Marie Harte - Fortune's Favor

Then again, there were a lot of things he hadn’t known about Avery until tonight. How he tasted so sweet and salty at the same time. How huge that cock would be, how erotic it would feel sliding against his ass, or how fucking addictive it would be to touch him. Nathan studied his new lover, wanting to suck Avery off all over again. Damn, but the big bastard had come twice, and he’d come a lot. Nathan reached behind him and felt the sticky mess on his lower back.

Was he messed up that he liked Avery on his skin? That he’d taken pleasure in swallowing the man? He froze.

No condom. He hadn’t wanted one, hadn’t thought to use one, and that was more than stupid; it was dangerous. Though Avery seemed pretty particular, who the hell knew what he did in his spare time? Obviously more than Diane, because Avery hadn’t batted an eye about fucking Nathan, a man . The big liar.

Nathan wanted to be angrier that Avery had deliberately misled him about his sexual orientation. But had he? In retrospect, Avery had never said he wasn’t into men. Nathan had assumed that because Avery liked women and had never shown any interest in him, he wasn’t into guys. Trust Avery to once again not meet his expectations. Instead of a homophobe for a partner, Nathan had a bisexual psychic warrior who’d worked for Uncle Sam.

The thought brought forth a chuckle. Nathan leaned down to brush some hair from Avery’s eyes. The black stuff felt soft, silky smooth. “Jeez, even in sleep you’re a hard-ass.” Nathan noted the hard planes of that unforgiving face, the stubborn jaw and commanding nose. Dark brows swept together in a frown until Nathan ran a finger over his cheek.

Avery eased into a sigh and breathed deeper.

A funny feeling settled on Nathan. As he pulled the covers over Avery and finally felt the chill of January stealing his heat, he came to the conclusion that once with Avery wouldn’t be enough. Nathan often took charge in bed, because he’d rarely met a man bigger than himself, or one he trusted to do the job right. Avery hadn’t asked. He’d done what came naturally. And Nathan had let him.

It hadn’t bothered him at all when Avery had positioned him on the bed and humped him while giving him a heavenly reach-around. He couldn’t help dwelling on it as he hurried into his bedroom and through it to a private bath. There he ran hot water. After stepping into the shower, he cleaned himself up and let the soak do him good.

Images of Avery’s cock, of his strong body accepting Nathan’s touch, made him hard all over again. But instead of jerking off, Nathan waited. He’d save his extra energy for Avery. That was if the sexy jerk didn’t try to pretend tonight hadn’t happened. Nathan had run into the type from time to time. Avery had been more than comfortable getting blown. He’d come the second time all over Nathan’s back. But the morning after might look a lot different to the conservative major.

Maybe not so conservative. Nathan grinned. Avery had whispered a lot of dirty things while they’d been fucking…and not fucking. He would have loved some anal penetration, but having to leave Avery’s delicious body for even one second to grab a condom would have been too long. He didn’t regret what they’d done, only that they hadn’t tried long before now.

After his shower, Nathan threw on underwear and a pair of flannel pants and hopped into bed. He wouldn’t have minded sharing Avery’s, but he didn’t plan to sleep in that wet spot, and he wanted a sure welcome the next morning. One thing he could say for certain; their interlude had swept him from his nightmares sure to come.

The past two nights had been difficult at best. Though he’d been fine throughout the day, interacting with the locals and looking for information, at night he couldn’t help remembering the past. His uncle was a monster. Malcolm’s selfish need to have Danielle all to himself, her lies about who she was to Nathan, and that fucking cellar he still hadn’t entered tumbled in his thoughts when the calm descended and the quiet surrounded him.

But tonight he had Avery to think about. Plotting ways to push past the domineering man’s walls occupied him throughout his dreams. He woke the next morning feeling refreshed, so much so that he ignored the coffeepot first thing and ran a few miles to heat his blood, even through the snow. He returned in good spirits and laughed out loud when Avery glared at him over his steaming mug in the kitchen.

“Hey there, sunshine.”

Avery frowned. “You’re never up this early.”

“I had a good night.” No time like the present to see how Avery handled the next day.

“You should have. You left a mess in my bed.”

Hmm. He didn’t ignore it, but he didn’t seem eager to repeat the experience.

“So maybe next time we use my bed,” Nathan offered.

The noncommittal grunt he received annoyed him. Not a yes or a no, but a maybe in nonverbal?

Avery sipped his coffee and read the local paper. Nathan scowled, no longer in a good mood. Then Avery stood and stretched, and Nathan’s gaze automatically sought the exposed line of his belly where his sweater and jeans parted.

“You’re so easy.” Avery snickered.

Startled, Nathan looked up to see his partner smiling. “I would say the same, but you had me completely fooled.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Smug didn’t begin to describe what could only be called a cheery Avery. “You were so holier-than-thou, thinking me some kind of bigot. I think it kind of turned you on, wanting a man you thought wouldn’t want you.”

“Yeah, right.” But Avery was closer to the truth than he knew. By deliberately disliking Avery, Nathan had put some much-needed distance between himself and a man he shouldn’t want. “But you did want me, didn’t you?”

Avery shrugged. “You’re hot, and you know it. You give great head.”

Nathan flushed. “What a compliment. Quick, let me add it to my résumé.”

Another smile. Holy shit . Avery had grinned at him twice in the span of ten minutes. “You’re such a smart-ass. The run must have helped. That and getting off last night,” Avery said drily.

“Yep. And you know, say what you want, but it’s a good thing I have a healthy ego. Otherwise I might have been upset when you came and fell asleep without even a thank-you.”

Trust Avery to have no shame. The man didn’t blink. “Hey, I had a vision. Tapped me out, and then you sucked the life out of me.”

“Twice.”

Avery chuckled. “Right. Of course I fell asleep.” He stood and dumped his coffee cup in the sink. “I’m going for a run. When I get back, we’ll talk about today’s schedule.”

Before Nathan could ask him about that, Avery left. “High-handed asshole,” he muttered. But Avery had a point. Digging for information on Malcolm with the neighbors wasn’t working. The man had been a mystery to the town, gone as often as he’d been there, and always wearing the pleasant mask he’d shown Nathan’s aunt.

Not aunt. Mother.

Nathan stared glumly at the coffeepot. He had to deal with the truth eventually. Aunt Danielle had been his birth mother. The woman he’d thought was his mother had been her sister, Michelle Kraft. Why hadn’t Danielle kept him? And if she hadn’t wanted anything to do with him, why take him in after her sister passed? His grandmother had been living at the time, and she’d doted on him before she’d died.

He had more questions than answers. But he couldn’t escape the fact that the most important woman in his life had lied to him for years. She’d been so loving, so accepting. From the first, she’d known he was a bit different. Like his father, she’d say, and always look so sad. From what his mother—Michelle—had told him, his father had died in a hit-and-run before he’d been born. She’d raised him alone, another loving female who supported him in all things. She’d been the one to help him build his mental shields, to homeschool him while he’d adapted to knowing things no normal kid could know.