by Willa Okati
Heaving a deep sigh, Quinn started to get up—then stopped. He heard the sound of crunching leaves and undergrowth being stepped on. Someone was coming his way, walking with a heavy stride. It could be Melissa in a furious temper…or it could be Billy, with red in his eye.
An hour before, Quinn would have been terrified and desperate to avoid a confrontation. Now, he simply sat on his tree bench and waited for the person to become visible through the forest. If it were Melissa, he’d tell her the truth without embellishment and send her on her way.
If it were Billy…?
He didn’t know.
“Quinn?” a male voice called, rough around the edges from too much smoking. “Quinn, come on. It’s going to get dark soon and it’ll be freezing up here.”
“I can take care of myself,” Quinn said with the same inner calm he’d found during the previous argument. “I’m a grown man, Billy.”
“There you are.” Billy crashed through the brush, cursed when he hooked himself on some briars, untangled his jeans and stomped over to Quinn. “You just about scared the shit out of me.”
Quinn looked up placidly. The bark was beginning to bite into his behind, but he sat as easily as if he had all day and nowhere else to go. “I didn’t mean to,” he said honestly. “I had to get away. That’s all.”
“Damn, Quinn.” Billy thrust his hands into his pockets and looked lost. “I thought up a dozen different things that could have happened to you out here. What if I hadn’t been able to track your path?”
Quinn glanced at the rack and ruin he’d made during his flight. “I suspect that finding me wasn’t any too difficult.”
“Yeah. Right.” Billy laughed shakily and dragged a hand through his hair. “Quinn, man, please don’t do that again. My heart can’t take it.”
“What does your heart have to do with anything?” Quinn frowned. “Surely you weren’t that concerned over my well-being.”
“Jesus, Quinn! If I didn’t love you I’d smack you across the head. Shit, I’m half-tempted as it is.” Billy paused, then stuck out his chin. “Yeah, I said it. Doesn’t matter if you don’t feel the same way. I love you.”
Quinn felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. “But you…why…how can you?” he asked faintly, unsure of his words once again. “Why would anyone love me?”
“I really am gonna smack you now. Move over.” Billy gestured with his hands. Too stunned not to obey, Quinn made room for Billy on the trunk.
Billy sat, then turned at the waist so he faced Quinn. Quinn mirrored his actions, still peaceful at the center but burning with curiosity. Billy loved him? How was that possible? Billy, the playboy? Billy, who put the one into one-night-stand?
They sat in silence for a moment. Billy appeared to be struggling for words. “Quinn…it hasn’t been long, I know. At least since we’ve been together. I’ve watched you for months, though. Waiting. Wanting. And when I finally got you, when you gave yourself to me, it went to my head.”
“I did what you wanted because I needed you,” Quinn replied. He folded his hands in his lap. “You were there for me when I didn’t think I had another friend in the world.”
“That’s the thing. I’ve just realized…Quinn, man, it doesn’t matter how I feel. The biggie here is how you feel. Don’t say ‘yes’ or ‘I love you’ because you think I want to hear it.” Billy reached across and took Quinn’s hands in one of his own. “If you want to go back to being someone else, if that’ll make you happy, then do it. No more going by what other people think or say.”
Quinn shook his head. “I’m not going to,” he said clearly. “I’m going to live my own life. Billy, do you know that up until the moment when Melissa arrived, I had thought you would be the one to leave me? And until now, I thought I’d lost you forever? How do you think I felt?”
“Like shit. And that’s my fault, mostly.” Billy released Quinn’s hands to reach up and run his fingers through Quinn’s hair. A smile tugged at his mouth. “Bet this is the longest you’ve ever let it grow.”
“In a few years.” Quinn regarded Billy frankly. “I can’t say ‘I love you’ yet, no matter how much I might want to. How much I might feel… Can you understand that for me?” He leaned over to kiss Billy lightly. “I do, you know. But I’ve always been the cautious type.”
Billy laughed, then nodded. Quinn approved. Billy clearly respected Quinn enough not to press him. Quinn still felt dizzy at the thought that Billy would want to stay with him. It was too big, too much.
Yet at the same time…it wasn’t a bad thing. It felt like a very good thing. One he could get used to. Couple that with his new determination to live life as he saw fit, and the pieces melded together.
Cautiously, Quinn turned so he faced Billy, mirror images of one another. A shy and clumsy neophyte across from a self-assured, well-practiced Don Juan. Both of them caught up in the same uncertainty.
The look of concern on Billy’s face was more touching than a thousand words.
Quinn lifted both his hands and placed them on either side of Billy’s jaw. He went slowly, so he could be stopped if Billy didn’t want this, and kissed the man. Billy went rigid for a second, then melted into his embrace. Quinn took the lead for the second time that day, doing things the way he wanted them done.
When they parted, Billy had the ghost of his old cocky smile on his face. “Does that mean you’ll give me a chance?”
“That depends. What did you do with Melissa?”
“I wrung her neck and stuck her in a knothole.”
“Good.” Quinn paused before grinning, himself. “What actually happened?”
Billy shrugged. “She went off in a huff, ranting about sin and damnation. She might be back. I don’t know.”
“I can handle her. She doesn’t like anything that she’s controlled to slip out of her grasp—which is, no doubt, why she came after me. But we never signed any papers. If she persists, she’ll be thought of as an obsessive lunatic. She won’t want any tarnish on her reputation. Odds are that if I go on as I’ve just now begun, she’ll distance herself as far from me as possible.” The thought was positively delightful. “I, on the other hand, can afford to be unorthodox.” He chuckled at the word he’d chosen. “And I can be with you, if I want.”
“Do you?” Billy’s blue eyes were filled with apprehension.
“I think I do,” Quinn said after a moment’s pause. “I don’t know how long this will last, Billy. Perhaps you will grow tired of me, or I of you. But we can play the game until we either run out of cards or decide to stand firm. I think I can cope with this now.” He leaned in to kiss Billy again, running his tongue along the man’s bottom lip. “I want to.”
Billy laughed. “Okay. We face the future together. Equals.” He stood and offered Quinn a hand. “But I’m still the top.”
Quinn’s laughter rang out into the night. Full, honest…and free.
About the Author
Willa Okati has a hundred and one different stories to tell, and she’s getting there one book at a time. Permanently glued to her computer chair or parked in front of a laptop, she can be found pounding the keys from before dawn until after dusk. She’s delighted to have found a home at Samhain where she can write her Appalachian-with-a-twist paranormal stories. Coffee is her best friend and her lifesaver; cats are her muses; her bookshelves are groaning under the weight of a tremendous collection.
She’d love to hear from readers, and can be contacted at [email protected]. Drop her a line anytime or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Willa. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/willa_okati/. You can also find Willa on MySpace at http://blog.myspace.com/willaokati.
Look for these titles
Now Available:
A Year and a Day
Unspoken
The Letter
Café Noctem
Sex and Sexuality
Hearts from the Ashes
Coming Soon:
Mountain Magic (pa
perback collection of A Year and a Day, Unspoken and The Letter)
Love is the journey of a lifetime.
Love’s Evolution
© 2006 Ally Blue
Now available in digital and paperback formats from Samhain Publishing
Chris Tucker is a cultured and sophisticated gentleman. Matt Gallagher is a pierced and tattooed wild child. Not exactly the pair you’d expect to become a couple. But the sparks fly between them from the moment they meet, and the fire never goes out.
Through the first rush of attraction to falling in love, through jealousy and sexual experimentation and a life-threatening injury, the bond they share grows and deepens. Come along with Matt and Chris on their journey, and share their joys and heartaches, from their first hello to happily ever after and everything in between.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Love’s Evolution:
It was after midnight by the time the last of the guests left. Laurie raised an eyebrow and grinned as she hugged Chris goodbye. Chris watched her retreating back nervously. The woman was far more perceptive than he liked sometimes.
Rick offered to stay and help clean up, making sure he said it loud enough for the exiting partygoers to hear.
“Dude, don’t worry,” Matt said. “Nobody’s gonna think anything of it if you stay.” He gave Rick a sharp pop on the butt and grinned up at him.
“Yeah, well. Okay, yeah, so I’m a little nervous.” Rick laughed. “Stupid, huh?”
“Naw. I bet Chris is more nervous that you. Aren’t you, babe?”
Chris nodded as he doused the final torch and headed back up the steps to the deck, where Matt and Rick were picking up trash. “I must admit, I am a little nervous.”
“See, I told you.” Matt shook his head. “Sad. You guys are so hot for each other, but I bet I’m gonna have to work you both like a porn fluffer before you get going.”
“Matt, really…”
Matt laughed. “Hey, I was just kidding, Chris.” He wrapped both arms around Chris’s waist and kissed the end of his nose. “C’mon, relax, will you? It’s nothing to worry about.” He flicked his tongue over Chris’s lips. “Just sex, baby, that’s all. Just a little bit of sin. It’s good for you.”
Chris smiled. “That’s not what I learned in Sunday school.”
“There are degrees of sin, Chris.” Matt sucked Chris’s bottom lip into his mouth for a second. “This is just a little one. If you believe in that sort of thing, that is.”
“Matt, my darling, I know you don’t believe in sin, raging atheist that you are.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“You’re a raging hedonist too.”
“It’s still not wrong, Chris.”
“I agree with you, it’s just…I don’t know. I’m just nervous. So’s Rick.”
Rick kept his gaze fixed on his feet and didn’t say anything. Matt frowned.
“Look, nobody has to do anything they don’t want to here, right? If you guys have changed your minds, that’s fine. It’s no big deal.”
Chris stared hard at Rick. His hair hung thick and shining over one eye and caught on his full lower lip. The lean muscles in his arms made Chris’s skin ache.
“No. I haven’t changed my mind.” Chris reached out and brushed his fingers across Rick’s wrist. “Rick?”
Rick moved closer and wound an arm around each of them. “I still want to.” His long fingers slid into Chris’s hair, and Chris leaned into the caress.
Matt smiled. “Let’s go inside now.” Taking their hands, he led them into the house.
They followed in silence. Matt snagged an almost full bottle of Shiraz off the kitchen counter and brought it along to the bedroom. Upstairs, Chris sat on the padded window seat and gazed out at the moonlit yard.
“It’s a lovely night,” he said.
“Sure is.” Rick walked over and sat beside Chris.
“Matt, do we have any condoms?” Chris asked. “Not to kill the mood, but frankly, I can’t remember the last time we used any.”
“I got some last week.” Matt shuffled through a pile of CDs on the built-in shelves. “Just in case, you know. But we don’t have to use ‘em if you don’t want. Rick’s clean. We shared test results yesterday.”
Chris gaped at Matt, then Rick. Rick had the good grace to blush. Matt gave Chris a sweet smile that he knew from long experience to be pure deception.
“Okay,” Chris said. “I suppose it’s a good thing that you two have already discussed this.”
“Hey, we’re pretty responsible guys when we feel like it.” Matt popped a CD into the portable player and jungle drums sounded through the room.
“What the hell’s that?” Rick asked.
Matt shrugged. “Some sort of Polynesian music I downloaded the other day. I kinda like it, it’s sexy.” Digging some matches out of a drawer, Matt started lighting the candles Chris kept scattered around the room. He took a long swallow of Shiraz, then held the bottle out. “Want some?”
“Yeah, give it here.” Rick took the bottle Matt offered, drank, and passed it to Chris.
The urge to tease was strong, and Chris saw no reason to question it. Holding Rick’s gaze, he ran his tongue along the rim of the bottle and dipped it briefly inside before drinking. Rick’s cheeks flushed pink.
Matt nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. Damn, I’m getting hot just watching you guys flirt.”
Rick laughed. “If you’re so hot, why don’t you take some of those clothes off?”
“Good idea.” Matt pulled his T-shirt off and tossed it over his shoulder, then shoved his shorts down. He wasn’t wearing any underwear.
Chris grinned at him. “That’s my little nudist.”
“Hey, never say ‘little’ to a naked guy.” Matt stretched like a cat, perfectly comfortable in nothing but skin and body jewelry.
“I see someone’s ready for action.” Setting the wine bottle on the windowsill, Chris slid his hands up the sides of Matt’s hips, not quite touching his swelling cock. Having Rick sitting right beside him, watching him caress Matt’s naked body, sent a sharp thrill through him.
“You know it, baby.” Matt glanced over at Rick, who was staring at Chris’s hands on him. “Touch me, Rick.”
Rick’s gaze darted up to meet Matt’s. Licking his lips, he laid his open palm on Matt’s bare hip. Matt closed his eyes.
“Mm. Feels nice.” He pushed Rick’s hand around to his backside. “Touch me some more, don’t be shy.”
Rick slid closer, pressing his body in a long line against Chris’s. Chris watched, fascinated, as Rick ran one palm over the swell of Matt’s butt, down the back of his thigh, up over his hip and around again to the small of his back. The sight of Rick’s big hand roaming over Matt’s body had Chris harder than steel, his heart racing.
“Rick,” Chris said, “come here.”
Rick swiveled his head around to look at Chris. They stared into each other’s eyes for a heartbeat, then they were at each other like rabid dogs. Before he knew what was happening, Chris was sitting astride Rick’s lap and they were grabbing at each other, hands everywhere, mouths locked together. He heard someone moaning and realized with a shock that it was him.
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