Found at the Library (13 page)

“But...” Mac began, but Tommy placed a finger to his lips.

“I score high on my comprehension levels, but if I read aloud, I get about every third word completely wrong. It’s a struggle. I will never enjoy reading a book. It’s simply too much work when I can listen to an audiobook and understand it completely. It’s okay. I’m okay with that. But that’s where this comes in.” Tommy waved his hands at the rows and rows of all those beautiful books.

“I’ve always loved stories. My mom read them aloud to me from the time I was born all the way through high school. I love the escape, the new worlds, and the ability to live someone else’s life. But books were always that thing just out of my reach, so I created another way to appreciate them and show my love for them.”

Tommy stood up and walked over to one of the shelves. “I may not be able to enjoy a book the same way that you do, Mac, but I do love them. I love that you write them. And I love being able to listen to them. But my favorite thing in this world is to take those words and create a visual representation of what’s being said in the book. For people like me, that’s a way to connect. If I can get one person to connect who wouldn’t otherwise, I can die a happy man. That’s all I want to do. Can you understand that?”

Mac nodded. “I do—” His voice broke, so he stopped and looked away for a moment to gather himself. Then he walked over to Tommy and cupped his cheek with his hand. “I do understand exactly what you’re saying. And fuck, I am so sorry that I behaved like such an egotistical jerk that first day when we met. I had no idea, but that’s no excuse. What you do is amazing, and beautiful, and so fucking admirable. You’re one incredible man, Thomas Garrett, and I’m so glad to have you in my life. Can you ever forgive me for being such an ass?”

Tommy smiled and shook his head. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

He kissed Mac, a long and languorous kiss, but pulled away when Mac began to tug at his shirttail.

“But
I
can’t be forgiven if you miss your deadline because you’re messing around with me. That’s not why I’m here tonight. Tonight was about giving you a break and making sure you don’t starve to death while you create brilliance on the page.”

“Brilliance on the page, huh?” Mac raised a flirty eyebrow. “I may have to get you a job writing copy for my PR department.”

“Hey, I’m slowly listening to all your books. You’re pretty good. If you keep at it, you may have a future in this writing gig thing.”

“Ooh, right to the gut.” Mac winced like he’d been stabbed. “You really know how to humble a guy.” He reached over and hooked his fingers into the waistband of Tommy’s jeans. “But I think I need to hear more. You’ve been listening to the audio versions of my books.”

Tommy nodded and tried to hide his smile. “I have, and I’ve been tempted to go all fan-boy on you. They’re good, Mac. Really good and this is coming from someone who doesn’t normally like sci fi. I’ve been dying to ask what you’re working on, but I won’t push. At least not tonight, because I’ve already taken up too much time, and you need to get back to work.”

“Have you been talking to Emily?”

“I don’t know Emily,” Tommy said with a laugh.

“She’s my agent, and she’s in a panic over this deadline. She had to go home to Texas so she hasn’t been able to harass me lately. I thought she might have sent you in her stead.”

“Nope, this is just me. But I know you have work to do. We’ll have lots of time after you turn your book in. But only after.” He wouldn’t let this relationship become something that Mac would grow to resent because Tommy expected him to put work aside. Tommy understood demands and deadlines and how hectic they could become in the creative process.

“Okay,” Mac said on a sigh. “I guess that gives me good incentive to keep at it. Hey, I have an idea. Sometimes it helps with my word flow to work somewhere else. Do you think maybe I could come over to the studio and do some work there while you create?”

“Seriously?” Tommy looked around the opulent setting and considered the cramped quarters of his loft and studio. They worked for him, but didn’t compare to this.

At Mac’s hopeful nod, Tommy grinned. “I guess so. I’ve never worked with someone writing beside me. Maybe that will be conducive to both of us being more creative.”

“Together. I like that.” Mac leaned up and licked under the scruff of Tommy’s chin.

He could really come to like this arrangement, too.

Chapter Eight

Creation can be a fickle beast.

Some days everything works out perfectly and some days you’re just filling up the landfill.

-Observations from Tommy

Mac typed and surreptitiously watched Tommy sketch out a new piece. This was the third day Mac had spent working at Tommy’s studio, and he’d thought it had been working well for both of them, but now he wondered. For some reason, Tommy seemed really tense tonight, and Mac had no idea why.

From what he’d seen, there hadn’t been any obvious problems in the store today. Mac had worked on his laptop in the back corner of the studio area. It gave him enough separation from the store that he could maintain his concentration, but he got a sense of what happened in Tommy’s day. No one had been more surprised than him at how effortlessly they fell into one another’s lives. Maybe it had been too easy and that’s why Tommy seemed tense tonight. Had Mac worn out his welcome?

Typecast had closed over an hour ago, and Tommy had been almost mute ever since. He usually tried to have dinner with his brother, Ryder, but tonight, he’d made no move to leave. Mac never went with him, but from what he understood, things were going better for the young man.

Tommy stared off into space, lost in thought. Mac approached him, but Tommy didn’t seem to even notice. He gently laid his hand on Tommy’s shoulder, but Tommy jumped from that light touch.

“Sorry,” Tommy mumbled with a wary glance at Mac.

“S’okay. What’s wrong?”

Tommy frowned and gazed down blindly at the book he was working on with a shake of his head. “Nothing. Sorry, I know I’m not very good company.”

“You’re fine.” He rubbed across Tommy’s shoulders and the knots of tension there. “I don’t mind quiet unless there’s something bothering you. Am I spending too much time here?” Mac had worried about invading Tommy’s space that first day, but he’d seemed genuinely pleased to have Mac here. But maybe that had changed.

“No.” Tommy swung around, grabbed Mac by the belt loops, and tugged. “I’ve loved having you here. You’re the one good thing about this year.” Tommy frowned at the lit Christmas tree in the corner of the darkened shop. “It’s the holidays. They’re always stressful anyway, but this year...” Tommy’s throat convulsed. “It’s just hard.”

Why hadn’t Mac seen it before? Of course these holidays would be tough for him. His mom had died this year and his brother would be spending the holidays inside a mental institution. As far as family went, Tommy was all alone. But Mac was here now.

Mac couldn’t change any of those things, but maybe he could help release some of Tommy’s stress. He ran his hand up Tommy’s chest. “I’m sorry,” Mac told him. “I wish I could change some of that. But you have me now, and I can help with some of this stress you have going on, I think.” He lifted a flirty eyebrow and licked his lips seductively.

Tommy’s expression changed from desolate to interested in the matter of a heartbeat. “Are you suggesting something naughty, Mr. McIntyre?” Tommy glanced over to the darkened windows at the front of the shop. They hadn’t closed the blinds down tonight so anyone standing in the dark outside would be able to see into the well-lit studio area in the back of the store.

“I most definitely am,” Mac whispered and turned Tommy so he faced toward his work desk. “I want to fuck you right here. No one outside will be able to see anything because there’s too much stuff between the front windows and us, but if anyone stops to look, they’ll know. Can you deal with that?”

Tommy’s breath hitched. “Um, yeah. I think so.” His voice came out shaky, but it was threaded with need that sent blood surging straight to Mac’s cock, pushing against the zipper of his jeans. He thrust his hips against Tommy’s ass, so Tommy knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Oh, fuck,” Tommy moaned as his hips squirmed.

Mac reached around gripped Tommy’s hard cock through his jeans. Tommy hissed in a breath. With his left hand, Mac threaded his fingers under Tommy’s shirt and found a nipple, already peaked with arousal, and pinched it.

Mac ground his dick against Tommy’s ass.

“Wait,” he huffed out, sounding mournful. “We don’t have supplies.”

Mac grinned lightly against Tommy’s back. “I told you I planned to be naughty. Don’t worry. I came prepared.”

“Seriously?” Tommy asked on a laugh.

“What do you expect? I watch you all day, strutting around here in these tight jeans.” He undid the button and unzipped Tommy’s jeans, his cock hot and pulsing under the cotton jersey of his boxer briefs. Under his palm, a drop of moisture wet the fabric. In a smooth motion, Mac pulled both the jeans and briefs down around Tommy’s thighs and kicked his legs apart as far as they would go.

Tommy moaned at the manhandling, but he leaned over the desk, thrusting his bare ass out for Mac. “I thought...” He sucked in a breath when he heard the rasp of Mac’s zipper. “I thought you were supposed to be writing.”

Mac smacked Tommy on the ass and he flinched in surprise, but then pushed back even farther, as if asking for more. Hmm, noted...Tommy liked a bit of domination.

Mac pulled out the condom and lube and set them beside Tommy on the desktop. Tommy glanced at him, his eyes now dark green. Mmm, he did love that little indicator when his man got turned on.

Mac shoved his own jeans and underwear down before pressing his bare cock into the cleft of Tommy’s ass and grabbing Tommy’s dick. “This is going to be hard, fast, and dirty. I want you to look at those windows and imagine all those people standing out there, knowing you’re getting fucked hard like the dirty boy you are.”

Tommy’s shaft jumped within Mac’s grip, nestling Mac’s cock deeper into the crevice of his ass. He would never fuck him without a condom at this stage, but damn, this skin on skin felt amazing. Mac closed his eyes and simply rubbed up and down between Tommy’s cheeks, enjoying the forbidden sensation. Tommy rocked back against him in the most delicious way.

With shaking hands, Mac grabbed the lube packet, opened it, and then began to prep Tommy’s hole. Tommy writhed under him as he inserted one lubed finger and then two. Mac swatted him again. “Be still.”

Tommy whimpered, but stilled.

When Mac worked his third finger into the ring of muscles that were slowly loosening, Tommy begged, “Please, Mac, I want your cock inside me. Fuck me, now.”

Mac brushed his fingers across Tommy’s prostate with his right hand and gripped Tommy’s leaking cock with his left, jacking his hard shaft slowly in time with his fingers. When Tommy balanced right on the edge of orgasm, Mac pulled back and slipped on the condom, adding more lube.

He lined his cock up with Tommy’s hole and then stayed, letting the anticipation and heat build. It would be so easy to slip right in since Tommy was already loosened, but he wanted Tommy even closer to the precipice. His cock pulsed at Tommy’s opening as he teased with tiny thrusts. He bit Tommy’s shoulder, his cock sliding in past the first ring of muscle. That tight heat grasped him. Nothing in the world was better than this sensation...being inside Tommy.

Mac didn’t know who moaned more, him or Tommy, but that little bit of heat and suction was all it took. He pulled back and thrust his hips, driving balls-deep into Tommy’s ass.

“Yes!” Tommy panted. “Harder.”

Mac’s heart pounded, and he did as instructed, but he didn’t have much of a choice. His body was in charge at this point. He pulled back and thrust in. Over and over. The heat built. The pressure built. His need built on a swell of emotion.

Tommy practically sobbed in his arms and kept chanting, “More, more, more,” as he undulated under Mac.

Mac surged into Tommy, his ass clenching at Mac’s length, sucking him deeper. Mac groaned and reached around to take Tommy’s hard-on in hand. He gathered the pre-cum and coated the tip, rolling his hand over the crown, gathering more liquid. Tightening his grip, he stroked that hard shaft again. Burning need crawled across his back, and his balls tightened.

“Those strangers out there, watching you, Tommy. They’re getting so turned on by how damn sexy you are, making those little needy noises. They want to watch you come, Tommy. Are you ready for that?”

“Oh, yes, please. Please,” Tommy begged.

Mac tilted his angle from behind and surged deeper. Tommy screamed as his ass clenched at Mac’s cock. A hot spasm curled up Mac’s groin as Tommy’s cock pulsed. Hot cum splashed into his hand, sending Mac’s orgasm barreling from his balls to shaft. His cock jerked and spasmed as he emptied himself into the condom. Tommy clenched his ass again, sending undulating pleasure throughout Mac’s entire groin.

He collapsed on top of Tommy’s heaving back. They both worked to catch their breaths.

Slowly, Mac came back to himself and pulled out, holding the base of the condom tight. Tommy moaned but didn’t move otherwise.

Mac grabbed a paper towel off Tommy’s work desk and wrapped it around the used condom to toss it in the trash. Then he took another paper towel and quickly cleaned Tommy up. He ran a hand up Tommy’s spine. He wasn’t so sure Tommy hadn’t drifted off to sleep draped over the table. “Are you okay, baby?”

“I think you fucked me into a coma,” Tommy slurred, blearily glancing back at Mac with a satisfied grin.

Mac fastened his jeans and then ran his fingers through the back of Tommy’s hair. “So, you’re saying this relaxation technique works then?”

“Maybe too well,” Tommy demurred. “I don’t think I ever want to move again.”

Tommy looked thoroughly fucked, and Mac loved that look on him. Still draped over the table, Tommy’s jeans and underwear pooled around his thighs. “While I could get use to this kind of access.” He smacked Tommy’s ass, which earned him a dirty scowl. “ I don’t think your customers will think too kindly on it. Besides, I kind of want to keep this fine ass all to myself.”