by Ally Blue
The instant their lips touched, Adrian’s power flared inside him. Electricity licked the curve of his skull, skated along his skin and crackled in the air. His cock filled so fast it hurt.
On fire with a lust stronger than he’d ever felt before, Adrian licked at Greg’s lips. Greg’s mouth opened with a soft, needy sound. His head tilted, his tongue curled around Adrian’s, and Adrian’s tenuous control slipped another notch. His hair lifted and swirled in a wind that didn’t come from the world around him.
Groaning into Greg’s mouth, Adrian skimmed the hand on Greg’s hip around to give his ass a hard squeeze. Greg responded with a low moan and a roll of his hips, and God he was hard already, as hard as Adrian, and why weren’t they in Greg’s bed right now?
You know why. Get a hold of yourself.
Summoning his years of hard-won discipline, Adrian planted both hands on Greg’s shoulders and forced himself to break the kiss. Greg whimpered in protest, grasping at Adrian’s arms with both hands. “No. Don’t stop.”
“Have to.” Adrian’s words emerged rough and breathless. He framed Greg’s face in his palms and stared into Greg’s wide, glazed eyes. “I told you before, I don’t do casual sex.”
Greg laid his hands over Adrian’s. His gaze bored straight through Adrian’s skull. “There was nothing casual about that kiss, and you know it.”
Fear spiked through Adrian’s blood. Did Greg know? Had he somehow figured out that Adrian possessed psychokinetic powers, and that Greg’s touch caused them to rage out of control?
No. Because if he knew, he’d understand that you can’t possibly take him to bed until you can control what happens. If one kiss makes you lose it like this…
Closing his eyes, Adrian leaned his forehead against Greg’s. “I know. I just…I need more time. Please.”
Silence. Adrian caressed Greg’s cheeks with his thumbs. Overhead, the rising wind tossed the trees’ branches and wailed around the corners of the building. Adrian could feel Greg’s breath against his lips, warm and scented with the Kahlua cake they’d shared for dessert. Fighting off the urge to taste it straight from Greg’s tongue took everything Adrian had. He licked his own lips instead, wishing he could kiss Greg again and do it right this time. Take it slow. Savor the feel and smell and taste of him.
“Okay,” Greg whispered at last. His hands dropped to Adrian’s chest and moved sideways to fist in his jacket. “But if you won’t go to bed with me tonight, the least you can do is kiss me again.”
Adrian couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. Opening his eyes, he drew back enough to smile at Greg’s frown. “You read my mind.”
The corners of Greg’s mouth turned up. “So get on with it, Casanova.”
Maybe it was because he was prepared for his body’s reaction. But this time, when Greg’s mouth opened under his and their tongues slid together, the power that surged through Adrian’s body no longer felt overwhelming. His heart still thumped too fast, his limbs still shook and his cock still felt full enough to burst, but he was able to disperse the excess energy harmlessly into the ground at his feet. He buried both hands in Greg’s hair and drank in the sweet taste of his mouth, his tiny whimpers, the way he clung to Adrian as if he’d fall down otherwise.
It was never like this with Christian, Adrian thought, dazed, as he and Greg pulled apart several long, glorious minutes later. He stared into Greg’s eyes, feeling as lust-drunk as Greg looked. “Wow.”
“Oh, yeah. Wow.” Greg fell forward with a groan, leaning against Adrian’s chest. “I can’t walk.”
Adrian rested his cheek against Greg’s head, hugged him close and breathed in his scent. Just for a minute. Just a minute won’t hurt. “I know I’m amazing and all, but surely I’m not that good.”
“You only think you’re joking.” Pushing himself upright again, Greg looped his arm around Adrian’s waist. “Come on, Magic Man. Since you’ve incapacitated me, the least you can do is walk me up the steps to the door.”
“Oh. Of course.” Adrian gladly wrapped his arm around Greg’s shoulders. They emerged from the shadows and started up the steps. “Magic Man?”
“It’s your new nickname.”
“It is?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Okay.” Adrian paused to give Greg a chance to explain. When no explanation seemed forthcoming, he decided to ask. “Why?”
Greg shot him a sly smile as they reached the door of the dorm. “No one’s ever kissed me quite like that. It must be magic. Therefore, you are now Magic Man.”
“Oh.” Not knowing whether to be pleased that he’d affected Greg so strongly or scared that Greg had unknowingly hit so close to the truth, Adrian tried to cover his conflicted feelings with a smile. “I’m really glad you asked me out tonight, Greg. It was…wonderful. And I’d love to see you again. I mean, I know we see each other every day at Groome Castle, but I’d like to go out with you again.”
“I knew what you meant.” Greg smiled, his face alight with happiness. “Of course we’re going out again. You can’t kiss a guy like that and not keep going out with him.”
Adrian’s heart lurched. He knew his grin looked goofy as hell, but he couldn’t help it. He took Greg’s hand in his. “So, what’s good for you? We’ve got the haunted house every night this weekend, but we could do something Saturday afternoon if you want.”
“Oh my God, I know the perfect thing! Sandy’s sorority’s putting on a hayride for charity, you want to go?” Greg sidled closer. His eyes sparkled with excitement. “They’re gonna have hot chocolate and everything, and we should be back in plenty of time to get to Groome Castle.”
Adrian nodded in spite of the hard knot that formed in his belly at the thought of spending several hours in a hay wagon with a bunch of strangers. It would be fine as long as he was with Greg. “Sure. It sounds like fun.”
“Fantastic. I’ll get the details and let you know all about it tomorrow night.” Beaming, Greg leaned forward and gave Adrian a quick peck on the lips. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you.”
Adrian let Greg slide out of his embrace and stood watching until the dorm door closed behind him, then turned and made his way down the steps and out to the sidewalk. His lips still tingled where Greg had kissed him.
Oh, my God. Those kisses.
Adrian lifted his face into the cold wind. It felt good. It focused his mind and eased his arousal to a bearable level. Good grief, he was going to have to work on keeping his abilities under control during sexual stimulation. He was out of practice.
Of course, he’d never had this much of a problem during sex with Christian. The fact that he had trouble keeping control with Greg and all they’d done was kiss worried him.
Guess you’ll just have to practice a lot.
The idea frightened him almost as much as it excited him.
Pushing aside thoughts of Greg, Adrian forced himself to concentrate on his breathing and the rhythm of his heartbeat. By the time he reached Country Club Road, his jeans no longer felt two sizes too small and he believed he might be able to think through this latest development with some degree of success. He turned down the road to his apartment, already planning in his head.
Chapter Seven
Adrian arrived at Groome Castle before anyone else on Friday afternoon. With a thought, he turned the front door lock, went inside and headed straight for the tower room.
The place felt empty. He sat with his back against the wall to clear his mind and try to call Lyndon to him.
He knew he shouldn’t. But he couldn’t seem to help himself. If anyone had asked why he’d felt the need to come up here and seek out Lyndon, he wasn’t sure he could’ve given a reason. All he knew was he’d woken with the burning need to tell someone all about the best night of his life, right down to the last delicious detail, and the only person he felt that comfortable with—other than the subject of his rhapsodizing—was the man whose spirit haunted this room.
Adrian drew a slow, deep bre
ath and blew it out. As his body relaxed, he allowed his mind to open. “Lyndon? Are you here?”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then a tingle of energy raised the hairs on the back of Adrian’s neck. Warmth washed through him, the air around him swirled and Lyndon’s bloody form wavered into existence. The big, translucent eyes stared right at him, making him feel like he’d been pinned to the wall.
He smiled. “How do you do that? You’re a ghost, I don’t even know how aware of me you are, but it feels like you’re poking through my brain with a stick.”
Lyndon’s mouth opened. Adrian sat forward, doing his best to stay relaxed and breathe normally.
The pale lips formed a single syllable. Adrian couldn’t make it out, nor could he hear Lyndon’s intent in his mind.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me. Can you try again?”
If a ghost could have sighed, Adrian figured that’s what he would have heard at that moment. Lyndon floated toward the southeast window and hung there, his form now so insubstantial Adrian could barely see it. An aching sadness weighed on Lyndon’s energy, so that Adrian felt his own shoulders bowing under it.
I guess maybe now’s not the time to tell him about Greg. Adrian let out a quiet laugh. As if it wasn’t pathetic enough that he’d come up here to gush to a ghost about his hot date in the first place, now the ghost didn’t seem to be in the mood to listen.
Planting his palm on the floor, Adrian pushed to his feet. He walked over to the window where Lyndon’s barely visible outline hovered, leaned against the sill and peered out. A stretch of scruffy grass sloped away from the castle’s outside wall toward the forest about thirty or forty yards away. Through the trees, he could just make out the nearby park. If he opened the window, he’d probably be able to hear the laughter of the neighborhood kids playing. He wondered if any of the children who surely snuck onto the castle grounds from time to time ever looked up here and saw Lyndon gazing down at them.
Adrian glanced at his watch and groaned. The cast and crew would begin arriving soon to prepare for opening night of the haunted house. He had about five minutes to get out of the castle and far enough away that no one would suspect him of breaking and entering.
Most likely no one would care. They might not even notice. After all, the three or four sets of keys changed hands often enough that the group sometimes had trouble keeping track of who had them on any given day. But the last thing Adrian wanted to do was draw attention to his abilities, so avoiding the possibility of discovery altogether seemed the best course of action.
He pushed away from the windowsill. “I need to go, Lyndon. I’ll come see you again soon, okay?”
The silence in his head remained unbroken. Feeling unaccountably discouraged, Adrian cut himself off from the waning flow of Lyndon’s energy and headed for the stairs.
The haunted house is going to end in a couple of weeks, he reminded himself as he descended the steps. There won’t be any reason to come back here after that. What if you haven’t learned anything by then?
Adrian stopped, one foot on the step behind him and a hand splayed flat on the stone wall. He pictured Lyndon’s sorrowful specter in his mind and knew he wouldn’t stop pursuing the truth just because he no longer had a legitimate reason to be here. Locked doors couldn’t keep him out. He would have to be careful, that’s all. He could do that.
And to think, not so long ago you swore you’d never come up here again. He let out a soft laugh. Funny how a taste of an old mystery could change his mind so completely.
Adrian took the narrow footpath winding through the woods behind the castle to the small neighborhood park a few minutes’ walk away. With a quick glance around to make sure no one saw him, he climbed a short flight of wooden steps onto the sidewalk and started along the main road back toward Groome Castle. Marisa’s brand-new electric SUV passed him on the way. She stuck an arm out the window and waved. He waved back, smiling.
When he entered the castle again, several of the tech crew and actors had arrived and were helping Marisa set up. Adrian looked around, heart thumping. Just when he thought Greg hadn’t gotten there yet, the man himself rounded the corner from the main hall. Their gazes locked, and Adrian’s knees nearly buckled.
Greg’s face lit up. He strode across the floor toward Adrian, grinning ear to ear. “Hi, Adrian.”
“Hi.” Adrian mirrored Greg’s smile. Just the sight of him made Adrian’s stomach flutter. “You ready for tonight?”
“Looking forward to it.” Greg wound his arms around Adrian’s neck and molded his body to Adrian’s. “I missed you.”
Before Adrian could process what was happening, Greg leaned in and kissed him. Adrian’s psychokinesis flared in response.
Behind Adrian, the front door squeaked open and banged shut. “Hey, get a room!” a male voice bellowed.
Adrian broke the kiss, shooting a look at the boy who’d just entered. “Um. Not here, okay?”
Surprise and a bit of hurt shone in Greg’s eyes for a moment before his usual teasing smile hid them. “Sure. Sorry.” He dropped his arms and stepped back. “I should go start getting ready anyhow.”
Adrian grabbed Greg’s hand before he could go anywhere. “Wait.”
Greg’s eyebrows went up. He glanced at Adrian’s hand clutching his. “What?”
What, indeed? Adrian had no idea. He only knew that he longed to kiss Greg again, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it right here where anyone might walk in and see. It made him feel like a sideshow exhibit.
What they needed was privacy. Turning his hand in Greg’s, Adrian laced their fingers together and led Greg through the foyer toward the hallway to the bedrooms. He managed to avoid looking at any of the people they passed on the way.
Not that it mattered. After the show he and Greg had put on in the foyer, anyone who’d seen them knew where they were going and why. In fact, the couple of students who’d witnessed that kiss probably thought Adrian and Greg were finding a nice, quiet place to have sex. Adrian winced at the thought. God, if his cheeks turned any redder his face might burst into flame.
He didn’t turn back, though. His entire body ached with a desire stronger than any he’d ever felt, and he intended to slake what he could of it now. If a kiss was all he could allow himself yet, then that’s what he’d take. So far he’d found kissing Greg orders of magnitude more exciting than even the best sex with Christian, so the prospect was hardly a disappointment.
As they passed the bathroom, Greg yanked Adrian inside and kicked the door shut behind him. Adrian didn’t even bother to argue with his choice of private space. Dropping Greg’s hand, Adrian slid one arm around Greg’s waist, fisted the other hand in his hair and let Greg pick up where they’d left off. Greg’s head tilted, his mouth opened wide and his tongue twined with Adrian’s. He grabbed Adrian’s ass in both hands and thrust his hips forward, and Adrian felt Greg’s hardness push against his own.
Adrian’s powers, already roused and quivering, exploded like a silent bomb. It took every ounce of his severely strained concentration to channel the wild energy into something harmless and pleasurable so it didn’t shatter every window in the castle. He managed, barely. Invisible fingers caressed his face and neck, twisted in his hair, slipped beneath his shirt and down his pants to glide a delicate touch up the sensitive skin of his cock. Greg whimpered, and Adrian knew he’d felt it too.
Through the haze of need in his brain, Adrian wondered what Greg thought of the mysterious touches, if he connected them with Adrian at all or if he believed some unseen but lustful entity inhabiting this room had decided to molest them.
They jumped apart when someone pounded on the door. “Hey, hurry up! Other people need to get in there too, you know.”
“Yeah, just a second,” Greg called back. His voice sounded rough and breathless. He gazed up at Adrian with a sly smile. “So. I guess you’re not much for PDA, huh?”
“Not really.” Cupping Greg’s face in
both palms, Adrian kissed his forehead, his nose, his chin. “Even if I was, I couldn’t kiss you in public. You get me too excited for other people to be watching, if you know what I mean.”
Greg laughed. “Yeah, I noticed. And it’s mutual, by the way, which is pretty amazing because it’s been a long time since any guy’s been able to get me hard with just a kiss.” He gave Adrian a swift, chaste peck on the lips, then pulled out of his arms. “I don’t suppose it would do me any good to ask if we could just suck each other off real quick?”
The idea tempted Adrian more than he liked. The scary thing was, he might’ve said yes if whoever was waiting for the bathroom hadn’t chosen that moment to bang on the door again and demand that they come out right now. Greg glared daggers through the door, and Adrian let out a silent sigh of…relief? Annoyance? He couldn’t decide, and how weird was that?
Adrian let his arms drop. “We need to go.”
“I know.” Greg’s voice emerged sharp and tense. His expression softened when Adrian flinched. Reaching up, he raked his fingers through Adrian’s hair. “I know,” he repeated in a gentler tone. “Just…please promise me that if we keep seeing each other, you’ll eventually take me to bed. I can’t take getting these little tastes without knowing I can have the whole enchilada at some point, you know?”
Adrian blushed, shocked in spite of himself. “Oh. Um. Wow.”
“I’m sorry. I know that probably sounds crude to you, but I’m just being honest here.” Greg stared into Adrian’s eyes with an openness that Adrian found at once refreshing and uncomfortable. “I like you, Adrian. A lot. That’s why I’m willing to wait for you. But I desperately want to have sex with you, and I want you to promise me you’ll be ready eventually. If you can’t promise me that, please tell me now.”
Because if you never want to have sex with me, I won’t keep seeing you. Greg didn’t go so far as to actually say it, but the words were there between the lines. Adrian thought he should feel indignant about that. Trapped, maybe. After all, he could argue that Greg was trying to coerce him into sex when he didn’t want it.