Kavan Griffiths is dangerous, disciplined, and desperate to clear his tarnished name. After a scandal ruined his career with the Intersectoral Police, he’ll do anything for redemption—even if it means taking a bounty on a beautiful fugitive with secrets too seductive to ignore.
Elliot Grayson knows how to look innocent. He’s done awful things in the name of survival, including creating a hallucinogen so dangerous it sparked suicide. Now he’s on the run from his lover-turned-nemesis—and from the bounty hunter dragging him back to die. But Elliot’s not ready to give up. He plans to flirt, dodge, and drive his captor half-mad with temptation—because if he’s going down, he might as well have a little fun first.
In a world where every touch might be a trap, the most dangerous thing these two men can do is fall in love.
Be Warned: m/m sex, forced seduction, bondage
Excerpt:
Was this man flirting with him?
The idea sent a shiver of lust down Elliot’s body and he was confused again. Elliot wondered if the proposition had anything to do with the strength of the sedative. Perhaps, right before it sent a man to sleep, the drug lowered his inhibitions. Likely Elliot was being too paranoid. There was no reason why every strange person in Cali had to be out to get him. It was nearly two months, and no one had found him yet. Why couldn’t this be a random stranger who happened to be flirting with him?
“Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Elliot leaned against the shelf behind him and took a moment to assess the man again. The fellow didn’t look like the type of man who wanted other men, but Elliot had never been a very good judge. When the man was unconscious, he would do a thorough check on his IDs and figure out who he was and if he was a danger. Possibly he would only look dangerous, then Elliot would have the opportunity to explain the sedative when the man regained consciousness. Possibly he’d get the opportunity to do more than talk with the man. “If not, you can always try back here again. I’m always here.”
The man laughed a short, surprised sound. He seemed equally impressed to be propositioned and said, without guile, “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get my attention.”
“What makes you think you know any better?” Elliot answered, smirking. “You’re my type of man and men like you don’t walk through Cali every day looking for lotion for male friends.”
Elliot could see the haze in the man now. The distinct dilation of his pupils, the looseness in his thick hands. Without seeming to realize it, the big man took a step toward Elliot and his fingertips brushed against Elliot’s forearms. Elliot kept his cool and only smiled in response to the touch, but the man drew back at once. He looked shocked that he had made the gesture, embarrassed he had allowed skin to touch skin.
“My name is Rodger, by the way,” Elliot said.
The man opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. He covered by saying, “I noticed your name tag.”
It was very telling that the man didn’t give his name. Even deluded by the drugs, he didn’t relax enough for that. It was better to be safe, Elliot decided. Get the man out of the store, leave some kind of trail to somewhere else, come back and gather what he could, and start again some other somewhere else.
Elliot shrugged out of his lean and took a step toward the man, then glided past him and out of the backroom into the storefront. “You know, you should come back and, uh, see me. If the place isn’t busy, I can close early. Would you come at 3:00?”
“Come at 3:00?” The man followed, teased by the suggestion. Then suddenly, his hand jolted out sharply and took Elliot by the wrist. Elliot stared at the mammoth hand encircling his frail wrist and looked up at the man fearfully. The man asked, “Why not close it now? Place isn’t busy.”
Elliot bit his lip, scandalized. He avoided looking at the man by glancing around the empty store. “A tempting idea…”
The man moved in closer. He towered over Elliot, one of his arms probably had more strength than Elliot’s whole body. “Do you live nearby?”
Distracted by the offer, by the thought of the other man’s body, Elliot answered with the truth. “Over the business, in fact.”
Immediately, he regretted it. He couldn’t just invite the man into his room. But then again, Cali wasn’t Albion, and didn’t sex sort of remove the man from suspicion? One doesn’t exactly seduce a convict and then arrest him. One certainly wouldn’t fuck a man one meant to kill. Elliot tried to distance himself from the man and not drive him away at the same time. “The manager could return at any moment.”
“I’ll let you run down and see him if he does,” the man promised. His voice was deep and warm and it only served to confuse Elliot more. Either way, what could it hurt, really? The man was going to pass out from the sedatives any minute now.
“All right.” Elliot took his hand and led him up the stairs. “Follow me.”
****
“Follow me.”
The kid’s offer hung in the air, palpable. Kavan’s mind filled with all the things he wanted to do to this boy. It was easy to imagine this lapsed Albion tied up on The Beast’s floor. Easy to slide into the thought of tugging up that tank top and seeing him half-naked, a tan line where his shirt normally shielded his chest. Easy to imagine his hands behind his back, but those green eyes still looking up at Kavan with that tempting smile. Kavan knew there was a reason why he shouldn’t be happy about the offer to follow this man into his upstairs bedroom, but he couldn’t remember why.
The kid turned, holding back the beaded curtain. His smile dared Kavan to follow him outside the store and into the light. His curling hair shimmered as if it were gold.
The sunlight stung Kavan’s eyes when he followed the kid outside and he realized immediately that he was drugged. The sensations outside whirled around Kavan as he followed the kid out onto a porch. The beach seemed to stretch on forever and at the same time shrink as he climbed up a flight of narrow wooden stairs. The palm trees all around reached toward him in the hot breeze and the sun warmed the skin on his bare head. There was bacteria in his system heightening his senses and slowing him down. It would’ve been an interesting and pleasant sensation if it wasn’t interfering with … what was it interfering with? Something dangerous.
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