Page 75 of True

He went for the guitar and sat on the hearth facing Alec. After tuning a few strings, he strummed.

Alec reached for an afghan on the sofa behind him and wrapped up.

Tyler sang softly, deep. Alec would have never thought the man could be more intimate than he'd

seen already… and yet he was. The song was Cyndi Lauper'sSet Your Heart.

Alec listened as Tyler played his slower rendition, hearing the stripped-down intricacies of a

dance-hit he was very familiar with—transformed and transcended—rivaling, as well as

complementing the original.

Cyndi would love this, he thought.

When he finished Alec clapped silently. "That was…" he struggled for words. "You just boiled a disco anthem down to its very essence. I don't know that I've ever heard anything so… profound."

"So much for lightening the mood," Tyler said with a smirk. "Mission failure. Now what?"

Before Alec could answer, he began strumming again, faster, bluesier. The song was obscure,

but Alec knew it because Tyler had not altered one iota:100 Games of Solitaire, by Concrete Blonde.

Alec stood, swept by the chords, and jumping slightly in place. The afghan fell from his shoulders.

"Now this is the kind of music I would expect to hear from you," he shouted. And they both sang of the nomadic traveler, eschewing friends.

When the song ended, Tyler put the guitar aside and stood. He grabbed Alec roughly and they

kissed. Alec was tense at first—still hyped-up on adrenaline from the song—but soon he softened,

melting into Tyler's heated embrace like butter in a pan. When they separated, he opened his eyes, dazed.

"Where did you come from?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I'm just… very happy to be here.

"Me too."

"Brett had extremely good taste."

"Are we still talking about songs?"

"No," Alec said, pulling him down for another kiss.

Tyler lifted Alec as if he weighed nothing and lowered him to the floor, never once breaking

from the kiss. He undid Alec's belt and zipper with ease, his hand snaking between the folds of denim and finding Alec's erection. He stroked it softly with his large hand. Alec gasped, pulling from the kiss.

"Are you OK with this?" Tyler asked, concerned.

Alec nodded. "More than you know."

Tyler was on his knees, he lifted his flannel shirt from the tail and pulled it over his head

without unbuttoning it. Alec watched, studying Tyler's bare chest for the first time, observing the firm curves and ripples beneath the light down on his chest and stomach. It was a beautiful body, not one perfectly sculpted like the gym-bunnies of Dupont. This was the body of a real man, one earned from a lifetime of hard work and giving.