by Gigi Moore
He had never seen the stripling looking so at ease and he knew that he had been to thank for any of Ethan’s previous anxiety. Ki had to admit that he liked keeping Ethan on edge to a certain extent, and he really enjoyed seeing the younger man’s olive cheeks flush with color when Ethan got flustered. Ethan, however, hadn’t been giving Ki the satisfaction lately.
“Was there something you wanted?” Ki asked, idly swinging his épée, feigning boredom.
Ethan smirked, took another bite of his apple.
Ki almost drooled as he followed the motion of Ethan’s mouth, stared at the fruit’s juices glistening on his full lips, and enjoyed the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed.
“You were just making such a commotion I thought I should come and see if there was anything wrong and make sure you weren’t trying to kill an intruder or something.”
Ki laughed, appreciating Ethan’s wry wit. These last few days he really had missed that smirk and sparring with Ethan. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed them until right then.
“As you can see, there’s no intruder.”
“Except for me.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call you an intruder.”
“No? What would you call me then, exactly?”
“Isn’t there somewhere you need to be?”
“Not at the moment.” Crunch.
Ki had an inkling of what Adam must have experienced in the Garden of Eden when Eve had swayed him to eat the forbidden fruit.
Ethan pushed himself up off of the doorjamb and lazily crossed the parlor floor, his lean body all sensual fluid lines as he passed Ki to drop the apple core in a nearby trash can.
Ki didn’t turn, just waited for Ethan to come back around to his front where the younger man stood before him at arm’s distance. His posture was so proud and straight that it could give one the impression he was taller than he was.
“Do you have an extra épée?”
Ki arched a brow. “You fence?”
Ethan grinned. “I’ve been known to pick up a blade and lunge and thrust a time or two.”
The double entendre was not lost on Ki and he got the feeling again that Ethan didn’t quite fit in this time and place.
Had the young man always been so sure of himself? Had he always been as mature and sophisticated as he seemed now or were these qualities something he had brought back with him from the other side?
Most times Ethan seemed like a rare, strange bird to Ki, one that had been imprisoned in a gilded cage for his own protection. Except, he could tell that Ethan didn’t believe he needed anyone’s protection. The young man’s independent soul screamed against the captivity and like any caged animal he yearned to be free. He needed to be free.
Ki motioned to the far side of the room where he had stored his fencing equipment after it had been delivered. Once he’d made his initial proposal to Lucy in the lawyer’s office and had known he’d be staying in Elk Creek for a while, he’d made arrangements for his belongings to be sent to the house.
Ethan strolled over to the bag on top of the mantle, unbuttoning and carelessly pulling his work shirt over his head as he walked.
Ki watched as the burgundy cotton garment landed over the back of the chaise lounge that he had earlier moved to the far side of the room. He licked his lips at the sight of Ethan’s naked torso, well-muscled and tanned just as Ki had imagined it would be. There was certainly something to be said for all the heavy lifting he must have done in his parents’ store.
Ethan sifted through the selection of blades before withdrawing one he seemed to like.
He turned back to Ki, smiling as he tested the blunt tip with the palm of his hand, bending the blade before expertly swinging it through the air in a zigzag pattern. “There are advantages to the épée, foil, or saber. I take it you prefer the épée?”
“The épée suits my purposes.”
“Very well.” Ethan nodded. “En garde!”
His idle chitchat then instant offensive stance almost totally took Ki off guard. Had he not been so enamored by the sight of Ethan’s naked flesh, he would have been better prepared for the stripling’s attack. It took everything in his repertoire of skills to parry and counterattack with a series of lunges and thrusts to force Ethan back on his heels.
Ethan silhouetted and easily repelled the assault, executing a perfect in quartata before stepping back. “I like your moves.”
“You’re not too bad yourself.”
Ethan smiled then whipped past Ki’s parry and flicked his blade against Ki’s shoulder.
Ki winced as the blade made contact and instantly resumed an offensive position. “I’m pleased you found employment at Winchester’s.”
Ethan frowned, still on guard. “Really? Why’s that?” Appel, advance, lunge.
Parry, thrust, passata soto. “You can keep an eye on Lucy while she’s working.”
“Oh, I’ll keep an eye on her, but I hate to break it to you, Cochise. Lucy is her own woman. She’s going to do what she wants.”
Unfortunately, Ethan wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. He loved Lucy’s independent spirit, but worried that the men at Winchester’s might get the wrong idea about her simply by virtue of her choosing to work there. Just thinking about some other man ogling, or worse, touching Lucy made Ki’s temperature rise, unless, of course, that other man happened to be Ethan. The idea of Ethan touching Lucy still made his temperature rise, but in a totally different and pleasant way.
Ki easily warded off Ethan’s next assault, mounted his own. He seized the younger man’s blade in one smooth line, never breaking contact as he led it through a full circle to its starting point before he pushed back and soundly struck Ethan on the ass with the side of his blade.
Ethan gritted his teeth and took a deep breath as Ki held in a laugh.
“Before your arrival, I had gotten the impression that Lucy wanted to quit her position at Winchester’s,” Ki said, nonchalantly silhouetting and resuming first position again.
“Is that a fact?” Lunge, thrust, feint.
Riposte, parry, lunge. “But I suppose now that you’re working there it gives her an opportunity to be close to you without raising any untoward suspicions, you and her being childhood friends of course. Not to mention the living arrangements you share with your benefactor and her husband.”
“Just what are you implying, Hezekiah?”
Ah, so it was back to Hezekiah. He’d really gotten Ethan’s dander up then. Ki smiled and launched an aggressive sequence that drove Ethan back across the floor toward the mantle.
Despite the stripling’s obvious agitation, Ethan managed to deflect Ki’s strike with a rapid succession of defensive strokes and steps of his own.
Ki admired his agility and fluid grace. He didn’t think he had ever crossed swords against anyone with whom he was so evenly matched. Ethan was requisitely fast and intuitive but there was something more. It was almost as if he knew Ki’s moves before Ki made them, like he was reading Ki’s mind.
It was time to tip the scales back in his favor, Ki decided.
“You know what I enjoy about this sport most, Ethan?” Thrust, flunge, parry.
Feint, lunge, thrust. “I can’t imagine.”
“The clash of the blades, the elegance and speed of two comparable combatants matching moves, synchronized to each other’s rhythm…” Riposte, parry, lunge.
“Mmm, ‘the art of the foil.’ It’s like a dance, fine art.” Raddoppio, parry, lunge.
Parry, feint, flick. “And you’ve probably heard I’m a bit of an art aficionado.”
“I might have heard something to that effect.” Remise, reprise, retreat.
“But more than art or even a sport, I think the reciprocal movements and skill necessary to stimulate a satisfying climax and surrender are a little more akin to…foreplay.”
Clank!
Ethan’s swipe went wide of his mark as he stumbled and quickly righted himself before throwing a gla
re Ki’s way.
Ki chuckled. “Don’t you think?”
“I suppose the moves could be considered…similar.” Lunge, thrust, feint.
Parry, counter, thrust. “So, why does Lucy call you Prentice?”
Clank!
Ethan faltered beneath Ki’s beat and press but this time wasn’t able to correct himself or counterattack.
Ki went in for the kill, driving the blunt point of his épée into Ethan’s heaving chest then placing the rounded blade against Ethan’s throat. He leaned close—corps-à-corps—bending Ethan over backward. Their faces were only a hairbreadth apart, close enough that Ki’s exhalations rustled Ethan’s dark-chocolate, shoulder-length hair.
“Do you want to tell me now what’s going on between you and Lucy or do I need to seduce it out of you?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Ki lowered his épée, caught Ethan by the nape, and drew him forward. For a moment he stared into the intense brandy gaze, the confused and curious expression mesmerizing him before he closed his eyes. He heard Ethan’s gasp as he bent his head and waited, girding his loins for yet another rebuff, but none was forthcoming. Buoyed by the stripling’s acquiescence, Ki traced the rim of Ethan’s parted lips with the tip of his tongue, enjoying the sweet-tangy taste of apple before he plunged into Ethan’s mouth.
This time he caught the breath that escaped the younger man’s lungs, burying his hands in Ethan’s silky hair as he deepened the kiss. Distantly, he heard the clatter of Ethan’s épée as it hit the floor and for the second time that afternoon, Ki went in for the kill.
He dropped his own épée and quickstepped Ethan back against the wall, grinding his hard cock flush against Ethan’s as he bent slightly at the knees.
Ki angled his head for better penetration, sucking Ethan’s tentative tongue into his mouth and gently stroking it with his own—encouraging, enticing—before growling deep in his throat at Ethan’s requital.
Ethan clung tight to his biceps, holding on as if he had been drowning and Ki was the lifeguard who’d rescued him from rough waters.
Ki wrapped his arms around Ethan, pulling him close as Ethan reciprocated and wound one leg around Ki’s hip and held on while Ki ground and thrust against him.
It happened so fast, Ki was unprepared for it. Maybe had he been with a virgin before he would have known what to expect—the total abandon of most primitive fulfillment, the unrestrained ecstasy of a breakthrough.
He listened to Ethan’s drawn-out moan as if from a great distance, a harmonious symphony of release that Ki had longed to hear. Then the younger man started shuddering violently in his arms. Ki held Ethan tight through the course of the younger man’s sudden climax, one that left the stripling panting, spent and vilely cursing in its wake.
Ki gently stroked Ethan’s face, cooing softly in his ear and wondering if he’d survive once they got past the foreplay and he and Ethan really consummated their relationship. How would he endure both Ethan and Lucy? He didn’t know, but it was territory he couldn’t wait to explore now, his adventurer’s soul eager to meet the challenge.
Ki trailed his lips from Ethan’s brow to his throat, nipping the tender skin there, wanting to mark him properly but pulling back before he could do any more damage. Instead he nuzzled Ethan’s ear and whispered, “That was unexpected.”
“In more ways than one,” Ethan groused.
“Don’t sound so cross.”
“I have to change now. I can’t leave the house and go to work like this.”
“Not yet. We’re not finished.”
“Ki…” Ethan tried to pull away, not completely succeeding when Ki caught his wrist to stop him from leaving. “Hello! Will you look at me.” He made a sweeping motion up and down the front of his body with his free hand, eyes wide as if he was in shock.
“I take it this has never happened to you before.”
“Ding, ding, ding! Give that man a prize.”
Ki frowned, not completely understanding Ethan’s allusion, but then he didn’t always follow some of the things that came out of the stripling’s mouth. “Why does Lucy call you Prentice?”
Ethan huffed and rolled his eyes. “It’s my middle name. She likes my middle name.”
“If I go to Clint and Kate and ask them, they’ll confirm this?”
“You can’t!”
“I can and I will.”
Ethan stared at him, ostensibly panic-stricken, as if he had never considered the idea of Ki going to his parents to corroborate or contradict anything Ethan had told him.
Ki returned Ethan’s look, so taken in by his at once annoyed and worried expression that he couldn’t help but soften his stance. He reached up his hand and lightly caressed Ethan’s face, smiling when Ethan turned into his touch. “Tell me.”
“It’s complicated, Ki.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“It’s not something that should concern you.”
“If it concerns you, it concerns me.”
Ethan cursed under his breath and Ki thought he heard something about a “stubborn bastard” thrown out for good measure.
Ki laughed and chucked Ethan under the chin. “Don’t be such a spoilsport.”
The front doorbell chimed and Ethan used that moment to try to make his escape again.
Ki let the younger man pull out of his grasp and admired his well-formed ass as Ethan retreated up the stairs.
Shaking off his reverie, Ki turned on his heel and headed through the parlor out into the vestibule. “I’m not finished with you yet!” he yelled over his shoulder right before he opened the front door and turned to see… “Mother!”
“Trouble in paradise so soon?”
Chapter 13
“You’re not acting like any happily married newlywed I know of.” Maia propped her chin with her hands and leaned her elbows on a display counter as she watched Lucy dusting off one of the product shelves nearby.
True, she didn’t have any personal experience with “happily married” except looking from the outside in. For example, she needn’t have gone any further than Maia’s or Lily Baldwin’s marriages to know the epitome of happily married. Maia always glowed when either Thayne or Cade dropped by for a visit and she always looked forward to getting home to them at the end of the day. Lily Baldwin, who wasn’t a newlywed by far, shone brightly with the radiance of a satisfied woman and impending motherhood.
Using Maia and Lily as her ideals, Lucy was fairly certain a newly married woman didn’t act like a frustrated, nervous crone with the weight of the world on her shoulders the way she had been acting all day, all week actually.
Despite all this and already knowing what Maia’s response would be, she asked anyway. “What does a happily married newlywed act like?”
Maia stood straight to wave her hand in the air. “Oh, I know you know darn well what a happily married newlywed acts like, even if Rance was your first husband.”
“Please don’t remind me.” Lucy concentrated on her dusting as if her life depended on it, but Maia wouldn’t let the subject drop.
“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories, unless…”
“Unless what?” Lucy asked.
“Is Ki treating you right?”
“Of course.” He was treating her as right as she allowed him to treat her.
“What about…Ethan?”
“What about Ethan?”
“Is everything all right between Ki and Ethan? Are they getting along okay?”
Lucy shrugged, unsure what Maia was getting at and growing more annoyed with the conversation by the minute. She loved Maia as a friend and a mentor, but she couldn’t handle all the good-intentioned prying. Where was all the concern when she had been married to Rance? She couldn’t rightly fault Maia, of course, since Maia hadn’t come to Elk Creek until long after the fact. Knowing the kind of person Maia was, Lucy had a feeling she would have made it her business to “tell Rance about himself” as she had once so eloquent
ly put it.
No, it wasn’t Maia’s fault that Lucy had gotten the short end of the stick in the marriage department. It was no one’s fault but her father’s and he was long in the grave from too much drink. She didn’t even have the satisfaction of rubbing her current marriage in his face as proof that she was worth a better situation than being wed to Rance Peyton.
She suddenly glanced at the clock on the wall over the door, anxious for closing time to arrive in the next hour. She had never been more ready to get away from her well-meaning friends and employers and go to Winchester’s than she was right then.
Lucy had been playing the role of a good saleslady all day, bestowing the customers an amiable smile and projecting a sunny personality that she did not really feel. She didn’t want to fake it anymore, but would have to put on another brave face for her shift at Winchester’s.
More and more she thought about quitting her job at the saloon. She had one friend in Rebel, but other than her there wasn’t much else to hold Lucy there. She no longer needed the extra income now, and the job certainly didn’t have the same benefits or hold the same appeal as working at Healing Magick.
She thought about it and thought about it and knew that she reported to Winchester’s day after day to delay going home every night. She didn’t want to deal with the stress that awaited her at that house, the pressure of having to make up viable excuses for not wanting to let her husband bed her. Lucy knew to consummate her relationship with Ki would doom her in more ways than one. She could not risk her heart to Ki’s capricious whims.
Lucy almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of the situation. If Maia or Sabrina knew what was going on, or more accurately, what wasn’t going on between her and Ki, they’d just tell her she was plumb loco. Not bedding her own husband, a gorgeous son-of-a-gun like Hezekiah Benjamin to boot? Well, it was just plain preposterous.
She almost yelped when she felt Maia’s hand on her arm. Lucy had been so deep in thought she hadn’t even noticed Maia come out from behind the counter.