“Not confident in the election?” Ilan asked, and Rex let out a sigh.
“I don’t know if my heart is in it anymore. I am who I am, but the opposition is growing…louder. And I’m tired. And I’m…” He stopped and shook his head. “I envy the people who have the courage to reach out and take what they want.”
“I know how that feels,” Ilan said. He wanted to say more, but the back door opened, and he glanced up to find Shen walking out.
Of all the people in the house, Ilan knew him the least. He had the air of someone who made themselves untouchable. A sort of devastating beauty about him in his sharp features and dark eyes and hair just so. He wore his clothes like armor, and he was always looking at Rex just a fraction too long.
“Alright, gentlemen,” he said, his voice light and carrying over the sound of the waves. “What do we think?”
Ilan opened his mouth to ask what he was talking about, but then there was movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Fredric step out. His heart gave a single, destructive beat against his ribs at the sight of the man he loved. He looked nervous, and he looked so gorgeous it made Ilan ache.
Rising to his feet, he crossed the distance between them and cleared his throat so Fredric would know he was coming. Arms opened for him, but he didn’t step into them. Not all the way. Instead, he ran the tips of his fingers down the silk button up shirt, the dark color perfect against his olive skin. His hair was brushed, styled with product, and his feet were bare against the deck.
“Shen dressed me. How bad is it?” Fredric asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Ilan traced a single fingertip around the edge of his jaw, feeling how soft his beard was now. “The worst,” he said, and he smiled when Fredric sucked in a breath. “You were unbearable before, but now…” He leaned in and brushed the edge of his lips against the shell of Fredric’s ear, “I won’t be able to take my hands off you.”
“Should I keep this a permanent change?” Fredric asked, a tremor in his voice from both nerves and want. He shifted against Ilan, and there was a bulge now pressing to his thigh.
“I want you as you are,” Ilan told him. He palmed Fredric’s cheek and turned his face so their lips were just inches apart. “I don’t care what you’re wearing, or what you look like, or how your hair is styled. The only thing that matters is this.” He pressed his palm to Fredric’s chest, feeling the beat of his heart.
“Marry me,” Fredric murmured.
“That’s a colossally bad idea, you know,” Ilan answered, only to hold back the yes that was hurling itself against the back of his tongue. “It would be a disaster.”
“I know,” Fredric said with a grin, and he laid his palm against the back of Ilan’s hand and nuzzled against it. His lips were warm, his breath soft, his eyelashes fluttered in butterfly kisses against the tips of his fingers. “Say yes anyway?”
Ilan closed his eyes, then surged in and kissed him. And kissed him. And kissed him until his lungs begged for air. When he pulled back, he wrapped his casted arm gingerly around his waist, then curled his fingers against the back of Fredric’s neck. “It was always so hard to tell you no.”
“Not even now?” Fredric asked.
Ilan grinned and then kissed him a fourth time before speaking against his lips. “Especially not now. And probably never again.”
“Which means…?” Fredric pressed.
Ilan threw his head back in a laugh, even as Fredric gathered him closer than he thought possible. “Yes. It means yes.”
The End
Coming Soon
Adventures in Crescent Cove aren’t over. Coming early 2021 are the stories of Preston and Oz, a clueless barista who dreams of freedom, and Rex and Shen who find their way from quiet contention to common ground.
To read a free bonus epilogue featuring Ilan’s wedding jitters and Fredric’s way of calming him down, click here.
For More
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to my alpha reader, Kate, for cheering Papa along and validating my immediate realization that he needed a book when I was writing him in Archer and Julian’s story. Special thank you to Anthony for sensitivity reading for Fredric, and to Chelsea for all your help regarding CLVT, pre-Braille training, and services and guide dog handling information.
Also by E.M. Lindsey
Baum’s Boxing:
Book One: Below the Belt
Book Two: Fortune and Fate
Book Three: Fringe Contender
Breaking the Rules:
Book One: Renegades
Book Two: Temptation
Book Three: Forsaken
Irons and Works:
The Complete Series With Bonus Content
Book One: Free Hand
Book Two: Blank Canvas
Book Three: American Traditional
Book Four: Bio-Mechanical
Book Five: Stick-and-Poke
Book Six: Scarification
To Touch the Light- An Irons and Works Holiday novel
Love Beyond Measure
The Edge of Heaven
Magnum Opus Series:
Verismo
Coming 2021: Staccato
On The Market Series:
Book One: Love Him Free
Book Two: Love Him Breathless
Book Three: Love Him Wild
Book Four: Love Him Steady
Book Five: Love Him Desperate
Stand-Alone Novels:
Like Water Catching Fire
Forget-Me-Not
With Kate Hawthorne and EM Denning:
Cloudy With A Chance of Love
About the Author
E.M. Lindsey lives in the south east United States, close to the water where their heart lies.