#BURN (Fever Falls Book 2)

by Devon McCormack

  I could do it again.

  It wouldn’t necessarily be my favorite thing in the world, but if it meant I got to explore more with Jace Kruse, I was in.

  As I pulled away from Jace and opened my eyes, a flash filled the room—someone’s iPhone camera, I figured. Jace glanced around, searching for the culprit.

  “Hacksmore will be pissed when I tell him I’m not going to help out on the deal, but I’ll pitch it that he’s gonna get what he wants out of it just by us being out and about together. But I’d feel gross and unprofessional participating any other way. And I don’t want to turn this into any more of a show than it already is.”

  “I understand that.”

  “If there is some benefit to seeing each other, I don’t want it directly tied up in any sort of contract or bound by some agreement we don’t have any control over once we sign papers. I would rather let it be what it is. I think that’s the only way I’m going to maintain any semblance of sanity in all this.”

  “I respect that. I respect you, Dax.”

  A serious practicality sparked in my mind. “There is one thing you might not like—if we’re doing this, it’s probably best we don’t mess around with anyone else while this is going on. I’m not demanding exclusivity because I feel like you shouldn’t be able to fuck around. I don’t give a shit, but I know how the press can be if they find out either of us are messing around with other people, and—”

  “Oh, I get that. And I definitely don’t need Nance and Keeg reading about that, so I’m game for that if you are.” He seemed surprised by his response. “Damn, Dax Munro, I never thought anyone could make me go exclusive, but guess it just took a special man.”

  I laughed, but considering the kind of man Jace was, that meant a lot to me.

  “So you’re really in this, whatever it is we’re doing?” he added.

  “The thing?” I teased, recalling his verbiage earlier that morning. “Yeah, I’m in the thing.”

  “Good. I could use a PR guy on Speed Dial. I need the help.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No, you don’t, but I’m happy to pretend you do.”

  I claimed his mouth once again.

  We really were in over our heads, but as I’d mentioned to him before, it was definitely better if we were in over our heads together.

  28

  Jace

  It was settled.

  Dax and I were officially a thing.

  Neither of us knew what that thing was—if just a flirtation or if we could be regular fuck buddies or what, but we were both in it to see where it led.

  Selfishly, I was relieved because considering how Dax had freaked out over the exposure we’d received, I figured he would bail, that it might be too much for him, but despite how that part of him was something he struggled with, he’d pushed through like the Dax Munro I’d come to know over the past couple of months.

  Dax had met with Hacksmore once again, and they’d sorted through the mess together. A few days later, as scheduled, Dax and Carter headed back to Los Angeles, but Dax had assured me he’d be back, and I believed him.

  Just like the first time my picture had gone viral, the notoriety that had come along with those pics of me and Dax circulating the web had peaked and waned, and people approached me for selfies and signatures far less frequently.

  With the spare time I had on my hands, I needed to do something…keep busy. I wasn’t the sort to sit around, so I hit the gym, spent time with my buds from the station, and volunteered at Fever Fight and for various projects where I could be handy—Zed needed a shelf built in his new apartment, Nance needed help cleaning the shed out back, and Benny at Fever Pitch had asked for help resurfacing his roof, which I’d signed on to help with when he mentioned he was struggling to come up with the money for the project.

  As helpful as I was trying to be, there were some other, more personal interests I was tending to as well, and fortunately, I had just the friends I could talk to about it…

  * * *

  “You mind if I ask a weird question?”

  Ash, Beau, and I sat on the back deck of Benny’s house, having just finished a few hours of working on his roof. They’d been kind enough to lend me some help that afternoon, and in return, I’d offered them some of Nance’s leftover barbecue from a few nights earlier.

  “Shoot,” Beau said, then took another bite.

  Ash eyed me suspiciously, I guessed because after my query when he was working on Nance’s car, he knew the sort of question I could ask.

  “How do you bottom good?”

  Beau jerked forward as he started to choke on his chicken. “The fuck?” he asked between coughs as he recovered from what must’ve been more of a surprise than I’d figured it would be. Ash gave him a few pats on the back.

  “You alright?” I asked.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Beau chuckled. “Just not the question I was expecting.”

  “So…” Ash began, like he was considering what I was asking.

  “Is it bottoming good or bottoming well? Or bottoming best? I don’t know, I wasn’t that great in English.”

  “We understood the question,” Ash said with a smile.

  “I assume this is because of a certain Lil’ Donnie Gibson?” Beau added.

  I’d already talked with Ash and Beau about the whole situation with Dax—his feelings around all that and how we were planning to proceed. Ash had been awesome about helping me out with my newly acquired fame around town, and being a couple, I figured they could give me some guidance on how to deal with seeing someone while dealing with all the other stuff that came along with my endorsement deal. But my curiosity wasn’t exclusively about the dynamics of our predicament.

  “It has a lot to do with him,” I replied. “I kind of owe him.”

  “Owe him?” Ash asked. “Look, you don’t owe any guy—”

  “Dude, whoa, hosing that down before anything gets started. We made a little fun game where he would bottom for me and I’d bottom for him. He wouldn’t actually ever make me do it if I didn’t want to. But I do. And I would like to be good at it. He was really good, and it had me wondering what makes someone…the best bottom.”

  “Well, you’ve come to the right couple,” Ash said.

  “Oh, Mr. Best At Everything?” Beau teased with an eye roll.

  “If you insist.”

  God, I loved these guys.

  “So, good bottoming…” Beau said.

  They both pondered that for a moment.

  “What? How is that a hard question?” I pressed.

  They glanced at each other, and Ash said, “You just kind of do it and figure it out, I think. Most guys aren’t trying to be the best bottom.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Beau teased, and they shared another laugh.

  Seeing how amused they were by my question, I assumed I had my answer. “I’m overthinking it, aren’t I?”

  “Just a tad,” Ash said. “I get it, though. I was nervous at first too. I don’t do it very often, but I enjoy it when I do. I like sharing that with Beau.”

  “It’s been on my mind, since we kind of did some stuff back there, and I did enjoy him doing other stuff back there, but then he went out of town, and now…”

  “And now you’re ready to just give it up to him?” Beau asked.

  “Pretty much, but I don’t really know what to do.”

  “Put your hips into it,” Ash said. “Just work that a little bit. Don’t be too over-the-top with it and end up thrusting him off the bed. Give a good push back, try to milk that dick. Give those cheeks a good squeeze when you need to.”

  “Now I feel I should be taking notes,” Beau said, eyes wide as he listened to his boyfriend sharing his secrets.

  “And don’t worry about recording until you get in a more serious relationship,” Ash added.

  “Recording?” I asked.

  “Gotta watch film to improve your game,” he replied with a wink.

  Beau elbowed him in the chest. “We don’t h
ave to share all our secrets.”

  “Nothing wrong with the guy wanting to be prepared,” Ash said.

  “Very true,” Beau added. “Jace, have you played around with a dildo before?”

  “What? No!”

  Beau looked to Ash again, then shook his head, turning to me. “Oh, sweet, innocent Jace. If you want to really know what you’re getting yourself into, go to the adult store, grab yourself a dildo of his approximate size, and play around for yourself. It’ll be less of a shock when you have him in there, and then you’ll be able to have some fun with it and not be so stressed about that.”

  Ash nodded in agreement.

  “Huh. Not a bad idea.”

  “We’re pretty good at this friends thing,” Ash said with as cocky a shrug as he could manage.

  “Yes, you are,” I agreed, and then the conversation transitioned back to more usual subjects.

  However, even as we got back to work, I was already searching on my phone to see how late the adult store on Peachtree Way was open. And once we finished working on Benny’s roof, I headed on over, perusing the selection and finding what seemed to be comparable to Dax’s size.

  When I got home and unboxed the thing on the bed, Mac watched me from the corner. The way he was looking at me, it was like he knew how I was going to use it.

  “What? I’m curious.” I eyed the thing again. “Damn, I can’t decide if this is the right size or if Dax’s cock has gotten way bigger in my head.” Although, I was pretty confident that was the right size, particularly by the way my hand fit around the girth.

  I slipped my phone out of my pocket. Dax had texted me while I was on the roof with the guys, and I’d told him what I was up to. I noticed he’d texted again.

  Carter and I have a premiere at Grauman’s at 8:30, and then hustling at some party later. Thinking of you.

  Inspiration struck, and I messaged him back: Have fun. Thinking of you too. ;)

  If only he knew.

  I set my phone on my nightstand.

  “Now this is the part that Shar-Peis gotta step out for,” I said as I set the dildo on the mattress and led Mac downstairs, and then I headed back into my bedroom.

  I stripped down, grabbed some lube from the nightstand, and slathered it on the fake dick. I looked at the head of it.

  Okay, maybe not taking it all right away, I thought, starting with just fingering my hole.

  As I did, I chuckled. “What the fuck am I doing?” I asked out loud.

  Never imagined I’d be lying in my bed, playing with my hole so that some guy could fuck me, but there I was, not only curious, but eager to experience that with Dax.

  He was fun, playful…hot as sin. And just playing with myself like that reminded me how much fun we’d had in his hotel room, got me all worked up.

  As I became more comfortable with two fingers, I decided it was time to start with the real challenge. I stared the thing down and took a breath. “Okay, fake dong. Let’s see how this is going to play out.”

  I positioned the head between my cheeks, working its way in steadily, very slowly, and muttering, “Thank God I’m practicing,” as I realized how awkward it would have been to have to make sense of this on the fly with Dax Munro.

  I slid it farther inside me, inching it in until I felt that familiar sensation Dax had roused against my prostate. “Ooh! Oh…”

  How the fuck could something have felt this good inside my body and I’d never triggered it until Dax?

  “Damn,” I said, still adjusting to the pressure, but also reveling in the pleasure radiating through me. My body quaked as my dick grew rock-hard. I grasped it in my left hand while moving the dildo back and forth with my right.

  Hot fucking damn. I could get used to this.

  29

  Dax

  Tuxedos and elegant designer gowns packed the room of the star-studded gala premiere. Elliott and I had been hired to wrangle up a few of the stars present for the occasion, so now we did what we did best, rubbing elbows and keeping up good relations. Our industry was all about image, which made showing my face on these sorts of occasions of the utmost importance.

  Various parties schmoozed and sleazed their way around the place as I chatted with Emilio Kruger at CAA, who was saying, “Yes, you have to consider going back into TV.”

  “Oh, no. Thank you, but that ship sailed a very long time ago.”

  “I can find four, maybe five producers who would eagerly create a reality series around you and Hottie Firefighter.”

  “I think I could chat with the same five producers, Emilio, but I appreciate the offer.”

  I struggled to shake him off my tail, when I heard, “Oh, Dax!”

  Carter wedged in between us. “Do you mind if I steal him, Emilio? Just for a minute.”

  A minute at an event like that meant nothing, as there wasn’t likely to be much time for us to reencounter one another in the sea of attendees. Lucky for me.

  “Oh, lookie, lookie,” Carter said as he snatched two glasses of champagne from a nearby waiter’s tray. He turned and handed me one. Always eager to be fashionable at whatever hot event we attended, he sported a tailored navy suit with a matching vest, a white hanky tucked in his breast pocket. “That’s three times I’ve saved you tonight. Don’t make me have to grab you a fourth.” He winked, knowing very well his job was to save our asses when Elliott or I got held up for too long.

  “So have you seen Freyda Inc. yet?” he asked, angling his head and gazing at me with eager interest.

  He was referring to Fred Maurren and Ayda Warner, the duo rivals of our company. Since I’d returned to Hollywood, I’d heard through the grapevine they were rumored to have hired the pap who got pics of Jace and myself to leak to Glitz & Glam. I wouldn’t have put it past them, of course, since surely they were as bitter as I would have been had the shoe been on the other foot. Although, neither Elliott nor I would have ever stooped so low as to have leaked those kinds of pictures to the press, but being that Fred and Ayda were friendly with the CEO of Glitz & Glam and other unsavory media outlets—from which their own careers were born—it didn’t shock me when I heard the rumors.

  Carter and I made our way around the gala before I ran into a potential client, one Elliott suggested I offer my information to. We chatted for some time, and he asked if I’d be available when he returned from his tour.

  As soon as he went on his way, I pulled out my phone.

  “Give that to me,” Carter insisted.

  “What?”

  He held out his hand.

  “I can put it in my calendar, Carter.”

  “You’re going to put it into your personal calendar, but I can put it in our shared calendar and pull up the dates when he’s back in the States, so that we’re all on the same page. You can take ten minutes to do this, or I can do it in two.”

  I relinquished my phone, knowing perfectly well he could do it better.

  “Spanks you very much,” Carter said. “Oh, wow. Still on Grindr? I would have thought your new boyfriend wouldn’t be okay with that.”

  “Oh shit. We did discuss we should not see others while this is going on. We’re exclusive, but only by necessity. You think I’m going to risk DMing some guy so that they can send my cock pics to Glitz & Glam?”

  “I can see that headline now: Lil’ Donnie Gibson’s…not so little.” He winked.

  “What would you know about Lil’ Donnie Gibson?”

  “Dax, I’ve seen you in jogging pants. Come on. But even before that, you know I’m a very good judge of character,” he said, stressing character in a way that there could be no confusion about what he really meant.

  “Whatever. Just go ahead and delete that app while you’re in there, will you?”

  “All over it,” Carter said. “Ooh, and your man just sent you a message!”

  “What does it say?”

  “‘Looking forward to seeing you, Hollywood.’”

  “Oh, that popped up earlier. I just haven’t opened it
yet.”

  I was playing it cool, but the fact that Jace would be landing in LAX in a few days for his first major photo and commercial shoot of the campaign excited the hell out of me.

  “Playing hard to get, are we?” Carter asked.

  “Carter, if you ever have a man like Jace Kruse interested in you, I suggest the only place you be hard is in your pants.”

  “As always, I like your style, Mr. Munro.”

  I scanned the room briefly, checking out my periphery, when I noticed Fred and Ayda across the room. “Freyda Inc. at one o’clock,” I muttered.

  He turned.

  “One, not eleven,” I corrected.

  “Oh, yeah.” As soon as he fixed his line of sight, they spotted me, and Ayda, sporting a smile nearly as white as the dress she wore, headed our way.

  “Donnie Gibson!” she shouted as she and Fred approached.

  “Freyda Stinks!” I said as I extended my hand to keep their usual hug-attack at bay.

  Ayda was persistent, though, and took my hand before offering her usual hug, and Fred responded in kind.

  “Such an incredible gala, isn’t it?” Ayda asked. “And you must feel like such a celebrity all of a sudden.” The way she beamed, it was as though she was flaunting the fact that she was responsible for my new celebrity status.

  “Those paps,” Fred added. “What jerks, huh? It’s funny, isn’t it? One day you’re expired milk and the next you’re chic cottage cheese.”

  “Well, I’m sure you can’t fault your good friend for sharing them with the world.”

  I loved a good gala. Nothing like a little game of kiss-kiss-kill-kill.

  “Donnie, I hope you’re not insinuating that we would have had anything to do with what happened,” Ayda said.

  “Ayda, we’ve known each other long enough—you must know my name is Dax.”

  “I’m only teasing,” she said, batting at my shoulder in a way that grated on my fucking nerves. “Dax, paparazzi run after stories about new celebrities all the time, even in sad cities like Fever Falls.”

  “If you insist. But, oh well, I suppose I still have the winning account, so I shouldn’t be bitter.”