STORY EXCERPT

“I’ve already looked around,” Carsen said in a whisper. “I almost got caught in Ellis’s office yesterday.”

“What did you find?”

“Designs.” 

“What kind of designs?’ Josh asked carefully.

“For clothes. The man is a designer, not a drug dealer,” Carsen muttered.

“Then, maybe he’s laundering money for them. Try to get into his computer and get your hands on his financial records. Better yet, go out with him.”

“He’s got two men living with him already,” he grumbled. “I’m not interested in being number three.” Carsen supposed he was funny like that. He wanted to be the only one in a man’s life.

“Then, there has to be someone else that works there who’s gay and has some position in the community or at least influence with your boss.”

There was one man, but Lucas didn’t even seem to know he was alive.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Carsen said. “I haven’t found anything. You’ll have to find a way to get into the community on your own or find an excuse to raid the store.”

“We can’t get into the community,” Josh insisted. “There is no cause now that they’ve finished their construction. There are no kids there, no school.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” he said as he exited the storeroom. “There is nothing here.”

“The computer,” Josh said. “You have to get us access to it or the store.”

He blew out a breath. “I don’t know,” Carsen said with a grimace.

Part of him wanted nothing more than to believe Ellis and his friends were dealers that needed to be taken down. Josh had no reason to lie to him.

On the other hand, there was Lucas. Carsen couldn’t believe Lucas would work for someone who laundered money, let alone dealt drugs.

He was too cute and too reserved. The man wouldn’t give him the time of day, so he could be hiding something.

Yeah, he could be guarding his heart or his privacy. Lucas just might not trust easily especially strangers.

“Okay. I’ll check the computer.” Carsen made his way to the corridor leading to the back of the store. There was a small breakroom and the offices.

He’d been told the upstairs was a new addition that housed a conference room as well as a fabric closet.

Carsen tried Ellis’s office and then Kin’s. He didn’t know Kin. He was one of Ellis’s lovers. Both were locked, so he slipped upstairs and tried both doors. One was locked, but the second opened and in the middle of the room in front of a dress mannequin stood Lucas.

Shit.

Lucas turned and fixed him with a curious stare. “Anything wrong?” he asked.

“Uh…” He swallowed, cursing his attraction to a man he couldn’t get close to.

For four months he’d been working here, and for just as long Lucas had looked at him as if he saw straight through him.

“You okay?” Lucas asked, a hint of concern in his tone.

“Yeah. I—uh was just—I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite or drinks.” The words tumbled out before Carsen could stop them. His cheeks flamed, and his stomach roiled with the idea of not only rejection but throwing himself at a man who clearly wasn’t interested.

Lucas studied him for a moment and then shrugged. “I’m expecting a delivery any moment.”

“Oh.”

“You’re welcome to stay. There’s enough for two.” Lucas gave him a brief smile.

“Okay,” Carsen said as nonchalantly as he could. “So, what are you working on?”

“I’m just finishing up some things for the summer line and toying with a few ideas.” His gaze slid slowly over Carsen, making him a little uneasy.

Did Lucas know what he’d really been doing up here?

“Come here for a sec,” Lucas said and went over to the side of the room where shelves lined the wall and a long bench languished.

Hesitant and afraid, Carsen tried to calm the rapid beating of his heart. His fingertips itched as his nails threatened to lengthen into sharp claws as they always did when he was afraid or upset.

Carsen had learned to control that side of him that his mother had despised. The dark animal nature that lurked within. There was a part of him that was primal and strong, blasphemous.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him in the truest sense. Carsen just knew he was different. He purred like a cat sometimes during good sex, and he had a habit of scratching his lovers too much when he really liked them.

“I’m not going to bite…yet.” Lucas gave him a teasing grin that had his skin heating up. “I just want to try something out on you.”

“What?” Carsen found himself moving, unable to stop. That animal part of him was partially in control right now, wanting to get as close to Lucas as possible.

That part wanted to rub all over Lucas and bite.

Get a grip, he ordered. His lovers didn’t like that biting or scratching—with good reason, he supposed.

He’d nearly killed three of them—one as a teen in the throes of first love and two in his early twenties when he was still learning to keep his claws sheathed, period.

That felt unnatural and was painful at times, but as much as his nails ached, he maintained control now.

“Sit,” Lucas told him as he reached onto a shelf. “We’re thinking of bringing jewelry to the store. We’re still doing the marketing research to find out how well they might be received by men.”

“What is it?” Carsen asked, still a bit worried this might be a trick. He didn’t think Lucas would be involved with drugs, but he didn’t really know him.

The man could be a hitman for all he knew.

Then, silver glinted in the light, and Lucas brought the item eye level with Carsen. He almost lost his breath.

ADULT EXCERPT

“I like a man who’s all hard muscle,” he said and reached for Lucas’s belt. He worked it free and unbuttoned the pants before dragging the zipper down.

He started to reach into Lucas’s pants for his erection, but Lucas stopped him. He turned Carsen to face the counter and pushed his hair to one side and kiss the back of his neck.

“You smell so good,” he whispered and ran his hands down Carsen’s sides. “I want you so bad.”

Carsen trembled from anticipation and need. It had been too long since he’d been with a man this way. That’s all this was. It was pure primal lust, and it had him in its grip.

The thunk of a leather wallet hitting the counter next to him jerked him out of his thoughts.

“This is going to be a little rough,” Lucas warned. “Unless you have some kind of oil.”

“Cabinet,” Carsen said breathlessly. He pointed, and Lucas moved away from him to retrieve a small bottle of vegetable oil. As he did that, Carsen unzipped and unbuttoned his own pants and leaned on the counter.

Lucas came back to stand behind him and tugged Carsen’s pants down. Lucas smoothed a hand over his ass and then landed a light tap. Then, he kissed the back of Carsen’s neck before biting him gently. Carsen moaned in rapture.

“Put your hands on the counter for now,” Lucas ordered, and pushed Carsen’s briefs down. Lucas’s hand slid down the crease of his ass before lifting and lowering again. The pain was a kiss of pleasure that drew a low whimper from him.

“You have the perfect ass,” Lucas crooned. Then, he reached for the bottle and twisted off the cap.

He poured some onto the counter and dipped his fingers in it. A moment later, a drizzle of oil licked down the crease of his ass, and then a firm finger dragged it to the secret garden between his cheeks. Lucas fingered the tightly closed rosette of his anus before breaching it.

Carsen held his breath as the slick digit pushed in deeper past the tight ring of muscle and forged into the hot depths of his ass.

“You’re like a virgin,” Lucas said almost reverently. “Please tell me I’m not the first.” He withdrew his finger, and Carsen protested.

“No,” he said roughly. God, the man’s touch had him on fire.

Lucas sighed and added more lube, and pushed his finger back in. He bit the side of Carsen’s neck. “You’re not lying to me, are you? Because I’m not into virgins.”

“Everybody is once,” Carsen said. “But no.”

“You’re going to feel so good.” He fucked his finger in slow and easy, getting Carsen even hotter.

Lucas drew his finger out and pushed two back into the tightness. Carsen groaned and panted as Lucas fucked him harder, spread his fingers apart and drove them in deeper.

Carsen reached for his cock. It pulsed and leaked, the scent of his pre-cum like snow with a hint of clove. It surprised him because he’d never smelled like this before, but he didn’t have time to ponder it. He was so hot, his need to be taken riding him hard as he stroked his cock.

“Slow down,” Lucas commanded. “You’ll come before I’m inside your tight little place at this rate.”

Carsen groaned and slowed the pumps of his hand, caressing the tip. At the same time, Lucas’s fingers drove into him, brushed his prostate, and retreated before brushing up against it again, causing bliss to unfold in his belly.

“Oh fuck, yes!”

He was going to come. He felt the need boiling in his balls like a bomb on the verge of exploding.

Lucas quickly pulled his fingers free, and Carsen barely registered the tearing of foil paper. Moments later, he felt the blunt head of Lucas’s dick as it teased the opening of his ass. He drew in a breath as the head pushed inside him.

The tight tissues of his ass were slowly parted, and long-unused nerve endings came alive with sensual delight, sending pulses of pleasure through him. Carsen hissed at the rush of pleasure.

“Oh, shit.” He groaned tightly. “You feel so good.”

Lucas thrust, filling Carsen quickly. Carsen’s inner muscles clenched around him, and Lucas cursed. Carsen closed his eyes and wallowed in the sensations of the thick dick buried in his ass.

Lucas didn’t wait long before he gripped both of Carsen’s hips and began to move in him. His strokes were light and easy at first as the pleasure began to swell anew in Carsen, pulling him deeper into desire’s thrall.

Then, Lucas took him fast and hard.

Carsen caught his bottom lip between his teeth and thrust his hips back to meet Lucas pump for pump. Each plunge pushed him higher, infusing his blood with bliss.

Lucas’s balls slapped against his ass, and Carsen leaned heavily on the counter as he flew out of control.

“Oh, fuck yeah!” Carsen screamed as Lucas drove into him again and again. “Lucas!” Carsen came hard, shooting his load onto the wood of the counter.