The Innocence Series: Complete Bundle

by Riley Knight

  So he didn’t look at Gunner, either. He wanted to say something. To yell at him, maybe, or to congratulate him on having officially gotten a job. The two opposite desires whirled around in the very pit of his stomach, making him feel a little bit like he might lose his lunch if he opened his mouth at all.

  It was far easier to just go to the car that he was supposed to be working on, to try to lose himself in work, as he had so often seen Gunner and Mike do. The car whisperers, who seemed to legitimately like nothing more than to have their heads and hands as deep in an engine as they could get it.

  Sam didn’t have that. Sam was never going to have that. He had the idea that, for the first time in his life, this love wasn’t something he could learn in a book. And even the skill for it, while he could pick up some of it, he would never have the natural aptitude for it.

  His books had failed him. He just had to hope that he wouldn’t end up losing everything because of it. His mind was distracted as he pushed the jacks up under the car. They would hoist it up so that he could look under it. The man who had dropped this car off had scraped the bottom going over a speed bump too fast. He’d claimed five to ten miles over the speed limit, but Sam was not sure he bought that.

  Slipping under, Sam shook his hair out of his face and softly whistled as he looked at the underside of the car. The poor, poor car, which deserved better than what it had gotten. It was obvious that Sam wasn’t a mechanical genius, but he did know that the mangled mass of metal that had been left there wasn’t a good thing.

  “What’s going on under there?” Gunner asked, and Sam found, lost in the problem solving, that he could actually just respond to the question like a normal person. No angst, no conflicted feeling, just answering the question.

  “There’s no way this guy went over a damn speed bump. It’s a mess down here,” Sam called out. He reached up, brushing his fingers lightly over the metal, which seemed to give a little bit, which was odd. Metal didn’t normally do that.

  But it wasn’t the metal. It was structurally sound if torn up a bit. But the whole underside of the car was loose, he realized. Gone over a speed bump? No fucking way.

  “I think he tried to go off-roading in this,” Sam said, his voice thick with disbelief. It was just a normal, middle-class car, a sedan, nothing special. But there was dirt in the gouges which marred the metal, and, he realized, even a few small rocks which had been driven in with enough force that they had stuck there.

  “Are you shitting me?” Gunner asked, and Sam frowned as there was a strange creak from the abused vehicle. Sam froze as the huge sheet of metal started to tilt strangely, to warp slightly.

  “This is gonna cost a fortune to repair, I think,” Sam called. Not that he was an expert, but this wasn’t going to be any sort of quick fix. There was just no way in hell.

  “Sam, get out of there,” Gunner’s apparently disembodied head said, and Sam frowned a little bit. There was an urgency to that voice, but Sam was getting a little sick of people assuming that he didn’t know what he was doing. Did Gunner want to double check? Probably, which made Sam feel like he was stupid.

  That was probably his least favorite feeling in the world.

  “I’m fine. I know what I’m doing,” Sam said stubbornly, just as there was once more an ominous creaaaak which came not from the car itself, this time, but from the jack which was holding the car safely above Sam’s prone body.

  “Sam!”

  The cry came just a split second after that creak, and then the jack started to fail. To Sam, it seemed like time slowed down to a crawl, but so, too, did the movements of his own terrified body. In that same slow motion, the jack buckled and the car slid down smoothly and easily toward Sam.

  At the same time, the car was coming apart, or so it seemed to Sam. The abused underside came loose, and Sam struggled to roll himself out from under it, but all of the strength seemed to have left his muscles, robbed from him, perhaps, by his rapid, panicky breath.

  The world blurred sickeningly around him, and for a moment, he was sure that he was dead. A huge chunk of metal was going to land on his head and torso, pinning him there, and there was fuel, oil, flammable material, everywhere. Just when he had accepted this and was sure that there was nothing that he could do to prevent it, he found himself drawing in clean, fresh air, his body crushed onto the wheeled dolly not by cold, tortured metal but by a body that smelled of masculine musk and safety and sweat.

  Gunner. It was Gunner, who had pulled him out, Gunner who was hovered over him almost protectively, shielding Sam’s body with his own even though the danger had passed. There was a dull, metallic thunk which filled the whole work area as the car behind them failed, the undercarriage falling roughly to the ground like so much scrap metal.

  In complete awe and wonder, Sam stared up at the big, strong, muscular man on top of him. The man who had saved him from being squashed like a bug under the car. The man who was still on top of him, the man who had really no reason to do what he’d done, and yet, he had.

  Sam had been a prick to Gunner. No one had to tell him that because he had done it on purpose. So there was only one question to ask, one question right at the foremost of this mind, on the tip of his tongue.

  “Why?”

  Gunner growled softly, the sound rumbling through his chest, which was still pressed so close to Sam’s. Gunner’s hands were all over him, patting at his waist, his hips, stroking over his sides and shoulders, as if to verify that Sam was really okay.

  “What do you mean, why? I wasn’t going to let you …”

  All of a sudden, it was just too much. Sam, overwhelmed by the warmth which he could feel radiating through him, a heat that came not from his cock and balls, which he was becoming almost used to when it came to Gunner, but one that came from his heart.

  Gunner had saved him. With everything between them, it had still happened, and Sam, before Gunner could say another word, wrapped his arms around the bigger man and kissed him with a savagery that surprised even himself.

  Gunner responded, opening his mouth, and Sam didn’t even really know what this was anymore. He knew that it did have to do with desire, with arousal, with how much he found himself wanting Gunner, but it was more than that, too. He wanted to prove to himself, to them both, that he was really alive, that he’d survived.

  So he kissed Gunner, and this time, he knew that he wasn’t going to hold back. That this was going to happen, and that Gunner could have as much of Sam as he wanted.

  TEN

  His heart pulsed in his chest, fluttering around in there like a bird trying to free itself from a cage. In fact, it wouldn’t really surprise him that much if his heart actually came right up the back of his throat, with the sheer terror which had gone through him when he’d seen that jack fail.

  Gunner hadn’t been paying attention, not really, when Sam had pushed the jack into place. He’d been too busy with the relief of knowing that he had a job, that he was really safe, for now. Not only that, but he should be able to save up some money. But how would Sam respond to that? Sam was strangely hostile about people attempting to move in on his job. Or so it had always seemed.

  The first thing that warned Gunner that something was wrong was the creak and a slight, ominous tilt of the car. He couldn’t be sure what, but something was going wrong. The jack was failing, and a ton and a half of car was poised to come down right on Sam’s head.

  There was no time to think. Gunner just acted, hauling Sam out, looking down into the other man’s scared face. Maybe later, there would be anger. The jack must have been used improperly. And if Sam got hurt, it would be Gunner’s brand new job on the line. No one had to tell him that.

  And yet, that wasn’t the main reason, or even close to it, why he was so worried. Why he wrapped his arms around Sam and clutched him close to himself like he could somehow keep him safe and in his arms forever.

  Then he was being kissed, and it wasn’t like he and Sam hadn’t kissed before, but there
was something different to it this time. Some sort of promise that Sam had always withheld before. It had always been like each kiss could be the last, like Sam might come to his senses and end this bizarre relationship, whatever it was between them, in a heartbeat.

  It was probably just all of the craziness of the near accident, but right then, Sam wasn’t holding anything back. The barriers between them, for this few minutes, at least, were down, and something was happening between them which Gunner couldn’t really even put a name to, because it had never happened to him before.

  He did know that, for the first time, he didn’t feel like Sam was looking down on him. He did know that Sam was warm and trembling in his arms, clinging to him like his life depended on it, that his mouth was eager and willing.

  Sam’s hands slid around between their bodies, and then Gunner knew one more thing. He was about to be stripped, right here in this shop, in their workplace. It was going to happen, and Gunner should have been a little bit more alarmed by the thought than he was.

  The smell of oil, of machinery, was all around them, and it was one that Gunner had always loved. On top of which, this open communication between their bodies, it wasn’t something that had ever happened before. He might not really know fully what it was, but he did know that he didn’t want to miss out on it.

  So he raised his hips enough that Sam could tug down his pants, wondering just how far the younger man would be willing to go. Whatever it would be, Gunner was going to hold on for the ride, let the mysterious, intelligent young man lead the way.

  Sam’s hands were a bit awkward, and Gunner gazed down into those eyes, which practically shimmered with little green sparks of desire. It seemed that Sam had a hell of a physical reaction to almost dying because he moved like a man almost insane with lust. And when Gunner pressed his hips down against him, just testing it out, not only did he find Sam very, incredibly hard, but Sam tilted his hips up and rubbed directly against Gunner as soon as he got the chance.

  “Sam. You haven’t done this before, have you?” Gunner asked, not trying to start anything, for once. Just wanting to know. It could make a difference.

  It didn’t really surprise him when Sam shook his head, and for just a brief moment, Gunner considered taking Sam home. Letting their first time be somewhere safe and private, only the big farmhouse, with all of the people who lived there, could hardly be considered all that private.

  So Gunner let it happen. It was a risk, but a calculated one. Mike was gone, and he should be gone for a while, from Gunner’s experience, since he was running payroll and that wasn’t the sort of thing that he was good at. It tended to take him a few hours to get it done, and there was a lot that could happen in a few hours.

  “Please. Don’t stop.”

  Gunner could hardly believe that the words were coming from Sam’s mouth. He hadn’t actually been completely sure that Sam even knew the meaning of the word please. Any last doubts that he might have had vanished into nothingness, and instead, he started to strip Sam.

  Not like Sam was stripping him, though, with eager, rough hands, almost tearing at the cloth in his eagerness. Gunner was more careful, and far slower, about it, slipping cloth aside and kissing and nibbling over the skin as he revealed it. Sam was a virgin, and by the time they went further than they already had, Gunner wanted Sam clinging to him and moaning, wanted him to be so lost in the haze of sweet, desperate lust that he would cling to Gunner and moan as he plunged inside Gunner’s body for the first time.

  That was how it should be, Gunner figured. He wasn’t a virgin, but Sam was, and Gunner was more than happy to switch. For this first time, at least, it would probably be better for Sam to top. But when it happened, he wanted to know that Sam really, truly wanted it.

  So he set about trying to drive this gorgeous, infuriating, closeted man insane. He suckled at his nipples, teasing them into hard little nubs as he lashed at them with his tongue. His hands skated over those slender, toned muscles, and piece by piece, he stripped him until Sam was just as bare as Gunner was.

  The floor of the shop was cold concrete, but Gunner didn’t care, and it didn’t seem like Sam did, either. They rolled together, kissing, hips meeting, parting, and then coming together again, bare, leaking cocks grinding together whenever they could.

  Gunner reached out almost blindly, finding his pants, finding the condom that he kept carefully stowed away in his wallet, just in case. He’d always thought it was better to be safe than sorry, and in seconds, he had the little packet out. The foil crinkled as he slid the latex sheath out and started to roll it over Sam’s cock.

  The whole time, Gunner watched Sam, ready to stop if he saw even the faintest sign of hesitation. He didn’t. Not even for one second did Sam seem anything but eager, though there were nerves there, too. Of course there were, how could there not be?

  “We can go slower,” Gunner told him, though he wasn’t sure how much slower his own throbbing, aching cock would let him go. To his great relief, Sam shook his head, on his back with his sheathed cock pressing against his flat stomach.

  “Now,” Sam murmured, his sweet, gorgeous voice deeper than normal and slightly hoarse with his need. Gunner straddled him, pressing his ass down against him, watching Sam’s face carefully.

  Even now, part of him couldn’t help but think that Sam might come to his senses, that the connection which Gunner felt would turn out to be false. That Sam would tell him to back off, and Gunner would have to find the willpower to do it.

  But none of that happened. Sam’s hands settled on Gunner’s powerful hips, pulling him down, insistent and demanding. Still, despite his own desires, and Sam’s, too, Gunner couldn’t help but take a moment, just a few seconds, to stare down at the beautiful young man spread out under him.

  Cheeks bright with color, eyes sparkling, pretty pink lips parted with his rapid breath, Sam’s golden-brown hair was a mess around his face. He was the very image of wanton eagerness, mussed up already from Gunner’s touch but so very eager for more.

  “Gunner!” Sam’s voice came out as a soft, urgent little kiss, and Gunner chuckled a little bit. It was hard not to get a kick out of the straight boy giving himself to him, hard not to be proud of himself for making that happen, but there were more important things to think about, to feel.

  “All right, all right,” Gunner purred, and he let the head of Sam’s beautiful cock press against the eager entrance to his own body. It had been awhile. Not that he had been celibate or anything, but he hadn’t felt comfortable enough with anyone to let them have him.

  So what did it mean that he was letting Sam do it? Without any question at all in his mind that it was what he wanted? He probably shouldn’t think about that too much, not if he wanted to keep his sanity more or less intact.

  “Now,” Sam moaned, his large, surprisingly strong hands with their lovely long fingers digging in, pulling Gunner down. And he let it happen. He let himself slip down onto the thick, sheathed cock, glad for the lube which had come with it and made everything slippery enough that there was no pain for Gunner.

  No pain at all. Pressure, yes, and sensation, intense sensation, but none of it bad. Gunner’s back arched as he slid down the full length of that cock—just enough friction to keep it interesting—until the cheeks of his ass were pressed right against Sam’s hips and he had the other man completely inside of him.

  “Oh fuck,” Gunner moaned, starting to rock on him, seeking out more and more of the stimulation of Sam’s cockhead, blunt and thick, rubbing against Gunner’s prostate. He gazed down at Sam, his movements eager but not yet frantic, and at this moment he could focus not only on the building pleasure of his release but on the look on Sam’s face.

  This was the first time for Sam. The very first time that Sam had been inside another man. Despite everything, despite all of the fighting, the tension, Gunner couldn’t even help but feel honored that he got to be the first.

  Then Sam rolled his hips in the exact right way, and his
cock rubbed over that spot deep inside of Gunner, robbing his breath, making his dick throb and leak more precum all over itself. Moaning softly, Gunner lowered his own hand to it, trying to provide himself with some relief, but Sam pushed it out of the way and took over stroking him himself.

  Then all Gunner had to focus on was the movements of their bodies together, the way Sam kept pushing up inside of him, the urgency which quickly built between the two of them. He was so close, heat flowing through his veins, sparks seeming to shoot between them, but maybe that was okay because those remarkable eyes of Sam’s seemed to assure Gunner that Sam was in the same place.

  “Sam, I …” Gunner started and then shook his head as he gazed down almost plaintively at Sam. The words he wanted to say, they weren’t appropriate. Not for someone who was planning on leaving far too quickly to say.

  Sam just smiled, and those strong hands settled on the curve of Gunner’s ass. They rocked together, and the thrusts sped up as Gunner rode him, bouncing on his cock and trying to take it as deeply inside himself as he could.

  “Shh,” Sam cautioned, but he was still smiling up at Gunner, so he figured that he couldn’t have pissed the man off too much. But that was also pretty clear. Sam didn’t hear the words, and Gunner didn’t really want to say them, either.

  Gunner shuddered as his cock leaked precum all over Sam’s hand, which felt way too good for someone who lacked experience as much as Sam did. His body tightened, his muscles straining almost painfully as he stretched toward his pleasure, reached for it, and then welcomed it.

  His orgasm rolled through him, flattening him, leaving him panting and gasping and covered in his own release, as well as having coated Sam’s hand in it. Sam twitched inside of him, and that beautiful, strong, lean body flexed under Gunner, Sam’s muscles clenching as he spent himself as well.

  Just like that, Sam wasn’t a virgin anymore, Gunner realized. Just like that, he’d allowed himself to come inside of a man, inside of Gunner. It was incredible to think of, that the guy, who was so damn closeted that it actually sort of hurt to be around him, had given himself that way to Gunner, but it had happened.