chin. “It wasn’t all what it looked like.”

Cory’s lips stretched in a mock frown. A small crease formed in his forehead as he nodded thoughtfully.

“I suppose not,” he said.

Another fry went into that mouth of his, a mouth Rogue wanted so desperately to kiss again.

“But hey, I tend to make a big deal out of little things. You taking it in the ass from some other guy not an hour after you took me, in the scheme of things, really isn’t anything. Neither was the invite to stay the night.”

Fuck me ten times over.

The nonchalant tone Cory laid out those brutal facts delivered a vicious blow to his gut.

“Cory, I’m sorry. It wasn’t…That guy wasn’t…”

“You don’t owe me an apology.” Cory grinned—the most insincere grin if he’d ever seen one—and patted his face like he was a damn kid. “You were a good lesson learned. A lesson I won’t be taking again.”

Rogue watched the door slam shut, leaving him to stare at the white wood in absolute astonishment.

* * * *

Cory dropped his lunch on the table next to his sunglasses and rubbed his face with both hands. His stomach churned from the unexpected encounter. The last person he thought he’d see knocking at his door was Rogue. He reached the third floor of the complex, caught sight of the guy staring at his door, contemplating. Cory had turned to go back down the stairs and hide in the employee lounge when he heard the knock.

He hadn’t been the one to go knocking on Rogue’s door, and that was one reason he decided to confront the man.

Seeing him up close again was his reward for not barreling back down the stairs. He’d been too quick to be stoked by the man’s rough around the edges looks and equally rough attitude. Cory was a glutton for a dangerous man, a risky man, and Rogue came stock full of both winning characteristics.

He wasn’t expecting one night to connect with him on a basic level, one that somehow embedded into him viscerally. Every time he laid eyes on Rogue, that proverbial wire shocked his heart into some skewed fluttering rhythm and left his stomach to the butterflies.

And wouldn’t he know—Cory glanced at the prominent bulge in his shorts—the man made him hard every damn time. 

He stood in his room, lost. His leg throbbed, the anesthetic finally wearing off. He had a bottle of pain meds sitting on his counter that he had no intention of using. He hated pills. After his night with Rogue, he hated alcohol too. He should’ve never fallen for that man, especially only having been on Sinn for a weekend. He was the newbie, and he learned a very newbie lesson.

Now, he was stuck, working within the same vicinity as his one-night-stand, spending three nights a week a floor above the man, even if they were on opposite sides of the complex. He saw Rogue every day, every damn day. The handsome asshole was a potent reminder of his naivety. A brutal reminder that it only took one night for feelings to infuse into his mind.

Strong enough to take the situation he walked into like a knife to his gut.

ADULT EXCERPT

He didn’t want slow or tender loving. He wanted the basic, primal take and claim. He wanted to know Rogue needed him, and that he willingly gave himself to his lover. With nothing about Sinn tainting their time together, no sneaking around or avoiding rumors and bets, they could be themselves.

“Where”—Rogue gasped between a kiss—“to go?”

Cory pulled back long enough to point to his bedroom. Rogue’s arm came around his neck, holding him tight, sealing their mouths hard. His hand wrapped around Cory’s engorged cock and stroked him slowly as they stumbled toward the bedroom, bouncing off the walls. Cory clung to Rogue, following his lead until the man pushed him back.

The soft mattress caught him splayed out for Rogue’s hungry gaze.

“Please tell me you have supplies, ‘cause I don’t,” Rogue said. “Roll on your stomach.”

Cory obeyed, staying off the stitches still in his leg. Thankfully, his ribs were feeling better. He’d need his strength to survive this evening.

“Knees under you.”

Cory pulled his knees up under his body. “I’ve got lube and condoms in my bathroom. The medicine—aw fuck!”

Rogue’s tongue circled his anus, teasing the nerve endings around his sphincter. A tremor shot through him as he jerked forward. He closed his eyes, his fingers digging into the cover on his bed.

Then the man pressed his tongue against his perineum and licked him through his seam, ending the journey with a possessive bite on his ass.

“Be right back. Don’t move,” Rogue said.

Cory couldn’t help pushing onto his elbows and watching Rogue’s naked frame disappear in his bathroom. He listened to the medicine cabinet open and things shuffle around.

When the door closed, Cory resumed his position. Aluminum tore and lube squirted from a tube.

“Tell me what you want, Cory,” Rogue said. His fingers slid along his anus, spreading the cool lube. His fingertips gently pressed into his body.

“I want you to take me. Don’t be gentle. We can be gentle later,” Cory said, the last word coming out on a whimper as Rogue’s fingers slid deep. “Ohhh.”

“If I didn’t need to be inside this, baby, I’d take pleasure in eating your ass. That little tease made you jump. You like it?”

Rogue scissored his fingers. His appendages stroked his prostate.

“Yes,” Cory hissed, sitting back on his hand. If Rogue kept it up, he’d burst with a few more of those tantalizing strokes.

“Next time.” His fingers slid away from his rectum. The bed sagged between his legs and Rogue nudged the head of his cock against Cory’s opening. “Show me how you want me to take you.”

Cory pushed up on his hands and looked over his shoulder. Rogue’s tiger eyes watched him, his hair falling around his shoulders. His hands wrapped around Cory’s hips, but he didn’t move to get inside. Instead, he arched a brow.

“I’m waiting.”

Cory eased himself back, filling his ass with Rogue’s thick cock. He moistened his lips, giving his body time to adjust to the size of his lover. A deep, reverberating sound poured out of Rogue, his fingers tightening against his hips.

“Ah, yes, baby. I remember your body so well. You need to take me slowly,” Rogue murmured. Cory continued to accept more and more of Rogue until his rear connected with his lover’s hips.

“Nice, Rogue,” Cory whispered. He clenched Rogue tight, his muscles taut. His body was made to accommodate this man and give the ultimate pleasure. “Honey, you need to take over. I–I can’t.”

“I was hoping I could watch you ride me.” Rogue drew out and thrust back in. Cory sucked in a weak gasp. “Would you like to ride me, baby?”

“God yes. Yes.”

Rogue stroked him again, teasing his humming prostate. He dropped his head between his arms and met each thrust with a backward motion of his rear.

“I’m not hurting you? You were tight our first night. You’re still a little tighter than I’d like to claim you like a wild animal.”

Cory crawled forward, sliding himself off Rogue. He turned around and grabbed his lover, pulling him onto the bed. He’d get what he wanted one way or another. If it meant climbing on top of Rogue, seating himself back on his cock, and taking him with the quick, rough poundings he so desperately needed….well, that’s what he did. He braced his hands on Rogue’s thighs and bounced, each impalement striking his gland. He tightened his muscles around Rogue’s cock, getting as much pleasure out of his lover’s taut expression as he did from the direct stimulation.

Rogue grabbed the lube he’d left on the bed and squirted another dollop on his fingers. With a feral sneer, he grabbed Cory’s cock and began to pump his erection. The dual stimulation made Cory falter several times, losing his rhythm as the heat in his sac stirred and stretched upward.

Rogue flipped him onto his back and took over, fucking him with long, full strokes.

“Sweetheart. Shit. Damn,” Cory cussed. He was losing his grip, losing his place in this conscious state. He writhed beneath Rogue, reaching for that something more, that little nudge he needed for the ultimate explosion. Balanced precariously on that wall between torture and bliss, he grabbed Rogue’s head and pulled him down for a devouring kiss.