What Remains by Bailey Bradford (to read list txt) 📕

go away. He couldn’t say it wouldn’t change, either, because he knew it’d just keep growing stronger. Life, death, those were things everyone had to deal with, and he wasn’t an exception. His melancholy mood evaporated when he acknowledged that he had too much to be grateful for.

The town of McKinton was his home base, but Sev…Sev was his home. Anywhere Sev went, that’s where Laine would be, in life or death.

And brooding over anything was a waste of the precious time they had together.

Really, he was damned lucky, having the love he did with Sev, and the friends they shared.

Not many people could say they had a deceased lover for a best friend, either.

It made Laine almost chuckle. He gave the sky one last look, then glanced around the nearby area, taking in the beauty of the trees and flowers the garden club took care of. McKinton wasn’t anything fancy, but it was a nice town, and he liked it.

He waved to a couple of people then got in his truck and went home to his soul mate. “Soul mate. Yeah, that fits.”

Sev greeted him with open arms on the porch. “Hey, how was your day?”

“Best part of it’s happening right now.” Laine wrapped his arms around Sev. He wasn’t the most romantic of men—though when he looked into Sev’s beautiful eyes, he always wished he was—but his heart swelled with love and he could express that to Sev. “You know every day, I wake up with you and think, I’m the luckiest man in this world. You smile at me, and everything inside of me tingles. You touch me, and my troubles fade away.”

“Laine.” Sev’s eyes had that teary sheen to them, and his expression was full of unmistakable joy.

“Sev,” Laine whispered, brushing strands of Sev’s black hair away from his face. “I love you.”

“I know.” Sev pressed up into a short, tender kiss that stole Laine’s breath. “I love you, too.”

Laine held Sev until need swelled between them, then he followed Sev inside and slowly stripped the clothes off of his lover.

Sev’s body was perfect, his skin smooth and muscles firm, cock ready for Laine’s attention.

Laine removed his own clothes with less care and more haste. He pressed Sev down onto the couch and parted Sev’s legs with his knee.

Staring into Sev’s eyes, Laine knew he didn’t need fancy, romantic words to express how he felt. Sev knew. He got it, and he did so because he felt the same way about Laine.

Laine kissed Sev, cupping his face while fitting his hips to Sev’s. He aligned his cock beside Sev’s and started rocking, still kissing Sev, losing himself in the man.

Sev arched and writhed beneath him, bringing more friction where Laine was craving it. He turned his head and gasped, dizzy with the force of his arousal.

Sev clutched at his shoulders and wrapped his legs around Laine’s, which enabled him to thrust up harder, faster.

As good as it felt, Laine needed more. He shoved up onto his knees and fisted Sev’s cock with one hand and his own with the other. The pre-cum they were leaking out was almost enough to make each stroke perfect at first, then the burn started, and he had to stop long enough to retrieve the lube from the bedroom.

That was his plan, at least until he turned from the night stand and Sev growled and tackled him.

It was damned hot, being wanted so much.

Laine went sprawling onto his back on the bed, and Sev was on him like a man with more arms and legs than he actually had. Laine was touched everywhere, and the lube was plucked from his hand then slicked onto his cock.

Sev’s eyes burned with need as he straddled Laine. Neither of them was able to speak when Sev held Laine’s cock steady then slowly sank down on it, his ass tight and hot and perfect as it gripped Laine’s shaft.

Laine’s toes curled as ecstasy shot up and down from his groin. He held on to Sev’s muscular thighs as Sev began to move, undulating, rising up, dropping down, pushing Laine closer and closer to the orgasmic edge.

“Oh,” Sev moaned when he leaned forward, his eyes rolling back before he closed them. “There. There!”

“Yeah,” Laine gritted out, thrusting up harder, going after that sweet little spot that would make Sev scream.

And Sev did, his ass clenching so tight around Laine’s cock that Laine had to lie still, his own body trembling as he came. Sev’s cum splattered between them, his shaft untouched by more than their bellies as they’d moved together.

* * * *

Later, once they’d cleaned up and shared a meal, Laine told Sev about Conner and the weird mood that had shaken him back in the office. “Of all people, Zeke showed up and we had a chat about it. I can’t believe I confided so much in him.”

Sev patted Laine’s thigh. “Hey, it’s okay to talk to a friend. Zeke and you might not have started out as besties, but that’s just because y’all are more alike than either of you would care to admit.”

As much as Laine wanted to protest, he couldn’t. “You’re right, and you know, Zeke’s a good man.”

“And so are you. The best man,” Sev clarified.

Laine shook his head and caressed Sev’s cheek. “Not the best, honey. Not the best at all. That’d be you.”

Sev smiled sweetly at him. “Flattery will get you laid, and an eternity of devotion from me.”

Laine grinned. “Yeah, I’ll take it, honey. I’ll take it.”

Also available from Pride Publishing:

Dark Nights and Headlights

Bailey Bradford

Excerpt

Chapter One

One of the good things about owning your own fairly decent-sized ranch was that you had a certain amount of freedom other people didn’t. You could walk around bare-assed naked in most places on it, let the grass grow crazy and not landscape for shit. You could have a pile, or piles, of rusty old equipment and trash that ought to be hauled off,