A record-breaking heat wave engulfs the Five Boroughs, and emotions run as hot as the temperatures.
Citywide
© 2017 Santino Hassell
A record-breaking heat wave engulfs the Five Boroughs, and emotions run as hot as the temperatures.
In Rerouted, Chris Mendez is trying to live a drama-free life. That doesn't include another threesome with Jace and Aiden Fairbairn. But then a citywide blackout leaves them trapped together, and Chris is forced to re-examine everything he thought he knew about relationships and his own heart.
In Gridlocked, former Marine Tonya Maldonado is keeping real estate heiress Meredith Stone on permanent ignore. Mere isn't Tonya’s type. Not even close. Who cares if she kisses like a dream and has the filthiest mouth this side of the East River? But then a security detail at a summer party ends with her saving Mere's life and discovering they have more chemistry than she’d ever imagined.
In Derailed, Stephanie Quinones escapes the heat and her complicated love life by going on a company retreat. Trouble is, it's a couples’ retreat, and she lied about having a boyfriend. Unfortunately, the only person willing to play pretend is her on-again/off-again fling, Angel León. They’re currently "off again,” but after a week in the woods, Stephanie realizes she wouldn’t mind them being permanently on.
Enjoy the following excerpt from Citywide:
It wasn’t until I finished scribbling that I looked up to see Aiden leaning against the doorway. He looked like porn with his muscular arms and bedroom eyes, a big lug from the Rockaways who wanted to take care of me real good even though his method bordered on the right side of rough, but I managed to glance past him.
“Where’s Caleb?”
“Sent him home to Oli.”
“Appreciate it,” I said. “I work better alone, and he was on that next level of worried. Would have paced behind me the whole damn time.”
“He would have.” Aiden extended his arm to flick the bill of my cap. “What are you gonna do to thank me for saving you from that experience?”
I left my cap skewed sideways and arched my scarred brow at him. If there was one thing to be said about Aiden, it was that he never changed. He knew what he wanted and he’d come at you like a bull to get it.
“You didn’t sabotage your own company just to set up some weird-ass seduction, did you? Because I’mma tell Caleb, and that poor bastard won’t ever forgive you.”
Aiden burst out laughing, eyes twinkling, as he yanked me into one of his big bear hugs. I was a strong dude, but he had so much mass on me that I felt dwarfed once he squeezed. I’d been brought up affectionate, so I felt qualified to say that Aiden gave the best hugs. Second maybe only to Nunzio.
“You always smell so good,” Aiden rumbled in my ear. “I could fucking eat you.”
I scrambled my way out of his muscular arms and backed away, holding out a wagging finger. It was ridiculous, especially when he began advancing on me like a red-haired panther in his slick biz cas outfit while I slid all over the floor in my chanclas.
“Calm yourself, Aiden. I’m here to work, not to fuck.”
“You can do both.”
Aiden lunged at me. Lunged. Like a cartoon character. Or a horny Batman villain. Laughing incredulously, I spun away from him and took off running through the great purple expanse of QFindr offices.
“I’m going to spank that round ass of yours when I catch you,” he called after me. “Fucking brat.”
I skidded to a stop by a strange array of standing desks and workout equipment lined up along a wall of windows. He’d loped behind me, grinning broadly, and clearly enjoying my shenanigans. He always did. They always did. My refusal to act like an adult eighty percent of the time was ninety percent of my charm.
“We’re not fucking, you big orange bastard.”
“‘Orange’?” Aiden huffed. “Don’t be a dick.”
“My bad. We’re not fucking, you big ginger bastard.” I waggled my eyebrows at him. “Better?”
“Much.”
Aiden crossed the distance between us in two long strides and grabbed the front of my shirt. He was all over me again, barely giving me room to think or breathe or exist without him touching me. His tongue lashed against my mouth with a wet demand for entrance that I instantly acquiesced to. I slanted my mouth, groaning when he slid his hot tongue inside, and slammed my hips against his as he gripped me tight with his huge hands.
The last time I’d tasted that Aiden flavor of chewing gum and beer had been a couple of months ago at Stephanie’s birthday party. The event had been a strange mix of working class and celebutante, with my boys from the block rubbing elbows with her new friends from the Upper West Side. We’d had a blast partying until dawn at her friend Mere’s fairy-tale mansion, but it had been Aiden and Jace in the spare bedroom with their quick hands that had really blown my mind. While everyone danced and drank and enjoyed each other two floors below, Jace and Aiden had shared my body.
Aiden pressed his fingers to my lips, trying to shush me, but nothing worked except for him sliding them into my mouth. I sucked messily as my hands shook where they were gripping Jace’s shoulders.
He was squeezing me so tight, slamming back on my dick relentlessly, and it was almost too much. Between the feel of being encased by his tight muscles and heat, and Aiden inside my own ass, I was losing my mind. The perfect rhythm I’d managed just a moment ago was a disaster, and I could feel my orgasm approaching.
“More,” Jace pleaded, gripping the metal headboard and rocking backward. “Chris, please. Just use me.”
Aiden’s hips rutted against me in a particularly violent thrust. His groan was muffled as he released, and I imagined him biting his fist. Once he pulled out of me, I flipped Jace onto his back, pressed his knees back, and fucked him until he was shouting and coming without touching his dick.
“Fuck,” he whispered, once we’d collapsed in a sweaty pile. A dreamy smile crossed his lips, eyes shut, as I trailed kisses down his face and neck. “I haven’t come that hard since that night at Liberty with the football players.”
My entire body went rigid, my heart slamming in my chest. When Aiden chuckled and ruffled Jace’s hair, my stomach sank.
Even the memory felt like a kick in the nuts. I hadn’t been angry, because I’d known they went to Liberty X. I’d known my experiences with them were random flings. For all I knew, the football player hookup had been months or even years ago. And yet, my jealousy had nearly strangled me until I’d abruptly bailed on them. Cue the lack of returning text messages and avoidance.
I jerked away from Aiden, breathing hard. He didn’t get the hint, or maybe didn’t notice I was trying to nudge one in his direction. He cupped my face and trailed wet kisses along my jaw, making soft sounds of pleasure as though he was worshipping me with every touch.
“Stop,” I rasped. “I’m here to work.”
“You can work later.” Aiden stopped pawing me only when he realized I was continuing to hold my body away from his. He searched my face, brow furrowed and meaty hands now placed on his hips. “What’s wrong?”
“We haven’t seen each other in a while.” I straightened my hat and took deep breaths, trying to check my pulse as if that would deflate my throbbing erection. Judging by the way his gaze slipped down and stayed, he could see it clearly outlined in the shiny material of my shorts. Like I’d said so many times before—God had clearly taken the inches off my height and added them to my cock. “Maybe we should catch up before we go straight to slanging dick.”
“Why not both?” he rumbled, sounding baffled and ferocious. “I’ve missed you. Especially since you’ve been scarce in the group text. Couldn’t even lure you out with talk of the Diaz brothers fighting or the new PlayStation console.”
I wiped my lower lip with my knuckles, avoiding his eyes to sweep around the office, as if some wayward QFindr employee could have seen our make-out session. There was zero chance anyone was around, but chasing phantoms was preferable to looking at Aiden while guilt slunk around the pit of my stomach. It snuffed out my arousal and left me feeling cold.
Now that we were facing each other, I felt like an asshole for bailing on them with no explanation. And for avoiding the texts. I should have explained. I should get over my insecure bullshit and explain now. Or at least after I finished the job Caleb had hired me to do.
“Listen, we should probably talk about all this shit,” I said after a beat of silence. “But we need to do it after I fix the servers, and when Jace is here. The three of us being one hundred percent real once and for all.”
Aiden had gone from confused to wary and now appeared flat-out alarmed. “All right, well, Jace is on his way.”
So much for buying time and gathering my thoughts.
“Why is he even—”
The lights in the office went out, leaving me and Aiden standing next to the window cast in nothing more than shadows and the light from the moon.
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