Luke crowded Guthrie into a wall. They kissed for long minutes, groping all over each other, trying to show their feelings, their love with their palms.
Finally, Guthrie wiggled until Luke put him down.
“Boyfriend?” Guthrie said.
A small smile tipped up the edges of Luke’s lips. “Yes?”
“Just checking.” Guthrie grinned and dropped to his knees. Luke groaned and put his hands in Guthrie’s hair. “Nope. Hands on the wall. No touching. I’m gonna take care of you.”
Luke’s breath hitched but he did as he was told. Guthrie pulled Luke’s cock out of his jeans and kissed all over his tatted hips and thighs until he was trembling. Then he took Luke’s beautiful dick into his mouth and sucked. His mind was full of Luke. Luke’s scent, his taste, the sound of his breaths, his strength and restraint.
There was something so hot about Luke’s hands on the wall above him, about Luke following his orders.
Guthrie yanked his sweats down and gripped his cock.
“You’re beautiful, Guthrie,” Luke said. “So wonderful…. Everything… oh fuck… about you.”
He gripped Luke’s balls with his free hand and was rewarded with the tangy splash of come on his tongue. Luke’s cry as he spilled in Guthrie’s mouth was like music, and it wrapped around Guthrie, squeezed him, made his heart beat double time, until he released all over his own fist.
When reality set back in, Guthrie realized he was leaning his head against Luke’s thigh, and Luke was gentling him, running his fingers through Guthrie’s hair.
Guthrie glanced up. “Hi.”
Luke smiled. “Hey. Did you get a creepy video from Brad today?” He trailed his fingers over Guthrie’s cheekbones.
“Yup.”
“Is that why you’re finally here? Because I’ll make you creepy videos forever if I need to.”
“No. It helped wake me up. But I’m here because you’ve become my best friend and you’re the most important person to me in the world. And because I’m ready to be yours. I trust you with my life. My heart. I can’t be your chase partner. But I’ll be your dance partner. I’ll be your meal partner. Your photography assistant. The clickbait counterpart on every fansite dedicated to your man bun. I’ll be the man in your bed and at your table. I’ll help you calm down after a night of storm chasing. I’ll worry about you when you’re gone. I can’t be your chase partner,” Guthrie repeated. “But I can be your partner.”
Luke cupped his cheek. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Epilogue
Five Months Later
Luke stood stock-still as he took a picture of a doe against the backdrop of oak trees, their leaves vibrant yellow and red. His amazing, and noisy, boyfriend didn’t have the instinct to freeze or be silent, as evidenced by him stomping through fallen leaves to reach Luke.
The doe bolted and Guthrie gasped. “Shit. I didn’t even see that deer. Oh, were you taking a picture of it?”
Luke turned and grinned, pulling Guthrie into his arms. “It’s okay.”
Still, Guthrie slumped. “I’m bad at this whole boyfriend of a nature photographer thing.”
“We’re here to go camping. The nature is just a lucky coincidence. Don’t worry about it.”
Guthrie had gotten a long weekend off from his job hosting Voices of Oklahoma—a new program on Oklahoma public radio—so Luke had finally made good on his promise to take Guthrie to Greenleaf State Park.
After Guthrie quit his job at KTTY, their lives had gotten too hectic to go. Luke had needed to adjust to working with a new partner, Emma, a middle-aged single mother who was hardcore and scary good at her job. They’d gotten on like gangbusters, had a very successful tornado season, and still had dinner together at least once a week. He’d gotten those connections, that family he’d longed for, in more ways than one. Even better, he and Emma didn’t have fans shipping them on Tumblr.
Similarly, Guthrie had been thrown into a new career with a new medium. His show was receiving rave reviews and had a small but loyal following. He hadn’t had to chase a single fucking tornado since he’d quit, and Slim had left town with his tail tucked between his legs. While Guthrie seemed to love his job, this was the first time off he’d managed.
Luke spun Guthrie around until Guthrie’s back was to his front. Guthrie had grown a bit of a beard, now that he wasn’t on TV regularly. He claimed to be letting himself go. Today, he was wearing a baggy sweatshirt, the local history museum ball cap Luke loved so much, and a pair of hardy canvas hiking pants.
Luke held Guthrie against him, nuzzling into the new beard. “You make me really happy.”
Guthrie sighed and leaned into Luke harder. “Of course I do. I’m delightful.”
“Humble too.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Listen,” Luke said as something scuttled through the trees in front of them. “A bird.”
“It’s a wild turkey.”
“Huh. Really?” Luke kissed Guthrie’s cheek.
“Yup. Want a picture of it?”
“I don’t want to let go of you.” Luke was enjoying the quiet stillness and the heat of Guthrie against him in the cool fall air. He passed his camera to Guthrie. “You take it.”
“Sure.”
Guthrie bit his lip and frowned as he looked through the viewfinder, and Luke couldn’t help but smile. He was stupidly in love if something as simple as Guthrie concentrating could make his heart flutter. After taking a few pictures of the turkey, Guthrie flipped the camera around and snapped a selfie of them.
A breeze drifted through the trees and colorful leaves fell around them like snow. Guthrie turned around and kissed him, taking Luke by surprise. The kiss started slow and simple, but like always, quickly turned hot. Luke still hadn’t gotten used to this, hadn’t gotten used to the fact that Guthrie wasn’t going anywhere, that their love wasn’t. That the passion between them didn’t seem to have a plateau.
Guthrie placed the strap of the camera over Luke’s neck, then threaded his fingers into Luke’s hair.
“I love you,” Luke whispered.
“Love you too,” Guthrie whispered back.
The words felt too special, too big to say loudly sometimes. Like it was an extraordinary secret just between them. Of course, their love wasn’t a secret by any means. The Daily Oklahoman had done a feature on the KTTY weather team after a rare early October tornado, with a spotlight on Johanna and Delilah. In the one paragraph dedicated to Luke, there was an offhand mention about how he lived with his boyfriend, Guthrie. Luke had checked their fansite afterward to see if they’d caught the reference, but it had been defunct since June.
“Want to keep hiking?” Luke asked.
“Mmm, no.”
“Want to go back to the tent?”
With a grin, Guthrie said, “Yes. In a second.” He tipped his head back and looked up. Luke followed suit.
“What are you looking at?”
“The sky.”
The sky was a vivid, bright blue, not a cloud gracing its surface.
“Why?”
“It’s perfect.” Guthrie dropped his chin and smiled at Luke before kissing him. “Beautiful day. Beautiful you. Beautiful weather.”
Guthrie grabbed Luke’s hand and pulled him back down the trail toward their own little slice of paradise—a deserted campsite, roomy tent, and a comfy air mattress.
Luke laughed. “It’s always the weather with you.”
Life of Bliss - A Short Excerpt
Read on for a small taste of Life of Bliss, a fake boyfriends to accidental drunk wedding romance!
Pretending to be boyfriends is easy. Being accidental husbands is not.
Victor woke up with a start, and immediately regretted it. His pulse was throbbing in his temples, and his ears were ringing. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, which was when he realized Todd’s tie was looped loosely around his wrist.
“What the hell?” he murmured and yanked it off. Todd rolled over and let
out a rumbling sigh in his sleep.
What time is it? Victor reached for his phone, which was plugged in but on the floor for some reason. Ten fifteen.
Is that a.m. or p.m.? He had no idea. Except it was dark. So nighttime.
He couldn’t remember ever waking up so disoriented. They must have fallen asleep during the early evening—he couldn’t remember eating dinner either.
He placed his phone back on the bedside table.
Which was when he noticed it.
Victor sat up so fast that dizziness almost took him back down. And it only got worse. He stared at his left hand and started trembling.
It was all rushing back now. Oh, fuck. He remembered it all. Probably because he hadn’t actually been that drunk. Definitely not blackout drunk, which would have been the only excuse for this.
He grabbed his phone again and pulled up his photos app. Yep, it was all there. Proof of everything. From a selfie with the Uber driver who’d taken them to the County Clerk’s Office and pictures of their ceremony at some hokey tourist trap to a video of them fucking.
An hour and a half later, Todd woke up, and by that point, Victor had already analyzed every photo—and one raunchy video—that they’d taken that day in painstaking detail, and then cried for thirty minutes in the bathroom. He felt like he deserved a bit of a self-pitying cry. Frankly, he’d gotten exactly what he’d wanted, just not the way he wanted it, and it was about to blow up in his face. Spectacularly.
“Come back to bed,” Todd said, his voice sweet. Victor might never hear that tone again. Not once Todd remembered.
Oh, fuck. What if he doesn’t remember?
Victor crawled into bed and straddled Todd’s lap. He tapped Todd’s cheek. “Wake up.”
Todd laughed. “I’m awake. Geez.” He touched Victor’s throat, running his fingers down and along his collarbones, which about split Victor apart in agony. This was all over, and that hurt more than he could handle right now.
“How much do you remember about earlier today?”
“Huh? Everything. Why?” Todd’s forehead wrinkled up adorably, and Victor started shaking again. This was so bad.
Then Todd sat up so fast they banged heads, which was worse than the dizziness that had hit Victor when he’d remembered. Todd stared at him, his eyes wild, like his world had just ended. He held up his left hand and saw the yellow silicone ring, and his jaw dropped. He didn’t say anything, though, and that was almost scarier than the cursing and recriminations Victor had expected.
“Todd,” he said, his voice timid. It made him feel sick, this fear.
“We fucked up,” Todd finally said.
That sentence made Victor laugh for some reason. Maybe the matter-of-factness of it. Maybe the absurdity of this situation. Maybe his own panic.
“We fucked up,” Victor repeated, pressing the words into Todd’s shoulder. Todd’s arms circled his waist, and that one little touch sent a wave of relief through him. “How much do you remember?”
“Everything. Oh my God, Vic. What were we thinking?”
Victor shook his head. He had no idea. He kept trying to get back to that moment, the one when it had stopped being a tease and had turned into something so necessary they couldn’t resist. But even though he could remember every move they’d made, he couldn’t seem to recapture that feeling.
Maybe if he could, he’d know what to do now.
“We made a sex tape,” he said.
Todd gently lifted Victor’s head from his shoulder and stared at him very seriously. “We need to delete that from the Cloud.” Laughter tinged the edges of his voice.
“I already did. It’s still on my phone though. Do you want to see?”
“Definitely, but not right now.”
Victor nodded. “You tied me to the bed, and I called you ‘husband.’”
It was a pretty hot video. If Victor weren’t freaking out so much, he’d probably be impressed. But hearing himself call Todd his husband at the end of it had been too much.
Todd dropped his face into his hands, which forced Victor to back up. It cut him out of this moment, cut him off completely. He climbed off Todd’s lap.
“I think I’m having a panic attack. I’ve never had one, though,” Todd whispered, his breath suddenly coming fast.
That was a depressing thought. Being married to Victor was so awful that Todd was having his first-ever panic attack. Great.
Victor shook his head, trying to clear it. This wasn’t about him, and he needed to get over himself. He grabbed Todd’s hands, which were clenched.
“You’re hyperventilating, babe. Breathe with me. Nice and slow.” Todd nodded and complied, his breath stuttering and shallow. Victor rubbed Todd’s palms. “It’s going to be okay. Don’t think about anything but breathing. I’ll make it okay. I promise.”
He loved Todd enough to figure it out. And that was also a depressing thought. He loved Todd. Like full-blown, glitter-in-his-brain, hearts-in-his-eyes, bleed-for-him love.
It sucked.
“What are we going to do?” Todd asked, choking on the words. “We got married at a place called Madam Kitty’s Old Timey Photos and Brothel! I’m pretty sure I was wearing a cowboy hat.”
“You were, but don’t think about that. Breathe.”
Eventually, Todd’s shoulders unhitched from his ears, and the wrinkles in his forehead smoothed out. Some color returned to his face.
“What are we going to do?” he asked again.
“What do you want to do?”
“I have no idea.” Todd’s voice held so much confused anguish that it broke Victor’s heart. “I can’t handle this right now. Please, just—”
Victor interrupted Todd, his blood rushing in his ears. “It’s okay, babe. You’re going to be okay. I’ll fix this.” He pressed his hand to Todd’s chest. His throat hurt from crying, and he felt like his heart was about to crash into the sea. “We can sleep on it tonight and then figure out annulment, if that’s what you want. Or file for divorce tomorrow . . .” He sucked in a breath, and laid it all on the line. “Or stay married. I think I’d make a pretty good husband, if you wanted me.”
Buy Life of Bliss today!
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Life of Bliss
© 2018 Erin McLellan
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Also by Erin McLellan
Farm College Series
Controlled Burn
Clean Break
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Love Life Series
Life on Pause
Life of Bliss
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So Over the Holidays Series
Stocking Stuffers
Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t be the book it is today without the kindness of two local Oklahoma storm chasers: Emily Sutton and Chris Bruce. Thank you so much for answering my questions and for being so generous with your time and expertise. Of course, any and all weather/storm chasing mistakes are absolutely mine alone!
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A huge thanks to Rose, Liz, Brenna, and Corrine for their work editing and proofing this book. You were all a joy to work with. I’m forever grateful for my beta readers: L.J. and Allison. Your notes and encouragement were so helpful. Endless coffees to Karen for being the best writing buddy and friend I could ask for, and to Allison, Layla, and L.J. for keeping me sprinting, plotting (reluctantly), and laughing.
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Love to Mom, Dad, and my sisters. We spent many evenings sheltering from tornadoes together and picking up the pieces when we needed to. I’m so thankful for you all. And to Justin—I lov
e you. Thanks for being the best sounding board in the world.
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Lastly, a huge shout-out to the members of my Facebook Group—Erin McLellan’s Meet-Cute—and all the other readers who have followed me on this writing journey!
About the Author
Erin McLellan is the author of several contemporary romances, all of which have characters who are complex, goodhearted, and a little quirky. She likes her stories to have a sexy spark and a happily ever after. Originally from Oklahoma, she currently lives in Alaska and spends her time dreaming up love stories set in the Great Plains. She is a lover of chocolate, college sports, antiquing, Dr Pepper, and binge-worthy TV shows. Erin is a member of Romance Writers of America and its Alaska chapter.
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