He stared down at Fen with gorgeous blue eyes half hooded and dark with hunger. A satisfied grunt rumbled through him and Fen already had his mouth wide open and ready as he slid his cock between Fen’s lips.
“Hold on, baby,” Joel hoarsely said.
Fen heard the sound of the prostate massager switch on, immediately accompanied by Joel gasping. “Fuck, yeah, that’s amazing!” Fen didn’t have to do much as Joel fucked his mouth except lie there and enjoy it and wish he was brave enough to ask him to try it with him.
To be the man who could break his curse.
To be the man to finally eradicate his nightmares in every damn way.
To drive the wolf from his mind and leave behind nothing but the loving hunk with the sexy drawl and adoration in his blue eyes.
It didn’t take Joel long at all to come this time, and Fen’s happy moans mixed with Joel’s as he fed him a load of hot cum just a few minutes later. He immediately turned around and sucked Fen’s cock down his throat.
Fen jerked against his restraints, wanting to let his hands roam all over Joel’s hot body as the man quickly built him up to the edge and held him there for a frustratingly long forever that probably lasted no longer than a minute or two before he sucked hard, deep-throating him and triggering Fen’s release.
Blinding pleasure shattered every thought in his brain. It rolled through him, hard and sharp and almost keenly painful as his balls emptied into Joel’s mouth.
Except…Joel wasn’t done. He eased back, not releasing him from his mouth, quickly getting him hard a second time.
Oh, fuck…
Fen didn’t know how long he lay there begging to come again when Joel finally took pity on him and sent him over the edge. It’d become one of Joel’s favorite things to do, get him over hard and fast, and then draw the second one out.
Playing with him.
Joel loved him helpless and begging.
As Fen caught his breath, Joel left their bed and headed to the bathroom. The brief sound of him cleaning up, the sink running, then he returned and unclipped Fen’s restraints, pulling him into his arms, tucked securely against him.
“Love you, baby,” Joel said.
“Love you, too, Master.”
Eyes closed, and with Joel’s heartbeat comfortably throbbing in his ear, Fen started drifting before he remembered he’d wanted to talk.
Except Joel was already asleep.
It can wait.
The irony didn’t escape him that, now he’d found the guy he wanted to try it with, his guy had firmly sworn never to make him do it.
And he lay there long after Joel fell asleep, his conflicted thoughts swirling through his brain and keeping him from following his husband into dreams.
Chapter Nine
Once Joel finally let Fen out of bed the next morning and they got their day started, Fen was heading through the kitchen with a laundry basket to wash a load of whites when he heard his phone ring, his mom’s custom ringtone.
He snagged the cell from where it sat on the kitchen counter and answered, propping it between his shoulder and cheek as he walked with the laundry basket.
“Good morning, birth-giver.”
She laughed. “That never gets old. What are you and Joel doing tonight, sweetie?”
“Why? Are we changing family dinner night?” Since his dad had retired from the sheriff’s office and no longer experienced interruptions to his schedule, family dinners had settled into Wednesday nights and stayed there for a change.
“Not exactly. Shelly and Karl are coming over for dinner. I thought you might want to join us, if you didn’t have plans.”
“What time?” He winced, pulling up short in the doorway to the utility room as he realized he should have asked Joel first.
But they were Mads’ parents, and they were like adopted parents to him. Surely Joel wouldn’t begrudge him that.
“Sixish. Don’t bring anything, just yourselves.”
“Roger-roger.”
“See you boys tonight, sweetheart.” She ended the call and he set the basket of dirty laundry on the washer so he could go find Joel and tell him.
Fen found him outside, doing something to the pool filter. “I made an oopsie, Sir.”
He sat back on his heels. “What happened?”
“I told Mom we’d have dinner with them tonight. Mads’ mom and dad will be there.”
Joel arched an eyebrow at him. “You think that’s a punishable offense?”
“No, but I should have asked you first.”
“Maybe I should put a proactive exemption for family into place.”
Fen shrugged. “That’s up to you, Sir.”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to punish you for this?”
Fen dropped down next to him on the grass. “I was hoping not, but I didn’t know if you’d made plans for us.”
Joel reached over and stroked Fen’s cheek. “Baby, this isn’t even close to a punishable offense. Family’s different.”
Fen leaned in, nuzzling his face in the crook of Joel’s neck. “Sorry, Sir.”
“Hey.” It was Joel’s soft but serious tone that caught Fen’s attention and made him look up. Joel’s blue gaze pierced right through his soul, holding him in place as if he had hands on Fen right now. “It’s okay,” he softly said. “Your family’s my family, now. That includes friends you consider family.”
This was one of those “perfect moments” Fen used to believe existed only in Hallmark movies and romance novels.
Looking into the hero’s eyes and feeling connected to his soul.
His hero. His blue-eyed Southern god with the sexy-as-sin drawl.
For a moment, his thoughts from last night returned to his brain and he almost spoke them aloud.
He reached up and hooked a hand around the back of Joel’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, baby. Are you okay?”
“Just taking a moment to appreciate how lucky I am. That’s all.”
Joel nuzzled his nose against Fen’s. “I wake up every morning and fall asleep every night feeling thankful you walked into my life.”
* * * *
That was no exaggeration, either.
While Joel would always regret that his father died without Joel being able to at least talk to him one last time and tell him he loved him, he also felt grateful that he’d mended fences with his mom and once again had a relationship with her, and with his brother and sister.
Due in no small part to Fen helping him reach across the void and embrace them.
And they’d also embraced Fen as his husband.
His father had not been an easy man to love, much less live with, even in the best of times. Joel didn’t blame his mom or his siblings for the years of separation, because they’d had lives and relationships in Alabama they’d needed to preserve. Especially considering the circumstances that had triggered everything to start with, with Joel’s ex outing him not just as gay, but also as kinky, to literally everyone in their community when Joel had broken up with him.
Fen headed back inside, leaving Joel to continue doing battle with the pool filter system. But Joel didn’t mind. This was part of the deal, and he was happy to take care of the “honey-dos” around the house. He loved his boy the way he was. He didn’t need him to do anything but be himself.
Once he got the pool problem sorted out, he stripped off his shorts and jumped into the deep end. The privacy fence around their backyard meant they could enjoy all sorts of outside activities that his previous condo wasn’t conducive to.
As he swam slow laps up and down through the warm water, he couldn’t help smiling. This time last year he was living his life but lonely when it came to romance.
Now?
All his dreams had come true.
And his mom was moving to Florida and had bought the condo he’d been renting, a unit in a building primarily occupied by retirees her own age.
Fen’s mom, a
retired real estate agent, had helped her sort out paperwork and get the best deal when she decided to sell the farm after Joel’s father died.
She wanted to retire and enjoy her life. The farm had been his father’s dream, his father’s cross to bear, his father’s inheritance.
Fortunately, his brother and sister supported her doing that.
Fen walked out onto the lanai, a smile on his face. “Coming in?” Joel asked him.
He walked over and sat on the edge. “Laundry’s almost ready to move to the dryer. I want to start another load.”
“Ah. You’re wearing an awful lot of clothes, baby.”
Fen’s smile widened. He stood and shoved his shorts down and off, dropping them on top of Joel’s. Then he pulled his T-shirt off and added it to the pile.
“Better, Master?” He nudged his glasses up his nose, and it was the most adorable thing Joel ever saw in his life.
His guy, standing right there on their lanai, wearing nothing but glasses, his wedding ring, and the stainless steel chainmaille necklace that was Fen’s day collar.
“Mmm-hmm. Be better if you were in here with me.” He swam over to the edge and stared up at him.
“I can’t send you to work Monday naked, Master.”
“Heh. That’d make some gums flap around the marina.” He’d opted not to say anything to Fen about his customer on Friday morning. The last thing he wanted to do was upset Fen, and it wasn’t something Fen could do anything about anyway.
Keith was right. Fuck what that old fuck thought about him or Fen. The guy’s opinion didn’t mean jack shit.
It wasn’t his job to convince the world to accept them or their love for each other.
Peace settled through him over the willful decision to let it go. The guy couldn’t do any harm to him or his boy, and stewing about one asshat would only distract him from his true life’s mission.
Which was this man standing right here. Taking care of him.
Loving him.
Fen smiled. “I bet it would.”
Joel rested his arms on the edge of the pool, crossed over each other, his chin on them. “Thank you for taking such good care of me, baby. I appreciate it.” He crooked a finger at him to come closer.
“You just want to pull me into the pool.” In the sunlight, the amber flecks in Fen’s brown eyes stood out more.
“I’ll be good, I promise.” Fen knelt down and Joel kissed him. “See?”
Fen sat in front of him and reached out, trailing a finger along Joel’s arm, ending with lacing his fingers through Joel’s.
Joel brought Fen’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “What’s rocking through your brain so hard right now?”
“Just how much I love you.”
* * * *
Fen finally managed to extricate himself from Joel—even though he really didn’t want to—and return to the house to do the next load of laundry. He didn’t bother to put his clothes back on, either. Frankly, he was used to going around naked when they were home.
He enjoyed the reaction it earned him from Joel when he did.
When he walked through the kitchen to go to the utility room, he hesitated, looking around. Something was…off.
While he had no proof, he was convinced that he’d had a ghost at his old place, the duplex where he’d killed Johnny during the confrontation.
It wasn’t until after the attack that he’d discovered June’s twin sister, July, had died in that very same apartment, killed by her boyfriend decades earlier, when they were just teenagers.
He was also convinced she’d been looking out for him that day, gave him a warning, helped him out.
It wasn’t something he discussed with June. In fact, if she’d put together his old address with her old address, she never mentioned it, and he never brought it up to her, either. Especially not after a friend in common from the Suncoast Society told him the whole story about her sister and how it’d impacted June.
She’d been the one to find her dead.
Her and Scrye.
Just recently, the skeletal remains of the boyfriend turned up in a local river. Law enforcement suspected he hadn’t meant to kill her, had gotten in a fight with her and she fell and hit her head, fracturing her skull. Then he’d most likely killed himself by jumping in the river, because he couldn’t swim.
When Fen moved, he’d invited July—if that’s who it really was—to leave with him, if she wanted to. Since then, he’d noticed no signs that she’d come with them, either following him to Joel’s condo, or, later, to their new house.
Before, in the old apartment, he’d frequently felt like he wasn’t alone, but not in a bad way. Or things would be moved, or even went missing. For the missing things, he’d apologize and ask for them to come back, and sometimes he’d even find them in places he knew he didn’t leave them.
Although in retrospect he suspected maybe it’d been more a playful game than any malicious intent.
He finally headed for the utility room to start another load of laundry but froze in the doorway when he realized what was wrong.
Turning, he scanned the kitchen counter, and it was what he didn’t see that had him concerned.
His cell phone wasn’t on the counter where he’d left it.
He looked around, didn’t see it, and walked out to the lanai. “Sir? Did you move my phone?”
Joel was floating in the middle of the pool. “No. Why?”
“I know I left it on the kitchen counter after Mom called, and I don’t see it.”
“Mine’s in the bedroom. Call yours with it.”
“Hmm.” He turned and walked through the house, into their bedroom, and found Joel’s phone, where he’d left it on the dresser.
Unlocking it, he quickly dialed his own and walked out to the kitchen.
It was ringing on Joel’s end…
But he didn’t hear his phone ringing anywhere in the kitchen, even though he knew damn well he’d left the ringer on.
What the frak?
When his voicemail picked up, he hung up and dialed it again, now walking through the house and looking for it.
Nothing.
A third time.
Gooseflesh rippled his skin and he jumped, shrieking, when Joel spoke from behind him in the bedroom doorway.
“Find it?”
He spun around. Joel had grabbed a towel from the pool bath and was mostly dried off.
“No.”
“Did you bring it outside with you earlier?”
“No.” He hung up and dialed again.
Joel left the bedroom while Fen walked around, listening.
A moment later, Joel called out. “I found it.”
Fen hung up and headed back toward the kitchen, where he’d heard Joel. “Where was it?”
Joel was laughing. “Baby, it was out in the garage. You left it on top of the fridge out there.” Joel handed it to him, taking his phone back while planting a peck on Fen’s lips on his way past. “I’m going to shower off. You want to join me?”
Fen’s throat had dried up. “Yes, Sir. I’ll be right there.”
He stared at the phone in his hand, at the screen that listed the four missed calls.
There was only one problem.
He had not been out in the garage in two days.
Fen turned around and took a deep breath. “Welcome back, July,” he softly said. “I missed you.”
He left his phone on the kitchen counter and followed Joel into the bathroom.
Chapter Ten
Shelly and Karl Nance wasted no time at dinner.
“Maddie told me you boys are going to drive over to Miami Beach for a visit next weekend,” Karl said once they’d arrived at Fen’s parents’ and got the hello hugging out of the way.
“Yeah,” Fen said. “Why?”
“We were hoping you could keep your eyes open for us.”
“What?”
Shelly let out a sigh. “We’re worried about her.”
Fen fought back
the urge to worry without hearing them out. “Why?”
“She just seems so…stressed lately.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Fen assured them. “She’s intense, you know that. She would have told me if there were any problems, and she hasn’t said a word.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“It’s just when she drove over for your wedding, she looked…tired,” Karl noted.
Fen enveloped them in a hug. “It’s been eight years,” he gently said. “She’s fine. I would be the first one ratting her out to you guys if I thought she had a problem.”
“We hate her being over there by herself,” Karl said when Fen finally ended the group hug.
Fen noticed the sad expressions on his parents’ faces as they listened in, but they’d been there. They didn’t know exactly what Mads’ parents had been through, but they’d witnessed their anguish first-hand, and his dad had seen enough in his time in law enforcement to know.
“You know,” Fen’s dad said, “we were thinking about maybe getting away for a weekend. We could go over there in a few weeks.” He looked at Fen’s mom. “You want to?”
“Sure. That’d be fun.”
“Would you?” Shelly asked.
“Of course.” He walked over and hugged Shelly. “She’s our bonus daughter.”
“She’s going to yell at you guys,” Fen cautioned. “She doesn’t like being smothered. And she’s going to see right through you.”
Fen’s dad shrugged, smiling. “I’m retired. And when we saw her at your wedding, she did tell us we should come over for a weekend.”
Fen looked to Joel for help, but he just shrugged.
Great. He was outnumbered.
“Besides,” his dad added, “you guys are going over there.”
“Yeah, but this is sort of our honeymoon. And I don’t smother her. I talk or text with her nearly every day. If she was having any problems, she’d tell me.”
By the time they got out of there a little after nine, Fen felt emotionally wrung out. Her parents did this every so often, got a wild hair, worked themselves up into a near panic literally over nothing.
It was adorably loving and doting of them, but it also wasn’t the kind of concern Mads wanted or needed. She was an independent woman making her own way. She loved what she did, and she was damned good at it.
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