by Emma Holly
"Oh, I was thinking it would be the other way around."
"You were—" Bryan stopped, mid-tirade. His eyes narrowed. "You're serious."
"As a heart attack. Now are we going to do this or not?"
Bryan paused for two seconds.
"Hell, yeah," he said and pulled his pine-green polo shirt over his head.
His heavily muscled chest was worth admiring, but Alex had his own priorities. He had Bryan's zipper down while the shirt still covered his face. Liking the way this left his partner trapped, Alex eased his cock out with both hands. Nothing could have stopped him from stroking it right away, or from feeling anything but greedy as it grew bigger.
"Shit," said Bryan, finally wrestling free of the shirt. His stomach jerked as Alex wrapped his base and pulled. "I didn't lock the door."
Alex was too far into his lust to do any more than shush him. He went to his knees, his focus on what he held. He licked the shining head even as he rubbed it round and round with his thumbs. Such delicate skin this was, so sensitive. Bryan tasted sweet as honey, his little slit leaking clear fluid. With a moan of pleasure, Alex pressed the meaty thickness between his lips.
Bryan fisted Alex's hair and groaned, half ecstasy and half panic. "I'm gonna go too soon if you keep that up. Oh, God, Alex, your mouth is sweet."
Alex had never qualified as any sort of mystic, but he did have one gift. He always sensed how long he could tease his partners before they came, often better than they did. He liked Bryan's edge of panic, but it didn't worry him. Bryan was still rising, not on the brink. Alex sucked him, firm but slow, letting himself enjoy the act, letting himself love the melting smoothness of this rigid flesh.
Now that he had what he'd been denying himself, some of the tension in him eased. This moment was what he lived for. To want someone. To be wanted back. To lose himself in desire. He gentled his motions, giving Bryan a chance to trust he wouldn't get him off right away. Then, just in case that was too easy, he dug his hand into Bryan's trousers to fondle his balls.
Oh, they were fun to play with, ripe and heavy against the cup of his palm.
"Alex," Bryan moaned, his hips beginning to answer Alex's rhythm. "Fuck. You don't know how much I've wanted this."
However much he'd wanted it, he was being too careful for Alex's taste. He needed his partners to go as crazy as he did. Determined, he dug his fingers into Bryan's buttocks hard enough to bruise, which forced his cock closer to his throat. If Bryan thought Alex couldn't match his longing, he had no idea just how bad his partner's urges got. Hell, feeling Bryan start to shove in earnest had his own cock so hard it hurt.
He sank into the act as long as he could, but finally he had to let go and swallow. When he did, he realized he really couldn't wait anymore. Bryan's groan at being released came from a distance. A haze was filling Alex's head, one that would take over if he didn't give his body what it demanded. Alex didn't want that. He'd turned rough in the past when he let himself get that bad, and just because his partners hadn't complained didn't make it right.
He rested his cheek against Bryan's groin.
"Do you like to be fucked?" he asked into Bryan's hipbone. "Because I sure would like to take you now."
For a second Bryan didn't speak. When he did, he had to gasp for breath between the words. "Jeez, Alex. Even if I didn't like it, I'd let you."
Alex stood and held Bryan's face. "You do like it, though?"
"Oh, yeah," he said with all the heartfelt hunger Alex could desire. "I like it as good as being sucked off."
Alex smiled, so savagely pleased he should have been baring fangs. Too close to getting what it wanted to be contained, the dominant in him shoved out of its cage. "Take off your clothes," he ordered.
Bryan shivered at his tone. "You've got protection?"
"Buddy, I've got better. I've got lube, too."
Bryan watched him pull both out of his wallet, feeling as if his world was turning upside down. Alex wanted him. Alex was going to fuck him here and now. As Bryan shucked his pants and underwear, Alex began stripping, too. Bryan hadn't expected him to get naked and couldn't help wetting his lips. The barest he'd seen the object of his obsession was in running shorts. Good though that was, it wasn't the same as the full Monty. Bryan watched in fascination as Alex shoved his trousers down. His cock bounced out in full erection… and kept on bouncing with the blood that pumped through it. It was thicker than Bryan expected, and as hard as if he'd been getting sucked. His thatch was honey-brown, the only part of him that wasn't bleached by the sun.
Bryan's fingers itched to explore all of it.
"Turn around," Alex ordered in that same harsh voice that had ramped through Bryan like a lick of sound. Bryan couldn't move. Alex's hands were racing up the buttons of his shirt. He wrenched it off his lean, muscled chest. "Do it, Bryan. I want you to grip the sink."
Bryan shook his head, his gaze arrested by all that flexing, flushed bounty.
"Bryan," Alex said, bringing his eyes to his face. "I know you want to touch me, but I really can't wait for that."
He folded his shirt and threw it on the closed toilet seat, meticulous even in his impatience. His eyes were strange, their blue intensified by his lust. Bryan wasn't sure he bought Alex's theory that he was a sex addict, but his expression held a definite hint of menace as he came closer. He looked as if not being able to wait meant something different to him than it would to Bryan, something dangerous. Bryan's cock jolted higher and began to throb. He'd never thought he'd like rough sex, but he sure was hoping for it now.
"Turn," Alex said, even lower than before. He took Bryan's shoulder, guiding it where he wanted. "You can touch me all you want later."
"That's a risky promise," Bryan tried to joke.
Alex lacked his feet apart.
He gave Bryan no warning when he started with the lube, using two fingers to shove it in with quick hard strokes. A tingle started deep inside him. Alex's hand was hot, his fingers long and narrow, and every insertion felt like sheer heaven. He rubbed those outer, nerve-rich reaches with arousing skill, leaving Bryan in no doubt that he had indeed been fucking men.
Fortunately, Bryan was way too excited to be upset.
"Good," Alex said, feeling the ring of muscle relax.
And then he was there, his hairy legs pressing between Bryan's, his prick hot and insistent against the opening. Bryan's pulse went into double-time.
He liked being fucked. He'd just never done it this fast.
"It's okay," Alex said, his hands tight and sweaty on Bryan's hips. "You're ready. Just breathe out nice and slow."
He must have known better than Bryan. He pushed as Bryan exhaled, gliding in without a hitch, though the glide took a good long time. Bryan had to bite his lip to hold back a moan of delight. All they needed was some intern hearing them and breaking in. The tweak of anxiety was more arousing than Bryan needed. God, Alex was big—big and hot and better than any dream he'd jacked off to.
Alex seemed to like being clamped so closely. He groaned and pressed his face into Bryan's back. His hands ran up Bryan's chest, twanging across his erect nipples before closing on his shoulders. His cock stirred inside Bryan's body, satin wrapped around a core of fire. Alex really must have been hard up. His whole body was shuddering with need.
"God," he said, an edge of fear in it. "Oh, God, that's good."
Bryan pulled one of Alex's hands to his cock. Sometimes his erection faded when a partner took him anally, but not this time. This time he'd stayed full enough to burst. Alex gripped his swollen base like holding on to it was all that kept him from doing something stupid.
Since Bryan suspected "something stupid" was giving in to what he really wanted, he wasn't about to preach caution.
"Go," Bryan urged instead. "You feel good to me, too."
Alex's curse held a hint of apology, but that didn't stop him from uncoiling into swift motion. He shot from zero to sixty in two seconds, his cock pounding into Bryan like he'd gone insane.<
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Bryan would have lost his footing if the sink hadn't held him up, and even then he had to grip it for dear life. It wasn't just the force of Alex's thrusts that robbed him of strength, it was the incredibly sweet pleasure. Bryan hadn't known he was a size queen, but every bulge of Alex's big erection rubbed every spot that needed it, as if Alex had a periscope in there that told him where to go. His technique was so effing perfect, it seemed unreal—and the speed! That was like jumping off a cliff straight to orgasm. No buildup, just a drop as scarily intense as defying death.
"Yes," Bryan panted, trying to thrust back for more.
Alex grunted, bent his knees, and got an even better angle.
Fireworks went off in Bryan's prostate, and somehow Alex knew.
"That's it," he said, his hand abruptly moving on Bryan's cock, the motion rough but effective. "That's it. That's—"
He plunged in deep and stiffened, and Bryan's ejaculation just about exploded from his prick. He actually heard his semen hit the sink pedestal. The orgasm was so good he had to shove his forearm in his mouth to keep from crying out. When another peak of feeling welled at the end, his legs threatened to buckle.
"Don't stop," Alex said. "I need another."
Bryan could hardly believe it, but those three words were enough to harden him again.
Alex's second sprint to orgasm was as quick as the first, too quick for Bryan to follow. He bit Bryan's shoulder when he came that time, probably the sexiest love bite he'd ever had, because he knew for sure Alex hadn't meant to lose it like that.
"Shit," Alex said, coming to enough to see the mark. "I knew I'd hurt you if I made myself wait that long."
Bryan began to laugh. He turned around and wrapped Alex in his arms, kissing his reassurance into Alex's sighing mouth. To Bryan's delight, Alex didn't pull away for a long, long time.
His skin was velvet on Bryan's chest, as preternaturally perfect as his cock had been.
"Okay," Alex said at last, a bit breathless. "I guess you don't hate me after all."
"That's your conclusion?" Bryan teased. "That I don't hate you?"
Alex averted his gaze. "I know you feel more than that."
Bryan snorted at his embarrassment. "Alex, I'm not expecting you to marry me because we fucked."
Alex flushed up to his hairline. "I'm honored that you care about me. Really. That's why I—I didn't want to screw up our friendship."
"You haven't screwed it up."
Alex's mouth twisted. "There's plenty of time for that."
"Right," said Bryan. "In Fairyville."
The wryness of Alex's expression just might have slanted into a smile. Still not looking up, he slid his hand down his friend's belly, his fingers skating through his black pubic bush. It was a gentle, intimate gesture, one Bryan hadn't expected. "I didn't finish you."
His palm had an interesting tingle as it wrapped Bryan's shaft. His erection had been subsiding, but that little surge of whatever it was brought him up.
"Oh, no worries," Bryan said, his voice a fraction higher than before. "I'm perfectly happy to let you make it up to me now."
* * *
Chapter Three
Bryan and Alex were cruising north on I-17, halfway to Sedona, when they had a fluke accident. Bryan didn't see how it happened, but somehow Alex caught the sole of his shoe on the gas pedal, and the thing peeled off like the top of a sardine can.
Fortunately, Alex's reflexes were quick. The wheels barely squealed before he was able to pull over onto the sandy verge. In the distance, a lone saguaro cactus raised beseeching arms to the sapphire sky.
"How the hell did I do that?" Alex demanded, pulling the remnants of the loafer from his bare foot.
His mood had not been cheery to begin with, but he frowned in genuine affront at the ruined shoe. As a rule, Pis learned to expect the unexpected. Subjects rarely did what suited their convenience. Bryan had noticed, however, that Alex didn't like it when the things he believed he could plan didn't go according to.
"I can take the wheel," he offered, without a single objection to driving Alex's beautifully kept, dark-brown, eight-cylinder Audi. His own two-year-old Buick looked more like ten—and that was before you considered the fast food trash. It had never run as smoothly as the Audi, not even when it was new.
"That's okay," Alex declined. No surprise, since he was kind of a control freak about his car. "I saw a sign for Target at the last exit."
When Alex came out of the store, at least twenty minutes after going in, Bryan couldn't contain his amusement. Alex's face was storm-cloud dark.
"Don't. Say. A word," he ordered, sliding grumpily back into the driver's seat. "These were all they had in my size."
"Yeah, 'cause thirteen is such a freakish shoe size for men." Totally cracking up, Bryan craned to get a better look at the glory that clad his partner's feet. The shoes were neon-yellow high-tops with—oh, Lord—was that Wile E. Coyote printed on the side? Tears of laughter began to squeeze out from the corners of Bryan's eyes.
"Shut up!" Alex said, but Bryan was having too much fun.
"They're rad," he choked out between gasps for air. "I'm sure they're all the rage with the high school boys."
Alex covered his face, finally beginning to laugh himself. "I swear, I searched every shoe in that freaking store. This was the only thirteen they had."
"Well, they go great with your navy sport coat. Very preppie casual."
"Asshole," Alex said through his grin. He put the car into gear and backed neatly out of their spot. Witnessing the deft maneuver, Bryan could hardly blame him for wanting to drive. Alex was a genius behind the wheel. Now he narrowed his eyes at Bryan. "You just wait till we get to Fairyville. Then you'll see this weird shit happens all the time."
"Can't wait," Bryan promised, relaxing back in his seat. The happiness that rose inside him had been a stranger far too long.
Meeting his laughing gaze, Alex reached out briefly to squeeze his hand. It was a boyfriend squeeze, sweet and spontaneous. It surprised Bryan enough that he had to turn his face to the window, to hide how his own eyes pricked.
Don't get ahead of yourself, he warned his budding optimism. He and Alex had only had sex once. In Bryan's experience, this was no guarantee of a great romance. Alex had slept with a lot of people. In fact, he'd slept with more than Bryan had suspected, considering he'd only guestimated the female ones. Bryan wasn't sure he could count them all without a calculator. Alex had dates most weekends—sometimes more than one. That little hand squeeze could be nothing more than a friendly bit of afterglow.
Determined to play it cool, Bryan curled his fist on his thigh.
As luck would have it, Alex glanced at him just then.
"I'm glad you're here," he said in his perpetual bedroom voice.
The acknowledgment was too much, the little extra rasp of sincerity. Every shred of Bryan's caution instantly tore loose in the highway wind.
It wasn't unusual for a being of Magnus's persuasion to enjoy sexual release numerous times a day. The fey were a lusty lot, and sex was like food to them: something to be enjoyed with gusto, not life or death serious. In the decade since Magnus had stolen, unsanctioned, into the human realm, he'd enjoyed countless such tasty meals.
All that had ended when he met Zoe—or it had ended as much as it could.
The terms of his magical visa were simple: Win a woman's heart under each full moon, seal the deal by climaxing inside his partner, then return the heart afterward. Nothing said he couldn't have sex more often, and certainly he wanted to, but to do so with Zoe watching didn't strike him as the best way to keep her regard.
Unfortunately, given the amount of satisfaction he was wired to crave, it was nearly killing him to restrict himself to having sex once a month. He could pleasure himself, of course, but to his kind nothing compared to the delicious skin-to-skin contact of intercourse. He needed that like Phoenix needed water, and without it he felt himself approaching a state that, for a naturally cheerful pers
on like himself, resembled surliness.
Zoe had no idea how she'd upped the difficulty of his life by breaking into tears this morning and forcing him to kiss her. Now he'd tasted her sweetness. Now he'd felt her eager embrace. Now—damn it all to the nether realm—he knew what he was missing!
In spite of the arousal that still goaded him like a lance, Magnus chuckled at the cloudless sky. He sat beneath an awning in the little courtyard across the street from her gallery, waiting patiently for her to emerge for lunch. Sun-sharp shadows shifted slowly around the circle of adobe shops, different but every bit as beautiful as his home.
He could hardly claim to have been forced to kiss her when he'd been wanting to do it for the last two years—ever since he'd spotted her giving readings in the little park the locals called Tourist Square. All sorts of artists and prognosticators set up booths there on summer weekends—and Zoe hadn't been the only friend to dead people there. Nonetheless, a line ten-deep had snaked back from her table, mostly women fanning themselves in the blazing heat, clearly determined to speak to no psychic but her—even if they melted in the meantime.
Magnus had taken one look at the reason for their patience and had known he wasn't going to move on to Colorado like he'd planned. Zoe was worth sticking around for, even if it meant remaining where his mother could get at him.
Stable portals between the human world and Fairy were hard to come by, and just as hard to open if you weren't a queen. Sadly, Magnus's mother was a queen, and the door to Fairyville was as old and stable as they got. Titania could come and go as she pleased, with one disadvantage. Should she ever step into the human realm, she'd have to leave the bulk of her magic behind.
Titania didn't want to do that, not even if it improved her chances of retrieving her unruly son. Full-strength fairy magic was a drug without which she couldn't function, the blood that kept her power-loving heart beating. She'd try every way she could think of to reel Magnus back, so long as she didn't have to come into this world.
