Love Ahead

Published by Dreamspinner Press 4760 Preston Road Suite 244-149 Frisco, TX 75034 http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/ This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Love Ahead Copyright © 2008 Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux Cover Design by Mara McKennen This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press at: 4760 Preston Road, Suite 244-149, Frisco, TX 75034 http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/ Released in the United States of America June, 2008 eBook edition available in Adobe PDF, MobiPocket and MS Reader formats. eBook ISBN: 978-0-9817372-5-6

To my Boo, for his unending support and excitement on my behalf. ~Madeleine

Under Contract | 1

A loud clang, crash, crunch, and tinkle was not what Ted Lucas wanted to hear on a bright and sunny Monday morning. Not at all. He rolled his chair back from the blueprints, grabbed his hard hat, and ducked as he jumped out of the trailer, skipping the stairs altogether. He ran around the corner of the huge cinderblock foundation and stopped in his tracks. “Goddammitalltahell! What’s going on out here?” he yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone stopped. Some looked confused, some looked amused, and some had that ‘deer-in-the-headlights-oh-my-God-I’m-going-to-die’ look on their faces. Nick Cooper stood with his foot on a length of pipe from the bundle that had crashed to the ground. He looked up at the bobbing White Hard Hat of Doom when it came tear-assing around the corner and raised an eyebrow. “Morning, boss,” he greeted with a calm smirk, knowing the cheeky greeting wasn’t likely to smooth Lucas’s feathers any. He’d ceased trying to smooth the man’s feathers about a week after first meeting him. It was a bit more interesting to ruffle them every now and then. Lucas practically growled, looking over the mess: a bundle of piping spilled off a cart, two sets of drywall sheets smashed, a window broken, and probably a fucking partridge in a pear tree shitting somewhere. He looked around at the workers milling about, lips compressing. “Boo!” he suddenly screeched – and most of the men jumped and scuttled off. Sanders, the electrician who had received one too many shocks over the years, passed clean out from the scare.

2 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “What the hell, man?” Cooper muttered as he watched his crew beat a hasty retreat. “I have to find a new job,” he grumbled, bending to heft a nearby rock and stick it under the pipes to keep them from rolling further. Hands clenching into fists, Lucas walked over and started to shift the trolley so they could stack the pipe back onto it. “We’re already two weeks behind. I’ve got supply delays, a skittish electrician, a mudder who streaks, and now this,” he said under his breath. “I’m gonna get skinned.” Cooper glanced behind him and frowned down at the unconscious electrician. “He’s like one of those goats that passes out when you clap. You think we should check his pulse?” he asked casually. “Man, that’d shoot the company insurance to shit, huh?” he asked a little evilly. “Jesus Christ, Cooper, don’t tempt fate,” Lucas practically begged, pushing his hard hat back and rapping his forehead against the thick bar handle on the trolley. “You know, maybe if you didn’t shout everything you said, half your crew would still have their hearing,” Cooper pointed out as he wiped his sleeve over his dirty cheek. Lucas looked like he was chewing on something sour. “Hell. Half of ’em are deaf anyway from all the machinery,” he muttered, bending over again to help the other man pick up the heavy pipes. “What’d you say?” Cooper shouted, barely keeping a straight face as he tilted his head and cupped his ear. The foreman just rolled his eyes. Not too many people got away with prodding at him like Cooper did. It was probably because Cooper was damn good at what he did. It didn’t hurt that he was almost as tall as Lucas, although he didn’t carry the same muscle mass. It also didn’t hurt that Lucas thought about him at all hours…. Within several minutes they had the pipes and glass cleaned up, and some brave souls flitted in to start replacing the drywall. Sanders was dragged into the shade until he woke up. “What happened, anyway?” Lucas asked. It was 9 a.m. on a Monday. He shouldn’t be tired already. It made him cranky.

Under Contract | 3 “I don’t know, it wasn’t my day to babysit,” Cooper answered with a matter-of-fact shrug. “I just saw the pipes running away and threw myself in front of them. I deserve a bonus, I think,” he told his boss with a sad nod. Lucas’s head snapped up, and he looked Cooper over carefully. “You don’t look hurt. Are you hurt?” He started walking to the side, looking the other man up and down. No blood. No bones sticking out. No gashes or tears in his clothes. Just the usual dirt and sweat. “Mental anguish,” Cooper drawled, the smirk finally surfacing as he readjusted his heavy work gloves and glanced sideways as the boss man looked him over. The foreman sighed and crossed his arms, trying to hide the intense relief that flooded him. “Anything else, Mr. Assistant Smartass Foreman?” “No, sir, Mr. Hardass Foreman, sir.” Cooper snickered and sketched a mock salute and bow as he turned to go back to work. Growling again under his breath, Lucas stalked back to the trailer. He’d better not stay or he’d catch himself ogling. That wouldn’t be good. To take his mind off his rather inappropriate thoughts, he reminded himself that he still had to find the discrepancy in those manifests, which reminded him that he hated paperwork. He’d much rather be out swinging a hammer or driving a frontloader or drawing blueprints from scratch. The rest of Monday passed without any other mishaps, and after reviewing the section reports, Lucas was feeling a bit better. Apparently Cooper had lit a fire under some of the men, because several of the crews had made up two to three days’ work today. Grabbing for his hard hat, Lucas realized he still had it on his head. Sighing, he left the trailer – for only the second time that day, he thought miserably – looking for his assistant. At that moment, his assistant was up to his elbows, literally, in drying plaster mix. Cooper knelt in front of the bucket, lips pressed tightly together, praying to God that they would find the chisel before Lucas came out of his trailer. It was almost quitting time, and he’d be prowling out here any second.

4 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas looked around the building, checking the rooms, before heading out back. He saw Cooper from behind before he saw anything else, and he immediately quashed his first response – a decidedly physical one – to Cooper’s body. It was a response that he tried not to admit even to himself that he had (and had and had and had), and he moved on. “Hey, Cooper, you know, from behind it looks like you’re up to your… el… bows… what the hell?” “You weren’t exactly supposed to see this,” Cooper responded grumpily as he glanced to the side, trying to turn and see the man without actually lifting the bucket full of plaster up to do so. The foreman just stared. It was so hysterically funny that he couldn’t even laugh. He actually bit his lip. Hard. “Do I even want to know?” “I did it before I could think about it, okay?” Cooper said defensively as the runner finally came jogging up with the chisel. “Be careful with that fucking thing, man, remember my fingers are down there,” Cooper growled. His usually amiable personality, especially compared to Lucas’s typical pissiness, did a lot toward making the men like and respect him. That meant that when he shouted or growled, well… the men quaked. He turned back to glance at the boss as the trembling chisel was placed against the hardening plaster. “One of the guys dropped his damn wedding ring in it, and I reached in to grab it before it could dry up. Then when I couldn’t get my hand out, I reached in with the other to pull it out,” he admitted, hoping the flush of embarrassment was covered by his deep tan. The stupidity of the act was due mostly to the fact that he hadn’t gotten more than three hours of sleep last night, but he didn’t mention that. It was hard not to offer it as an excuse, though. Lucas actually winced when he heard the first crack of the plaster. “That’s still going to hurt like hell,” he murmured, accompanied by a sideways glare from Cooper. “Once you’re free, come over to the trailer. I’ve got some solvent to get the shit off without pulling off all the skin.” “Yeah, okay,” Cooper grumbled, flushing deeper as he turned back to watch the slow progress of the chipping. “Someone get a fucking knife

Under Contract | 5 over here and slice open this fucking bucket!” he shouted in uncharacteristic frustration. Lucas backed away and caught himself looking at Cooper from behind again. Closing his eyes tightly, he made himself turn around and walk back to the trailer. He spent some time digging in the closet for the solvent, and even more time digging under the sink for the wide trough bucket. He’d just pulled it all out when he heard someone on the steps outside the trailer. Outside, Cooper huffed and kicked at the door, unable to knock with his hands. God forbid he get plaster all over Lucas’s office door; the man would go apeshit. Hurrying to the door, Lucas pushed it open and held it so Cooper could get up the stairs. He grimaced when he caught sight of the other man’s arms, still mostly coated with hardened and clinging plaster, a smattering of shallow cuts to go along with the damage. Once he let the door shut, he walked back into the bathroom, running warm water into the trough and then adding the solvent. “All right, thing about this shit is, it’s going to sting like hell once it gets down to your skin. But that’s how you’ll know you can start wiping the plaster off. It gets all soft like wallpaper paste,” he explained, carefully carrying the trough out to the small table. “Great,” Cooper muttered, stepping up to the table and poking three fingers into the stuff distastefully. The many cuts, blisters, and cracks in his work-hardened fingertips began to flame, but he closed his eyes and simply dunked both arms into the stuff, all the way to his elbows. Lucas went back to the bathroom and turned on the shower, near full hot. He knew Cooper would want to get that solvent off as soon as possible. It hurt like absolute hell, but it was still better than trying to pull the plaster bits off. That was excruciating. He headed back into the main room of the trailer – there were only three – and waited, trying not to think about how attractive the quiet stoicism was. Or about the shower the man would soon be stepping into…. Cooper didn’t wince, not once, as the solvent burned its way through the plaster and then started working on his skin. He calmly wiped

6 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux at his forearms and hands, his face betraying nothing as he did so. He wanted to scream. Or at least kick something. Cry, maybe. Cry a lot. When he had taken as much as he could stand and the plaster was mostly goop once more, he stood abruptly and nodded at the shower he could hear running. “Go on,” Lucas said hoarsely. He could see the strain around the other man’s eyes and the set of his jaw. He knew how much it hurt. “The hot water will finish dissolving the plaster and wash off the solvent.” Cooper nodded wordlessly and headed for the shower, his eyes nearly watering now as he stepped into the hot water. He was lucky that he had been wearing a T-shirt today, he supposed, as opposed to his usual flannel. At least the short sleeves wouldn’t be ruined by the plaster. He didn’t care if it got wet, though. The hot water burned almost like the solvent had, and he gritted his teeth and washed the remnants off as his body began to shiver with the stinging pain, then he reached up and turned the shower to cold to soothe the burning. He wasn’t sure what hurt worse, his arms or his pride. He fucking knew better than to dive into something like that, much less something that would harden, for chrissake! When he stepped out of the shower his entire front was soaked, and he shook like a dog and trudged out into the outer room, trying to hold his head high still. “Thanks, boss,” he murmured as he placed the gold ring that had been clutched in his hand on the table beside the trough. “Give that to fucking Nelson if you see him before I do,” he muttered as he headed for the door. Lucas could tell Cooper was upset, probably more so with himself than anything, and his pride stinging to boot. “Hey, Cooper,” he said, trying to get him to stop. “Wait, this stuff will help,” he said, holding up a spray bottle. “Help with the burning, I mean.” Cooper glanced down at the little bottle and back up at Lucas dubiously. “That’s okay,” he muttered. “Thanks,” he added as he turned to the door, eager to get away and go home to lick his wounds. The foreman rolled his eyes. “You’re as goddamn stubborn as I am. Now c’mere. I know what that burn feels like, and believe me, not much will help it but this.” He held up the bottle and shook it between two fingers.

Under Contract | 7 Cooper stopped and sighed heavily, turning back to face his boss and holding out his wet arms obediently as the window unit switched on and started blowing icy air onto his wet shirt. He shivered uncontrollably and felt the hair on his arms and neck stand on end. “If it gets much colder in this damn trailer my nipples are going to cut through my damn shirt,” he muttered to his boss. Both Lucas’s eyebrows raised as he started spraying up and down Cooper’s arms. He really, really wanted to make a comment, and not a smartass one, so he literally bit his tongue and hoped Cooper didn’t notice. Spraying evenly, he made sure every bit of skin got wet with the neutralizer. He took a wrist and turned it so he could spray the solution around Cooper’s fingers, making sure any cuts or abrasions he saw were well soaked. Then Lucas switched to the other arm, trying not to overly enjoy the contact. Cooper cleared his throat as he watched the strangely gentle motions of his hardass foreman, glancing up apologetically. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Long day.” “Yeah,” Lucas agreed in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, hoping Cooper wouldn’t notice his face was flushed. “Here, you better take the bottle. I learned from experience that you might need it for a couple of days.” He swallowed and offered the green plastic container to him. Cooper nodded once more and took the bottle, glancing up at Lucas one last time. “You okay, bossman?” he asked seriously. The foreman’s eyes widened as Cooper looked right at him. Directly. “I, uh… I was just remembering when I learned about that stuff,” he said awkwardly, barely restraining himself from shuffling his feet. Shit, shit, shit. This was why he didn’t like to let the staff in the trailer. Because he didn’t want to let Cooper in the trailer. Because he didn’t want to talk to Cooper one-on-one. Because he didn’t want Cooper to figure out what a lovesick idiot he worked for. Because he didn’t want Cooper to know how attracted his boss was to him. Aw, hell. Because he was sure to make himself look like a fool, and he was equally sure Cooper would thrash him like a ninety-pound weakling after finding out.

8 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Dive in headfirst, too, did ya?” Cooper asked with a small smile, completely oblivious to Lucas’s mental ramble. “Well, we all have our Darwin moments,” he offered as consolation with a little laugh, taking a step back and toward the door. He had been aware of the foreman’s discomfort with him for quite a while, though he had never figured out the reason for it. It was partly why he’d put in for a transfer to another crew after this job was over. He didn’t like being where he wasn’t wanted. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said with a tap of the bottle of neutralizer to his hairline in a mock salute. “Thanks for the first aid.” Lucas nodded. He almost opened his mouth to say something else – he wasn’t sure what – but swallowing hard, he figured it was better to stay quiet. “Night,” he managed. “Try to actually go home tonight, hmm?” Cooper teased as he opened the door and stepped out onto the top step. “Night, boss.” This is it, Lucas told himself. This is it, and you’re missing it. He’s walking away, and you’re letting him. For the second time, you’re letting someone you love walk away without saying anything to him about it. Despite his inner voice screaming, Lucas was convinced he wasn’t going to say anything, because all the want and fear balled up inside him to clog his throat. But…. “Nick?” Cooper stopped short and turned, holding the flimsy trailer door open with his shoulder. “Sir?” he asked in surprise, shocked to hear his first name from the man. He thought it might have been the first time. Lucas wondered if he looked as surprised as Cooper sounded. “Ah… wanna get a beer?” he asked. Cooper blinked at his boss stupidly. Lucas never went out with the rest of them. They considered themselves favorites if Lucas remembered anything personal about them – like their names, for instance. Cooper had always assumed it was a chain of command kind of thing, leaving it to him to keep up with the crew’s birthdays, divorces, children, deaths… it had never bothered him, it was just the way things were. He wondered if something was wrong. “Uhh… yeah, sure,” he stuttered in answer. “I, uh… I’ll need to change,” he pointed out with a little smile and a gesture to his wet clothes.

Under Contract | 9 The foreman nodded several times, looking down at his own jeans, work boots and paint-splattered work shirt. “Yeah, umm, meet you in the lot in ten minutes?” Lucas asked tentatively. Cooper gave a half smile and a nod. “Yeah,” he responded simply, hoping his confusion and surprise weren’t all too obvious. After lingering for a brief moment, he turned to go, thumping down the steps gracelessly and making his way across the site with long, sure strides. Eyes wide, Lucas stared for a moment, then hurried to the door to watch Cooper cross toward the other trailers set aside for lockers and washrooms. He gasped for air, realized he’d been holding his breath, and sagged against the door. “Aw, hell,” he whispered. What had he gotten himself into now? What did he think he was going to do? He’d been in this situation before, and it hadn’t turned out well. Actually, it hadn’t turned out at all. Lucas had fallen in love with Randy Baker, a man who was his lover, but stupid him, he’d never breathed a word about how he felt. Who’d want to love him, a big, boorish construction worker? Lucas had been scared of scaring Randy away. Instead, time and career did the job for him, and Lucas had let his lover transfer across the country without a word. They’d parted amicably with a fond kiss goodbye on Lucas’s doorstep as Randy headed off to a new exciting chapter in his life, unknowingly leaving a broken heart behind. Then Lucas moved here to Birmingham, and he swore he’d never let it happen again, that he’d at least say something, anything, should he happen to lose his heart again. But to his continual frustration, Lucas just couldn’t make himself spit it out. He’d known the first time he set eyes on the unattainable Nick Cooper that he was in love, and he’d also known it was impossible. By the time Lucas got a handle on his panic, five minutes had passed – sending him running about the trailer like an elephant on stampede. He yanked clean jeans and a black T-shirt out of a duffel while hopping on one foot, trying to get his work boots off, and managed to fall right over onto the floor like a felled tree, still struggling with his laces. Cooper bypassed the crew trailers and headed for his truck. He always kept a spare set of clothing in there. Not exactly for just such an occasion, seeing as how plaster baths were normally frowned upon, but

10 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux close enough. He tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it into the bed of the truck as he opened up the back door of the crew cab. He knew he had clean clothes in here somewhere. He finally found the shirt he was looking for; a soft, faded flannel that was likely to be rags soon enough, and he slung it over the side of the truck as a few of the crew began to wander out, on their way home. They called out to him with affectionate greetings and waved their hardhats through the air at him teasingly, asking him if he was going out drinking tonight or if he planned to run home to his girlfriend who none of them were allowed to meet. “It’s a boys’ night,” Cooper laughed in return as he pulled off his boots and set them carefully aside. He looked around the lot to make certain no one from outside the crew was around, and then unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down, tossing them in the back as well as he stood there in his briefs and reached into his truck for another pair. Across the site, Lucas flew out of the trailer still pulling his T-shirt over his head, skipping all three steps and yanking himself around the corner as he tried to run and tuck his shirt in at the same time. Dragging a hand through his hair, not noticing the dark blond curls springing up all over after being under the hard hat most of the day, he slid to a halt in the sand, barely stopping from slamming into the low concrete wall that separated the parking lot from the construction site. He glanced at his watch. Twelve minutes. Shit. He jogged into the lot, looking around for Cooper’s truck. Cooper had just shrugged into his shirt and was buttoning it up slowly after digging out his scuffed cowboy boots and sliding into them. He glanced up to see Lucas jog into the lot, and smiled slightly. The man looked almost nervous. A sudden dropping feeling hit Cooper, and he wondered again if it was bad news. Lucas had been talking about problems. Oh, God, what if they were looking at layoffs? He’d be expected to break it to the boys.… Again sliding to a stop, eyes frozen on the bared chest being slowly covered, the foreman cleared his throat and stuck a hand in his jeans pocket, trying to act casual when he had no clue how to go about it as he paced the rest of the way to Cooper’s truck. “Uh. Sorry. Took a

Under Contract | 11 little longer than I expected,” he murmured, suddenly realizing he was staring. He dropped his eyes and shuffled a little. “That’s okay, took me a while to find my clothes,” Cooper responded with a smile. “I usually hang around until everyone’s gone anyway, just in case. Y’know. Did you want to go out with the boys or… somewhere… just us?” he asked, trying not to sound like he was dreading what his boss had to say. “Uh. I’m sure the guys wouldn’t want me around after hours of putting up with me,” Lucas said honestly, not thinking of the fact that he’d been in the trailer all day. “How about Petey’s?” he asked, naming a sports bar where many of the crew ate lunch. Cooper nodded and smiled gamely, licking his lips and stepping away from his truck to shut the back door. “Want to ride with me or…?” Lucas’s eyes got wide. That was Cooper’s tongue. Cooper’s tongue licking Cooper’s lips. He gawked for a long moment before shaking himself. “Ah, yeah, sure. At least I know I’ll fit in your truck,” he tried to joke, still a little shaken and nervy about what he’d gotten himself into. Christ. He hoped he didn’t do something to really piss Cooper off. It would totally suck if he quit and left. Christ. Don’t think about anything sucking.… Cooper watched the man for a moment and ducked his head forward finally. “You all right?” he asked worriedly. God, it had to be some shit news if Lucas was this distracted. Blinking hard, the foreman shook his head to clear it, then nodded, then shook it again as he was still thinking of… fuck. Get it together. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he muttered, stuffing his other hand into its jeans pocket, looking for all the world like he expected to be scolded. “I’ll just… yeah,” he said, starting around to the passenger side. Cooper watched him worriedly and then opened the driver side door, sliding into the huge F-250 with practiced ease and pulling the door shut with a loud thunk. The lot was now empty, and Cooper guided the truck out of the gravel and through the gates. He stopped there, glancing over at Lucas and smiling as he hopped back out again. “Gate,” he muttered before jogging back to the fence behind them and dragging it shut.

12 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas watched him go like he couldn’t tear his eyes away, but then he managed it and covered his face with his hands for a long moment. “Get a hold of yourself, you ass,” he muttered to himself. “You can do this. It’s a beer. Or three. But it’s fine. It’s fine.” Behind the truck, Cooper wrapped the chain and used the key strung around his neck to lock it. He headed back to the truck and hopped in, glancing at his boss. “You doing dinner, too? Or just a beer?” he asked, trying to make small talk to cover the awkward fact that they knew so little about each other outside of those gates. “Beer. And more beer. Hooraaaaaaaay beer,” Lucas answered right away. Then he sighed. “But I better eat, too. No lunch today.” He leaned back with an annoyed grunt, finally managing to distract himself from Cooper’s hands on the steering wheel by thinking about food. Only a temporary save, he knew, but he’d take what he could get. Cooper laughed softly. “That kind of Monday, was it? I hear that,” he murmured as he flexed his sore fingers and gripped the wheel tighter. He made his way to the little bar Lucas had mentioned, pleased to find that none of his boys had headed there. A moment later he was sliding out of the truck and reaching back in for his wallet. Lucas got out of the truck and walked around the front. “Yeah. Goddamn paperwork will be the death of me. Gimme concrete. Gimme duct work. Hell, give me septic tanks. They’re all better than fuckin’ paperwork,” he complained as they walked to the door. “You know, some people hire others to do their paperwork,” Cooper advised, immediately regretting the words as he remembered that maybe there was layoff trouble brewing. He held the door for the other man, gesturing him in ahead of him with a weak smile. The foreman screwed his face up in distaste. “I hate paper pushers, Cooper. That’s why I torture myself with it. The last guy I had…” he paused to point out an open booth. “The last guy? He had to ask about every single little thing. Took twice as long as it takes me even now.” He huffed as he slid into the booth, pushing the table out some so they’d have plenty of room behind it. Cooper slid into the booth and waved and smiled at the bartender. He came here often enough that the man knew him by name, as did the

Under Contract | 13 girl who sidled up to their table to take their orders. “Usual, please,” Cooper told her with a wink before turning back to Lucas. He pushed his damp hair back out of his eyes and rolled his sore neck. “Paper pushers push papers for a reason,” he pointed out. Lucas ordered a large imported draft and asked for a menu. “What’s that reason? ’Cause they’re too puny to drive a nail?” he asked, leaning against the leather back of the booth somewhat petulantly. At least it was a great view, he told himself. “Well, yeah,” Cooper laughed as he leaned forward. “Hey,” he said in a low, nervous voice. “Is that why you wanted to talk with me? Are they cutting jobs?” he asked worriedly. “What?” Lucas just blinked at him. Cutting jobs? Cooper frowned at the confused look. “That’s not… that’s good!” he breathed in relief. “Jesus, man, you had me scared!” he laughed. Lucas tilted his head, putting two and two together. “You came when I asked because you thought I had bad news about work?” he asked a little woodenly. Cooper tilted his head, mimicking the man’s movements. “No,” he answered sincerely, a little hurt at the implication and not sure why. “No, I started worrying later when you started acting weird.” “Weird?” Lucas relaxed a little at Cooper’s quiet response, and he chanced a look up from his hands that were knotted together under the table. “Worrying? About what, the job?” he didn’t want to ask if Cooper had been worried about him. “Yeah,” Cooper nodded. “And weird. I’ve never seen you not yelling, boss. Now, you’re fidgeting,” he observed. The foreman immediately froze in place, eyes wide. Caught. Fuck. “What?” Cooper asked in alarm. “I… uh….” Lucas stuttered before biting his lip. “Sorry?” he offered awkwardly. Cooper stared at the man for a moment and then grinned in amusement. “You wanna talk about it?” he offered with a small, slightly teasing smile.

14 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas’s face fell in embarrassment, and he banged his head slowly and methodically against the back of the booth. “Could I be any more of a… a...?” He groaned, not even able to describe it. He was being a jerk. A weirdo. A lovesick fool. Thump. Thump. “That’s going to hurt if you keep doing that,” Cooper pointed out as their beers were delivered. “Sometimes it helps to tell someone you’re not, y’know, close to,” he added helpfully. Whatever was wrong with the man, obviously it was eating at him if he had wanted Cooper, of all people, to talk to. “Hell, half the crew uses me as a psychiatrist; you may as well do it, too.” Lucas sighed and told the waitress what he wanted to eat, then sat back with his beer. “I shouldn’t be talking about this,” he murmured, mostly to himself. It was a bad, bad idea. What if Cooper was offended? The man was the classic Alabama good ol’ boy. There was a rifle rack in the back of his truck, for chrissake! How the hell did it get to this point? How did he let it? It was all going to blow up in his face, and he’d be fucked, well, not really fucked – and it’d been way too long – but fucked when it came to sexual harassment and all the federal shit, and oh, God… but at least he would have said something. Cooper watched his foreman with growing concern. “They sent you my notice early, didn’t they?” he blurted. “Fuckers, they can never get their shit straight,” he grunted in disgust as he flopped back in his seat. “Notice?” Lucas’s head snapped around, and his eyes focused on Cooper. “You gave notice? You’re leaving?” If possible, he was even more stunned. Cooper blinked at the man and cleared his throat. “I… goddammit.” He shifted in his seat and huffed at himself. “It’s just, well, the general feeling is that you’re not happy with me,” he stuttered in explanation. “I just… I thought it’d be easier on you if I went to another job.” Lucas felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Not happy with you?” he asked faintly. Cooper was leaving him, and it was his fault? “You’re leaving me?” he asked plaintively, not realizing how it sounded. Cooper opened his mouth to respond, but found he couldn’t. He had never seen this kicked puppy look on Lucas, it somehow didn’t fit into

Under Contract | 15 Cooper’s reality. “You realize today you’ve said more to me than the grand total of the last four weeks, right?” he pointed out. “And that it took me getting myself plastered to a bucket to actually see the inside of your office? An office I’m technically supposed to be helping run?” The finality of the situation settled in, and Lucas realized that not only was it too late (if it had ever been early or even the right time), but now it was way, way too late. He’d written himself out of the running long ago by not treating the man better. He’d alienated him by pushing him away, because he was afraid Cooper would leave if he detected any hint of how Lucas felt. And now he was leaving anyway. Lucas had done it to himself again. He opened his mouth to apologize, but instead something totally different and unplanned popped out. “I’m in love with you.” Cooper sat stunned for a moment, blinking stupidly. He stared at the man across the table and narrowed his eyes, looking around the bar suspiciously. “Did they put you up to this?” he finally asked with a wave of his beer bottle at Lucas. “Some sort of hazing for yelling all day and then getting stuck in a bucket?” Lucas’s eyes fell shut, and he slowly leaned forward and buried his head in his arms. Maybe Cooper would just leave him here, think he was totally crazy, and be glad he was getting off the site. Leaving. He’s leaving. Lucas ached inside. He wished he’d said something earlier. Cooper’s slight grin fell as he watched, and a slow cold crept over him as he realized the man might be serious. “You’re… you’re serious,” he blurted in shock. “But… you don’t even know me!” he protested. Not moving his head, Lucas raised both hands and shrugged, dropping them back to the table with an embarrassed groan. “You can go,” he said, his voice muffled. “Really. Don’t worry about me.” Cooper huffed at the man. “I clocked out,” he said suddenly. “Means I don’t have do what you tell me now,” he said pointedly as he tilted his bottle back and gulped down the rest of his beer. He raised his hand for two more before he plunked the glass down on the table between them to grab Lucas’s attention. “You’re serious?” he demanded again, wanting to make damn certain this wasn’t some sort of elaborate prank.

16 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas sat up straight, eyes averted to the ceiling. “Christ. Yeah, fine, so, I’m serious. Just do your laughing and go. I won’t bug you while you finish out your hitch,” he said, trying very hard not to let the embarrassment that was turning into hurt show. “I’m not laughing,” Cooper responded calmly, watching Lucas’s face carefully. Sea-blue, apprehensive eyes turned toward Cooper. Not laughing, sure. Probably so he could get angry enough to beat the shit out of his foreman – who wouldn’t put up a fight, by the way. Lucas suddenly wished he could turn off the internal commentary reel. He’d rather hear a laugh track. “You ever heard the boys talk about my girlfriend?” Cooper asked conversationally. He didn’t wait for an answer, doubting Lucas had heard much gossip from the crew. That was Cooper’s job, after all, to filter out the nonsense before it got to the foreman. “They all think I’m pretty serious about her. You know why?” Lucas had indeed heard about Cooper’s girlfriend. It was a popular topic of gossip among the guys. He slowly shook his head. He had no idea whether Cooper was ‘pretty serious’ about his girlfriend. He’d only ever been concerned with trying to decide if he thought Cooper could ever be ‘pretty serious’ about him. “I’m gay, Ted,” Cooper admitted calmly. The name sounded odd on his tongue, and the admission made his stomach curl in a fascinating manner. “Making them think I have a serious girlfriend keeps them from setting me up with their sisters or some shit. Keeps them from asking awkward questions.” He trailed off and tilted his head slightly, waiting for a reaction. Lucas’s face was blank for a long moment as all the details swirled in his brain, a huge, confusing mish mash of information that he finally plucked a thought out of. “They try to set you up with their sisters? That sucks,” he declared in a much more normal tone of voice. Relieved, Cooper laughed softly and glanced down at the new bottle of beer that was set in front of him. He looked back up at the foreman and laughed again as the puppy dog face made a reappearance.

Under Contract | 17 At least now he didn’t look as if he’d been kicked. “Apparently I’d make a desirable brother-in-law,” he joked, smirking and licking his lips. His eyes fixed on Cooper’s lips, Lucas’s face grew serious, and somehow, his voice came out quiet, calm and even. “You’re a desirable man.” Cooper’s smile faded into something slightly more serious, and he felt a tinge of warmth touch his cheeks. He looked down again and cleared his throat, shifting in his seat as he plucked at the label on his bottle. “So all this time you’ve been basically having nothing to do with me,” he said slowly, looking up at the other man from under lowered brows. “It’s been because you thought you were in love with me?” Lucas watched Cooper’s body shift, watched his hand curl about the bottle, watched his fingers scrape on the paper, watched his full lips move. “Yeah,” he answered quietly, figuring the worst was out now, how could anything else be more embarrassing? “Can’t tell you how relieved that makes me,” Cooper murmured quietly without looking up. “I knew I was good at my job. I just couldn’t figure out what you had against me,” he said thoughtfully as he looked up at Lucas again. “Could be lust, you know,” he added. It was on the tip of Lucas’s tongue to reassure Cooper about how good he really was at his job. But the sudden suggestion threw him, and he just blinked at him for a moment. He slowly shook his head. Nope. He’d already thought about that. And he’d tested it. Thoroughly. With both hands, even. Yeah, lust was part of it. But after months of fantasies, the yearning had just gotten sharper. More longing. More poignant. He dropped his eyes back to the table. “We could find out,” Cooper murmured, his exterior calm and composed just as he usually was, but inside the butterflies were migrating. Lucas’s voice was solemn and steady as he raised his eyes to meet Cooper’s. “You deserve a hell of a lot more than a casual fuck,” he said. It was clear he very much believed it. “You’re worth more than that.” Cooper raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Now you’re implying you would be casual? What happened to the declaration of love?”

18 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Eyes getting big and round again, Lucas backpedaled. “I didn’t lie… I’m not saying....” He settled for looking at Cooper dejectedly. “I know it’s crazy,” he murmured. “But I believe it. That I’m in love with you.” He shook his head. “Look, Cooper, thanks. For listening, I mean. Really. But I don’t want you thinking I’m just trying to get into your pants. So….” He knew he should tell him to forget about it, but he just couldn’t get the words out. He’d worked with Cooper for six months on this project. He’d started pining after the first one. The longing he’d built up wasn’t going away anytime soon. But Cooper would, apparently. Lucas drooped physically and emotionally. Cooper watched the play of emotions, not sure whether to be amused or feel sorry for the guy. “So what did you want from this?” he asked. “Did you just want to tell me and get it off your chest? Or were you hoping for more?” he asked hesitantly. “Because you sort of just turned down more,” he pointed out gently. Lucas looked up and gazed at him, taking in his features, a face he could describe perfectly from memory. “I want… to wake up in the morning curled up around you. To watch you make coffee for us that you pour into the Thermoses because I always spill it. To sit on a site with you and eat lunch, just talking about the weather. To watch you work and know you’re mine. To see a look in your eyes that tells me I’m yours. To go home in the evening and know you’ll be there. To go to sleep with you in my arms.” Then he blinked, surprised at all the words that had poured out. “I didn’t think you’d listen or take me seriously if I said anything.” Cooper listened to the man – really listened to him. A look that was part amusement and part confusion slowly formed on his handsome features as he watched his boss become a man he had never suspected was under that exterior. “Wow,” he murmured when Lucas had finished. “I think you might actually be right,” he said softly. “You’ve got it pretty bad, huh?” he observed as he leaned forward in his seat. “So, if you want so much, why are you already dismissing it as impossible?” he asked quietly. “I –” Lucas stopped his first response, not sure what was coming out anyway, and thought about what he wanted to say. “I guess I figured you were just humoring me,” he said awkwardly. “I sure understand why. Your boss coming out with this crazy declaration of love, and all.”

Under Contract | 19 “Like I said, I’ve clocked out,” Cooper murmured, more serious this time. “You’re not my boss right now. You’re just some guy in a bar who’s making me think about fixing coffee in the morning.” The breath caught in Lucas’s chest, which echoed with a pang of… longing? Excitement? He couldn’t describe it. But Cooper’s words made him feel it. “Is that a good thing?” he asked tentatively. “Depends,” Cooper answered with a small smile. “I prefer orange juice.” Lucas smiled, a cautious hope flaring in his eyes. “I can do juice,” he said, voice shaking a little. Cooper grinned widely at him, shifting forward in his seat again and leaning closer over the table. “I also require the left side of the bed,” he told Lucas conspiratorially. Lips twitching, Lucas smiled a little more. “Well, now, that you’ll have to negotiate for,” he said, feeling the weight lift off his chest. Cooper had listened. He’d taken him seriously. And he was actually… actually… open to the idea. A little kernel of happiness started hopping in his chest like popping corn. “Drive a hard bargain, do you?” Cooper drawled calculatingly as he leaned back and studied the man. “How hungry are you?” he asked abruptly. Blinking in surprise, Lucas shrugged. “Why?” “I was thinking it would be sort of fun to show you the advantages of the right side of the bed,” Cooper answered thoughtfully, one eyebrow raised mischievously. Lucas searched Cooper’s face for a moment, then fumbled in his back pocket for his wallet while trying to slide out of the booth. Cooper grinned widely, rising smoothly to his feet. “Hey, Katie!” he called to the waitress. “Put it on my tab, yeah?” he requested as he discreetly put his hand at Lucas’s lower back and began pushing him toward the door. The warmth of Cooper’s fingers at the base of his spine was enough to keep Lucas’s voice gone until they were outside and back at the truck. He stopped at the door, looking back at the other man.

20 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper glanced over at Lucas when he stopped moving and raised his eyebrows questioningly. “What’s wrong?” he asked with a small smile. Lucas grinned for the first time that night, a wide, happy smile as he shook his head and climbed into the truck. “Let’s go,” he said.

IT was dark, and Lucas had an easy time keeping the mood as he and Cooper chatted amiably about work. He kicked back in the truck, glad he could stretch his legs out. “Then what the hell do you think I should do about Sanders? The next time he passes out it might be into a flat of wet concrete or off the side of a building or something.” Cooper couldn’t stop the chuckle the mental images caused, and he glanced over at the other man apologetically as they came to a red light. “Keep him on the ground?” he suggested in an optimistic tone. Snorting, Lucas leaned his head against the seat and shook his head, looking back toward Cooper, grin firmly in place. “We can only try. That man has a willful streak that’s totally at odds with his nonexistent nerves.” “I can keep him at work with something a little less… shocking,” Cooper drawled with a barely restrained snort. “Some of the other boys are tired of dragging him out of the buildings when he splats, so they’d be willing to help,” Cooper offered, not entirely sure that he could actually pull it off, but willing to try, at least. Whatever was wrong with Sanders, Cooper was pretty sure it had to do with playing with stripped wires when he was little. Lucas chuckled. “Good luck with that,” he said, voice clearly doubtful. “But if anyone can do it, you can. You’ve got the better people skills of the two of us.” “That’s not really saying much, boss,” Cooper snickered, the habit of mocking his foreman a hard one to break. Just going with the flow, Lucas stuck his tongue out at the other man in retaliation. “Oh, you’re asking for a plaster finger in your mouth,” Cooper warned as he glanced over, taking his eyes off the road only momentarily.

Under Contract | 21 Lucas snickered. “Plaster finger, huh? Your hands good enough to catch me?” he teased before sticking his tongue out again, eyes flashing. Cooper waved his fingers at the man. They were no longer covered with plaster, of course, but they were covered with everything they had used to get the stuff off. “On second thought, that might be pretty toxic,” he muttered, snickering slightly as he turned onto the gravel road that would eventually lead to his house. “Uh, yeah,” Lucas said, screwing up his nose just thinking about the chemicals. He glanced outside, seeing the heavy woods. “Hell, Cooper, where are you taking me? Out to the middle of nowhere to dump the body? Bucking for a promotion?” he asked, sliding his eyes to the side to see if the other man got that he was teasing. “I need your job like I need a hole in my head,” Cooper scoffed with a smile. “If you roll your window down you can hear the banjos playing,” he teased back. “I like it out here. Not many neighbors.” “Sure I won’t hear strains of Deliverance?” Lucas jibed. “Bedtime music,” Cooper answered in a defensive voice, grinning in the darkness. Lucas shook his head and snickered. “You’re really something, you know that?” he said in a softer tone, reminiscent of his tone back in the bar when he’d admitted his feelings. Cooper glanced over at the man as the truck slowed. He smiled slightly, struck speechless briefly and not even certain of what he could say in response. He slowed the truck to a stop in the middle of the gravel road and nodded at the distant porch light off to the right. “Last chance to blame it on the beer goggles,” he offered seriously. Lucas didn’t even look away from Cooper, his eyes locked on the face he’d dreamed about. Slowly, he shook his head. He wasn’t going anywhere. Cooper watched the man for a brief second, still feeling a bit surreal about the whole thing. Had he really invited his boss back to his house to possibly… do… unbosslike things? Yeah. Yes, he had, and he couldn’t blame it on one bottle of beer. Maybe if it went wrong he could blame it on the chemicals from earlier? Yeah. Good plan. He nodded

22 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux and turned the truck into his driveway, navigating the winding, graveled expanse slowly. The porch light revealed a piece of his sprawling brick ranch, and as Cooper shut off the truck a dog could be heard barking and yipping excitedly somewhere close. The sudden silence as the truck ticked and cooled filled the cab like a fog, and Cooper glanced over at his foreman silently. Lucas licked his lips nervously, looking over at the porch light, then turning his eyes toward Cooper. He could feel the tension in the air and suddenly he was nervous again, just as nervous as he’d been sitting across the table from him, beer in hand. “Uh… so.” He swallowed hard and looked around. “Care to come in for a beer, boss?” Cooper asked softly, hoping to ease some of the tension that was building around them and in his chest. “Yeah,” Lucas breathed in quiet relief. “I’d like that.” Cooper popped open the door and slid out of the truck as soon as Lucas answered. He tugged his jacket with him and closed the door on the interior light. For some reason the glow of that light was just too much to face with what he hoped would happen. He jangled his keys noisily and headed for the front door, wondering if he’d do any better with the lights inside. Lucas climbed out and followed Cooper, shoving his hands in his pockets as he climbed up the stairs to the long wooden porch. He glanced over it in the dim light – it looked handmade. “You build this porch?” he asked on impulse. “Yep,” Cooper answered as he unlocked the door, moving slowly as if to give the other man a chance to bolt. “This past summer. Every inch of it done with at least one beer in the twilight after work,” he laughed. Running his hand over the railing, Lucas smiled. “It’s great work,” he complimented, then he glanced over at Cooper with a small frown. “We worked late a lot. What kind of sleep did you get?” “Thanks,” Cooper murmured softly as he pushed open the door and turned to watch Lucas in the soft light. “I got enough,” he answered,

Under Contract | 23 snorting and crossing his arms. “Sometimes it was just one board put into place and nailed and then I’d go to bed. Sometimes I got a little carried away, and I’d look up finally and see the sunrise. Those weren’t stellar days, usually,” he admitted sheepishly. “Like today.” Lucas looked up from the woodwork, frowning a little. “Why didn’t you say something? You could’ve come in late or stole a nap or something,” he said. “That would have been unacceptable,” Cooper countered with a serious shake of his head. “And it’s not like this was a priority job,” he added as he stepped forward and ran his hand lovingly over the smooth wood. The move brought him to Lucas’s side, and he leaned against the railing and glanced to the side to peer up at the man. “I like to build,” he insisted. “The harder the day at work, the more I want to come home and do this.” “You have a lot of harder days,” Lucas pointed out quietly. “I know your boss,” he added, lips twitching a bit. “Real bastard, that one,” Cooper agreed as he stood back up and turned to hitch his hip onto the railing. Lucas’s brows flew up, and he opened his mouth to retort, but he caught himself and bit his lower lip. “Real bastard, huh?” he repeated, a little shaky. He had hoped, maybe, that Cooper would see past that. Cooper smiled slightly and reached out to slide his fingers through one of Lucas’s belt loops. His stomach fluttered nervously at the gesture. Christ, was he really making a move on his foreman? He already pretty much knew how it would turn out, right? “Everyone respects you,” Cooper told the man quietly, pushing away his inner nerves in favor of concentrating on the man in front of him. Lucas really was incredibly built. And he looked so stricken for some reason, Cooper just wanted to soothe him. “They fear you. But they like you anyway.” The tension in Lucas’s shoulders drained away, and he looked up to meet Cooper’s changeable green eyes. “You, too, I hope,” he murmured. He carefully moved one hand to slide it over Cooper’s fingers tentatively. Cooper smirked and gave Lucas’s belt loop a sharp tug toward him. “I wouldn’t cover for you being a bastard if I didn’t like you,” he

24 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux teased as he slid one foot behind the crook of his other knee and sat half on the railing. Lucas shuffled over good-naturedly, stopping just short of touching. He raised one arm to brace it against the joist. “Cover for me, huh?” he said with a teasing smile. “And how often does that go on?” he asked. He could feel the steady pull of the weight of Cooper’s fingers on his belt loop, and he could feel his pulse picking up the closer he got to Cooper. “Every damn day,” Cooper drawled with a sad shake of his head. He huffed and smiled as he looked up at the other man, glad for the fact that Lucas’s face was shadowed from the light. He didn’t think he’d have the nerve to touch him at all if he could see him, see that this was his fucking boss... Lucas, however, could see most of Cooper’s face, and his reply stuck in his throat as he glanced over the rugged looks that had struck him the first time they’d met. “Ah, must make for a lot of beer, then,” he murmured. “A lot of deck,” Cooper corrected softly. “How much of how you treated me was because of tonight?” he asked, no longer able to restrain himself. Not sure how to answer that, Lucas pressed his lips together as his eyes dropped back to the railing. “A lot,” he admitted. “Most all of it. Especially after I figured out you could handle your responsibilities and more. I knew you’d get the job done and done right.” He paused. “Despite me,” he added, more quietly. “I’m sorry for that,” Cooper murmured, letting his eyes drift down Lucas’s body slowly. Finally he gave another little tug and looked back up at the shadowed face. “We could make an impressive team, boss,” he said in a hushed whisper. The tug moved Lucas’s hip to where it brushed the inside of Cooper’s knee. He blinked and looked up at him. “I’ve thought that for a long time,” he murmured. “Ya big idiot, thinking it and not saying it.” Cooper laughed softly as the dog howled miserably somewhere in the background. He stood slowly, his hold on Lucas’s belt loop keeping him from being able to back

Under Contract | 25 away. There was only an inch or two difference in their height, but as Cooper closed the distance between their bodies and put them in closer proximity to one another than they’d ever been, he was struck by that fact that he had to tilt his head back slightly to meet the man’s eyes. He wasn’t used to looking up at anyone. He licked his lips nervously, not quite able to force himself to make the first move. Lucas bit his lip again as he silently agreed with Cooper, but then he was distracted as the other man moved, slowly standing, their chests barely a breath away from rubbing together. Temptation and want swamped him, and he turned his chin and met eyes that glittered in the low light and full, dark lips only inches away. When Cooper’s tongue darted out, Lucas practically squeaked as he gasped for his next breath. “I… Cooper… I….” Lucas’s hand clenched in and out of a fist at his side as his other hand, still propped above him on the support, shifted so his palm gripped the wood. Cooper raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side slightly, wondering if Lucas actually had any more first moves in him. He’d taken a pretty damn large first step with the whole ‘I love you’ thing, after all. Cooper’s lips twitched into a crooked smile, and his chest fluttered pleasantly as he leaned slightly into the man and brushed his lips over Lucas’s. Absolute relief warred with surprise and pleasure inside Lucas as he felt the feather-like touch, and after a few moments of shock he sighed shakily and met Cooper’s eyes once the other man pulled back. Lucas raised his hand to lightly touch those sinful, inviting lips, his fingertips skimming them, his eyes riveted. “Okay?” Cooper asked tentatively, his lips twitching in amusement as his mouth was fondled. Lucas gave his answer by gently tipping Cooper’s chin up so he could kiss him. He pressed his lips to Cooper’s and added just a bit of pressure. His heart was racing, and he knew his hand was shaking as he slid his fingers along the line of Cooper’s jaw. There was absolutely no way for him to catch his breath. Cooper’s lips parted automatically, and he snaked his hands onto Lucas’s hips as he stepped that last inch closer. His breath left him as

26 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux their bodies pressed together and their lips met languidly over and over. Finally, he was forced to gasp for air, but still it didn’t seem to help. He was fucking nervous and excited, and it all still felt a bit bizarre. When Lucas opened his eyes after their lips parted, he had to drag in a deep breath as well, but he didn’t look away. The heat of Cooper’s body was soaking into him, and he wanted so very much to curl his arms around the other man and hold him even closer. “Wow,” he breathed, licking at the slight damp on his bottom lip. He was seized with the desire to lean and lick Cooper’s bottom lip as well and just barely held himself back. “Yeah,” Cooper grinned a little a goofily and gave Lucas’s hips a gentle tug that pressed them together even closer. “Inside?” he asked with a nod at the still open front door. Lucas chuckled and shifted, setting his hands lightly at Cooper’s waist. “Yeah,” he agreed, stepping in that direction, but Cooper’s fingers still curled through his belt loop stopped him. Cooper reached up and wrapped his arms around Lucas’s neck impulsively, having to rise onto his toes in order to steal another kiss, this one more passionate. He growled a little in pleasure, really liking the fact that Lucas could match him toe to toe, and he pulled the man back against him and deepened the kiss. Lucas was surprised, but he certainly went with it, sliding his arms around Cooper and holding him – just like he’d wanted to for so long – and joined the kiss with enthusiasm. He parted his lips and even licked that all-too-tempting lower lip before Cooper’s tongue teased him into more. He heard the other man’s soft growl, and it threatened to turn his knees to mush. Lucas had to spread his stance to keep his balance, and Cooper let his fingers slide into the man’s unruly curls. He growled again. He had never acknowledged an attraction to Ted Lucas, other than the obvious first impression that the man was handsome and impressively built. He was simply the Boss – a cranky one – and so Cooper had only seen him as such. After Lucas’s admission at the bar, though, Cooper’s mind had begun to try and reconcile the new image of Lucas as a man and not a bossman. He likely wouldn’t have admitted it even to himself, but he had invited Lucas back here with the intention of letting Lucas sleep with him

Under Contract | 27 just to get what Cooper thought was a crush out of his system. It certainly wasn’t a sacrifice on his part. Now, though, with strong arms wrapped tightly around him and the intoxicating combination of new tastes and smells and the pleasurable fumbling where they each learned how the other liked to kiss, Cooper was all too aware that he wanted the man. “Inside,” he growled again, a low sound that rumbled through them both. He began slow dancing the other man closer to the door, unwilling to loosen his grip. Lucas practically purred his agreement as he walked backward, letting Cooper guide them. He sure as hell wasn’t letting go to look, not when his wildest and craziest dreams were coming true. He had the devastatingly handsome and drop-dead sexy Nick Cooper actually in his arms, pressed close against his body. Lucas fancied he could feel the other man’s heart racing just like his own, and he dipped his head for another kiss as if he wouldn’t be able to take another breath without one. They missed the door on the first attempt, and Cooper ended up slamming Lucas into the wall instead. That suited him pretty well for a few moments, during which he pressed the bigger man against the brick of his house and let his hands roam down his body as he continued to kiss him. When he let his fingers drift back up they found their way under Lucas’s T-shirt. Cooper’s breath left him once again as he found warm skin, and he finally broke off the heated kiss and pulled back just enough to see Lucas’s face. Lucas hadn’t even flinched when his back hit the bricks; he was too busy basking in the feel of Cooper’s hands skimming over him, and he took the opportunity to do the same, tracing muscles and sliding his fingers under Cooper’s collar almost as if it were forbidden territory. He was sinking in the heat of their bodies, and if he had a choice, he’d drown in it right now. When Cooper pulled away from the kiss, the low moan that had been muffled by their lips spilled free, and Lucas arched up against Cooper’s hand. His eyes, half-shut, were glazed with want. Cooper growled again when he saw that glaze. “Do you have any objections to skipping the tour of the house or any other pleasantries in favor of my dragging you to my bed?” Cooper asked in a low, whispered voice, his tone almost formal with his inquiry. One hand came up to let his callused fingertips ghost across Lucas’s

28 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux cheek, and his slid his other hand around the man and up to the small of his back to hold him closer. First, Lucas turned his chin and laid a light kiss against those fingertips, then he answered, and his voice was a low rasp. “No objections as long as you keep kissing me,” he said, his own hands sliding down Cooper’s back slowly to stop just below his belt. Then he spread his fingers and kept going, until he covered most of that gorgeous ass, and he squeezed as he pulled Cooper against him. His breath kept catching as their groins bumped and rubbed. “Get to dragging,” he ordered raggedly. Cooper backed away suddenly and grabbed Lucas’s hand, tugging him away from the side of the house and yanking him into the foyer. Lucas managed to push the door closed behind them, and Nick dragged him further into the house, through an arched doorway, into a long, wide hallway. He pointed to the left, where a large space opened up into a kitchen on one side and an open living area on the other. On the other side an open doorway was covered with a thick piece of plastic, and behind the fluttering opaque material was the skeleton of a room. “Kitchen and living room,” Cooper grunted as he turned to the right. He prowled down the hall, pointing at doorways as he went. “Bathroom. Bedroom. Bedroom,” he huffed with each gesture, not even slowing. He led Lucas to the French doors at the end of the hallway and pushed through them into a large master bedroom. The ceilings were vaulted and a bay window opened up to the back yard. “Bathroom,” he huffed with a wave at a door on the near wall. The understated decor and the oil paintings on the walls didn’t seem to match the rugged, good ol’ boy image most people had of Nick Cooper. Most people probably thought he slept on a plank and ate nails in his cereal for breakfast. Cooper pulled Lucas close once more as they wandered into the bedroom, and he kissed him, crowding him toward the king-sized bed in the center of the far wall. “Bed,” he growled, ending his tour of the house. Lucas couldn’t help but chuckle and smile against Cooper’s lips. Indicating his amusement, he nipped at the hot tongue that slid into his mouth, reveling in the groan it won him. He pulled back to breathe and glanced to the bed. “Oh yeah. Bed,” he agreed before sliding his hands to the hem of the very worn and soft flannel shirt that covered Cooper’s chest. “Wanna feel your skin,” he rasped before stealing another kiss.

Under Contract | 29 Now that he was here, he was going to enjoy it to the hilt. There was no guarantee it would happen again – and he wanted to store up every second. Cooper raised his hands high to let Lucas pull the shirt off instead of taking the time to unbutton it. He reached for Lucas’s T-shirt and tugged demandingly, his mind trying desperately to remember if he actually had condoms and lubricant handy… were the sheets even clean? A flutter of nervous doubt accosted him. What were they thinking, falling into bed like this? He hesitated only briefly, and then he pushed it aside. He wasn’t going to let silly little things like common sense or logic ruin what was proving to be an interesting night. Throwing Cooper’s shirt to the side once it was over his head, Lucas pulled his own T-shirt off and dropped it to their feet. His hands went straight to the skin in front of him, fingers spreading to soak in the warmth and feel the play of muscles under his hands. “Gorgeous,” he murmured. Dipping his head, he could smell the other man’s scent; it was warm and masculine, sweat and dirt and a hint of clean cotton, an incredible turn on. “Hush, you,” Cooper teased as he grabbed the other man’s face and kissed him again, pressing into him and pushing him back against the bed. When the backs of Lucas’s knees hit the bed he grunted and fell backwards – but he was determined not to let go. He pulled Cooper down on top of him, grunting again as the other man’s weight settled hard on him. Cooper huffed as he landed and pushed up slightly, looking down at the man now pinned under him. He gave Lucas’s jeans a yank and unconsciously licked his lips, his brow furrowed in concentration as his fingers fumbled with the buttons. Lucas panted as his eyes threatened to roll back in his head. But he wanted to watch. Taking advantage of proximity, he used the time to slide his hands over Cooper’s shoulders, back, arms, and sides as the other man pulled at his button fly. It was going to be rough going – Lucas was so hard that there was barely any give left in the denim. Cooper growled as his fingers finally remembered how to work, and he lunged to kiss the man again as he freed him.

30 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Which do you prefer?” Cooper asked him in a low, rumbling voice. A soft whimper escaped Lucas’s lips. “Fuck. I won’t last. Fuck me,” he said hoarsely, hands reaching to clasp Cooper’s face and pull him down for a desperate kiss. Cooper shivered involuntarily, finally giving in to the urge and rocking his hips against the man beneath him. “Yes, sir,” he growled cheekily as he pushed up and off Lucas finally. “Be right back,” he rumbled as he headed for the bathroom. As he lay there, Lucas raised both hands to scrub at his face. He was about ready to jump out of his skin he was so turned on, and Cooper’s crass comments were just fuel for the fire. He dropped his hand to push at the denim still pinching about his groin and groaned. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Hope I don’t embarrass myself,” he murmured, looking up at the exposed wood beams in the ceiling. “What was that?” Cooper called from the bathroom as he hurriedly washed the chemicals off his hands and arms. Lucas’s whimper was louder this time. “I said I hope I don’t embarrass myself,” he answered wryly, pitching his voice so Cooper could hear. Cooper responded with a shout of triumph as he rummaged through the drawers and came across the needed supplies, and he prowled back out into the room to look over Lucas with a leer. “Talking to the man with his hands stuck in the bucket, remember?” he purred as he walked closer and used his free hand to unsnap his own jeans. Lucas flushed with heat as he watched Cooper saunter over, those green eyes obviously dragging over him, because Lucas could feel the heat of his gaze. “I can think of somewhere better for you to stick your hands,” he rasped, sliding his own hands over his belly and down into the open V of his jeans. Now that he was here, he knew he sounded like an absolute slut. But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to help it. He wanted to say or do whatever he had to in order to keep Cooper’s attention. A visible thrill ran through Cooper as he watched, and he stepped closer and tossed the lubricant and condom onto the bed as he reached down and grabbed Lucas’s jeans. He tugged at them, more gently than he

Under Contract | 31 wanted to, but if he let himself go he might actually hurt one of them. His body throbbed as he bent to kiss at Lucas’s hip and pulled the jeans down further. Lucas’s hands flew to Cooper’s shoulders when the other man leaned over, and he bit his lip when he felt soft lips on his sensitive skin. The jeans were being pulled down his admittedly long legs, leaving only the soft white boxer briefs that fit snugly even without him having a raging hard on. Lucas wiggled as he felt Cooper’s breath hot through the cotton against his hip. The jeans were soon taken care of and unceremoniously tossed aside. Cooper’s fingers curled under the elastic of the cotton briefs and he began to tug slowly at them. Going slowly was literally painful now, but Cooper needed to. He needed to savor this thing that he hadn’t even realized he wanted. He kissed the skin he revealed as he went. Visibly trembling, Lucas’s breath caught as Cooper peeled the briefs down, and the shock of cool air on his cock caused him to gasp and moan. His hands gripped in the quilt on the bed as he prayed Cooper would be happy with what he was uncovering. Cooper kissed along the soft skin slowly, hoping that the other man couldn’t feel the trembling of his fingers as he touched him. He looked up at him finally and licked his lips slowly, waiting for some sort of permission to continue. Lucas was biting his lower lip, his eyes wide and dilated. “Don’t stop,” he begged. Cooper couldn’t even grin. He was far too turned on now to bother with things like grinning. He bent his head and licked gently at the head of Lucas’s cock as his hands slid across Lucas’s skin. He was regretting not removing his own jeans at this point… he would have to move soon to get rid of them, and he really didn’t want to move right now. Lucas’s exhale was mixed with a soft wail, and he clutched at Cooper’s shoulders. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck...” he chanted as his hips lifted toward that hot mouth without his even instructing them to. “Want you so bad,” he said raggedly. The words shot through Cooper’s body, and he hummed as Lucas’s hips thrust up toward his mouth. He gripped the man’s hips and held them down, his fingers digging into the skin as he did so. He groaned

32 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux as desire rippled through him, and he swirled his tongue and growled deep in his throat. “Cooper, fuck...” Lucas gasped as his gut clenched. “I told you I won’t last,” he practically mewled, but he didn’t try to stop his abbreviated thrusts between Cooper’s lips. He was dizzy with arousal and disbelief – after dreaming for so long.... Cooper hummed once more before lifting his head. He shook slightly, his heart pounding and his breath coming in short pants. He took a moment to examine the situation. It was still surreal and likely would remain so as he met Lucas’s blue eyes. Cooper pushed up slowly, rolling his shoulders as he crawled backward and stood. He bit his lip as he pushed his jeans down, his eyes not leaving the other man’s. So many things were racing through his mind to say, but he just couldn’t form any of them. Instead he grinned slowly and stepped out of his jeans and briefs, then crawled back onto the bed and kissed the other man demandingly. Lucas growled into Cooper’s kiss as their cocks rubbed together, and he couldn’t help but grasp Cooper’s lean ass with both hands and hold on tight. He was thinking this meant Cooper approved of what he saw, or at least didn’t mind. Of course, since he was doing the fucking, he might not care. Lucas’s thoughts ran in heated circles as Cooper’s tongue plundered his mouth. Oh God. He was going to come – right on the spot, Cooper rubbing and jerking against him. Lucas’s body tensed as he tried to hold back. Cooper’s hand slid down Lucas’s side as he used his other arm to prop himself up, his fingers dragging down hard, tense muscles and warm skin. He tugged at the back of Lucas’s thigh and insinuated his body between the man’s legs. “You feel so good,” he managed to breathe against Lucas’s lips, his hips jerking involuntarily. “This might be a… short… God,” he gasped brokenly as their bodies rubbed together. The tension and desperation in Cooper’s voice snapped Lucas’s resolve, and he threw his head back and yelled as he jerked against a hard thigh, his come slicking their skin and easing the slide as he continued to grind up against him. He shook through his shockingly strong orgasm and gripped Cooper to him tightly. “Fuuuck...” he drew out as he spasmed, each splash of come draining him even more.

Under Contract | 33 Cooper groaned and slid his hand under Lucas’s hips, lifting him off the bed and letting him thrust his hips up as he emptied himself. He continued to kiss him almost brutally, rocking his hips with the increasingly easy slide of their bodies. “Fuck,” he echoed in a hushed, distracted voice as he tried not to join him in coming. He propped himself on his elbow and reached desperately for the little tube of lubricant. His fingers found the condom instead, and he pulled it closer, biting the corner and ripping it open with a yank of his head to the side. Gasping for breath, Lucas could only hang onto the other man as aftershocks ripped through him. He couldn’t remember the last time he came so hard. The rip of plastic caught his attention, and he opened his eyes to see Cooper rolling a condom onto his sizable cock. Lucas moaned again as he twitched and shivered. Cooper’s entire body quaked with anticipation as he reached for the tube again. His other hand slid through the come on his own hip and smeared it onto his cock slowly, shuddering at his own touch. “Okay?’’ he gasped as he leaned down and practically vibrated as he hovered over Lucas’s body. “Fuck yeah,” Lucas rasped, reopening his eyes to see the hunger and desire written plainly on Cooper’s face. “You want me, I’m yours.” He pulled up both legs and propped his knees in the air. “How long’s it been?” Cooper asked distractedly, his thumb flicking the cap of the lubricant open. Lucas blinked several times. “Few years,” he murmured, putting one arm behind his head, the other on the bed alongside his hip. He was drinking in the sight of Cooper kneeling between his legs. Cooper growled in desire and frustration. He wasn’t willing to hurt the other man, and so he smeared a streak of lubricant along the juncture of his hips and then tossed the tube aside. He swiped his fingers through the smear and reached between Lucas’s knees. “Enjoy this, ’cause once I’m inside you it’ll be a quick ride,” he growled, not meaning to sound crass but not caring that he did. Head tilted back, Lucas arched his back as long fingers squeezed into him, and he grunted in approval, lifting his hips to encourage him.

34 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Cooper, there’s nothing I want more right now than you fucking me wild,” he rasped. Cooper practically whimpered at the thought, and he twisted his fingers a little less gently than he should have, trying to hurry the process. After a few agonizingly long moments he pressed his body down and growled, “I don’t want to hurt you. If I do, you tell me,” he added as he pulled his fingers out and gripped himself tightly in order to guide himself. “I’ll tell you, I promise,” Lucas agreed, spreading his knees farther and trying to stay relaxed. Cooper waited a very brief moment to try and calm himself, but there was no doing that. His body thrummed with the need to be sheathed. He pushed the head of his cock against the resistant muscles, groaning softly. Forcing his eyes to remain open, he watched Lucas as he thrust his hips forward and entered the man in a torturously slow push. Another groan was ripped from his throat, and his body trembled as he rocked gently. God, he needed more! Lucas shuddered against the burning stretch, but his hands scrabbled at Cooper’s arms. “I’m not a goddamn china doll, Cooper, fuck me!” he urged, snapping his hips up, trying to get more of that thick cock inside him. Cooper gasped and panted softly, moaning as Lucas’s hips moved. There was the tone he recognized from the job. Though the words made it a slightly different experience…. “Hold the fuck still unless you want this over right now,” he growled. To accentuate his point he pushed deep into the man and kissed him hungrily. Pleasure exploded in his groin, and he knew that all attempts at going slowly had just been shot all to hell. He began to thrust in an uninhibited, erratic rhythm as his free hand lifted Lucas’s hips to meet his movements. He was no longer worried about shared pleasure or even about impressing his new lover with any sort of skill. He was now simply fucking with a very specific, very close goal in mind. An unfettered howl loosed from Lucas’s throat as Cooper let go – it was just the wild ride he’d dreamed about. Felt so damn good he could feel himself getting hard again, but he didn’t plan to do anything about it anytime soon. He was just soaking in the feel of being well-fucked by the man he’d fallen head over heels for as Cooper’s mouth ravaged his.

Under Contract | 35 It didn’t take long. Cooper had known it wouldn’t. The excitement and anticipation and the heady scents of sex and sweat and fine dirt and glove leather and a new man under him, coupled with the sheer warmth and tightness into which his hips thrust were just too much to handle all at once. Cooper broke the kiss and buried his face against Lucas’s neck, panting with each hard thrust of his hips that brought his orgasm closer. He called the other man’s name plaintively as the rush of pleasure exploded, panting it over and over against sweaty skin as he came. Lucas curled his legs over the backs of Cooper’s thighs as the man shook in his arms. He gasped and shivered himself as he heard his given name rasped over and over in that drop-dead sexy voice. Groaning, he wrapped his arms around Cooper as well once he collapsed to his chest. Lucas closed his eyes and said a quick prayer of thanks. Lord God above, he was supremely grateful. His heart was pounding, and he felt swamped by a wave of possessiveness as Cooper didn’t try to pull away.

COOPER lay gasping where he had flopped on the man under him. Finally, after his body recovered from the shock of such intense pleasure, he turned his head to the side and kissed the patch of skin under his lips. When he pushed up, the sweat on his body made the parting slightly sticky, and Cooper huffed and bent his head to kiss Lucas lightly before he slowly pulled out of him. He couldn’t help but groan plaintively at the added stimulation, but he lived through it and stood slowly. Without a word he headed for the bathroom to dispose of the condom and retrieve a towel for them both. It wasn’t exactly a romantic gesture, but he figured it would be more appreciated than a rose or something. Reluctantly releasing him when he moved, Lucas watched Cooper clean up and return with a towel, offering it to him. “Thanks,” he murmured, captivated by the relaxation in Cooper’s face. He could look at that face all day and all night long, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say so. It occurred to him to wonder what would happen next as he rubbed himself dry with the towel – Cooper had driven him here. Either he’d take him back to his truck, tell him to move to one of the other bedrooms they’d passed, or….

36 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper waited until Lucas had cleaned up and handed the towel back. He tossed it aside, smirking as he climbed back onto the massive bed and kissed Lucas again, letting his fingers run through the man’s hair as he did so. “Worn out yet?” he asked teasingly. Lucas smiled as he figured out that Cooper wasn’t done with him. He slowly shook his head, blue eyes gleaming. He wanted a chance to explore the other man’s body, touching and licking and memorizing. He reached up and slid his hand over Cooper’s still-pebbled nipples. “May I touch?” he asked. Cooper snorted in amusement and slid his arms under Lucas to begin dragging him further up the bed clumsily. “So polite when you’re not in your hard hat,” he huffed as he reached up and tugged the covers down, then struggled to get both their bodies under the sheets. When he finally succeeded, he turned onto his side to face Lucas and slung his leg over the man’s hip. “Touch all you like, boss,” he drawled as he slid his hand over Lucas’s waist. Chuckling, Lucas coasted one hand over Cooper’s chest, the other over his thigh. “You like manhandling me?” he asked, amusement glinting in his eyes. Cooper flushed and shifted closer. He smiled in sudden embarrassment, ducking his head for a moment before looking back up and settling his head on the pillow with a huff. “Maybe?” he finally answered, color still tinting his tanned cheeks. Now that the rush of passion had ebbed – ebbed because he knew it would come back if the other man stayed this close, this naked, all night – he couldn’t help but be slightly embarrassed over his… handling of the boss. He tended to say and do things in the heat of the moment that he would never dream of saying or doing normally. “Only maybe?” Lucas teased, his hand moving to squeeze Cooper’s delectable ass. He felt absolutely giddy and had no desire to gloss it over. Cooper’s body jerked with the squeeze, and he laughed in amusement and surprise as he slid closer. “You’re a head case, you know that?” he asked with a small smile.

Under Contract | 37 “Hmmm?” Lucas answered as he nuzzled just below Cooper’s ear. He breathed in deeply, trying to memorize that scent of sex and heat and Cooper. Cooper shivered and gasped a little as the thrill ran through his body. “I… I forgot what I was saying,” he muttered as he returned the nuzzling and the groping. Lucas snickered, amused to be the one nominally in control of himself now. “You said I was a head case,” he prompted, sliding his hand around to the front of Cooper’s thigh. “I’ve never seen you happy,” Cooper muttered in explanation as he tried not to tremble under the gentle touches. Propping himself up on one elbow, Lucas looked down at the other man as he lightly stroked along his hip. “Maybe I wasn’t,” he murmured. “Why?” Cooper found himself asking softly. Lucas pursed his lips as he thought about what to say. “I moved here for this job. Left behind friends. Came here and had no one. Work too much to find more friends, you know? And you know what the guys on site think about me. So it’s lonely,” he said quietly. “And then you showed up….” “And I made it worse?” Cooper asked with a wince, feeling guilty even though logically he knew there was nothing to feel guilty for. Kissing the corner of Cooper’s mouth, Lucas shook his head. “Gave me something to look forward to every day.” Cooper felt himself blushing once more, and he unconsciously turned his head toward the gentle kiss. “I’m not sure what to say to that,” he admitted candidly. Lucas shrugged, kissing the other man’s neck lightly. “Don’t have to say anything,” he murmured. “It just is, no matter what you decide.” He sat up a bit. “I’ve sort of tried to go out of the way to not stalk you or anything.” Cooper blinked up at the man and readjusted where he was sprawled. The word ‘decide’ seemed to echo through his head and a twist of nerves assaulted him. He brought his arm up and rested his head in the

38 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux palm of his hand and looked up at his bedmate with wide eyes, trying desperately to decide what to do. Decide. Oh Christ. Usually you got a little more warning with the whole love thing before you had to ‘decide.’ Usually you were at least on speaking terms with the person. “Stalk?” he finally asked with a small smile, pretending he’d not noticed the usage of the D word. Wincing a little, Lucas peered at him. “Well, it’s kind of hard to resist sometimes… following you around the job site. I have a thing for….” He stopped and cleared his throat, cheeks flushing. “A thing for… what?” Cooper coaxed as he smiled up at the man. He reached up and slid his fingers into Lucas’s hair, letting his hand stroke down to wrap around the man’s neck and squeeze gently. Lucas looked away and worried at his bottom lip before answering. “I’ve got a thing for your ass in those dark jeans you wear sometimes,” he admitted. Cooper had to compress his lips in order to not smile in amusement. “Those got some acid burns on them a while back,” he informed the man regretfully. Sighing, Lucas mourned the dark jeans. “Damn,” he said quietly while his hand crept over Cooper’s hip and squeezed the ass he’d ogled over and over. “Guess I’ll have to look at the real thing instead. Such a hardship,” he murmured, turning his face back to Cooper’s to try and steal a kiss. Cooper growled softly into the kiss, tightening his grip on the other man’s neck and sliding his foot teasingly between Lucas’s to warm his cold toes. “Do you shower in the morning or at night?” he asked between nips at warm lips. Lucas practically purred as they rubbed slowly against each other. “Night… when I come home. Usually a fucking mess,” he murmured, still pressing his lips to warm, sweaty skin. “Me, too,” Cooper growled. “I don’t mind going to bed dirty tonight, though,” he added as he lifted his chin and closed his eyes. He moaned without realizing it and raised one knee unconsciously.

Under Contract | 39 Taking the opportunity to push his stiffening cock against Cooper’s moving thigh, Lucas sucked in a breath as he kept dropping little teasing nips and kisses. “Me, either,” he muttered before sliding his tongue along the shell of Cooper’s ear. Cooper groaned softly again, turning his body into Lucas’s and pressing up against him. “Been a long time since someone stuck around after fucking to grope me,” he murmured happily. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me,” Lucas said before leaning to capture his full, swollen lips again, slowly licking them hungrily. “You’re one of those wind-up toys, aren’t you?” Cooper groaned after the long, wet kiss even as his own body began to slowly respond once more. “Give you five minutes, then you’re ready to go again.” He laughed as his hands traveled down smooth skin. Lucas chuckled, half leaning over Cooper. “I’ve had a while to get wound up, you know,” he teased, shifting his hips against Cooper’s thigh. Cooper growled softly and nodded. “You’ve wanted to fuck me?” he asked in a low, suddenly seductive voice as he hooked his leg over Lucas’s thigh and used his foot to pull the man closer. For some reason he hadn’t actually come to that realization yet tonight. To think that all this time Lucas had been lusting after him hit him right in the groin. “God, yes,” Lucas growled. “My favorite wet dream.” Cooper’s body responded to that growl like nothing he had ever known. He practically tingled, the hair on his arms stood on end and his groin throbbed with the jolt of pleasure. “God,” he managed to breathe in response, and he raised his arms over his head and stretched like a large cat sunning itself, an offer of his body to the other man to do with it what he would. A slow smile pulled at Lucas’s lips as he watched, rapt. “I think you like that idea. Like thinking about me waking up from a wet dream about you and jacking off?” He dragged his hand down Cooper’s stretched-out body. Cooper writhed under the touches, his back arching. He couldn’t find a voice for a reply, and so he simply nodded and moaned softly.

40 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Mmmmm. Maybe I can show you sometime,” Lucas murmured as he continued to rub over the other man’s chest and belly and hip and groin. “I bet you’d like hearing me call your name when I come, too.” He was shameless. Shameless! But the vision in front of him was too alluring to withstand, and he was pulling out all the stops. He ached with needing Cooper to want him. Cooper forced his eyes to open as he exhaled in a rush of air, and he looked up at the other man pleadingly. “You’ve gotten me in bed after all this time,” he said breathlessly. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve been imagining, hmm?” he suggested with a glint in his eyes as he raised his hips slowly. “I bet you want me on my knees, don’t you?” he growled impishly. Lucas closed his eyes as raw want flooded him. “On your knees, on your back, up against a wall… fuck – any way I can have you,” he breathed, reopening blue eyes that glittered with renewed desire. Cooper lay under Lucas for a long moment, biting his lower lip and watching in fascination as the need re-entered Lucas’s eyes. Finally he shifted, pushing Lucas off him gently, and rolled to the edge of the bed to open the drawer in the bedside table. He rummaged through the assortment of junk in there and finally came up with the little three-pack box of condoms he had desperately hoped was in there. Tilting his head in question, Lucas let Cooper push him away, and he shifted back onto his side, watching curiously. When he yanked open the nightstand drawer, a flutter of nerves launched in Lucas’s gut. Cooper was… really… going to let him… oh Christ. His hand strayed down his belly to grasp his cock, feeling it fill and twitch as he waited. And hoped. Cooper yanked the last condom out of the box and tossed the cardboard to the floor as he rolled back over. He waved the foil in Lucas’s face and smirked. “I don’t usually bottom passively,” he warned as he sat up to retrieve the tube of lubricant he had tossed aside earlier. Lucas blinked as his eyes widened at Cooper’s comment. It struck him as hilariously funny. “There is nothing passive about you,” he said, struggling not to laugh. “Quite the opposite. I think it’ll be something like trying to ride a bull. A really gorgeous, tight-assed bull,” he said as

Under Contract | 41 he sat up, slid his hands around Cooper’s midsection and dragged him back between his legs and against his chest. Cooper huffed in amusement and shook his head as he was manhandled. The fact that Lucas had these opinions of him was just surreal. As was finding someone strong enough to actually pull him around like that. When had his foreman found the time to observe him as he apparently did? And why had Cooper never noticed such intense scrutiny? “I’m going to disregard the fact that you just called me a large smelly animal and a tight-ass,” he advised the man as he slung one leg over Lucas’s hip and kissed him. “Because I don’t often get a chance to be fucked,” he explained with a growl of relish as he again rolled to his side and then pushed up onto his hands and knees. He looked down and to the side to show sparkling green eyes to the other man as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his muscles invitingly. Shuddering, Lucas sat up and shifted to his knees, ripping open the condom and rolling it on before grabbing the lubricant and squeezing some into his hand. Taking advantage of his bigger frame, he settled right up against Cooper’s ass and slid a slick finger through his cleft while covering the other man’s back with his own body and nipping at his ear. “We can change that, if you want,” he breathed, the tip of his finger teasing the clenching pucker. “I want,” Cooper growled as he pushed back against Lucas’s hand. “Now,” he added with a shudder of pleasure. Lucas moaned darkly as he slid his finger in – not that Cooper gave him much choice, pushing back like that. First knuckle, second knuckle, more – listening to Cooper’s moans while his own cock throbbed painfully. “More,” Cooper ordered in a hoarse voice, his head hanging as he panted through the stretching. Two thick, long fingers, and soon after, three, and Lucas had to lower his forehead to Cooper’s upper back, struggling for control. “Ready?” he asked shakily in a raspy voice. It took Cooper a few long, deep breaths before he was able to merely nod in answer. He pushed back against Lucas’s fingers and cried

42 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux out softly in surprise as pleasure ripped through him. “Hurry,” he urged breathlessly, knowing he wouldn’t last long regardless of how recent his latest orgasm had been. Lucas took a deep, steadying breath and pushed himself back to his knees. He took himself in hand, gripped Cooper’s hip with his other hand as he lined his cock up, and pushed. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the swollen head popped inside, and he let it out in a gasping rush of air. “Oh God,” Cooper gasped, over and over as Lucas pushed deeper into him. “Ted,” he breathed pleadingly, the name sounding foreign to him. “Hard,” he begged. It had been so long since he had been properly fucked. “Fuck,” Lucas breathed, and then he jerked his hips to sink the rest of the way in. “Aw, fuck,” he whimpered as he dragged himself out, making sure he had Cooper’s hips held firmly before thrusting in – all the way in – hard. Just as Cooper’d asked for. Cooper cried out wordlessly, his body beginning to tremble already and his fingers grasping at the sheets desperately. “Yes,” he groaned approvingly. He lowered his shoulders and pushed his hips up, trying to find the right angle. “Fuck, you feel good!” he groaned, delighting in the way he was being filled, the muscles tightening involuntarily against the intrusion. “More. Please more.” “You feel fuckin’ amazing,” Lucas moaned in return. Feeling Cooper’s hips shimmy, he bent his knees and thrust up and in harder at a different angle. “Let me know when you get what you want,” he said raggedly, his hips now snapping against Cooper’s ass. It was everything he’d ever dreamed and more. If he died tonight, he’d die a deliriously happy man. The only thing he could imagine being better was if Cooper could ever, somehow, feel the same way he did. Cooper rested on his elbows, pushing back against each thrust, and the desire to feel Lucas closer to him was almost too much to bear. He reached behind him and gripped Lucas’s hip as he slowly flattened his chest to the mattress, pulling the man with him. He groaned wantonly when his cock pressed into the soft sheets, and his fingers tightened in the hard muscle of Lucas’s flank.

Under Contract | 43 “Oh, sweet Jesus,” Lucas moaned as Cooper’s change of position had him driving down into his ass. He spread his knees for better leverage, his hands sliding up the other man’s back. Cooper shifted his hips and spread his legs wider as he pushed flat against the bed, then raised his hands above his head, splaying his fingers to give him the leverage he needed to hold himself still against the thrusts. The shift of Cooper’s body affected the angle so much that Lucas’s gut clenched hard, and he about lost it right then and there. His hips lost rhythm for a few moments as he recovered, and with a growl, he released Cooper’s hips and leaned over his back and held down his hands. His body weight settled fully onto the man below him as he fucked him into the mattress. “Is this what you want?” he growled into Cooper’s ear. Cooper turned his face to the side and panted, trying to answer. “Someone big enough and strong enough to hold you down and fuck you into oblivion?” “Yes,” Cooper admitted breathlessly. “Yes,” he moaned again. He flexed his arms experimentally, groaning wantonly when he felt Lucas’s weight holding him down. Gritting his teeth to hold onto his control, Lucas kept thrusting. “Is it your favorite wet dream?” he gasped out. “It was,” Cooper panted in answer, his toes curling with the pleasure. Growling as he felt his balls draw up, Lucas leaned over to bite Cooper’s neck and used his tongue to lave at the marks. “Was?” he grunted. Cooper gasped at the bite and arched his back desperately as anticipation and pleasure billowed within him. “I can guarantee you the next time I wake up hard I will have been dreaming about you,” he groaned with difficulty, punctuating it with a cry of pleasure. “There! Fuck yes!” Shifting his hips the same way again, Lucas groaned as he drew that yell out of Cooper again and again. “Fuck, Nick, I’m going to come,” he said hurriedly. “Not yet,” Cooper pleaded with a desperate moan. “Please,” he moaned, burying his face in the sheets. He cried out again, hands still

44 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux pinned to the bed, and he bucked his hips, pushing them back and then forward for the friction of the mattress on his cock. “Please,” he rasped desperately. Lucas thought he’d try to move mountains if Cooper muttered that one little word. He bit the inside of his cheek so hard it shocked him, and he was able to keep fucking, ramming his groin against the other man’s ass. He licked his lips and bent over again, this time biting Cooper’s shoulder, hoping he could earn another abandoned cry. “Fuck,” Cooper whispered. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck… Yes!” he finally shouted inelegantly at the sharp jolt on his shoulder combined with the pounding inside him. His fingers curled in the sheets and his body tensed, the muscles surrounding Lucas’s cock tightening around him. He groaned a series of nonsense that trailed into a desperate scream as he spilled himself out against the sheets. The sudden clench all around him forced a shocked bellow out of Lucas, and with one last push he was coming hard, hips stuttering with each pulse as he gave several gasping cries. Shaking, he strained to hold himself up over Cooper’s back, still buried deep in him. Cooper’s tense body slowly relaxed as the aftershocks faded, and he sighed languidly and turned his head to the side again to try and look up at Lucas behind him. “Was that how you saw it?” he asked out of morbid curiosity in a hoarse voice. Forcing himself to pull out slowly before he dropped like a log at Cooper’s side, Lucas pulled open one eye to look at him. “Huh?” he asked intelligently. Cooper smiled and merely purred deep in his throat as he crawled closer on his elbows. Instead of repeating the question he kissed the man languidly, licking at his lips and nipping at him as his lower body throbbed pleasantly. “My mind wants to fuck you until you scream again,” he murmured. “But my body is still wondering where its dinner went.” He snickered. Lucas chuckled tiredly, raising a hand to comb his fingers through Cooper’s sweaty hair. “That’s ’cause we didn’t eat dinner,” he reminded him. “I don’t mind a rain check.” “For dinner or for being fucked?” Cooper asked without thinking.

Under Contract | 45 Instead of answering aloud, Lucas reached up to cup Cooper’s face and pull him into a languid, promising kiss. When he pulled back, he lightly licked Cooper’s lower lip. “You had your evil way with me. Now feed me,” he said in a mock-demanding tone. “Feed you,” Cooper echoed in disbelief. “You want me to get out of bed?” he asked in horror. His hand roamed down the man’s body shamelessly. “Fuck, those are some nice abs, you know that?” he muttered distractedly as he curled his body and bent to lick across Lucas’s stomach slowly. Lucas laughed until he felt hot, wet tongue on his skin, and it turned to a weak moan. “Glad you like,” he said shakily. “You have my approval,” Cooper said softly as he lifted his head to look up at Lucas with sparkling green eyes. “What would you like for dinner, boss?” he asked. The words were out before Lucas could stop them. “I’ll be content with whatever crumbs and scraps you throw my way,” he murmured, looking at Cooper intently, wanting to memorize this moment. “I think I can do better than crumbs and scraps,” Cooper grinned as he crawled up Lucas’s body and kissed him gently. “There’s a spare robe in the bathroom,” he murmured after another short kiss, and he began crawling off the bed. “If you get off on watching people cook, that is,” he added with a smirk as he grabbed his shirt and faded jeans off the floor and quickly slid into them. He didn’t care that he was sweaty and sticky. Actually, tonight that was sort of a plus for some reason. Kind of kinky for him, but there it was. Sort of glad Cooper didn’t catch the double meaning of what he’d said – Lord knows he’d been sappy enough tonight – Lucas smiled and watched that gorgeous ass as it got covered up. “I’m going to duck into the bathroom. Be out in a bit,” he said quietly. “Should have plenty of towels in there,” Cooper nodded as he headed for the bedroom door. “If not, just shout.” He grinned as he stopped in the doorway and watched the man for a moment. “You okay?” he asked seriously. A slow smile transformed Lucas’s face. “More okay than I’ve been in a long time,” he said, still soaking in the sight of the other man.

46 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper’s lips twitched, and he nodded in response. “You like pasta?” he asked after a minute of thought. Lucas nodded as he sat up. “Yeah.” Cooper watched the man for a moment longer, knowing something wasn’t quite right but not able to put his finger on it. “Make yourself at home,” he finally offered sincerely before smiling brilliantly at the man and turning to head for the kitchen. Watching Cooper walk down the hall, Lucas couldn’t hide the intense yearning any longer, and his hands twisted in the sheets to keep him from running down the hall after him. It almost physically hurt to see him walk away, although he knew full well it was only to the other room. Lucas laid back, his head falling against a thick pillow, and he looked up at the ceiling blindly. What now? He’d bared his heart and his body, and Cooper didn’t seem to mind. But would he come to crave what Lucas did? Sighing, he pushed himself out of the bed and padded over to the bathroom for a quick wash up. Some splashes of cold water would help clear his head. In the kitchen, Cooper was humming to himself as he rummaged for the appropriate ingredients. He liked to cook, although he rarely did simply because cooking for one person was a little too time-consuming for a man who worked like he did. As he went through the familiar motions of his favorite dish, a wave of nervous dread washed through him. He felt guilty about tonight. Already. He felt as if he had taken advantage of Lucas’s state of mind. The man had professed to love him. It had been, admittedly, an easy fuck. But Cooper certainly hadn’t been looking at it that way. Had he? Surely not… no. But still, no matter how much he had enjoyed it or how much Lucas seemed to have enjoyed it, it was beginning to feel wrong. Morally wrong. Like taking home a really gorgeous drunk, wrong. He wasn’t looking at it as a lifetime kind of thing, but Lucas likely was, if what he had said was true. The wrongness had nothing to do with the problem of fucking his boss. Yet…. Walking back out of the bathroom, Lucas skipped the robe and pulled his jeans back on sans briefs. Hopefully he’d have the jeans back off before long. He stood looking at the mess they’d made of the bed, feeling the weight of many possibilities pushing him down – his love, the

Under Contract | 47 mind-blowing sex, Cooper’s easy manner – it could all so easily add up to a one-night romp and exit, stage left, by Cooper. No strings. No regrets. Just a good time. Lucas’s lips twisted, and he sighed. Especially since Cooper was transferring off the crew. Nothing to be done about it now. He wanted whatever he could get, and he’d have to be content with that. Turning on his heel, he headed out to the kitchen. Cooper had just finished the quickie meal when Lucas came strolling into the kitchen, and he stopped short and let his eyes take in the bare chest and abundance of hard muscle. Wow. This was the part he hated, though. The moment in the evening where he was unsure whether they’d be spending the night together or if his visitor was ready to be taken home. And the worst part was that outside of work and the bedroom, Cooper still didn’t know a damn thing about the other man. His fucking boss. “Decided to forego the robe, hmm?” he asked with a small smile, gently prodding for some idea as to whether Lucas would stay or go after they ate. The fact that he was half-dressed didn’t say a lot. Lucas stopped in the doorway, leaning against the trim, taking the time to look over Cooper again to help steady his shaky nerves. He wondered why the hell he could be so open and wanton in bed, but clam up like a nervous virgin here. He offered a half-smile and shrugged, trying desperately to think of something witty to say. “Didn’t want to obscure the view,” he said after a bit, trying for sexy nonchalance. “You’re so very good to me,” Cooper crooned as he winked at the man and grabbed two plates from the glass-fronted cabinet behind him. “I didn’t fix much ’cause if we’re going to bed soon I figured it….” He trailed off as he realized what he’d said and he sighed. He slumped his shoulders dejectedly and placed the plates on the counter top with a shake of his head. “I’m sorry. I feel pretty damn stupid asking this, but… are you planning to stay the night?” he blurted before he could rethink it. Surprised, Lucas went blank for a long moment, looking at Cooper as if he could see into him and find the answer. After a quiet minute passed and he could see Cooper getting a bit agitated, he slid a hand into his pocket. “It’s your house, Nick,” he said quietly. “I’d like to stay, but

48 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux it’s your decision.” He didn’t remember that it was the second decision he’d laid at Cooper’s feet. “You promised me orange juice in the morning,” Cooper murmured in response as he flipped the dishtowel in his hand over his shoulder. “And this house gets a bit cold at night, with the other half still not finished yet, so I was sort of hoping you’d keep my toes warm.” Lucas didn’t realize how soft the look in his eyes was as he leaned his head against the trim, still looking at Cooper. “I do tend to be a space heater. Can’t usually stand the covers, myself. Hence the A/C in the trailer,” he said. “So I’d be real good at that.” “We’ll just have to get up in time to get to the site before anyone else,” Cooper responded with a grin. “And I have some shirts that might fit,” he murmured as he purposely let his eyes travel over the expanse of bare skin. Not wanting to even think about connecting work to his time here, Lucas instead focused on how Cooper was looking him over… and grinning. “I’m guessing you’re not too underwhelmed,” he murmured as he straightened up and walked over to the butcher-block topped bar. “Underwhelmed?” Cooper echoed in confusion. Sliding onto the stool, Lucas settled his chin in one hand. “Well, I was feeling like a fine piece of meat being ogled in the butcher shop – made me think you liked what you were seeing,” he said quietly, voice a little off, as if he were unsure of what he was saying. Hell. He was unsure. His self-confidence tended to go right down the drain when he wasn’t at work, where his height and muscles came in handy. Not so much when trying to date or be close to someone. Cooper flushed slightly and looked down as he dished out two portions of pasta onto the plates. “I’m sorry,” he offered with a glance up at Lucas. “I only ogle those who deserve it,” he tried with a small smile. Blue eyes turned bright with sparkles, and Lucas’s smile was honest. “Then I don’t mind. Not one bit,” he said, taking the plate when it was offered. Inside, he was jumping up and down in glee. Cooper liked his body. Wanted to ogle him. It was something, anyway!

Under Contract | 49 Cooper watched him with a small frown as he stuck a fork in the man’s pasta for him. “You really have no idea how completely hot you are, do you?” he asked, hoping his tone didn’t betray as much guilt as he felt. Lucas looked up from his plate, fork pausing in mid-air, his surprise clear on his face. “Hot?” That jumping up and down inside? Now spinning. Like crazy. He distractedly wondered about the odd inflection in Cooper’s voice, but was so thrilled by the comment that he couldn’t focus on it. “Ah. No, I don’t guess so. I was asked to pose for a fund-raising calendar once, and the ladies seemed to like it, but I didn’t think it was that great.” Cooper’s eyes sparkled mischievously, and he leaned closer as he spun pasta around his fork. “Are there copies?” he asked gleefully. Brow furrowing, Lucas nodded. “I’ve got a box stashed in a closet somewhere. I was supposed to try to sell them at work, but no way. I just bought the damn box full. Why?” “I want one!” Cooper laughed. Lucas shrugged. “Sure, plenty of ‘buff’ guys in there,” he said, lips twitching as he thought about Cooper’s preferences. Or maybe he actually did want to see the picture of him posed shirtless and sweaty on a work site, tool belt low on his hips, complete with hard hat. He’d thought it looked… well, stupid. It wasn’t like he really worked like that. But his sister and her friends had squealed and jumped up and down and thanked him over and over for the ridiculous calendar full of similar pictures. “It was for a good cause,” he added. “I’ll bet,” Cooper muttered wryly, smiling as he continued to twirl pasta idly around his fork. He bit his lip and looked down at his plate. They ate in silence for a few moments, until Cooper could no longer contain the guilt that was swelling within him. “I owe you an apology, Ted,” he muttered regretfully. Lucas’s eyes flickered up and took note of the other man’s bent shoulders, the tinge of regret in his voice, and he knew. He went cold all over, but tried not to overreact as he carefully set down his fork. “For?” he asked. He was proud his voice didn’t shake. At least Cooper was

50 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux being nice about it. Couldn’t have asked for better than that, he thought distantly. “I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have pounced you like I did,” Cooper answered guiltily as he looked up at Lucas finally and grimaced. “It put you at a… well, it gave me an unfair advantage over you. You told me you loved me, for chrissake,” he tried to explain in frustration as he attempted to gauge Lucas’s emotions. “I mean...” he sighed and shook his head. “I feel like I took advantage of you,” he said dejectedly. “I’m sorry for that. I’m not sorry for dragging you home and fucking you, but I am sorry for that.” It took a minute for Lucas to sort out that Number 1: Cooper wasn’t kicking him out; Number 2: Cooper didn’t regret them having sex; and Number 3: Cooper was really, really a nice guy at heart, just like Lucas had always thought he was. “You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to,” Lucas said firmly, a little of the bossman creeping back into his voice and demeanor. “There was no coercion involved, no blackmail, no yanking on my heartstrings just to get me to turn over.” Anymore than usual, anyway. Just looking at Cooper made his heart ache. But Cooper certainly hadn’t played on that. Cooper watched the man silently, nodding finally and sighing. “I know how much it hurts to say ‘I’m in love with you’ and not hear it back,” he murmured finally. “Those are words I don’t take lightly. I’d like… I....” He stuttered to a stop and looked away, suddenly unable to finish with Lucas’s eyes on him. “I’d like a chance, though,” he finally blurted out as he forced himself to look back up. “You deserve a chance.” It might have been shock. It might have been amazement. Regardless, Lucas just fell even further and harder. If this didn’t work out – he was going to be torn all to hell. But he couldn’t back out now. Not if there was an iota of a chance. He reached across the bar and gently cupped Cooper’s cheek in one hand. He could only think of one thing to say. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Don’t thank me yet,” Cooper warned as he reached up and pressed his hand to Lucas’s. “We still have the left side of the bed to fight over, remember?” he asked with a smile. “And I’m not used to having someone,” he admitted. “With me, I mean. I can’t promise the man you

Under Contract | 51 think you’re in love with is actually me.” He realized that was his biggest fear, that Lucas had romanticized him to the point he would never be able to live up to it. And it shocked him to no end, but he was beginning to realize that he wanted to live up to what Lucas saw. It had the potential to be an amazing thing for them. Lucas’s lips quirked, and without even thinking about it, he shared possibly the first personal information about himself with Cooper. “I’ve lived with only one person before, for two years. But he always said I was a pain in the ass to have around. Except when something needed fixing.” He shrugged and sat back. “As for who you are,” he said as he locked his eyes on Cooper, “I’ll just have to learn, won’t I?” Cooper was nodding slowly, watching Lucas’s eyes as he spoke. “Okay,” he said finally before taking another bite of his pasta and chewing thoughtfully. “Your first lesson,” he offered officiously. “I’ve only ever gone three times in one night once before, and there was tequila involved. So don’t expect any more action until at least midnight,” he grinned. In the middle of swallowing, Lucas about choked on the pasta, coughing wildly as his eyes watered. Cooper laughed softly and shook his head as he reached over and gently patted the man’s back. “Sorry,” he offered unapologetically. “This doesn’t bode well for your blowjob skills, you realize,” he added cheekily as he rubbed the hard muscles of Lucas’s shoulders. Lucas winced and finally managed to swallow. “You’ve seen about the extent of my education,” he muttered under his breath, cheeks flushing. Nick grinned and shifted back over to his stool in order to continue eating before his pasta became irrevocably cold and gross. “Which one do you like better?” he asked impishly. “Practice makes perfect or watch and learn?” Chuckling, Lucas lifted another forkful of pasta. “I am a hands-on kind of guy.” It was well known around the work site that given half a chance, the foreman would be out of the trailer in a shot to help with something. Anything to get away from the hated paperwork. Cooper watched the man with a smile as they both ate in a suddenly comfortable silence. He was on his last mouthful when he

52 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux realized that unless he did something about it, he only had until the end of this job before his self-induced transfer. He swallowed heavily and set his fork down slowly, his face going slowly ashen as he stood and picked the dirty dish up and turned away to set it in the sink. Finishing his meal, Lucas picked up his plate and fork and followed, stacking his dishes in the same place. “Want me to wash these up?” he asked before glancing up to see Cooper looking uncomfortable. Lucas tilted his head. “Nick?” he asked quietly. “Leave ’em,” Cooper murmured with a shake of his head. “I just… I’d forgotten about my request for a transfer,” he explained woodenly as he turned to face the man and leaned against the sink counter. Lucas wanted very much to kick and punch something, but he knew it wouldn’t help. Not at all. Instead he shoved both hands in his pockets. “I figure we’ve got about nine weeks left on site,” he said quietly, cursing himself the whole time. “Maybe I can catch the request and have it canceled,” Cooper told him hopefully. “I mean….” Just watching silently, Lucas had to bite his lip to keep from agreeing heartily. As much as he wanted Cooper, he knew the other man would have to make this choice for himself or he might resent Lucas later. But he couldn’t look away, and he was suddenly afraid what he wanted would be clear on his face. “I’ll call them tomorrow, first thing,” Cooper decided with a nod to himself as he watched Lucas’s blue eyes glitter with hope. “Tell them something believable, I’m sure,” he muttered as he took the dishtowel from his shoulder and threw it on the counter. He scowled at the granite counter top and pressed his lips tightly together. Chest aching, Lucas moved behind him to slide both hands under Cooper’s arms to hold him loosely, hands clasped at his waist. “You don’t have to decide right now,” he said shakily. He was cursing himself for being such a goddamn martyr, but what else could he do? Cooper was obviously unsettled about the whole thing. “Fuck that,” Cooper growled in frustration. If only he’d read Lucas better. But then who would have ever guessed at this outcome? Lucas blinked at Cooper’s strong retort, but it didn’t shake him enough to

Under Contract | 53 make him move. “Now that I know you don’t hate me, there’s no reason for me to leave my crew,” Cooper growled. The anger cooled as he thought more about the site. “How is this going to work?” he asked curiously after a moment of merely enjoying warm arms around him. “I don’t know how it’s going to work,” Lucas said honestly. “Never thought it would happen at all.” He thought about the trailer and all the ‘trouble’ he could get into with Cooper there. He felt his gut clench, and he leaned over to press his lips to the warm skin behind Cooper’s ear. “Am I allowed in the trailer now?” Cooper asked seriously. “You’re allowed,” Lucas murmured, tongue darting out to lap at soft skin, hoping Cooper wouldn’t mind him being so forward. “’Course, I may not let you leave if you come in. Need lots of help with that goddamn paperwork,” he muttered. Cooper smiled and closed his eyes, tilting his head to the side to allow for better access. “On second thought, we may need to keep me out of your trailer,” he murmured. “Boss,” he purred as his hands slid behind him and around Lucas’s hips. “What would you say to crawling under the covers and leaving work behind tonight?” he asked in a soft, persuasive voice as he nuzzled against the scruff of Lucas’s cheek behind him. The long, low purr Lucas heard was coming from his own chest. “I’d say hell yeah,” he answered, lips still sliding along Cooper’s neck. He slowly tightened his arms, bringing the other man’s body firmly against his own, Cooper’s ass knocking into his interested erection. “Down, boy,” Cooper laughed softly. “You’re going to wear me out,” he warned. “And you saw today what happens when I get no sleep.” Lucas chuckled and pressed one more kiss to the back of Cooper’s neck. “C’mon. We’ll thrash out who sleeps where before we crash,” he said, taking Cooper’s hand and pulling him behind him as he walked. Cooper followed along with a small smile. The truth was, he slept in the middle. But he wouldn’t mind a little scuffling between the sheets with the man dragging him down the hall. Turning down the lights using the dimmer switch, Lucas walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down, elbows on his thighs. “I’ve got an idea for the whole left side / right side thing,” he said, more because he wanted Cooper as close as he

54 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux could get him. It was a gift, being able to just sleep with him. Really sleep – and most preferably, hold him all night as well. “Do tell,” Cooper invited with an amused smirk as he began to unbutton his shirt once more. He really needed to shower, but it could wait. Maybe he could even convince his new bedwarmer to join him. “You wanted a blanket,” Lucas reminded him, leaning back on his elbows. “Maybe you can have whatever side you want, and I’ll just drape myself over you.” Cooper smirked and lunged forward, grabbing the back of Lucas’s neck and kissing him as he crawled on top of him and pressed him back into the bed with a soft, purring growl. “Nice plan,” he commented in a soft voice as he slid his hands up Lucas’s arms, pushing them over his head and gently gripping his wrists to press them into the mattress. “That’s why you’re the boss, I bet,” he mumbled as he began to kiss down the man’s neck slowly. Lucas purred and turned his head to expose more of his neck. He didn’t struggle against being held down; rather, it sent a shock wave through his gut that made him wiggle a little under Cooper’s body. Cooper was warming to the idea of taking part in another round of completely inappropriate fucking with his foreman when he heard the telltale beepbeep of his Nextel from the clip on his jeans. He growled against Lucas’s neck as he pushed himself up and cocked his head to the side to listen. “Coop?” the electronic voice crackled over the walkie talkie. There was a pause as the man on the other end waited for Cooper to respond. “Nick? You there?” the nearly unintelligible voice asked after a moment. Cooper sighed as he recognized the voice. The crew knew full well that if they needed anything after hours, Cooper was usually willing and able to help them. More than once he had gone to pick up a group of drunk co-workers and drove them home from a bar or restaurant. He had done a few hospital visits, the most notable when Lewis Parker had been trying to free his wife’s yappy lap dog from a jammed freezer and knocked himself out cold when the door had come free. His wife had called Cooper, claiming that she couldn’t leave her precious puppy alone

Under Contract | 55 to take her husband to the ER. Six months later Cooper had been called in the middle of the night to help bury the dog in Parker’s back yard and subsequently sign as a witness for the divorce petition. “Maybe he’ll give up,” Cooper whispered hopefully to Lucas as he kissed at his neck slowly. When Travis called it was almost always for a place to stay the night, because the twenty-year-old still lived with his mother and didn’t like going home drunk. “As long as it’s not serious,” Lucas breathed, eyes fluttering shut. He knew several of the men shamelessly took advantage of the assistant foreman, but Cooper didn’t seem to mind. Cooper growled softly and nipped at the tender skin of Lucas’s neck as his Nextel beeped at him again. “Nick?” the voice inquired. “It’s not that late, man, I know you’re not in bed! I’m stranded, dude, I need a ride!” it pleaded plaintively. Cooper groaned slightly and pushed back up to look down at Lucas in frustration. Chuckling, Lucas’s lips twitched at the look on Cooper’s face. “They take advantage of you, you know. I’ve heard about it,” he murmured. He wanted to touch, but Cooper was still holding his hands down. “I know,” Cooper responded in a hoarse whisper. “But the first time I ignore it...” he trailed off and shook his head, not even wanting to think about one of his boys being in an accident or something just because they hadn’t been able to find a ride. He growled and bent to kiss Lucas again, then reached back to grab the Nextel and yank it out of its holster. “Are you drunk?” he demanded of the kid with a beep. “That would be illegal, sir,” Travis responded in an innocent voice that slurred noticeably. Cooper sighed and ran his free hand over Lucas’s chest slowly. “Where are you?” he asked the kid as he looked up and met Lucas’s eyes. As much of a disappointment as it was, Lucas couldn’t say a word against Cooper’s decision. He respected it – how he helped out the guys. Lord knows they’d never call Lucas, though he would have been happy to help them out. So he just nodded slightly, conveying his acceptance of the situation.

56 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux The answer came over the walkie talkie, and Cooper growled softly. It would only take about ten minutes to get there, but another forty to take the kid home and get back. And while an hour didn’t seem like all that much time, he didn’t want to leave Lucas here alone for that long. Lucas certainly wouldn’t want to go with him and have to explain why they were together. And Cooper certainly didn’t want to get home and find that they were both too tired to… continue. He slid his hand down Lucas’s body and looked at him regretfully. Travis was one of those kids with little patience and even less in the way of self-preservation instincts. He would find a way home, safe or not. “I’m sorry,” Cooper murmured to the man beneath him. “I’ll be there in twenty, kiddo,” he said to Travis as he held the button down. “Twenty! But it takes you like ten to get here!” “You want me showing up naked, fine! Be there in ten!” Cooper shouted in uncharacteristic frustration as he turned off the Nextel and tossed it to the floor. Lucas stifled a chuckle, seeing that Cooper wasn’t happy about it. He rubbed his hands soothingly over his chest. “It’s all right,” he murmured, looking up at him from where he still laid back against the bed. He had to grin. “I’m sure he’ll rag you about the naked comment, though. Travis is a cheeky asshole.” “I’m sorry,” Cooper murmured in response, unable to match the grin the other man gave him. “I won’t be long. Do you want to stay here?” he asked almost hopefully. “Or I can take you back to your truck.” Faced with his own decision, Lucas wondered what Cooper really wanted. “How long is it going to take?” he asked quietly. “Won’t take long for me to crash out without a diversion.” He really regretted that, too. Going home alone was going to be lonely as hell. “An hour, maybe less,” Cooper answered as he pushed up and stood slowly. His eyes traveled over Lucas’s body slowly, and he sighed regretfully. “I can take you back to the lot now, or we can wake up early in the morning and get there before anyone else,” he suggested. He didn’t want to come home to an empty bed tonight. Not at all. He thought about just asking Lucas to stay. But that last little bit of uncertainty and guilt stopped him.

Under Contract | 57 “I guess home would be best. I’m a bear in the morning. Getting me up earlier than usual wouldn’t be pleasant,” Lucas said quietly as he sat up. He wondered if his face showed how much he didn’t want to go home. But it must be what Cooper felt was best. He hadn’t asked him to stay. Cooper nodded and pressed his lips together, reaching out to give Lucas a hand to stand. The disappointment that flared and twisted in his chest was overwhelming, but he didn’t dare try to correct it. Instead he pulled Lucas close and kissed him slowly, his body screaming for him to tackle the man as he did so. “Better get moving then,” he finally murmured as he backed away. Tempted to fall apart under the soft, warm kiss, Lucas’s eyes were closed when Cooper ended it. He had to grit his teeth to hold it together. “Gotcha,” he said, leaning over to grab his shirt and socks, yanking them on before reaching for his boots, pulling at the laces. He didn’t look up at Cooper, just focusing on getting dressed and hurting inside. It wasn’t fair. To be over so quickly. It wasn’t fair. Cooper grabbed up his phone and jammed it into the holster with a muttered curse at it, then went about buttoning his shirt as he headed into the bathroom and grabbed one of the rubber bands he kept in a dish on the counter. He ran his fingers through his long hair and then pulled it back into a ponytail, hoping it masked the fact that he’d been rolling around in bed for half the evening. He came back out and sat beside Lucas on the end of the bed, sliding his feet into a pair of beat up leather flip flops and waiting until Lucas was ready. He didn’t speak for fear of apologizing again or requesting the man stay the night. It didn’t seem fair to him, somehow, to ask that Lucas hang around in a strange place, alone, waiting for Cooper to come back. In fact, now that he thought about it, it was almost insulting. He didn’t want to make him feel like he was some sort of whore, hanging around and waiting to be fucked again, right? Right. Jerking the laces tight, Lucas turned his head slightly to look at Cooper. Christ. His heart hurt. “Okay,” he said quietly, indicating he was ready.

58 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper nodded and stood, making his way down the long hallway. At the other end of the house, the plastic flapped noisily in a breeze and he stood and watched it when he got to the foyer entry. He had to get that done soon, it was starting to annoy him. Maybe tonight, when he came home to find an empty house that still smelled of homemade dinner and sex. He turned wordlessly and led the way out the door.

IT was quiet and a little tense on the way back, but maybe Lucas was just imagining it. He knew he felt tense, for more than one reason. He was trying really, really hard not to think about what had happened tonight. Not right now. When Cooper pulled the truck into the gravel lot and climbed out to open the gate, Lucas’s throat closed up. What was he going to say? Great ride, let’s do it again? Wish I didn’t have to go? Want to go out tomorrow? Before he could decide, Cooper hopped back into the cab, and they pulled up beside Lucas’s truck. Cooper put the vehicle in park and sighed softly as he gripped the steering wheel. No matter what the cause, this felt so wrong. This went against everything in his nature, to fuck someone and then send them on their way. He looked over impulsively and grabbed Lucas’s hand before the man could leave the cab. “You feel like meeting for breakfast?” he asked before he could think better of it. Lucas’s heart about stopped when Cooper grabbed his hand, but the question helped settle his nerves. “Yeah,” he answered quietly, and a smile tilted up the corners of his mouth. Cooper smiled in return and slid his fingers over Lucas’s slowly as he pulled his hand back. “Five? Denny’s?” he suggested, desperately wanting to suggest instead that he could cook breakfast, and they wouldn’t have to worry about meeting if they woke up together. His body was still complaining that it wasn’t done with Lucas yet. Lucas nodded. “Five,” he echoed as he stepped out of the big truck. Half shutting the door, he turned to look back into the cab. “Nick?” Cooper had already turned away and put the truck in gear, eager to haul ass out to pick up Travis and then get the hell home and go to bed.

Under Contract | 59 He looked up in surprise at hearing his given name and blinked stupidly at the man. “Yeah?” Lucas gazed at him seriously. “Thanks. For the chance,” he said. Cooper licked his lips and tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he turned slightly to look at the man. He wasn’t sure what to say. Thank you for the really nice romp in bed? Thank you for saying I love you and not expecting it back? It doesn’t mean I’m a nice guy for taking a chance to fuck you senseless? Cooper shook his head and gave Lucas a small smile. “Get some sleep, boss,” he murmured. “See you in the a.m.” Lucas nodded and shut the door, digging in his pocket for his keys. He only stopped moving when he was sitting in his truck, door shut. His eyes flickered to the rearview mirror. Cooper’s truck kicked up dirt and gravel, forming a cloud of gray dust as he left in a hurry. Lucas’s eyes closed slowly, and he dropped his head to the steering wheel. Oh God. What had he been thinking? Declaring he loved the other man right to his face with no warning? Going home with him and having what was probably the best sex he’d had in his entire life? What would happen next? After sitting there a long time, Lucas decided he didn’t want to drive the half hour home. Instead he pulled an emergency duffel out of the back seat, locked up the truck, locked up the gate, and headed over to the trailer. There was a long cot in the third room he crashed in on late nights. He had the essentials in the bathroom. And he really, really didn’t want to go home to his cold, empty bed.

THE blaring of the alarm clock sent Nick Cooper jerking straight up and practically had him clinging to the exposed beams of his ceiling as it yanked him out of an exhausted sleep. He glanced over at the clock blearily, positive that it wasn’t yet time to get up. It had taken him nearly two hours to get Travis taken care of the night before, and he had been grimly thankful that Lucas hadn’t stayed over. He had literally been steaming when he’d gotten home. He’d muttered to himself as he had taken a shower, and he’d fallen into bed angry, roughly three hours ago. He woke up angry as well, glaring at the offending green numbers. 4:47.

60 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Shit!” Cooper cried as he threw the sheets off him and hopped out of bed. He scrambled for his clothing, knowing that no matter how good his excuse, if he missed their breakfast date after basically kicking the man out the night before, it would destroy the shaky connection they’d made. He grabbed his Nextel as he shrugged into a clean flannel shirt and beeped the number labeled ‘Bossman.’ “Boss?” he said into the walkie talkie in a hoarse, still sleep-laden voice. In the trailer on the lot, Lucas had tossed and turned on the cot, dozing uneasily all night, afraid he wouldn’t wake up on time despite setting the alarm clock, his cell phone alarm and the one on his watch in consecutive ten-minute increments. But he was up at the first blare, already shaking with nerves. He ducked into the shower, cleaned up, got dressed and was sitting at his desk, leg bouncing like crazy. It was just about quarter ’til, and it would only take him five minutes to get there. So Lucas was trying to focus on a random supply order when his phone chirped, and when he heard Cooper’s voice – sleepy and rough – he jumped so badly that his heart about pounded out of his chest. He scrambled up to grab it off the table by the door, thinking that Cooper was likely canceling. He sounded really tired. Stomach roiling, he stared at the phone, unable to push the button for fear of the crushing disappointment. “Boss?” Cooper repeated after clearing his throat. “Lucas, you there?” he asked in a slightly sluggish voice as he stepped into his work boots and bent to tie them, holding the phone between his cheek and shoulder. “I’m running late,” he went on, clearing his throat again as he moved to the other boot. “My alarm went on strike,” he offered. “Herd of chickens sitting in my truck,” he tried with a small smile. “Would you believe an earthquake swallowed up my driveway?” he went on nervously as he waited for Lucas to respond. Lucas stared at the phone, listening more to Cooper’s voice, his gorgeous, sleepy, warm voice, than to the words. Then he blinked and pushed the button. His own voice was rough, too. “Herd of chickens?” he asked incredulously.

Under Contract | 61 “What?” Cooper responded defensively, relief flooding him as Lucas finally answered. “It could happen,” he mumbled with a small smile, surprised at how glad he was just to hear the other man’s voice. He stood and began making his way to the door. “Dog ate my tires?” he offered with a smirk. “That work better?” Lucas couldn’t help but snicker. He pushed the button again. “The earthquake is more believable, Cooper,” he said, relaxing a bit and leaning against the wall, smile appearing. Cooper sighed in relief. “I’m sorry,” he offered sincerely, wondering if he’d ever be able to stop saying that. “I’ll be there in about ten minutes, I promise.” Relaxing, Lucas nodded, then shook himself. “Okay,” he said good-naturedly. He was feeling a little better, although he still had butterflies in his stomach. “Mind if I go ahead and order coffee? I figure you’ll want to talk to a human when you get there.” “Hey, it’ll beat the chickens,” Cooper snickered, biting his lip as he slid into his truck, still half asleep. He wanted to say more, to say something about last night. But he kept quiet, hoping he’d get another chance. A better chance. Lucas leaned his head against the wall, wishing he could reach out and touch Cooper, to connect with that gorgeous voice he was very afraid that he was badly hooked on. “Okay,” he said, relieved that the other man was still coming to meet him. Cooper closed the connection and clipped his phone back into his belt as he cranked the truck and headed out. His stomach flipped nervously, and he chastised himself for behaving like a fucking teenager. He had to keep reminding himself that Lucas was likely to burn out his interest after a few rolls in the sheets. Every other time Cooper had heard ‘I love you’ so quickly, that had been the case. It didn’t bother him much. Hell, he liked sex as much as the next guy. But he had to be damn careful not to fall for the man. Ted Lucas, he’d realized last night, would be so very easy to fall for. Seven minutes later he was pulling into the parking lot of Denny’s. Three minutes faster than usual. The only patrons at this time of morning

62 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux were normally cops and construction workers. Luckily, none of his crew was here to see him sharing an unusual breakfast with their foreman. Sitting inside the somewhat busy restaurant at a big table so he could stretch out his legs, Lucas was on his second cup of coffee and feeling a little more awake. In a pitiful way, he was glad Cooper hadn’t seen him first thing in the morning. He hadn’t been kidding about being a bear – not to mention the scruffy face, blond curls that stuck up all over and him being clumsy as hell as he tried to make his long body wake up enough to walk reliably. As he sipped the coffee, his hand was clutching and squeezing a roll of silverware. His nerves had come back full force as he waited. Would they talk about work, being out in public like this? What else could they talk about? Like Cooper had said last night, they hardly knew anything about each other. Cooper tied his hair back as he walked toward the restaurant, surprised to find his hands shaking slightly. It wasn’t from nerves, obviously. That would be silly. It had to be from lack of sleep. Yeah. Exhaustion. This didn’t feel like a date, no sir. He stepped inside and glanced around, catching sight of Lucas and smiling at the man as he headed over to the table. “Morning,” he greeted in a gruff voice as he slid into the chair beside him and leaned forward. He didn’t kiss him, though that was, oddly enough, his first impulse. Instead he smiled sleepily and knocked his knee against Lucas’s under the table. “You look like you slept as well as I did.” The discreet touch of their knees made Lucas smile, and he took a few seconds to wonder at how soft and sleepy Cooper looked. Gorgeous. Then he shook himself. “For crap?” he asked with a snort, waving his hand at the waitress so Cooper could order. Cooper picked up a menu and held it up as the waitress started over. “I love this place,” he crooned as he pointed at a picture on the menu for the waitress before she even got to the table. “Don’t even have to be coherent enough to form words or read in order to get fed,” he beamed as the waitress rolled her eyes. Lucas chuckled. He’d had to look for five minutes to decide because he’d only eaten here maybe twice in a year’s time. “Coffee?” he

Under Contract | 63 asked, having gotten two mugs and a carafe just in case. He had no idea what else to say. “Just juice.” As the waitress left, Cooper grinned and looked over at the man with eyes that sparkled even with the early morning haze. “Hey,” he murmured as he leaned closer. “I didn’t handle last night very well,” he said softly. A flush of warmth coursed through Lucas, and he swallowed carefully, setting down the mug. He could interpret that two ways, he knew, and he really wanted to be positive about it. “You take care of the guys. I appreciate it,” he replied, sliding the mug back and forth. “That’s not who I wanted to be taking care of last night,” Cooper whispered in response, the words caused by the giddy feeling of not enough sleep and an early morning meeting with the man with whom he had been so shamefully brazen last night. Lucas’s smile just glowed before he reined it in, but his cheeks were still flushed. “I know the feeling,” he murmured as he took in the other man’s looks, swallowing hard as his gut clenched. He inhaled sharply, reminding himself that they were out in public. “Depending on how today goes, what do you think about dinner?” Cooper asked before he could allow himself to stop the question. “I’ll even turn my phone off,” he offered conspiratorially as the waitress brought his juice. Biting his bottom lip, Lucas waited until the waitress was out of earshot again. He shifted in his chair to lean his elbows on the table, mug wrapped with both hands. “I’d like that,” he said, trying really hard to suppress the urge to smile like a crazy man as he looked at the wall across the room. “Good,” Cooper murmured as he leaned back again. He rolled his head from side to side, producing a few satisfying pops from his neck that had him groaning softly as he leaned back in his chair. “Let’s just hope it’s a quick day,” he moaned as he closed his eyes and sighed. Lucas took the opportunity to look over him intently before sitting back and taking another drink of coffee. He quietly agreed with Cooper. A quick, bother-free day would be perfect.

64 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

“SANDERS! Get your ass off that damn roof!” Lucas roared. Two other men grabbed Sanders and hustled him off to the manual lift as Lucas just groaned and rubbed his eyes. Perfect day, his ass. First thing, the supply shipment came in wrong, which held up some work. Three employees called in and the temp pool was empty. They’d gotten a bad batch of concrete that wouldn’t set, so it had to be removed and trashed. And the same piping that had tumbled to the ground yesterday had sprung a bunch of leaks once hooked up to the water system. Sanders on the roof was just one more disaster. And it was just now noon. Cooper heard the roar of an irate foreman and groaned softly. The last thing they needed today was another problem. He looked up from the blueprint he was examining and peered into the noonday sun. “Hey Coop, when’s lunch break, huh?” a voice asked him testily. “When I fucking tell you,” Cooper barked in answer. “Get back to work and start getting something done, then you fucking eat,” he snapped at the men around him, who all scattered back to their various jobs. His phone beeped at him, and he punched the button. “What?” “Delivery at the gates, Coop.” “Well, let them the fuck in, Travis,” Cooper shot back as he placed the blueprints down once more and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t know quite why he was so annoyed, but he doubted there was a single man on the lot who he hadn’t shouted at today. And it was only noon. He hated these damn blueprints. It was Lucas’s area. He should be out here interpreting them. Finishing his bickering with the concrete guys with only a little yelling, Lucas stalked back to the trailer. The workers were giving him a wide berth, especially when he stopped in place and his back stiffened as he heard another crash. Everything went silent. Lucas just closed his eyes and started walking again. If he went back there to investigate, he was going to rip someone’s balls off. Cooper would handle it. He clomped up the stairs and slammed through the door, the silence outside holding until he was inside. He pulled off his hardhat and

Under Contract | 65 threw it across the trailer with a bang as the shouts began, then headed to the bathroom to start washing the mealy concrete off his hands and arms. A long minute of scrubbing later, the thudding of boots on the steps signaled someone running up to the trailer, and a frantic banging in the door was accompanied by a call of “Boss! We need the first aid kit! And call an ambulance!” Lucas’s head snapped up, and he smacked the faucet to turn off the water. He was in the front room grabbing the large first aid kit before he even thought about drying his hands, and he was out the door without bothering to find his hard hat. The worker was dancing in agitation as he waited for the foreman, and when Lucas hit the top step he took off running to lead the man to the pile of spilled metal piping. The truck that delivered them had parked in the wrong spot, on a slight incline that caused the load to shift just enough to unbalance the entire shipment of heavy pipes. One large casing was not heavy enough to hurt someone all that much when it fell on them, unless it hit them from above. But several dozen rolling off the back of a large truck had been enough to knock the man flat and completely cover him after he released the back latch on the tailgate. They’d tumbled out in a horrifying parody of some Wile E. Coyote cartoon, and the man hadn’t even been able to shout for help before he’d been knocked over, the runner explained hurriedly. All that could be seen as evidence that there was even a man underneath the pile of dirty white pipes was his hard hat, spinning on the ground several feet away. “Hell,” Lucas breathed. “Travis!” he yelled, pointing right at the younger man. “Get in the trailer and call 911. Now!” As Travis ran off, he looked around at the milling men, many staring in shocked horror, others already trying to get to the top pipes without stepping on the pile below. “Two men on each pipe. Pick them up – carefully – some of you get over there and hold them so they don’t shift anymore. Move!” The men scrambled over and started lifting the pipes. Lucas was pointing out which ones to move, directing them to lift the pipes the furthest away from the truck first, that’s where the man’s head would be. “Careful – careful! Billy, hold that one that’s shifting….”

66 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux As more pipes were moved, more body became visible, and Lucas realized he was holding his breath and his heart was pounding so hard he thought he might have a heart attack. Despite his gruff exterior, he knew every man on this site. And what if it was… he clamped down on the thought and kept moving pipes. Shit, he would be here, wouldn’t he? Cooper would have been the first one here, digging his man out. The men moved the pipes slowly, terrified of destabilizing the entire mess and causing more damage. They all knew the man under the pile. They all adored him. And not a heart on the lot was beating at normal speed as they tried to get down to him. When a sprawled arm in a worn flannel shirt was uncovered, Lucas thought he might be sick right then and there. It was Cooper. Oh, Jesus Christ. It was Nick. He bit his lip on the urge to snap at the guys to move faster. They had to be careful. Had to be. As more of Cooper’s body was uncovered, Lucas started shaking. No blood, he didn’t see any blood. But he was still worried sick; Cooper had been hit hard enough that his hard hat went flying, and he landed on large-chunk gravel. More pipes were moved, and the guys sped up, frantic to uncover the assistant foreman. Lucas could hear the siren in the distance. He knelt down and shoved the two pipes over Cooper’s head to the side, seeing with relief that he’d thrown his other arm over his face and head, trying to protect himself. “Corey, open the kit and give me some of those sterile cloths,” he said shakily. Cooper had a bloody nose and lips, probably took a hit right in the teeth while trying to cover his head. Cooper groaned softly as the pressure lifted from his chest and head. He tried to force his eyes open to investigate the cool touch to his face, and finally glazed eyes blinked open slowly and looked up into the blue sky. “Ow,” he muttered plaintively. Blinking, Lucas moved to shield Cooper’s eyes from the sun. “Don’t move, Cooper,” he said, voice cracking. “Not even your arms or head or neck, okay? We’ve got to get you checked out.” He carefully dabbed at the blood, clearing off the lips he’d much rather have seen swollen from kissing than from this. The foreman glanced up, seeing everyone milling around. They knew better than to crowd an injured man or get in the way of the EMTs,

Under Contract | 67 but they just couldn’t seem to leave. “Guys, back off. Get that pipe out of here so the ambulance can move in,” he said quietly, his voice carrying with firm authority. He rarely used it like that, preferring to work off steam with the yelling, but he just couldn’t yell right now. “Travis, go meet the ambulance at the gate,” he instructed. The men jumped to work, clearing away from the two men in the gravel. Shifting the cloth to Cooper’s nose, he wiped carefully. “Fuck, Nick,” he swore under his breath. “What were you thinking?” Cooper’s face burned with a flush of embarrassment, but it faded quickly under the pain in his head. “Was thinking… unload the truck,” he answered candidly, his voice rough and slurring as he closed his eyes again. “Think my leg is gone, boss,” he added as if it were an afterthought. Lucas flinched and glanced down Cooper’s body, swallowing hard. His right leg looked fine, but the left…. “It’s still attached, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said, fighting back the upset. “C’mon, keep your eyes open. You’ve almost certainly got a concussion. Everything else looks okay, but for the leg. Didn’t even break your nose,” he said, trying to inject some levity into the conversation. “I killed our record,” Cooper muttered, referring to the recordbreaking number of consecutive days without injuries the build had been enjoying. Choking on a bark of near-hysterical laughter, Lucas shook his head in disbelief. “Fuck the record,” he answered in a harsh whisper. He glanced up when the siren got louder, and he heard the gravel crunch as it entered the lot. “Anyone I should call? Is it on your personnel sheet?” “No one. Just tell the boys you called my girlfriend,” Cooper answered with a ghost of a smile. He swallowed with difficulty as his eyes drifted shut against his will. The shock was wearing off, and the pain from his leg was beginning to creep in. “May need a rain check for tonight,” he muttered drowsily. “Shit,” Lucas muttered, seeing Cooper’s eyes close. “Nick, stay with me, please,” he begged as the ambulance stopped nearby and he

68 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux heard the doors open. “Open those gorgeous eyes,” he added softly. “Please.” Cooper forced his eyes open and blinked up at the man, more from the desire to see the eyes behind that odd tone of voice than any force of will. “Sorry,” he slurred softly. “Don’t leave,” he requested disjointedly even as his eyes fell closed once more. Lucas was about to plead with him again when the EMTs got there, and he moved back at their instructions. Another pulled him aside and asked for details, as many as he could give. He kept glancing over at Cooper, lying there in the gravel, and his gut just churned. When the EMT asked if there was anyone to call, Lucas shook his head and said he’d follow them to the hospital. She nodded, and just like that, they had Cooper on a stretcher. Lucas caught Cooper’s hand. “I’ll see you at the hospital,” he said, hoping to reassure him. Cooper’s fingers clutched briefly at the hand, and then he was fading again. The pain was constant now, his entire body throbbing along with his leg, and the EMT hooked him up to an IV that sent cold through him. “Tell him,” he muttered to the EMT as they lifted him into the ambulance. “Tell him to let them go to lunch.” The EMT passed on the message, chuckling when Lucas could only laugh in pained relief. She paused and asked if he was okay, looking over him for signs of shock. Lucas insisted he was fine, so she nodded and then the ambulance was gone. He turned and looked at the work site, the pipes neatly stacked and the guys milling about restlessly, all looking shaken and worried. He strode over to them. “Okay, guys, Cooper’s going to be fine. But there will be a shit storm tomorrow, investigation and all that, with the damn OSHA people. Go ahead home now, probably the next two days while they’re here. I’ll call you,” he said. Corey and Billy came up to ask a few questions while the guys trudged off in twos and threes, and once he finished talking to them, Lucas headed back to the trailer. He closed the door carefully behind him, and before he knew it his shaky legs gave out and he sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around himself as he shivered.

Under Contract | 69

COOPER blinked his eyes open slowly, his blurry vision finally settling on the sterile white ceiling above him. He was aware enough to know that he was in the hospital. He remembered being told he had a concussion, and that his leg was broken in two places. It didn’t feel like he had a cast on, and he wondered if he had to have surgery on it first. A brief panic flooded him, and he tried to sit up. Having stared at the wall for the better part of two hours, Lucas’s head flew up as he heard Cooper move. “Hey, take it easy,” he urged, standing and moving to the bedside, lightly pressing on Cooper’s shoulder. “Just lay back. Everything’s fine.” “What… ow,” Cooper groaned as he lay back slowly. “Owwwww,” he moaned softly as he closed his eyes again. Lucas reached over and threaded his fingers into Cooper’s, pulling open his fist. “Boss?” Cooper muttered blearily. “Yeah,” Lucas murmured. “What’s the verdict?” Cooper asked as he forced his eyes open again. “Broken leg, two places. They put a pin in. Not serious enough for a plate, not a compound fracture,” Lucas said, trying not to let his voice shake. “Four cracked ribs and a hell of a lot of bruising. You’re going to be hurting for awhile.” He squeezed Cooper’s hand slightly. “Damn it!” Cooper hissed in frustration. Lucas jerked back a little bit in surprise. “Nick, calm down,” he insisted. “How the hell am I supposed to work like this?” Cooper asked, his tone almost desperate as his grip tightened involuntarily on Lucas’s hand. “You’re not!” Lucas insisted. “What are you worried about? It’s all covered under workers’ comp, you won’t miss a dime. And you won’t have to listen to me yell, that’s got to be an incentive,” he added. Cooper turned his head away and closed his eyes. “Work’s all I’ve got,” he murmured sadly. Silenced by more surprise, Lucas remembered Cooper had told him he didn’t have anyone to call, not even that nonexistent girlfriend.

70 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux And if he couldn’t work, he couldn’t very well work on his house, either. An idea popped into his head. “I can give you some work to do on the sly,” he offered. “Stuff you’d have no problem doing in bed.” His mouth snapped shut, then reopened. “Uh. I mean, while sitting.” Cooper turned his head again and huffed a laugh, wincing. “Now you’re just looking for someone to do your paperwork,” he accused with a small smile. Lucas shuffled a little. “Well, it’s work,” he said innocently, raising one shoulder. Then he added quietly, “Would give me a reason to come out and see you during the day.” Cooper nodded at his foreman, guilt and panic warring within him. Another sleepless night and another stupid mistake, and he was in a hospital bed with months of loneliness stretching out in front of him. “Oh God,” he breathed as he closed his eyes again. “I’ll go crazy out there all alone.” “Damn,” Lucas responded under his breath, not having thought about that. It was going to be hell for Cooper to get around at that house, although the only steps were at the front door. He wracked his mind, trying to think of a solution. “Do you know any of the guys well enough that they’d stay with you for a while?” Cooper laughed suddenly, wincing again at the pain. “What did I ever do to you to wish that on me?” he teased weakly. Lucas snorted, then grew serious as another idea popped into his head. It was crazy, and way the hell out of bounds, but…. “What about me?” he asked, holding his breath. Cooper focused a little harder and blinked up at him. “What about you?” he echoed. “What? You mean, staying with me?” Blinking several times, Lucas scrambled to cover nervously. “Or the company would cover a nurse, I’m sure,” he hurried to add, starting to ramble over his suggestion. “Maybe you’ve got some extended family who could fly in, covered by the extra disability payments? I’m sure you could get the physical therapist to go there instead of you coming here.” Cooper squeezed the man’s hand to quiet him and closed his eyes. He was tired, which he suspected had something to do with the drugs, but

Under Contract | 71 he forced his eyes open and smiled slightly. “I get the left side of the bed,” he declared, hazy eyes beginning to sparkle once more even then. Lucas stopped mid-sentence and smiled tremulously. “You can have whatever you want,” he declared quietly, moved too much to resist leaning over and kissing his forehead lightly, then pressing his cheek there for a long moment. “You scared the shit out of me,” he rasped. “I’m sorry,” Cooper offered sincerely, closing his eyes and basking in the contact of the rough cheek against his forehead. He didn’t want to tell the other man that the first thought he’d had when he had seen that tie snap and those pipes begin rolling toward him had involved his boss. He didn’t want to tell him that his first thought was regret that he wouldn’t make dinner. He feared it would sound contrived. He slid his hand up and behind Lucas’s head and threaded his fingers into the man’s unruly curls. “I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered, every ounce of it true. He had no one else, and though he counted many among his friends, there were few he wanted to spend more than a few hours with at a time. Shoulders sagging, Lucas kissed his brow again. “Me, too,” he whispered, sliding one hand under Cooper’s chin to cup his other cheek, holding him the only way he could right now. Cooper closed his eyes and inhaled the man’s scent, wincing as his ribs ached. “Damn, I wish we’d fucked a few more times last night,” he bemoaned suddenly. “It’s going to be… days!” he moaned pitifully as his hand tightened in Lucas’s hair. Snorting, Lucas couldn’t hold back the bubbling laughter. “Guess I know what’s on your list of important things to do,” he joked. “Days. Awwww,” he teased, staying close. Cooper groaned again plaintively and turned his head into Lucas’s, then kissed him impulsively. Sighing against Cooper’s lips, Lucas kissed him back, letting out some of the worry and upset before he pulled back, eyes shifting to where the curtain barely blocked the door. He slid his fingers through the long, dark hair that trailed over Cooper’s shoulder. “Did I ever tell you I love your hair?” he murmured as he shifted to prop his elbow on the bed where he leaned over. Cooper smiled sleepily and shook his head.

72 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Hang on,” Lucas said, straightening and stretching until his back popped. Then he grabbed the chair and pulled it over so he could sit close by, resting both arms on the bed. He propped his chin on his forearm as he went back to stroking the dark hair. “Yeah. First several times we met, I didn’t notice it, tucked up in your hard hat. Then one day I saw you at lunch with some of the guys. It was windy that day, and it kept flying back, floating around. You kept pushing it out of your face,” he related quietly. “That was before I was secure enough in my manhood to wear pigtails,” Cooper joked, warmth spreading through his body at the realization that Lucas truly had been paying attention to him nearly from the start. Maybe when he said he loved him he actually knew what he was talking about. Then again, maybe it was just painkillers. Smiling softly, Lucas tilted his head a little as he watched the other man. “Yeah, then I started looking for it. You pull the tail out of your collar, you know, when you’re talking to the guys or working on blueprints. You hold it out of the way at the water cooler.” “No wonder you get no work done,” Cooper laughed softly. Lucas snickered and lightly pulled on a lock gently. “You caught me,” he said, voice lighter. “I’ve caught you before,” Cooper told him softly. “Caught you watching me. That white hard hat is hard to miss when you’re as tall as you are,” he slurred affectionately. “I always thought it was because you didn’t trust me,” he admitted. “Hell. I’m sorry,” Lucas said quietly, but fervently. “It’s okay,” Cooper huffed. “I wish I’d known earlier. We could have had a lot of nights like last night,” he laughed. Lucas closed his eyes on a sigh as his fingers tightened slightly in Cooper’s hair. “Don’t know if I could have said anything earlier,” he whispered. “No?” Cooper asked slowly, fighting the sleepiness desperately now. “I… I was scared shitless,” Lucas admitted. “That you’d laugh. That you’d beat the shit out of me. Leave the job.”

Under Contract | 73 “Must have thought you were in love with a real bastard, huh?” Cooper asked sadly. Head snapping up, Lucas shook his head. “Not at all. Just didn’t know if you’d be at all receptive. I guess I’m paranoid about it. I was outed at a work site once. Wasn’t pretty.” “Really?” Cooper asked softly, watching the other man intently. “I didn’t mean… I mean….” He cleared his throat, shutting his eyes and sighing. “What happened?” Lucas sighed. “Couple of guys from the site got drunk as hell one night, came over to my apartment looking for more beer. Saw me come home with my partner. They ended up sleeping off the drunk in their car and saw that he didn’t leave until morning. I made the mistake of kissing him goodbye just inside the door.” “That why you came here?” Cooper asked, telling himself not to ask about the friend. “And the friend?” he asked anyway. “Moved to the West Coast, got a great job,” Lucas answered about Randy, figuring the answer to the first question was obvious. Cooper looked up at him silently for a moment, eyes traveling over his features intently. “You think this crew would be the same?” he asked curiously. “If they found out?” Lucas considered for a few moments. “Don’t know. Some of the guys seem pretty open to alternatives, but that doesn’t always mean that they’ll be tolerant. They are a better group overall, even with Sanders passing out all the time.” Cooper laughed and grimaced. “I would love....” He trailed off and shook his head, listening to the rhythmic beeping of the monitoring machines. “I’d love to be able to tell the truth,” he stated softly, eyes unfocusing briefly before he glanced at Lucas again. “We risk a lot, you staying with me. We risk getting caught.” Eyes closing for a full minute, the implications rushed through Lucas’s head. He reopened his eyes to look at Cooper. “What with your leg, I’m thinking we’d be okay ’til this job finishes out. After that….” He shrugged, taking up Cooper’s hand and pressing his lips to bruised knuckles. “I think it would be worth it,” he said. “I’m willing.”

74 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper watched the foreman carefully. “I snore,” he blurted in warning. “And I drink beer before noon and on Sundays. And I get very cranky when I can’t do things myself so I make a horrible patient. And I have to watch baseball at night or I go into convulsions.” Smile almost splitting his face, Lucas sat up. “Is that all? I happen to like baseball,” he said mock defensively. “Tight pants,” he added with a wink. “My kind of guy,” Cooper snickered. “You should know what you’re getting into,” he continued. “I have to have all my coffee mug handles pointing the same way, even though I don’t drink coffee,” he went on, as if he didn’t want Lucas to discover these little things later and be driven away by them. “I can’t stand silence so I hum if there’s nothing else to make noise. And I don’t really sleep on the left side of the bed. That was a line to try to get you to come home with me,” he admitted. “I sleep in the middle. And if there’s someone in my way, I sleep on top of them.” Lucas tilted his head, smile now just pulling at the corners of his mouth as he sat there with both hands wrapped around Cooper’s fist. “You’ll have to come up with more than that if you’re trying to scare me off,” he commented. “You sleeping on top of me would be no kind of hardship.” He shrugged. “The rest doesn’t matter. I’m at least as bad, if not worse, probably.” Cooper smiled softly. “Last night I didn’t believe you,” he murmured, feeling giddy from the morphine drip and the warmth of Lucas’s hands. He felt the need to clear every bit of the air between them. “I thought you were wrong, that you were just… it was just a crush or something. I thought… I thought if I took you home it would – you would burn it out of your system,” he admitted with a flush. “I expected it to be a one-night thing. I didn’t….” Not surprised, Lucas just listened, detecting the meaning behind Cooper’s words. “Didn’t?” he prompted when the words trailed off. “I didn’t expect you to want more,” Cooper admitted with a flush of shame. “And I was okay with that. I just wanted warmth in my bed for the night.”

Under Contract | 75 Watching Cooper’s cheeks and neck go red, Lucas had to admit he was more charmed than put off by the comment. “Warmth, huh?” Lucas said. “I would have been happy to provide. I didn’t really want to go home. Didn’t, in fact.” “You didn’t?” Cooper asked in dazed confusion. “I wish you’d said something,” he breathed. “I wish I’d said something,” he laughed. “I wanted you.” He trailed off, deciding that leaving it there would suffice. “But it took me hours with Travis. I got home, and I was so pissed. I wouldn’t have been good company.” Lucas’s lips twitched. “That would have been fine. I could have… held you, at least,” he said in a bare whisper, his expression longing. Cooper swallowed heavily and nodded, not voicing the useless desire to go back and change things. “When can I be released?” he asked instead. Blinking several times to focus on the new question, Lucas cleared his throat. “Doc said tomorrow afternoon if the stitches look good. Can’t walk on it for at least three weeks, though. Maybe longer.” He chuckled. “It’s the chair for you, young man,” he said sternly. “I was just wondering,” Cooper murmured seriously, “when you’d get a chance to hold me.” Lucas pressed his lips together and reached out to lightly touch Cooper’s bottom lip with his fingertips. “Soon,” he said. “Now rest. You’re struggling to stay awake. I’m not going anywhere.” To prove his point, he wrapped both his hands around Cooper’s again. Cooper flexed his fingers and curled them over one of Lucas’s hands. “Thank you,” he murmured sleepily. “Thank you for being here.” Watching the other man doze, Lucas murmured, “Anytime you need. Anytime you want.”

THE next afternoon, the doctor stood at Cooper’s bedside going down the grocery list of do’s and don’ts, which Lucas was completely convinced was the last thing on Cooper’s mind. He was absolutely quivering with the desire to get out of the hospital. He certainly didn’t hold still well.

76 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas stifled a laugh as the doctor gave his patient a dirty look and turned to him instead, asking Lucas to take care of the list. The foreman assured him that he would, and with one last nod to Cooper, the doctor was out the door. “A little excited, are you?” he asked Cooper wryly. “I got to get out of here, boss,” Cooper growled desperately. He’d sat through getting a cast the day before, and he couldn’t stand to be here any longer. “Just grab that morphine drip, and we’ll be on our way,” he ordered haughtily with a wave of his hand. Lucas laughed. “The morphine stays, I’m afraid. Time to change over to something you sip out of a spoon, the nurse said. That ought to taste lovely,” he poked. Cooper grabbed at Lucas’s hand and brought it to his lips impulsively. “When we get home,” he growled, not even thinking about the effect the words ‘we’ and ‘home’ would have on Lucas. “I’m going to whack you with my crutches,” he promised. Warmed by the gesture and heated by the words, Lucas still laughed openly as the zip of electricity shot through him. “You think you’re getting crutches.” He shook his head and laughed again. “Dream on, big boy. Three weeks, the doctor said, if you’d been listening.” Cooper groaned plaintively and reached up to wrap his arm round Lucas’s neck. He held to the man tightly and let himself be helped to his feet. “Wow, that hurts a little,” he breathed in a strained voice. Lucas rolled his eyes and slid his arm around Cooper’s waist, practically picking him up. “Careful now,” he said as he turned them so Cooper could sit in the wheelchair. Cooper eased himself down and looked up at Lucas pitifully. He was trying his best not to show the pain, but he doubted he could do that for very long. He just wanted to live up to the man’s opinion of him. Squatting down next to him, Lucas set a hand on Cooper’s good knee. “I know it hurts like hell. I’m not going to think any worse of you for the odd curse here and there, you know?” He smiled tentatively, waiting for Cooper’s reply.

Under Contract | 77 Cooper smiled sideways at the man and nodded. offered feelingly.

“Fuck,” he

Lucas grinned and laughed, patting Cooper’s knee. “Taking it like a man,” he commented humorously. “I’ve been known to do that,” Cooper responded with a small, suggestive smile. “On my knees, usually.” Brows flying up, Lucas snorted as the nurse came around the curtain. He stood up and out of the way, but not before lightly squeezing Cooper’s shoulder. The nurse was reemphasizing the list, which Lucas pulled out of his pocket and waved at her. She could tell Cooper was ready, so she called for the stocky orderly to come push the wheelchair. Cooper growled and grumbled quietly as he was pushed, trying his best not to complain on the way out of the hospital. He wanted to be at home. In his own bed. Preferably with Lucas in the bed with him, holding him, possibly doing more interesting things to him. Lucas jogged out into the parking lot, leaving a muttering Cooper with the orderly. He climbed into the truck, already having pulled the front seat back as far as it would go. He’d checked it out. Even he could stretch his legs out totally, so there should be plenty of room. Within a couple of minutes he was under the awning and climbing out of the truck. Cooper blushed as he was helped into the front of the truck by the orderly and his boss. He sat in the front of the cab with his head down, sighing heavily and throbbing with dull pain. After buckling the man’s seatbelt, Lucas thanked the orderly and climbed into the driver’s side. “You’ll be happy to know that I took possession of your keys after we got your truck home,” he said, reaching into the cup holder and holding them up, jingling them. He put the truck into drive and they were off. Cooper smiled and watched the keys as Lucas replaced them. Lucas figured it would take about thirty minutes to get to Cooper’s house. The hospital was across town from the work site, and Cooper didn’t live too far from there. “When we get home,” Cooper muttered, “I need one of two things, okay? I either need a drink or I need to crawl into bed and let you have your way with me. Both is a definite option. One or the other is critical.”

78 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas chuckled again. “Well, the drink isn’t going to happen, except a drink of the painkillers they gave me at the hospital pharmacy. The other, we’ll just have to see what I can do to take your mind off your leg.” He glanced over, privately thinking that Cooper would be asleep once he hit the pillow, if not before. Cooper stared out the windshield blankly as the truck made its way to his house. He was still heavily drugged, and even though he managed spurts of liveliness and actually coherent speech, he was more apt to just sit and stare. Slowly he slid his hand across the console between them and threaded his fingers through Lucas’s, his eyes glazed and his body otherwise relaxed and still. With his ribs like they were, Cooper didn’t foresee any sort of activity happening willingly, no matter how much he may have wanted it. It was going to be a long few weeks. Day 17

LUCAS got back from the site a little after lunch, a heavy box of paperwork coming with him. For almost three weeks now, he’d been going in at 5 a.m., then turning the site over to Billy around 2 p.m. It was working out so far, and if Billy kept up the good work, Lucas had decided to recommend him for an assistant foreman’s job with the company. Now he parked the truck, grabbed the box and headed up the front steps, wondering what kind of mood Cooper would be in today. Cranky was a sure thing. Spunky, too. Cheeky, to boot. He’d slept most of the first week; the second he’d slept and watched TV, basically too tired and still too drugged to do much. But on Day 14, the drug regimen was cut back. And Lord, Cooper’s personality had come back with a vengeance. He was a stubborn bastard once you got right down to it. Lucas opened the door and stepped inside. He quashed the desire to call out ‘Honey, I’m home!’, instead dropping the box on the kitchen table and starting to wander, looking for Wheelie, as he’d nicknamed Cooper once he’d gotten the hang of his wheelchair the end of Week 1.

Under Contract | 79 He was sure the man hated it, but it tickled Lucas too much to stop using it. “Wheelie?” he called out, not seeing him in the living room. Cooper growled in response from where he lay on the couch. Other than that, he didn’t bother moving. His wheelchair sat at the end of the hall, where he had left it when he decided to try and test his crutches finally. One crutch lay in the living room floor where he had dropped it and been unable to bend over to pick it up. The other crutch he held tightly to his chest as he lay on the couch, unwilling to part with it even to the extent of setting it down. Hearing a rough sound, Lucas was alarmed at first when he saw the crutch on the floor. He grabbed it and walked farther into the living room, sighing in relief when he saw Cooper on the couch. He sat down on the coffee table in front of him. “So. Practicing?” he asked seriously. No way was he going to tease with that look on the man’s face. “I was doing okay ’til I hit the old floorboards,” Cooper muttered. “They’re higher than the new ones. I never noticed that,” he said thoughtfully. “You’d think whoever added that part on would have noticed that.” Lucas nodded, tilting his head. Cooper looked perturbed and a little out of it, not that those conditions were unusual for the last few days. He propped the crutch carefully against the arm of the sofa and observed the way Cooper curled around its mate protectively. “Can I get you anything?” he asked, trying to hide his amusement. “Drink? Snack? TV remote?” Cooper blinked at the man tiredly and shook his head. “I couldn’t even walk down the hall without needing to sit,” he muttered in despair. “I need a nap, boss,” he groaned plaintively. “So, take a nap,” Lucas said soothingly, grabbing the pillow from the nearby chair and sliding it carefully under Cooper’s head. Without a thought, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead, then smoothed his hair. “Ugh,” Cooper responded in disgust even as he nuzzled up into the kiss. “That’s not the point, shithead,” he added as he reached out and twirled his finger through Lucas’s hair.

80 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas chuckled at the impromptu nickname. He’d wondered how long it would be before Cooper started woefully missing the sex he’d wanted even in the hospital. Not that he minded. He’d wanted Cooper ever since that day as well. And since coming home – to Cooper’s house, he corrected – Lucas had refused to sleep in the bed with him, scared to death that he’d kick his leg or push him out of the bed or something. “Something I can do to help you rest easier?” he drawled, sliding his hand over Cooper’s chest and down to his belly. Cooper groaned plaintively again and dug his fingers into the back of Lucas’s neck to tug him closer. He kissed him as he pulled him down carefully. “I need… I need to go outside,” he muttered against Lucas’s lips before kissing him again, this time in a manner that was almost seductive. “I want to go sit on the deck,” he purred with another kiss as his hands drifted down the man’s body. “I want to go sit on the deck and drink beer!” Snorting and sitting up, Lucas laughed outright. “I suppose I can take care of that,” he said. “You’ll be looped as hell, beer on top of the Vicodin, but you’re only taking a couple a day, so it should be okay.” “Damn straight,” Cooper responded excitedly. He couldn’t sit up without some serious effort, but he practically vibrated with anticipation as he lay there. He wanted to breathe fresh air, and he wanted it now! He wanted to sit on his deck! Grinning, Lucas stood up. “Hold your horses. I’ll be right back.” He headed into Cooper’s bedroom and got the chair, wheeling it out to the couch. “Give me a few minutes to arrange things.” Pulling open the French doors, Lucas walked out and dragged the table out of the way so Cooper could get out there, shifting the chairs to the railing. Now he could sit at the table with his leg extended and have his beer. He stepped back inside. “Okay, Wheelie, you ready?” he asked, pulling a couple of beers out of the fridge. Cooper muttered and glared at the man. “Ready when you are, Quickdraw,” he shot back. Lucas rolled his eyes and stood just outside the door, waving the cans. “Who’s got the beer?” he taunted.

Under Contract | 81 “What am I supposed to do, crawl over there?” Cooper asked testily. “Come here and I’ll grope you a little as you help me up,” he offered cheekily. “Awww. I didn’t realize you’d broken your arms, too. What do I get if I help you, besides a sore back?” Lucas teased. Cooper pursed his lips thoughtfully. myself?” he asked shrewdly.

“You want me to do it

Lucas leaned in the doorway. The chair was clamped down good, right next to the couch, and the nurse he’d been talking with every other day said he should encourage Cooper to do for himself, if possible. The sooner the better. “How about I tempt you with a reward?” he purred, waving the can of beer through the air. Cooper snarled and deflated on the couch. With a huff he began to push himself to a sitting position and swung his legs off the couch. He sat there, back ramrod straight as his ribs protested, and finally he looked up at Lucas triumphantly and levered himself to his feet. It was all Lucas could do not to rush over and try to help, to wrap Cooper up in his arms and soothe the pain away. Instead…. ‘Tough love,’ the nurse had said. ‘He’s strong. He can do it. Don’t baby him. At least not until after he’s done what you want.’ So Lucas stood there, faking relaxation and nonchalance, praying frantically that Cooper wouldn’t fall over. His leg throbbed and his ribs ached as he stood there, but Cooper turned slowly without allowing himself to display the pain he was in, and eased carefully into the wheelchair. He breathed out slowly and reached one arm down to unlock the brake, wheeling himself over the hardwoods floors easily. “Heh,” he commented with a small smile at Lucas as he rolled up to him. Lucas grinned and moved out of the way so Cooper could roll out onto the deck. “Good job,” he said quietly, looking at the other man, biting his lip against saying anything else that might be too much. Being this close to Cooper for weeks now had just increased his yearning, and jacking off was a twice-a-day occurrence (at least), just to keep himself in line. It didn’t help with the ache inside, though.

82 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “Shut up,” Cooper grumbled good-naturedly. He held one of the wheels of his chair and spun the other side hard to turn the chair on a dime and sat looking back at the other man with a small grin. “You okay?” he asked worriedly as he saw the look on Lucas’s face. Realizing he had been caught staring, Lucas blinked and smiled automatically. “Yeah, sure. Here,” he said, holding out the beer, trying to look anywhere but at his lov... at the other man’s face. He didn’t know if he could call him his lover anymore. It had been a couple of weeks since Cooper had said or done anything remotely along those lines other than the kisses they shared when Cooper wanted something off limits (like beer). Granted, he’d been drugged to the gills, but…. Cooper took the beer with a frown and watched Lucas closely. Over the last two weeks, after he’d begun to actually remember things he did on the painkillers, he had been having fits of serious guilt. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here,” he offered as a breeze picked up and tugged at his loose hair. He closed his eyes and lifted his face to the wind, unable to resist after having been cooped up inside for so long. Once Cooper’s eyes were closed, Lucas could stare all he wanted, soaking in the vision of him. He knew why Cooper was saying what he was, but Lucas couldn’t exactly admit to the man that he was thrilled to be here – no matter Cooper’s condition – and that he had no plans of ever leaving until Cooper told him to. “Not stuck,” he said hoarsely before taking a long drink of beer. “Yes, you are,” Cooper argued as he opened his eyes again and smiled softly at the other man. The last few weeks had been frustrating on more than one level. Cooper was not the type of man who sat around on his ass easily. Add to that the fact that he was only just now getting to the point of being able to do things by himself and that the relationship between the two men was uncertain, and Cooper had gone to bed each night wanting to pull out his hair. He sighed and cocked his head at Lucas as the breeze picked up again. “I appreciate your being here,” he said softly. He chewed on his lip and watched the man thoughtfully. “I just want to let you know, though,” he went on worriedly. “Just because we fucked before, don’t feel, you know, obligated.” A chill struck him, and Lucas fought to suppress a shiver. Was this it? So soon? He took another drink of beer, not tasting it as he

Under Contract | 83 swallowed, and carefully set the can on the table. “Are you asking me to leave?” he asked, voice subdued, but he managed to look Cooper in the eye. He wanted to know it, straight up and flat out, if Cooper had decided there was nothing else between them. He was scared. Hell. He was frightened out of his mind. He couldn’t imagine life without Cooper in it. Without Nick in it. Not after this brief taste. “No,” Cooper answered immediately, meeting Lucas’s eyes and smiling slightly. “I’m offering you the chance,” he corrected. “How do you feel after almost three weeks of living with me?” he asked suddenly. “Have you rethought your… opinions?” “You mean do I still think I’m in love with you?” Lucas said evenly, having no earthly clue where the nerve came from to make him say it out loud. Cooper merely nodded in answer. He didn’t want to speak and hear his voice crack. Blinking at him, Lucas slowly shook his head. “I don’t think I’m in love with you.” Cooper pressed his lips tightly together and nodded. He had been expecting that answer. He hadn’t been expecting it to twist his chest around quite so much, or the pang of pain it caused. Lucas almost stood up and crowed when he saw what looked like upset in Cooper’s eyes. But he managed to stay calm, because it was important. It was important that Cooper believed him. “I know I love you,” Lucas said quietly, but firmly. He’d come to realize it over the past weeks. It was more than “in love” – a passing fancy, something to be worked out of his system. It was something irreplaceable in his life now. Cooper blinked at him and sat there staring stupidly. “But I’ve been horrible,” he protested in confusion. “I clearly remember threatening you on at least three occasions,” he reminded as he waved his unopened beer through the air. Lucas chuckled. “And you were absolutely gorgeous while doing so.”

84 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper huffed and sighed softly. He was still afraid that lust had more to do with Lucas’s thinking than love. But then again, he had repeatedly refused to sleep in Cooper’s bed with him. Even when Cooper begged him. Surely that said something, right? “I think you’re insane,” he finally decided with a shake of his head. Pressing his lips together, Lucas shrugged and just looked at him, aware that there was probably something suitably mushy like devotion shining in his eyes or some crap, but he couldn’t help it. “Guess so,” he murmured before tilting his head back and draining the can. “Another beer?” he asked, shifting his chair to stand. Cooper looked down at his unopened can and handed it silently to Lucas. “A new one. Cold,” he murmured as he squinted up at the other man. The guilt was overwhelming, both at the fact that Lucas had been spending all his time here with a very cranky patient and for the fact that Lucas still insisted he was in love. He couldn’t possibly be; Cooper knew that. But he deserved more than he was getting. “Ted,” he said suddenly as he pondered this. “I want you in my bed tonight,” he declared, uncaring of the consequences and prepared to beg again. Lucas paused next to him, looking down at Cooper and seeing the discomfort in his shoulders, in his eyes. It still bothered him, obviously, Lucas thought. Enough that the other man was making a very obvious peace offering, one he wasn’t too proud to accept. But…. He crouched down next to Cooper, setting one hand on the thigh of his good leg. “Why?” he asked directly. “Because I do,” Cooper answered with a small smile. “Because we had a really fucking incredible night before that got cut short, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t have more.” Yeah. Lucas wasn’t too proud. He would take what he could get as long as Cooper would give it. It twinged a little – okay, a lot – to think he was a pity fuck. He nodded slowly. “Okay,” he agreed with a small smile. Cooper reached out and took hold of the other man’s chin, leaning toward him with a pained wince. “Your eyes can’t lie,” he whispered. “I know you want me just like I want you.” And it was true. He wanted nothing more than to touch this man all the time. He was an incredible

Under Contract | 85 specimen, there was no arguing that. He had been managing to keep his hands off him so far by sheer force of the pain it caused to move. “Yeah,” Lucas answered hoarsely. Cooper held his chin firmly for a few more moments, eyes searching for the source of the problem. Finally he released him, letting the pad of his thumb drift over Lucas’s bottom lip slowly as he did so. “Go get my beer,” he ordered quietly. “We’ll talk more after I’ve been mentally lubricated.” Drawing a shaky breath, Lucas waited until Cooper broke contact before standing, taking the warm beer and walking into the kitchen. He yanked open the fridge door, slid the lukewarm can onto the shelf and grabbed two more cold ones. When he shut the door, he leaned his forehead against it. Why couldn’t it be easy? Why couldn’t he just go for the easy fuck? Why did he have to make it all messy and achy with this emotional shit? Turning around to lean against the fridge, he raised his eyes to the ceiling. He couldn’t help it. He just couldn’t help the way he felt. Out on the deck, Cooper sat and stared out at the expanse of his back yard. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted anymore. He had never been in love and had never particularly wanted to be. But Lucas was the type he could easily fall for. In fact, he may have already started, if he was completely honest with himself. But with just a few weeks under their belts, tainted by pain and drugs and a very heavy dose of lust, it was just too hard to tell. One thing he knew he felt, though: guilt so massively heavy that he could barely breathe when he thought about how unfair the situation was to the other man. He rubbed his eyes in frustration and lowered his head. Fucking him would just make it harder in the long run, right? But they had already crossed that bridge, there was no going back. Fucking him more, and frequently, it sounded damn fun. But it was hardly fair. Right? “Lucas!” he called out impulsively. Flinching in surprise as if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Lucas grabbed the two bags of chips on the counter and walked to the door with his bounty. “Yeah?”

86 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “I don’t know what I’m doing,” Cooper admitted to him candidly without opening his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you, and I feel like I will. I… I want you,” he said in a slightly surprised tone. “I miss you when you’re not here,” he added with a slight flush. The honesty in Cooper’s voice caught him off guard, but Lucas felt it deep in his bones. He was trying. Cooper was trying. It just made Lucas love him even more. He carefully set the stuff on the table and knelt down beside him, then slid one hand gently to cup his cheek, turning his chin toward him. And when he could, he leaned up and pressed a light kiss to those full lips. Cooper shivered slightly into the kiss and sighed. “I do want you,” he repeated softly. “I do.” Lucas nuzzled Cooper’s cheek, just wanting to be close. “Then it’ll be okay,” he murmured, kissing the other man’s cheekbone ever so gently. “You’ve got to do one thing for me, though,” Cooper responded seriously. “You’ve got to stop being so goddamn sexy when you’re around here because I can’t tackle you yet.” Pulling back in surprise, Lucas grinned. “You think I’m sexy?” he asked, his fingers sliding from Cooper’s cheek down to splay in the open neckline of his shirt. Cooper huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes, reaching out and sliding his fingers through Lucas’s belt loops. “You have no idea,” he laughed. Chuckling, Lucas shuffled closer to the side of the wheelchair, up against Cooper’s leg as he continued to kneel. “So tell me,” he murmured, dragging a finger down Cooper’s chest, circling each button as he went. “I’m not above accepting a little ego-stroking.” “And what other stroking would you like?” Cooper purred as he reached up and ran his hands through Lucas’s light hair. “You honest to God don’t know what you look like, do you?” he asked in amazement. His thumb slid over the man’s cheek and he let his gaze rake over him slowly. Humming slightly, Lucas turned his head to kiss the pad of Cooper’s thumb. “Sure I do,” he rumbled. He knew. Too tall, too

Under Contract | 87 muscled, clumsy. Huge paws for hands and for all his height, still stocky. Messy hair that curled no matter what he did to it. He would much prefer to look like Cooper. Long and lanky. Wiry. Slim fingers and tight ass. Straight, smooth hair. Gorgeous. “I don’t think you do,” Cooper responded as he tugged the man closer and pressed a kiss to the spot he knew turned into a dimple when Lucas smiled. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone stronger than I am?” he asked in a soft purr. “Massive shoulders, legs that go for miles. Jesus, Ted, there isn’t an inch of you that isn’t hard muscle. You can’t possibly think you’re anything but incredible,” he growled as he tugged at a stray curl. Sighing happily, Lucas let his eyes flutter mostly shut. “Hearing that from you is awful convincing,” he said, humoring the other man. “But incredible is quite a stretch,” he added as he turned his neck, trying to encourage Cooper to touch more. “No, it’s not,” Cooper breathed as he drifted his lips over Lucas’s slowly. “I wake up every night, knowing you’re down the hall, dreaming about you holding me down,” he admitted. Lucas groaned, biting his lower lip before trying to catch those sinful lips. “Every night?” he breathed. “Every. Night,” Cooper growled in growing frustration. “All day here alone, the only thing I can think about when I’m sitting around is that night….” Thrilling at every word, Lucas mouthed along Cooper’s jaw. “Stroke me some more,” he murmured against Cooper’s skin as he slid one hand over his thigh. “I’ll return the favor.” “I watch your eyes when you’re not paying attention,” Cooper murmured softly. “I can’t help it, they fascinate me. Sometimes they’re like sapphires, when you’re angry or turned on. They go flat. Other times they’re just this gorgeous ocean blue,” he told the man with a gentle nuzzle. “When you’re happy,” he growled as his hand slid up under the soft T-shirt Lucas wore. The words were going straight to Lucas’s cock, and he couldn’t get enough of tasting the other man’s skin, sliding his tongue along Cooper’s collarbone. He moved his hand to Cooper’s inner thigh, stroking the

88 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux denim, moving up to the crotch of his jeans. “More,” he begged after sucking on a spot close to Cooper’s throat. Cooper groaned softly and reached down quickly to grab Lucas’s hand. “Take me inside,” he requested hoarsely. “Bedroom.” Forcing his eyes open, Lucas could see the blazing heat in Cooper’s, and he couldn’t refuse. He lurched to his feet – there’s that clumsiness again, he thought – and unlatched the brake on the wheelchair. He made himself turn him slowly, unwilling to risk pitching Cooper out of the chair. He moved them back into the house, closing the French doors behind them. As soon as they were in Cooper’s room he locked the wheels down again. Cooper pushed up against the arms of the wheelchair, the muscles in his shoulders and arms bunching as he levered himself out of the chair. “Get your clothes off,” he ordered as he reached for the buttons of his own shirt. He didn’t want to have to move again once he got the man into bed. Both Lucas’s brows shot up, but he didn’t argue. He leaned over at the waist to start unlacing his boots after yanking off his T-shirt and throwing it to the floor. Cooper pushed his loose khaki shorts down over the cast on his leg and shrugged out of his shirt gingerly. He crawled onto the bed and flattened out, watching with what could only be described as a lecherous grin as Lucas undressed. Stepping out of his boots, Lucas tossed them aside and straightened up, hands on his fly, when he looked up to see Cooper watching him. He froze. And flushed. Cooper was watching him like he was going to eat him alive. Cooper raised an eyebrow and twirled his finger through the air, gesturing for the man to continue. “The only thing better than looking at you is feeling you,” he growled softly. Lucas swallowed hard and got to moving, shucking his jeans and boxer briefs. He was already obviously hard, though he had some to go, but he didn’t doubt one touch from Cooper would get the job done. He moved over to sit on the edge of the bed, leaning one arm over Cooper’s body to brace himself. “What next?” he prodded, since Cooper seemed to be giving all the orders. And Lucas didn’t mind one single bit.

Under Contract | 89 “Come here,” Cooper murmured as he reached to drag his fingers down hard muscle and tanned skin. “Just come here and lay beside me,” he requested, knowing that any sort of sexual doings would be initiated by Lucas and Lucas alone since he himself could hardly move. Drawing a breath to calm himself, Lucas stood and walked around the bed, crawled over next to Cooper and laid down facing him, body nearly touching all the way down, Cooper’s broken leg safely on the other side. He took a bit of license and placed his hand lightly on Cooper’s arm, stroking. Cooper raised his arm and slid it under Lucas’s head, unable to roll to face him but determined to touch him as much as possible. He pulled Lucas closer and practically half on top of him, then kissed him hungrily as his body responded to the contact. Lucas happily joined the urgent kiss, his hand sliding carefully over Cooper’s chest and down to his waist, away from cracked ribs and closer to other parts of his body that needed attention. When his long fingers curled around hot, hard flesh, he groaned into Cooper’s mouth. It still amazed him how much Cooper seemed to want him. Cooper echoed the groan and lifted his hips, oblivious to the tinge of pain in his ribs. “I’d almost forgotten how good you felt,” he gasped breathlessly. His heart was pounding with what could only be nerves once more; his body trembled with anticipation and desire. He dug his fingers into Lucas’s hair and pulled him closer, growling into the heated kiss. Hearing the catch of breath, Lucas shifted his hips and weight over Cooper’s good leg and hip, pushing the other man against the mattress. “You said you liked being held down,” he rasped after breaking the kiss. He started moving his hand over Cooper’s cock, turning his chin to nip and lick at his neck, looking for sensitive spots. “Yeah,” Cooper groaned softly, moving as much as his injured body would allow him under the weight of Lucas’s body. “I keep dreaming about you,” he told the other man in a hoarse voice. His eyes closed involuntarily and a tortured moan accompanied his words. “About this,” he groaned as he tilted his head back and shivered all over. “Just enjoy,” Lucas breathed in his ear, rubbing his body against Cooper’s while his hand kept moving. He applied his lips to the bared neck, sucking and licking, inhaling his scent.

90 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper shivered uncontrollably and groaned in agreement. He couldn’t exactly do much to participate anyway, right? He growled again in frustration, not used to being quite as submissive as his injuries forced him to be. “Awwww,” Lucas drawled after hearing Cooper’s lament. “Can’t I distract you enough?” he murmured, dragging his tongue down the length of Cooper’s neck. “Try harder,” Cooper gasped with a mischievous grin as he practically vibrated with the urge to move. Lucas purred slightly, kissing the corner of Cooper’s mouth and that sinful little grin as he shifted his weight to kneel astride Cooper’s good leg and hold down both hips. Without warning he ducked his head and licked a broad swath up his thickening erection. Cooper pushed his hips against the hold Lucas had on him, whimpering helplessly. “Ted,” he groaned as his fingers slid into the other man’s curls and tugged. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted. Just more. The sounds his action evoked helped Lucas’s confidence, not to mention he’d wrangled another instance of his name on Cooper’s lips. He repeated the action over and over, from root to tip, both sides, even venturing down to lick over his balls before lapping at the tip. It was addictive, each touch of his tongue and lips letting him feel a twitch or swell in return until Cooper was fully erect and standing tall. He carefully closed his lips about the head of his cock. “Oh, fuck,” Cooper gasped desperately. He arched his back and groaned at the pain in his ribs, but it faded quickly and he tightened his grip on Lucas’s hair. Lucas hummed as he licked in a circle, tasting and learning, grinding himself against Cooper’s leg, thrilling in the feel of it. Wanting to hear more of those noises, he decided to try something else, and he started slowly suckling at the head, his big hand closing around the shaft again. “I thought you said you didn’t know what you were doing,” Cooper gasped breathlessly. He was trying desperately not to move too much, but it was nearly impossible not to push his hips up against the man holding him down.

Under Contract | 91 Bringing his weight to bear on Cooper’s hips, Lucas held him down as he pulled his mouth off him with a quiet slurp. “I don’t,” he murmured, kissing the juncture of his abdomen and thigh. “Just trying to make you feel good. Don’t hurt your ribs,” he instructed before sucking Cooper’s cock between his lips again, this time pulling more in to press against his tongue. Cooper cried out softly and tapered off the sound into another whimper. “Don’t hurt your ribs,” he echoed in strained frustration, huffing a laugh that turned into a groan. “Get up here,” he growled as he reached down and tugged at Lucas’s shoulder demandingly. Frowning, Lucas lifted up, licking his lips a bit as he carefully crawled up Cooper’s body, bracing his weight on his arms. “Was I doing it wrong?” he asked, concerned that the groan might have been one of pain. “Fuck, no,” Cooper growled as he tugged again at Lucas’s hip. “I’m just selfish,” he murmured with a smirk as he urged the other man to crawl higher. “I want to taste you. Now,” he demanded. Lucas choked and balked, holding his hips back despite the tugging. “Wait a minute, I’m not straddling your chest, I’m way too much of a bear for those ribs,” he protested, starting to pull his leg over so he could kneel at Cooper’s side. Cooper turned his head and pulled Lucas closer, growling impatiently. Maneuvering up the bed on his knees, Lucas stopped practically on the pillows, feeling awfully like he was taking advantage. “Maybe this isn’t the greatest idea,” he said weakly, watching the other man lick his lips. “Fine,” Cooper grinned knowingly, beginning to curl and sit up. Lucas’s eyes widened. “What… what are you doing?” He reached for Cooper’s shoulders, not wanting the other man to hurt anymore than he absolutely had to. Not if he could do something about it. Cooper reached around Lucas’s waist and pulled him closer, laying flat again and tugging the other man with him into the position he’d wanted in the first place. He slid his free hand up Lucas’s thigh and licked at the head of his cock with a pleased purr. Practically gurgling, Lucas braced his arms on the headboard and just tried to remember how to breathe. His hand these past two and a half weeks hadn’t been enough.

92 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Not near enough. One touch of Cooper’s tongue and he was ready to explode. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out were incoherent sounds. Cooper growled and used the arm around Lucas’s waist to encourage the man to thrust down. Lucas may have been learning, natural though he was, but Cooper knew exactly what he wanted and he knew how to do it. He hummed slightly, pulling at Lucas’s hips again. Groaning, Lucas’s head fell forward as he let Cooper manipulate his body, and his body seemed to know better what to do than he did. His hips started to move, following the motion of the other man’s hands, and the hot wetness that surrounded him made his breath catch. Cooper growled softly and tried not to let his body writhe as he urged Lucas to start truly thrusting. He couldn’t speak to him, so he let his fingers digging into the man’s muscles do the begging for him. Lucas’s fingers gripped the headboard so tightly that his knuckles were white, and he gave in to his body’s urging and started to push his hips forward, helpless to resist the sucking heat of Cooper’s mouth. “Nick,” he rasped. Cooper hummed in response, wondering if he could actually take the man all the way in if he gave in to his urging. Lucas was, after all, very well endowed. He could sure as hell try, and even if his ribs weren’t happy, it had been two weeks of waking up aching, and he intended to enjoy this. Gasping, Lucas was losing touch with his worries and falling into pure pleasure. He forced himself to uncurl one hand from the headboard and slid his long fingers into Cooper’s hair. He eyes were shut now, and all he could think about was sinking farther into that heat as he felt his gut clenching. Cooper groaned and swirled his tongue. His fingers dug into Lucas’s hip and he tilted his head back, trying to relax his throat. He wanted to taste the man, to hear him let go without being in the midst of his own pleasure. Lucas bit his lip against a sharp whine, his hand combing gently through Cooper’s hair to cup the back of his head, a contrast to the growing strength of his thrusts. He had to gasp for breath and moan aloud as he felt his cock thump against what had to be Cooper’s palate, and then

Under Contract | 93 it kept sliding down…. His hands both tightened as an unfettered howl escaped him. Cooper would have grinned if he’d been able. Instead he fought the inevitable gag reflex and dug his fingers into Lucas’s hip hard enough to bruise him. He raised his knees, the cast heavy but moving with him all the same as Lucas fucked his mouth. Each thrust that slid down into Cooper’s throat drew another moaning cry from him, and Lucas’s breath finally got away from him as he felt himself going over the line. He grasped frantically at Cooper’s head. “Nick… Nick –” he tried to warn as he shook all over. Cooper moaned in response with difficulty, wanting desperately to urge the man on but unable to do anything other than swallow heavily and pull Lucas’s hips closer. A few more snaps of his hips and Lucas lost it, back arching as he cried out hoarsely which each pulse, his come jerking from him into Cooper’s mouth. “Fuck!” he nearly sobbed, overwhelmed and twitching all over, barely holding onto the headboard. Cooper wrapped both arms around Lucas’s hips and pulled him closer, groaning and swallowing and arching his back as he swirled his tongue hungrily. The continued sucking drew another hoarse cry out of Lucas as he clenched hard. He would have come again if he’d had it in him, and he babbled as everything became so sensitive he could hardly stand it. He begged, he pleaded, he wriggled, all the while going out of his mind. With a grin Cooper finally released him, licking his lips as he dragged his fingers over the tanned skin. Shuddering, Lucas leaned over, curling up and clutching at his belly as he tried to not fall over. “Fuck, Cooper,” he finally breathed, still shaking. Cooper laughed softly and held his side as he did so, not caring that it hurt to laugh. “God, I love to make you do that,” he chuckled. Moaning, Lucas carefully moved off Cooper and lowered himself to a sprawl, and he leaned his forehead against Cooper’s shoulder. “Damn,” he breathed, another shudder passing through him. “I think you blew my mind,” he muttered. Cooper laughed harder as he reached up and pulled the man up to kiss him. Lucas was putty in his hands, melting against his lips,

94 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux practically boneless. He sighed against Cooper’s full lips; he could taste himself on them, and it stirred him again. “Okay?” Cooper asked softly, half in amusement, growling as his body screamed at him that it was his turn, dammit! He didn’t make a move though, enjoying the throb instead as he slid his hands into Lucas’s hair. “Okay?” Lucas repeated in disbelief, turning his head to kiss Cooper again. “I don’t know what to say,” he breathed, lightly pressing one hand to his chest, feeling the pounding of Cooper’s heart. “I feel selfish,” he murmured, kissing his jaw. Cooper reached over and blatantly felt the man up, grinning cheekily. “You don’t feel selfish to me,” he snickered. Lucas laughed but twitched away from Cooper’s hand helplessly. “Sensitive, sensitive!” he yelped, squirming. Cooper huffed plaintively and reached out. “Get back here and touch me, damn you,” he growled. Grinning, Lucas leaned back toward Cooper and licked his bottom lip while he groped below the waist. “You know I’ll return the favor,” he growled. Cooper groaned and nodded. breathlessly.

“Won’t take long,” he purred

Curling his fingers around the straining cock, Lucas slid back down the bed, leaning on Cooper’s hip and lapping at the head, tasting the sharp tang and humming quietly. The flavor exploded over his tongue, and he wondered why he’d been afraid to try this before. “You don’t have to,” Cooper tried to assure the man, though it came out severely gargled. Lucas turned his eyes up to Cooper and licked again, slowly and luxuriously. “Do you like it?” he asked before slathering his tongue over Cooper’s cock once again. “God, yes,” Cooper groaned without thinking. Confidence bolstered, Lucas lapped again and slid his lips around him and sucked delicately, fingers starting to pump. Cooper cursed

Under Contract | 95 emphatically and raised his hips, his hand tangling in Lucas’s hair as the contact sent shock waves through his body. More sure of his hand than his mouth, Lucas squeezed and stroked, interchanging gentle suction with long, lavish licks. He could hear the breaths huffing from the other man, and it spurred him on. “Ted,” Cooper gasped as his entire body flushed with pleasure and his gut twisted. He gave the man’s hair a gentle tug, not wanting him to move, but knowing if he had never done this before then a warning was a must. He shouted the man’s name again, toes curling and pleasure coiling in his groin as he tugged gently again. Taking the warning, Lucas lifted his mouth with one last hard suck, stroking hard as he leaned up to capture Cooper’s mouth in a voracious kiss. Cooper called out into the man’s mouth and bucked his hips, gripping him hard as he came with Ted’s name moaned on his lips for perhaps the tenth time that week. It was the first time Lucas heard it, though. The orgasm ripped though Cooper, arching his back and making his hips buck. Sighing happily, Lucas continued to kiss him as he felt the hot liquid drops scatter over his hand, he could feel more on his knuckles from Cooper’s belly, and his body jerked under Lucas’s weight as he tried to hold him still. He purred Cooper’s name between each open-mouthed kiss as his hand moved slower and slower. “Fuck,” was the only thing Cooper could think to respond as his body melted into the bed. Lucas chuckled. “Now you know what it feels like to have your brains sucked out with a straw, hmmm?” He settled down on his side next to Cooper, content to be close. Cooper slid his arm under Lucas’s neck and pulled him closer. “Are you using brain cells?” he asked incredulously. “Nope. Not me. Uh uh. None left. You slurped ’em all,” Lucas murmured, curling closer. “Mmm,” Cooper hummed, wishing like hell that he could move. Suddenly he growled in frustration and tugged on Lucas. “Hmmm?” Lucas shifted until his leg was practically on top of Cooper’s thigh.

96 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “I hate being hurt,” Cooper murmured with feeling. Snuggling up close, Lucas placed a soothing kiss against his neck. “I’m taking good care of you, aren’t I?” “Yes,” Cooper murmured. “You shouldn’t have to. And I should be able to fuck you, damn it,” he snarled. Lucas chuckled. “Soon, tiger. Your ribs are a lot better, and soon the pain in your leg will start to taper off. Since your knee is good, you’ll be able to kneel.” Cooper shivered slightly and nodded enthusiastically. “Like that idea? Maybe once your ribs are healed up, we can try something with you sitting up,” Lucas murmured against warm skin, hitching his half-hard cock against Cooper’s thigh. “Christ,” Cooper groaned plaintively. “It’s too long to wait,” he practically whined as he tried to tug Lucas closer. “No, it’s not. You crack one of those ribs again, then there’s no sex for another few weeks. So behave,” Lucas chastised. “I want you to get better, too, you know.” Cooper groaned and then huffed sulkily. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and go get my beer, huh?” he asked with a slight grin. Lucas purred, licked Cooper’s neck one last time and rolled out of bed. He stepped into the bathroom and grabbed a couple of towels, tossing one at Cooper as he walked by and down the hall nude. “Hmph,” Cooper grunted as he cleaned himself. He couldn’t even sit up to watch Lucas walk away.

LEANING over at the fridge, Lucas pulled out two beers and stood up with a jerk as he heard the crunch of gravel outside. He glanced out the side window to see a truck coming up the drive, full of guys. “Shit,” he breathed. He dropped the beers in the sink and ran down the hall. “Cooper!” He skidded to a halt and grabbed his briefs and jeans, yanking them on. “You’re getting ready to have visitors.” “Oh, the hell I am,” Cooper responded languidly as he lay unmoving on the bed.

Under Contract | 97 Lucas stood up, yanking his T-shirt over his head and tucking it in, fastening his belt. “You think the four guys getting ready to park outside are going to take no for an answer? From me? Who they’re probably not expecting to be here? Your choice,” he said, deciding barefoot would have to do. At least he was dressed. “Fuck,” Cooper sighed as he pushed himself to a sitting position with a wince. “They don’t know you’re staying with me?” “They know I’m checking on you, bringing dinner, paperwork, visiting in the evenings, that kind of thing,” Lucas said, tossing Cooper his T-shirt. “I wasn’t sure you’d approve of more, since you weren’t really in your right mind when we discussed it.” He turned his head when the dull sound of vehicle doors slamming shut echoed outside. “I’m so not dressed,” Cooper snickered as he heard the doors. Lucas sighed and scooped up Cooper’s clothes, tossing them in the hamper and shutting the closet door. He yanked back the bedspread and pulled it up over Cooper’s waist, tucking it under his elbows. “That’ll have to do,” he muttered as someone started knocking on the door, yelling for Cooper. Cooper muttered as he settled between the sheets. He pulled the hair band off his wrist and began to pull his hair back into a ponytail. “Okay. I’m still naked,” he said with a shake of his head and a small laugh. “You’re covered. Just don’t let them try to sign your cast or you’ll be giving them a free show.” Lucas headed down the hallway to where the guys were pounding on the door. Cooper sat there scowling, discomfort sinking in as the brief postorgasmic-painkiller high began to ebb. He didn’t want to see anyone while he was sitting here naked, hoping he didn’t smell like come and sex. He looked down at the hump in the bed that was his cast and around the room frantically. Of course they’d want to sign his cast. They would probably want to draw embarrassing things on it and write THIS END UP on his heel, and then he would have to tell them he was naked and open the door to all sorts of awkwardness. He threw back the covers and lurched out of the bed with difficulty.

98 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas got to the front door and unlatched it, opening it to look out at the guys, the usual annoyed look on his face. They all got quiet real quick, staring with large eyes at the one person they certainly didn’t expect to be there. There was no truck out front because Lucas had gotten into the habit of parking out back. It was easier to carry in groceries from the deck that way, but of course the boys didn’t know that, and they had no idea what to say about the sudden appearance of their boss. “I guess you’re here to visit Cooper?” Lucas asked, eyes narrowing. Four heads just bobbed in answer. Lucas sighed and rolled his eyes, looking them over. They looked to be fresh off the site, still dirty, dusty and worse. “Christ, guys,” he complained, though with much less fervor than usual, “This is his house. At least take off the muddy boots and leave them on the porch. And dust yourselves off while you’re at it.” Travis, Corey, Billy, and Sanders scrambled to obey, and Lucas just rolled his eyes. “No one steps foot inside here without me checking for mud, got that?” A chorus of, “Yes, boss,” was his answer. In the bedroom, Cooper didn’t do so well with walking. But he managed to get to the dresser and dig through for a pair of loose, faded sweat pants he had long ago cut into shorts. Now to get them on and back in the bed before… then he heard Lucas bitching at his visitors and cocked his head. Actually, the man might scare them away and Nick could stay naked. Lucas finally started letting them in after they passed inspection, and they stood politely in the foyer until Lucas shut the door. He noticed them staring at his bare feet, and he glanced down and back up at them. “What?” he growled softly. They all were suddenly looking different directions. Lucas sighed and led them through the archway and into the hallway that opened to the other sections of the house. “He’s back in the bedroom, resting,” Lucas emphasized. “So….” He looked them over; they seemed uneasy. He sighed. “Just take it easy on him, okay?” he asked sincerely.

Under Contract | 99 The guys actually blinked, and Billy answered first. “Sure, boss. We won’t stay long. Just wanted to let him know we’re thinking of him.” The others added similar comments, and Lucas nodded, turning to lead them down the hallway to the French doors at the end. He pushed them open and walked in. “Hey, Cooper, you’ve… got….” He stopped in place, tilting his head. The bed was empty. The other guys crowded in around him. “What did ya do, boss? Bury him out back?” Travis joked. Cooper stood inside the bathroom, holding his ribs and biting his lip. He’d managed to grab a T-shirt as well, and he was now fully clothed. But he’d not thought to have to explain why he had made the trek to the bathroom without his chair or crutches. He licked his lips, waited another moment and took a deep, steadying breath before hopping to the door and gripping the door frame to peer out into the room. Lucas had just turned around to smack Travis a good one when he heard the bathroom door snick open, and then the guys were greeting Cooper, moving toward him like a small pack of dogs. Lucas, however, noticed that Cooper had neither his chair, nor his crutches, and he wondered how Cooper had managed that little feat. He just stood there with his arms crossed, shaking his head. Cooper smiled genuinely and received the hugs and greetings of the boys with his usual grace and shining green eyes. He doubted any of the boys noticed just how much pain standing there was causing him. But Lucas could see the tightening around his mouth and the growing glaze in his eyes. “Hey, guys, let him sit back down, would you? He’s only somewhat mobile at this point,” Lucas said from where he stood in the doorway. He quashed his temptation to go over and let Cooper hang on him to get back to the bed. If Cooper asked, sure thing, but assuming could have too many repercussions. “Give me a hand, hmm?” Cooper asked as he lifted his arms like he was trying to take flight. Sanders slid under one side, and Billy under the other. It was almost comical, how Cooper towered over the four shorter men. He could almost use them as crutches. “No passing out,”

100 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Cooper told Sanders with a grin as his eyes found Lucas’s over their heads. A small smile pulled at Lucas’s lips as he watched the other guys help. They really liked Cooper. Liked him and respected him not only for his ability as an assistant foreman, but also just as a genuinely nice guy. He turned and left them to visit, heading back to the kitchen to put the beers back in the fridge. He then sat at the table to at least act like he was working on paperwork. While in fact, he was thinking about Cooper. It didn’t take long for Cooper to tire from the visit. Considering what he’d been up to before, it was no surprise. “So, how long’s he staying here every day?” Corey asked in a hushed voice. They’d helped Cooper into the bed and were all sitting around, hovering and leaning close conspiratorially. “We knew he stopped by, but we thought he’d be gone by now.” “He stays, pretty much. I need the help doing stuff,” Cooper answered a little uneasily. “He stays?” Sanders asked. “You’re living with the boss?” Corey asked in shock. scary?” he asked with a small laugh.

“Is it

“He’s all right, guys,” Cooper answered with a small laugh. “He’s made it longer than any of you ever would,” he told them with a toss of his pillow at Billy. “Hey, where’s your girlfriend, huh? Why isn’t she staying with you instead of making you tolerate him?” Corey asked. “She, uh,” Cooper swallowed heavily and blushed slightly, trying desperately to think. “She left me,” he told them, blushing harder with the blatant lie. Luckily they took the coloring as shame or anger or whatever they liked, and the news was met with a smattering of curses and angry mutterings. “It’s all right, though, you know?” Cooper added uncomfortably. “I might try being gay for awhile,” he ventured in a joking voice, earning a round of raucous laughter from the boys. “Hey, we could’ve taken turns staying with you. You know we would have helped,” Billy objected after a moment. “Rather than being with the boss all the time. He’s –”

Under Contract | 101 “Stuck up,” Corey said. “A hardass,” Travis chipped in. “Can’t do anything but yell,” Sanders added. Cooper frowned and shook his head. He wasn’t exactly sure how to answer this, and he knew if he didn’t stick up for Lucas the guilt would hit him again. “He’s a good guy when you take off the hard hat. He brings me beer,” he told them, knowing that was one thing that would impress them. They all got quiet. Then Billy snickered. “Yeah. Right. Nice try, Coop.” The others laughed, too. “What? He does,” Cooper laughed. “I think he just needs to get to know you guys. Actually, no,” he corrected with a shake of his head. “No, we’d need to ease him in gently, not throw him into the loony bin.” Travis shook his head. “Man, your drugs are making you high.” “That’s what they’re supposed to do.” “I’m still stuck on the beer remark. Does the boss even drink beer?” Billy wondered. “I can’t believe you’re tolerating him,” Corey said. “I heard from someone at Central Office you put in a transfer request to get away from him.” Cooper stared at the man as if he’d been slapped. “How many people know that?” he asked in a hushed voice. Corey shrugged. “Don’t know, most of us on site, I guess. Nobody was surprised. He’s always treated you like shit for absolutely no reason. You shouldn’t have to put up with it.” “Emmy in the office can’t keep her lips shut,” Billy grumped. “She let it out when she saw the boss recommended me for as assistant foreman’s job. I would’ve liked to have heard it from him. But she says Central hasn’t approved it yet.” “The boss rec’d you for an assistant’s job?” Corey said in shock. Cooper was silent, sitting stiffly in bed as he frowned at Billy thoughtfully. Without realizing it, his leg began to rock slightly. He could

102 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux never sit still for long; it was another nervous habit the men knew well. “So, the entire crew knows, pretty much,” he murmured. “Sure,” Travis piped up. “Some of the guys were considering doing the same, shipping over to whatever site you end up on.” Billy and Corey both nodded. “Shit,” Cooper breathed as he scrubbed at his face with his palms. Sanders, by far the most perceptive of the group, mostly because he didn’t talk much and instead listened, looked at him sideways. “What’s wrong, Cooper? Something about the boss?” Cooper shook his head and winced at them all. “You can’t all leave,” he told them quietly. “He’ll lose his job if his whole crew transfers.” The guys all frowned, except Sanders, who was still watching Cooper. “You like him,” Sanders realized quietly. The other three looked up incredulously. Cooper glanced over at the man and blinked stupidly. “Huh?” Sanders slowly started to smile. “You like the boss. You’re getting along with him now,” he pointed out. “Spending time away from work with him, you must have discovered something crazy, like he’s human or something.” Cooper almost sighed in relief, and he felt himself slowly blushing. “Yeah, well, I mean, he can’t be all that bad if he’s waiting on me, right?” he stuttered with a wave of his hand at the door. “I still don’t believe he delivers you beer. That’s just insane, man,” Corey prodded. “I wouldn’t have thought he was human. I guess I figured he stayed in that trailer all the time and plugged himself in or something,” Travis said. The three kept exchanging jibes, except for Sanders, who was still smiling. He’d seen that blush. Unobtrusively, he patted Cooper’s hand on the covers. Cooper cut his gaze to Sanders and met the man’s eyes with a sinking feeling. Oh God. He knew. Cooper swallowed with difficulty

Under Contract | 103 and tried not to look like a deer caught in the headlights as he turned his attention back to the others and reached out and smacked Travis upside the head. “Knock it off,” he muttered. “I want a beer, Cooper,” Corey wheedled, and Billy joined in. Travis laughed and covered his mouth. He obviously wanted to join in. “Why don’t you get the boss to bring us some?” Corey added. “I’ll get them,” Sanders said, climbing off the bed. Cooper growled softly at them and shook his head. He couldn’t think past the fact that Sanders might have sniffed them out to even try and stop the antics of the others. Fuck. At least the kid seemed to be keeping it to himself, right? Maybe he’d… fuck, this was a disaster. Sanders padded out of the room and down the hall in his sock feet, stopping when he saw the boss bent over paperwork at the table. If Nick Cooper saw something good in him, then it was there. Looking at the man in a new light now, Sanders spent a minute studying him before clearing his throat. Lucas glanced up and dropped his pencil. “Having a good visit?” he asked practically politely. The younger man found it interesting that Lucas would ask that first. “Yeah. We miss Cooper at the site. He’s a good guy,” he said, watching the boss carefully as the big man dropped his eyes back to his paperwork, trying for nonchalance. But his trembling hand grasping for the pencil gave his nerves away, and Sanders smiled. “Yeah, he’s a good guy. An asset to any site,” Lucas managed to say evenly. Sanders couldn’t help but grin, and he ventured a question. “The guys want some beers, that okay?” Lucas was up and walking into the kitchen and digging into the fridge before Sanders could even blink. “Yeah,” Lucas said, pulling out four cans. “Might as well give one to Travis, he’d steal off the others anyway,” he muttered, going to a cabinet and pulling out coozies. Sanders watched, fascinated as Lucas kept talking and maneuvered his way around Cooper’s kitchen as if he lived there. “Cooper’s already had a beer, so none for him. It mixes with the pain meds and makes him weird.”

104 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Sanders snuffed a little laugh and continued to watch as Lucas got the beers for him. The foreman looked up to see Sanders smiling at him. Lucas narrowed his eyes. “What?” Sanders shook his head, still smiling. “Nothing, boss. Nothing at all. No beer for Cooper,” he said obediently, holding his hands out for the now foam-wrapped cans. “We don’t want him weird.” Lucas frowned a little, uneasy with that knowing smile. “Yeah,” he agreed quietly. As Sanders headed back down the hall, he sat down, wondering just what the hell that was all about. When Sanders came trotting back with a handful of beers Cooper frowned at him and counted the cans. “Where’s mine?” he demanded as Sanders handed out all the cans and left him empty-handed. “Boss said no beer for you,” Sanders said innocently. The other guys collapsed in laughter. “Damn it!” Cooper shouted in a full out sulk. That made the guys roll even more, and Cooper’s yell brought a tall shadow to the door. “I think I might detect a bit of annoyance coming from this direction?” Lucas posed as he leaned against the doorframe. Sanders snickered as the laughter of the others died in their throats. “Where’s my beer, damn you?” Cooper demanded. The guys all braced themselves for a blasting, except for Sanders, who just watched in amusement now. Lucas just leaned there. “You’ve already had a beer today,” he said mildly. Corey, Billy, and Travis boggled at the sedate response. “I have not,” Cooper protested petulantly, forgetting for the moment the others in the room. “Outside? On the deck?” Lucas reminded good-naturedly. “While you complained – again – about not being able to move?” “I never opened that one,” Cooper sulked, realizing too late that that particular bit of information would not earn him a beer. “Damn it,” he huffed. Lucas actually chuckled before remembering the other guys were there, straining their necks back and forth like they were watching a tennis

Under Contract | 105 match. Except Sanders, who was just sitting next to Cooper, minding his own business. He considered backing off and letting the guys get back to their conversation. But he couldn’t resist. “Any more convincing attempts?” he needled. “You promised,” Cooper reminded slyly as he waved his finger at Lucas and narrowed his eyes. Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, Lucas turned and walked back down the hallway. Sanders even tilted his head to watch him go, his ear ending up on Cooper’s shoulder as the other three hooted about Cooper being denied. Cooper craned his neck and watched Lucas go as well, huffing when he got out of sight. Billy, Corey, and Travis all stopped laughing and turned their heads, frowning, trying to see what Sanders and Cooper were seeing. “What are you two looking at?” Billy asked. “I wanted to see if he’d bring me my beer,” Cooper answered. “Usually that works,” he grumbled. His shoulders slumped and he leaned back against the headboard slowly, trying to find somewhere comfortable for his sore ribs. “So how’s work going?” he asked them. “Any more disasters? Are you making good time?” Only a minute had passed of the guys talking when Sanders jabbed Cooper in the ribs. “Ow!” Cooper cried, throwing his head back and howling pitifully. “Shut up,” Sanders hissed. “Look.” He gestured to the door. The other three guys looked, too, jaws dropping as Lucas walked back up the hallway with a beer in one hand and a sandwich on a plate in the other. Cooper whimpered as he watched the man strolling back down the hall. “My ribs,” he whined softly, biting his lower lip and whimpering some more. He hated hurting so much that it was a distraction from an obvious show of affection from Lucas. And he hated even more that he couldn’t grab Lucas and kiss him right then. Lucas shook his head. “You big crybaby. Here. If you’re drinking a beer, at least eat a sandwich.” He placed the plate on Cooper’s lap and leaned the can against his thigh. It was doubtful anyone would notice his fingers rubbing along his leg before moving away, and Lucas turned and left the room. The Three Stooges were catching flies. Sanders just watched him curiously.

106 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux “I get no freaking sympathy,” Cooper muttered as he poked at the sandwich. It was, he noticed, his very favorite. Sanders chuckled and parroted Lucas. “You big crybaby.” The other three were still staring at Cooper in various degrees of awe. “What?” Cooper asked them uncomfortably. “He brought you a beer,” Corey said blankly. “And a sandwich,” Billy added, stunned. “And he teased you,” Travis added, looking at Cooper like he was a god. Sanders rolled his eyes and leaned back against the headboard. It was so obvious, he didn’t know how they couldn’t see it. But he supposed that if your mind wasn’t geared toward the same-sex side of things in some way it was easy to miss. His brother was openly gay, so Sanders figured he had a wider view of the world than these guys did. No matter, the fact that their hardass foreman and their equally hardass assistant foreman were undoubtedly living together and most likely fucking was just… sweet. He wondered if it was recent or just since the accident. Cooper cleared his throat to interrupt Sanders’s mental ramble and glanced around at them. “I told you I needed help,” he muttered. For some reason, the guys thought that was hysterical, and they went back to their normal nattering and teasing. Sanders just sat in companionable silence next to Cooper, drinking his beer. When the guys weren’t paying attention, Sanders leaned over and murmured, “He does have a great ass.” Cooper chalked it up to the drugs and the beer for the fact that he didn’t jump in response to the whispered words. “I couldn’t possibly know what you’re talking about,” he muttered, blushing furiously as he did so. Sanders turned his eyes on Cooper. “No?” he answered. It was a shame, when a man like Cooper had to be afraid to admit a relationship simply because it was with another guy. Sanders scowled, wondering if he was wrong. Or wondering if perhaps it was more of a one-sided thing. Maybe Lucas was the one who’d fallen? He shrugged, mind whirring in a calculating manner. “More for me, then,” he added, a devious light

Under Contract | 107 entering his eyes. “I think I’ll have another beer.” He climbed off the bed and headed out into the main room before Cooper could respond. Cooper scowled at the man and watched him go. More for him?! What the hell was he up to? Was he trying to smoke Cooper out or was he really thinking to hit on Lucas – a man he’d spent six months fainting in front of – out of the blue? Ending up back at the table where Lucas was spread out, Sanders helped himself to a seat. “How’s it going, boss?” he asked. Lucas looked up at him, eyes narrowing just a bit. “Fine,” he ventured. “Great. Say, I was thinking, if you’d like a break from the big crybaby in there, I wouldn’t mind coming over a few days a week. I think Cooper and I would probably get along better than you two do, you know?” A frown immediately took Lucas’s face. “What do you mean, get along better? Did he say something?” “Just an offer, boss. Not to mention,” Sanders’s voice dropped in tone and he glanced at the hallway as if he didn’t want anyone to hear, “I’d like to spend a little time getting to know him better. You know?” Lucas jerked back like Sanders had reached out and tweaked his nose. Sanders had his eye on Cooper? Lucas couldn’t even ponder that through the intense flash of jealousy. “I mean, it’s no secret there’s no love lost between you two, you know?” Sanders went on innocently. “You’re probably pretty fed up with him, huh? And it’d give you a break, after all.” Faced with either an outright lie or revealing the truth, Lucas just stared at him. “No love lost,” he said weakly. Sanders rolled his eyes and dropped his prodding. “Look, boss. I’m going to get the other guys out of here. Do me a favor, will you?” Lucas focused his eyes on Sanders. suspiciously.

“Yeah?” he asked

108 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux The younger man grinned. “Get him into a shower before company comes over next time.” With that, he popped up and headed back down the hall, leaving a stunned Lucas behind. Cooper narrowed his eyes at Sanders suspiciously when the kid came bouncing back into the bedroom. “Come on, guys,” Sanders said to the other three happily. “Cooper needs his nap time, and we have beers to drink,” he urged as Cooper stared at him with a frown. He shooed the other three down the hall to put their boots back on, and then he stood at Cooper’s bedside. “He treats you bad, I’ll beat the shit out of him,” he stated conversationally. “What are you going to do, faint on him?” Cooper asked before thinking better of it. Grinning, Sanders just shrugged. “I’d hire it done.” “What’d you do to him?” Cooper asked with dread. “Nothing you wouldn’t do,” Sanders answered with a pat to Cooper’s head. “You can go fuck yourself now,” Cooper grumbled without any real heat to the words. Sanders grinned. “Your secret’s safe. I’d rather see true love triumph over all that shouting.” And with that, the slight man strolled out of the room and back down the hall. Lucas was waiting, answering questions from the guys, and he eyed Sanders cautiously. Sanders just smiled innocently and put his boots back on while the other three guys headed out to the truck. “He treats you bad, I’ll beat the shit out of him,” he stated conversationally while lacing. The bigger man boggled. Sanders just snickered and actually had the nerve to reach up and pat Lucas’s shoulder as he walked out the door. Once outside and climbing into the truck, there was a delighted chorus of “Beer!” and they were off down the gravel driveway. Staring after the truck, Lucas finally moved and shut the door before walking back down the hall to see a very petulant-looking Cooper. “Did that little bastard just –”

Under Contract | 109 “Apparently he’s more perceptive than the constant beingunconscious would suggest,” Cooper grumbled in answer. “I’m sorry,” he offered with another flush. “I guess I’m pretty easy to read.” Lucas sighed and sat at the foot of the bed. “Well, at least he doesn’t run at the mouth like Corey,” he said. “Tried to make me jealous, though, the little shit.” Cooper smiled crookedly. “Me, too,” he admitted. “Did it work?” he asked hesitantly. Turning dark blue eyes up to the headboard, Lucas slowly nodded. “Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Didn’t even take two sentences.” Cooper lowered his head but kept his eyes on Lucas, giving him a slightly predatory look as he sat there chewing on his lower lip. “You know better,” he said finally. “No way he could hold me down like I like,” he teased with eyes that sparkled mischievously. Lucas’s lips twitched. “No, I guess not. Considering he’s like, what, half your size?” he answered, rubbing his fingers over the quilt aimlessly. “What’s wrong?” Cooper demanded as he watched the man. “I don’t think he’ll tell anyone,” he offered, thinking that was the reason behind the sudden silence. Looking up, Lucas met Cooper’s eyes, and he appeared unsure as he shook his head. “Did it… did it work?” he asked, barely audible. Cooper blinked in surprise and then smiled slightly and shook his head. Ducking his head, Lucas almost managed to hide the slight flash of pained disappointment. Drawing a breath, he stood up. “I’m going to make myself a sandwich,” he said in excuse. “Hey,” Cooper protested as he watched the reaction carefully. “For a smart guy you really can be a doofus, you know that?” he told Lucas affectionately. “All that means is I’m actually beginning to believe you,” he pointed out with a slightly drugged smile. Lucas stopped in the doorway. Starting to believe him. Believe that Lucas thought he was in love with him. But he wasn’t jealous. Lucas

110 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux told himself to be happy with the little bits he could get. He offered a small smile to the other man. “Finish your lunch,” he instructed before turning to walk down the hall. Cooper growled in response. Well, that had backfired. “Ted!” he called out in frustration. “How am I supposed to take Sanders seriously as a threat? Honestly? I’ve watched him faint on average of three times a week for the past year, for chrissake!” Turning back to peer into the bedroom, Lucas paused, looking back at him in surprise. Sanders wasn’t a threat? It finally sank in. He smiled genuinely and shook his head, embarrassed now, and his cheeks looked like it, too. “Don’t do that,” Cooper teased as soon as he saw the smile. “You’re entirely too cute when you do that, and there’s something wrong about thinking of you as cute.” If anything, Lucas’s smile turned warmer along with his cheeks, and he had to close his eyes and cover them with one hand. “Damn, Nick,” he muttered. “You’re the only one who does this to me.” Cooper snickered evilly and pressed his hand to his side discreetly to stop the pain. “I sort of hope so,” he responded candidly. Lucas leaned his ass and back against the wall, unconsciously licking his lower lip before he looked back at Cooper. “I’d say I’m glad, but I figure you already know that,” he said wryly. Cooper smiled in response and stared at the man for a long moment. His entire body was buzzing, and he had to actively attempt thought now, but it didn’t matter. “I think maybe that’s something we need to work on,” he finally decided. “It’s not really fair to you, is it?” “What’s fair isn’t important,” Lucas said quietly. “What’s important to me is….” He shook his head. “You let me hang around as long as you want to put up with me.” Just a few more days to let him try uselessly to wean off how much he loved this man. Please. Christ. Lucas knew he was going to fall apart. “What kind of person do you take me for?” Cooper asked with no real heat to the words. “Come back in here and talk to me,” he added with

Under Contract | 111 an irritated wave of his hand. “You’re starting to hurt my sensitive little feelings with these low opinions of yours.” Lucas’s brow furrowed, and he slowly righted himself and walked back to re-enter the bedroom and stand at the foot of the bed. “I don’t have a low opinion of you,” he objected. “Sure you do, if you think I’d keep you around to use you and then kick you out when I was done,” Cooper pointed out with a flop of his hand. Dropping his head, Lucas folded his arms, holding them as if he were cold. “I….” He didn’t know what to say. Would it be too shameful to admit he would gratefully accept whatever Cooper was willing to give? “Then what should I think, Nick?” Lucas asked quietly. “I have to at least try to be realistic.” Although it wouldn’t do him any good. “Realistic?” Cooper asked in confusion. Lucas couldn’t look up at him, it would just tear him up. “When I leave,” he managed to say fairly evenly. “I know how I feel. But I also know you can’t force yourself to feel something in return. I’m sorry if you interpret that as an insult.” “You’re doing it again. That first night, you were already writing it off before even giving us a chance. Give me a chance, Ted,” Cooper requested calmly. Feeling stunned, Lucas finally pulled up his chin to stare at Cooper in something resembling disbelief. “I’d give you anything you wanted,” he said weakly. “Anything you asked for.” “So,” Cooper responded with a half shrug. “Quit thinking about leaving and start thinking about staying,” he asked softly, a smile tugging at his lips. “And write this down in case I forget it when I wake up,” he added with a smirk. Lucas just smiled that little smile again and moved, setting each knee on the bed and crawling slowly up and over both legs and hips until his arms held him up on each side of Cooper’s body. “Oh, I’ll remind you,” he murmured before kissing him. Cooper found himself slightly surprised by the sudden shift into predatory that Lucas had just taken, and if he hadn’t been completely

112 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux exhausted he would have been infinitely turned on by it. He smiled into the kiss and then whimpered a little when it continued, his hand coming up to slide along Lucas’s chest slowly as he did so. Lucas pressed several soft, chaste kisses to those full lips before licking the bottom one slowly. “How about lunch?” he asked huskily after pulling back slightly. “Uh, lunch,” Cooper mumbled as his brain tried to catch up with the rest of him. The sandwich sat, untouched and forgotten at his side. “Do that one more time,” he requested with a tug at Lucas’s shirt front. Grinning, Lucas obeyed, leaning and kissing him several times, lightly, even lovingly. He lingered, brushing their lips together before pulling away. Cooper growled discontentedly when Lucas backed away. His ribs prevented him from following, and he sulked as he leaned back against the headboard. He’d give it one more week, and then he was going to start moving regardless of whether his ribs liked it. Lucas chuckled. “What’s that face for?” he asked as he climbed back over Cooper’s legs and stood beside the bed. “I hate being hurt!” Cooper grunted as he banged his head back on the headboard. “Hey!” Lucas objected, reaching to slide his hand behind Cooper’s skull to pad it against the wood. “You’re hurt enough as it is,” he scolded. Cooper huffed and growled slightly. “How much longer do we have on this job?” he asked suddenly. “You think you’ll be done before I’m better?” Lucas sobered and straightened, looking down at Cooper. He’d not brought it up, because he didn’t want Cooper to know. It was the same reason he’d kept the wrap-up paperwork in a box. “Monday,” he murmured. Cooper blinked at the man stupidly. “Monday?” he echoed incredulously. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” he demanded. His eyes hardening, Lucas looked at Cooper in annoyance, waiting for him to remember the conversation they just had.

Under Contract | 113 “Don’t look at me like that,” Cooper grumbled. “You don’t scare me. What about my transfer?” “What about it? It went through Central Office. They wouldn’t let me do anything about it. Word from some blonde in the office was that it went through. So I called up Mark and gave him a recommendation,” Lucas said levelly. “Goddamnit!” Cooper shouted. “Help me up,” he demanded. Worried when Cooper tried to crawl out of bed by himself, Lucas shuffled over and put an arm around him to help him stand and move awkwardly to the wheelchair. “What?” he asked, frowning. “I don’t know, I just needed up,” Cooper growled as he leaned back stiffly in the wheelchair and glowered. He sighed heavily, and his eyes unfocused slightly as he thought about their situation. Technically, it didn’t mean that Lucas had to leave. In fact, it meant that the likelihood of trouble if or when they were caught was much lessened, since they no longer technically worked together. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing,” he ventured finally as he looked up at Lucas with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, it’s not like we actually ever saw each other during the day anyway even when we were working the same job, right?” Lucas frowned and squatted down next to Cooper. “I guess so. But it doesn’t look like we’ll be working a site together again.” “Is that so bad?” Cooper asked with a frown. Smiling crookedly, Lucas shrugged. “Depends on if you’ll want to see me at lunchtime, depending on how close the sites are. You should be able to set your own schedule, like I do.” “Why?” Cooper asked in confusion. “I keep forgetting you’re still half-drugged. Remember just a minute ago I told you I gave Mark a rec on you?” Lucas asked. Cooper blinked a few times and shook his head. “But….” “But what? I rec’d you for a foreman’s position.” “Why?” Cooper repeated, still confused and frowning up at the man.

114 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas squinted at him. “Because your last five evals have been outstanding. Because the crews love you. Because you put the job before yourself,” he said, poking lightly at Cooper’s ribs. Cooper hissed and scowled as he flinched away from the gentle poke. “That… but….” Lucas cocked his head. “Now, I know you’re going to miss the excitement of putting up with a crazy-ass foreman, sticking your arms into plaster and dodging piping, but I figured you might consider accepting the promotion.” Cooper frowned deeply at him. “Just ’cause you recommended me, doesn’t mean I’ll get it, you know. I’ve been recommended before. They keep me where I am for all the reasons you just listed,” he told Lucas with a shake of his head. He smiled slightly and said, “They put me with the difficult foremen.” “Many of those, are there? This is the first site you worked with me,” Lucas replied. Cooper shrugged and reached out to snag Lucas’s hand. “All foremen are difficult. It comes with the white hard hat.” Curling his fingers through Cooper’s, Lucas smiled. “I guess you’ll just have to see what Mark says about a white hard hat for you. I don’t see you being difficult, though.” His thumb moved back and forth, caressing the skin at the base of Cooper’s thumb. “Hmm,” Cooper responded. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be a foreman. Foremen were hated on principle, and he didn’t handle being hated well. “Don’t worry about it,” Lucas said quietly, standing slowly before bending and pressing his lips to Cooper’s forehead. “Don’t know what’s going to happen. Just concentrate on healing up. Can’t do anything until then, anyway.”

Under Contract | 115 Day 96

LUCAS loitered in the waiting room, as usual, only this time it was different. This time was the last time. A little more than three months after the accident, Cooper was getting a clean bill of health today, probably with orders to go back to work half time for a month just to ease back into the physically demanding job. Grimacing, Lucas shifted in the hard plastic chair again, only smiling when the nurse he knew on a firstname basis brought him a cup of coffee. A few minutes of chatting later, she headed back to work, and Lucas again was waiting. He’d had over three months of Cooper constantly in his life, and the last one especially had been a dream come true as Cooper got mobile again. They’d worked on Cooper’s house – well, Lucas worked mostly, with Cooper playing ‘foreman’ – they’d watched baseball in the evenings and made love nearly every night and sometimes in the morning, too. Cooper made him coffee in the mornings while drinking his juice. They shared the bed. Lucas made sure all the coffee mug handles turned the same way, and Cooper made sure when the guys came over they took their boots off outside. Lucas did the wash, Cooper did the folding. Lucas couldn’t have said when the last time he saw his apartment had been. It struck him now how damn domestic they’d gotten, him going off to work five days a week and coming home to dinner on the table. But they’d not talked about ‘what came next.’ Lucas had done his best to give Cooper that chance, and Lucas knew now that he loved him like crazy, and Cooper seemed awful damn fond of him as well. He’d purposefully not brought up the ‘what came next,’ hoping that nothing would change. Cooper shook the doctor’s hand as he was ushered out the door. His leg had healed well; a slight, probably permanent limp was all that remained. He had been given the go-ahead just as they’d expected, and he was grinning as he strolled up to Lucas. “Clear,” he said happily. “I can go to work Monday,” he beamed. Lucas couldn’t help but smile at Cooper’s happiness. He’d been chomping at the bit for at least two weeks now. “That’s great. I know

116 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux you’ve been wanting to get back,” he said as he stood up, thrilled to leave the plastic chairs behind forever. “Come on, you can buy me a beer or three,” Cooper cooed as he put his arm around Lucas’s shoulders and began leading him out of the office. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but I got a call this morning while you were at work,” he went on in a low voice as they walked together. “That girl at the Central Office that has a crush on me? She was trying to hint at a celebratory dinner, but she wound up telling me about your crew. She said about half of them left? I was worried about that.” The smile on Lucas’s face slowly melted, and he immediately tried to prop it back into place. “Yeah, well. The guys wanted to work right away, so about half of them went ahead and transferred. Can’t pass up the money, you know?” He hoped his voice wasn’t as shaky as it sounded to him. If he kept losing crew, he’d be reassigned. Or let go. It wasn’t something he really wanted to think about, so he’d not mentioned it to Cooper. “Are you being friendly to them?” Cooper asked pointedly, sliding his hand down Lucas’s back slowly as they made their way to the truck. Lucas’s face turned into a scowl. “Better than I used to be. Even Sanders said so, the little twerp. And Corey and Billy actually joke with me sometimes. I guess that helps. The contractors don’t look at me and make signs to ward off the devil anymore.” “They used to wait ’til you turned around,” Cooper snickered. “That’s good, though, you know? Makes it look like a lot of the mess was my fault, takes the heat off you,” he went on distractedly as he snagged the keys out of Lucas’s back pocket and headed for the driver’s side. “What mess?” Lucas asked. “The accident?” “No. The mess that the front office thought was our work site.” Stopping stock still next to the truck, Lucas thought he just might empty his stomach out on the asphalt. Central Office had thought his site was a mess? And he’d had no warnings, no memos on his most recent site, a small strip of retail that didn’t require a full crew anyway. Didn’t bode well for his continued employment, he thought distantly.

Under Contract | 117 “Hey,” Cooper said as he peered over the hood of the truck. “I told you. The blame was spread pretty evenly,” he said as he lowered his head and looked over at Lucas like a dog preparing to attack. “Everyone knows the shit that went down couldn’t have been helped, and so far as they know the only problem was that the foreman and the assistant foreman didn’t get along. Get in the truck.” Lucas got in the truck. He knew, intelligently, that Cooper was right. But as well as one part of his life was going, he just felt like he was on a collision course with something. He didn’t know what. He hoped desperately it wasn’t moving back into his apartment. He buckled his seatbelt, trying to resist the urge to look to Cooper for reassurance. “So,” Cooper grinned as he cranked the truck. “Want to go by your place?” he asked as he backed the truck up. He turned to look behind him and placed his arm across the passenger seat. His fingers brushed the back of Lucas’s neck and he turned the wheel with the other hand, letting himself enjoy the contact as the truck eased out of the parking space. Lucas’s face was blank as he turned to look at Cooper. “My place?” he asked faintly, glad the rush of air from the A/C covered most of the shakiness in his voice. “Yeah. We’re out this way, may as well go pick up some more stuff, right?” Cooper asked, oblivious to Lucas’s quiet panic. Lucas had to swallow hard to quell the fear as relief rushed through him. “Ah, sure. There’s not much left, really. I didn’t have a lot since I’d just moved here. Some furniture, kitchen stuff, towels, an old stereo, some dress clothes I never wear...” he rambled. Cooper licked his lips and nodded as he guided the truck through the parking lot and out into traffic. “What would you say about getting rid of all of that and saving some money on rent?” he ventured with a nervous glance over at his passenger. Unable to do anything but stare at the other man, Lucas opened his mouth once, shut it, and tried again. “Uh. Okay?” he put out there while inside he was screaming and jumping up and down in excitement. Cooper eased the truck to a stop at a red light and looked over at Lucas with a raised eyebrow. “Just okay?” he asked teasingly. “I don’t even get a kiss?”

118 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux Lucas swallowed as he flushed with heat. “I get you inside the apartment, and you’re going to get more than kissed,” he said, his voice a low purr. Cooper recognized that purr even if it hadn’t been promising him a good ravaging, and he grinned and shivered slightly. “I’ve never been in your apartment,” he responded in a low voice. “It’s nothing to write home about, believe me. I spent more time in the trailer than there,” Lucas said with a laugh. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve been there, you know.” He couldn’t take his eyes off his lover. His heart was pounding, and his pulse was racing, and just like he’d told himself over and over every time Cooper did something like this, he couldn’t love him any more than at this moment. “You have condoms there?” Cooper asked without missing a beat, trying not to smile as he drove. “Uh.” Lucas had to stop and think. “Maybe,” he said, scrunching his forehead as he tried to remember what was stashed in the garage-sale nightstand. “If you don’t, you realize what will happen, right?” Cooper warned. Lucas’s forehead scrunched up more. “Hmm?” Cooper responded as he risked a glance over. “I will be a very unhappy and horny puppy,” he told the man. “I may have to do unseemly things to you.” A smile started reappearing on Lucas’s face. certainly a threat to be afraid of,” he teased.

“Well.

That’s

They settled into a comfortable quiet, country music playing on the radio as Cooper drove across town. After about ten minutes, Cooper glanced over at the man again and raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever been tested?” he asked suddenly. Lucas’s frown was back. “Got in the habit my first few years in construction, getting tested before every new job. Just in case, you know, working with chemicals, getting cut up, that kind of thing. Why?”

Under Contract | 119 “Might be something to think about,” Cooper answered with a shrug. “We wouldn’t have to worry about condoms,” he murmured with another glance at the other man. Lucas swallowed hard, turning his chin to look at Cooper as he kept his eyes on the road. “That’s right,” he said tightly, his voice very low. Just the thought of sinking into Cooper with nothing keeping them apart, his cock was about ready to bust out of his jeans. Cooper smirked as he kept his eyes forward. “I gather from your ‘I’m about to come in my jeans’ tone of voice that you like that idea,” he finally grinned, biting his lower lip to keep from smiling too much. “You recognize the tone of my voice?” Lucas asked, squirming in his seat. Cooper managed not to blush. Much. “You have some very distinctive voices,” he answered with a smile, still not looking over at the man. Lucas found himself smirking as he leaned forward to try to see more of Cooper’s face. “You’re blushing,” he teased. Cooper licked his lips and gave Lucas a glance. “Shut up,” he laughed softly. “You like my ‘distinctive voices’?” Lucas said in a purposeful purr as he leaned toward Cooper. “I like all of you,” Cooper purred in return, hoping to get a reaction. He pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building he knew Lucas sort of half-ass lived at, and he reached over with one hand and grabbed the back of Lucas’s neck. “Which apartment was it?” he growled. Lucas pointed to the end unit. “12A – bottom end apartment,” he rasped, unbuckling the seatbelt so he could slide closer to Cooper. Cooper parked the truck nearly in front of the door Lucas pointed to and pushed it into park. “Come here,” Cooper snarled as he pulled Lucas closer and kissed him in broad daylight as they sat in the truck. Groaning against Cooper’s mouth, Lucas melted against him, hands sliding up to cup his face and the nape of his neck. He didn’t want

120 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux to pull back to take a breath, and he sure didn’t want to point out that anyone walking by could see them, but he knew he’d better. “Cooper –” he murmured against full lips. “Nick,” he breathed, trying to pull back just a little, but the other man kept kissing him. “I know,” Cooper growled with one last kiss. “Get inside,” he ordered as he shoved Lucas toward the other door and hopped out of the truck. Gulping for air, Lucas practically fell out of the truck and dug in his pocket for his keys as he managed to walk around the front end and step over the little shrubs. His hand shook as he tried the lock, but he got it on the second time, opening the door to the dark, musty-smelling apartment. Cooper pushed at his back and shoved him into the apartment. He slammed him up against the wall of the entryway and kicked the door closed. He pressed his body into Lucas’s and immediately reached for the man’s jeans and began to disrobe him roughly. “Fuck,” Lucas breathed, not even trying to help besides pulling at the buttons on Cooper’s shirt so he could touch warm skin. “You can either get on your knees and I’ll fuck your mouth until I’m happy,” Cooper rumbled into Lucas’s ear as he shoved his jeans down. “Or you can find condoms and lube really fucking fast.” Lucas was on his knees so fast he didn’t remember getting there, and he was pulling at Cooper’s fly and pushing fabric away before he could even inhale. Cooper groaned loudly and immediately grabbed the back of Lucas’s head, bracing his other hand against the wall as he tried to look down and see past his loose flannel shirt to what Lucas was doing. He didn’t even try to get his pants and boxers off; Lucas just pulled the material to the tops of Cooper’s thighs and closed his mouth around the hot, hard cock, putting his months of practice to immediate, gratifying work. Cooper’s grip tightened in Lucas’s hair and he cradled the man’s skull, holding his head – and more importantly his mouth – immobile as he began to push his hips forward. The other man just hummed and lifted his hands to hold Cooper’s hips, pulling him closer, encouraging him to thrust. Lucas had gotten addicted to this, being able to give Cooper this pleasure.

Under Contract | 121 Cooper groaned loudly and quickened his movements. With Lucas on his knees in front of him, his fingers digging into Cooper’s hips and humming around Cooper’s cock in a completely debauched scene of onesided pleasure, Cooper wasn’t likely to last long; he knew that. And so did Lucas. Digging his fingers into one hip, Lucas slid his other hand over the taut muscles of Cooper’s ass and slid his fingers between his legs, touching, stroking, stimulating, knowing it would be more than enough. Cooper cried out shamelessly, his fingers tightening painfully in Lucas’s hair. His gut clenched, and the pleasure billowed out from his groin into the rest of his body. For the first time since Lucas had ventured into this territory, Cooper didn’t cry out any warning before coming. Lucas shivered as Cooper climaxed, swallowing and licking and moaning, all the while holding Cooper steady while his lover rocked on his feet. Cooper folded over and his body jerked uncontrollably as he continued to cradle Lucas’s head and thrust shallowly into his mouth. “Fuck,” he breathed finally. He almost felt the need to apologize for having been overcome with