Screwing the System (30 page)

Come to think of it, his whole life seemed to be growing in complications. What would Cosmo be saying out there? And why did he even care? Better to have an honest lover than one who said what was expected of him.

“That boy of yours is quite a handful, I imagine.”

“He’s not a boy.” Only Alasdair got to call him that, and even then, only in a scene.

“He’s very young. What, can’t be more than twenty-five, surely?”

“Twenty-four,” Alasdair muttered. “But that’s not important. We work well together.”

Roger nodded, a faint smile touching his lips. “You look like you complement each other.”

What was that supposed to mean? That they were both common as muck?

Alasdair must have been glaring, because Roger made a soothing gesture with his hands. “I just meant that you seem to fit as a pair. You know what I mean. The giver and the taker.”

Jesus Christ! God save him from straight people and their heteronormative assumptions. “Just because Cosmo’s younger doesn’t mean he doesn’t top sometimes.” The twinge in Alasdair’s arse could attest to that.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant S&M. He’s wearing a collar, for goodness’ sake. That young man looks like he’d enjoy a good spanking, and I’ve always thought you looked like the type to get a kick out of giving them. Not that I’ve ever had one from a man before.”

Surely he was hearing things? “You’ve been spanked before? For pleasure?”

“Many a time. Used to have to pay for it, but Tori understands what I need now. Don’t think she really enjoys it, poor love, but she puts on a good show.”

Alasdair caught himself trying to imagine Tori wielding a paddle with Roger over her knee, arse in the air. No. He mustn’t go there. Not enough brain bleach in the world.

“Never had you down as a masochist,” he said instead, fighting the urge to massage the ache out of his temples. “I can usually tell.” He’d figured it out the moment he met Freddie, even with only a few day’s experience of his new identity.

“Yes, well, I never had you down as gay either. Might have asked you to give me a good seeing to if I’d known.”

Alasdair snorted brandy out of his nose. “You want me to fuck you?” This day kept getting stranger and stranger.

“No, thanks. If I feel the need to be penetrated, I prefer a woman wearing a strap-on. I just meant you could spank me. With my clothes on, if you prefer. You have very strong hands. Sometimes I get bored of crops and paddles.”

Roger stared down at Alasdair’s hands with a hungry expression. Alasdair contemplated it for one surreal moment, then shook his head. “Much as I’d love to help out a friend, I don’t think Cosmo would like it.” Actually, he had no idea if Cosmo was possessive, but Tori might well be. “I’ll happily give the missus some lessons though, if you’d like. Teach her how to get the best out of various implements. Do you like being caned?”

Roger grinned and slapped a hand on his back. “I love it, but she’s never dared. Thanks, old chap. I knew you’d be a sport about it.”

Alasdair returned the back slap, and before he’d realised what was happening, they were hugging.

Eventually Roger pulled back. “Perhaps you’d better go find that pretty young man of yours before he gives one of my guests a heart attack.”

Alasdair knocked back the rest of his brandy. “Good idea.”

He caught the gleam in Roger’s eye, and couldn’t resist swatting the man’s arse on the way to the door. Well, what were friends for, after all?

Cosmo was halfway through his second glass of bubbly when Alasdair’s hand landed on his shoulder. He ignored him for as long as possible, pretending to be fascinated by Tori’s monologue about the wonders of Botox and chemical peels. Difficult, though, with the warmth of Alasdair’s body pressed up against his back.

“I don’t think Cosmo needs to worry about his skin for a good few years,” Alasdair said, his breath tickling Cosmo’s ear.

“Oh, of course. I didn’t mean to suggest… How old are you anyway, dear?”

“He’s twenty-four.”

“Really?” Her eyebrows threatened to hit the ceiling. Or they would have done if she hadn’t Botoxed the life out of her forehead. “Gosh. You realise I’m old enough to be your mother.”

“And I’m old enough to be his father, not that it matters, does it?” Alasdair was using his stern voice, and Cosmo’s body instantly responded with a rush of unwanted arousal.

“Of course not.” Tori squirmed
.
“Oh dear. You’ll have to excuse me. I’ve just seen someone I absolutely must have a word with.”

The scent of leather rose off Alasdair, worming its way under Cosmo’s sense of outrage. Bugger that. He wasn’t going to forgive the man just because he was sexy.

Cosmo shrugged Alasdair’s hand off his shoulder, but found himself being spun around.

“Is something wrong?” Alasdair’s tone was low but insistent. “Cosmo, talk to me. Has someone upset you? Did Tori say something?”

“She did.” Cosmo was going to leave it at that for the time being, but catching Alasdair’s glare at their host, he realised he’d been misinterpreted. “She’s not the one who upset me, though. That was you.”

“Me?” Alasdair sounded resigned rather than surprised.

“Yeah. You fancy telling me yet why you’ve got that guilty conscience?”

“Not here.” Alasdair glanced around. They were at the quieter end of the room with a good few yards between them and the nearest group of chattering twits, but one of them was their stuck-up host and he was looking in their direction. “Outside. Come on. I think it’s time you had some nicotine in your system.”

“You’re ordering me to smoke a fag, now?” But Cosmo followed Alasdair out into the garden again, because he didn’t really want to give those posh gits the satisfaction of seeing him riled. Alasdair strode out to the fountain in the middle of the lawn, at least fifty yards from the house. Cosmo paused by the low balustrade at the edge of the patio—sorry,
terrace
—to roll a cigarette. His hands shook so hard, the baccy kept falling out of the paper, but eventually he had a sorry-looking roll-up to show for his efforts.

He took a deep drag, but it didn’t seem to help him calm down any. Fuck it. He stomped over to where Alasdair waited, staring up at the night sky. “Happy now we’re out of earshot? Wouldn’t want to upset the natives, would we?”

“It’s not that.”

“What is it, then?” Cosmo’s voice grew louder, but he couldn’t be bothered to keep it down anymore. “Ashamed to have someone find out your boyfriend’s nan is a cleaner? Is that it?” Someone had walked out onto the patio, but Cosmo didn’t care. He focused on the angry flare of Alasdair’s nostrils, the pleading in his eyes. “God forbid any of them discover I’m nothing but a slouching, chain-smoking dole-scrounger who enjoys getting his arse spanked. How would you ever live down the humiliation?”

“Don’t you dare. I’m proud of who you are.”

“What, even the dole-scrounging?”

Alasdair waved his hand dismissively. “Not that part. And you’re not going to anymore, are you? But don’t put yourself down for the things you enjoy. The things you need. What we have together.” Alasdair stepped up close and gripped Cosmo’s biceps tight. “There’s nothing shameful about what you desire or about who you are.”

Yeah, Alasdair sounded genuine, but that didn’t change the fact he was putting Cosmo’s nan out of a job. “No. Right. But maybe what I’m really ashamed of is having a man who goes on about honest work, and then goes and bloody well steals it away from them who need it. You know what? You’re a two-faced bastard. That’s what you are.”

Alasdair’s eyes turned flinty, but when he spoke, his words were quiet and deliberate. “You need to calm down. Wait and listen till you’ve got all the facts. I’ve got everything sorted. Sylvia will be fine.”

“Really? Next you’re going to be telling me you’ve turned down the contract, I suppose.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You know that’s not going to save Sylvia’s job. Roger will only find someone else to take it on.”

Yep, he should have known it would all be in the interests of big business. Keeping the rich rich while the poor got poorer. That was always the way of things, wasn’t it?

But when he met Alasdair’s eyes, he remembered their heart-to-heart the previous night. Alasdair came from humble beginnings too. He wasn’t one of the bad guys. Not really.

“Honey, I’ll look after Sylvia. She wants a job, she’s got it. I’ll even chuck in a pension plan. And if she’s up for an admin role, Mavis could certainly use some extra help running the Sunshine Scheme.”

“You mean she wouldn’t have to break her back cleaning anymore?” It was a generous offer. More generous than Cosmo deserved after what he’d just accused Alasdair of. But how could he know his future behaviour wasn’t going to end up hurting his nan? What if Alasdair used the threat of putting Sylvia out of a job to get his own way?

But when he looked up into Alasdair’s eyes, all he saw there was love. It made him want to grab hold of the man and never let go.

“Please, Cosmo. I need you in my life. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“You really mean that?” It was almost impossible to believe, but there was the truth, beaming out of every pore of Alasdair’s body. Desperation had stripped away every shred of arrogance, letting Cosmo see the loneliness hiding beneath. Poor fucker. He really didn’t have anyone else, did he?
A swell of forgiveness grew inside him, sweeping away Cosmo’s anger.

“You promise you’ll always look after Nan, no matter what?” He could trust Alasdair. If he loved him, he had to. “No more secrets either, coz I swear, if I find out you’ve hidden something like this from me again, I’m gone. You won’t see me for dust.”

“I promise. And no more secrets. I swear.” Alasdair’s bruising grip eased, and a rough hand came up to cup Cosmo’s jaw. “Forgive me?”

“Already have done.”

A smile lit Alasdair’s eyes up from within. “Thank you.” Alasdair’s face loomed closer, and Cosmo’s lips were taken in a sweet kiss. Cosmo responded enthusiastically, heat growing between them until they were pressed as tightly together as their clothing allowed. Cosmo snuck a hand down between them and grasped Alasdair’s heavy erection. “Come on, boss. Take me home and make me scream.”

Alasdair grinned. “My pleasure.”

About the Author

English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. She blames her rebellious muse, but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.
 

Visit
www.JosephineMyles.com
for more about her published stories, saucy free reads and regular blog posts.

Look for these titles by Josephine Myles

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Barging In

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The Hot Floor

Two plus one equals scorching hot fun.

The Hot Floor

© 2012 Josephine Myles

Dumped by his boyfriend and reduced to living in a grotty bedsit, Josh Carpenter has gotten used to expecting the worst. Now he lives only for his job as a glassblower…and occasional glimpses of his sexy downstairs neighbors, Rai Nakmura and Evan Truman.

Every time he overhears the diminutive academic and the hunky plumber having loud and obviously kinky sex, Josh is overwhelmed with lust…and a longing for a fraction of what they have.

To his amazement, Rai and Evan find his embarrassing tendency to blush utterly charming, and the three men grow closer over the course of the long, hot summer. Despite Rai’s charming flirtation and Evan’s smoldering gaze, Josh is determined never to break his new friends’ loving bonds.

On the night a naked Josh falls—quite literally—into the middle of one of Rai and Evan’s marathon sex sessions, the force of their mutual attraction takes control. But just as Josh dares to hope, he senses a change. Leaving him to wonder if the winds of love are about to blow his way at last…or if history is about to repeat itself.

Warning: Contains one well-endowed stud with a sexy accent, one improbably toppy bottom boy with an unfortunate owl obsession, and one blushing naïf who can’t believe his luck. Also, the occasional indulgence in mathematical spanking and some shameless armpit sex
.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
The Hot Floor:

“Hey, Josh—great to see you, hon.”

Rai stepped back into the tiny entrance hall to let me in, then ambushed me with a hug as the door swung shut behind me.

“Oh, hi. Good to see you too.” I hoped the chocolate HobNobs I was carrying weren’t getting crushed to bits between our bodies. It was either that or they’d be melted into one giant cylindrical biscuit. I did my best to concentrate on those biscuits, because Rai’s tight embrace and faint aroma of herbal shower gel were stirring up an entirely inappropriate physical response.