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Category: Erotica/Gay-Lesbian Erotica/Romance
Description: Teague Sullivan thought he'd barely survived his childhood, but he's discovering that was nothing compared to sharing his scars with his lover, Jack, or his heart with their lover, Katy. But Jack and Katy are in it for the long haul; they want Teague, scarred body, scarred soul, and all. But seeing something that painful, that private comes with a price. If Teague is going to show Jack his most painful secrets, he needs to know Jack is going to be around for a while, and that's something their previous life didn't always guarantee. Teague can't function without guarantees, and Jack can't function without Teague, and Katy can't believe the two men she loves can exist in peace while making each other crazy. Something's got to give, and someone's got to change, and changing is never easy.
eBook Publisher: Torquere Press/High Ball, 2011 www.torquerepress.com
eBookwise Release Date: August 2011

7 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [151 KB]
Words: 33029
Reading time: 94-132 min.

"Mmmm," Katy's voice was sleepy and petulant. "Teague, pappi, don't fuss, it'll all be good in the morning."

Jacky tightened up against his back, and there was a sudden blare from the clock radio on the nightstand.

"What in the hell?" Teague muttered, and Katy rolled out of his arms with sleepy laughter.

"Never mind, pappi, it's time for me to go to work anyway."

"Work?" Teague echoed, feeling stupid, and Katy was picking up the change of clothes she'd brought into Jack and Teague's room the night before as they were coming in from the banquet.

"Yeah, Teague, it's Black Friday. Everybody gonna be there, even Cory and Bracken. Hell, Grace went right from the banquet to the store, got it all set up!"

Teague squinted at her, trying to put this information into the world as he knew it. He knew Grace had been working her ass off for Thanksgiving dinner, and it had gone off without a hitch. He knew Cory and Bracken had been trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the scattered werewolf packs in Southern California during their week off of school, as well as handling him and Jack and their transition into their new lives as werewolves on Green's hill.

What he hadn't known was that they actually had day jobs. (Or, in Grace the vampire's case, a second night job.)

"Black Friday?" he repeated, feeling dumb. "How busy are these people?"

Katy laughed and leaned forward to kiss him. She was wearing a skimpy little cotton sleep tank with short, satin bottoms in a bright blue that glowed against her dusky skin. "They're trying to make a living here," Katy murmured against his cheek. "You don't think they finance you and Jacky using trick money, right? 'Cuz Green don't work that way. You guys go off and shoot people; I stay in the bakery and make money. Everybody's happy."

Teague jerked his head a little and captured her full lips with his own. Damn it, he'd been hoping to, well, to consummate the growing tension between him and Jack and Katy. He'd been told they had a short window to get busy so the three of them could be bonded mates, and, as a plump armload of Katy Garcia filled his senses (and her warm half of the bed) he thought a little hazily that he should probably take care of that sooner than later.

Katy groaned against his mouth reluctantly and pulled away. "Oh, damn it, Teague! Now you want the sex? Yesterday morning when we had all the time in the world, you get all embarrassed, but today, when I gotta go, you want the sex?"

"So sue me, I'm a dumbass," Teague muttered as she hopped off the bed and trotted for the shower, but she wouldn't hear of that.

"Not a dumbass, pappi," she corrected, "you just got lousy timing, that's all. Now go back to sleep. You don't relax enough!"

And with that, she was in the shower, naked, slick, soapy, mm... Teague put his face into the pillow and groaned again. Jacky chuckled sleepily and threw an arm around his shoulders and kissed his jaw.

"Serves you right. You left us high and dry yesterday morning."

"Real fuckin' funny," Teague groused. He'd left them to go running in the rain, and Jacky laughed again.

"It is this morning," he yawned, "when all is right with the world."

Teague scowled at him, mostly to cover a smile. "You're so easy. Feed you, fuck you a few times, you're Mary-frickin'-Sunshine, ain't ya?"

Jack yawned then, a jaw-cracker, and Teague remembered that they hadn't been in bed that long. Thanksgiving banquet at Green's hill was, well, memorable. Nobody had gotten up and table danced, but they'd sat up for most of the night, just telling stories. Or rather, everybody else told stories, and, for the most part, Teague listened. After that, the shapeshifters had gone out into the waxing moonlight to change form and run. After so many years on his own, and the tight, personal fireworks he and Jack had been putting each other through, it had been, well, fun being a part of something that much bigger than he was. Teague Sullivan could have fun with people. Who knew?

"I'll be Mary Sunshine in another hour," Jack was saying. "Katy's going to come home and nap. How 'bout we get in some sleep now?"

Teague stared at him muzzily. "Sleep in?"

"Yeah, genius. Sleep in! Why, you got some big plans this afternoon?"

Teague shook his head. "Naw. I gotta run tonight, though." Picking up some werewolves from So-Cal at the airport. It didn't look like blood, guts, and danger, but Cory seemed to be on high alert. Teague took his cues from her.

Jack groaned. "I don't want to talk about it. We'll just fight again. Go back to sleep. I'll argue when I'm feeling more articulate."

Teague was going to argue right then -- he was. What happened instead was that he managed to say "You have better things to do with..." yawn "your mouth," right before he fell asleep.