“There you have it,” Nathan said, putting his arm around Josh. “What my fiancé wants, my fiancé gets. Better warn the crew.”
“Good to know,” Darrius said, nodding as if going over a mental checklist. “I’ll put some of the paras with better self-control on deck with the humans. Please try not to orgasm during the daytime. My wizards are tired. I don’t know how many mind wipes we can do.”
“I will contain myself,” Nathan promised.
Darrius gazed up at him with an affectionate glint in his eyes. “I won’t have to worry about this sort of paranormal fix until you visit, shall I?”
Nathan’s smile faded. “No, I don’t suppose so. Unless another incubus arrives.”
“By all the gods, I hope not.” Darrius quickly clutched Nathan’s arm. “Not you of course. Your human blood makes you good. I’ve not met a half incubus, but I’ve met full ones, and we do not need that kind of PR nightmare on the ship. The vampires are bad enough.”
“Vampires?” Josh questioned, his fingers nervously going to his neck.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Darrius assured him. “You’re bonded to a demon. They don’t want to face that. They think they’re tough, but well? Vampires aren’t demons.”
“So my fiancé can scare a vampire? I don’t know what’s weirder, that truth or the fact that vampires exist.” Josh wondered if they sparkled or not.
Before he could ask, Darrius produced a large collapsible folder out of thin air. “I have some things for your journey north, Nathan.”
Josh gasped as a tingle of static electricity prickled up the back of his neck.
Darrius tipped his head to the side. “You felt the magic,” he stated rather than asked.
He nodded. “Nathan says I have a little magic.”
“Well, of course you do. Your great-great-great-great-grandmother was a witch,” Darrius said dismissively.
“She was?”
Darrius nodded as if he hadn’t just announced something so shocking. “Yes, but your magic is quite diluted. I’m sorry. You’ll probably never be able to access it. But it’s good for feeding Nathan. It’s perfectly fated that the two of you are together.”
Josh didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed. It would’ve been cool to learn magic. Like going to Hogwarts. But at least he fared better than Bella, scoring a guy way cooler than a sparkly vampire.
“I prepared papers for you, Nathan.” Darrius opened the envelope and shuffled through documents as he rattled off what they were. “A passport, a new driver’s license, a bank account with a fair amount of funds to get you going. I took the liberty of making a few investments for you. My Vanguard fund is doing really well this year. But you’ll have to keep on top of that.” Then Darrius looked at Josh. “Well, you’ll have to keep on top of that. My Nathan dear has never really needed to manage money. You’ll have to teach him.”
Nathan and Josh shared a startled look.
“And this is the lease agreement for your art gallery,” Darrius went on.
“My art gallery?”
“Yes, that nice little area in Fort Wayne that’s being gentrified?” he said to Josh. “You know where I mean?”
Josh nodded.
“I leased a space for you. A couple of my wizards with exquisite tastes have already selected some photos from your website for framing. All black frames so they match. There’s also a little wine bar in the gallery, and I have a young werewolf girl who lives nearby, Paige. She’s willing to work Fridays and Saturdays, when you have openings and wine tastings. And of course you’ll be able to play your music. There’s a small stage.”
“Did you just magic up an entire business for Nathan?”
“For the both of you,” Darrius said. “There’s more financial and legal stuff in here, but you’ll be able to take care of all that, Josh. Nathan hasn’t really lived in the human world before.” He glanced at Nathan apologetically. “Well, not properly.”
Nathan flushed and swallowed hard. Josh felt bad for him, no doubt thinking of all the times he’d used people to get what he wanted. His life on the Pride had been surrounded by magic and paranormal people. Naturally, he would need a period of adjustment.
Well, Josh would do everything in his power to make sure it was as easy on Nathan as he could make it.
“Also,” Darrius went on. “On the south side of Chicago, there’s a bar called Haven run by a rather cantankerous troll named Galen. A fair amount of our kind hang out there, and it’s only a couple hours from Josh’s apartment. I wrote a letter of introduction for Galen. Not everyone understands one-quarter incubus doesn’t mean murderous sex-slaver.”
“Thanks,” Nathan said.
“I was worried for nothing,” Josh said, deeply relieved. “You’ll have paranormal friends.”
“And you’ll be able to visit all of us here on the Pride. You know former crew can stay for free whenever they want.”
“They can?” Josh said.
“Of course. Raoul doesn’t like it. You know how he is, but the captain insists.” He handed Josh the rather bulky envelope and then smiled, incredibly proud of himself for a job well done. “Well, Nathan my boy, when you came aboard the ship, you were lost and confused about your own power, but look at you now.” He beamed at both of them. “Engaged, happy, and about to start a healthy, normal, human life.” Darrius put both hands to his chest. “I couldn’t be prouder of you, son.”
At his heartfelt, albeit quirky, speech, Nathan let out a choking sound and drew Darrius into a bone-crunching embrace. “I love you, Darrius. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
When they broke the hug, Darrius wiped away tears and chuckled awkwardly. “You can repay me by living happily ever after, how’s that?”
Nathan and Josh shared grins. “I think we can manage that.”
Epilogue
Six months later
“HONESTLY, I didn’t think the two of them would make it,” Raoul whispered in Captain Alexander Leonides’s ear.
Alexander frowned at his longtime lover. “Darling, you have such a negative streak.”
Raoul smirked. “Negative or realistic? Alexander, he’s an incubus.”
“And three-quarters human. And Josh isn’t quite human himself. There’s magic there.”
“Yes, I sensed it. At least it helps him to embrace the paranormal world.”
“Captain, Raoul!” Waving, Nathan dragged his luggage and his now-husband behind him. Josh appeared to have lost a little weight, and Nathan had a healthy glow Alexander had never seen from him before.
In love, Nathan was even more captivating to look at than he had been before.
Even a demigod was not immune to the powerful attraction of incubus magic. But Alexander pushed it down, mentally making plans to take out that energy on Raoul later.
He held out a hand. “Nathan, you’re looking happy and healthy.”
“Thank you, Captain. And I am both, for sure,” Nathan replied.
“We got married.” Josh held up his left-hand ring finger. “Look, we got married.”
Alexander and Raoul shared amused smiles.
Young love, is there anything more beautiful?
“Yes, we heard,” Raoul said. “We have the honeymoon suite prepared for you.”
“The honeymoon suite?” Josh smiled. “That sounds amazing.”
“Yes, we wanted you to be on the highest deck, farthest away from the crew quarters.”
Josh’s little human cheeks turned a bright red.
Obviously he still wasn’t over his human inhibitions about sex.
“Good decision,” Nathan said. “This is our honeymoon, after all.”
“Indeed.”
“How is the crew? You guys holding down the fort without me?” Nathan asked, flashing a devilish smile.
“Running like clockwork,” Raoul told him, then his lips pursed in annoyance. “Although I did have to create a daily quota for Penelope. A required number of photos that weren’t gentlemen of
the AARP.”
Nathan laughed, the sound drawing a few intrigued looks and lecherous smiles from passersby.
Ah, the lure of an incubus.
But Nathan didn’t seem to notice the attention he’d attracted because he was smiling at his husband, eyes shining with love. It pleased Alexander to see such devotion. “What has been going on with you two these past six months?”
“Besides the wedding?” Nathan shifted his bag to his other shoulder.
Raoul snapped his fingers for one of the busboys to come take their things. A large dryad appeared and took Josh’s suitcase.
“Thanks, George,” Nathan said as he handed over his bag too.
The dryad gave Nathan a smile. “I suppose I’ll be thanking you later.”
“Yes, yes,” Raoul said, waving the man off.
The fairies, Alexander’s husband included, had been beside themselves when it leaked that Nathan would spend his honeymoon on the Pride. Almost all of them were requesting time off at night—when the odds of sexual activity in the honeymoon suite might be at its peak.
It was a logistics nightmare!
“How are things on shore, Nathan?” Alexander asked, getting back on topic. He wanted to know how Nathan had fared in the human world.
“The gallery Darrius set me up with is doing really good,” Nathan said. “I sell some photography, but mostly we make money off the wine. Paige is an awesome bartender, and the customers just love her.”
“And your music,” Josh insisted. “They come to drink wine, but they stay to listen to you.”
“Maybe a little bit,” Nathan said, a hint of pride in his smile. “It’s a small place, but we’re happy. And Josh is taking care of all the books, and we’re even making a little money.”
“Splendid,” Alexander said, and then he addressed Josh. “Your family? I trust they are all well?”
“Yes, Mom and Dad are super excited about the new grandbabies. Clare is having twins, a boy and a girl. And Ramona just found out she’s having a boy. I’m so excited. We should be having baby showers when we get back, but I don’t know.” Josh scrunched his face and asked Nathan, “Are guys allowed to go to baby showers?”
Nathan shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong guy. I say we go.”
“I am very happy to hear life is going well,” Alexander said, raising his brows knowingly at Raoul.
Fidgeting under the “I told you so” in that look, Raoul smiled. “Have you spoken to Sarah Timbers?”
“Yes, and she’s doing good too,” Nathan said. “She and her parents are having some struggles getting used to the things that she can do, and she is too, but….” Happiness and regret battled in Nathan’s expression. “But they’re working through it. She’s a really sweet girl.”
Alexander nodded his approval. “I’m glad you’re still in contact with her. Thank you for that.”
Nathan beamed in the way all Alexander’s crew did when he praised them.
“And the wedding? Darrius said it was stunning.”
Josh smiled and squeezed Nathan’s hand. Alexander could feel their love as if it were tangible magic on the air. “It was small, just a few friends, and family. Aaron and Luke were our best men. We actually had it at the gallery. Nathan’s mom came too.”
“She did?” Raoul asked, sounding surprised.
Nathan smiled, but Alexander could tell he was uncomfortable. “She left her new husband at home, but I suppose it’s a step.”
Josh took Nathan’s hand and shook it. “It is a step,” he insisted, face earnest. “She could tell you’ve changed.”
This time Nathan’s smile was genuine as he gazed into his husband’s eyes. “The love of a good man can work miracles.”
When they shared a sweet kiss, the sexual energy coming off them was like a supernova. Raoul hissed and gripped Alexander’s arm tightly as he sensed it.
This would be a long but gratifying cruise.
Seeing the two lovestruck newlyweds and sensing their desire sent a shimmer through Alexander too. As soon as the ship embarked, he would bend Raoul over the bed and fuck him hard, just the way he liked. Maybe I’ll try that new Kinbaku pattern I saw online….
“Well,” Alexander said before his musings produced any physical evidence. That would be highly inappropriate. “I hope the two of you enjoy your honeymoon.”
“What islands are we going to?” Josh asked.
Alexander glanced fondly around his ship. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
More from Deanna Wadsworth
The name’s Lio, and you may have read the beginning of my story in A Cupid’s Wager. Well, hold on to your hats, because there’s more to tell about your favorite cupid working in the Gay Division of the Inter-Dimensional Association of Cupids.
Remember Ethan? That Aztec god of the winds who busted me shooting a closeted human with a gay lust arrow? Yeah, I haven’t been able to forget him either. Even though I have a rule against getting it on with other supernaturals—especially ones working for the Straight Division—my magic is drawn to Ethan and all his tattoos and piercings in a way I cannot control.
But after that night of mind-numbing sex, now I gotta face my evil ex-boyfriend and a suspension by the IDAC for “misplacing” arrows. They took my quiver, and I have to figure out how to get my arrow privileges back before they’re taken forever.
Ethan seems to think he can help me, but I don’t know how anybody can make this cupid believe in love again.
It’s July 3, 1976, the beginning of America’s bicentennial weekend, and everyone seems to be celebrating their freedoms except eighteen-year-old runaway Michael Ryder. Fresh from rural Pennsylvania, Michael is doing whatever and whoever it takes to get to San Francisco, where he hopes to find a new life with the freedom to love without fear.
While hitchhiking, a mysterious, tattooed biker named Snake offers him a ride west—on the back of his customized Harley chopper. During their journey across Route 66, Snake introduces Michael to new and steamy pleasures, leaving Michael aching for more than just a physical relationship. But a violent encounter with a cruel biker gang and a harrowing secret from Snake’s military past might destroy their unlikely relationship long before they reach the end of the road.
Off the Key West coast, Rief Lawson works as a wrecker, salvaging ships and their cargo. Exiled to the outskirts of society because of his mysterious gift of sight, Rief’s only respite from his loneliness is painting an unknown blond man. When a merchant ship wrecks during a violent storm, Rief rescues a drowning victim and comes face-to-face with his destiny.
It is the man from his art!
Heir to an English barony, Mathew Weston entered the merchant trade with his greedy father and soon-to-be father-in-law. Dominated by his father and smothered by the people around him—including his sweet but tiresome fiancée—Mathew is terrified to follow his true desires. Marriage and obedience seem safer than a life of secrecy and possible prison.
After the daring rescue, a fire ignites between the two men. Powerless to resist his desire, Mathew learns what it means to be a man in Rief’s arms. With this newfound confidence, Mathew teaches Rief through gentle touch that he deserves the affection he’s long been denied. Yet their affair is doomed from the start. Two desperate men, wrecked in heart and mind, must find a way to salvage the chance at love fate has given them.
A Men of Gilead Novel
City boy, sci-fi novelist, and recovering pushover Scott Howe doesn’t know what to expect when he inherits his grandmother’s house outside the quaint village of Gilead, Ohio—but it isn’t an enormous bald man in nothing but tighty-whities and orange rubber boots shouting at him to keep his weed whacker away from the rhubarb patch.
Scott has never met anyone like Phineas Robertson: homesteader, recluse… Republican. A tender—if unlikely—friendship grows over the summer while Phin and his schnauzer, Sister Mary Katherine, teach Scott about life in the country and the grandmother he never knew. Opposites attract, but widower
Phin worries his secret will send Scott running faster than his politics, and Phin isn’t convinced he deserves a second chance at romance.
Scott is convinced—rural life, and his one-of-a-kind older neighbor, are the future he wants. Before he can settle in, his mother drops a bombshell that strains their already tenuous relationship, and a cousin who believes he is the rightful heir to the property puts Scott in danger. It’ll take a lot of compromises, and even dodging a few bullets before they’re out of the weeds, but nurturing something as special as true love always takes hard work.
A Men of Gilead Novel
Forrester Giordano comes from a huge, nosy Italian family, and with their homophobic jokes and slurs, he’s decided to stay in the closet. He finds respite in his bookstore in the quaint village of Gilead—where he has a huge crush on one of his customers, Kyle Benson.
Kyle is determined to live his dreams, and though life isn’t easy being deaf, one by one he’s making them come true. He’s scored a great job practicing law, bought a cute bungalow where he can finally have a big flower garden, and he has a dog he loves, Jasper. Now he just needs one thing to complete his happiness: a family of his own to make up for the one he never had.
Forrester and Kyle’s relationship starts off hot and heavy, and neither man can deny the depth of their connection. When Forrester’s little brother gets mixed up with their heroin-dealing cousin and his mother falls ill, Forrester has a decision to make—maybe the hardest of his life. For the first time, he’s found a man worth coming out for.
Unfortunately nothing ever goes according to plan with la famiglia.
Readers love Deanna Wadsworth
La Famiglia
“This was a really sweet, mostly quiet book that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I recommend you give it a chance and fall in love with The Men of Gilead, too!”
—Diverse Reader
The Boyfriend Cruise Page 23
