Rapid Pulse: A Limited Edition Spicy Romance Collection

by Gina Kincade

  When she pulled the door open, I was as surprised as she was to see Zac standing there.

  “You,” she said, her voice like winter.

  “Me.” He glanced past mom and straight into my eyes. “Nate, I don’t really know what to say. I just...” He glanced at mom, then back at me.

  “It’s all right. Mom was the first person I came out to.”

  “I didn’t mean to upset you. I know that doesn’t change the words I said, but I’d do anything for you. The thought of not being with you hurts like hell.”

  I wanted to rush into his arms. But I was also scared shitless of tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that. About what kind of a life we could have, if we could even have a life together. As beautiful as he was, any relationship we had would have a huge homophobic and patriarchal monkey on its back.

  “Zac, it scares me how much I want you. It’s like a physical force. But you have to know everything before we can be anything.”

  “I do. I know all about it. About father’s rules and the game he’s playing with both our lives.”

  Mom folded her arms and looked from one of us to the other. “Do I need to start kicking heads?”

  “No, mom. I love that you want to, but no.” I turned back to Zac. “And how do you know?”

  “Clare told me. She knew the moment I sat down tonight there was something wrong. I told her what I said, and how I feel about you. So she explained it all.”

  “I hate to sound like an echo here...but how the hell did she know?”

  Zac held out his hand. “It’ll be much easier, and more convincing, if you come with me. Please, Nate?”

  Mom stepped between us, getting right into Zac’s face. “I don’t know what you’re playing here, rich boy, but if you hurt my son again—”

  “Mom. Please. I’ve got this.”

  She turned to me, bending her head to the side a little. Studying me, perhaps. Whatever it was she saw seemed to have a great effect on her. She walked straight up to me and put her hands on my shoulders. “Who will never stop loving you, Natey?”

  “You, mom.” I gave her a long hug. “I love you, too.”

  When I released her, she turned to Zac again. “And you...” She pulled him in for a hug, which almost floored me. “If Nate trusts you, then I do, too. And if you do hurt him, you can expect me to come back at you twice as hard.”

  “I understand, Ms. Ritson.”

  “If you’re still around in a month, you can start calling me Anthea.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter Eleven

  We walked back out to Zac’s Jaguar in silence. Only when we climbed in did I feel able to start talking.

  “For a guy with three drivers on call, you sure get behind the wheel a lot.”

  “I hate being driven. It already feels as if I have no control over my own life. At least behind the wheel I can pretend.”

  “So, where are we headed?”

  “You’ll see.”

  We drove in silence, heading back into the city. I thought for a while we might be going straight to Scanlon Towers, but we turned left a few streets short, ending up in the parking lot of a residential tower.

  “C’mon.” He glided out and I followed him to the elevator, desperate to get a handle on the situation.

  “Where are we?”

  “Everything will become clear soon.”

  We rode the elevator up to the third floor and Zac led me to the apartment at the end of the hall. The door opened before we reached it and I wasn’t particularly surprised to see Clare standing there. What I was surprised about was seeing Daphne Nichols beside her. She was the secret source of information? How the hell did she know what Lionel was up to?

  “Come on in, you guys,” Clare said with a smile. “I have booze.”

  We made our way through to the living room and sat on her futon sofa. Her whole apartment had a real student décor feel to it, as if she’d never bothered to make it a home.

  I finally lost my last shred of patience. “Okay, can we please start talking? What’s going on?”

  Clare handed me a bottle of beer and smiled. “I’ll let my brother start.”

  Zac stood and looked at me with an expression of care and—just maybe—love. Then he turned to Daphne and dropped his gaze toward the floor.

  “Daffers, I know there’s pressure on us to get married, but—”

  “Honey, is this about you being gay?”

  He paused for a moment. “Um...yeah. How did you know?”

  “I think I always suspected. Maybe it was the way you...oh, I don’t know, never once tried to fuck me?”

  “Bit of a giveaway, huh?”

  “With these tits? Are you kidding?”

  Zac laughed, a genuine guffaw rather than a nervous chuckle. “And they are a very fine pair, Daffers. I’m sorry, though. There’s no room for a gay son in father’s life, so I made choices I now regret. And I failed to make other choices, which I regret even more.”

  “It’s fine, honey. Really. I wouldn’t say no to a big wedding, but I’m not particularly interested in marriage.”

  “Well,” said Clare, turning to me. “Let’s get to the other matter at hand. We know what’s going on. The pressure Lionel’s putting on you.”

  “Zac told me that already. Not sure how you know, but...” I turned to Zac. “I’m sorry, man. I honestly wanted to do right, but I couldn’t resist you. I didn’t mean to put your position in jeopardy.”

  “Hey, it takes two to sixty-nine. Even if I’d known, I still would’ve come on to you. I always thought of you as the one I missed out on.”

  “So, you’re okay with it?”

  Zac came over and sat beside me, planting a soft, slow kiss on my lips. “I’m more than okay with it. Because we’re together now.”

  “But how did you all find out?”

  “That would be my doing.”

  I glanced at the hallway, shocked to see the tall, slender form of Miriam Spall. She was barely recognizable, dressed in figure-hugging jeans and a loose top. With her hair down.

  Clare walked over and hugged the woman. “Miriam is my insider. She keeps me in the loop as much as possible.”

  “But...I thought you were all for the company?” I couldn’t keep the confusion from my voice.

  “I am. I’m an excellent employee.” She turned to Clare, tears running down her cheeks. “But I’m a terrible lover.”

  Clare kissed Miriam on the cheek and hugged her, much more tightly. “No, you’re an excellent lover. But by God, you’re a difficult girlfriend.”

  I put my beer on the coffee table and rubbed my face, as if that would clear my mind. “Can someone please get me up to speed?”

  Clare and Miriam sat together on the opposite sofa, hands entwined, and explained their long and difficult relationship. How they’d fallen for each other almost on sight. How Miriam couldn’t risk being found out or Clare’s father would end her career. Both women were in tears as they described how they’d fought the attraction in whatever ways they could: Miriam by undermining the tenuous relationship between Clare and Lionel to score points. Clare by distributing her video.

  “Wait,” I said. “So at the end of your tape...you weren’t talking to your father at all, were you?”

  “No,” she replied, putting her head in Miriam’s lap. “I was being a spoilt little rich bitch to the one person I love above all others.”

  I chuckled lightly, remembering my earlier thoughts that maybe Miriam had her eye on Zac. Turned out I’d been almost right while still being completely wrong.

  Miriam ran her fingers through Claire’s long locks. “We sorted things out when she came by last night. In fact, it was you two boys who really made it happen. I could see you were headed for the same hell I’d put myself in. It held an ugly mirror up to my own choices.”

  Zac threaded his fingers through mine and it sent that uncanny buzz up and down my spine. The one that told me what I was feeling was much more than friendship.
>
  “Nathaniel?” I was unused to Miriam using my first name. “Don’t make the same mistake I did. The work you do for Scanlon will never fulfill you. Not like love will.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Zac and I drove to his place in near silence. We’d barely spoken since we left Clare’s apartment, yet it seemed we were completely in agreement: About where we were going—in that moment, and in life—and what we wanted.

  The moment we entered his penthouse, Zac stopped and looked around. “I think I’ll probably miss this place.” When he turned to me, though, there was no sadness in his expression.

  “Come here.” I spread my arms and he swept straight into them, meeting my mouth in a soft kiss. A kiss that I rapidly turned harder.

  I seized his tie and curled it around my fist, yanking down until Zac dropped to his knees. He flashed his pretty blue eyes at me as a dirty grin rolled across his fuckable mouth.

  “You know what to do, young man.” It was all I could do just to speak. My throat was dry with anticipation.

  Zac made short work of my pants—his pants, technically—and the hardness of my cock sprang free. Zac pounced on me, turning my world into nothing more than a hot mouth, a wet tongue, and two incredibly skillful hands.

  Punches of pleasure hit me all through my insides. This was beyond the simple physical. It’s like Zac had a direct connection to my nervous system...to my mind. In under a minute he had me simmering, almost ready to blow. Taking my length right in to the back of his throat and holding until he gagged...it was fucking impossible to resist. This time, I let him have what he wanted without argument. I simply rested my hand on top of his head and held my breath until he took me right over the edge.

  There were no words in my mind except yes, yes, yes. But I couldn’t even get them out of my mouth. All I could do was moan as I jetted hot fluid into Zac’s perfect mouth. He moaned and whimpered, the sounds being sliced thickly with delicious swallowing noises.

  When the spasms eased, I grasped the shoulders of his suit and dragged him to his feet, planting a deep kiss on his mouth and savoring the blend of tastes.

  I grabbed a fistful of blond hair and bent Zac's head back, latching my mouth onto his throat and sucking. His warm moans buzzed against my lips and tongue.

  With a sharp nip on his skin, I pushed him back and grasped his tie, leading him through to the bedroom. The thought of what we were about to do had my cock stiffening again already.

  At the side of his bed I tightened my grip, pulling the tie closed around Zac’s throat. He turned back, a look of pure ecstasy on his face. Everything I’d come to suspect about him, I was now sure of. He wasn’t a true submissive, which was fine by me. I’m no Dom. But at the very least, he needed me in control.

  “Zac, would you strip for me, please?”

  “I’d love to.”

  He shed his jacket and tie, his shoes and socks, then worked his shirt and pants off. Standing before me, athletic and lean, naked as he could be—emotionally as well as physically—I knew he was mine. The way he looked into me, not just at me, I could feel it in my bones. One bone in particular.

  “Now I need you to strip me as well please, Zac.”

  “My pleasure.” That gorgeous grin erupted again, taking years of stress away from his face. His hands, so clumsy at computer work, became instruments of artistic beauty as he unfastened, untied and removed every stitch of clothing from my body.

  I slid my hands either side of his head, weaving my fingers into his hair. “Well done, Zac.”

  He practically bristled with pride at my words, and I had to wonder if he’d ever received a single positive comment from that man. The one who was supposed to nurture and shape, rather than judge and condemn. I pulled his head in against my shoulder and he put his arms around me as he sighed. It was a beautiful moment and I could have stayed there for hours, if not for the heat and hardness of Zac’s beautiful cock pressing against my hip.

  I pulled away and licked at his shoulders and chest, seizing his nipple between my teeth and squeezing. Zac hissed and scratched his short nails into the skin on my back.

  With a small grin, I pushed him until he collapsed on his bed. I dived on top and licked at the little bud of sensitive flesh, running circles around it with my tongue. As I switched my mouth to the other side, I grasped Zac's cock and pumped it, the heat in my hand feeling like a homecoming.

  “Mmm...” Zac's voice deepened, sounding almost like a whiskey-soaked rock star crooning. “Nate?”

  “Uh-huh?”

  “Don’t hold back.”

  I stopped for a moment, staring into his eyes. “I won’t.”

  “I mean it. You go as hard as you want. Please?”

  “I plan to, Zac.” It felt entirely natural to me already. That Zac needed to submit without being a submissive. Yesterday, I’d thought a relationship with him might be a great leveler. That maybe I was worthy of the attention this rich, handsome Adonis might bestow upon me. With all I’d learned in the past few days, I knew exactly how it had to be.

  I tightened my fist around Zac’s cock and watched in fascination as the action wrote stories of pleasure across his face. On a whim, I hooked my thumb, pressing the nail against that super-sensitive spot, just below the head.

  Zac glanced down and his eyes widened. “Oh, yeah. Do it.”

  As I pressed hard into Zac's cock, it almost surprised me how it sparked through me like fire. How it got my already-hard cock even harder. “Fuck...that's so damn hot.”

  Zac's voice broke and his breath rasped. I pressed my open mouth to the burning flesh between my hands, licking the smooth shaft of Zac's cock while I pressed above it and gave his sac a squeeze and a pull. The deep, guttural moans coming out of Zac's mouth, riding on hoarse breaths, just drove my desire even higher.

  I released his balls and took a moment to suck on my finger. As I pulled that sweet cock deep into my mouth, I pressed my shoulders against Zac's thighs, forcing his knees outward and opening him up for everything.

  Whoever said men can’t multitask must never have fucked one. As I worked over Zac’s fat tip, I found the hot rippled bud between his cheeks with my fingertip. I ran around it in circles, prodding and tickling. Zac moaned again, and sighed as I pumped his mouth up and down.

  “Hold tight, boy.” I was a little surprised how easily I put authority in my voice. Zac's body shuddered as he smiled, his eyes drifting closed with obvious pleasure.

  I leaned over and grabbed our ties from the pool of shed clothes, then hooked Zac's leg over my arm. With a swift pull, I rolled him over, and pulled him up onto his knees.

  “Put your hands out in front, boy.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Zac did as he was told, keeping his face down on the bed, expensive sheets and pillows filling his world for a moment. I moved around front and tightened my tie around his left wrist, then tied that hand to the bedpost. I moved to the other side and repeated the action. And all the while my cock pulsed with heat.

  With my lover bound up, and his perfect ass in the air, I climbed onto the bed. “You're fucking beautiful, Zac.”

  “Uh...”

  An amazing tremor ran through his body, and I was certain it was simply because I praised him. I landed a hard slap on his ass, sending a shock right through Zac's body. Before the handprint had even shown up, I landed another one on the other side.

  “Th-thank you, sir.”

  Unable to resist any longer, I dived in and lapped at Zac's balls, one hand on either side of his ass. I tongued the rough skin hard, squeezing the smooth flesh in my fists and drinking in the deep moans of pleasure coming from my friend and lover. Wider and longer I licked at him until finally I ran the tip of my tongue up until it rested on the puckered flesh of Zac's asshole.

  Like I'd done with my finger, and with my tongue on Zac's nipple, I made little circles with the tip of my tongue, exploring the tiny ridges of tight skin and stretching Zac's firm cheeks apart. The harder I stretched, th
e more my man groaned and hissed, which only spurred me on. I hooked my fingers and dug the nails in to Zac’s baby-soft ass skin while I rammed my tongue against the tight entrance, soaking up the essence of my man.

  Despite how solid the bed was built, the whole thing shook and rattled as Zac pulled on the makeshift restraints. I bit into his ass and he arched his back in reaction. I slid off the side and tore open the top drawer of his cabinet, securing a rubber and gliding it on in what felt like seconds.

  Zac looked up over his shoulder as best he could. “Oh, fuck...yes...”

  It was my turn to shiver with need. The sweet anticipation in his voice was like bait, and I couldn’t wait to get my fucking cock inside him again. I grasped it hard and slapped it against his tight ass, like a caveman subduing his prey. Zac propped himself higher and I glided my sheathed cock right through the crease, using it like a thick, hard tongue to tickle his hole.

  “You ready?”

  “Always.”

  I angled my cock lower, turning it from a club to a spear. Zac hummed as I grasped his hip and pulled him back toward me, then hissed as I drove my head inside.

  “Does that hurt, boy?”

  “Like heaven.”

  I rocked my hips, slinking inside him bit by bit and suckling on the deep grunts of painful pleasure that I forced out of him.

  “God, Nate. That’s perfect.”

  Every word he said was pushed through gritted teeth. Already he was coated with delicious sweat and I couldn’t wait to lick it straight off him. I ran my arched fingers down his back, letting my nails lightly scratch him. Every stroke of my hands left a trail of long red marks, writing the story of my lust all over Zac.

  As I drove deeper into him, he squeezed me hard, sending sharp tingles of sensation all through my body. I swore his intense heat was roasting the tender skin of my cock, even through the condom.

  Finally I bottomed out, my whole cock embedded in Zac, my pelvis thudding against him. I clutched at his hips and held him still, despite my own desperation to pound him as hard as I could. I just needed a moment and I felt sure he would, too.