Dreaming of You:
Noah
Kinkade is an up and coming designer, one of the best newcomers in the
field. When he is hired to restore the
old Seevers mansion to its former glory, he thinks all his dreams have come
true. He doesn’t know how right he is.
Sebastian
Seevers has been waiting for over a hundred years for his lover, Richard. Kept
apart by Richard's father, they'd planned to run away together that night, but
Richard had not arrived, and pacing the walkway was where Sebastian had slipped
and fallen to his death. Yet even in death, their love was so strong, Sebastian
still waited for Richard's return. He had almost given up hope—until he saw
Noah.
Excerpt: Inside the bathroom, he turned on the shower and
slipped out of his clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor at his feet. He
quickly stepped under the flow of water as a sudden chill seemed to blow
through the room. Must be colder out
there than it looks, he thought as he closed the cubicle door behind him. Picking
up the soap, he worked up a lather and moved the bar over his body, unaware of
the ice blue eyes that watched him from the open doorway.
* * * *
Sebastian's gaze wandered over Noah's lithe body as
the young man washed under the strange contraption. He'd waited so long. Some
hundred and fifty years to be precise. But Sebastian had known he'd come
eventually, that his patience would be rewarded. The moment Noah arrived he'd
known it was him. Of course, he called himself by a different name, but it was
Thomas; he'd been sure of that the moment their lips met last night.
He watched the bubbles created by the soap roll down
Noah's pale skin and his cock hardened in his breeches. Reaching down, he
palmed himself through the soft, striped fabric and hissed through his teeth at
the sensations that sparked through him.
Thomas was wearing his hair longer now, but that was
the fashion of the day, he surmised. The last time he'd seen him, Thomas's hair
had been shorn off, the desperate act of a merciless father who thought if he
disfigured his beautiful son, Sebastian would no longer want him for the degradation
Thomas had detailed in his journal.
How wrong the ingrate had been. As if Thomas's looks
mattered to Sebastian. He was in love with the man, not the wrapping. He closed
his eyes as the memory of their last meeting washed over him. He'd been waiting
then too, pacing up and down the rundown shack deep in the forest behind Green
Oaks—their place.
Halfway House:
A shared car ride home from college goes awry for Tyler the jock
and “Supernerd” Eliot when they get lost in the dark on a country road and
their vehicle stalls. Luckily, they find the Halfway House Hotel, where a
series of odd events and unexpected urges seem to conspire to throw them
together—and soon Tyler and Eliot decide that not having anything in common is
no reason not to take a side trip of their own.
Excerpt:
"I’m fine," Eliot said curtly as they
made their way up to their room. He opened the door and threw the key down on
the table inside the door. Tyler followed him in, closing the door behind
himself. "Okay." Eliot turned to face him. "How do you wanna do
this?"
Tyler raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Do
what?"
"You know." Eliot nodded his head to the
large bed, complete with canopy and curtains. "The sleeping arrangements.
Do you wanna take the chair, or shall I?"
Tyler glanced at the wingback chair in the corner
of the room and then back at the bed. Then he looked down at himself and then
Eliot, measuring him from head to toe. "In that chair? Neither of us are
exactly short, dude. I got driving to do tomorrow and I wanna get a good
night’s sleep." He held up his hand as Eliot opened his mouth. "I
know, it’s my fault we need to make up time, you don’t need to tell me again." He waved his hand at the
bed. "There’s plenty of room for both of us, but if you want to be a
martyr and get backache from sleeping in the chair, be my guest."
Eliot stood with his mouth open as Tyler stripped
down to his boxers without any embarrassment whatsoever. He grabbed his
wash-bag from his suitcase and walked into the en suite. Tyler closed the door
behind him, and Eliot heard the water running in the sink, a thousand thoughts
racing through his mind. The uppermost one being that he’d rather spend the
night on an ironing board than with Tyler Andrews in the same bed. Eliot
quickly stripped down to his own underwear and grabbed the folded-up quilt off
the ottoman at the end of the bed. He sat down in the chair and pulled the
matching footstool toward him with his left foot. He settled back and wrapped
the quilt around him, trying desperately to look as though he was comfortable
by the time Tyler came out of the bathroom. He wasn’t doing a very good job of
it. The upholstery of the chair was itchy on his bare back and thighs, and the
quilt wasn’t as thick as it had looked. He sighed heavily just as the bathroom
door opened.
Tyler turned off the light and glanced over at
Eliot in the chair, shaking his head in derision at him. He made a "whatever"
motion with his hand and slid underneath the sheets. Then he plumped up the
pillows behind his head and sank into them with a happy sigh. Maybe a little
too loud a sigh, because he heard Eliot grumble something under his breath. "Good-night,
Eliot," he said cheerfully. "Sleep well."
"Good-night," was Eliot’s bitten-out
response.
It couldn’t have been much time later when Tyler
sat up in the bed and complained, "Eliot, if you don’t get your ass in
this bed right now, I am either going to throw you in it myself or kill you,
the choice is yours."
"What’s your problem?" Eliot said
crossly, as he tried to tuck the quilt in closer around himself for the
hundredth time since he’d sat down in the chair.
"You’re driving me nuts with all the huffing
and puffing, dude. You’re obviously not comfortable, and neither of us are
gonna get any sleep with you in that goddamn chair!" Tyler’s voice rose
slightly higher with each word. "So get your ass in here before I flip out
and have to explain to your mother when I drop you off why I beat the
ever-loving crap out of you!" Tyler threw his head back against the
pillows and turned over onto his side. "Thank God," he breathed a few
moments later when he felt the bed beside him dip as Eliot slid under the
covers. "Now maybe we can get some sleep." Tyler sighed heavily and
closed his eyes, his lips curving upward as he imagined Eliot perched on the
edge of the mattress, holding the covers around him like a Victorian maiden. "Don’t
worry, dude," he drawled sleepily. "Your virtue is safe with me."
Eliot frowned grumpily into the darkness of the
room and turned over onto his side, his back to Tyler. He had to admit that the
bed was certainly a lot comfier than the chair, but he would still rather not
have Tyler Andrews close enough to be able to feel the heat that was coming off
the taller boy’s body. Jesus, he’s like a
goddamn furnace, he thought to himself, shifting a little closer, but still
not close enough to touch. Just for
warmth, you understand, he whispered to his inner voice, which was laughing
hysterically at him right now. Sure
Eliot, whatever gets you through the night, dude, it whispered back. "Shut
up," Eliot said aloud into the stillness of the room, earning himself a
mumble and a growl of his name from Tyler. He sighed and closed his eyes,
hugging his arms around his pillow and allowing the even sound of Tyler’s
breathing to lull him to sleep.
I loooved Halfway House!! And these two stories are available together?! Sweet!
ReplyDeleteI both both of these novelles together & liked both. Keep up the good work & I'll keep reading them. :)
ReplyDelete