Page 41 of Steady Stroke
Emmett squeezed the bridge of his nose to fight off tears. “No matter how many times other people have said that to me, I never believed them. All I knew in my heart was that I’d gone against our beliefs by having sex with a man, and my family was punished for it. They paid the price for my sin.”
Lincoln cupped his cheeks with both palms, forcing Emmett to meet his eyes. Blue orbs blazed with an intensity that scared Emmett as much as it thrilled him. “Listen to me. Your family didnotdie because you had sex. The world doesn’t work like that. God doesn’t sit around staring into bedrooms, deciding who to smite as punishment for things he doesn’t like. It was tragic timing.”
“But if I’d been home?—”
“Nope.” Lincoln pressed a thumb over his lips. “No. Second-guessing will only make you crazy. Trust me on that. I spent a lot of time after my accident wondering if I could have avoided it. Could I have done something different that night, from leaving sooner to avoiding the sideswipe all together. But the accident happened, and the fire happened. We can’t change those things.”
Emmett couldn’t help it. He parted his lips slightly and kissed the rough skin silencing him. Lincoln’s eyes widened; his nostrils flared. Lincoln dragged that thumb to the corner of his mouth.
“That’s why you scare me,” Emmett whispered. The moment was too fragile to speak any louder. “You’ve been hurt so much. I’m terrified of being with you, only to see you or anyone else I care about hurt. Ordead.”
“You scare me a little too, babe. From the moment I first saw you, I felt something. I knew I wanted to get to know you. I should send Van some top-shelf whiskey as a thank-you for introducing us. You’re the first person I’ve met in a long time who doesn’t make me feel broken.”
Emmett’s heart pounded. “You’re the first person I’ve met in a long time who makes me feel alive.”
Lincoln leaned in until his breath was fanning across Emmett’s lips. He broke eye contact, but every place Lincoln touched his skin burned with awareness. And need. Need unlike anything Emmett had felt in his life. He wanted Lincoln. He wanted to feel alive with Lincoln. He wanted everything that came along with those things.
“Please,” Emmett whispered.
One word broke the last of the invisible barrier that had kept them apart. Emmett clutched Lincoln’s shoulders in the same moment that Lincoln kissed him. Heat exploded all over Emmett’s body, and he melted. Melted into the way Lincoln explored his lips in a gentle kiss that deepened slowly, until a questing tongue thrust into Emmett’s mouth. Emmett kissed him back, because he knew this part.
Helovedthis part. Tasting and pressing and licking, exploring Lincoln’s mouth with the same care that Lincoln discovered his. He adored how Lincoln didn’t initiate more. He simply devoured Emmett’s mouth, his callused hands a gentle weight on both sides of his neck. But Emmett wanted more. He tugged Lincoln down until Emmett was on his back on the couch, Lincoln a hot weight on top of him. One of Lincoln’s thighs was trapped between Emmett’s legs, and he pressed hard against Emmett’s groin.
Emmett groaned, because that felt amazing. And he wasn’t the only one getting into it, if the solid length against his hip was any clue.
They kissed for a while, and Emmett lost himself to it. To the taste of Lincoln’s mouth, the slide of his tongue, the touch of his fingertips. To the pounding of blood in his veins and the perfect pressure on his groin that occasionally sent shots of joy up his spine. It felt so good. So natural.
So incredibly right.
“The fuck, dude?”
Emmett yelped, shocked by the familiar voice that broke through what had been a beautiful moment and drop-kicked him back into the real world.
Lincoln sat up on his knees, irrationally angry at the interruption, one hand already curling into a defensive fist. A guy about their age stood just inside the front door, a boogie board clutched under one arm. He had a very strong resemblance to Beatrice, so he pegged the guy as her son. Emmett’s cousin. As they faced off, the newcomer’s face shifted from disgusted to . . . kind of shocked.
Emmett scrambled up and away, practically huddling at the other end of the couch. But the guy wasn’t paying Emmett any attention. He was laser-focused on Lincoln for some reason.
And that set off all kinds of alarms for Lincoln. “Who are you?”
“Adrian,” the guy said. “I live here.” He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he’d been in, and he looked back and forth, from Lincoln to Emmett in a way that made Lincoln want to stand up and snarl. To Emmett he said, “Dude, really? You’re a fag?”
Lincoln shot to his feet, allowing his height to work in his favor. “He’s a what now?”
“Gay.” Adrian swallowed hard enough that his Adam’sapple bobbed. He left the boogie board near the front door, then made a wide circle around the couch.
“And? You got a problem with this?”
Adrian frowned then darted up the stairs. Out of sight.
“Okay, that was weird.” Lincoln sat back down. Emmett didn’t look as scared as he expected. He almost looked . . . mad. “You okay?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“For your cousin? It’s not your fault he’s an asshole.”
“No, for me. For pulling away like I did. I’m sorry.”
Ah-ha.“You were scared, Em. It was a protective instinct. I’m not taking it personally.” Hell, the fact that he’d been making out with Emmett less than three minutes ago still felt like a miracle. He’d come over today half expecting Emmett to tell him that Lincoln had an overactive imagination and they would only ever be friends.
