Page 13 of The Lawyer’s Quandary

“Yeah. I think when this was built in the twenties, someone had a connection because of how wide the planks are. I pulled up carpet and found this. So I sanded as lightly as I could and refinished them.” His favorite detail was the staircase.

Someone had spent a great deal of time on the newel post and banister, because they were stunning.

“I also redid all the rest of the woodwork to clean it up. There are two bedrooms and a nice bathroom upstairs. At one point, they converted the area under the stairs into a powder room, but it’s tiny.

” He was proud of his little house and the way Greg wandered through, smiling.

“My dad would love this place,” Greg said. “He always loved working with his hands, and he was meticulous about it. I used to help him sometimes. When I was a kid, I held his tools, and then he tried to teach me all he knew.”

“And you became a lawyer,” Mark snickered.

“You got that right. I can do basic things, but I’m not all that good with bigger projects and things like that. Dad could make wood sing, and had a small workshop that was his domain.” Greg ran his hands over the banister. “This was made in one piece.”

“Yes, it was, and someone had painted it black. I got all the paint off and refinished it back to what it had been once.”

“Did you do a lot of work upstairs?” Greg asked, and Mark led the way to the second floor. The bathroom had a gorgeous claw-foot tub and was vintage-looking, but a lot of the fixtures were new.

“This is part of what sold me on the house. I loved the space here. The tile is all new, though I was able to keep the tub.”

“It’s really nice.” Greg turned to him and stepped down the hall to his bedroom. The door was open, so he peered in. “Jesus.” The master bedroom was the only larger room in the house. It was the entire front width, with a king-size bed. “How did you get this in here?”

“I built it there,” Mark said. “I fabricated the pieces, assembled and finished them to test the fit, and then carried the larger pieces up here and fastened them together in the room. After that, I barely got the mattress up here. It’s on a frame that I built instead of a box spring because one wouldn’t go up here.

” It was pretty obvious that one of the things he loved was his bed.

The duvet was deep green, almost emerald.

“I love the wainscoting, but don’t understand why it’s up here,” Greg continued.

“I guess because that was where they wanted it. I restored that as well and made the bed to go with it. I love that it gives the room a sort of cabin feeling.”

“It really does. If you closed the door, this room would feel right at home in a cabin in the woods.”

And that had been exactly what Mark had been going for.

He stepped inside and closed the door. “Have you ever made love outdoors? With the birds singing and the fresh air blowing over your naked skin?” he asked, and Greg shook his head, swallowing hard as his eyes widened.

“Then you’ve missed out. Let me tell you, there is nothing like it.

No one around for miles, the scents, the sounds.

” He cupped Greg’s cheeks. “The ability to scream your pleasure so even the frogs decide it’s mating season.

” He kissed him, and Greg put his arms around him, returning the kiss with a fervor that took Mark’s breath away.

The sounds he made were enough to drive Mark wild.

“I guess you’re going to have to take me to the woods so we can experience this magic firsthand.”

“Or maybe we can pretend, and we create our own magic, right here and now.” He pressed Greg down onto the bed. “What do you think of that?”

Greg’s eyes darkened. “I always wanted to be a lumberjack.”

Mark could barely breathe as he stripped away the last of the fabric covering Greg’s lean body.

He wasn’t bulky in any way, but damn, he was sleek, and his skin was flawless.

Mark had seen most of him before at the pool, but there was something extra enticing about having him in his bed.

For one thing, the pool was kind of public, but this was private, and Mark didn’t have to observe any sort of propriety. He could look and touch all he wanted.

“What are you doing just standing there?” Greg asked. “Am I ugly and you’re trying to figure out how to get the hell away?”

Mark groaned. “Fuck no.” He pulled off his shirt and got out of the rest of his clothes as quickly as possible, his cock pointing the way to Greg like a damned compass.

He prowled closer and climbed onto the bed.

“You’re hot as hell. I wanted to do wonderfully nasty things to you while we were at the pool, but I wasn’t able to, and now I have you in my bed, so I get the admire the view for a while. ”

“I see. Not that I’m complaining, because the view from my perspective is pretty amazing.”

Mark knew his body type very well. He had a swimmer’s body to the hilt. He was powerful and lifted to build strength, but he also spent hours in the pool, so he was trim and fit, but there wasn’t a huge amount of bulk.

He closed the distance between them and kissed Greg gently at first, letting the passion build.

It didn’t take long before the desire set in and his mind centered only on Greg.

It was a Saturday afternoon—he had done what he needed to for the day, so nothing had better interrupt them, because Mark wanted to take all the time in the world with Greg, who seemed to shiver with each touch.

“Damn, how long has it been since someone took their time with you?”

Greg snickered. “My last boyfriend had a lot in common with a jackrabbit.”

Mark couldn’t help laughing. “You have to be kidding me.”

He held Mark closer. “No. The guy was quick as hell, and by the time it was over, if it wasn’t for some sort of visual evidence, I’d sometimes wonder if we ever started in the first place. He was pretty terrible. And he didn’t last long.”

“Pun intended?”

Greg huffed softly. “He was a living, breathing pun. I’m sorry, but if a man is a dud in bed, then it isn’t worth spending forty years with him. There is just so much you can teach someone, and I’m afraid he was unteachable. The guy actually thought he was some sort of stud.”

Mark climbed on top of Greg, their skin sliding easily. “And what if I don’t measure up?”

Greg quivered slightly. “All you need to do is touch me, and I can feel your strength and desire. How could you not?”

“But what if I’m like this other guy?” Mark teased. He knew he was nothing like that.

“Then I’m going to have to kick you to the curb and never talk to you again, but since you are not like him at all, this conversation is going nowhere.” Greg drew him down into a kiss, taking his breath away for a few seconds. “Just talking about him is a waste of air.”

“Got it. No wasting air.” Mark returned Greg’s kiss, holding him tightly.

There was no need for additional conversation.

Words were unnecessary, and besides, Mark had much better things to do with his lips, like kissing Greg or sucking at the base of his neck, seeing the kinds of sounds he made when Mark used his tongue to circle a nipple, or the gasp he got when he took Greg’s length between his lips.

There was nothing more amazing than that needy, happy groan that seemed to fill the entire damned room.

That was what he loved. Quiet guys worried him, because it made it hard to figure out what made them happy.

But a man who made sound, who voiced his pleasure, was gold.

It told him all he needed to know. So when he buried his nose against Greg’s skin, taking all of him, and Greg groaned so long and loud, he knew exactly what it meant and how much it turned him on. That, he wanted to hear.

“You make the best love noises.”

Greg lay back, his head on the pillow, mouth hanging open. “Is that what you call them?”

“God yes. The sounds we make when making love are fucking awesome. Say what you want, make whatever noises you want. There is no need to be quiet. We’re very much alone, and no one is going to hear a thing. That’s the beauty of being by ourselves.”

“Yeah, but what if I snort or something?” Greg asked.

“That’s a new one. A love snort. As long as its authentic, then it’s good. But don’t go snorting on my benefit. And I’m not going to ask you to make piggy sounds or something.”

“You had to go there, didn’t you?” Greg asked, and began to laugh. “Sorry.”

“Sex should be funny and joyous sometimes,” Mark whispered, and took Greg to the hilt once more. The laughter died in an instant, and damned if Greg didn’t shake. He gasped and whimpered.

“Don’t stop….”

Mark had no intention of letting up. He worked Greg’s pleasure until he thought he was going to come apart, then held him back just long enough for the heat to lessen in Greg’s eyes.

Then he took him higher once more, holding Greg on edge until it seemed like he was going to fly apart.

It was a game, the best kind, one of pleasure, where there were no losers, only two winners.

And in the end, they both got the same prize: absolute pleasure.

“Hey,” Mark said on Monday morning as Greg rolled over. “Don’t you need to get to your office?” Their meeting at the pool had turned into lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, and dinner again, with plenty of stops for dessert.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if I have the strength.” A storm had come through at some point in the night, and Greg had rolled over and climbed on top of him, the two of them making love as the spring storm raged around them.

“I think you better find it or Angie is going to come looking for you.” He grinned, and Greg groaned and got out of the bed.

“And I better stop at home for fresh clothes or else she is going to wonder where I’ve been all weekend and why I’m wearing clothes that look like I’ve been sleeping in them.”

“Not that we did much sleeping,” Mark told him.