“Damn, of all the unlucky breaks,” Evan grumbled. He climbed out of his car and checked the back tire. Sure enough, it was flat. A scan up and down the road told him, he wasn’t seeing another vehicle for a while. Not that he didn’t know how to change a tire for himself. He just didn’t like getting his hands dirty. What was money for if it couldn’t be used to make his life easier?
He could call triple A, but that would mean waiting more than an hour. Better to just get it over with. He rolled up his shirtsleeves and popped the trunk to remove the jack and spare. A short while later, he had the task done, and he wiped moisture from his upper lip. Right at that moment, his mansion called to him, along with a shower and a stiff drink.
Behind him, dry leaves crunched, and he turned. A man stumbled from the trees, wavering on his feet. Without thinking, Evan rushed to him and caught the guy as he tumbled forward.
“Hey, you okay?” Evan asked.
Hard muscle met his fingertips when he wrapped his arms around the man’s waist. Strong thighs brushed his, and when the man’s knees gave, Evan tightened his grip to haul the man straight. He was as big as Evan and thick. When Evan got him standing upright, the man’s crotch bumped Evan’s. He swore.
“H-help me, please,” the man begged.
Evan glanced past him to the woods, but he saw nothing. He helped the man to the opposite side of the street where his car waited. They somehow tangled footing and fell into the side of the vehicle. Again, their bodies touched as they faced each other.
The man raised his head. Inky-black hair fell away from a pale face, and Evan stared at the bruises around his right eye and the swollen lip. He growled in anger. “What’s your name? Who did this to you?”
“N-Noll,” he stuttered and raised a hand but winced in pain. That’s when Evan noticed the bruising around his wrist and the awkward way Noll held his hand. Evan hazarded a guess that it was broken. A shudder passed through Noll, but Evan pulled him closer.
“Easy, partner, I’ve got you. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
More rustling in the trees, and Evan jerked the car door open. He sat Noll in the driver’s seat and reached past him to the glove compartment. Within seconds he held his gun in his hand and aimed it at the Latino man just emerging from the woods with two others.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Evan said, “and unless you want your asses filled with lead, you can get lost. He’s coming with me.”
The Latino grinned. He didn’t appear to have a weapon, but Evan wouldn’t discount him based on that or his height of maybe five foot eight at most. The man moved with sure footing, had an animal-like grace and was thick as a bull. If his fists were the ones that hurt Noll, Evan intended to keep him at a distance.
“Don’t be a hero, bruto. Hand him over.”
Evan cocked the gun.
“Okay, okay.” The man held up his hands. He signaled to the others to retreat. “Watch your back.”
The three of them disappeared, and Evan sighed. He looked over at Noll and found him sagged against the seat with his eyes closed. His chest rose and fell in repose, and Evan couldn’t help allowing his gaze to take in the man from head to toe. Clothes dirty and snagged, probably from his run through the woods, bruises on his arms.
Evan tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants and hurried to open the rear door. He raised Noll into his arms to carry him to the back. He slid him in gently, and he positioned Noll to lie across the seat. Evan’s gaze fell on the injured man’s crotch. Noll had a good-sized bulge behind his jeans. And he doesn’t need you eyeballing it, Evan, so pull it together.
Once Evan sat behind the wheel, he hesitated. “I should take him to the hospital.”
“No, please.”
Evan started. He looked back to find Noll struggling to sit up. He pressed a hand against Noll’s chest.
“Rest, my friend. Those guys are gone.”
“I can’t go to the hospital. Just let me out here, and I’ll—”
“No, I’m not going to do that.” Evan started the car. “I’ll take you to my house. I was on the way there. You’ll be safe. I promise. Then we’ll decide what to do about your injuries.”
Black eyes locked onto Evan’s face and stared in wonder. Had he ever seen a man as dark as Noll, yet whose skin was so flawless and pale? He thought of Harrison. They were different in coloring, he and Noll, but Evan realized they had that same look about them. Perfect, skin, sexy, hard, and strong but behind intense eyes, a wildness he couldn’t define.
“What makes you think they won’t return and kill you?” Noll asked.
Evan removed the gun from his waistband. He replaced it in the glove compartment. “That gun isn’t for show. I know how to use it, and I’ve spent years learning self-defense. I can take care of myself against any threat.”
“Any?”
Evan looked at him again, and Noll offered an apologetic smile.
“You’re under my protection now, Noll. I’m kind of a big shot in my town.”
“Humble.” Noll chuckled. “Your protection, huh? I’ve never been under anyone’s protection before. That’s interesting.”
* * * *
Evan laid Noll on his bed and stood over him a few moments. Noll had passed out from the pain, and Evan carried him from the car, but now what? He examined the man from head to foot, looking for other injuries, but it appeared that the worst of it was the wrist and a few bruises. Noll was covered in dirt, so Noll decided to clean him up a bit after he phoned the doc.
Evan started to turn away, but Noll’s good hand shot out to grab his arm. Struck again by the man’s strength, Evan met the black gaze. “I’m just going to get some water to clean you up and fresh clothes.”
Noll scanned the room, and Evan had the feeling he expected an enemy to jump out at any second. Maybe he wasn’t sure if Evan was one himself. Evan had experienced a hard life on the streets. He’d climbed out of them by his own hands with no family, and he did what he could to help others in the same position.
When he leaned down, he brought his face close to Noll’s. He expected Noll to shift away from him, but he boldly waited for what Evan would do, a challenge in his expression. Evan smiled. “There’s a doctor I trust. I’ll get him to come check you out.”
“No.”
“Are you still afraid?” Evan moved even closer. He didn’t know what the heck he was doing. This injured man was not the one to assuage his broken heart. Besides, he’d just finished having sex for hours with his partner. He’d finally gotten his dick hard. That was enough.
“I’m not afraid, but I don’t want anyone to know I’m here,” Noll said.
“He’ll keep quiet if I ask him to.” Evan stood straight and avoided Noll’s seeking hand. He prepared the basin with warm water and soap and then grabbed a T-shirt and a clean pair of shorts. Noll was about his size, so they should fit. When he returned to the bedside, Noll was trying to sit up. Evan pushed him down. “Stay there.”
Noll frowned when Evan pulled the dirty T-shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. The big chest with smooth, pale skin rose and fell, tantalizing by its sheer perfection. Evan swallowed. He shifted his gaze away from Noll’s small, flat nipples, but he couldn’t get his mind not to imagine the feel of them beneath his tongue.
“Why would you bring a stranger into your bed?” Noll asked.
Evan grinned. “Who hasn’t brought strangers into their bed?”
Amusement brightened the dark eyes. “That’s true, I guess, but this place is fancy, and it’s obvious you have money.”
“A little.”
“So you like charity cases?”
“Are you a charity case?”
“I’m...something else.”
Evan made a noncommittal sound and soaped a cloth, wrung it out, and ran it over Noll’s chest. Noll caught his breath and then looked away. Evan, never one to back down from a challenge, moved lower to Noll’s belly. He marveled that the man didn’t have any excess flesh at all. In fact, he appeared a tad bit under weight.
“You’re not eating enough,” Evan said.
“I’ve been busy the last week or so.”
“You lost that much in that short of a time span?”
Noll shrugged. “My ki—I mean I have a fast metabolism. I have to feed it, or I lose weight too fast.”
“I have a friend like that. He eats like an animal.”
“What friend?”
Evan detected a note of interest, but he didn’t want to talk about Harrison. Maybe that was Noll’s appeal in the first place, because he reminded Evan of Harrison. He didn’t understand how though. They looked nothing alike.
“I’m going to take off your pants and your boxers,” he announced. “They’re torn beyond repair. Looks like an animal got you.”
“No animals here,” Noll teased, but Evan noticed he stiffened a little. Was he shy? Did he worry about exposing his naked body? He shouldn’t. Not with a body like his.
Evan set the cloth aside and pinched open the button on Noll’s tattered jeans. His throat grew dry as he lowered the zipper. Noll wasn’t wearing boxers. His cock pushed through the gap, big and long, but by the softness of it, Evan realized it would grow even more impressive when erect.
“I don’t wear boxers,” Noll announced belatedly.
Evan shot a glance at him. Noll sounded confident, but pink tinged the pale cheeks. Evan grinned and leaned closer to his face. “Now that’s real, that look on your face. And pretty.”
Noll glared at him, but even more red colored his face. When Evan glanced back down to his cock, he found it hard and just as he thought, big. Now he was stupidly thinking about what it would taste like and the enjoyable challenge of stuffing such a large dick into his mouth. He just caught himself from groaning and was glad he was sitting because his erection pushed at his slacks. Relief washed over him to see that Noll was too embarrassed to look at him and see how turned on he was.
“What do you mean by ‘now that’s real’?” Noll forced between gritted teeth.
Evan ran the cloth over Noll’s cock, savoring the task but respecting the man enough not to let his bare fingers touch the skin. “I suspect you did something to make those guys hurt you.”
Noll pushed up to an elbow. “You’re blaming me?”
“No.” Evan was unfazed by Noll’s annoyance. “I can read people pretty well. You look like the type. You’re not as innocent as you want me to believe.”
“So why did you bring me here?”
“You’re hurt. Simple. And it amuses me to keep you here as long as you want to stay.”