MORIA MCCAIN
To Eric and TJ, two of the strongest men I’ve seen. Your love and commitment are an inspiration to me. I look forward to seeing where you go from here as I know it will be amazing.
REGINALD ISAAC Thornton the Third stalked his prey with all the grace of a turtle, or so it felt to him. He peered around the corner of the building where he took his Antitrust class and took quick note of where his obsession stood, working with a hammer. A warm tremor went through his body when he spotted him. If he had ever doubted he was gay, this man had thrown that right out the window. Now he had to figure out how to approach him.
At first he had simply scurried by the work site, a new building for the Fine Arts program, but all that got him was the nickname Rabbit. He suspected it was the foreman who had thought up that one. His construction worker had smiled at him but didn’t really say anything. It was time to step up the hunt. He had no idea where these hunting thoughts were coming from, but they seemed to fit the situation.
Then he tried dropping his books in front of the building and spent a long time sorting them and gathering them up so he could check out his guy’s ass. Unfortunately, it also meant that all the other workers teased him about being a clumsy bunny. Too humiliated to try that again, he decided to work on a different way to scope out the site.
Next came the binoculars. He claimed to be bird-watching, but his twin sister caught him at it and pointed out that birds would be in trees or bushes or the sky, not at a construction site.
He needed another plan. Spotting a bench under a tree near the work site, he walked over to it as casually as he could and took his sandwich out of his backpack. It was a perfect view of his hottie, who had removed his shirt. Oh my, went the voice in his head. Oh my, indeed. He took a small bite of his sandwich as his gaze went up and down that delicious body. Good thing he had an hour break before his next class.
Unfortunately his lunch break went by far too fast, and before he knew it, time was up. He got to his feet and shot one last glance at his favorite worker. To his embarrassment, the man stood watching him. When he noticed Reginald looking, he waved. Mortified, Reginald gave a half wave back and then hurried to his class.
He slid into his seat just in the nick of time, and his twin sister, Constance, gave him a frown.
“Cutting it close, aren’t you?”
“Sorry, I lost track of the time.”
She rolled her eyes at him and handed him his book for the class.
“Mooning over that construction guy, weren’t you? Good thing I picked up your book from my place yesterday, or you would have been even later.”
The professor started the class, and they both settled in their seats to listen to the lecture. After the class, Constance caught him by the arm.
“Come with me to the library. I need to look up a couple of the court cases he cited, and you do too.”
“Ugh, so boring. I thought I might go down to the—”
“No! Listen, I know you like this guy, but you need to get this down, or you’ll flunk out. Then what would Dad and Mom say? You barely scraped by your first year. They’ll kill you if you flunk out.” Her glasses slid down her nose, and he gently pushed them back up for her.
“You’re right. They don’t get that I’m going to make a terrible lawyer. I hate this stuff. They should have stuck with just you coming here. At least then they’d get one great lawyer out of it.” Glumly, he kicked at the sidewalk and pushed his own nerdy glasses back up.
“Look, I’ll help you, and if we both work at it, we should be finished in a couple hours. Maybe you can gawk at that guy before he has to leave.”
Cheered up by the thought, he took her arm. “You’re right. Let’s go, and then you can give me some advice on how to ask him out.”
“What? Really? Aren’t you worried about what Dad will say if he hears about it?”
“Naw, I figure he’ll never know as long as I avoid the hot spots for the law students.”
Her dark eyes crinkled in thought. “I hope you’re right about that. I’ll try to help keep him off the track of your sex life.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Never you mind. I can be conniving when I want to be.”
“Oh, I know that,” he joked back.
“Don’t make me go all big sister on you,” she warned.
“Just because you were born first doesn’t mean that you get to boss me around.”
“I wouldn’t even try, but I am going to worry about you.”
“It will be fine. That is, if I can get the courage up to actually talk to him.”
They reached the library, and Constance stopped for a moment.
“Just be careful, Reggie. You don’t really know this guy. If he ends up being some sort of homophobic asshole, you could get hurt. I don’t want that to happen.”
He gave her a hug. “I know, sweetheart, but I’m tired of longing for something I’m not supposed to have or do. It’s time for me to go for it.”
“Okay, but you need to call me and let me know what’s going on. Now let’s get this done so you can chase him down.”
Reginald smirked at her and led the way into the building.
IT HAD taken longer than he had expected to get their papers done, but at last they had finished. Now he raced over the campus to the construction site with a little prayer. He hoped he hadn’t missed them going home. He had a plan, and he was sticking to it with hopes of catching his man tonight.
They seemed to be winding down for the night and were packing things up. Reginald’s construction worker was laughing with his buddies, his dark hair tousled-looking as he took off his hard hat. Damn, he looked fine, all hard muscle and sleek grace, his Native American ancestry apparent even to Reginald’s inexperienced eyes, and he couldn’t wait to see all that body naked in his bed.
Holy crap, he had turned into a stalker. The only thing that gave him hope in this whole mess was the fact that he’d caught Mr. Construction Worker checking out his ass on those scurry-bys.
Now the guy had gotten into his pickup truck. Reginald hurried to his car, trying to look inconspicuous. He had a feeling he’d failed when one of the other construction workers waved at him. His face flaming, he waved back and then set off to follow his crush.
They drove along for several miles before the truck turned in at a market. Reginald parked on the side of the road and debated with himself. Should he go in or not? After a moment he decided it couldn’t hurt and headed up to the door. Inside, he grabbed a basket and threw in a bag of chips so it looked like he was just there to do some shopping. He tried looking casual as he glanced around the store, but he didn’t see his quarry.
With a huff of irritation, he made his way to the back of the store, where he spotted the man almost immediately. Up closer, his guy was taller than he had expected. Everyone seemed tall to Reginald, but this guy had to be close to six two. At barely five foot seven, he felt even shorter than normal. He straightened up and walked casually over to where his construction worker stood looking at steaks.
Now to say something, anything. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. His mind was blank. After all, what do you say to the man you’ve spent the past week drooling over and following around? He tried again as the other man looked up at him questioningly. Nothing but a squeak came out. He was horrified. His face grew hot and he walked away quickly, ignoring the soft “Hey!” behind him. He dumped the basket and ran out the door.
Sitting back in his car, he put his head down on the steering wheel in miserable contemplation of his failure. A firm knock on his window made him look up at the last person on earth he wanted to see—his construction guy. He took a deep breath and rolled down the window.
“Hey, are you okay?” The rich timbre of the man’s voice sent a wave of pleasure over Reginald. He could have stayed in this spot forever if the guy would just keep talking. Unfortunately the man reached in and gave him a small shake. “Rabbit? You okay, man?”
Damn, spell broken.
“Yes, just embarrassed. I—wait, what did you call me?”
He received a slow, easy grin. “Rabbit. You remind me of one, tricky and smart.”
“Tricky and smart? How did you…? I thought they called me a rabbit because of the way I hurried by the site.”
That got him a shrug. “Maybe that’s why they thought I called you Rabbit, but they’d be wrong.”
“You noticed me?” His voice squeaked just a little.
“As if I wouldn’t notice you when you make it so obvious. I keep wondering what you’ll come up with next to get my attention. Although I didn’t think you’d follow me home. I have to confess it turns me on that you would.” A smoldering look made Reginald catch his breath.
“Y-you’d want me to f-follow you home? Me?”
“Only if you want to catch your prey, little Rabbit. What do you say? Want to finish the hunt?”
For an answer, Reginald started his car. “Try and stop me!”
The man laughed and ran for his truck. He led Reginald on a merry chase, in and out of neighborhoods, down alleys, and finally out to a new subdivision, where he pulled into a driveway and parked. Stepping out of his truck, he waited for Reginald to park and come up the drive before he grabbed his bag of groceries and led into the house.
Reginald walked in expecting… what, he didn’t know, but it wasn’t what he found. The house was warm and inviting and filled with color. No bland white walls or chrome and glass found here, unlike at his parents’ home. Better yet were the heated looks the construction worker kept giving him. He felt a grin break over his face, and suddenly his confidence was back.
He walked over to the man, placed his hands on that fine ass, and squeezed. “I caught you.” He growled as best he could. He thought he sounded a bit like a dying cat, but the other man gave him a sexy look.
“What are you going to do with me now?”
“Um, I don’t even know where to start.” He confessed shyly. “But I have some ideas.” He met the other man’s dark eyes boldly.
“Why don’t you kiss me first, Rabbit, and then we can get to your other ideas.”
“I’d love to, gorgeous.” He wound his hands behind the other man’s neck and pulled him down to meet his lips. He pressed softly at first, but when those lips parted, he deepened the kiss until, his head spinning, he found himself pressed up against the wall, a lean hard body pressed against him.
The kiss turned into another and another until he could barely breathe.
“Wait, wait… I forgot something,” he mumbled in between kisses.
The other man pulled back and gave him an inquiring look.
“I have to call my sister, or she’ll drive me crazy later. She worries.” He took his phone out and called her.
“Hey, sis, I caught my….” He glanced up and corrected himself. “Caught up with that guy from the construction site. I’m at his place now. No, don’t wait up for me. What? Um, I don’t know.” A loud squawk came from the phone. “I know, I know! I’ll find out.”
He pushed the Off button and bit his lip. He glanced at the other man with a tiny frown.
“Okay, out with it. What’s wrong?”
Reginald—no, Rabbit—grinned at him. “I just need to know your name.”
The man smirked at him. “My legal name is horrible, and no one uses it. Everyone calls me Coyote instead.”
Rabbit’s mouth hung open, and then he started to laugh.
And thus did Rabbit catch Coyote.