Sleigh Ride (Minnesota Christmas Book 2) (22 page)

A single bullet could take them both down.

November Rain

© 2014 Daisy Harris

Fire and Rain, Book 4

Detective Joe Klamath is used to guys falling on their backs at the arch of his commanding eyebrow. Yet he can’t seem to get a read on a cute, department-store sales guy. The vagrant who just walked in, though? He’s easy to read. He’s dangerous.

Joe’s training kicks in, but as he wrestles the gun-wielding man, he gets shot.

Raised in a conservative Ethiopian community, Elias Abraham keeps his natural attraction to men under wraps. But Joe’s heroism moves him to care for the man who saved his life. After all, Joe is hurt. Chances are slim he’ll demand the types of things boys in college always wanted. Sex acts Elias wasn’t—and possibly never will be—ready for.

Gradually, Joe’s easy confidence softens Elias’s resistance. But as Joe’s healing progresses too slowly for a man of action, and trouble brews in Elias’s family, Elias begins to wonder if he can handle the pressure. Because though he hasn’t given all of his body, he’s already given all of his heart.

Warning:
Contains a sexy-as-hell cop, a shy virgin fifteen years younger, and an extremely intimate sponge bath. Underpants optional.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
November Rain:

He’d started pulling his shirt off when a knock sounded at the door. Frozen, Joe wondered if he’d stink too badly when he undressed. Shame washed over him, hot and thick. He tightened his jaw so he wouldn’t shout at Elias to go away.

“Joe?” Elias’s voice was as smooth as a balm over Joe’s ragged emotions. Elias wouldn’t judge him for the state of his house or how badly he limped. Elias looked at him with wide eyes, and damn, Joe needed that admiration right now.

“Yeah.” Joe tossed his shirt in the overflowing laundry basket. At least he wouldn’t be fumbling when Elias helped him undress. “I’m coming.”

When Joe opened the door, Elias stood on the threshold. He wore a dress shirt and slacks, buttons open at the collar to show he didn’t have any chest hair. He was deliciously pretty with his angled cheekbones and wide, dark eyes. But it was his mouth that did Joe in—made him wish he’d gone ahead and jerked off like he’d been thinking so things didn’t end too quickly.

“Hello.” Elias smiled shyly. He held up a Nordstrom bag, silver and filled with puffy white paper. “I brought some things I thought you would like. I can take them back if you don’t want them.”

Joe couldn’t help but chuckle. Elias absolutely didn’t know him well enough to buy him clothes, but Joe suspected Elias simply enjoyed shopping. “I’ll take a look. But if I decide to keep the stuff, I’m paying you back.” Joe reached for the bag. Using crutches with a shopping bag wasn’t easy, but he only needed to get a few steps to his bed where he dropped the bag on top of his straightened sheets.

He felt Elias’s presence behind him and tension building in the air. For the life of him, Joe had no idea what to say. Seduction, he’d practiced hundreds of times. But other than initiating a kiss, nothing Joe had done had moved things forward with Elias.

“You said you needed…” Elias stepped up behind him. His attention was like warm hands.

Joe couldn’t turn to look at him, because he’d move too fast again. “Yeah, I can’t really wash up too well on my own.” He spoke gruffly, hiding the way his breath had picked up speed. “I’ve only got a shower in the tub.”

“I can help.” Elias stepped closer.

God, Joe hoped Elias couldn’t smell him from where he stood.

“Is it okay if I take off my shirt too?” Elias asked. “I don’t want to—”

“Yeah. Of course.” Joe reached for his belt. Desire to keep his injury hidden battled with the bone-deep need to wash off his layer of stale sweat. In the end, practicality won over modesty, and Joe unfastened his pants. He maneuvered enough to get them off his hips.

“Can I?” Elias’s hands landed on Joe’s thighs.

“Yeah.” There was no hiding the roughness in his voice, or the way his chest rose and fell.

Elias crouched behind Joe, working his pants off his ankles. Elias’s face was so close to Joe’s ass that Joe kept praying Elias would rub his nose against a butt cheek. A bad idea, maybe, given Joe’s need to wash, but lust was lust, and Joe wanted this kid at his feet.

He’d never been worried about overpowering a guy before. Sure, Joe was big, but he never drank so much he got out of control. He was always aware—even in the roughest hook-ups—of the other guy’s limits.

Not now. Not with this one kid.

His cock rose in his briefs, forming a tent and threatening to push out the top.

Elias crouched at Joe’s front. He was shirtless and so slim his collarbone cut to his shoulder in a fine, graceful line. Hairless, and with only a whisper of stubble on his top lip, he seemed so young. But it was the eyes that did Joe in. He’d looked down on a lot of guys in his day. Plenty of twinks and party boys dropping to their knees and gazing up at him flirtatiously. Their expressions were always full of teasing, feigning innocence when Joe knew better.

There was none of that in Elias’s eyes. Lust, yeah. Expectation. But a tiny crease on his forehead told Joe something he’d been puzzling over since they’d met—Elias was a virgin. Or at the very least, a guy who’d only done this once or twice before.

“Can I?” Elias darted his gaze to Joe’s underwear.

“Yeah.” Carefully, so he wouldn’t fall, Joe put a hand on Elias’s shoulder. He didn’t pull Elias any closer. “Just take ’em off. I need a wash before anything else.”

Elias nodded, his eyes going wider when he lifted Joe’s waistband over his erection. It bounced forward, pointing to Elias’s face.

Joe would have reached to cover himself, but he didn’t want to lose balance. Anyway, he had nothing to be ashamed of in the size department. “I normally smell a whole lot better.”

“It’s okay.” Elias didn’t meet his gaze because he was too busy licking his lips. His hands were near frantic as he got Joe’s underwear off his ankles.

“We should do this in the bathroom.” Joe touched Elias again, this time a swipe across his forehead. “C’mon. Maybe lose the pants too. You don’t want to get those wet.”

Elias’s clothes were obviously pressed and well cared for. They must have been expensive on his retail job salary.

“Yes. Of course.” Elias rose gracefully to his feet. He didn’t seem capable of breaking eye contact as he unfastened his belt and undid his slacks. While he folded them neatly on Joe’s bed, Joe took a moment to check out the lines of Elias’s body, the curve of his ass—small but firm—under briefs. Then Elias turned, and Joe got an eyeful of his bulge. It was giant compared to his waifish body, but probably smaller than Joe’s if they compared side to side.

“Come over here.” Joe reached out. With no words, he kissed Elias, taking it deeper than he had before, learning Elias’s mouth. Elias sighed when Joe pressed his tongue inside, but didn’t move to reciprocate. Only when Joe made slow, smooth passes along Elias’s tongue did Elias really kiss back.

Elias rested his hands on Joe’s ribs, his touch soft like his handshake. Joe had the sense that once Elias grabbed him, his strength would be like steel bands—narrow but impossible to break. Especially since Joe was in no condition to fight off anyone.

Joe ended the kiss before Elias could take that step. “Let’s go. I want to get clean.”

“Yes. Okay.” Elias stepped back, a damp spot on his briefs.

Elias crowded into the tiny bathroom. The presence of Joe in that small area was overwhelming. His size, his scent, the force of his masculinity… Elias was dizzy from it. Joe was right, he smelled like a man who hadn’t bathed in days. As far as Elias was concerned, that only added to Joe’s appeal. “Do you want to sit? I can bring the chair from the kitchen.”

“Nah. There’s not enough room.”

Elias filled the sink with warm water and soaped up the washcloth. The door was ajar, letting cooler air in from the apartment. Steeling his will, Elias closed that one route of escape.

“I’ve never done this.” Elias kept his eyes on the tiled floor. He had meant he’d never washed another person—unless you counted his cousin when she was little—but it came out the other way. An admission that he was naïve about what came next.

“I know.” Joe’s voice was as rough as his touch. He stood with his head bent and his cock hard, waiting…for what Elias didn’t know.

“Start with my face.” Joe’s words were gentle but direct.

Elias wrung out the cloth, then pressed it to Joe’s cheek, wiping softly so he wouldn’t hurt Joe’s skin. Next he went to Joe’s jaw, then his neck. By the time he rubbed the cloth over Joe’s shoulder, they were kissing again, and Elias wasn’t sure who had started it. Joe’s muscles were tense and perfect under Elias’s hand, and now that he didn’t have to worry about Joe watching him, Elias could pass that cloth wherever he wanted.

Down Joe’s back, around to his belly. Elias kept his hips tucked back so as not to brush Joe’s cock. Out of respect, it seemed he shouldn’t touch that part of Joe without invitation. And Elias didn’t dare ask.

“You might need to use a little more soap.” Joe nuzzled his cheek. Against Elias’s ear, he said, “And if you actually want to get me clean, you need to scrub harder.”

Elias’s breath rushed out in a nervous laugh. “Okay.” He wet the cloth again, rinsing the old soap and putting on new. This time he rubbed harder, knowing his pressure was right when Joe growled.

“Get under my arms.” Joe let go of one crutch to give Elias room to maneuver.

Washing that warm, humid space was enough to make Elias’s hips ache. He felt like he was climbing right inside Joe, touching him in places that were sensitive and soft. For the first time since their lips had met, Elias pushed his tongue inside Joe’s mouth. Elias’s cock nearly burst from his underwear when Joe captured his tongue and sucked it.

Emboldened, Elias wet the cloth again and washed Joe’s other side. But once he’d cleaned Joe’s underarms, he was at a loss. Joe’s cock batted at Elias’s hip, repeatedly knocking in a sizzling shock.

Elias had to wash more but couldn’t force his hands to make passes anywhere lower than Joe’s belly.

“It’s not gonna bite.” Joe pulled back, stealing a kiss and also the excuse that Elias didn’t really know what he was doing.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Sleigh Ride

Copyright © 2014 by Heidi Cullinan

ISBN: 978-1-61922-434-6

Edited by Sasha Knight

Cover by Angela Waters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: November 2014

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