Lee cursed and muttered words Darren couldn’t understand, they were so garbled. He skimmed his teeth over the rim of Lee’s cap and felt Lee’s cock pulse and swell in his hand.

  Darren squeezed the base tightly then let go as he sucked hard. Hot cum shot onto his tongue as Lee gasped and shook, filling Darren’s mouth with cream.

  Darren sucked and licked Lee’s cock until Lee whimpered then he released it and crawled up between Lee’s legs. He shoved at Lee’s knees to move them then bit at one coppery nub while pinching the other with his fingers. Lee’s chest heaved under the assault, threatening to dislodge Darren. He bit down harder and Lee grabbed handfuls of Darren’s hair. Darren raked his teeth over the erect nub when Lee shoved Darren’s head down, mashing his nose against Lee’s pec.

  “Don’t stop, don’t fucking stop,” Lee rasped.

  Darren bit and twisted Lee’s nipples until they were dark red and swollen from it. He blew against one then the other then shot up to kiss the moan from Lee’s lips. Darren sank his tongue in deep, sweeping Lee’s mouth, swallowing every sound Lee made and keeping it for himself. Lee’s tongue battled with his and Darren nipped it, refusing to give over control.

  He’d meant it when he said he wanted to make Lee his.

  “You are mine,” Darren ground out once Lee had stopped trying to control the kiss. Lee only nodded, his eyes wide, stunned, his lips parted and plump from Darren’s plundering.

  Darren grunted and dipped his head to get at Lee’s neck. Lee dropped his hands, which had been buried in Darren’s hair, to his sides and arched his neck, offering or begging, Darren AFTERMATH

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  didn’t know which. He caught Lee’s chin in a strong grip and tipped Lee’s head up and to the side then he began marking him, branding him even if only temporarily as his own.

  By the time he’d left a trail of purple bruises on Lee’s tanned skin, the man was a mass of quivering need, his words senseless as he gasped repeatedly. The fierce spear of possessiveness in Darren hadn’t abated, had indeed only wound tighter as Lee came undone so beautifully for him. His dick was hard and dripping again, and Darren’s was so hard he worried he’d come before he finished putting the rubber on.

  Darren pinched the tip of his glans, the jolt of pain giving him a measure of control. He sat back on his heels between Lee’s thighs and picked up the condom first. As close to coming as he was, Darren wanted to get that on while he could. He ripped the package open then sheathed his dick. He tossed the wrapper aside and grabbed the lube, popping the lid open with his other hand. Darren squirted lube on his fingers, coating them thoroughly then added more just to be safe.

  He nudged Lee’s thigh and Lee bent his legs, bringing his heels against his butt. Darren wanted to sit back and admire the view but he needed Lee desperately. He didn’t want to be careless though, so he looked at Lee intently, seeing his own need reflected in Lee’s eyes.

  “Tell me if I go too fast or…or do something wrong, okay?” Lee’s lips quirked then a chuckle escaped as he shook his head. “You won’t. Jesus, baby, I’m so fucking ready for you, you don’t even know…” Darren lifted Lee’s sac and looked at the tiny fluttering ring. He darted a glance at Lee’s face then back at the wrinkled skin. “You might think you’re ready, but this—” Darren slicked lube over the tight opening, drawing moans from Lee and him both. “There’s no way it wouldn’t hurt if I didn’t get your hole stretched first.”

  “I can take it,” Lee said. Darren pushed the tip of one finger in and Lee shut up. Lee’s muscle clamped down hard then relaxed and Darren’s finger was practically sucked into the velvety heat.

  “It’s so soft,” Darren murmured, wriggling his finger against Lee’s inner walls. Lee made a choking sound and Darren wriggled his digit again, feeling the bump of Lee’s gland.

  “Ah, this is good.” Darren rubbed and tapped as he pumped his finger into Lee over and over. The second went in easy, Lee rocking his butt down as he begged for more.

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  “I’ve got you, I do,” Darren crooned as he slid a third finger into Lee. He pushed slowly but unceasingly deeper, his knuckles catching that spot that made Lee babble, “Dar, Dar, please, oh fuck, oh God, you have to, now!”

  Darren pulled his fingers out and scooted in, lining his dick up with Lee’s stretched hole when Lee pulled his knees back up to his chest. Just feeling the lube-slicked opening against the tip of his glans made Darren’s eyes roll back. He couldn’t wait to feel all those warm rippling muscles around his shaft, pulling him in deep.

  Gripping the backs of Lee’s thighs Darren began pressing his cock into Lee’s hole. After a slight resistance his crown popped into Lee’s opening. Darren’s heart thudded and his pulse raced as he tore his gaze from the erotic sight of his dick being sucked into Lee’s body.

  Darren wanted to watch that happen, but he wanted to see Lee’s expression even more.

  Lee’s eyes had a hazy unfocused look to them, wide and unseeing. His cheeks were ruddy and a sheen of sweat made his skin glisten. Lee’s mouth was open like an offering, his pink tongue darting out repeatedly to wet his chapped lips. His hair was a tangled mass from Lee tossing his head.

  “You are beautiful, perfect,” Darren gritted out as his cock slid deeper into Lee’s hole.

  Darren groaned as tight hot muscles gripped and massaged his rod. His hips jerked as pleasure shot from his balls and spread up his spine. “And you’re mine.” Darren thrust and sank his cock in deep, his balls slapping against Lee’s butt. Lee shouted, his back arching as he let go of his legs and reached for Darren.

  Darren dropped down on top of Lee, catching himself on his elbows at Lee’s sides while Lee wound his strong legs around Darren’s hips. He took Lee’s mouth again and began pummelling his cock into Lee, forcing a grunt from Lee each time Darren’s cock lodged deep inside him.

  It couldn’t last long, or Darren knew he couldn’t last long, not with the way Lee’s walls contracted around his dick, pulling and pushing until Darren couldn’t do anything other than give in to his body’s demand. Darren snarled like a wild beast as he grasped Lee’s jaw and plundered his mouth with the same ferocity he was plundering Lee’s hole.

  Lee jerked and writhed and clutched at Darren as wet heat spread between their bellies.

  Darren’s dick was gripped so tight he had to lift his lips from Lee’s and scream as ecstasy racked his body. He ground his hips against Lee, mindless with the intensity of his orgasm.

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  Sometime later he became aware of being sticky and sweaty. Darren opened his eyes only to discover Lee snoring softly under him. He knew his grin was a smug one, it had to be as he looked at his lover, worn out and marked with love bites that Darren wanted to keep on that tanned skin.

  Despite feeling weak and drained, Darren reached down and grabbed the base of his cock, holding onto the rubber as his dick slid from Lee’s pucker. Lee grumbled and tried to pull Darren close but Darren resisted long enough to remove the condom and tie it off before tossing it on the floor.

  Darren pushed aside his fears about Lee leaving him and slid onto his stomach beside Lee. He refused to believe this was all he’d have with this man, and as Darren closed his eyes he vowed to do everything he could to make Lee want to stay with him in McKinton.

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  Chapter Nine

  “You think there was a ghost in the motel room?” Lee said impassively as he watched Darren. The familiar bright swatches of colour bloomed on Darren’s fair cheeks as he nodded.

  “You said yourself there was nothing holding the sheets up, but something was.” Darren leant forward and gave Lee a pleading look. “Is it easier to believe the sheets just became animated and spontaneously attacked? Is it really too impossible for you to believe that people’s spirits might be able to linger even after the body dies?”

  “I don’t know what to believe. If I can touch it, see it, hear it, even smell it, then I know it’s real, but this…” Lee shook his head.

  “But it happened, you know it did. Let me call Severo, maybe he can explain it better.” And there was another creepy thing, a man people claimed could speak to spirits, or hear them, whatever. The very thought of it made Lee want to shudder and run from this town like his ass was on fire.

  Darren reached across the table and held Lee’s hand in his. One glance at those sweet brown eyes and Lee caved. He didn’t want to leave McKinton—specifically, he didn’t want to leave Darren. Whatever they had going on was strong and addictive and Lee didn’t want to fight it. He nodded once and Darren leapt up from his seat, letting Lee’s hand go so he could run around the table and hug Lee so hard he couldn’t breathe.

  “Thank you,” Darren mumbled.

  Lee didn’t know what he was being thanked for, but Darren followed it up with a tender kiss that rocked Lee to his toes. He was even a little stunned, especially after Darren had been so commanding earlier, taking Lee with all the skills of an experienced lover. No one had ever made Lee feel like that, as if he could—and he had, hadn’t he?—hand himself over completely and trust his lover to know what he needed. Darren had said Lee was his, and he was right. For however long this lasted, Darren had him, however Darren wanted him.

  “I’ll be right back.” Darren kissed Lee’s forehead then sprinted out of the kitchen. Lee heard the low murmur of Darren’s voice and knew his lover was calling Severo. Lee decided AFTERMATH

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  he’d try to keep his mind open no matter how bizarre all this was. It was obvious Darren believed, and maybe, although Lee was afraid to hope for it, if spirits did exist, maybe Stefan was among them. Lee immediately felt guilty for the thought. If there was some way for people to hang around after they died, how did he know if it was better than them just…going wherever people went once they passed?

  “Severo and Laine will be here in an hour.”

  Lee glanced over at Darren standing in the kitchen doorway. He was wringing his hands and looking everywhere but at Lee. Lee couldn’t stand seeing Darren so worried.

  “Come here.” Lee scooted his chair back and patted his lap. Darren hesitated briefly then came over and sat right where Lee wanted him to. Lee hooked his arms around Darren and rubbed his forehead against Darren’s chest. “I can’t promise you I’ll believe whatever Severo says, but I do promise you I’ll listen.”

  Darren wrapped his arms around Lee’s shoulders. “That’s all I’m asking you to do.”

  * * * *

  Lee was listening! Stefan was so excited he wanted to do something, ruffle Lee’s hair or just wrap around him.

  “You’ll scare the crap outta him.”

  Of course Conner had to burst Stefan’s happy bubble. Stefan gave the equivalent of a huff as he pouted. Sure, it was fine for Conner to scare the shit out of Lee and Darren—that sheet trick had been neat, and Conner had been right, it kept Darren from going home alone and kept Lee from letting him. Maybe Conner shouldn’t have interfered but it’d been so obvious that the two men didn’t want to be apart from each other.

  “See? I had a good reason. See how they can’t hardly look away from each other? And Lee has held Darren’s hand this entire time. So me scaring them was good. If you scare them now, especially Lee since he still isn’t convinced spirits exist, who knows what Lee will do.” Fine. He’d just hover here and be good, but he still wanted to let Lee know he was here.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  God, if Stefan had eyes he’d roll them at Conner. The guy could be such a stick in the mud.

  “Trust me, Stefan. Darren needs to know you didn’t kill yourself, and he and Lee both need to know the truth. Just have a little patience.” AFTERMATH

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  What other choice did he have? Stefan made himself even smaller and settled in to wait.

  * * * *

  Darren’s skin kept flaring with chill bumps. Ever since Severo and Laine had come over, Darren had experienced the creepy sensation of being watched. He wondered if Lee felt it, too. He glanced at Lee’s arm. Little bumps prickled his skin and the dark blond hairs were standing almost straight up. That was pretty much a positive answer, wasn’t it?

  Lee set down the paper he’d been reading, another official accounting of Severo’s abilities being used to help the Austin Police Department solve a murder. Darren was so glad Laine had thought to grab the file he said he’d put together on Severo when he’d shown up in McKinton. Lee said he could believe in what he could see, so maybe all the documents attesting to Severo’s…talent, would count as something seen.

  Lee sighed and rubbed at his forehead, his other hand still holding onto Darren. “Okay, so Conner, who was your lover,”—Lee stopped rubbing his head and pointed at Laine before dropping his hand onto the stack of papers—“is a spirit. And Severo can, as hard as it is for me to believe—but I have to, reading these—can commune with spirits. Conner came here and helped you two figure out who killed him and why, and saved a couple of people while he did it. And he’s still here.”

  Laine nodded. Lee pointed at Severo. “And you’re telling me Conner is the spirit who decided to play bondage with our sheets last night at the motel. Why would he do that?” Severo shrugged, his pale eyes focussed on something behind Darren and Lee. “I don’t know, he’s being coy, the jerk. Maybe you did something to piss him off, or—and this is a guess, mind you, since Conner’s being an asshole—you said Darren was leaving. Did you want him to go?”

  Darren looked at Lee, who didn’t hesitate to answer. “No, but I didn’t think he’d like me inviting myself to spend the night at his place.”

  “There you go.” Severo shrugged again as if that explained Conner’s actions.

  Lee frowned and glanced at Darren before looking at Severo again. “What? Conner was playing matchmaker? He was my wingman? He wasn’t bright enough to come up with a better plan than scaring the sh—crap out of us? I thought Darren was going to be suffocated or strangled or—uh.”

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  The temperature in the room plummeted. Darren started to get up, intending to drag Lee out of there. Lee wasn’t having it, jerking hard on Darren’s hand until he had no choice but to tumble onto Lee’s lap. Lee wrapped his arms around Darren’s waist and snarled,

  “What the fuck is happening now?”

  Severo and Laine both smiled as the papers on the table rose into the air, floating in front of Darren and Lee. Lee’s gasp was almost as loud as Darren’s.

  “Enough, Conner,” Laine snapped, his smile vanishing as he watched them. The papers shot up to the ceiling then sailed back down into a sloppy stack on the table.

  “Conner can be temperamental,” Severo explained. “And yeah, I can call him names because I know him, but you irritated him by implying he wasn’t very smart.” The room warmed back up as quickly as it had cooled. Darren didn’t relax, exactly, but his heart quit trying to climb up his throat. “So that was Conner the Vengeful Ghost,” Darren blurted, silly with relief at not being turned into a Popsicle.

  “Spirit,” Severo corrected before laughing softly.

  Lee tightened his hold around Darren’s waist and grumbled, “Severo had it right when he called Conner an asshole.” Lee sagged against Darren’s back. “Jesus Christ, there’s really spirits wandering around.”

  There was something in Severo’s expression, a flicker of uncertainty, maybe, that had Darren tensing as if for another attack. “He’s not the only one here, is he?” The answer dawned in Darren’s mind so clearly he felt dizzy as he stuttered, “Stefan?” Whether he was asking Severo or Stefan, he hadn’t a clue. Severo nodded.

  Lee went tense behind him, squeezing Darren so hard he squeaked. “No, you can’t…why would you say that?” Lee demanded, releasing Darren and nudging him to get up.

  “Lee,” Darren began, not sure letting Lee up was a good thing. He’d sounded very angry. Another push at his butt and Darren stood.

  “It’s true, that’s why.” Severo didn’t seem concerned about Lee’s temper at all, but Laine was slowly rising from his seat, his icy gaze locked on Lee. Darren reached for Lee’s arm only to be shoved back into his chair by… Darren blinked as Lee gaped at him.

  “Dar, what—” Lee’s hair lifted, thick clumps of strand separated by an invisible touch.

  “Oh God.” The colour leached from Lee’s skin as a breeze kicked up around him and Darren AFTERMATH

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  both. Unlike the scary cold presence earlier, this one was warm, gentle, like constant caresses bestowed on someone much loved.

  Stefan. Darren knew, even as Severo said the name. Darren relaxed into the comfort of his friend’s embrace and watched as Lee spread his arms, his eyes wide with wonder and shimmering with tears that quickly streamed down his cheeks. Darren swiped at his own cheeks, rubbing the moisture away as he received more warm touches before, with a final lift of Lee’s long hair, the touches ended.

  Lee collapsed in his chair and reached for Darren’s hand. Darren took it for an invitation and settled back on Lee’s lap. He thumbed away the last of Lee’s tears from his cheeks then kissed him softly.

  “I’m okay,” Lee whispered, which was what Darren had wanted to know. “Are you?”

  “Yes, a little freaked, but it’s…” Darren sucked on his bottom lip then let it pop free. “I don’t know how you feel about it, but if Stefan’s still here, still with us, that makes me happy, and he—his spirit seemed loving and happy, too.” Darren cut a glance at Severo. “Not that I’m claiming I can do what you do, but it was like Stefan, my best friend who I’d known for years, surrounded me completely in his, uh, joy?” It sounded stupid, but that’s what it had felt like.