Before You

BEFORE YOU


Savannah, GA
Early December
Club Smex

Roth Garrett entered the swarming, seething club in a foul mood. His day had started with the construction crew re-fabbing his pool, telling him the boss would only accept cash. After which, he made a breakneck run to the bank. Then, the contractor refused the bills, requesting a check.

Straight off a bad jag of ruined would-be relationships and familial emergencies, Roth had decided to chuck reservation to the wind and try to find distraction.

Club Smex had the strong reputation for high-quality patrons and available hookups. That’s what he wanted. Release.

Roth shouldered his way to the bar, enjoying the benefit of his superior height. People got the hell out of his way. “Stoli rocks,” he half-shouted. The bartender poured the vodka over a few cubes of ice. Picking up his drink, Roth moved back through the crowd.

He paused to sip the liquor. For a moment, the sea of humanity parted and Roth saw a pair of heavily-lashed eyes that must belong to a truly beautiful woman. His heart, long-dead for this kind of reaction, reacted with a thumping tempo.

The crowd shifted again to reveal a very masculine face below those large, almond-shaped violet eyes. With this second look, he noted the arching jet brows above them. Long inky hair framed the face, flowing around powerful, wide shoulders.

Clubbers obstructed his view. Impatient, he all but snarled.

Roth swallowed his drink, handed the empty vessel to a wait staff member, and strode toward the object of his interest. The man turned and walked away, heading for an area with conversation pits and a quieter atmosphere meant to nurture getting-to-know-each-other exchanges. Roth pushed and shoved until he placed his hand on the very muscled shoulder of his target.

The man about-faced. “You’re persistent.” The exotic stranger stood almost as tall as Roth, but he estimated he outweighed the other man by about sixty pounds.

Roth processed the smooth deep voice. It caused his gut to tighten. “Dance with me.”

A hesitation. “I don’t do anything I don’t get paid for.”

The hope in Roth refused to wither. “If I have to pay you for your time, I’d rather have you alone.” He’d never purchased sex, and realized he’d just sailed off the map. Offering his hand, he said, “Roth Garrett. Do I have to buy the privilege of knowing your name?”

A second hesitation. “Evan Blue.” He gripped Roth’s hand in a firm, warm grasp. Evan had large, long-fingered hands that promised power despite their elegance.

“Pleased to meet you, Evan. This’s new to me. Forgive my ignorance. What price do you require?”

Those beautiful violet eyes narrowed in calculation. “A grand.”

“For the night?” Roth knew he’d pay it.

“An hour.”

“Done.” He noticed Evan’s carefully controlled surprise. “Can we get outta here, now?”

“I have my safety to consider.”

Roth had known prostitution could prove dangerous. While he’d seen more than his share of beaten up crack whores and raped homeless women, the high-end portion of the trade suddenly seemed precarious as well.

“I understand,” he replied. “Just tell me what you need.”

“You carry that kind of cash?” A subtle derision slipped along the edge of the question, like a bead of sweat on a razor blade.

Roth couldn’t prevent his gaze sliding down the man’s tapered body. “I can show you the money to make you comfortable.”

“Let’s go.”

Roth put his hand at the base of Evan’s tapered back. It ended in an enticing, small, rounded ass. Outside, he handed a valet his ticket. He studied Evan as they waited. The man’s face possessed the most exotic blending of female and male. Aside from that, he possessed all masculine beauty.

The new Maserati lacked the metallic depth in color of the one blown to hell along with an innocent soul. Yet another reminder of the specter that followed him. Roth walked to the passenger side to open the door for Evan. He shut the door, tipped the valet and rounded the car to climb in.

Roth rarely made small talk. He suffered the impulse with this beautiful man in such close proximity. Ignoring it, he held silent.

They pulled into his garage. Roth shut off the car’s engine and exited to open the door for his guest. Evan stood, cupped those big hands under Roth’s jaw and drew him close for a kiss.

Roth’s world exploded.

Volcanic lust poured through him. His hands trembled as he returned the gesture. His cock went hard as iron and his heart thumped unsteadily. He changed the angle of the kiss, chasing that sweet, satiny tongue. Reaching behind him, he turned the knob and they kind of spilled into the laundry room.

Roth could only think of keeping the man with him. “Come with me. Please.”

He walked backwards towing Evan along. Their mouths would separate. He’d stroke the man’s smooth jaw, and stare into those bewitching violet eyes. Then, their lips would meet again and the heat blazed like wildfire. By memory alone, Roth brought them to his bedroom. Business first, he realized, reluctantly parting from Evan.

“I’m afraid if I look away, you’ll vanish,” he confessed. Feeling unusually vulnerable, he went to the wall safe in his walk-in closet. He punched in the code, then opened the door. Suddenly, the mix up with the contractor concerning payment method seemed like divine providence of some sort. Counting out one thousand in hundreds, he secured the safe and walked back into the bedroom. “Christ.”

Evan had switched on one of the small, amber-shaded bedside lamps and he’d removed his shoes and shirt. Smooth hairless gold skin stretched over lithe, distinctly feline brawn. A thin line of black hair began under his navel, extending down under the waistband of his jeans.

Attempting to recover himself, Roth sat the stack of bills on the dresser. “You’ll have to pardon me if I don’t handle this with sophistication.” Crossing the room, he halted before the exotic man. “Do you want to call a cab to pick you up at a set time? That’ll give you insurance. If you decide then to have me take you home, I will. Either way, the fare’s on me.”

“You’re very accommodating.”

Roth felt like the proverbial bull in a China shop. “I’ve pissed you off. Evan, I’m sorry. I - ” Those drugging lips back on his undid him. He couldn’t have resisted if he tried. More emotionally involved in a sexual encounter than he had become in over a decade, he held Evan to him. Roth ran his hands over that smooth, warm flesh, savoring the bunch and stretch of muscle.

Evan stepped back to add his hands to Roth’s effort at undressing. When their faces came close they kissed, moaning and fumbling in their task. Their fingers bumped as they each sought to remove Roth’s briefs. It sent a libidinous jolt through him. He caught one of Evan’s hands in his, holding it to his chest, stripping with the other. Evan shucked out of his remaining garments.

“Let me taste you,” Roth groaned, backing his rented lover to the bed. Evan stretched out and Roth followed, rubbing his cheek along the other man’s velvety-skinned erection. Evan’s scent filled him with lust. He hadn’t had a male lover in a long time, and had forgotten how it excited him. The doctor in him warned against tasting the fluid leaking from Evan’s cock. He had to settle for running his mouth up and down the engorged shaft.

Shaking, he pressed a kiss at the base, where cock met balls. Then, he moved to retrieve a condom and a small, never-used tube of lubrication from the nightstand. “Am I overstepping in assumption?”

Evan studied him with those large, tip-tilted eyes. “No.”

Roth tore open the foil packet and rolled the latex down over his almost painfully hard dick. Evan turned onto his front and Roth growled. A black, tribal tattoo of two twined fish resided at the base of the man’s spine. His ass made Roth’s mouth water. He slicked up his erection, then leaned down to bite and kiss the perfect twin mounds of muscle. Evan moaned and spread his long, strong thighs.

On fire with lust, he gently massaged the entrance to Evan’s body. That inviting pink bud opened like a rose and Roth slid two fingers inside.

They both groaned.

Evan lifted his hips. “Fuck me.”

Roth withdrew his fingers, swiping off the lube on his duvet. Using that hand, he guided himself into Evan’s body. The heat almost made him insane. Carefully, he eased forward. “You feel like heaven.”

“So do you.”

His rational mind categorized professional obligation. Roth didn’t want to think about it. He gently withdrew, then sank deep. Unable to prevent his cry of pleasure, he helplessly vocalized. “You okay, Evan?”

“Yeah.”

Beyond pride, Roth leaned down, sweeping aside the wealth of blunt cut black hair, kissing his purchased lay’s beautiful shoulders and neck. “Let me please you. Tell me what you like.”

“Mmmm. That’s good.”

Encouraged and aroused, Roth continued the oral attention to Evan’s upper body, while cautiously moving in his wonderful, sweet ass. “You’re killing me.” He reached under Evan’s flat belly to grip his erection and work it, increasing the force of his thrusts. “I can’t last.” Pre-orgasm pleasure ripped him. “I’m gonna come.”

“Fuck me hard.”

Roth slammed his partner, jerking his cock and experiencing the most intense orgasm he’d enjoyed since … her.

Evan shuddered and hot semen spurted as Roth pumped him.

For a long moment, he labored for breath. Attempting to maintain respect for Evan as a professional, he withdrew and removed the condom. Roth walked into the bathroom, dropping the used prophylactic into the trash before washing his subsiding erection and hands in the sink. Smiling a little, he wondered if he could convince Evan to let him purchase another hour. It sure as shit didn’t qualify as ideal, but people had worked through more complicated situations.

By the time he emerged, Evan had dressed and stood talking into a tiny cell phone. “Yeah, like now. Thanks.” He closed the diminutive device and slid it into the same back pocket as his wallet.

“Call them back and cancel.” Roth closed the distance, anticipating a kiss.

Evan turned and strode from the room.

Naked, Roth followed. He glanced back, saw the money on the dresser. “You forgot your cash.”

“I don’t want your money.”

Roth struggled to process the statement. “If I did something really wrong, tell me, Evan.”

“Evans Blue is a rock group.”

Roth caught the man he had just experienced mind-blowing sex with, turning him. Holding his gaze, Roth demanded, “What the fuck’re you saying?”

Without any discernable emotion, he replied, “I’m saying I told you I was a pro to see what fucking me was worth to you. And, that my name’s not ‘Evan’.”

Roth’s heart jerked within his chest. Dragging in a deep breath, he returned, “Okay. We can move forward. Stay. We’ll talk.”

“I wanted laid. I got it.” Outside a horn honked twice. “That’s my ride. Thanks for the sex.”

Roth stood naked in the doorway as his unknown partner hurried down the wide walk to a waiting SUV. He watched as the vehicle pulled away. Fury seething alongside a tragic feeling of loss, he slammed the door and slid fast the bolt.