It wasn’t like the sex between him and Blake wasn’t good. Quite the opposite, honestly. Yet he found himself battling Blake’s need to be exclusive, and by exclusive, Blake wanted to announce to the world that they were a couple as though staking a claim on Ethan was going to make this any more of a relationship.

Not gonna happen.

They were most certainly not a couple. Not now, and probably not ever, intense orgasms be damned. On top of that, Ethan wasn’t interested in announcing anything about his relationships – sexual or otherwise.

And he had several reasons for that, one of them being that no matter how hard he tried to avoid the truth, there was someone else. Someone who had caught his eye and made him want things he never even realized were a possibility.

Too bad he had no idea what, if anything, to do about that.

Pushing to his feet, Ethan wiped his grimy hands on one of the shop towels that were haphazardly scattered around the floor at his feet. When he stood to his full height, he came face to face with Blake.

Knowing he would look like an asshole if he backed up and put space between them, he stood his ground and stared back at the handsome man.

“Need something?”

Blake didn’t answer, but the passion in his eyes was unmistakable.

Shit.

“I can think of one thing,” Blake said gruffly, moving in close.

This time Ethan did back up, but he was limited in his retreat when he was forced up against the truck he’d just been working on. Stuck between a truck and a hard place, Ethan had no idea how to avoid the inevitable. Nor was he sure he even wanted to.

It was clear that Blake wasn’t taking any hints, what with Ethan trying to limit the time they spent together. Then again, he had to admit that he was sporting a serious hard on brought on by too many thoughts of someone else.

Someone he couldn’t have.

Which made Blake convenient. And Ethan a total prick.

But even given that self-revelation, Ethan found he couldn’t resist the urge.

“What are you waiting for?” Ethan goaded him, reaching for his own jeans and easing the intense discomfort by pulling his cock out.

Blake’s eyes widened, his mouth hanging open slightly, but he didn’t move. Keeping his tone firm, Ethan told him exactly what he wanted from him. “I want to watch you suck my dick. Right here.”

Ethan was used to being the one in control. It was natural for him. He didn’t take much shit from anyone, inside or outside of the bedroom. Or right here in the open as it would be. And Blake seemed more than content to accommodate his aggressive instruction.

Once Blake was on his knees in front of him, Ethan leaned back against the truck, his full attention on the man in front of him. Sliding his hands into Blake’s silky hair, he pulled him closer, not roughly, but enough to let Blake know what he wanted.

As his cock disappeared into the blazing hot depths of Blake’s talented mouth, Ethan groaned. His eyes closed on their own, and he was immediately assaulted by the image of a different man on his knees in front of him. Forcing the idea out of his head, he concentrated on picturing Blake’s handsome face, his callused hands as they gripped his shaft, his tongue as it teased the rigid vein on the underside of his cock.

“Awww, fuck,” Ethan groaned.

It felt so damn good.

But no matter how hard he tried, he still pictured Blake as someone else. And that other man was a threat to his control.

Something Ethan wasn’t willing to part with.

♂♂

Beau

Beau had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but against his better judgment, he had left work and driven straight to Walker Demolition. Bypassing the main office, he continued on to the mechanic shop where Ethan was known to spend more than enough time on a daily basis. Didn’t seem to matter if it was seven in the morning or seven in the evening, Ethan was generally working.

Parking his truck, Beau noticed by the additional truck in the parking lot that Blake was also there and that ever present niggle of anger was tingling at the base of Beau’s skull. He did not like Blake, but not for obvious reasons.

It was true, Beau had developed some sort of strange attraction to Ethan Walker and the how and why was yet to be determined. But that wasn’t the reason he disliked Blake.

No, he wasn’t all that fond of Ethan’s on-and-off boyfriend because the man was a lying bastard. Then again, it had been a complete coincidence that Beau had stumbled upon the guy at a restaurant over in a neighboring town after that disaster of a date Beau had gone on. Granted, that had been damn near six months ago, but Beau couldn’t seem to shake off the memory.

As far as he knew, Ethan and Blake were dating. Maybe Ethan didn’t share that tidbit of news with anyone, but as far as Beau knew, Ethan wasn’t seeing anyone else. And to Beau, that meant they were exclusive.

Although if he had his way, they would’ve moved on from one another a long time ago. Beau didn’t need to have a genius IQ to see that Ethan was attracted to him. And if he had to guess, it was significantly more than mere physical attraction… although there was that.

Climbing out of his truck, Beau shut his door with a click, not wanting to alert Ethan that he was there. For some reason, he just needed to see him, to talk, maybe get a beer at Moonshiners, something they’d done a few times in recent months.

Nothing serious, nothing sexual and damn sure nothing of the relationship variety. Beau wouldn’t do that. Not to Ethan, not to himself, and not even to Blake. Until the pair of them figured it out – which he hoped they would do soon – Beau was settling with being friends. It seemed they had a significant amount of things in common, which resulted in hours of comfortable conversation.

Beau needed that.

As did Ethan, even if the other man wasn’t willing to admit it.

Beau made his way to the large bay door, but before he stepped inside, his attention was drawn to movement over in the shadows. It didn’t take long for his brain to register what he was seeing.

There, leaning against one of the plain white Walker Demo trucks, was Ethan. His head was tossed back, and even as Beau’s eyes tried to adapt to the dim light, he could see the pure ecstasy written on the man’s face. Following the long, lean line of Ethan’s body, he stopped when he saw Blake in front of him. On his fucking knees.

His breath lodged in his chest, a burning sensation radiating outward from his gut. What could possibly be worse than seeing Blake on his knees sucking Ethan’s cock? Well, that would be the intense satisfaction on Ethan’s much too handsome face.

Son of a fucking bitch.

Without making a sound, Beau took a step backward. Then another. When his feet shuffled on the concrete floor, he saw Ethan’s head come down, his eyes open. And right then and there, they made eye contact.

Beau was rooted in place, unable to force his legs to move. As Ethan watched him, he could see fury replace the sheer pleasure that had been there moments before.

Did he say something? What the hell could he say? Before Beau could decide what his next move would be, Ethan made the decision for him.

Beau watched with voyeuristic fascination as Ethan gripped Blake’s hair tightly, his hips moving forward. “That’s it, Blake. Suck me. All the way. Fuck yes.”

When Ethan’s head fell back again, an animalistic growl escaping from his lips, Beau got his bearings. Without worrying if he was heard, Beau turned back to his truck. He clearly was interrupting, and there was no point in pursuing someone who was already taken. Once inside the truck, he didn’t bother with his seatbelt before he tore out of the parking lot, gravel flying behind his truck as he made a hasty retreat.

Surprisingly enough, Beau didn’t blame Ethan. How could he? The man was clearly fucking Blake, their relationship not much of a secret, even if Ethan didn’t cop to it publicly. But, he hated that Blake was using him. Hated that the man was whoring around on Ethan. And he hated that he didn’t have to balls to tell Ethan.

But what he hated even more than that… that Ethan knew what he was doing, and he was intentionally keeping his distance from Beau.

After all, if Ethan accepted that there might be something between them, it would seal Ethan’s fate, and Beau sensed that he wasn’t ready to plunge headlong into something that might just be what he needed. Something Beau had been subconsciously looking for all his life.

Chapter Six

♂♀

Sawyer

Who was to say he couldn’t be a kind hearted, generous guy?

No one, that’s who.

As Sawyer pulled out of his driveway, he whistled an upbeat tune. For the first time in a while, he had to pat himself on the back for coming up with a brilliant plan. Ok, so it wasn’t a secret that his well-developed plans were usually thwarted someway, somehow, but he couldn’t see how this could possibly go wrong. Two days had passed since he came up with this clever scheme and truthfully, he was looking forward to seeing how it played out.

The drive to the animal shelter in Coyote Ridge was a short one, and by the time Sawyer pulled into the small parking lot, he was practically floating on a cloud. This was going to be a damn good day, he could feel it. Without wasting another second, he climbed out of his car and hurried to the front door.

“Hey, Adrianne,” Sawyer greeted the young woman who was rummaging through a stack of papers on her desk. “Where do you want me?” Knowing the question was a double entendre, even if he meant it in the most innocent of ways, Sawyer shot her the flirty smile most women seemed to respond to.