by Roxy Harte
Brian started to remind him of the impending storm and to tell him he should stop his grandfather, but then the brunt of what Hawk was telling him hit him. He’s going up the mountain to die.
A solemn quiet filled both of them as they sat in the empty room. Outside the window a fine sleet was falling at a hard angle and the darkening sky cast a shade of gray through the diner. Brian got up, then went to sit in the chair beside Hawk. He’d pulled himself together, but his sadness was touchable. Brian asked, “Shouldn’t we try to stop him?”
“No. Whatever comes of this night will…regardless of whether his spirit decides to fly from a snowcapped mountaintop or from the softness of his warm, comfortable bed.”
Brian slumped forward, feeling defeated.
“I guess I’ll owe you dinner and a movie another night.”
Brian nodded, not at all surprised when Hawk pushed out of his seat and left the dining room. Shadow trailed behind him. A steady creaking of wood told him Hawk was climbing the staircase with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He wasn’t sure if he should follow him or not but decided to give him a few moments alone.
In the gloom, Brian sat, rereading the newspaper article. His life had changed so much in the last few weeks, he’d barely had time to take stock, but it was official: he was staying on for a while. He had a job, and not only that, he’d been given full credit for the archaeological discovery. It was quite a feather in his career cap. He missed having Brandon to share the adventure with. Somehow he felt like he knew—that he’d somehow been watching over him all along.
Chapter Thirteen
♥
Hawk lay in bed, but he wasn’t sleeping. He’d left the light on for Brian, expecting him to follow, and was relieved when he finally heard his footfalls on the stairs. He sat up, plumping a pillow behind him. Brian looked surprised to see him awake.
“I was trying to be quiet.”
Hawk shrugged. “I’m not sleeping.” He patted the space on the bed beside him, and Brian sat. He wrapped his hand around Brian’s neck and pulled him close, then kissed him softly. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
Hawk slid Brian’s sketchpad toward him. “Tell me about this.”
He lifted the cover and folded back page after page of drawings of Hawk. There were a few of Hawk engaging with Brian, with Brian in the role of submissive. Brian explained softly, “I couldn’t sleep.”
“So you stayed awake all night sketching portraits of me?”
“Yes, I needed to feel close to you. I drew until I passed out from exhaustion then got up a few hours later and worked until I couldn’t see straight.” Brian rubbed his fingers over one of the more anatomically correct sketches. “The minute I’d lay down, my thoughts would turn to you and I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
“You’re very talented.”
“Thank you.”
“Sleep with me?”
Brian stood and started taking off his clothes. “Gladly. It’s been more than two weeks since I’ve had anything that even closely resembled a good night’s sleep.”
Hawk chuckled. “The hard ground gets old quickly.”
“That and I’m not twenty anymore. My bones ached a little more every day.” Brian climbed beneath the blankets, discovering Hawk was naked as well. They lay side by side, both looking at the ceiling. Brian broke the silence. “Your grandfather didn’t react to us hugging. Do you think he didn’t notice?”
Hawk rolled onto his side and traced Brian’s bare shoulder with his fingertip. The touch drew gooseflesh and he guessed if he reached between Brian’s legs, he’d find him hard. “I think he noticed. Our culture doesn’t put as much emphasis on homosexuality as yours.”
“White man’s sin?” Brian quipped.
“Something like that.” He shrugged. “Religion attributes sin to many natural acts. He wouldn’t see our hug as taboo or even worthy of comment.”
“Yet you’re still in the closet.”
“It’s complicated.”
“You do realize the community wins we’ve made over the last decade right? Right to be in the military, the right to marry, the right to use the bathroom of our choice?” When Hawk didn’t comment, Brian rolled to face him and scooted close enough their stomachs were pressed flat against each other. He wrapped his leg around Hawk’s. He hadn’t been erect, but with his touch he grew hard and ready. Brian noticed and smiled wickedly. He reached between their bodies to stroke his length.
Hawk closed his eyes as pleasure washed through him. “I love it when you touch me.”
“I know. That’s why this shouldn’t be complicated. For me, as soon as I realized my family accepted my sexuality, I stopped giving a damn what the neighbors thought.” Brian slid down his body, and although Hawk knew what was coming, the added jolt of pleasure he felt when Brian licked his hard length made him cry out. Brian circled his glans with his tongue before sucking him deep into the back of his throat. The rhythmic pull of his sucking tongue pushed Hawk to the edge of need quickly, too quickly. Embarrassed, he admitted, “I’m going to come if you don’t stop.”
Brian’s response was to suck a little deeper, a little harder, making it impossible for Hawk to hold back. “Oh God. Oh, oh, oh!”
When he recovered, Brian was lying next to him, stroking his chest, smiling.
“You are a very naughty boy.”
Brian laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.”
Brian caressed Hawk’s chest. “Tell me why we are here?”
“You mean, why not my cabin?”
Brian nodded.
“I won’t ever live there again. I had the place professionally cleaned, repaired, and decorated. Then I put it into a vacation rental program. The local realtor handles everything. Tenting, collecting the money, and depositing the owners share of the proceeds into their bank account.”
“Rose Akins?”
“You’ve met her?”
“She wanted to sell me a house, but at the time I wasn’t sure if I was staying or not.”
“Are you certain now?”
“I’m certain, Hawk. I want to be here with you. I want to explore what this is between us.” Brian sat up and folded his legs under him. “I accepted the position with Montana Center for Archaeological Research to protect my claim of discovery, but I wouldn’t have if I didn’t think we had a chance together. This dig will be ongoing for years. After, I will be in charge of creating an education exhibition. I bargained for full rein and I got every request on my job wish list fulfilled, including four weeks each year at foreign digs.”
“Foreign digs?”
“I don’t want to ever be stagnant again. I’ll need some time before I’m ready to talk about everything that went wrong in my marriage, but I’m ready to be accountable for my failures and one of those was failure to be true to myself. I enjoy the adventure, the travel, the wonder of the dig.”
Hawk nodded, not understanding what Brian was leading up to. “There’s a reason you’re telling me all this.”
“I want you to be comfortable as part of the future I’m building, but I’m out.” His facial expressions were dramatic, making Hawk chuckle even though he knew he shouldn’t. Brian was sharing his honest and legitimate concerns.
“Yes, I know. The entire county knows.”
Brian rolled his eyes, and Hawk understood. “Do you honestly think right now that the entire county isn’t waiting with bated breath to learn whether or not we’re a couple?”
“Why would they be?”
Hawk leaned forward and kissed him lightly, nipping his lip playfully. “For a man who is clearly so intelligent and talented, you’re a bit slow on the uptake, aren’t you? Perhaps it escaped your notice, but I assure you it didn’t get by the townsfolk that I’ve been chasing you like a bitch in heat for twelve days. Sniffing my way up the trail to your side day after day, making sure you didn’t have to think about a single thing but your work
, by providing you with three meals a day and any and all supplies you needed to build a functional office on a mountainside.”
Brian blushed and lowered his gaze.
Hawk reached out and stroked his cheek, then lifted his chin. “The betting pool is leaning highly in my favor at the moment.”
“Betting pool?”
“Oh yeah, it’s been going since day one.”
“In your favor that I’ll be in a relationship with you?”
“Yes.”
Brian’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. The temptation to kiss him like that was overpowering, so Hawk did. “Do you know how many times I’ve rehearsed doing that in the crowded diner? Or to just reach out and touch your hand or your thigh? Having you here, I’m not going to be able to keep holding back, and that’s okay. I’m ready for the world. You are not going to be my dirty little secret, Just Brian.”
“I don’t want to push you into doing something you aren’t ready for, and I’m gonna be honest I’m pretty audacious. I don’t want to embarrass you.”
Hawk stroked his jaw. “You never could. I’ve fallen in love with you, and I haven’t said it because you’re still moving through the stages of grief, and it seems so unfair, so wrong, to push you into a relationship before you’ve healed. I want you to know when you’re ready, I’ll be ready.”
Brian looked at him doubtfully. Hawk whispered, “I promise,” and snuggled close. “I should let you sleep.”
Brian stretched out, luxuriating in the softness of the mattress, and yawned. “Not gonna lie, I feel like I could sleep for a month straight, but you have to promise we’ll continue this talk in the morning. If we’re going to keep doing whatever this is between us, I want to know the boundaries.”
“We’ll talk more, but I’ll tell you plainly now so that you can sleep on it. I want to be your Dom in a formal sense.”
Brian stilled. “You want a contract between us.”
“Yes, with rules and limits, but for now”—Hawk kissed his shoulder, then bit it hard enough to leave teeth prints in his pale flesh—“Sleep, you deserve it.”
Beside him, Brian turned his face to look at him. In a soft whisper, he admitted, “I’ve fallen in love with you too.”
Hawk traced Brian’s lips with his fingertips. “How tired are you?”
“Not that tired.”
Hawk kissed him gently. “I need you.”
Brian kissed him back just as softly. “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but it feels very strange to be saying I love you to someone other than Michael. I feel it, though, and I want you to know that.”
“I can live with that.” Hawk intensified the kiss, rolling on top of Brian. “God, I can’t get enough of you.”
“I lust you, too.” Brian looked at him almost shyly, making Hawk chuckle darkly. The sound reverberated through Brian, making his blood boil.
While kissing him, Hawk pushed his thigh between Brian’s knees, spreading his legs. He slid his fingers down his crack, finding him moist and ready. Brian lifted his knees to his shoulders, opening himself wide. “Don’t wait. Fuck me.”
Hawk flattened himself over Brian, not thrusting inside him. Their hard cocks collided as Hawk lowered his mouth to Brian’s, the kiss excruciatingly gentle. Hawk ran his hand down Brian’s chest, finding his nipple. He tweaked it just hard enough to make Brian suck in a breath between his teeth. “God, Hawk. Yesss. I need you.”
“You need me?” Hawk’s slid his hand lower, moving between them to find Brian’s erection. He squeezed, then twisted his hard shaft, dragging a moan out of the man beneath him as he did so.
“Yes, yes. Please. Fuck me.”
“Uh-uh. Later, after we have the kinky talk, about conditions and limits, I’m going to fuck you senseless. Tonight, I’m making love to you.” He kissed and nipped his way down Brian’s chest, alternating gentle kisses and stinging bites that made Brian’s hips buck. He finally settled between Brian’s thighs and took his length into his mouth. Keeping his gaze locked on Brian’s, he licked the tip of his cock, rimming his piss hole. Slowly, he slid his tongue around and around his cut head before drawing his tongue down the ridged shaft.
“You’re killing me, Hawk.”
“Yeah?” he whispered around Brian’s dick as he continued to lave it with his tongue.
“I’ve never been really big into foreplay.”
“No?” He kept licking, still not taking his full length into his mouth.
“No. Not. At. All.”
Hawk sucked his length deep into his mouth.
“Oh God. That’s good. That’s really, really good.”
Hawk took his shaft deeper, the muscles of his mouth and throat trapping him in a vise grip of pleasure. “Holy Jesus, Hawk.”
Brian moaned and twined his fingers into Hawk’s hair, trying to force him to slack off. Hawk sucked harder. “Please, Hawk, please.”
Brian’s hips bucked, but Hawk didn’t give him the release he was looking for. In his own time, Hawk released his flesh and looked at him over the ridged line of his firm stomach. “Tell me what you need.”
Brian rolled his eyes. “Fuck me. I need you to fuck me.”
Hawk shook his head slowly. “That isn’t what you need.”
Their gazes locked as Hawk crawled up his body. He could feel Brian trembling with need and emotion as he whispered, “Ask me for what you need.”
A sob caught in Brian’s throat. “Make love to me. Make me feel like you want me, need me. Make me feel like I am yours.”
“That I can do.” Stretching with his other hand, he rummaged in the top drawer of the nightstand for a condom. Finding one, he grabbed it, ripped it open, and slid it down his cock.
“Thank God, I can’t wait any longer.”
Hawk didn’t rush to fill him. He pressed slowly into him. “I want you to remember tonight.”
Brian raised his hips. “There hasn’t been a moment we’ve been together I’m willing to forget.”
“Good.” Hawk sank deep. “Remember every second.”
Brian moaned and closed his eyes.
Hawk moved slowly over him, kissing him. He increased his rhythm as he felt Brian’s need rising. “Remember what it feels like to be made love to, because after tonight, you are mine Brian Van Zant.”
Brian nodded, agreeing, “Yes, yours Sir, and you are mine.”
The End
Keep reading for a peek into Prodigal Slave…
PRODIGAL SLAVE –ROXY HARTE
♥
A summons from the man she once called Master turns this soccer mom’s world upside down.
Recently divorced soccer mom and paralegal extraordinaire Charlotte Sullivan has a secret past life that returns to haunt her on her birthday in the form of a perfectly gift-wrapped, blood-red velvet bustier, followed by a summons from her once master, François Rene de Hart.
Pure lust awaits a mere train ride away, but she fears the journey may break more than her heart the second time around. With her twin teenage daughters in Europe for the summer, the opportunity to relive her youth with a man she once loved seems too good to be true. Curiosity and temptation win out over logic. It’s also a chance to be bad, and she hasn’t been bad in a very long time.
But more surprises are in store for Charlotte than merely a reunion and quick hook-up. François’ current lover, Pierre-Louis, is very much a part of his life, and if she wants to be truly reunited with her Master, she must learn to love the other man as well. The fact he is a much younger man is daunting to say the least.
Sneak Peek Prodigal Slave Chapter One
♥
The blood-red velvet bustier lying inside the half-opened box on top of my bed was unexpected. It had arrived via Federal Express. Once I realize what it is, I don’t dare lift it from its pristine nest of white tissue.
I open the card and read HAPPY BIRTHDAY. There is no signature, no identifying mark. “What the heck?”
I haven’t cel
ebrated my birthday in a very long time. Not since I turned thirty-five.
I’m certain my entire face frowns. I can’t begin to imagine who would send me such an erotic, very expensive gift…not my daughters, definitely not my ex-husband, John, and as for suitors or even potential suitors…don’t make me laugh. The delivery was a mistake. It has to be a mistake, but oh, what a very, very nice mistake I think as I lift the heavily boned corset from the box. Dare I even look at the size?
No. I hold it up, not daring. It looks as if it will fit. Surely to god John wouldn’t send me something so extravagant. I turn it so I can hold the cups over my boobs, smoothing the front over my midriff. Checking the mirror over my dresser, I think I look only slightly ridiculous holding the very sexy lingerie over my work clothes.
I think it will fit.
“Okay, it’s a mistake,” I tell my reflection. My reflection argues back, “It only coincidentally arrived on your birthday…in the correct size?”
Since I’m two-thirds of the way to ancient, who knows if I will ever, ever have an opportunity to try on something so lavish again. My reflection looks back at me with a twinkle in her eyes. Oh no, I remember that look. “I am not twenty-something anymore.”
My refection wiggles, dying to try it on.
“I’m too old. And too fat.”
“I have no one to wear this for!”
I bounce in front of the mirror, finally unable to contain myself a moment longer. I know it’s wrong, but I won’t get it dirty. I’ll just try it on for a little fun before breaking out the frozen dessert and pouting the rest of the night because I’m alone on my birthday. “Deal?” I ask my reflection and my mirror image nods willingly.
The devil himself couldn’t make a more twisted bargain.
Peeling off my silk blouse and bra, I unhook the fifty-odd hooks lining the back of the corset, wondering how I will ever be able to put it on even for fun without help, and there is absolutely no one I would go to for help with this. In a moment of inspiration, I put it on backward, sucking in and hooking all of the lower hooks before twisting it back around to adjust my breasts in the cups. I turn to look in the mirror and sigh, “Wow,” sounding a little shocked, feeling a whole lot awed. When was the last time I saw myself?