GENRE: Gay Erotic Romance
LENGTH: 23,579 words
RATING:

Fashion is Jared Harvey’s life. Once a top model, now an aspiring designer, he never expects to be attracted to a man who wouldn’t know his Versace from his Valentino. But Rick Paulson makes him rethink everything he’s ever assumed he wanted in a man.

Rick’s generous, built like a brick house, and best of all, hungry to let Jared take control. Together, they ignite passions in each other neither wants to extinguish. So what if Rick doesn’t care about Jared’s Cavalli? Life’s more than a runway, especially with a man like Rick around ...

EXCERPT:
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

He hadn't expected it would be this easy to talk to Jared. They'd flirted well enough at the charity dinner, but this was a bona fide conversation. Jared was more than coming through on his promise. "I love my job, but it's ballbusting work a lot of the time."

Jared finally took a drink of his coffee, his bright eyes thoughtful. "A nurse. I still can't believe it. I would have believed a lot of things before believing that. You could model, for instance."

His bark of laughter was cut short when he realized Jared wasn't kidding. "Not me," he said with a shake of his head. "I've got two left feet."

"Trust me. Nobody's looking at your feet."

"It still means being in front of a lot of people, getting stared at." Rick gave a short shake of his head. "Not my style."

"Maybe not. But that doesn't mean they won't stare anyway."

Like Jared was doing now. Pinning Rick to his chair with only the strength of his attention, the rising desire in his eyes. The tremors that had taken up residence in his gut spread throughout his flesh, returning his arousal to full mast. He couldn't leave now even if he wanted to. One look at him, and Jared would know exactly what Rick was thinking about.

So he sat there, trying not to fidget every time Jared shared a new innuendo, or nudged against his leg in a new spot, or just looked at him through his long lashes while he waited for Rick to respond to something he'd said. He'd hoped for some kind of added camaraderie on top of their attraction, but the way Jared made him laugh--hell, the way he made him totally forget time -- was far more than he'd anticipated. Before he knew it, an hour had passed and they had gone through two pots of coffee, only stopping when a red-faced Theresa asked for Jared's intervention.

"I should probably get going anyway," Rick said, rising to his feet. "You've got work to do, and I'm holding you back."

Jared stopped and frowned at him. "I'll only be a second."

"Yeah, but this is my one day off and I should probably spend some time getting caught up on other things. Like grocery shopping and laundry."

Waving Theresa off, Jared stepped closer, invading Rick's space until the musky scent of his mouth-watering cologne filled Rick's nose. "Does your schedule mean you can't have dinner with someone dying to spend more time with you?"

The low pitch of his voice cascaded fresh tremors down Rick's legs. He smiled. "I'd love that. As long as that someone is you."

"Oh, it is. It most definitely is." Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a business card and slid it into the front pocket of Rick's jeans. His long fingers grazed along the side of Rick's erection before pulling out, and Rick had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from moaning out loud. "That's got my home number on it, too. If I get too swamped down with stuff here today and you don't hear from me, call me tomorrow so we can work out a date. The sooner the better."

"The sooner the better."

He left before he made a complete fool of himself, but on the stairwell, Rick stopped and leaned against the wall. Taking deep breaths, he steadied his racing heart, thinking the unsexiest thoughts he could in a vain attempt to will away his erection. Nothing worked. Every time he managed to conjure an image that would kill his desire, Jared's long hands and longer body showed up to shove it out of the way. The only way to get rid of his arousal was to do something about it.

Maybe he'd do his grocery shopping online today.