Story Excerpt
Tibo's Beginning

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Sal pulled Tibo close to his side and wrapped his arm around Tibo's shoulders. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he wasn’t taking any chances. He had almost lost the man once, and this trip wasn’t turning out to be one of his better ideas.

“Are you doing okay, Tibo?”

Tibo looked around the interior of the vehicle nervously. “I’m scared, Sal.”

Sal ran his hand down Tibo’s back. The man had only been his bartender for two years, but he had grown on Sal to the point that he wanted to take their friendship to the next level. Hell, who was he kidding? He wanted to fuck Tibo into the mattress—for a week.

Sal turned and watched out of the window as the city disappeared. He knew they were headed to the bayou, but he wasn’t too sure he wanted Tibo mixed up in this crazy voodoo crap. He wanted to take the man and run as far away as he could get.

“I have you, Tibo,” Sal said as he sat back, allowing the three men in the Hummer to drive him and Tibo into the unknown. "I have you."

"Yeah," Tibo shuddered, "but who has you?"

"Huh?"

Tibo nodded toward the other men in the vehicle, the rather large men. "What if this is another setup or something? Who's going to protect you?"

Something in Tibo's words and the concern on his face warmed Sal right down to his toes. Could Tibo actually be worried about him? One corner of Sal's mouth quirked up. He liked that thought. "I'm good, bebé. I'm a pretty hard guy to take down."

Tibo's perfectly manicured strawberry blond eyebrows drew together as he frowned. "Why did you call me bebé?"

Sal swallowed hard as panic seized him. Was he ready to tell Tibo how he felt? Was he even sure how he felt? "Slip of the tongue." Guess not.

"Oh."

Tibo's face fell and he turned away to look out the window. Sal felt like shit. He reached over and grabbed Tibo's chin gently in his hand, a little shocked at how much of Tibo's face his hand actually covered.

"Look at me, Tibo."

Tibo's eyes were slow to rise but they did, the blue green of his iris’s shining brightly in the late evening sun. Sal opened his mouth to tell Tibo that he was sorry but the sadness in the man's eyes robbed him of speech. Going with his gut instinct instead, Sal leaned in and plastered his mouth over Tibo's.

He was surprised how good Tibo felt in his arms. The guy tasted like sweet man and heaven. Sal pulled Tibo closer, nearly pulling the smaller man onto his lap. He was lost in the kiss, forgetting that they weren’t alone.

“That good?” one of the guys chuckled but Sal didn’t pay attention to who it was. He was more concerned with conveying his feelings through that sweet as sin kiss.

Tibo pulled back, staring up at Sal as if he had the answers to the universe. From the way the man was praising him with his eyes, Sal felt he did. He grinned when Tibo licked his lips, his chest rising and falling as his eyes darted around.

“Why did you kiss me?”

Sal thought it had been obvious, but apparently not. He cleared his throat as he set Tibo aside. He needed to get a grip before he pulled the man that made his heart thunder in every possible way into the back of the SUV and had his wicked way with him.