Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 03 - Of Dark and Bright (4 page)

Fuck, yeah. Evan’s official story was that he worked out as a stress-reliever, but if he was being totally honest, he’d have to admit that
this
was why he worked out, so he could be strong enough to reach down and wrap his hands under Dan’s ass, lift him without excessive strain, and pin his body against the wall with his feet barely touching the floor. Most of the time, Dan was dominant and controlling in bed, but sometimes… sometimes he wasn’t. And Evan always wanted to be prepared for those times.

He caught both of Dan’s wrists, lifted them over their heads, and left one of his own hands up there, pinning Dan’s wrists to the wall. His other hand roamed wherever it wanted to. Down over Dan’s chest, just brushing over the growing hardness beneath his fly, up across his ribs, then back down to slide under the fabric of his shirt. Dan had less body hair than Jeff, just a light dusting on his chest, and his skin was soft and warm. Sometimes, Evan would spend hours on that skin, tracing patterns, kissing and nipping and exploring, but that wasn’t what he was after right now.

He undid Dan’s fly, slipped his hand inside to find the hot skin of Dan’s swelling cock. “I’m going to fuck you,” he said in Dan’s ear.

“Yeah, that’s the idea,” Dan agreed. He seemed totally blasé, and even though Evan knew it was an act, he still felt the challenge. The dare. He tugged at Dan’s jeans, his underwear, struggling to get the fabric out of the way, and he could feel Dan’s lips curve into a grin against his cheek. Evan shifted his head and kissed Dan, hard and demanding, and Dan’s lips curled again. He was happy to be getting to Evan, pleased to be the one who was still calm. Evan wrapped his hand around Dan’s cock, tight, and ran his thumb up into the slit. Dan inhaled sharply, the first crack in his layer of control, and Evan jacked him roughly a few times, his hand confident and strong. He squeezed a little tighter, and Dan’s head rolled back to meet the wall, his neck stretched and exposed. Vulnerable. Beautiful.

Evan kissed Dan’s neck, then brought his hand down to quickly undo his own fly and worked his pants and underwear partway off. He pressed down on Dan’s shoulder. “Get me wet,” he instructed, and he released Dan’s hands. Dan immediately fell to his knees and captured Evan’s cock. Dan’s mouth was perfect, his blowjobs literally staggering, but Evan wasn’t going to let himself enjoy the sensations for long. At least, that was what he thought before Dan kissed the head of his cock, wet and sloppy, and then wrapped his lips around the shaft and eased down, down. He swallowed Evan’s cock with steady determination. Evan was almost too well-endowed, and he’d never found anyone else who could take his full length so easily. He ran his fingers lovingly over Dan’s cheeks, felt the motion beneath the skin as Dan’s tongue worked its magic, soft and then hard, slow rolls mixed with quick flicks. The whole experience was making Evan almost crazy, almost out of control.

But not quite. “Lots of spit,” he managed to say, and when Dan pulled off, he left his mouth loose, leaving a good coating of saliva behind. “Get up here. Turn around.” Dan obeyed, no hesitation, no smart-ass comments, and that was the hottest thing so far. Evan spat on his own fingers, then eased them between Dan’s ass cheeks. Dan canted his hips out, welcoming Evan, and it was almost too much. They’d struggled to get this far, but they’d made it to a place where Dan was comfortable like this, where he trusted Evan. It was a gift, and Evan needed to remember to appreciate it.

He eased his cock into place, worked his way inside, felt the muscles pulsing and then easing around him. He could feel Dan’s body struggling to adjust, could tell when Dan’s brain sent the orders to relax, and he leaned his head forward and kissed the back of Dan’s neck. “You’re perfect,” he murmured, and then he sank the rest of the way in.

His hips started moving of their own accord, and Dan arched to meet every thrust, encouraging Evan to go harder, faster. Evan couldn’t imagine himself ignoring that invitation. He eased one hand under Dan’s shirt and splayed his fingers across Dan’s chest, giving himself more control, and wrapped the other around Dan’s throbbing cock. Dan’s groan was Evan’s reward, made even sweeter when Dan twisted his head around far enough that they could kiss, rough and sloppy. Every thrust of Evan’s body drove the breath out of Dan’s, and Evan found himself trying to inhale at just the right moment, trying to capture the air that had been in Dan’s lungs and bring it into his own. He wanted to be closer, to be joined more tightly and completely than they ever had been.

He also wanted to get off, though, and after a while that took priority. Dan seemed to understand, and he shifted so he was braced on the wall by one arm, bent at the elbow with the forearm crossed in front of his face. That left his other hand free, and he used it to push Evan away from his cock. “Go harder,” he ordered, and Evan straightened his body, braced himself, and complied. Eagerly.

He didn’t last long after that. He tried to hold off, but then Dan came, his body arching and tense, his ass spasming around Evan’s cock, and that was it. Two more rough, shuddering thrusts before he lost control, shooting his seed deep inside Dan’s warm, pliant body.

Evan nuzzled his chin into the crook of Dan’s neck, finding the spot that always made Dan squirm and laugh. “I love you, Danny.”

“You get so fucking sappy after I let you top,” Dan responded, but he didn’t move away. “We should stick a spigot in you, drain it out, and boil up some syrup.”

“If you stick your spigot in me, I wouldn’t be the one topping anymore.”

 

“Nice. You freak.”

“You were the one who wanted to make syrup out of my sappiness,” Evan protested, and he started to ease his body away. He didn’t want to, but they couldn’t stay like that forever. “You’re going to call the lawyer? Tell her to go ahead?”

“Evan, two million dollars….” The post-fuck relaxation was instantly gone, and Dan’s voice was back to being tense and unhappy. “Only if she runs. If she does, she does, but hopefully she won’t.” Evan kissed Dan’s neck. “She’s family, Danny.”

Dan nodded slowly, then eased around and bent over to pull up his jeans. “Yeah,” he said, “she is. But I have no idea if she knows what that means.”

J
EFF looked at the pile of crap in his shopping basket and then looked over at Evan’s cart. It had about ten times more items than Jeff had managed to find.

Evan caught his look. “It’s polite,” he protested. “Welcoming. And she’s going to be stuck in the guest house for two months; she needs stuff to keep her busy.”

“You’re getting her a laptop
and
an iPad,” Jeff said. “Speakers. Cordless keyboard.” He leaned over Evan’s cart and poked a little. “Xbox
and
Wii. Half a rack full of games. Seven million different controllers and accessories.” He frowned. “What if she doesn’t like games?”

“What if she doesn’t like books? Your e-reader’s going to be pretty useless then, isn’t it?” Evan nodded smugly. “But my iPad will still be an excellent toy. There’s something for
everyone
on the iPad.”

Jeff had to admit that Evan had a point. Maybe Krista wouldn’t be a reader. Dan wasn’t, really. He only read about horses, and that could be considered work rather than pleasure. “Maybe I shouldn’t get it,” Jeff said. “Even if she
does
like to read, she can get books on the iPad, right?”

“Jeff!” Evan sounded genuinely disappointed. “She needs something with e-ink. She’ll get eyestrain if she tries to read a whole book on a backlit screen.”

“This is getting out of control,” Jeff said. “What the hell are we doing, buying a million gifts for a stranger?”

“Come on, Jeff; they’re not for her.” Evan smiled softly. “They’re for Dan. So he’ll know that we care about the person he cares about.”

Damn. Jeff should have been the one to say that. He reached his hand out and rested it on the back of Evan’s neck. “Yeah. Okay. What else does Dan want us to buy for her?”

“Not baby stuff,” Evan said. Jeff raised a questioning eyebrow as he brought his hand back to his side. Evan shook his head forbiddingly. “I promised Tat she could be in charge of that. She and your mom are going shopping tomorrow. I think Robyn’s going too.”

“What about maternity stuff? Like… I don’t know. Clothes?”

“Tat’s got dibs. But she said she wants to meet Krista first, get an idea of her coloring and her size. It sounded stupid to me—I’m pretty sure her coloring is like Dan’s, and her size is going to be ‘huge’, right? She’s seven months pregnant.”

“So we’re just in charge of toys?”

 

“Not baby toys. Tat would kill me. Just things to make the next two months better.”

“Before she gets hauled off to jail.” It was easy to get excited about the new member of their extended family, but hard to stay that way when Jeff remembered what was going to happen at the end of it all.

Evan sighed. “My guys say Susan’s doing a killer job. They couldn’t believe the deal she got for the next two months. But, yeah, they say there’s no way she’s getting away without serious time.”

Jeff didn’t really think this was the right place for the conversation, in the middle of a crowded electronics store, but he wasn’t sure when they’d find another opportunity. “And we’re prepared for that? I mean… the baby. If Dan gets custody of the baby… we’re good with it?”

Evan looked shocked. “It’s a
baby
, Jeff. Of course we’re good with it! I know we haven’t talked about it a lot, but… I want to be a dad someday. I was thinking we’d end up adopting, or doing some surrogate-mother thing, but this is so much easier! We’re helping a kid, and helping ourselves.”

“Careful, Evan.” Jeff was back to being the voice of reason, the person in charge of crushing Evan’s enthusiasm. Maybe he
was
getting a bit tired of the job. But there was no one else around to take care of it, and it absolutely had to be done. “We don’t want to set up a situation where we’re
hoping
Krista gets a long sentence. And if she gets a short sentence, she’s going to want her kid back.” And now the hardest part. “And in general, people raise their kids the way they were raised themselves, unless something comes along to break the pattern. Now, with Dan… I truly believe that the pattern is broken. Between Justin, and us, and just… I don’t know, just Dan being
Dan
… I think he could be a great dad. But there’s no guarantee that Krista’s in the same boat.” Jeff reached out again, his hand gentle on Evan’s neck. “And we’re going to have to turn that kid over to her, whether we think she’s a great mom or not.”

Evan didn’t shrug Jeff’s hand off, but he looked so mature, so strong that Jeff pulled it back on his own. This was business-Evan, and he didn’t need guidance from Jeff or anyone else. “I’ve already thought about that,” he said. “And the truth is she’s got no money. I’m not saying we should be assholes about that. If she wants to stick around and be responsible and raise the kid near us and let us help out, then we can use the money to support her, and we can co-parent the kid. But if she’s going to be irresponsible, if she’s going to be a bad mother, then we can use the money to get in her way, or to pay her off. Either way, I’m confident that we can keep the kid nearby, at least. And probably with us.”

“Jesus, Evan. Don’t let Dan hear you talking that way.” Jeff wasn’t sure if
he
wanted to hear Evan talking that way.

Evan just rolled his eyes. “I’m not stupid, Jeff. Dan’s… he’s a romantic. An idealist. I know that. And I like that about him. I have no idea how he ended up that way, after everything he’s been through, but I like it.” He smiled at Jeff, calm and confident and powerful. “But I’m not. I’m the practical one. I’m the one who makes things happen. I’m the one who makes the world work for people like Dan.”

It was true. They seemed the reverse, on the surface, Evan with his enthusiasm and Dan with his cautious, almost suspicious approach, but underneath all that, Evan had it right. “And what am I?” Jeff asked softly. “How do I fit into your world order?” He said it lightly, almost jokingly, but he desperately wanted to hear Evan’s answer. It was a question he’d been asking himself a lot lately.

Evan frowned at him as if the question was stupid. “You’re
Jeff
,” he said. But he seemed to sense that Jeff was hoping for more. “You’re the glue that holds the idealist and the pragmatist together,” he clarified. And then he reached out, the gesture unfamiliar to both of them, and he gripped the back of Jeff’s neck and shook gently. “You’re
Jeff
,” he repeated softly.

“Can I help you with anything?” an efficient voice asked, and Jeff and Evan turned together to look at the uniformed salesman standing a few feet away. “Is there anything you’re having trouble finding?”

Evan frowned thoughtfully. “Yeah. I think we need some kitchen stuff. Juicers, and steamers, and… I don’t know. Healthy cooking stuff.”

“Excellent,” the salesman said with a smile. “We have an excellent selection of small appliances, right over here.” He gestured gracefully, and Evan allowed himself to be guided. Jeff trailed along behind. He was
Jeff
. It seemed to mean something to Evan, but Jeff really wasn’t sure what. He wasn’t sure what it meant to himself, really. He looked at Evan, and thought about Dan, and wondered how Evan could even suggest that they needed extra glue to keep them together. At the start, sure, things had been a bit rocky. But they’d gotten over that, moved on, and now they were strong. Stable. Dan and Evan would stay together regardless of whether they had extra glue.

He caught up to Evan just in time to receive a big, enthusiastic grin. “A bread-maker,” Evan announced. “Babies love fresh bread!” “Babies love milk,” Jeff corrected. “
You
love fresh bread. And you already have a bread-maker. And a housekeeper.”

 

Evan ignored him and looked to his cart, then to the salesman. “I think I’ll need another cart,” he stage-whispered.

 

The salesman beamed. “I’ll be right back,” he said happily, and the shopping trip continued.
Chapter 4

S
USAN had been careful to keep Dan from finding out where Krista was staying. She’d said that she was protected by lawyer-client privilege, but there was nothing to keep him safe from prosecution, not if he knew where Krista was and withheld it from the police. He probably would have been willing to take the chance, but he hadn’t really been in that much of a hurry to meet his sister. He was happy to have had a little time to prepare. He’d gone grocery shopping, given Evan’s already immaculate guest house another quick cleaning, and done his best to calm the fuck down.