Marie Harte - Fortune's Favor

“Good. Because I don’t want this to be anything but good for you.” Nathan left him and dug through his bag. He came back with lube but no condom.

Avery suppressed a shiver. He wanted to feel Nathan inside him, nothing but flesh against flesh. How fucked up am I ? “And don’t call me baby,” he added just to be mean.

Nathan chuckled. “I like you this way.”

Avery grudgingly accepted the inevitable. He wasn’t exactly ready to fuck again, not after just having his world blown apart—literally—by Nathan.

“We’re going to take this slow.” Nathan put the lube on the side table and straddled Avery’s waist. He had in his other hand a bottle of massage oil. “Just lay there and relax. And answer my questions. Honestly.”

Avery frowned.

“You agreed to submit to me for twelve hours. Starting now. I’m trusting you to be honorable about this, Major.”

“Jackass.”

“That’s yes, sir.”

Avery gritted his teeth. This was going to be the longest twelve hours of his life.

Yet he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Avery didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help relaxing under Nathan’s firm hands. He might be a master manipulator, but Nathan had a heavenly touch. He worked the stiffness from Avery’s muscles until Avery’s entire upper body was a boneless mass of flesh.

“Nice. That’s it. Just relax.”

He closed his eyes and let Nathan do whatever he wanted. So far, so good. Nothing Nathan had done had been uncomfortable.

“Tell me about your parents.”

He cracked open an eye but only saw the top of Nathan’s head. Nathan had moved from his body to the side of the bed and knelt next to him while he massaged Avery’s biceps.

“My mom is a doctor. She’s bossy.”

“Like you.”

“Hmm. My dad is a retired Master Gunnery Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. They met when he was a corporal and have been together ever since.”

Nathan moved from his arms to his legs. “So is that why you joined the Corps? Because your dad was in? Spread your legs.”

Avery tensed but moved his legs farther apart. When Nathan merely rubbed the muscle of his quadriceps, he answered the question. “I guess. I loved being in. Loved being around my kind of people.”

“Oh? And who are they?”

“Rough, unafraid to get dirty, and hands-on. Into physical fitness. I love sports.”

“Yes, you do.” Nathan ran his hands between Avery’s legs, but instead of cupping his sac, Nathan rubbed his groin muscle.

“Fuck, that feels good.”

“You sound surprised. I’m good at this.” Nathan rubbed him some more. “Danielle was a massage therapist. She taught me to deal with touch in a way different than Michelle had.”

“Yeah?”

“Michelle had me build inner shields and taught me to avoid all kinds of unnecessary touch. It made me strong. But when I moved in with my aun—Danielle, she taught me another way. To immerse myself in touch and learn to differentiate physical sensation from psychic sensation.”

“Looks like it worked.” Damn, but Avery’s cock was harder than steel, despite Nathan’s nonsexual massage. “Did Danielle share your abilities?”

“No. She said my dad had it. The guy my supposed mother told me had died right before she had me. Now I’m not sure about anything. For all I know, the fucker is still alive.”

Alive and crazy , Avery wanted to say but didn’t. He couldn’t tell Nathan anything yet, not until he had more to go on. He didn’t want to hurt his lover, and the information would be painful, no two ways about it.

“But we were talking about you.” Nathan smoothed his hands down Avery’s legs and concentrated on his shins and calves.

“Damn, you’re good.”

“That’s what they tell me.” Nathan winked at him, and Avery felt his heart drop at the man’s feet.

Hell. He coughed to cover a groan. “My parents have always shared a lot of love. I was the only kid in the family. Both my parents came from small families and had trouble conceiving after me, so I got my share of attention.”

“I’ll bet.”

“But they didn’t spoil me. My dad made sure I earned everything I ever had in life. Taught me to work hard. I love them a lot.” He sighed into Nathan’s touch.

Nathan paused to put more oil on his hands. “Just like Danielle. She wasn’t easy on me. And it bugged her that people would give in to me a lot. But hell, I’m charming. It’s a gift.”

Avery hissed when Nathan massaged his feet, digging into his arches. “Holy shit, you’re really good at this.”

“I told you I am.”

“And so modest.”

Nathan chuckled, and he looked so beautiful in the dim light of the room. He glanced up, caught Avery looking at him, and froze.

“What?” Avery didn’t like Nathan’s expression.

“Nothing.” He turned back to Avery’s feet and hummed under his breath. “So your time in the PWP? What was that like?”

“Yeah, we didn’t really meet till I came to Bend, did we?”

Nathan shook his head.

“The training was easy. I was only allowed out on three missions; two were with Chloe as lead. You think I have control issues? She’s short, and she’s a woman. She ordered me around like it was Christmas.”

Nathan laughed. “She does that.”

“Yeah, but she knows what she’s talking about. I had no trouble following her. We took down a few rogue psychics. Nothing earth-shattering, but it felt right to do good, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“The drugs they gave me made my visions clearer. And I was able to call them on command. But they still don’t take the shape I want. I mean, I want to know how we’ll take care of Malcolm, but I can’t see it. I see whatever hits me. Sometimes I can use it; most times it’s about someone else.”

Nathan’s hands roamed north again, around Avery’s knees. “So you don’t see your own future?”

“Rarely.” Like his vision of himself and Nathan kissing, and of them smiling together, in the future? The far distant future? He wished he knew.

“Too bad. Then you could see winning numbers on a lottery ticket. Or you could predict which stocks to invest in.”

“So mercenary. Most of what I see revolves around us and our cases. I think it’s because I’m built to protect, so I naturally seek people needing protection.”

“Makes sense.” Nathan knelt between Avery’s legs and spread them wider.

Avery’s cock jumped.

“Now just lie there and relax. I’m gonna take good care of you, baby.”

“Quit calling me baby,” he said, suddenly breathless.

Nathan laughed softly and stroked his hands up and down Avery’s inner thighs. Each time he neared Avery’s cock, he moved in the other direction. And then his thumbs started grazing Avery’s sac.

“ Fuck .”

Nathan smiled. “Feel good?”

“You know it does.”

“I hope it does,” Nathan corrected. “But I want you to tell me if it doesn’t.”

“Why? You’ll stop?”

“No.”

The flat-out refusal made him laugh.

“God, I love it when you smile.” Nathan sighed and leaned down to kiss him. In the process, he gripped Avery’s shaft tight.

The kiss seemed to last forever.

“Take your arms and put them by your sides.”

Avery blinked when Nathan moved back. He hadn’t realized he’d put his hands around Nathan’s shoulders. He put them down on the bed.

“No, change that. Link your hands behind your head. And scoot down. I want your hips at the end of the bed.”

Avery had made note of the bed earlier. It sat at the perfect height for fucking. He blew out a breath. Hell. He was really going to do this.