His hand lay across my stomach as he slept soundly. I entwined my fingers with his and breathed through the warmth that seeped through my chest. Such a simple, sweet thing to do, yet holding hands in bed was incredibly intimate.

Michael scrambled around again and kissed James’s lips and cheeks in brief, silly pecks.“Breakfast?”“You offering or ordering?” James grumbled.“I’m offering to cook if you’re offering up the groceries. Do you have eggs?”“No, I have sperm. What the hell do they teach you in school these days?”Michael giggled. “Chicken eggs, wise ass. In your refrigerator.

I love you. The words reverberated between them, sinking into their skin, scored onto their hearts as they staked their claims to each other’s bodies, surrendering themselves and possessing each other, a tangle of limbs and lust and love, coiled together into one perfect unit, one small miracle, one simple story that has been told and retold since the beginning of time: just two people meeting, the most extraordinary and wondrous and mundane thing in the world.

Love. He recoiled from the very idea. He knew all about love: love was following his best friend around school like a lost puppy, putting up with all manner of shit just to be near him. Love was sobbing himself to sleep night after endless night because the guy who’d taken his virginity hadn’t called him back. Love was a thousand shattered dreams and a flood of memories that made him cringe. Love could fuck off.

Have you ever been so blindsided by a kiss you had to hold on for dear life to avoid toppling over like a sapling in a fierce storm? Yeah, me either. This was a first. It was no ordinary kiss. This felt like a revelation. Like a thunderclap accompanied by the soulful voices of a Greek chorus.

When I opened the door, Andrew was standing there like a remedy for heart palpitations. Or maybe he made them worse. It was hard to tell.

And without my consent, with my defences in ruins, while my brain was sleeping, my stupid heart went and fell headfirst into love.

My last thought before falling asleep last night was a realisation that I was falling in love with Andrew. Well, not me exactly. My stupid, traitorous heart.

I think he won a tiny piece of my heart that day. If he didn't have the whole damn thing before then, he certainly had part of it now.

I kissed him softly and left my lips pressed to his for a few beats of my heart.

Gerry reached up to smooth a bit of that snowy mane. The strands slipped through his fingers like silk to reveal a witch's mark, a spiral of olive-green stones that seemed to be a part of Ghost’s very forehead, shining against the translucent skin. Gerry had seen such marks before, peculiar glyphs burned into a witch's skin in vibrant jewel-tone inks to offer protection or enhance their power, or so the witches claimed. This was the first time he had seen actual jewels used, though. He thought it was beautiful, exotic like all of Ghost, with that white hair and those ice blue eyes. Gerry returned to admiring the peaceful face resting on his shoulder.

I was calling you earlier when your name and number flashed up on my cell’s screen. But instead of it being you, it was Chris.”“You still have my number programed into your phone?

My cock actually sort of staggers like a punch-drunk boxer who doesn’t know when to stay down.

Touch me. Kiss me. I want you. I’ve never done it just for my pleasure, just for fun.

Eager?” “Just a little,” I breathed.

Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.

Do you remember how your mom would wrap the presents so well it’d take at least five minutes to find where you could rip the paper?”I snorted. “Yes, and they were wrapped so much it was like unwrapping a hundred packages from morning ‘til lunch. It was Mom’s way of extending Christmas.”“I loved that—it always built the excitement. Just when you thought you had it, you had to unroll it. I miss her—she was like a second mother to me.

I'm surprised I could actually talk with how much I was grinning.

I knew,” he breathed, pressing his forehead to mine, “when I developed a crush on you.” My eyes flashed open. “But we drifted apart,” I whispered.He shook his head. “I was scared of how you’d react, that my feelings would complicate things, ruin our friendship. That is why we didn’t hang out much as we got older. We didn’t drift apart. I pushed you away.

I think you're something wonderful.

I glanced back to Yanni to see him smiling at us. "You two can stop being so cute now." "Well, Spencer can," Andrew deadpanned. "I, unfortunately, am cute all the time." I laughed. "It's true. He is.

Hmm, do you mind if I put out your fire then?” I brushed his earlobe with my upper lip.

Sometimes, I just want to be comforted—I don’t want to be or appear to be stronger than I am.

You’re scared of sharing me in case you lose me?” - Adan

Ghost shook his head as he sat on the very edge of the bed, poised to take flight if need be. The spiral under his hair felt warm, almost painful, but he resisted the urge to rub it. It never helped when he did, and he was not sure what Gerry would do if the man saw it. The Witch had a symbol she called a triskele, the ink a vivid scarlet still, but no male that had ever come for healing bore a mark like hers, or like his. He had never found the words to ask the Witch about it, about why he was marked like a witch.

I wanna hear you say my name when you come. Just so you know who made you feel like this." - Mitch Knox

Telling me your name wouldn’t kill you.Did you hear me tell you my name’s Mitch? I’d really like to hear you use it when I’m fucking you later.

The minute that guy walked inside the front doors, Cody sat back and just stared. He was tall, dark, and exceedingly handsome with all that brawn and a killer smile. When he’d come to the bar and focused on Cody, training those amber eyes his way, Cody hardened to painful degrees. It had taken everything to keep himself nonchalant because that same man who currently rubbed about seventy-five percent of his body against Cody was his wet dream walking. Someone that could make him lose his mind and quite possibly his morals just to get a single taste.

Honestly, he blamed Jace and Colt for that little nagging feeling in his heart that insisted something was missing. Was he lonely? Hell, he didn’t know.

Have a drink, Coughffles.” “Stop it with the names!” I laughed and coughed.

He disowned me,” I murmured. “Kicked me out and told me to come back when I changed my choice.”“He seriously used those words? That it was a choice?”I nodded. “You can’t change it. Your sexuality is like your DNA. You can’t cut off your finger so it’s no longer there, because it is you. You’re born with it—you just discover it when you mature.

Ouch. What is that?”“Water, you wimp.” Humor colored his tone and when I looked up, he was smirking again, but this time it was different. He was beaming, radiating—like he used to.

I’ll see you later,” I murmured.“Yeah.” Our foreheads pressed together. Our lips lingered half an inch apart. Thin ropes of dark hair hung over his forehead as sweat glistened across his face in the streetlights. “Love you.”“Love you more,” he murmured.

A smile curved the corners of his mouth under the dust-and soot-covered visor. “You’re crying? I answered his question with my tear-stricken gaze.“I’m not going anywhere.” He reached his hand out and I grasped it tightly.

I’m not leaving him, Sam! And I’m not waiting for the others to help.

Jamie Canning was my first crush and my first love. But he was never mine to have.

I guess I might be bi-curious," Ben said quietly.""What?""I said I could be sorta bi-curious," Ben said loudly. "That's someone who is fundamentally straight but is curious about sex with

Joshua tried to find the right words to explain how things were--how they'd always been. "It's like... prairie dogs."Ben quirked an eyebrow at him."You see the holes. 'N' you know the dogs are around, even if you don't see the dogs themselves.""What the hell are you talkin' about?""Gay. Cowboys. They're there. Like a lot of single cowboys, they go into Billings once a month, only they ain't there so see women. There's no point in flingin' yourself around in public, 's all.

Two guys jumped us on the way to get food," Cameron answered. "Ty is like... a ninja on crack. He beat them up pretty spectacularly. Then we stole with their car.

The young girl giggled again and Jake shook his head in amazement. Not only was the U.S. dark operative cooking pancakes, but it seemed he'd won over the timid teenager in no time flat."I've been entertaining this pretty girl with my vast repertoire of daring and heroic adventures from around the globe."Jake snorted as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out the container of orange juice. "You sound like Blackbeard the pirate. Don't believe a word he says, Alyssa. He's actually Insurance salesman and lies like a rug.""An Insurance salesman?" She narrowed her eyes at Carter as he flipped three pancackes off the electric griddle sitting on the island and onto a plate for her. "I knew you were conning me," she chastised, then rolled her eyes toward Jake. "He said he was a government spy, like James Bond."After filling a glass, Jake smirked at his friend who shrugged his shoulders and gave the girl a sad puppy-dog expression. "Who are you going to believe, me or Jake from State Farm?

Men did not touch each other as Karadur touched this man unless they were lovers. But there was more between them, a connection, a feeling that was present even when they sat apart.

I want to eat you alive, he wanted to say. I want to sink into you and stay. God, how did this happen so fast? He was dizzy with it, with Jake's passion, his laugh, his growl, the deep brown eyes that darkened with hunger when they looked at him. Brandon shivered and wrapped his arms around Jake's neck to hold on tight.

Does it bother you when you see Daddy kissing Josh?” he asked.Ty shook his head and made a funny face. “No, not really. I guess you really like him a lot.”“I do,” Rex agreed. “I love Josh.”“I love Josh too, and so I don’t care if you kiss him. But I thought boys only kissed girls.”Rex nodded. “Yeah, well, that’s how it is most of the time, but you know some boys kiss other boys and some girls kiss other girls.”“Well, I don’t wanna kiss no girls!” Ty said emphatically.Rex and Josh both laughed. “Maybe someday you will, though. If you do, that’s fine, and if you don’t, that’s fine too. For right now, you can just kiss Daddy.” He leaned in and kissed Ty on the forehead.

Gee, you don’t sugarcoat things, do you?” “At least if I’m at a club, I won’t have you pressuring me.”“No, you’ll have heaps of strangers instead.

Colt, you’re going to be a nurse, not a cop. If anything happens, I’ll pay the fines for you.”“Still don’t need it.”“Why?” She paused for a moment, thinking. “Because you’re still trying to get into Daddy’s good books?”“Shut up,” I muttered, blowing my frustrations into another balloon—it grew between my palms. This had nothing to do with my father.“From what you’ve told me of the guy, he’s a jerking dick, Colt. I don’t know why you’re seeking his approval.

Michael looked embarrassed. “No, I don’t really… I mean in real life, I don’t do that. I read BDSM once in a while, but honestly, I prefer the sweeter romances.”“Sure. I believe you. Bondage Ben.”“Stop it.” Michael laughed.“Cracky McCracken.” James flicked an invisible whip.“I am not! I’m more like Nick Normal.”“Nipple Clamp Ned.”“Vince Vanilla.”James gave him a dubious look and snorted. “I doubt that very much.”Michael shrugged with an evil little smile. “Well, maybe not entirely vanilla.

It’s not funny. How would you like it if your balls fled in fear? My balls haven’t been this frightened since I dove into the icy water at the Polar Bear Plunge my first year of high school.