Ethan (Alluring Indulgence) (11 page)

A
desperate growl tore from his chest but somehow he managed to keep his feet
planted on the floor, his hands on the wall and a few scant inches between
their bodies as Ethan’s head tilted ever so slowly, the kiss pulling Beau
under.

Lord
help him. It was too much. Just the softness of Ethan’s lips against his own
was so wonderful, Beau had to remember to breathe.

When
Ethan licked the seam of his lips, inviting Beau into a much deeper kiss, he
felt his heart pound against his ribs.
Oh God
. A second later, they were
lost to one another, their mouths the only part of their bodies touching, their
tongues on a tentative exploration. Beau’s entire body was hard.

The
urgent moan that vibrated from Ethan’s throat had Beau pulling back. Before he
could get too far away, he found himself flush against Ethan, solid arms
wrapped around his body, pulling him closer.

Panic
streaked through him. He’d never felt anything like the intense awareness pulsing
through his veins. Never.

The
gentle press of Ethan’s smooth, warm lips had turned into a maelstrom of
desperation, an eagerness to get closer all but consuming him. When Ethan’s
determined fingers dug into the muscles of his back, Beau knew he was about to
be pushed too far. This was more than he could handle, more than he could deny
himself.

Beau
remembered his need to keep his hands off of Ethan the night before. The only
thing he could come up with to ensure he didn’t push Ethan too fast. He’d waited
for this moment for so long. Too long.

Gently
pulling back, Beau cupped Ethan’s face in his hands, the coarse bristle of his
stubble scraping against his fingertips while he visually grazed every
beautiful inch of Ethan’s face. From his lips, which were red from their kiss,
to the storm clouds brewing in his intense gaze. The man stole his breath and
all of his common sense.

Ethan
seemed to be waiting for him to do something, but Beau was at a loss. He didn’t
know what to do or say. He just wanted more of this man. His taste. His warmth.
His passion.

Crushing
his mouth to Ethan’s, Beau let go. He aligned his body wholly with Ethan’s,
chest to chest, thigh to thigh, pushing him into the wall as he sought his
touch along every part of him.

Ethan’s
incredible hands returned to his back, gripping him, trying to pull him even
closer as the kiss ignited into something so powerful, Beau wasn’t sure either
one of them would survive it. Sliding his fingers into Ethan’s hair, Beau
controlled the kiss, tilting Ethan’s head slightly so he could thrust his
tongue deeper, the point where their tongues touched like an open electrical
connection that was linked to every nerve ending in his entire body.

Just
when he thought he couldn’t handle anymore, Ethan’s hands drifted down his back
and then gripped his ass purposefully, pulling him forward, their cocks
grinding against one another through the confining denim that separated them.
Even that was more than Beau had ever imagined it could be.

He
was panting, hardly able to keep his mouth against Ethan’s as the pleasure
intensified, his body morphing from a series of nerve endings to one giant
cluster of sensation.

“Oh,
God,” he moaned against Ethan’s mouth, unable to stop himself. “So good.”

Ethan
seemed to be spurred on by Beau’s words as he gyrated his hips, causing the
friction along Beau’s cock to increase. If Ethan kept it up, Beau was going to
lose it. Right here.

Breaking
the hold Ethan had on him, Beau backed up, separating their bodies entirely as
he sucked air into his lungs. He stared back at Ethan for long seconds, the
panic rising up inside of him. This feeling… it was so foreign to him, he
wasn’t sure his body could handle that type of pleasure.

To
think he’d spent his entire life forcing himself to be someone he wasn’t… And
now – after so many years wasted on a pursuit of happiness that was going in
the wrong direction – he was finding out that this was what he had denied
himself. His physical reaction to Ethan was so unlike anything he’d ever felt
before. It made every other encounter seem mediocre, and here he was,
completely dressed, staring into the most mesmerizing eyes he had ever seen.

As
though Ethan was shocked back into reality, his body tensed, and he took a step
to the side, but before he could put that emotional gap between them once more,
Beau moved closer. Suddenly scared that Ethan would withdraw and Beau would
never find this again, he forced him against the wall. Another tortured groan
rose up from his chest.

“This…”
Beau began. Paused. Swallowed. “Sorry.” He tried to collect his thoughts.

“No,
I’m the one who should be sorry,” Ethan said quietly.

Beau
cupped his face once more, far gentler than he thought himself capable. “No.
Wait. I’m not sorry about that.” Beau studied him momentarily. “You better not
be either.” His breaths were still labored, his body still rock hard. “It’s
just… I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Ethan’s
eyes widened, his mouth opening slightly and Beau was instantly on him,
pressing his mouth securely to his luscious lips, his tongue seeking the
incendiary spark that had lit him up from the inside out.

It
wasn’t until the song on the radio changed again that Beau pulled his lips from
Ethan’s. He didn’t move away, just stared down at him. “Are you seriously
listening to this?”

Ethan
seemed confused for a moment, but then the sexiest grin Beau had ever seen
tipped the very edges of his kissable lips.

“What?
Don’t like my music?” Ethan asked breathlessly.

“I
just wasn’t sure it was possible for two Walkers to have such… interesting
taste in music. I’m not sure whose is more out there, yours or Zane’s.” Beau’s
heart beat with the rhythm of the music.

When
Ethan glared at him in mock anger, Beau lowered his voice and said, “And just
to make something perfectly clear… I like every single thing about you, E.”
With that, he let Ethan go, feeling as though he’d given away too much of
himself in that one statement.

As
Don’t Drop That Thun Thun
by Finatticz thumped through the shop, Beau
turned away.

He
didn’t make it very far before Ethan was up against his back, his iron hard
cock pressing against his ass and nearly making his knees fall out from under
him. Thick arms wrapped around him from behind, Ethan’s palms flattening
against his chest as his lips came down to the sensitive skin just beneath his
left ear.

Beau
sucked in a breath. If he didn’t know better, he would swear that was the
moment he fell in love with Ethan Walker.

♂♂

Ethan
was holding Beau for all he was worth, and he didn’t want to let him go.

Not
that he would let him know that.

For
some reason, he didn’t want to stop touching him. Had they been somewhere
private, somewhere they didn’t risk any sort of interruption, Ethan would’ve
pushed Beau further. Gotten even closer. Held on longer.

Somewhere
in the deep, dark recesses of his mind, Ethan knew there was something he was
forgetting. He was pretty sure it had something to do with the distance he’d
been hell-bent on maintaining. However, there was something about Beau’s
hesitance that had rattled him. An innocence maybe. Or maybe he was just caught
up in Beau’s reaction. He seemed genuinely floored by what was happening
between them. Ethan felt it too, and since he had more experience in this area
than Beau, he knew without a doubt that this connection they had established
was rare.

He
would agree whole-heartedly with Beau – what had just happened between them was
unlike anything Ethan had ever felt before. And as far as intimacy goes, they
had merely shared a kiss. Several actually. But those kisses had rocked him to
his very soul. For him, a kiss had never been more than a means to get to the
final encore. Except with Beau. With Beau, a kiss was so much more.

And
now he was holding Beau in place, wanting to beg him not to move. Not to walk
away. As much as he had previously denied his desire for him, Ethan was
immersed in a desperate need that bordered on insanity and holding on was the
only thing that he could do to keep himself from shattering into a million
pieces.

When
Beau’s warm hands came up and flattened against his, Ethan dropped his forehead
against the back of Beau’s neck, relishing the warmth that penetrated him. He
didn’t know if he’d ever felt like this. Not with any man he had been with.
Including Gavin. Although there was an underlying hunger that couldn’t be
ignored, the comfort was what lured him in.

For
the first time in a long time, Ethan felt like he could breathe. As though the
weight that had been resting on his chest, making it difficult to draw air in,
had finally been lifted. Not only was it an amazing feeling, it also scared the
shit out of him.

“Can
we get out of here for a little while?” Beau asked, breaking the silence.

The
question surprised him. The idea of being somewhere alone with Beau, for even a
little while like last night, was the most appealing offer he’d had in quite
some time. Ethan lifted his head and released Beau, waiting until he turned to
face him. “What did you have in mind?”

Ethan
watched Beau’s throat work, his Adam’s apple sliding sensually down and then
back up as he swallowed hard.

“Somewhere…
I don’t know. Somewhere private, maybe.”

Now
it was Ethan’s turn to swallow around the lust that had tried to escape as soon
as Beau said the words. Not wanting to risk what might come out of his mouth,
Ethan nodded his head.

Grabbing
his keys from the small office, Ethan followed Beau to the door, his heart
picking up a strange pounding rhythm that he felt as well as heard.

Once
they were outside, Ethan turned to lock the door only to be stopped when he remembered
the toolbox still sitting on the flatbed wrecker. He’d left it on the truck the
night before, only because he had completely forgotten it was there, what with
all of the evading Beau he’d been doing during the day.

“Think
we should get the toolbox down first?”

“How
about we just drive the wrecker inside?” Beau suggested.

Good
idea. With one of the heavy duty bays empty, the wrecker would easily pull
inside without a problem. Reversing his direction, Ethan went back inside to
grab the wrecker keys and tossed them to Beau while he went to the controls
that would open the bay door.

Several
minutes later, Beau had the wrecker pulled inside, and Ethan closed the door
behind him. Both anxious and nervous, he turned to face Beau, wondering if
things had changed in the last few minutes. Had Beau come to his senses? Ethan
damn sure hadn’t, but he’d realized when it came to Beau, he didn’t think
clearly most of the time anyway.

“You
still looking to get out of here?” Ethan asked, trying to remind himself that
this was Beau’s idea. Not his.

Beau’s
devilish grin sent sparks shooting through his veins. “Yeah.”

“What
did you have in mind, Bennett?” he asked, trying to sound more confident than
he felt. The intense craving that burned like a roaring fire threatened to drop
him to the floor any second, and he seriously needed to get his mind on
something else quickly, or he’d run the risk of thinking this through.

Just
when Beau was going to say something, the sound of tires on gravel brought
Ethan’s attention up short. There, with the absolute worst fucking timing in
the world, was Zane, hauling ass toward them like the cops were on his ass.

Once
the truck skidded to a halt, Zane climbed out, approaching them with a
mischievous grin on his face.

“What’s
up? Y’all taking a vacation or what?”

Something
like that
, Ethan thought to himself but didn’t say a word.

“Did
you get your stuff from Dillinger’s yesterday?” Zane asked Beau.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks,
by the way, for helping with that,” Zane said to Ethan before turning his
attention back to Beau. “I would’ve come, but I was due for my weekly ass
ripping from Travis.”

Beau
laughed, but to Ethan’s ears, it sounded strangled. Like he wasn’t comfortable.

Beau
nodded to Ethan. “He came to the rescue.”

Ethan
watched the interaction between Beau and Zane. For as long as the two of them
had been friends, practically able to complete the other’s sentence, today their
easy camaraderie seemed slightly off. He couldn’t help but wonder whether that
was because he was there or if it was something he just hadn’t picked up on
lately.

“Where’re
you two off to?” Zane asked, glancing down at his watch.

“Nowhere,”
Beau said hurriedly.

Well,
there was his answer. Beau obviously didn’t want Zane to know what was going on
here. Ethan should’ve been relieved because he damn sure didn’t want his
brothers – or anyone for that matter – in his business. The reminder that Beau
was just now experimenting with the part of himself that he recently discovered
was a slap to the face as well.

And
an enormous reminder that Ethan was getting into something he would likely
regret in the future.

Without
giving it another thought, Ethan turned around and unlocked the office door.
Returning to work was his only option at this point. He didn’t want to see
Beau. Didn’t want to think about what had just happened between them or what he
wanted to happen between them. And it wasn’t like Ethan wanted his brother to
know that he lusted after Beau anyway.

What
the fuck was wrong with him?

For
half a second, he’d actually embraced who he was, not caring whether he hid
himself from view or not.

Fuck.

Beau
was getting to him. In ways Ethan wasn’t ready to embrace. And Ethan knew he
should just be grateful that Zane’s horrible timing might’ve just saved him
from a world of heartache that he wasn’t at all ready to experience.

♂♂

Beau
watched Ethan disappear inside the shop, but he didn’t make a move to go after
him. Not with Zane standing just a couple of feet away.

“What’s
going on?” Zane asked, clearly picking up on the tension.

“Nothing,”
Beau said, obviously too abruptly because Zane’s dark eyebrows launched up
toward his hairline as he looked back at him skeptically.

The
heavy duty bay door opened, revealing the wrecker and his toolbox still
strapped down. “You keeping that here?”

“For
now. I didn’t have anywhere else to store it.” Beau wasn’t sure whether Ethan
was still going to let him work for him, so he tried to sound as nonchalant as
he could.

“You
could’ve called me,” Zane told him.

“I
tried.”

As
though he didn’t believe him, Zane grabbed his phone, thumbing through the
screens. “Sorry, at that point, I was probably trying to dislodge Travis’ boot
from my ass. It wasn’t pretty, and the rest of the day sucked ass,” Zane
answered with a frown. Glancing over at the truck and then back to him, Zane
asked, “Need help getting that down?”

No.
“Yeah.”

Beau
fell into step with Zane, trying to pretend that nothing had happened between
him and Ethan. It wasn’t like he had to try hard since Ethan had managed to
disappear entirely. Looking around as he moved to the control panel on the
wrecker, Beau finally spotted Ethan when he walked around the side of the
truck. Ethan’s muscled legs were sticking out from beneath one of the Walker
Demo trucks parked inside.

“What
happened at Dillinger’s?” Zane asked as he climbed up onto the truck to work on
getting the tie straps unhooked from the bed.

“Work
slowed down. They let me go.”

Beau
certainly didn’t want to let Zane know that he’d nearly ripped Ricky’s head off
because the guy was a spineless dickhead.

“What
the hell are they gonna do now?” Zane asked, the exasperation evident in his
statement. “It ain’t like Ricky’s gonna pick up the slack.”

“Who
knows,” he answered easily. “Ralph said Ricky wasn’t working because he didn’t
have anything to do.”

“
Riiiiggghhht
.
And I hear right now there’re subzero temps in hell.”

Beau
laughed. That’s what he loved about Zane. They’d been friends for so long, and
the conversations were easy between them. Even if Beau wasn’t big on talking to
most people, he found he could talk to Zane. Hell, he’d even managed to
confront Zane after they had…

Shit.
Beau
didn’t want to think about that. Not right now. Not with Ethan just a few feet
away.

Making
his way around to the rear of the wrecker, Beau gently nudged Ethan’s foot as
he passed him by, wanting desperately to regain that connection they’d shared
just a little while ago. He knew Ethan didn’t want his brothers knowing his
business, but Beau was at a point in his life, he was tired of pretending to be
someone he wasn’t.

If
there was even the remote possibility that he would find what others around him
had been finding lately, Beau didn’t give a shit what other people thought of
him. And he knew that Zane would support him. At least he’d like to think he would.
The only issue he could imagine Zane having would be if Beau went and fell in
love with his brother. And it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that
Beau fell in love with a man.

He
knew Zane loved his brother, but Zane had made the comment that he thought
Ethan was a player. That he was cold. Beau knew better. Sure, from the outside
looking in, that’s the picture Ethan painted for everyone else, but in recent
days, Beau had noticed a different side to Ethan. One that he knew most people
never had the opportunity to see. Even his own family.

Beau
and Zane made quick work of getting the toolbox down from the truck. After
pushing it over into one of the far corners and out of the way, Beau relocated
the wrecker back to its parking spot outside. When he returned, he found Zane
crouching down at Ethan’s side, a disturbing scowl on his face.

Before
they realized he was back, Beau eased outside again, listening to the
conversation that seemed to be escalating at a rapid pace.

“Mind
your own fucking business,” Ethan growled, the sound of the backboard he used
to ease under the trucks rolling across the concrete floor.

“He
is
my business,” Zane disputed.

“You
don’t even know what the fuck you’re talking about,” Ethan bit out, his voice
sounding louder. Beau figured he was probably standing face to face with Zane
right about then, but he had backed up just enough that he couldn’t see inside.

“Look,
I don’t give a damn what you do, or what Beau does for that matter, but I do
fucking care if you’re playing with him.”

The
silence that followed Zane’s statement was deafening.

“Back
the fuck off,” Ethan finally said, his words low and intimidating.

“I
plan to. But, I’m serious, E. Don’t fucking hurt him.”

The
sound of boots scuffling on concrete echoed in the shop and Beau turned the
corner just in time to come face to face with a scowling Zane.

“Everything
ok?” he asked, trying to act as though he hadn’t heard what they’d just said.

Zane
smiled, a gesture that seemed incredibly forced. “Good. I’ve got to run some
errands. You want to meet up at Moonshiners later tonight for a beer?”

Beau
managed to keep from looking over at Ethan, but he wasn’t sure how. “Let me get
back to you on that. I’ve got to take care of something this afternoon.”