Tempting Ballad

by Katherine McIntyre

  “Don’t tell me you missed me,” he responded, the rasp in his voice sending a shiver to course down Renn’s spine.

  Renn’s tongue wet his bottom lip as he glanced to Kincaid again. “Oh, you were gone? Didn’t notice.”

  Kincaid curved his finger through Renn’s belt loop and yanked forward, drawing his attention front and center. Inches separated them, a thickened storm tension sweeping through the air between them.

  “Nice bluff,” he murmured, those golden eyes as captivating as the slice of the moon up above. Renn found he couldn’t look away. “Your friends ratted you out.”

  “My friends are all gossipy assholes, so I wouldn’t go trusting their intel,” Renn shot back, even as he leaned in so their hipbones touched. The hard ridge of Kincaid’s cock protruded from the fabric of the slacks he wore, and Renn’s own punched to life.

  Kincaid reached for the nape of his neck, getting a rough grip around him that made him grind his hips forward. A sharp breath came from the yaksha, and Renn took that as a personal triumph. He wasn’t the only one this affected.

  “Take it the mission was a success?” Renn asked, trying with all his might to not moan out loud like a wanton thing. “Unless you spent all your time schmoozing for kicks.”

  “Please,” Kincaid responded. “If I take on a job, I get results.” He didn’t relax his grip in the slightest, and the headiness of the sensation traveled straight to Renn’s cock. Leo reached into his pocket with his other hand, even though those massive legs crowded his on either side. Somehow they’d shifted in stance, and his back pressed against the cold brick wall, reminiscent of their reconnection after the earlier show.

  Leo lifted a baggie of a powdery lavender substance. “Apparently this is what the Hollins and the Harrods are peddling. I’ll have to send it in to get analyzed, but they’ve got the top of the line for the incredibly wealthy and bored. Sound like anyone we know?”

  “Most of the Courts fit that description,” Renn responded, grinding his hips forward again until the ridge of his erection brushed against Kincaid’s. The man’s grip tightened on him in response, and he slipped the baggie back into his pocket. Renn looked up to meet Kincaid’s eyes, and the intensity there caused his breath to hitch.

  He wanted Leo in so many ways, but Renn focused on the one that was always, always safe—the physical.

  Leo’s mouth descended on his with a bruising kiss that left him gasping. He did everything in a methodical, powerful, and composed way. Leo made him feel possessed, which stroked something deep in his core and probably meant he should bolt.

  Renn sank into the kiss, his tongue stroking against Leo’s as the man continued to suck face with him outside this bar. He didn’t mind making out like horny teenagers, but promises had been made, and they’d been interrupted enough times that he considered begging the man to fuck him out here on the asphalt. The whole world could stop and watch—he wasn’t the kink police—but he refused to wait another night.

  Kincaid’s fingers slipped up to grip strands of his hair tight, the pleasure pain enough to make his cock throb. Renn bit his lower lip in response, diving in and pulling away again, which seemed to drive the powerful man even wilder. Those corded muscles were visible even in all the fancy trappings, the way his ridged chest threatened the buttons of his shirt. The jut of his cock against those charcoal slacks stoked a hunger inside him he’d been dying to sate.

  Leo pulled back, leaving Renn panting. A wicked expression flickered in his golden eyes. “Any step forward, right? I think this is a cause for some celebration. I’ve got a bottle of champagne and an empty room waiting for us.”

  “Fuck the champagne. I want your cock,” Renn responded, licking Leo’s bottom lip.

  “Pure poetry, gorgeous,” Kincaid murmured in his ear. “Let’s get out of here.”

  ****

  How they’d managed to make it back to the hotel without tearing each other’s clothes off was a damn miracle, but one fast Uber ride and they returned to their current HQ, because Kincaid couldn’t go anywhere less than four star, even on the lam.

  Still, Renn didn’t hesitate to skim his fingers up Kincaid’s thigh, to caress the thick length that hung heavy between them—at least until Leo gripped his wrist tight, pulling him close and sinking his fangs into Renn’s neck. A desperate moan bubbled in his throat, but the Uber driver didn’t seem to give a damn what sort of filthy stuff they got up to.

  However, the moment the hotel door clicked shut behind them, Kincaid’s hands were on the zipper of his jeans, gliding it down, and his lips slammed into Renn’s, their kiss like a car crash.

  Renn inhaled the man, the musk that radiated from Leo getting him harder and harder. His jeans and boxers pooled by his ankles, and he toed off his combat boots before kicking off the fabric.

  The man kissed him with a gale force he surrendered to every time. He’d racked up countless notches on his bedposts, but the sheer power brimming from this man, the pristine control he delivered with every movement, and the careful, careful observation to detail ranked Leo up there as the best lay of his life.

  Kincaid’s hands didn’t stop moving, and next, the man dragged Renn’s loose tank top off him with enough force to tear. Not like he cared while that clever mouth bit and sucked up the column of his neck. His cock near vibrated in the air between them, so hard he couldn’t think straight.

  “On the bed,” Kincaid murmured against his mouth and pulled away.

  The loss of the heat against his body rippled through him in a shock, but Renn strode over toward the bed. He found Kincaid’s bossiness easy to succumb to when all of the commands ended in more pleasure for him. And he’d been a greedy slut for far too long.

  Kincaid flipped the deadbolt on the door. “If someone tries to open the door and interrupt, I’m going to hurl them out the window,” he muttered.

  Renn couldn’t help his grin.

  Leo slipped off his sportscoat, draping it over a nearby chair before he approached. That was the extent to which he’d stripped down, the tight button-down and slacks still glued to his rock-solid frame. Even the belt remained on.

  Renn leaned back on his elbows in the bed, surveying the man before him.

  Leo Kincaid approached, one slow step at a time. He undid the top couple of buttons of his dress shirt, the motions magnetic and graceful. The dim lighting of the room deepened his aquiline nose, his firm jaw, and those strong cheekbones. Desire flooded his gaze, enough to drown in, and Renn had been ready to surrender from the moment he met this man.

  “Get on your hands and knees,” Kincaid demanded.

  “Otherworld be damned, you’re bossy,” Renn murmured, not bothering to move. He stared at Leo, challenge flaring in his gaze. “What happens if I don’t?”

  Leo bent over him now, inches away.

  A shiver rolled down his spine as the man closed in on his space, a predator on the prowl. He fucking loved to play with this impossible man who managed to deliver every time.

  Leo’s hands wrapped around Renn’s wrists, bringing them overhead in an iron grip he didn’t bother struggling against. There would be time to draw things out and tease for hours, but right now, he’d been waiting far too long for this.

  “Then I’ll take you this way, brat,” Leo growled, sinking his teeth into Renn’s traps.

  A moan slid from his lips, so hot for this that pre-cum seeped from the tip of his cock. The man bit hard enough to leave marks, enough to demand Renn’s whole attention. The back and forth between them and the buildup these past few days had his mind buzzing to overload. To the point all he could think about was the other man sliding inside him.

  Leo’s hand gripped Renn’s wrists tight as he kissed him with enough force to possess. Even though Kincaid still wore his fancy business attire, Renn could feel the jut of his erection from those slacks.

  Renn melted into the bed beneath him, along for this ride. Most times he took someone for a spin in the sack, he was in charge—satyr, drumm
er, whatever reason, folks had expectations. With Kincaid he could ride the waves of bliss, and damn, letting go like this was a little bit terrifying, but he’d become addicted.

  Kincaid pushed up from him and released his wrists, but Renn didn’t budge, watching the other man. Leo began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a thin undershirt that clung to those defined abs.

  Renn wanted to lick every inch of his hot, silken skin. Except, then the snick of his belt sounded like a starter’s alarm, dragging his focus down. Leo shunted off his undershirt first, and the slacks and boxer-briefs went over the side of the bed next.

  The man rested on his knees in front of him, stark naked and the hottest thing he’d ever seen. Leo’s intricate tattoos wound around the side of his ribs, lettering he couldn’t make out, and a midnight tree with long extending branches and coiled roots marked his upper arm. Renn’s tongue trailed to wet his bottom lip, but he couldn’t look away from the heavy length between Kincaid’s legs. His cock throbbed at the sight, and he resisted the urge to shift his hips a little closer. Hell, he’d even beg.

  Leo reached past him for the nightstand and pulled out a travel size container of lube. The top opened with a click, and Renn found himself transfixed as Leo gave a liberal coating to his cock. His breath hitched in anticipation. He’d twisted tighter than a skein over the past few days and was liable to blow the moment Kincaid thrust inside.

  Leo climbed over him, his glistening cock making Renn salivate.

  “Planning on hovering there, or are you going to use that thing?” Renn couldn’t help himself.

  “I might just use it to shut you up,” Kincaid muttered, even as a grin tugged at his lips. “Normally, I’d want to draw this out as long as possible, but I think the universe has provided enough cockblocking this past week to last all year.”

  “You’re not fucking kidding,” Renn responded, his attention rapt on Kincaid’s every movement.

  The man lowered in front of him, and Renn’s legs fell open in invitation as he shifted his hips up. When Leo’s massive cock brushed against his pucker, a sharp breath escaped his lips, and his mouth dried with want. Damn, he needed Kincaid to spear him through and ride him rough.

  He looked up, met Kincaid’s eyes, and had to swallow. Knowledge gleamed in his golden gaze, an understanding he wasn’t used to. Rarely did people see past the surface with him, and he preferred that. But this man had a way of stripping him bare.

  Kincaid nudged the head of his cock against Renn’s entrance, and then he leaned over him and pressed his wrists back overhead, gripping him there with one hand. A sharp breath escaped Renn’s throat. Kincaid lowered himself inside slow and steady, inch by agonizing inch. Renn resisted the urge to shift his hips up and take more in. Besides, the man’s cock was so thick he could only go slow.

  As Leo inched in deeper, Renn let his head fall back on the sheets. The farther in he got, the more Renn’s prostate throbbed in desperation, the more the filled, fucked feeling settled his bones, contradictions that dizzied his mind until all he could do was lay there, pinned and helpless. Leo slid all the way in, and Renn’s vision blanked to white. Bliss radiated through him, the sort he craved more than his next meal.

  Once Leo entered him completely, he began to shift inside him slow at first, each stroke making him lose his mind a little more. All too soon, he set a faster pace, rougher, connecting with Renn on the primal base level he’d grown desperate for. Each time Kincaid slid home, Renn forgot how to speak, how to think, how to do anything but buck his hips forward in time with the man poised above him.

  The scent of sweat and rosewood wrapped around him, and those heavy legs braced him on either side. Leo let go of his wrists to bring his legs up and over his shoulders at the knee. The angle changed everything, bringing him close enough to come on the spot. Renn’s moans filled the air, loud and unashamed as Leo fucked him hard and deep enough for him to feel it into the next century.

  Leo’s hard, hot body and the pure shock of ecstasy each time he slammed in brought Renn teetering at the edge. Sweat pricked his forehead, and his breaths came out shallower with every thrust. Leo rammed into him with enough strength to feel the reverberations throughout his body, and he rode him until Renn submitted to this intense pleasure. Those deep eyes, those intoxicating lips, and that strong grip around his thighs with nails biting into skin sent him reeling.

  Each thrust in, his cock brushed against his stomach, and with the fast and furious pace Leo set, the motion was enough.

  All the buildup over the past week and all the buzzing dominating his brain slammed him into overload. His cock pulsed once, twice, and then he came, the sticky fluid spurting onto his chest. Renn shut his eyes, riding the fierce wave of pleasure that rolled over him, a surge at first and then ebbs of aftershocks guiding him along for the ride.

  Leo thrust into him harder, harder, harder.

  The man’s breaths came out sharp, and his thighs tensed, his grip tightening on Renn. A moment later, heat flooded inside him as Leo came. For a moment, silence spread through the air, interrupted by their punched out breaths.

  Slowly, Leo let go of his grip and lowered Renn’s thighs to rest on the bed. He leaned down and captured his lips in one of those bruising kisses Renn had fast become addicted to.

  The satiation flooding his bones was something new, a quieting he’d only ever felt around this man. Renn lifted a finger to trail down Kincaid’s chest, those marbled pecs glistening with sweat.

  “Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got,” Renn murmured, needing to distract himself from the way those feelings sunk claws into him. He met Kincaid’s eyes with a cocky grin.

  Leo shook his head, a grin spreading wide enough to reveal his fangs. “I thought you knew me better.” He sank down and pressed a kiss on his lips again. When he pulled back, he murmured against his mouth. “We’ve got all night, gorgeous.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The city of Boston sprawled out before Leo, flitting by through the windows of his Uber. He and the driver both maintained a comfortable silence, one he preferred when dealing with strangers. Every interaction required careful planning, from the moment he woke up and stepped out into the world from whatever temporary sanctuary he’d chosen.

  Truth be told, it grew exhausting.

  He could rest around Marisa alone, though he found himself relaxing those guards more and more around Renn. Something about the satyr’s lack of judgement let him step forward without fear. Renn didn’t seem to care about society or rules, and he even seemed to recognize why someone might go to the lengths Leo did. That understanding was rare, and he’d lived long enough without it to recognize the value.

  The steeples of Trinity Church came into view, rising beyond the other buildings along the street, and his Uber slowed down. Leo’s fingers curled on the handle as he readied to leave. Any time he visited here, anxiety skittered through his veins, like someone might be watching. Like someone might spot him and use this weakness against him. The car came to a halt on the street beside the church.

  “Thanks,” Kincaid offered before stepping out into the bright morning light. The red sedan sped away. This time of day, most of the humans headed to work, thinning the crowds crawling through Boston. Kincaid preferred operating that way—minimal distractions and less to watch out for. His paranoid tendencies had reinforced themselves over the years until he’d become locked up tighter than the King’s vaults.

  He strode to the entrance of Trinity Church, a stunning building featuring tall steeples, intricate stained-glass windows, and arched entryways that met the ground in columns. As he approached, the familiar scent of incense and old stone greeted him, and when he stepped beneath the entrance, the chill from the shadows and surrounding slate bricks seeped into his bones. The doors opened with a creak, and the somber silence of the building cascaded over him.

  He’d been walking this path into this church more times than he could ever count. The years and years of visits always left him fe
eling scooped a little hollower.

  His nose twitched as he strode down the maroon runner between the aisles. The domed ceilings and gorgeous stained-glass pieces on either side cast dappled bluish and green light into this church, as if they stood a chance at warming up the stones. The domed area of the chancel on the opposite end attracted attention to the magnificent display, marble steps leading up to a pristine white altar. However, he wasn’t heading any closer to the place of human worship.

  The stairs leading to the loft overlooking the nave of the church stretched up, dark, polished chestnut. He strode up, the path so familiar he could close his eyes. One, two, and on the third step, the thick, plastic wrap barrier of the Otherworld descended upon his skin, choking, suffocating, and persistent. The veil grew thicker around here between the realms. He pushed his way through, and the surrounding environment shifted.

  The sound of soothing water entered his hearing, and bright sunlight from a myriad of glowing orbs streamed into the foyer of Passing Seasons. The fae-run facility offered top of the line accommodations he paid handsomely for, but he’d worked hard to begin earning enough to support himself and Marisa from an early age. And Mom, of course.

  A dryad clerk stood at a polished black desk, tapping a pen on the surface. Soft moss sprawled out for carpeting, a rich, emerald green that soaked in the light. Trees interwove instead of columns around here, the branches twisting into a miasma of blues and purples as if they were outside. Only in the Otherworld.

  She glanced up to him and recognition lit her features. “Mr. Kincaid, come to visit her again?” As if he hadn’t been swinging by on a biweekly basis since he was a teenager. Based on the glint in her eyes, she teased.

  The corners of Leo’s mouth lifted in a smile as he approached for the key. “Of course, Leanna. How’s she doing?”