And now, for a steamy excerpt from ...And All Shall Fade to Black
Jax licked his lips and Danny’s eyes widened as Jax moved in closer.
This is stupid.
The inner voice in Jax’s mind screamed at him to put on the breaks and pull back. This was
his neighbor, maybe even a friend, the last thing he needed was to make shit awkward when he
decided to start listing all the reasons that it wouldn’t work between them.
And yet…he couldn’t make himself stop.
As if of its own accord, Jax’s hand reached out to cup Danny’s cheek, one finger brushing
along the still fading bruise beneath Danny’s eye as he shifted forward and brushed the gentlest
kiss he’d ever given across Danny’s lips.
“Do you want to go out with me sometime?” Jax asked softly, having barely pulled away.
Up close, Danny’s smile made his eyes light up. Jax slid his fingers into Danny’s hair shocked
at the softness of his curls, baby fine and fluffy rather than thick and heavy, the way they looked.
He smelled of the cinnamon macchiato coffee he’d ordered at the café they’d found on the way
home and Jax found himself wondering if he tasted like it too and kissed him again, just as gentle,
but lingering this time, with the smallest swipe of tongue.
“Yeah,” Danny breathed, eyes fluttering closed as Jax drew back.
“Are you free Monday night?” Jax whispered, caging Danny in with his body. He had one
hand on Danny’s shoulders, fingers brushing lightly along the side of his neck while his other hand
was still playing with Danny’s hair and smoothing it back from his face.
“I can be,” Danny murmured.
His hand, hovering near Jax’s hip, seemed restless, nervous, so Jax shifted his weight pressing
his body against Danny’s hand as he leaned in and kissed him again. He felt Danny shiver, his
fingertips sliding over Jax’s collarbone before landing warm and firm on the side of Jax’s neck.
With slow swipes of his tongue Jax coaxed Danny into letting him in.
The first taste was just
as Jax suspected, cinnamon and chocolate, sweet and a little earthy. Danny let out a soft moan and
deepened the kiss, gripping the hem of Jax’s t-shirt in his fist as he pressed closer.
Jax moved in even more, feeling the warmth of Danny’s body seeping through his t-shirt,
losing himself in the mounting sensations.
“Jax!” Max bellowed, causing Jax to jerk back completely and drop his hands.
He stood there
blinking as he tried to get his bearings, kicking himself for what he’d just done.
“Hey, Jax, you up
there, man!”
“Dude!” Jax yelled back as Max came thundering up the stairs. “We’re not sharing a house
anymore, man, other people live here, you can’t run around hollering like that.”
“Shit man, I forgot, sorry. Hey Danny, how you been?”
“Umm, good,” Danny stammered, wiggling out from between Jax and the wall and fiddling
for his keys.
Jax made a shooing motion at Max, trying to get his buddy to take the hint. Of course
he wasn’t that lucky.
“Callum sent me up to find you.”
“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” Jax grumbled, sighing as he glanced back at Danny to see
him already fitting his key in the lock, he gave Jax a small smile, popped the door open and stepped
in.
“Night, Jax.”
“Goodnight, Danny.”
Danny closed the door, leaving the pair out in the hallway.
Jax heard the lock being engaged
and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back and hit the wall as he groaned loudly.
Moving into his new apartment, Jax never
expected to have to break up a fight between his new neighbors, resulting in a
physical altercation and a visit from the cops. Never in his wildest dreams did
he imagine that it would lead to him meeting Danny, the cute theater manager
and playwright that lived next door. Unfortunately, his first impression of
Danny and the way he’d cowered away in the fight with his ex, wasn’t exactly a favorable
one.
Jax already has his own issues to deal
with, between his past problems with his mother and the chain of men who’ve
floated in and out of her life, his new job as a piercer in his sister’s tattoo
shop and his struggles with an eating disorder; the last thing he plans to add
to it is a relationship. Yet Danny isn’t so easy to ignore and when they find themselves
bonding after Danny shows him around town, and more when Jax offers to help
with sets for his latest play, it becomes harder and harder for him to ignore
the connection forming between them.
As Jax’s insecurities and food issues
grow more and more out of control, he find himself turning to Danny for help,
rather than his longtime friends Callum and Max who lives just downstairs.
Danny’s mix of patience, stubbornness and tough love make it harder and harder
for Jax to keep his distance, and somewhere in the course of their daily lives,
they find themselves moving from being friends, to being more.
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