STORY EXCERPT

Cecil absently rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand, the heavy thudding between his eyes growing worse. The worry and anxiety building inside of him was causing his head to throb.

“Headache?”

Cecil dropped his hand to his lap as he nodded. Mind-numbing migraine was more like it, but he wasn’t about to admit that to Creed. The man took his health and safety very seriously.

“You’ve been getting a lot of those lately.”

“I probably need a few days off.” He worked hard, long hours. He might have inherited money from his parents when they passed away, but the bulk of his money came from working that money to the best of its advantage. That took time and planning and burning the midnight oil.

“Maybe you should see if Manny wants to go to the lake house with you after he gets out of the hospital,” Creed said. “I’m sure the two of you could find something to occupy your time.”

Cecil grinned at the amusement he could hear in Creed’s voice. He really couldn’t think of anything he would like more than to spend a quiet weekend with Manny at his lake house, just the two of them. They could spend the entire weekend naked. Cecil would insist on it.

When the limousine pulled up in the entrance of County General fifteen minutes later, Cecil was a little white knuckled from the wild ride, but he was there in one piece and that was all that mattered at the moment.

He scooted toward the door, thankful when it opened before he got there. He quickly exited the vehicle, in no way surprised when Creed climbed out after him and started scanning the area for danger. Creed might not follow him into the office every single second of the day, but the man took Cecil’s security in strange places very seriously. Cecil knew Creed would follow him as he hurried in through the emergency room doors. In public, the man was never more than a few feet away from him.

Now, he just needed to find Manny.

“Are you out of your mind?” an all-too-familiar voice shouted, giving Cecil a direction to head in.

His throat felt too thick to call out or to even ask a nurse where to find the owner of that deep, slightly accented voice, the same voice that Cecil dreamed of almost every night since he had laid eyes on Manuel Lopez.

Cecil didn’t know if it was the desperation in his eyes, the fancy suit he wore, or the large man following behind him, guarding him, but no one stopped him as he made his way through the emergency room corridor, heading toward the man that held Cecil’s soul. He wouldn’t be able to breathe again until he laid eyes on Manny himself and knew that the man was alive.

He knew Manny was hesitant about their relationship, even standoffish on occasion. Cecil didn’t hold it against the man. Once Manny got used to the idea of them being together, he would fall into line easily enough. Manny was just too used to being all alone.

Cecil planned to change that.

There was something about the tall Hispanic man that had caught Cecil’s interest from the very first glance. Cecil had been unable to think of anyone else since. He had even gone as far as getting rid of his little black book.

One night spent in Manny’s arms had proven to Cecil that he didn’t need anyone but the sexy Marine. Convincing Manny of that was proving to be just a tad bit harder. The morning after they had practically fucked each other unconscious, Manny started running. Three weeks had gone by since that night, and Manny was still running. Cecil hadn’t gotten to where he was in the business world without being stubborn. He refused to give up when he wanted something, and he wanted Manuel Lopez, and he wasn’t going to stop until he had him.

Cecil’s heart beat a little faster when he saw Sheriff John Henry Harrison standing in the doorway of one of the emergency room cubicles. If John Henry was standing in the doorway that meant his partner Charles Pennington III was inside the room.

And that meant Manny was inside as well.

John Henry turned just as Cecil reached him. He stepped forward, holding out his hands as if to stop Cecil, but no one was going to stop him from getting to Manny. Cecil continued to walk forward then quickly zipped around John Henry.

He paused in the doorway, finally able to breathe again for the first time since he received the phone call from Charlie that Manny had been injured. Manny was alive. Manny was breathing.

Manny was pissed.

Cecil frowned as he glanced from Manny’s scowling face to Charlie and then back again. He wasn’t real sure what was going on, but it seemed to him that this was the last place Manny and Charlie should be arguing. Besides the fact that it was a hospital, Manny was obviously injured. There was a white bandage around one of his arms.

Cecil opened his mouth to say something, and hopefully defuse the situation, when the words Manny was speaking filtered through the worry that had been clouding Cecil’s brain since he had received a phone call from Charlie.

“I can’t believe you called him,” Manny snapped, his dark cocoa-brown eyes blazing with fury. “I went on that stupid mission to get away from Cecil.”

Cecil stood utterly frozen in the doorway, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. Only by sheer force of will did he continue to stay standing when everything inside of him was crumbling.

“You left on a mission to get away from me?” Cecil’s words were whispered but loud enough to be heard by the two men in the room. Manny’s face drained of color as he turned to look at Cecil.

“Shit.” Charlie rushed over and grabbed Cecil’s arm as if Cecil was about to collapse and Charlie was trying to keep him standing.

Cecil shook Charlie off and stepped into the room. “Answer me, Manny. Did you go on that mission to get away from me?” Cecil swallowed. “And I want the truth.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Cecil Montgomery grunted as he was slammed into a wall. He laughed as he stared into the cocoa-brown eyes of the man pressed against him. Sheer delight rolled through him at the roughness of the hands pinning him to the wall.

He loved a man with muscles.

“Are you attached to this suit?” Manuel Lopez asked as his fingers smoothed over the silk lapel. There was something in Manny’s voice that Cecil couldn’t define, but he was too conscious of the hard cock pressing against him to worry about it. “It looks pretty expensive.”

“It’s a custom-fitted Marcello.”

Manny’s eyes snapped up to meet Cecil’s. A rakish grin spread over his lips. “Really?”

A moment later, Cecil’s eyes widened as the sound of fabric ripping filled the air and he felt a cool evening breeze brush across skin that had been covered a second before. There was another rip and then another and another until Cecil stood before Manny in nothing except his boxers and socks.

Cecil cocked an eyebrow as he looked down at his boxers. “Are you sure you don’t want to take care of those, too? They were made by Hanes.”

And there went his boxers.

Cecil felt kind of ridiculous standing there in nothing but his black socks until he looked up and saw the arousal burning in Manny’s deep brown eyes as the man looked at his naked body. It was hot enough to steal the breath right out of his lungs. Cecil suddenly knew what it was like to be the object of someone’s lust.

He couldn’t be more pleased. He had wanted Manuel Lopez since the first moment he had laid eyes on him standing with a bunch of other men that had gone to rescue Miko Thomas, one of Cecil’s friends and a client. Cecil managed Miko’s career as an artist, making sure his life ran smoothly and no one messed with him. When Miko and his infant son had been kidnapped by the psychotic mother of his husband, Cecil had ridden in to save the day. Meeting Manny had been his reward for buying Miko and Kei, and returning them to the loving arms of Harlan Thomas.

And Cecil had every intention of calling in that reward, preferably horizontally on the nice soft king sized bed he could see just beyond Manny’s shoulder.

The hands that moved over his skin were rough, callused, and so erotic in their touch that Cecil’s legs almost collapsed beneath him. He couldn’t remember that last time he had wanted someone as much as he wanted Manny. The man tripped every trigger he had, and some he didn’t even know about. Manuel Lopez was hot with a capital oh my god, touch me again.

“These are nice,” Manny mused as his fingers trailed over the tight abs Cecil worked so hard to retain. Daily trips to the gym kept him in good shape, but he had to work for it. Knowing that Manny liked his muscles made every drop of sweat worth it.

“I’m glad you approve.”

“I like this even more.”

Cecil’s breath hitched when Manny’s fingers wrapped around his hard jutting cock. He thanked the powers that be that he was leaning back against the wall. Otherwise, he knew for a fact he would have been a puddle on the floor.

“Manny,” Cecil groaned as he thrust forward, driving his aching cock through the man’s fingers.

“Do you like that, hermoso?”

Cecil nodded, unable to do anything else, even put sound to the thoughts rapidly racing through his head into nothingness. His entire world was starting to fill up with the tall, dark Marine standing in front of him. Nothing else mattered.

Cecil had been looking for a man to complete his world since he understood that he was gay. Once or twice in the past he thought he had found Mr. Right only to learn that the man he was interested in was only after his money. He really didn’t think Manny cared about his money, which made the handsome man just about perfect in Cecil’s eyes.

“My dick is going to be balls-deep inside your ass before you leave this room,” Manny said. “You know that, si?”

Cecil shivered at the barely repressed growl he could hear in the Marine’s deep, accented voice. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Then we are wasting precious time,” Manny said just before he lowered his head to press his lips against Cecil’s. His tongue caressed Cecil’s lips, demanding entrance. He kissed Cecil with a hunger that belied his outward calm. Cecil felt like Manny devoured him, and he was powerless to stop it, even if he wanted to.

He didn’t.

Manny’s hands were not motionless either. Cecil felt them caressing his shoulders and back before moving down his chest to grab his hips. When Manny gripped his hips and pulled him closer, Cecil felt like he melted under the touch. He could feel every contour of Manny’s body press against his, including the hard cock wedged against his stomach. Manny wasn’t as unaffected as he pretended to be. A lot of things he could hide, but not his desire.

As Manny’s lips moved from Cecil’s lips down his chin to his throat, Cecil tilted his head back. His hands clenched in the fabric of Manny’s shirt. Cecil wanted to demand to know what Manny was doing, but he enjoyed it too much. Cecil just moved his hands up to wrap around Manny’s neck when he suddenly felt himself lifted into the air, Manny’s hands under his ass.

“Fuck, Manny, what are you doing?” Cecil exclaimed as Manny carried him across the room. A small squeak escaped Cecil’s mouth as he was tossed onto the bed, bouncing a few times.

Cecil looked up at Manny. Shock overwhelmed him as he watched Manny undress. Cecil gulped past the lump in his throat when Manny dropped his shirt on the floor and reached for the buttons on his jeans, undoing them and pushing them down his legs before kicking them away.

“Manny,” Cecil choked out when Manny’s muscular body moved towards him.

He trembled when Manny’s hands touched him. His long fingers wrapped around Cecil’s ankles and pulled until Cecil lay in the middle of the bed. Manny slowly climbed up the bed until he lay between Cecil’s thighs, his body covering Cecil’s.