Boston Avant-Garde 6: Chiaroscuro (2 page)

“You want this.” Owen swept his palms from Lars’s shoulders all the way to his ass cheeks. “Why won’t you admit it?”

The words seemed to wake something inside Lars. He braced his hands on the mattress and lifted his shoulders. A primal instinct demanded he reverse their positions.

Owen only laughed. “Fuck yes! Fight me, you stubborn jackass.”

Lars groaned when Owen lowered his body to rub his chest against Lars’s back. Their skin slid together like silk. Owen’s lips trailed along the nape of Lars’s neck. He set his teeth to the shoulder, biting hard and raising goose bumps.

Lars’s cock was already hard. It had been since the moment Owen had taken control. Lars thrust against the soft cotton sheets. They felt like sandpaper on his sensitized skin. His ass throbbed. His brain screamed no, but his body wanted nothing more than to give itself over to Owen’s possession.

“You are so gorgeous,” Owen murmured. He sat up and rested his weight on Lars’s legs. “Your skin tastes like heaven.” He ran his tongue up Lars’s spine as if to prove a point.

Chills made Lars gasp. He clenched his fingers restlessly in the sheets. He wanted to beg, to spread his legs, arch his spine, and present his ass to his lover.

Owen began to knead Lars’s nether cheeks. He pinched the tight flesh and spread it wide to expose the puckered entrance. He brushed his fingers over Lars’s anus and chuckled at the shudder it caused.

“Tell me this is mine, Lars,” he demanded. “Tell me no one else is going to fuck it.”

Damn you, and damn me for the truth
. Lars couldn’t hold back the words. “Yours, Owen. It’s only yours.”

There was a pause, and Lars’s belly clenched with anticipation. Owen retrieved the lube from a drawer with unhurried motions that drove Lars insane. After five months, Lars knew Owen was making him wait on purpose. The cool slide of lubricant across his anal star made him tense with gratification.

Owen slid one finger around the rim of Lars’s asshole. The teasing began slowly, increasing to quick circles before dipping inside. The penetration stretched Lars open and made him grunt. Owen added a second digit to the first, and Lars folded his elbows beneath his upper body and let the pleasure wash over him.

It had never been like this for him with any other man. His previous experiences had been between randy boys locked in a boarding school with no girls, or college guys experimenting with their sexuality. This was different. It was more.

It’s Owen.

Owen retreated, and Lars felt the broad head of his lover’s cock pushing past the tight ring of outer muscle. The burn quickly gave way to satisfaction. It felt so good when Owen tunneled inside. The man’s long prick seemed contoured for Lars’s ass. Each inch brought Owen closer to the sweet spot, the place that drove Lars absolutely wild.

Lars felt the shift of Owen’s legs as he gained purchase on the bed. They both knew what came next, but when Owen backed out and then thrust home, it made stars burst behind Lars’s eyelids.

“You’re so tight,” Owen rasped. “I had you less than an hour ago, and I’m ready to come again.”

Lars forced his body up until he was on hands and knees. Owen’s arm wrapped around his waist like a band of iron. He used it to fuck harder. The sounds of their skin slapping together filled the room. The scent of sex grew heavy. Lars’s cock was throbbing as he thrust reflexively into the air.

Owen changed his angle of penetration. Lars let out a deep moan of gratification when the crown of his lover’s cock began massaging the magic spot. Lars’s ass grew tight. His ball sac drew up toward his body as his climax began to build. Muscle spasms in Lars’s anal passage rippled around Owen’s cock. The sensation was like a mini cataclysm, and Lars shuddered with the intensity.

Owen’s shout made the hair on the back of Lars’s neck stand on end. His lover gripped his hips in both hands and thrust once more. Owen’s shaft throbbed as he poured his seed into Lars’s ass.

Both men collapsed to the bed. It felt good to be in Owen’s arms even if Lars was still hard and desperate for release.

“I don’t know what you do with that ass, but it pushes me over the edge every time.” Owen maneuvered onto his side and stared down into Lars’s face. The coppery darkness of his complexion made his smile seem brilliant. “We can’t leave you hanging like that, though, can we?”

The sensual promise made Lars’s belly do a flip. Owen leaned down and gave him an openmouthed kiss. Their tongues rubbed together, mimicking sex. Lars reached up and tangled his fingers in Owen’s long black hair. He would never get enough of tasting and feeling this man, no matter how badly he wished he could.

Owen grasped Lars’s shaft in his hand and pumped it a few times. Precum spilled from the tip to coat Owen’s fingers. Breaking their kiss, he lifted his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean.

“Suck me,” Lars begged. “Make me come.”

“If you’re sure.” A wicked smile twisted the corners of Owen’s sexy mouth as he shifted so he could lower his head to Lars’s groin.

The first touch of Owen’s mouth on his cock made Lars moan in ecstasy. He’d never known another lover, male or female, with this kind of oral skill. Owen swallowed Lars’s entire considerable length. The back of his throat was soft and warm. His lips brushed the base of Lars’s erection, and he used his hand to cup Lars’s balls.

Owen began to slide up and down in quick, long strokes. Lars wondered if the man stopped breathing to accomplish the feat. Every damn thrust was a deep-throated piece of heaven. His lover’s clever tongue swirled erotic patterns every time he took Lars’s length inside his mouth.

Sweat beaded on Lars’s forehead. He clenched his ass cheeks to try to stave off climax. Owen’s dark eyes drifted upward and locked with Lars’s gaze. Not a second later, Owen lightly scraped his teeth over Lars’s erection.

Just like that he was lost. He cried out as he ejaculated into his lover’s mouth. Owen sucked and licked as he swallowed the warm fluid. The sight of Owen’s full lips did things to Lars that it shouldn’t have. When his lover pulled back and let Lars’s cock slide free, they both collapsed to their backs.

The only sound in the room came from their labored breathing as both men lay companionably on the bed. It was bliss to forget the world for a moment. Owen’s familiar bulk was soothing, his presence a balm to Lars’s soul. He spent so much of his life staying busy just to leave the emptiness behind. Owen’s fingers traced idle circles across Lars’s abdomen. He savored the contact. Just once he wanted to soak in the comfort that came from
being
with someone.

Owen paused near Lars’s right hipbone. “What’s this from?” Owen brushed a pale line situated in the groove stretching from Lars’s hip to his groin. “You know you’ve got a matching one on each side?”

The observation was like a bucket of cold water thrown in Lars’s face. This was supposed to be a temporary diversion, a fling. Why did it feel like he was in danger of letting it become more?

“Don’t say it.” Owen’s tone was flat. “I can see you thinking it.”

Lars couldn’t stop the words. “This can’t keep happening.”

Owen growled and flung himself off the bed. “Then leave. There’s the door.”

I don’t want to go
. “I’m not gay, Owen. This was supposed to be a short-term thing.”

The words might have carried more meaning had Lars been able to dampen the appreciation in his gaze when he drank in the sight of Owen crossing his arms over his chest. Looking at his lover’s naked body was enough to make Lars want to push Owen back to the bed and beg to have Owen’s cock sink deep into his ass another time.

“I’m not gay either, you stubborn jackass,” Owen ground out. “Bring me the right woman, and I’ll fuck her all night.”

Oddly enough, the mental image was a strong turn-on. Lars wondered what it’d be like to watch Owen spread a woman’s thighs and penetrate her slick pussy while Lars feasted on her full, round breasts. His active imagination began fleshing out details: tousled dark hair, creamy skin, and a lush body built for giving and receiving pleasure.

Mattie—

Lars locked down his thoughts. He couldn’t bring Mattie into the bedroom with him and Owen. It was wrong.

Owen’s voice softened. “Who were you thinking of just then?”

“No one.”

Owen’s dark gaze narrowed. “Bullshit.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Lars freed himself from the tangle of sheets. “I have responsibilities. Expectations to meet that are outside my control.”

The disappointment in Owen’s sigh felt like a gut kick to Lars. “Someday you’re going to have to stop defining yourself based on gender. You want to fuck a woman? Fine.” Owen’s expression shuttered completely. “But you cannot make me believe you could live the rest of your life without the kind of pleasure we give each other.”

A stab of guilt hit Lars in a place that could’ve been called a heart in someone else. “Owen, I—”

Owen held up his hand. “I’m not saying it has to be me. I can’t lug around this emotional baggage for you. The touchy-feely shit is not my thing.” Owen turned away and headed for the bathroom. He paused in the doorway without glancing back. “If you ever get your issues figured out, look me up. Otherwise, stay the fuck out.”

Lars watched the door close and wondered why he felt so utterly wrung out. He should be relieved. Owen had just taken the indecision out of their parting, right?

So why don’t I feel better?

Chapter Two

Owen turned the shower on full blast so he wouldn’t have to hear Lars slam the door on his way out. Owen should’ve been glad to see the last of his most recent lover. The past few months had been like a roller coaster. The kind that went up and down and never seemed to end.

The way the man waffled about his sexuality made Owen crazy. Why couldn’t Lars understand that it didn’t matter if they were both men? They fucked. It was highly enjoyable. Ergo, why stop? It wasn’t as if Owen had a desire to go pick out wedding china or something.

As if that’s ever going to happen for me.

Owen didn’t want to think about the sins he’d committed that would always stand between him and a normal relationship. Steam billowed around the small bathroom, fogging up the mirror and chasing away the specter of past violence that haunted him still. Owen walked into the spray and savored the burn. He closed his eyes and felt the water saturate his thick hair. Bracing his hand against the tile wall, he let the water wash away the sweat and scent of sex. At that moment, he wished it were possible to wash the memory of Lars away as easily.

A loud knocking pulled Owen out of his maudlin thoughts. There was only one person in the world who had the brass to bang on his door like that. He shut the water off and grabbed a towel before stepping out of the shower.

Another round of insistent pounding made him grumble, “I’m coming!” He anchored the towel a little more firmly around his waist. “It’s no wonder Malachi enjoys spanking your ass so much if you make a habit of being this rude!”

He caught the barest hint of a smothered noise of feminine outrage on the other side of his thick door. That made him smile. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but messing with Selena Aasen gave him intense pleasure. It was probably because she was always guaranteed to rise to the bait, and maybe because she’d managed to permanently snag both of his bosses. Of course, he also liked her—not that he’d ever tell her that.

Owen flung the door open and gave the slim blonde his meanest look. “What do you want?”

She didn’t even flinch. “Where’s Lars?”

Owen mentally recoiled. Lars was Selena’s cousin, but the way Lars seemed to hate himself every time he wound up in Owen’s bed hadn’t suggested he’d be free with information about their clandestine relationship.

“Come on, Owen.” Selena folded her arms and gave him the stink eye. It was an expression that turned the massive Malachi into putty, but Owen wasn’t Malachi.

He decided to be blunt. “Lars left about a half hour ago.”

“Dammit!” Her fierce expression dissolved into a look of worry he’d never seen before. “He’s not answering his phone. I figured that meant he was with you.”

Owen opted to let that pass. “Why? Did you need him?”

“No…it’s just”—she seemed to reconsider him—“my friend Mattie is stuck having a meeting with a total douche bag later on, and I was going to send Lars to keep an eye on her.”

“Why Lars?” Owen’s mental radar was a blaring siren in his head. Surely Selena wouldn’t send Lars to babysit a woman he didn’t know. What if this Mattie chick was the person Lars had refused to talk about earlier?

Selena looked uncomfortable. “It’s no big. I’ll just ask Demon to shadow her for a bit.”

Yeah, that’ll go over like a ton of bricks.

The Demon of Triptych didn’t shadow anyone but Selena, Malachi, or their daughter, Alisa. Demon leaving his family to take on a security detail for some random chick wasn’t going to happen.

“I’ll do it,” Owen offered.

“Oh.” She suddenly became very interested in her manicure. “I’d hate to send someone she doesn’t know. That would just creep her out more, don’t you think?”

“And she knows Lars, how?”

“Well they…”

He had her now, and they both knew it. Owen sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m not an idiot, Selena. I’m guessing they were fucking each other at one time or another.”

“I think they broke it off this past summer sometime,” she said hastily. “I’m sure it hasn’t happened since the two of you…uh…”

He couldn’t help it. Owen laughed so hard he nearly lost his towel. “Sheesh! You’re acting like I’m some lovesick girl. We’re hardly a couple, Selena. We fuck and we enjoy it. That’s it.”

She wasn’t laughing. Owen felt his own humor die at the speculative expression on her face. He became instantly aware that she and Lars had grown up as close as brother and sister. What had Lars told his cousin, and how weak would Owen look if he asked about it?

“Artists’ Row in Salem,” Selena said abruptly. “Her name is Mattie English. She’s got a stall on the opposite end from the Lobster Shanty. She’s meeting some guy named Daniel Hyde. I’ll e-mail you the dossier Malachi put together.” She dug her keys out of her pocket and stuffed them into his hand. The pink rhinestone princess crown hanging off the ring looked absurd in his grasp. “Take my car. Mattie gave me this keychain. That should give you a little credibility if you need it.”