Hearts and Bones

Hearts & Bones by M.L. Rhodes

Amber Allure bestseller
2008 EPPIE Award nominee
TwoLips Reviewer’s Choice Award
5 Kisses from TwoLips Reviews
5 Angels from Fallen Angel Reviews

For years Will McClaren and Ethan Gallagher hid their deepest desires from one another, each thinking the other was straight, both of them too afraid of shattering their friendship to admit their real feelings. Then, in a vulnerable moment, they discovered the truth and gave themselves over to an explosive passion that would forever alter their relationship.  But after only one night together, Ethan’s secret life interfered and the two were torn apart for three long years.  When at last Ethan returned, the two men had to overcome years of deceptions and tragic truths in order to heal their friendship and find the kind of love that lasts a lifetime.

But now, only a few weeks later, their hard-won peace and contentment is put to the test.  Someone from Ethan’s dark and dangerous past has returned to settle a vindictive score, luring Will and Ethan into a deadly game.  When Will’s caught in the crossfire and his very life is at stake, will Ethan be strong enough to overcome his debilitating fears and face down his old enemy?  Or will this shadow from his past destroy the one man he’s ever loved?

Genre:  Gay Contemporary/Suspense/BDSM erotic romance
Release date:  September 9, 2007
Length:  Novel (51K words)

Available in ebook formats at:  Amber Allure, Kindle US, Kindle UK, ARE, Fictionwise, and other online ebookstores
Available in paperback at:  Amazon.com as Always (anthology that contains both Never Let Go and Hearts & Bones).

Excerpt…

The kiss quickly escalated to open mouths, tongues, soft grunts, and fondling hands.

When they were forced to come up for oxygen, Ethan traced a path with his hot lips along Will’s jawline to his ear. “And I don’t care what you say, those drawings did turn you on. In a big damn way. You liked them.”

“You draw naked man-flesh very well,” Will admitted.

Ethan leaned back to look him in the eye. His sparked with white-hot passion and a twinkle of mischief. “Was it the naked men or the kink that did it for you? Did you like seeing all those guys at the complete mercy of their lovers?”

He wanted to deny it for Ethan’s sake, so Ethan wouldn’t think he could get off on something that made Ethan uncomfortable, but waves of need throbbed through Will, so powerful and hot it made it hard to breathe.

“Oh, yeah…you did,” Ethan murmured, nodding. He didn’t seem to be disappointed by that fact. “It got you seriously hot.” His hand slid down to press Will’s cock through the fabric. “Look how fucking hard you are.” He slipped free the button on Will’s shorts and grated down the zipper, and Will almost gasped in relief as his rock-hard erection was freed from the tight confines. Ethan found the opening in his boxer briefs and nudged Will’s stiff shaft through it, then began to flutter his fingers against the head as Will groaned.

“Damn,” Ethan murmured, his voice thick with desire. “Every time I see your cock I want it in my mouth…or in other parts of me.”

“You’re an instigator of trouble, you know that?” Will rasped.

“And you love it. So what are you going to do about it?”

It was a challenge—and an obvious invitation—Will couldn’t resist. Another shudder of need wracked through him.

“Take your clothes off,” he directed. “Everything.”

Without hesitation, Ethan rose. He was already barefoot, so he stripped off his shirt, and never taking his eyes off Will, with a teasing smile, unbuttoned and slowly pushed down his jeans…exposing nothing but skin.

Oh, hell. “Commando?”

“I thought you might like that.”

“I do. Shit. I really do.” The thought that Ethan had been wandering around the house all day with nothing but himself under his Levi’s made Will’s balls tighten.

He let his gaze roam, this time without the interference of clothing—although he had to admit that Ethan always looked good enough to eat, even in his clothes. Will’s own fashion sense ran mostly toward comfort without much thought to looks—he could happily live in jeans or shorts, tees or sweatshirts, and did most of the time. Whereas Ethan, even when he wore jeans and tees, looked like he’d stepped off the page of GQ or some high-end men’s catalogue.

But without clothes…damn. His cock, almost fully erect stood out from a nest of dark-blond curls in invitation, and as Will gave it his full attention, it leapt as if in eagerness. The man was damned sexy, with his hair falling over his blue eyes and that suggestive half-smile on his face. Like a bad boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar and not the least bit sorry about it.

“You want me,” he said, giving Will a heated look.

“Has that ever been in doubt?”

Ethan’s answer was another smile. As Will watched, he slid a hand down his own chest and abs, then wrapped his palm around his cock, giving it a slow, wanton stroke. The sight of the engorged head sliding in and out of Ethan’s fist, the slit glistening with droplets of pre-cum, almost made Will swallow his tongue it was so fricking erotic. He felt Ethan watching him, but for the moment, he couldn’t look up to meet his gaze. He was too spellbound by what was going on at his lover’s groin.

Ethan lowered his free hand to his sac, pulling it up and cradling it so Will had a better view of his balls. He began massaging them.

“See this?” Ethan murmured, his voice low and oozing pure sex. He continued to stroke his shaft, tugging at the skin, sliding his hand down to the root, then easing it up until, yet again, his swollen crown protruded from his fist. The cum was more prolific now, a thin stream of it seeping from the eye and dribbling over his hand. “This is all yours. It’s hard for you. It’s weeping for you.”

“Christ…” Will could barely breathe. Barely think. His own cock was a tower of granite standing up through his briefs.

“Every time I look at you,” Ethan continued, “the way your eyes glaze over when you’re turned on, the way you smile that damned sweet smile of yours, the way you walk and move…I want to come. The way you look first thing in the morning when you’re still half-asleep and your morning wood’s thick and hard against me…I want to come. Every time I hear you talk to me in that deep, gentle voice that’s one part boy next door and two parts pure sex…I fucking want to come. And the way you kiss… When you kiss me, all I want is to have you fill me so hard and deep with your prick and your seed that I won’t be able to move ever again…I’ll be impaled on you, through and through, for all time.”

“Shit.” Will was dizzy with a deep, animalistic hunger that was near to consuming him. He looked up at Ethan, and their gazes caught and erupted in a white-hot fire that Will thought might incinerate him from the inside out.

“You want me,” Ethan murmured again.

“Hell yes I do.” He rose from the desk, and in one long stride was in front of Ethan, pulling him into a hard, hungry kiss, one hand behind his head, the other gripping his ass, grinding his shaft against Ethan’s, feeling the combined slickness of their cum blending together, lubricating their encounter.

And then he was pulling his mouth free, turning Ethan, moving him toward the big floor-to-ceiling window, pressing him against it.

With a heated look at Will over his shoulder, Ethan faced the glass, spread his arms up and out, and curled his fingers around the window frame, which he could just barely reach on each side.

At the sight of him stretched out like that, offering himself up, in front of the window where anyone who drove into the driveway or walked by on the mountain road would be able to see him, Will’s throat went dry.

He slid his arms around Ethan’s waist. “You are so fucking beautiful.” His voice was so hoarse with desire he could barely speak.

“And so fucking yours.” Ethan tilted his head to the side to accept the hungry, biting kiss Will was pressing against his neck. “Always yours, Will.”

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