The Delicious Series: The First Volume

by Stella Starling

  “Is that what you like?” Mace asked, doing it again.

  “Yes,” he gasped, as if there could be any doubt. “Anything… please… Mace… just keep touching me.”

  “I can do that,” Mace promised, his voice low and thick with need. He kept a tight hold on Danny’s wrists while he used his free hand to explore, tracing Danny’s lightly-defined muscles with fingers and eyes, and then, oh God, tongue and lips, too.

  Mace had rolled off Danny, shifting onto his side to lie next to him and get better access, and the two of them barely fit on the couch this way. The heavy weight of Mace’s erection lay against Danny’s hip, smearing a slick trail of precum against his skin as Mace moved against him, driving Danny crazy in the best possible way.

  “Oh, God. Please let me touch you, too,” Danny begged, trying to tug free of the restraint as he stared down at Mace’s thick shaft greedily. “Mace—”

  “No,” Mace said firmly, wrapping a hand around Danny’s cock and short circuiting his brain.

  Oh.

  Fucking.

  God.

  “If you touch me again, it will be over for me, baby,” Mace rasped. “It’s too much. Too good. Your hands. You’re too… too perfect.”

  Danny’s eyes rolled back in his head as he thrust into Mace’s fist, biting his lip as he tried and failed to muffle the embarrassingly loud moans that Mace was milking out of him. It had been too long since Danny had had anyone’s hands on him but his own, and Mace’s touch, along with all the beautiful things he had to say, was about to make him lose it.

  “Mace,” Danny gasped. “You’re going to make me come.”

  “Yes,” Mace groaned, his eyes glued to Danny’s cock with a hot, hungry gaze that made Danny feel more wanted than he ever had in his life. “Do it.”

  Danny rolled his hips toward Mace, rubbing himself against the hot length of Mace’s erection where it lay throbbing against his side. “With you,” he panted. “Please.”

  Mace’s eyes went wide for a minute, and then he sucked in a sharp breath. “Fuck, yeah,” he grunted, bucking against Danny and finally releasing his wrists so he could wrap his hands around both their cocks at once.

  He stroked them together in an urgent rhythm that made Danny’s world narrow until only one thing existed: Mace. A delicious, electric tension coiled inside as Mace pushed him higher and higher… building, tightening, cresting into something that promised to shatter him into a million, glorious pieces.

  “God,” Danny panted. “Mace… that’s… yes… I’m—nnnnngghhh.” He clutched Mace’s shoulders, his mouth falling open in a silent scream of ecstacy as his world suddenly contracted and then exploded into a kaleidoscope of pleasure, the unbearable tension breaking in one long, hot, dazzling rush.

  His release spilled over Mace’s hands, his body shuddering with the force of it, and he buried his face against Mace’s neck and rode the wave, breathing in the sweat and scent and heat of him as Mace’s rhythm stuttered, his own cock pulsing next to Danny’s spent one in the tight channel he’d made of his hands.

  “Danny, fuck, Danny… that was fucking… beautiful,” Mace gritted out with harsh, panting breaths. And then he was coming, too, pumping his own release between their bodies. Gasping out Danny’s name. Holding him so tightly that it felt like he’d never let him go.

  Like he just might be the happy ending Danny had always dreamed of after all.

  11

  Mace

  Danny’s feather-light touch shouldn’t have been enough to wake him, but the minute the beautiful man’s fingers started tracing his tattoo, that buzzing awareness he always felt around Danny coursed through him.

  His eyes snapped open, and even though he was sure he hadn’t moved, Danny looked up. They’d both fallen asleep on the couch, which should have been uncomfortable and sticky and cramped, but which instead Mace decided was his new favorite sleeping position. Also his new favorite waking up position… his anything position, as long as Danny was in his arms.

  There was no way Danny could know how fucking sexy he looked.

  “Someday,” Danny read, propping himself up on Mace’s chest as he traced the word inked on Mace’s arm. “What does it mean?”

  Mace felt his cock stir again, tempting him to ignore the question in favor of other activities.

  “This part shows when you wear your uniform at work,” Danny said, touching the curve of the S. “I didn’t realize it was a word, though. I imagined something different.”

  “You were thinking about it?” Mace asked, absurdly pleased with the idea that Danny had spent time wondering about him.

  “Mm-hmm.” Danny bit his lip, smiling as if he had a secret.

  Mace raised an eyebrow.

  “I’ll show you sometime,” Danny promised. “But why ‘someday’?”

  Mace cleared his throat. “It’s a reminder.”

  Danny drummed his fingers against Mace’s chest for a minute. “Mace, God, are you going to make me work for every word?” he finally burst out, smacking him on the chest with an impatient laugh. “A reminder of what?”

  Mace grinned. Danny was cute as fuck when he got frustrated. Not that Mace would ever do it intentionally. Well, probably not, at least… for now, though, Danny had asked a question and even though words weren’t Mace’s strong suit, Danny had made it clear he wanted them, so Mace was going to do his best.

  “Some of the places I lived when I was growing up kind of sucked,” he said, loving the way Danny wiggled and pressed against him when Mace ran a hand down his bare back. “Back then, Trevor and I used to tell each other that someday, we’d find a better life. There was some shit that happened that made me doubt it for a while, so I got the tattoo as a reminder. Kind of like something to hold onto.”

  “Who’s Trevor?” Danny asked, his eyes lighting up with curiosity. “What happened? And who’s Trevor?

  “You asked that twice,” Mace said, finding it hard to stop smiling even though Trevor was normally a subject that he didn’t find even remotely amusing.

  Being with Danny changed everything, though.

  “Was he your boyfriend?” Danny asked, his cheeks going deliciously pink.

  “No.” The idea startled a laugh out of Mace. “Definitely not my boyfriend. I’m not… it wasn’t like that. He was my foster brother.”

  “You’re not what?” Danny asked, going still as the light dimmed in his beautiful eyes. “Not gay?”

  Mace lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “I just meant that I’ve never been with a guy before.”

  Danny didn’t look satisfied with that answer, but Mace wasn’t sure what else to say since it was the simple truth. Before Danny, he’d never wanted to be with a man like that. And maybe… yeah, maybe he might have if he’d ever thought it was safe to let himself go there, but it was what it was, and he wasn’t sure why the fact should be upsetting for Danny, but it clearly was. He was doing the nibbling-on-his-lip thing that made Mace want to make things right, even if he wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong.

  Before he could figure it out, Danny asked him another question.

  “Are you and Trevor still close?”

  “No.”

  The shortness of his answer earned him another pointed look, and Mace rubbed the back of his neck, glancing away. He’d much rather focus on the here and now than on the past, but he could already tell that wasn’t going to fly with Danny. A little frisson of nerves rippled through him at the idea of sharing some of the less-pleasant parts of his past with the man with whom he was starting to hope he might have a future. Danny didn’t seem like the type to judge him, but Mace had been wrong about people before. He knew it was dangerous to open up to others, but Danny made him want to.

  Danny made him want a lot of things.

  Mace sat up, pulling on his pants and handing Danny his jeans. He figured it would be easier to focus if he removed a little bit of distraction. Although fucking Christ, Danny was pure temptation, no matter what he wore.
/>   “Trevor was stupid,” Mace said, trying to get his mind off his dick. There would be time for that later. Hopefully. If Danny still wanted to. “He was impatient to get to that ‘better life’ we always talked about, but he went about it the wrong way. Ended up robbing a couple of convenience stores back in our old neighborhood.”

  Danny’s eyes went wide. “Did he get caught?”

  “Not exactly.” Mace grimaced. “We’re about the same height and build. There were circumstances, and cops ended up figuring I’d done it. I served a few years at Cimarron over in Cushing.”

  “Wait, what?” Danny paused in the act of zipping himself up. “You were in prison?”

  Mace nodded, clenching his jaw as he tried to read Danny’s face. He wanted to explain how fucking ridiculous it was, how he would never have gotten involved with something like that, how much it had fucking hurt when he’d realized Trevor wasn’t going to step up, how angry and scared and utterly powerless he’d felt when it had all gone down. But if the people who’d known him best hadn’t believed him, he wasn’t sure how he’d go about saying anything like that to Danny, no matter what kind of hopes he had for what they could be to each other.

  “This Trevor let you do that?” Danny asked, looking shocked. “He didn’t like, confess?”

  “Nope.”

  Danny didn’t say anything, and Mace swallowed. He knew Danny had been right earlier, when he’d said that not talking had almost screwed things up between them, and Danny had no reason to believe him now, but Mace had to at least try.

  “Danny,” he started. “I didn’t—”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Danny interrupted, flicking a hand through the air in total dismissal. “You’re not like that. But, God, I can’t believe this guy would let you take the blame. Didn’t you say anything to the police? Wasn’t there like, a trial or… whatever? How could they pin it on you if you didn’t actually do it?”

  Danny had popped up off the couch and was pacing in front of him, looking outraged, and it made something inside Mace’s chest unfurl, like a bud opening in the sun. He wrapped a hand around Danny’s wrist, tugging him onto his lap.

  “That just isn’t right,” Danny said, still ranting. Upset on Mace’s behalf. “Isn’t there some sort of appeal or some sort of, I don’t know, restitution that you can—”

  Mace kissed him, cutting him off, smiling against Danny’s lips as he pulled his fierce little champion closer... closest...

  All the way into his heart.

  12

  Danny

  “Brandon is coming in late today,” Gavin said, referring to the high-school kid who covered the front counter in the afternoons. “Sorry I forgot to mention it earlier, Danny. I got stuck on the phone forever trying to order the new proofing cabinet. Is that going to mess up your daily lunch date with Prince Charming?”

  “Not today,” Danny said, frowning. He flipped through his sketchbook to find the design he’d come up with for the bridal shower order he had to prepare that afternoon, determined to distract himself. “Mace has other plans.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “What?” Danny asked, looking up.

  Gavin was leaning against the doorframe to his tiny alcove of an office—arms crossed and signature raised eyebrow cocked and ready—and his best friend’s expectant attitude made Danny smile despite his worries. Gav knew him too well for him to try to get away with pretending nothing was wrong. Even though, technically, nothing was wrong. At least, probably not wrong. Not wrong yet. Hopefully not wrong at all, right?

  “Stop overthinking it and spill,” Gavin ordered. “You’ve been on cloud nine all week, and today you’re not. What happened?”

  “Nothing.” Danny glanced at the clock, adding, “It’s just that Mace’s ex has been trying to get in touch with him for a while. They’re having lunch later this afternoon.”

  Gavin winced.

  “I know, right? I mean, it’s probably fine. She doesn’t deserve the time of day from him, if you ask me. But he’s decided to be the bigger person and forgive her and get, I don’t know, closure, maybe? Which is good, right? I mean, it’s very mature.”

  “What does he need to forgive her for?”

  Danny rolled his eyes. “It’s so reality TV, Gav. They grew up together, had this long-term thing going, and then she dropped him like a bad habit and shacked up with his former best friend when he went to prison. Now it sounds like the other guy got in trouble, so she wants to run back to Mace. God. I swear, if I were him, I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.”

  Gavin’s eyes widened. “Wait,” he said, straightening up. “Back up, Danny. Your new man was in prison? That’s kind of a big deal. Bigger than lunch with an ex.”

  True, in theory. Except…

  “It wasn’t his fault.”

  Gavin snorted.

  Danny’s eyes narrowed. “It wasn’t, Gav. He wasn’t even involved.”

  “Says him.” Gavin crossed his arms over his chest, staring Danny down. “Seriously, how well do you know this guy? You met him, what, a month ago? I don’t like the idea of you hooking up with a convict, Danny. I don’t care how hot he is. It just doesn’t sound smart.”

  “He’s not ‘a convict,’ Gav,” Danny said, bristling. He appreciated his friend’s concern, but despite Mace’s reserve, there were things the man couldn’t hide about himself. Like his character.

  “Danny—”

  “I mean, okay, technically yes, I guess he is,” Danny added, cutting Gavin off before he could argue the point. “But he’s not like that. The prison thing wasn’t his fault, and it kills me that he had to go through it, but he’s not dangerous. He takes care of things. People, plants, whatever. He makes me feel safe. And he’s the type of person who will always pick doing the right thing instead of the easy one, you know? I may have my doubts about… things. But not that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Gavin asked, frowning. “What doubts?”

  Danny nibbled on his lip, looking at the clock again. Two more hours until Mace would be seeing Kelsie. Danny had ended up spending the whole weekend with Mace after showing up on his doorstep Saturday morning, and the only sour note to it had been the constant pinging as Mace’s ex blew up his phone. Mace had apologized repeatedly to Danny, finally calling her back and agreeing to the lunch thing just to get her to stop.

  “You know I thought he was straight, right?” Danny finally said to Gavin, deciding two hours was too long to keep his insecurities all bottled up.

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Well, I mean, he’s obviously not. At least, not fully. He’s definitely… um, not.”

  Danny could feel himself blushing, even though it wasn’t like he’d done anything that would shock Gavin. Hadn’t done nearly as much as he’d like to, really. But everything with Mace was just—God—it was intense. The man had clearly decided to break his previous no-touching rule, and Danny had exactly zero objections. But no matter how into Danny Mace had seemed, Danny couldn’t make himself stop worrying that it might all suddenly disappear. Not that Mace had given him any reason to think that, but Danny wasn’t used to getting exactly what he wanted and it was hard to believe that real life would actually work out that way this time, no matter how many assurances his girls gave him that happily-ever-afters were possible if you just wanted it badly enough.

  “What if seeing his ex again makes him decide he’s not into guys, after all?” Danny blurted, airing his biggest insecurity about the whole thing. “Because if she’s what he wants, I can’t compete with that.”

  Gavin’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you really think that’s going to happen? That he’s going to take one look at this—I’m sorry, can I just say ‘bitch,’ based on your story?—and suddenly decide he can’t stay away from her ladybits?”

  “Well, I don’t mean her—God, that would be stupid, and I really don’t think he would—but, you know…. yes, on the… the ladybits issue.”

  Gavin drummed his fingers on the
counter for a moment, then straightened his shoulders and pinned Danny in place with his eyes. Danny swallowed. It was Gav’s serious face.

  “Listen,” Gavin said, as if Danny wasn’t already on pins and needles waiting to hear what he had to say and desperately hoping it actually turned out to be reassurance. “I get why you’d wonder, Danny. You’ve definitely managed to hook up with some asshats in your day, but Mace? I have to say, he seems fully into you. When he came into the bakery the other day… I’m not proud of it, but in the interest of maintaining your sanity until you can ask him how he feels for yourself, I’ll just go ahead and admit that I might have felt a slight twinge of envy. Criminal history or not—which don’t think I’ve forgotten just because of this tangent, by the way—I would die to have someone look at me like that.”

  Danny grinned. Not that he wanted Gav to feel jealous of course, but… yep. That was definitely what he needed to hear. Although maybe he shouldn’t need to hear it. Maybe he should just trust? Ever since the weekend, Mace had sort of dropped the whole no-facial-expression thing, at least when it was just the two of them. And God, Gavin was right. The looks that man gave him ranged from the type that made Danny want to come in his pants to the ones that had his heart fluttering like it had wings.

  “That’s the thing, though,” he said, his smile suddenly fading.

  God, he was a mess.

  He wanted to believe. He really, really did, but—

  “It almost seems too good to be true, you know? So, what if it is too good to be true? I mean, even if ladybits no longer hold any appeal for him, what if he decides that I’m too…”

  Danny waved his hand in front of himself, figuring it was self-explanatory. God, how many times had he heard versions of “tone it down” from the guys who’d professed to be interested in him? Heard that he was too much. Too obvious. Too him.