

British Flash

A revealing collection of short LGBT fiction

Edited by Josephine Myles, Alex Beecroft, Charlie Cochrane, Clare London and JL Merrow

Enjoy this entertaining collection of flash fiction stories, each one a short but sweet expression of what it means to be queer in Britain, past and present. All these stories reflect the iconic sights and national character of the British Isles: a taste of our idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, but also an unashamed representation of the love, loyalty and laughter of our people.

Follow the British way of life from historic villages to modern cities, from the countryside to the sea, through history and with a fantasy twist, in gardens, shops, campus and the familiar, much-loved local pub.

The stories cover universal themes of romance, desire, remembrance and reconciliation. The authors range from multi-published to up-and-coming, and they all share a passion for their characters, whether through great drama, erotic excitement, humour—or a combination of all three!

This anthology is a souvenir of the 2011 UK Meet, an occasion for GLBTQ supporters to get together in a relaxed setting to celebrate and chat about the fiction community they love. Find out more at: <http://ukmeet.weebly.com/>

British Flash

A revealing collection of short LGBT fiction

Edited by Josephine Myles, Alex Beecroft, Charlie Cochrane, Clare London and JL Merrow

Published by UK MAT at Smashwords

Benefits of Peace Copyright 2011 by Alex Beecroft, Ben's New Colleague Copyright 2011 by Serena Yates, Commission and Omission Copyright 2011 by Charlie Cochrane, Escape to the Country Copyright 2011 by Stevie Woods, Giving It Up Copyright 2011 by Josephine Myles, Last Client Copyright 2011 by Jay Rookwood, Like a Girl Copyright 2011 by JL Merrow, Mouth Almighty Copyright 2011 by Victoria Blisse, Nessie Copyright 2011 by Caroline Stephens, Our Place Copyright 2011 by Clare London, Paint Copyright 2011 by Stevie Carroll, Prince Charming's Buttons Copyright 2011 by Stevie Carroll, Reunion Copyright 2011 by Lisa Worrall, Slap and Motley Copyright 2011 by Sandra Lindsey, Sunshine Superman Copyright 2011 by Elin Gregory, They Who Come After the Stories End Copyright 2011 by Sophia Deri-Bowen, Thoughts in Spring Copyright 2011 by Mara Ismine, We'll Always Have Brighton Copyright 2011 by Zahra Owens, While the Boys are Away Copyright 2011 by Lucy Felthouse, Worst Pub in London copyright 2011 by JL Merrow, Yesterday Upon the Stair Copyright 2011 by Erastes.

Cover art by Alex Beecroft

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the authors, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by these authors. Thank you for your support.

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British Flash

Index

The Worst Pub in London by JL Merrow *

Josh finds working at the Forlorn Hop duller than ditchwater—until a tall, dark stranger walks in and he's swept off his feet. Literally.

Our Place by Clare London **

How can you know someone through short trousers, spots and secondary education, and then when they're a man and you're still beside them, find some other yearning for them?

We'll Always Have Brighton by Zahra Owens **

Two men meet on a cold and rainy day in Brighton They have a painful history and they have a hotel room—can they forgive each other before they go inside?

Commission and Omission by Charlie Cochrane *

Arromanches, 1994. Visits to the D-day beaches have become a pilgrimage for Stephen. He counts his life as starting in 1939 and finishing in 1944. Here.

Paint by Stevie Carroll ***

Her most successful art has been created on living human bodies, and at last she has found her muse: Layla. Now, working with a different type of pigment, artist and muse can create a work of art for their eyes—and lips—alone.

Ben's New Colleague by Serena Yates *

When Ben Imberg's secret crush leaves for Scotland to be with his new boyfriend, Ben is devastated. Meeting Ron Linsley, the new head of the Science Department at the Komlos Foundation, however, gives him new hope...

Giving It Up by Josephine Myles *

Gay men can't donate blood without breaking the rules, can they? A student protester caught in the act is mortified to have to explain himself to the bloke he fancies.

Thoughts in Spring by Mara Ismine *

Ash is looking forward to a peaceful weekend—but a rook with other things on the brain messes up his plans and his house at the same time. Will Ash survive the weekend with his sanity intact? Will the rook keep its feathers?

Mouth Almighty by Victoria Blisse ***

Boyfriends Ben and Pete share everything, including their appreciation of good, local cheese—and the delicious young lady in the cheese shop who's more than willing to serve them!

Reunion by Lisa Worrall *

Toby had hated every second of school, so why on earth would he want to attend a reunion? Well, there was one reason—Mickey Hayes, the captain of the cricket team. But Mickey hardly knew Toby existed—or did he?

While the Boys are Away by Lucy Felthouse ***

Amelia's with Toby. Gemma's with Rob. But when the four of them go camping together, it soon emerges that Amelia and Gemma are more than just good friends!

Nessie by Caroline Stephens **

The thrill of a mystery no-one's ever solved has kept marine biologist Jude Hannigan in the Highlands for months. Now his time is up and his sunny home in Malibu calls. But quiet and sexy Callum McAllister might just tempt him to stay by the banks of Loch Ness—monster or no monster.

Slap and Motley by Sandra Lindsey *

Terry and John are old friends, new lovers. But Terry doesn't know everything about John—as an unexpected gift is about to reveal!

Like a Girl by JL Merrow *

Her name's Nina, and she punches like a girl. And what the bloody hell's wrong with that?

Last Client by Jay Rookwood *

Jon Brickman is strong. Jon Brickman is independent. Jon Brickman needs no-one's support.

Or so he thinks.

Sunshine Superman by Elin Gregory **

In the summer of '68, Sam Yelf was young, innocent and knew all the words to Donovan's 'Sunshine Superman' by heart. Forty-odd years on he might be a little hazy about lyrics but there are things, and people, whose memory will never fade.

Escape to the Country by Stevie Woods ***

It wasn't to escape the pressure of a Season in London that Stephen and Andrew left town for the country. It was for the privacy, the freedom, in which they could express their love for each other.

Prince Charming's Buttons by Stevie Carroll *

Ash slides between genders off stage as easily as changing from one role to another on stage. As both Jen's girlfriend and Colin's boyfriend and with their current production of Cinderella drawing to a close, Ash needs to take the next step in managing the two relationships.

Yesterday Upon the Stair by Erastes **

Old lovers, reunited. But the years they were apart have marked them both.

Benefits of Peace by Alex Beecroft *

In the balmy summer days of the 1930s, what could be more peaceful than punting on the Cam? But punting, Timothy discovers, is harder than it looks. Still, with a handsome English student to befriend, fortune favours the brave, does she not?

They Who Come After the Stories End by Sophia Deri-Bowen **

Everyone knows the great love stories: Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, Rick and Ilsa, Scarlett and Rhett. But what of those stories that were thought of, but never written, the ones that lived only in daydreams? Meet Tup and Davies—two characters who might have been.

End Note

Heat levels:

* Perfectly Decent

** A Teasing Glimpse

*** The Full Monty

The Worst Pub in London

by JL Merrow

Josh flicked a beer towel at an imaginary cockroach then did it again, harder for good measure. It made a nice slapping sound on the bar. "This is probably the worst..." _snap_ "...pub..." _snap_ "...in London," he sang aloud to the tune from _Sweeney Todd_ , doing a little twirl behind the bar.

"Nice voice, but if you want to get mistaken for Helena Bonham Carter you're going to need bigger tits," a gravelly voice commented, making Josh drop the Bacardi Breezer he'd been using as a microphone.

"Shit! Ouch!" The bottle survived the fall, but Josh wasn't sure his foot had. "Sorry," he said, face burning as he tried not to hop too obviously. "I didn't hear you come in. What can I get you?"

The stranger was tall, dark-skinned and way too heavy-set to have moved so silently. He looked Josh up and down with soft brown eyes that crinkled up readily at the corners. "I'm starting to wonder if it'd be safe to have anything here. You don't serve pies, do you?"

Josh grinned back at him, feeling a tiny flutter in the region of his midriff at the sight of that smile. "Wondering what's happened to all the customers, are you? No, it's always like this here. They don't call it the Forlorn Hop for nothing—all the old customers have died or moved away, and the new lot want something more trendy. We get a couple of old fogies in for a pint most nights—and I mean _a_ pint—but during the day it's as dead as the filling in one of Mrs Lovett's finest. Don't know how the old man keeps it open, to tell the truth."

"Maybe it's just a front. Drug deals in the tap room, prostitution in the lounge. Money-laundering on the side." The stranger leered. "Maybe it wasn't just beer you were offering me there?"

Josh allowed his eyelashes just a hint of a flutter. "We do have a comprehensive range of spirits and mixers," he said coyly. "Perhaps if you told me what you like?"

"Well, I know it when I see it." That dark smile was suggestion itself. "I'm Devlin, by the way."

"Devlin? Sounds kind of naughty. I like that in a man. I'm Josh. So that'll be..?"

"Scotch and soda. And one for yourself," Devlin added, leaning a well-muscled forearm on the bar. "I hate drinking alone."

"There's a lot of things that are more fun with two," Josh purred seductively, turning smartly on his heel and stepping towards the spirits. As he did so, he felt something under his foot. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the lino. Whatever it was rolled away from him, taking his foot with it. _Oh, yes. Should have picked up that Bacardi Breezer_ , was Josh's last thought as the room tilted up and his head crashed into the edge of the bar.

****

When Josh woke up he had a hard time at first deciding whether he was hallucinating from concussion or just plain dead and gone to heaven. There obviously couldn't be any other explanation for the fact that he was flat on his back with Tall, Dark and Insinuating bending over him, his full lips only inches from Josh's own. "Wha'..."

"You all right there, Josh? Caught that head a nasty knock. I was just about to call 999."

Josh blinked, and rallied. "Oh? It looked more like you were about to give me the kiss of life."

Devlin sat back on his heels, smirking. "Wishful thinking, was it? Now, do you think you can sit up? Or do you want that doctor?"

"I'll be all right," Josh muttered, starting to push himself up. Strong hands reached out to help him, and Josh leaned into their support possibly just a little more than he really needed to. Devlin's warm body seemed very close as he reached a sitting position, and Josh swallowed.

"Sure about that?"

Josh reached up gingerly to feel the back of his head. "Ow. Yeah, I'll be okay." He held up his palm to Devlin. "See? No blood."

"Just because your brains aren't actually spilling out of your skull doesn't mean there might not be a serious injury there. Come on, I'm taking you upstairs for a lie down, at least."

"But I can't leave the bar!" Josh protested.

Devlin raised an eyebrow and cast a slow look around the pub. The only sign of life was a lost ladybird on a lampshade. A few dust motes twinkled lazily in a sunbeam whilst, in the distance, the slow rumble of traffic underlined the fact that there was a whole city out there teeming with people, none of whom wanted a pint at the Forlorn Hop.

"All right. So maybe it'd be okay if I took an hour or two off. But don't you have a job to go to?"

Devlin answered with a grin that made Josh's stomach flip over. "Nah. I just got a new job. Manager of this pub, as it happens. I'm your boss's grandson. He wants me to take this place and turn it around—make it appeal to a younger crowd. Grab the pink pound."

"You can grab my pink pound any time you like—well, more like a pound and a half, in fact," Josh added modestly, if less than truthfully.

Devlin's eyes gleamed. "Oh, yeah? I might just hold you to that. Course, any staff who want to carry on working under me are going to have to be flexible. Think you can handle that?"

The ache in Josh's head seemed to have magically receded, and even the faded velvet on the barstools was looking brighter. "Oh, I'm pretty good at handling things," he said, clutching onto Devlin for support as he stood up. "Why don't I take you up on that offer of a lie down upstairs, _Boss_?" He smiled coquettishly, and very carefully didn't let go of his new manager. "And then I'll show you just how flexible I can be when I'm under you."

About the Author

JL MERROW is that rare beast: an English person who refuses to drink tea. Having grown up by the seaside, she also loathes fish and chips. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.

She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporaries and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour.

**Website (including free reads section):** <http://www.jlmerrow.com/>

**Blog:** <http://jl-merrow.livejournal.com/>

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/jl.merrow?ref=profile>

**Goodreads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2980235.J_L_Merrow>

Some of JL Merrow's other books:

Pricks and Pragmatism

Camwolf

Sex, Lies and Edelweiss

Muscling Through (July 2011)

Wight Mischief (November 2011)

Snared

Tortoise Interruptus

Dulce et Decorum Est

A Ghoul Like You

Stroke to His Cox

back to index

Our Place

by Clare London

Surely it's the stuff of fiction alone?

Can you really spend years growing up with someone, in and out of their house, sharing school benches, sledging, swimming and stealing sweets from the corner shop, and yet still want something more than friendship? I used to laugh when people said it happens in real life. How can you divorce the magic from the mundane? How can you know someone through short trousers, spots and secondary education, and then when they're a man and you're still beside them, find some other yearning for them?

Enough questions. I never said I knew the answers.

Our mothers fell pregnant at the same time, giggling and marvelling about the whole thing together. Our families lived in the same street and we were born only a month apart, bursting into the world, upturning our families in just the same way. Two underweight, squalling, red-faced baby boys. Our parents shared all the details, all the shock, all the amazement.

Ben and I were always together from then on.

We were at the same school, had the same kind of pushbike, negotiated the same pocket money by pretending the other one got more. Ben's dad turned his garden over to vegetables and fruit, and we spent most of our spare time there. The sweet smell of soft fruit in season was fantastic. The vegetable beds were separated from the house by a high hedge, and we'd hide behind it, unseen by anyone in the house, sharing apples and raw runner beans. It was "our place". We read gaming comics, harassed spindly spiders and played ball up against the wall of the shed.

The raspberries were always the highlight. We raced to be the first to pick. Ben would 'accidentally' knock some fruit from the canes, pretending they were wastage, but I'd catch them as they fell and then we'd eat them. Or he'd struggle with me, laughing, mock-punching me in the belly until he snatched his own share. We didn't eat them as much as cram them into our mouths, the tart sweetness bursting on my tongue, the dribbling juice staining Ben's lips.

Later in years, we were cool, bored teenagers. We read girly magazines because you were meant to, hiding them in the back of the greenhouse where the spiders now kept guard for us. We tried to keep the loamy soil off our fashionable boots, and the ball games gave way to hand-held screens. We still stole apples and beans, though, and lay behind the hedge together on weekend afternoons. In the summer, we took off our shirts, puffing out our expanding chests, peering for blossoming hairs between the nipples.

One time, Ben got badly sunburned. Desperate to transform our pale English skin into a golden, Californian-style tan, we were impatient and greedy for as much of the fitful sun we could get. It was a shock to see him nearly in tears. He needed me to keep smoothing cream over his chest, to ease the pain and the shivering. The skin was hot and so red, it reflected on my palms, the heat soaking into me as I massaged him. He bit his lip; glanced up at me. The red seemed to reflect in his eyes, too.

I don't think I knew, then. There was just a small, awkward flame flickering inside me, quickly extinguished by embarrassment.

We both chose the same college and a cheap flat-share with other aimless, bemused students. Daily life consisted of not enough money, thick text books, and courses that were fun but probably wouldn't lead to a glamorous career. We drank too much, and were bereft if a weekend wasn't full of parties. The parents were alternately frustrated and proud of us.

And at home alone, our newly-adult life was spent on battles for the bathroom, avoiding chip pan fires, fighting over the remote: the need for independence warring with the need for company. And Ben always with me.

Many conflicting feelings bubbled inside me.

In the summer break we visited the families together. I met Ben in his garden for a secret smoke, sitting on sacking behind the hedge, returning to "our place". We bitched about harsh lecturers, bad music and the price of a pint. And about the predatory, clinging nature of girls. No girl had clung to me any longer than a couple of hours at a party, but Ben apparently had more experience. He didn't seem all that fussed.

He blew out the smoke from his cig and the wind caught it, whipping it into my eyes. I was caught unawares, coughing.

"Shit, Terry." Ben laughed, but when my eyes started watering he looked worried. He grasped my chin and pulled my face around to face him.

"I'm fine." His hand was firm. I wished I'd felt it more often than I had. Not in fights, in games, in high-fives. But in other ways.

I knew, _then._

"You're staring at me." He frowned. "And why the hell are you blushing?"

He was as familiar to me as myself: I'd gazed at him more often than my mirror. I knew his shape and size, the flicker in his eyes and the set of his jaw. And yet...I felt I knew nothing. It was like someone new inside me, clambering up through my comfort zones, twisting my emotions, challenging my self-confidence. _Wanting._

I kissed him. A silly, clumsy kiss, tasting smoke trails in his mouth, licking his lips so they shone red. Just like the raspberries. But much, much sweeter.

He didn't punch me; didn't pull away. He was silent for a long time, his eyes fixed on me, and his own cheeks flushed. Then he offered me another cigarette. I took it. His hand was shaking slightly.

"You're red, too." I sounded hoarse, like when my voice first broke, when we'd laughed at each other's squeaks.

Ben laughed softly, now. A far more mature sound. And, thankfully, happy. I leaned back against the hedge, smiling. It was "our place".

And now it was our time, too.

About the Author

CLARE LONDON took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She's written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she's just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she's happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.

Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind . . . she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.

All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!

**Website:** http://www.clarelondon.co.uk

**Blog:** http://clarelondon.livejournal.com

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/clarelondon>

**MySpace:** <http://www.myspace.com/clarelondon>

**Twitter:** <http://www.twitter.com/clare_london>

**Good Reads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/clarelondon>

**GLBT Wiki:** <http://bookworld.editme.com/clarelondonbooks>

back to index

We'll Always Have Brighton

by Zahra Owens

It's bloody cold and I keep thinking I should have worn a winter coat. I guess I'm spoilt by the warmth of London and the memory of how Brighton was never cold to me either, simply because I always had you to keep me sheltered from the rain and wind.

I'm sitting on the bench of the pavilion, our pavilion, where we always used to go to look at the sea. The old burned-down pier is to my left and the newer one, cluttered with shops selling Brighton rock and toffee, and noisy from the arcades and kids' rides, is beyond that. I look up at the hotel, at the window of the room we always took on our trips here. My suitcase is in that room. Only yours isn't there. That's the only difference.

That and the fact I'm freezing my bollocks off.

I step off the pavilion and onto the pebble beach where I walk to the water's edge. I crouch down to pick up a pebble with a strange stripy pattern and remember how you always used to look for flat ones you could throw into the sea, making them bounce off the water, skipping through the waves. I decide to hang on to this one.

"Want me to make it skip over the water for you?"

I turn around and my heart leaps. I blink a few times against the watery sun, trying to work out whether I'm dreaming you, because I didn't hear you approach.

"There's too much wind," I manage to say. "The water surface isn't flat enough for it to bounce."

You smile and I forget that I'm freezing cold.

"You know I can make any stone skip, as long as it's flat enough."

"You can," is about all I can say when you take a step closer to me. I take a deep breath and wrap my arms around my body, trying to stop myself from leaping right into your embrace. You're wearing that inside-out sheepskin coat I hate so much, but I know exactly how warm it is, since I always used to bury my hands into it when we hugged, here on our beach, and that's how you kept me warm.

As if you're reading my mind—something you were always good at—you unbutton your coat and open it, inviting me in.

"Just to keep warm," you say. "No strings attached."

I nod and step closer, wrapping my arms around your thin frame while you wrap the coat around both of us. Immediately your heat floods into me and I catch your cologne-free scent and ignore what it does to my body. You're taller than me and as you put your chin on top of my head I'm reminded of that even more than when I looked up at you earlier. We still fit well, though.

"You should let him fatten you up," I say, trying to sound emotionless, and almost succeeding. "You're even skinnier than you used to be."

"I just go running now; don't do weights anymore, so you know it drops off me then."

"And he doesn't feed you the way I used to?" I ask, realising I just gave away the fact I still miss you like nobody's business.

"For him to feed me he has to be around," you answer softly.

I look up at you, but you're staring at the water and I realise how much sorrow there is in your gaze.

"I'm sorry," I say. I try to untangle myself from your arms, but you're holding me so tightly I can't.

"He was a fling."

"A fling you left me for. You moved out of our flat to be with that fling."

Now you do let go and I step back. You're still not looking at me.

"I knew it wouldn't amount to anything even before I moved out."

"But you still did it."

"You were so angry with me. With reason." You say that last line looking directly at me. There's a deep line across your forehead and I want to wipe it away like I always used to be able to. "I wanted to give you time to cool off."

"I would have forgiven you, you know," I say, realising I'm not lying. "You were honest and admitted you'd been cheating without me having to find out. I was pissed off with you for about three days, and then I wanted you back, but by then you'd left. I thought you'd moved in with him."

You shake your head. The dark line over your eyes is still there.

"So why did it take you four months to call me?"

You shrug, silently admitting you don't have an explanation.

"At least you called," I say, taking your hand. To my surprise it's cold and I wrap both my hands around it. You look at me and give me that tentative smile I like so much.

"Let's go upstairs to warm up," I suggest. "We can talk some more there."

You follow me and I know I want more than to just talk. I want to hold you and undress you, lay you down on the crispy white linen of the hotel bed and kiss you. I want to touch your almost flawless skin and watch how you give yourself to me without prejudice.

The bed creaks as we sit down on it and when we kiss, however chastely, it's like coming home.

"I know it's presuming a bit, but I brought condoms," I say.

"It's not presumptuous," you answer. "The reason I called is because I hoped you'd take me back."

When I nod, the crease over your eyes lifts.

We slowly undress each other and fall into a familiar pattern as you lie down on your stomach and look at me over your shoulder. It doesn't matter that you are older than me, and almost a head taller. I know you want me inside of you and that is the only place I want to be.

About the Author

ZAHRA OWENS was born and raised in Belgium and therefore not a native English speaker. English is the only language she can imagine using for writing fiction, though. Being a typical only child, accustomed to being with adults most of the time, she sought ways to channel her wild imagination and m/m romance with a twist was perfect for that.

She has a weak spot for flawed characters and imperfect bodies, or maybe it's just her sadistic streak coming through. You be the judge.

**Website:** <http://www.zahraowens.com/>

back to index

Commission and Omission

by Charlie Cochrane

Arromanches, 1994

Only now is Stephen's white hair a true indication of his age; it turned prematurely grey fifty years ago, here. No-one in the family enquires about it any more. What happened to him, why his life changed, remains an unasked question among many unasked questions. Like the perennial, "Why did you marry me if you don't love me?"

Now he's old and canny enough to employ selective deafness. He doesn't hear when the girl at his arm says, "Why do we have to visit this field, grandfather?"

How can he explain? Would he start with that grey day in 1939, the rain streaming down the windows of a poorly lit room where he and two dozen other men were waiting to offer their services to their king and country? How there was another young man, budging up on the bench so he could sit down and saying, "Welcome to the madhouse."

How can Stephen say, "My life began then, in that room, when David smiled and I took my place at his side. It ended here, in this field."

He's never told anyone how much he enjoyed those weeks of officer training with David in the same billet; how could he keep his voice from betraying all his heart has hoarded away?

If his granddaughter said, "Did you make any friends, grandfather?" could he trust himself to say, "Yes, Lucy. There was one in particular."? Surely it would come out as, "Yes, Lucy. There was one and I loved him with all my heart. As I never loved your grandmother."

"Dad says you were involved right on the beaches along this coast." Lucy shakes her head at the enormity of it all. She's watched 'The Longest Day' a dozen times, trying to imagine her grandfather there, in the thick of it, but no amount of watching films or reading books has prepared her for the reality.

Stephen has selective memory, as well as selective hearing. If he concentrates he can pretend he has no recollection of crossing the channel that long day, seeing the French cliffs looming and the angry flashes of coastal batteries. But he vividly remembers every moment of his week's leave at David's home the month before.

When Lucy takes his hand he can imagine it's David slipping his wiry little paw through Stephen's and whispering. "See that big white cloud against the azure sky, Stephen? That's England, set in an azure sea. And the black cloud overtaking it is this damn war. But the black cloud will pass, I promise."

Stephen can see himself laughing, calling David every sort of an idiot, not wishing to tempt fate. They're serving together, they're in love, and they have a big, soft bed to make the most of. No wonder the past is a better place in which to live.

"Can you see the ruins of the harbour, grandfather?" Lucy points out to sea, where jagged teeth of metal and concrete prove that the events here were real, not something that exists only on newsreel. Stephen's eyes may not be what they once were, but he sees perfectly well. He knows the blue skies over Normandy are the colour of David's eyes, the barley mirrors David's fair hair. And there's a poppy growing exactly on the spot, the place where the final words, "Go on without me," were lost against gunfire and the howling of shells. Stephen couldn't mourn then; he's more than compensated since.

"Shall we go to Bayeux now, grandfather?"

He nods.

****

The drive takes long enough for Stephen to pretend to doze.

"Why did you marry Charlotte when you didn't love her?" David's voice rings in his mind, as it has sounded there ever since Stephen took his wedding vows.

He mentally rehearses the arguments. "I was lonely. She was kind, a friend when I needed one. I had no heart left to give, so why not settle for companionship? She never asked why my spirit seemed to be taking much longer to heal than my body."

He hears David again, reproaching him. "You used to ask me if I loved you and I always said _I do_. Because I could never say those words to you elsewhere."

Stephen shivers at the phrase, associating it all too clearly with the words he spoke at his wedding, the vow he resolved to keep but never meant. How could he say in truth that with his body he worshipped Charlotte? It was a lie, like all the other lies he spoke to her—sins of commission and ones of omission.

At Bayeux they find the grave easily enough. Lucy retreats, aware that she is no longer needed. Stephen kneels by the headstone, tracing the words with his fingers. _D. R. Murray Hampshire Regiment Age 27_. David's almost an old man among his neighbours here.

Stephen kisses the cool, white stone, shuts his eyes and waits. He's dreamed of this moment thousands of times, dreamed of feeling a steadying hand on his shoulder, rising from knees which will no longer hurt, hearing David's voice, _See, all will be well_ , and touching that beloved face once more.

Stephen feels the hand touch him, but his legs are still stiff and the voice which speaks is young and female. Fifty years are not yet enough.

About the Author

As CHARLIE COCHRANE couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice - like managing a rugby team - she writes. Her usual genre is historical gay fiction, with increasing forays into the modern day. Her Cambridge Fellows series of Edwardian romantic mysteries were instrumental in seeing her named Speak Its Name Author of the Year 2009. She's a member of both the Romantic Novelists' Association and International Thriller Writers Inc.

Drop her a line at cochrane.charlie2@googlemail.com to sign up for her fortnightly newsletter or find her at one of her haunts:

**Website:** http://charliecochrane.co.uk

**Livejournal:** http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com

**GLBT Wiki:** <http://bookworld.editme.com/CharlieCochrane>

**Twitter:** <http://twitter.com/#!/charliecochrane>

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000878813798>

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Paint

by Stevie Carroll

Dip the brush into the pot, wipe off the excess, draw a carefully planned swirl up her thigh. Repeat for her other thigh. Change colour, draw an oval around the soft swell of her belly. I've done this a thousand times, easily more than a hundred with her, but this time it's different. This time the art we're creating is just for us.

My first commercial pieces were for anatomy text books. Flat, lifeless paintings depicting the inner workings of the human body. It was a natural progression for me to use a real body as my canvas. Now I gave the anatomy students a full-sized, three dimensional demonstration of bones, sinews, muscles. The theoretical translated to the practical.

I used all shapes, sizes, ages of models: painting on them, learning their similarities and differences along with the students. I showed which delicate structures were covered by healthy pads of fat, and which were only separated from the outside world by a thin layer of skin. I followed the courses of blood and lymph, sketched out the geography of bones, calculated the forces required to move each body part.

With time my work reached a wider audience, and I became more experimental. I used the full palette of colours available to me: adding in all those not found within the body. I highlighted the curves where body parts met and intersected, tracing and redefining external anatomy rather than internal. I showed off my living canvasses in galleries, on catwalks, outside Covent Garden Market. I won awards.

And then I found my muse.

All my models have been beautiful, even the men, but I never fell in love with one before Layla arrived on the scene. There were girlfriends, of course, from late-adolescent fumblings in college rooms through to the very grown-up 'champagne in a hotel room and see what happens' sessions after award ceremonies. My partners were fellow artists, publishers, gallery owners, sometimes even women from outside the circles I mixed in. Never models. Not until Layla.

Layla. Even the name is evocative of a muse. Her dark, dark skin shows up my colours to perfection, and her lush, firm curves give me vast, unexplored areas on which to ply my trade.

I put my brush down and stand, my knees cracking, then stretch my arms up towards the ceiling, arch my back like a cat.

She bends forwards, the colours of my lines fast-dried and smudge-resistant, and dips her finger into one of my colour pots. Straightening, she raises her finger to her lips, slides it seductively into her mouth, sucks away the colour.

"Blueberry?"

Today we're painting with white chocolate and fruit pigments. I long to lick my lines off her soft warm skin, but not yet.

Layla has other ideas.

She takes hold of my collar, and pulls me towards her. I taste blueberries and white chocolate on her lips. Gripping my collar with one hand, she unbuttons my shirt with the other. Then she slides it off my shoulders, and pushes it roughly down my arms. It's barely hit the floor before my bra joins it.

Cupping one hand around the back of my neck, Layla leans over, and dips her fingers into a pot of creamy milk chocolate. She draws a warm circle around each of my pale breasts, then another, finishing with a third pair of rings that leave barely a millimetre between their edges and the areolae of my nipples.

Layla brings her fingers up to my mouth, and I suck each one clean in turn, greedy, wanting to taste more of her. She keeps hold of my neck, as she ducks down to lick away the patterns she so recently drew. First the outer circles, then the next, then the inner ones. She carefully avoids my nipples until every last spot of chocolate has been consumed.

I arch my back, pushing my breasts into her face, demanding she pay them better attention.

She starts to work on my nipples, still with one hand on my nape, dampening her forefinger with her tongue, so that one can mimic the movement of the other as they tease and caress. Then a pinch from thumb and fingers, a slight twist before they release. First on one side, and then on the other. She raises her head, releases me, and I drop to my knees in worship.

I start at the inner point of her knee, working my way up the lines I drew on her thighs. Lapping with my tongue, I strip away my art to the naked skin—the blank canvas—beneath. One leg, then the other. I lick the coloured chocolate from the grooves where legs meet torso. I apply more chocolate—bright strawberry pink—to the inside folds of her labia, and to the hood of her clitoris.

I pause, waiting for the chocolate to cool and thicken, listening to her breathing. I blow gently on my art, and her breath speeds up, hitches, grows shallower. I run my tongue over her folds, the familiar taste of Layla mingling with the more exotic white-chocolate-strawberry of my paint. I suck all the paint from her clit, and its colour increases. I probe inside her with my tongue, searching out the flavours of her arousal. No chocolate here: we never got that far this time.

One day I want to fill her to the brim with chocolate, and drink it all from her. Consume every last drop of Layla-flavoured chocolate.

Layla sinks to her knees in front of me, and we kiss. She strips me, all the while exploring my mouth with her tongue, her hands exploring the areas they uncover.

We slide to the floor together, joining, tangling in a three dimensional abstract like nothing I could ever capture.

I push into her, and her fingers answer with pressure on my clit. Pinching, rubbing, pulling. Drawing out every last fragment of emotion.

I curve my fingers, stroke the very depths of her soul, search for that one perfect spot.

Then she's biting, clawing, stretching me wide open.

I'm free-falling, pulling her over the edge with me, scattering paint and paint pots across the studio floor. Bright coloured stars spread across white linoleum, mimicking the intensity of our passion.

We lie together sated. Warmed by each other's bodies, content as cream-filled felines. Artist and muse. Where one ends the other surely must begin, but the lines are constantly blurred and there is no true delineation.

About the Author

Born in Sheffield: England's Steel City, and raised in a village on the boundary of the White and Dark Peaks, STEVIE CARROLL was nourished by a diet of drama and science fiction from the BBC and ITV, and a diverse range of books, most notably Diane Wynne-Jones and The Women's Press, from the only library in the valley. After this came a university education in Scotland, while writing mostly non-fiction for various underground bisexual publications under various aliases, before creativity was stifled by a decade of day-jobs.

Now based in Hampshire, Stevie has rediscovered the joys of writing fiction, managing to combine thoughts of science fiction, fantasy and mysteries with a day-job in the pharmaceuticals industry and far too many voluntary posts working with young people, with animals and in local politics. Stevie's first published story, 'The Monitors' (in Noble Romance's ECHOES OF POSSIBILITIES), was long listed by the 2010 Tiptree Awards jury.

Stevie currently has multiple projects on the boil, including at least two novels, a novella and several short stories. Updates on all of these are currently to be found at Stevie's Livejournal, although a website is in the planning stages and will go live towards the end of the year if not before.

**Livejournal:** <http://stevie-carroll.livejournal.com/>

**Email:** stevie.carroll@dormouse.myzen.co.uk

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Ben's New Colleague

by Serena Yates

_This story is set just after the end of_ Rescuing the Librarian (New Horizons, #1) _._

Why did the nice guys always have to leave? Ben sighed and cast another longing look at Anton's empty office, wishing the sexy older librarian who'd been head of the Science Department hadn't quit. Not that Ben could blame him. The gorgeous Scottish actor who'd walked in here three weeks ago had stolen Anton's heart faster than Ben could've blinked. Anton had quit his job, worked his two-week notice and was about to move from Santa Barbara to Scotland. Ben couldn't even imagine travelling that far. But moving there permanently? Anton was a lot braver than Ben wanted to be.

He shuffled some of the manuscripts from one end of the work table to the other. Working for the Komlos Foundation as a research assistant was far less fun with Anton gone. Most of Ben's work had been for the Science Department but he was reconsidering that. As a research assistant he had some choice about the work he did.

"Please tell me you're my new research assistant?" The deep voice with a very pronounced English accent coming from right behind him made him shiver.

Ben turned around and had a hard time not dropping his jaw at the sight of the man who'd just entered the central work area outside the librarians' offices. The stranger was at least six feet tall, had broad shoulders and chest muscles stretching his white shirt to capacity. He looked like an athlete, with long muscular legs that were showcased to advantage in somewhat tight jeans. His short, straight brown hair matched the colour of his eyes, and his smile was infectious.

"Um, yes?" Ben wasn't supposed to be any one librarian's research assistant, but he'd sure like to make an exception in this case. The man was too yummy for words.

"You don't seem too sure about that." The stranger's smile broadened as he held out his hand to shake. "I'm Ron Linsley, the new head of the Science Department. I'm here as part of the exchange programme with the British Museum."

"I'm, er..." Ben automatically took the offered hand, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his brain of the lust he'd suddenly fallen into. "Ben Imberg, one of the research assistants here."

Soft warmth surrounded his fingers and all he could do was stare as they touched for the first time. Ron's eyes twinkled as he caressed Ben's wrist with his thumb. Shivers of desire raced from Ben's hand straight to his cock and his eyes widened. He'd never had this strong a reaction to a man. His crush on Anton was suddenly and decidedly a thing of the past.

Much too soon the handsome man let go and stepped back.

"I'm glad to meet you." Ron looked around. "Which one is my office?"

"That one." Ben pointed to Anton's old office.

"Thank you." Ron paused. "I'm sorry about turning up early, but I wanted to take a look around before starting work on Monday."

"That's okay." Damn, could he sound any more stupid? This was not the way to make a good impression on his new colleague.

Ben couldn't tear his gaze from Ron's back as the man walked into the office, looking intent on taking charge of his new domain. His behind, with a strong back and an extremely well-formed ass, was just as attractive as his front.

Damn!

Ben had to force himself to look away from the tempting sight and return to work. There were only a few more manuscripts to get ready for the new exhibition on Monday, and he intended to be done and out of here by four PM, if not before. After all, it was Friday, and staying around Ron for longer than necessary would only lead to more embarrassment.

Barely two hours later, Ron emerged from his office. He'd made a few calls, had asked Ben to tell him where to obtain office supplies and secretarial services, and had reorganised some of the files. Not that Ben had been watching.

"Would it be okay if I asked you to give me a tour? I'm not sure I remember it all from last week's interview. Horrid sense of orientation, I'm afraid." Ron had a surprising ability to make puppy dog eyes when he wanted something.

"Sure." Ben rose from his chair and grabbed the last two pieces needed to complete the exhibition on the second floor. "I'll put these where they belong during the tour. You'll see where the exhibition on Darwin's life will open on Monday."

"Do you expect many visitors?" Ron followed him into the narrow staircase used by employees to get down to the exhibition floors.

"The usual, I guess." Ben's brain definitely wasn't working at full capacity. Hell, the man's presence at his back made him break out in a nervous sweat. He could swear Ron was ogling his ass. Yes!

"Is that good or bad?" Ron sounded amused.

Ben used his keys to open the door and stepped aside, intending to let Ron go first. Ron shook his head and held the door for him instead. Gorgeous looks and a gentleman too? _Please, let him be single._

Half an hour later they were done with the tour. Ben was ready to throw himself into Ron's arms. The man's sidelong glances, subtle touches and open flirting were driving Ben crazy.

"Would you like to join me for tea?" Ron turned around when they'd reached his office. "I'd like to get to know you better, and nothing beats afternoon tea for having a nice, relaxing chat. Very British of me, I'm afraid."

"I'd love that!" Ben was more relieved than he'd admit out loud. "And there's nothing wrong with being British."

"Marvellous." Ron grinned and led the way outside.

Maybe the old saying about a window opening when a door closed, or something like that, was true? Looking at his new colleague, knowing the interest went both ways, Ben realised Anton's leaving had not been a bad thing after all. Apparently, new colleagues could sometimes be even nicer than their predecessors.

Ben smiled as Ron took his hand and they started walking towards his car. Ron definitely showed promise.

About the Author

SERENA YATES is a night owl who has loved reading all her life, and is now a full-time writer. Male/male romance is her passion, and her work ranges from the romantic to the erotic, from short stories to novels. Whether the story setting is contemporary, sci-fi or paranormal, she guarantees a happy ending.

**Website:** http://www.serenayates.com

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/serenaequalityyates>

**Twitter:** <http://www.twitter.com/serenayates>

**Good Reads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show2964333.Serena_Yates>

**Email:** serenayates09@googlemail.com

Also by Serena Yates

Celestial Justice series at Silver Publishing

Eye of Scota: Cináed at Dreamspinner Press

Keeping You series at Dreamspinner Press

Max's Italian Romance at Total-E-Bound

Men of Riverside series at Total-E-Bound

Mistletoe Science series at Dreamspinner Press

New Horizons series at Total E-Bound

The Cake (with A.J. Llewellyn) at Total-E-Bound

The Magic Thieves at Total-E-Bound

Workplace Encounters series at Silver Publishing

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Giving it Up

by Josephine Myles

I downed the lukewarm tea and wolfed the custard cream biscuit, desperate to get outside before Josh arrived.

Too late. There he was, clipboard in hand. As I descended the steps he turned in my direction, his eyebrows rising up to meet his artfully messy fringe.

I don't think I'd ever seen anything ruffle his poise before.

I took my place next to him and pulled the clipboard out of my bag. The petitions rustled in the breeze, showing me the "Donation Not Discrimination" headline in a rapid flicker. I wasn't going to explain myself. I didn't have to, did I? I was here, doing my bit for the university LGBT society.

"Didn't think you'd be the type," Josh said, his gaze fixed on the mobile Blood Donor Unit—basically a giant camper van wheeled here to drain us civic-minded students of our vital fluid. He tutted and I bristled.

"What d'you mean? I'm not a type."

Josh turned and looked down his nose at me—impressive seeing as how he was a good six inches shorter. "A liar." He stared pointedly at the dressing in the crook of my elbow, his expression strangely disenchanted. "I thought we'd all agreed that we had to go along with the exclusion policy and register our objections by protesting. Not by cheating the system."

I rolled my sleeves down. "I'm not a bloody liar. Anyway, I never voted. That was your idea."

"You never objected. You were the first to volunteer for the early shift."

Yep, I couldn't deny it. But then again, hopeless though it was to think a trendy Art student like Josh might be interested in a nerdy lunk like me, I couldn't resist the opportunity to stand alongside him for a couple of hours. I even booked myself the earliest donor session, reasoning I'd be out of there and innocently accosting people with my petition by the time he joined me. Looked like he wasn't as much of a lazybones as I'd thought.

I was about to open my mouth in defence when a group of students wandered past and Josh chased after them for signatures. I waited by the entrance to the unit, listening to his spiel about the homophobic assumption that all gay men were promiscuous. He got his signatures, the girls huddling around him to show their support. Two of the earliest to sign walked past me and I heard one complaining "Such a waste!" as her companion giggled.

Was Josh promiscuous, I wondered? The way he was talking, you'd think not, but then he dressed so provocatively, all tight jeans and flamboyant, skinny-fit retro shirts. All that leather jewellery. And I'd seen him flirting down the Student Union Bar with at least twenty different blokes. Not that I was keeping count or anything.

Well, okay, maybe I was. I'd only ever seen him leave with a couple of them, though, and that could have been for any number of innocent reasons.

I ambushed a lecturer on his way into the unit and got his signature. When I looked up Josh was by my side, a glimmer of respect in his eyes.

"Nice one. We need to get the lecturers on board with this too." But then the disappointed look was back. "I'm still pissed off with you, though."

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak in case I blurted out something that would mark me out as a total loser.

I was on my second page of signatures when it happened. Josh was explaining exactly what the exclusion criteria were to a puzzled looking foreign student.

"No, what it means is that any man who's had sex with another man can't ever give blood. Never, ever again. We're not talking fancying them or kissing. We're talking anal or oral." Josh made gestures to illustrate his point and I thought I'd pass out. Best blame the loss of blood.

Josh continued: "Even if you use a condom. Even if you've only had one committed partner for years and tested negative. The only gays who can give blood are virgins."

"I don't see what is problem," he replied, his words stumbling with confusion and a heavy Spanish accent. Josh huffed and turned to me.

God knows what was on my face right then, but understanding dissolved the frown on his.

The Spaniard made his escape as Josh stared. I flushed and studied my clipboard.

"You really weren't lying, were you? You're a virgin."

"Shut up!" I hissed, as a passing couple turned to gawk.

Josh's crooked smile broke out. The one I'd been hoping to have directed my way for months. Why the bloody hell did it have to be here, like this? Couldn't it have been over drinks in the bar?

"I'm not a virgin," I said. "I've just never done it with a bloke." And okay, I'd only ever done it the one disastrous time with a girl, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Hey, that's fine. Nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed." This time I really was lying. I felt the heat in my cheeks and was amazed I had enough blood left to blush.

Josh smirked. "You know, you're really cute when you're embarrassed."

"Fuck off," I mumbled. I think what I meant to say was, "Take me, take me now!"

Maybe he understood me anyway.

After Beth and Rosie turned up to take over from us, I stalked off towards the library.

"Matt! Wait a minute." Josh rushed up to me, his barnet all windswept and dishevelled. "I, uh, I was wondering . . . Do you fancy a drink?"

I looked down into his wide blue eyes. Was he nervous too? I wanted to say yes but couldn't make my mouth form the words.

"Please?" he asked, placing his hand on my arm.

"I don't think the bar's open yet."

Josh raised his eyebrows. "And I don't think you should be boozing after just giving up a pint of blood. I meant coffee. There's this great little café I know and they've got this exhibition of photographs of bridges. I thought you might like it, seeing as how you're studying engineering." He gave me a shy smile.

I grinned and took his hand.

As we walked to the bus stop, side by side, it suddenly occurred to me that I was probably going to have to give it up. Donating blood, that is.

Their loss, my gain.

About the Author

Eccentric Englishwoman, absent-minded mother, proud bisexual, shameless tea-addict, serial textile craft hobbyist, iconoclastic logophile and writer of homoerotic romance—JOSEPHINE MYLES is all these things at once. She has held down more different jobs than any sane person ever should, and is fundamentally rebellious, preferring the overgrown yet enticing path rather than the wide and obvious one.

Jo once spent two years living on a slowly decaying narrowboat, and was determined that she would one day use the experience as fodder for a novel. It may have taken a few years, but she got there in the end. She usually does. _Barging In_ , her first novel, will be released by Samhain Publishing in September 2011.

Visit Jo's website for steamy free reads and regular blog posts.

**Website:** <http://josephinemyles.com/>

**Livejournal:** <http://josephine-myles.livejournal.com/>

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Josephine-Myles/194637190559079>

**Goodreads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3499509.Josephine_Myles>

**Email:** josephine_myles@yahoo.co.uk

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Thoughts in Spring

by Mara Ismine

Bang. Thud. Scrabble. Clatter. Thump.

Ash stared at the kitchen window as he processed the afterimages of a large black bird and an even larger branch which had appeared momentarily. He sighed and cast a last glance at the spring day outside. This glance was not full of appreciation—it was full of blame.

Ash opened the back door. There went his hopes that he had been imagining things. The large rook on the patio strode towards the door with the twiggy bough in its beak. The striding didn't work too well with the size of the branch. The progress was more of a drunken stagger as the branch resisted by jamming in every crevice between the paving stones.

"Shall I take it?" Ash asked, after one particularly bad disagreement between bird and tree limb. The rook dropped the branch long enough to caw and fluff out its feathers, adding a peck when Ash reached down. "Okay, I won't touch your precious twig."

Ash stepped back and leant against the worktop with his arms crossed. He deliberately didn't watch the rook trying to drag the branch into the kitchen; instead he glared at the calendar stuck on the fridge. It was Saturday morning and nearly two days until the "03:47!!!" message scrawled in the Monday slot. The rook was making muffled noises as though it was swearing at its load which was still resisting entering the house. Ash kept his eyes fixed on the calendar. A series of scratchy thuds broke Ash's resolve and he looked down to see both rook and branch tumble through the door and skid across the kitchen floor.

"Wark!" The rook righted itself and strutted around with fluffed feathers. Ash refused to move. After a minute or two the rook took hold of the branch and dragged it across the kitchen to the hall. Ash winced at the resulting scraping, tearing noises. They had only redecorated it a few months ago, but it didn't sound like wallpaper was winning against wood.

Ash pushed away from the worktop and shut the back door before following the rook. He kept his eyes fixed on the bedroom door and tried to ignore the torn wallpaper.

"No!"

The rook looked up at Ash's shout and let go of the branch which clattered to the floor.

"That's not going on the bed." Ash crossed his arms again. "We've had this discussion before. No nests on the bed." He glared at the rook which was strutting around in the middle of the duvet looking innocent. "Pick another nesting site or I'll pluck all your feathers out."

The rook gave him a hurt look and pecked at the duvet. Ash just kept his glare at its highest level. The rook made a small noise and looked around the room. Its beady black eyes fixed on the wardrobe and it flew from the bed to inspect the new location.

"You aren't putting sticks up there either," Ash told it. "Here, use the chest of drawers." Ash quickly cleared the top of the chest by sweeping everything into the top drawer. The rook flew down from the wardrobe to perch on Ash's shoulder and inspect the alternate nest site. It sidled down Ash's arm, its eyes on something in the drawer.

"Why don't I fetch your branch for you?" Ash shut the drawer quickly before the rook could get its beak into the contents. The rook hopped off Ash's arm and paced out the cleared area.

Ash left the rook cawing happily as it positioned the branch, and went back to the kitchen with only a short, resigned look at the calendar.

The weekend passed with annoying slowness for Ash. He opened the back door a lot for a variety of twigs and branches. The messy heap on the chest of drawers grew and the rook seemed happy, even if Ash wouldn't open the bedroom window for easier access.

Ash added new net curtains to his shopping list.

The rook insisted on sleeping in the nest every night. Ash threatened to pluck the bird several times when it was nibbling his earlobes to entice him into the twiggy bed.

Sunday night finally arrived and Ash got ready for bed watched by a sleepy rook. "You're going to pay for this," Ash muttered as he got into bed.

A loud thud, some creative swearing and the sound of snapping twigs woke Ash. He forced his eyes open and stared at the alarm clock. 03:48. Moonset. Ash groped for the bedside light as the swearing diminished and unsteady footsteps retreated to the bathroom. He caught a glimpse of Corbin's naked back disappearing as the light came on.

Dragging himself out of bed, Ash ignored the sounds of retching from the bathroom. He stared at the broken nest scattered across the bedroom floor before sighing and picking bits up. He dropped them on top of the chest of drawers and swept up the smaller pieces.

The shower came on as he headed for the kitchen to empty the dustpan. He had tea and soup ready by the time a damp Corbin appeared in the kitchen.

"Thanks," Corbin muttered slumping onto a chair. "It's mating season again?"

"We missed the worst part," Ash replied as he set the full soup bowl and some bread in front of Corbin. "Thank goodness, I don't like worms. This year we've moved straight to nest building."

"Oh. In the bedroom?" Corbin accepted a spoon from Ash and started eating slowly.

"Yes, but I kept you off the bed and the wardrobe." Ash settled into the chair opposite Corbin sipping his tea.

"You could have let me use the bed," Corbin grumbled, "That would have been less painful to fall on."

"You've ripped the wallpaper in the hall and destroyed the bedroom nets." Ash glared across the table. "I wasn't going to have the bed clothes ruined too."

"Sorry. I'll fix it, I promise." Corbin didn't meet Ash's eyes.

Ash let him suffer for a few minutes until all the food was gone and he judged that Corbin was recovering from his weekend of feather brained antics. "You can start making it up to me now."

"Really?" Corbin swallowed the last of his tea and stood up. "Leave the washing up, I'll do it later." He bent down and kissed Ash. "Thanks for putting up with the other me."

"Well, I don't want you palling up with some pretty hen," Ash said as he savoured the taste of minty toothpaste and clove mouthwash that was just-shifted Corbin.

"No chance of that. Rooks mate for life and you're the one for me even when I have feathers." Corbin took Ash's hand and tugged him out of the chair.

Ash let Corbin lead him back to their bedroom. Having a wererook as a partner was annoying for a couple of days a month, but human-Corbin was always diligent in making things up to Ash.

Very diligent. Later Ash would treat Corbin's bruises from shifting back in the nest and falling to the floor, which were a lot more important than wallpaper and nets. Ash smiled as Corbin started working on his apology.

About the Author

MARA ISMINE has been writing m/m romance exclusively for three or four years now, after many years writing mainly fantasy and sci-fi, and has had several titles published electronically by Torquere Press. This summer she will be published in print and ebook as part of an anthology of slashed fairytales from Less Than Three Press.

She lives in Suffolk with her husband, sons and a very large dog.

**Website:** <http://maraismine.bravehost.com/MaraSite/MaraEnterPage.htm>

Other works:

Novel:

_Smoke: A Dark Masters Story_ : <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9054069-smoke>

Novellas:

_Yarotanji: A Dark Masters Story (#2)_ :  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10767286-yarotanji-a-dark-masters-story

_Persistence Pays_ : <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7891279-persistence-pays>

_Journey to Compromise_ :

<http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7364012-journey-to-compromise>

Short stories:

_A Scary Package_ : <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9805920-scary-package>

_A Chance Meeting_ : <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9562315-a-chance-meeting>

_It's a Calling_ : <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9338526-it-s-a-calling>

_Jobless in January: Joe Smith_ : <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7941967-jobless-in-january>

Anthologies:

_Fairytales Slashed Vol.3_ :  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11355136-fairytales-slashed-volume-3

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Mouth Almighty

by Victoria Blisse

When I walked into _More Cheese Please_ with my boyfriend Ben I hoped to find a tasty Lancashire cheese. We did, but we also found a captivating woman in a blue pinny. She had the most intoxicating green eyes and I found myself standing a little bit behind the more confident Ben and peering over his shoulder to admire her beauty.

"Stunning isn't she?" He whispered as we huddled over the homemade oatcakes in the corner.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed," I replied, flicking the sandy hair off my forehead.

"You're such a bad liar," he chuckled, "and I know the kind of woman you like."

"You fancy her too, though, right?" I whispered, "It's not just me."

"Oh no, she's delicious," his breath tickled my ear as he leant closer to me, "I just want to take a big bite of that luscious—"

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" Her gentle voice startled us and we bumped heads. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you."

"No," Ben rubbed his head, then mine, "it's okay, we were deep in conversation."

"I heard," her cheeks flushed and she lowered her gaze. "Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Well, we were looking for a good, local cheese but we seem to have been distracted by your beauty."

Ben is a smoothie. He won me over with his charm and his flirtation powers never cease to amaze me.

"Well, my personal favourite is the Mouth Almighty, it's a tasty Lancashire and it's made only a few miles down the road. As for the other bit well, I..." her practised sales patter faded, "...I'm not sure what to do about that."

"Hmm, well, if you had somewhere a little less public we could go to, I could describe in detail what I'd like you to do about that." I nudged Ben and was about to apologise profusely to Sally (I had read her name tag) when she smiled and walked over to the door. She locked it and pulled down the blind with a wink.

"So, gentlemen, what was it you wanted?" She turned towards us and smiled wickedly.

"Well," Ben said, "I'd really like you to lose some of that clothing."

"Tit for tat," she nodded, "I will follow your lead, whatever you take off, I will take off."

"What do you think, Pete, shall we go for it?" Ben asked.

I looked at my handsome boyfriend then over to the hot cheese lady; yes, I know that sounds wrong but really, who doesn't love fondue?

I eased down the zip on my sensible yet designer rain coat as my answer. Ben followed suit and Sally pulled off her apron. The pattern continued with me in control. I lost my shirt, my shoes and my trousers and stood there, my feet chilled by the cold tile floor, beside my similarly disrobed boyfriend.

If Sally was stunning clothed she was breath taking when nearly naked. Her curves just called to be stroked. I wanted to feel her mozzarella white skin beneath my fingertips. I wanted to see her English rose tinted lips pressed against the coffee cream flesh of my boyfriend's torso.

As I thought, she walked closer and moments later, as she kissed Ben with a passion that took my breath away, I got my wish. I traced her curves with my fingers as she kissed down Ben's naked chest to his bulging boxer briefs.

"Now, I will show you my mouth almighty," she smiled and pulled down the material between her and her goal. She pulled me closer as she kissed along the underside of my lover's cock. I felt a jolt of arousal as her hand ran over my front, trailing down the hairs that lead into my underwear. As she swallowed him, she stroked me and as the excitement became all too much I pulled down my pants so that I could feel her fingers on my naked hardness.

"This is so hot," I whispered as I ran my hand lovingly down Ben's spine. "Her lips frame your dick beautifully."

"They fucking well do," he cursed through almost gritted teeth, "and I want to see them around your cock too."

"Okay boys," she said, after pulling away from Ben's dick with a pop, "your wish is my command."

She pushed on my thigh until I stood hip to hip with the love of my life. Only he would lead us into a situation like this and only with him would I feel comfortable indulging my Bi side. She took it in turns sucking one cock then the other. Her mouth blurred as the pace heightened.

"Fuck," I gasped as her manipulation thrilled me. "Yes."

Ben reached behind me and caressed my arse. He loved my buttocks and his tender touch pushed me closer to my climax.

"Damn, I'm going to come soon," I groaned.

"Me too," Ben gripped my butt cheek all the tighter.

"Yes," she stopped sucking us, "I want you to come on my tits."

She leant back and offered her chest to us. She popped off her bra with one deft movement then as her creamy breasts were revealed she moved her fingers down to the juncture of her thighs.

To put no finer point on it, we wanked. Ben pulled on his slim, hardened knob and I stroked in time with him. We were both focused on the bouncing breasts before us.

"I'm going to come," she announced between moans. "Spurt your hot cum on my skin lads, please."

I have never been able to keep a lady waiting, so I came. The ropes of thick, unctuous liquid hit her across her left nipple. Ben grunted and his thinner, more abundant juices splashed all over her right globe as she shook and stiffened in orgasm.

She looked up, her cheeks flushed.

"So, would you like some Mouth Almighty, boys?"

"After that sample," I panted, "we could hardly say no."

About the Author

VICTORIA BLISSE is a Mother, Wife, Christian, Manchester United Fan and Award Winning Erotica Author.

She is equally at home behind a laptop or a cooker and she loves to create stories and cakes that make people happy.

Passion, love and laughter fill her works, just as they fill her busy life.

**Website:** <http://www.victoriablisse.co.uk/>

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Reunion

by Lisa Worrall

Toby sat at one of the two dozen or so tables spread around the gym, and sipped at the glass of champagne he held. The sparkling wine had been shoved into his hand as soon as he'd walked through the door. Right after he'd been humiliated by Kerry Matthews who was handing out the name badges from behind her little table outside the gym. She'd looked at him blankly when he'd given her his name, obviously having wiped all memory of him from her mind as soon as they'd left school. If she'd ever had any memory of him while they were there. Toby had plastered on a smile while she cooed and simpered, clasping her hands together and jiggling in her seat: "Of course I remember you, Toby Mitchell." _Like hell you do_ , he'd thought to himself. _You don't have the slightest idea who I am. You know it and I know it, and you know I know it._

Gazing around the room as he swallowed, he cursed the day the email came from Lizzie Wagner, inviting him to the Drury Hills twentieth reunion. He also cursed the fact that it had been Joseph, his partner in the bookshop he owned, who had opened it. He could see Joseph in his mind's eye now; hands on hips, grey gaze staring Toby down.

"Oh, yes, Cinderella," Joseph said with a grin. "You shall go to the ball."

"I don't think so, Fairy Godmother," Toby replied. "Which part of, 'my school days were the most horrific and scarring years of my life', did you not understand?"

"Don't be ridiculous, dear boy," Joseph drawled, sorting out a stack of books new in that morning, for cataloguing onto the computer. "Everybody's school days were the most horrific and scarring of their lives, it's the law."

Toby rolled his eyes and continued unpacking boxes. Joseph clearly had no idea what the hell he was talking about. The other man had gone to an all male private school in the country. A school where being gay was not only the norm, it was practically compulsory. Drury Hills, in the middle of busy Stockport, was not as forgiving.

"Come _on_ ," Joseph cajoled. "There's got to be _one_ thing that would make you go to the reunion." He crowed loudly at the telltale stain of blush in his friend's cheeks. "I knew it. Go on then, spill. What is it?" His smile widened in sudden understanding. "Or should I say, _who_ is it?"

That's how Toby Mitchell found himself in the middle of his worst nightmare, sipping champagne that, by the taste of it, cost at least three pound fifty a bottle. Joseph had carefully vetted Toby's wardrobe and declared everything unsuitable to be seen in public; before dragging him all over Mersey Way Shopping Centre, and seriously abusing his credit card. That's why he was wearing a charcoal grey casual suit that had cost more than his first car, and an open-necked black shirt that stretched so tightly across his firm chest, he could barely breathe. Joseph had assured him that it accentuated his abs, but Toby was convinced he shouldn't take any sudden deep breaths in case the buttons flew off and took someone's eye out.

"Toby? Toby Mitchell, is that you?"

Toby cringed and wanted to crawl inside his own skin and zip himself up like one of those weird shopping bags his mother used to have. The sound of that voice ripped away the years and he was Toby 'takes it up the arse' Mitchell all over again. Wayne Smith. _Please don't let the three stooges be with him_ , Toby thought desperately as he looked up from his glass. He'd already known that fate wouldn't be that kind when he saw the four men walking towards the table. "Hey, Wayne," he said lamely.

His gaze drifted over Wayne's now mostly bald head and noted the way it shone with sweat under the flashing disco lights. The years hadn't been kind to Wayne, who had been captain of the school football team three years in a row. His belly bulged over the waist of his trousers and Toby surmised it was probably due to the lager that swilled around in the pint glass firmly clasped in his hands. He found it hard to believe that these oafs had been responsible for most of his humiliation.

"Still taking it up the arse?" Wayne guffawed, elbowing the moron beside him in the arm who began to laugh with him.

"Wayne? I thought that was you, you ugly bastard."

Toby's gaze flew to the man approaching his table and his heart flip flopped in his chest, just like it used to. Joseph had been right. There was _one_ reason to attend this reunion, and it was currently hugging his tormentor. Michael Hayes; captain of the cricket team, and major star of Toby's wet dreams for five years. If he'd thought his humiliation was over, he was wrong.

"Mickey, you old git!" Wayne rejoined, nodding towards Toby. "Look who's here. Did you know Tobes always had a big gay crush on you?"

When Mickey turned and deep brown eyes locked with his, Toby thought he was going to die of embarrassment. But embarrassment turned to startled surprise when Mickey winked at him.

"All your dogs never were barking, were they, Wayne? Always giving it the biggun', thinking you knew everything about everybody," Mickey drawled, flopping down into the chair beside Toby.

"Huh?" Wayne said stupidly, his gaze following Mickey's arm as it slid along the back of Toby's chair, his fingers coming to rest on Toby's shoulder.

Toby's mouth dropped open and he coughed uncontrollably. Choking on his own breath at Mickey's response.

"Of course I knew I was Toby's big gay crush, you stupid arsehole," his fingers squeezed Toby's shoulder, as he stared at Wayne, and his tone was filled with derision. "I just wish I'd had the courage to tell you nob'eads to fuck off and let Toby know that he was mine." He turned and smiled into Toby's shocked blue eyes. His gaze was unwavering and he lifted a hand to brush Toby's hair from his forehead. "So," he threw over his shoulder at the four amazed men, deep brown eyes still staring into cool blue. "If you nob'eads wouldn't mind _fucking off_ —I'll tell him now."

About the Author

Lisa is a single mother of two small children and has been writing in one form or another since she had to attend the Head Teacher's office for her first gold star in composition. She lives in a seaside town in Essex that boasts the longest pier in the world, which is her only claim to fame. She tries valiantly, and usually without much success to balance her children, a part-time job and writing within the twenty-four hours that there are in a day. She is currently petitioning for a few extra to be added, but hasn't heard from Greenwich yet. She's an incurable romantic at heart and loves the feeling of bringing together two people who are meant to be, even if it is only in her head. Although she does have a little sadistic streak that cannot always guarantee a happy ever after...

**Facebook:** http://www.facebook.com/Lisa Worrall Author

**Twitter:** <http://www.twitter.com/Lisa_Worrall>

**Goodreads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3501047.Lisa_Worrall>

**Blog:** <http://lworrall.blogspot.com/>

**Email:** lisaworrall69@gmail.com

Also by Lisa Worrall:

Halfway House

Bank Job

No Strings Attached

US Male - Uniform Appeal Anthology

Running from the Past

A Nanny for Nate

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While the Boys Are Away

by Lucy Felthouse

"C'mon," said Amelia. "Let's go get showered while the boys are doing their cavemen piece."

Gemma giggled. Her boyfriend Rob and Amelia's bloke Tony were hunkered over the barbeque, desperately trying to get it to light. The breeze wasn't helping, and the boys were getting increasingly irritable. It was time to make a hasty retreat before they started beating their chests.

The girls dashed into their respective tents and grabbed their stuff. As they started walking across the campsite to the shower block, Amelia said quietly, "I don't know why we can't just go to the pub, like normal people."

"Heard that!" yelled Rob, glowering at them both. The girls scurried quickly away, not wanting to incite any more of the boys' wrath.

Pulling the door shut behind them, Amelia remarked, "Ahh, it's lovely and warm in here. Ya can't beat a heated toilet block."

"Too true," responded Gemma, moving over to the sinks to put her things down. She looked around, checking that they were alone. "Now, let's get you out of those wet clothes."

"Wha‬—" before she could ask the question, Gemma had depressed the tap, filled her hands with water, and thrown it at Amelia.

"You bitch!" Amelia squealed, running over to Gemma. She began to tickle her, knowing the other girl would be helpless with giggles in a matter of seconds.

As she tried to block Amelia's onslaught, Gemma sucked in a breath and gasped, "I thought we were going for a shower."

Relenting, Amelia said, "You're right. We were."

Dropping a kiss on Gemma's tousled head, she grabbed their stuff and headed for the biggest shower cubicle. Her lover followed, almost recovered from her giggling fit. Sliding the lock home, Gemma turned, only to see that Amelia was already stripping.

"Eager, aren't we?" Gemma said, a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Shut up and get undressed," Amelia responded, grinning at her. "We can't be too long, or the boys'll send a search party. Remember last time?"

Gemma laughed as she thought about the last time they'd come camping. The girls had been making love in the shower when they heard a knock at the door and a childish voice call out their names. It turned out that Rob and Tony had sent the little girl from the pitch next door to see if they were okay. Little Amy was very confused when both girls emerged from the same cubicle, and they'd had to come up with some lame excuse about Amelia having tangled her hair in her necklace.

Luckily, Amy had been young and naive enough to swallow their excuse. The boys had never been any the wiser. Still, they didn't want to take any chances, especially since it could be the campsite warden knocking on the door next time, and they'd have to come up with a watertight excuse to fool an adult.

Kicking off her shoes, Gemma undressed. All the while she watched Amelia, whose nipples, despite the heat in the room, were hardening. Gemma expected it was due more to arousal than the temperature.

Reaching out a hand, Amelia switched on the shower then ducked back quickly. The water pounded down into the tray, and seconds later steam started to fill the air. Amelia tested the heat and, satisfied, stepped in. Gemma quickly joined her, but not before retrieving her bottles of shampoo and shower gel from her bag.

Dropping the containers onto the shelf behind her girlfriend, Gemma happily let herself step into Amelia's embrace. They stood there for a few seconds, not moving, letting the water pummel and heat their skin.

As they were a similar height, the girls' breasts were crushed together, soft flesh moulding against soft flesh. Gemma leaned closer and caught Amelia's mouth in a smouldering kiss, which was immediately returned. Before long, tongues were in mouths, and hands were tangled in hair and slipping between willing thighs.

Pulling away suddenly, Amelia growled, "Fuck, Gem. Lean against the wall and spread 'em. I've got to taste you."

She knelt on the floor in front of Gemma, who manoeuvred so her juicy slit was accessible to Amelia's eager tongue. Amelia wasted no time burying her head between Gemma's thighs and slipping her tongue into her girlfriend's hungry pout. Gemma was soon writhing against the wall and biting her fist to stifle her blissful moans and yelps.

Amelia slipped a hand between her own legs and stroked her clit rapidly as she brought her girlfriend closer to the edge.

The eroticism of their illicit and risky behaviour quickly incited both girls, and soon they were moaning knee-trembling climaxes as quietly as they could.

Knowing they couldn't be away much longer, they showered and dressed as soon as they had full control of their bodies again.

By the time they were in sight of their tents again, the only evidence of their lovemaking was a pink flush across both their faces, which could just as easily have been attributed to the heat of the water.

"Nice shower, girls?" Tony enquired as the girls wandered back towards them, arm in arm. He and Rob were sitting either side of the now happily-smoking barbeque, beer in hand.

"Oh yes," replied Amelia, giving Gemma's arm a squeeze, "the best."

Tony raised an eyebrow then looked at Rob.

"Told ya, mate." He said. "They've been at it again."

"Fucking typical," replied Rob. "We've been hard at work cooking the dinner, and you two have been having it off in the shower."

Amelia laughed. "So where is the dinner then?"

"Ah, well, we had to wait you see, 'cos we didn't know how long you'd be."

"Well," Amelia replied tartly, "get the grub on then, and maybe we'll tell you exactly what we've been doing. And if you're really good, we might let you watch next time."

About the Author

LUCY FELTHOUSE studied Creative Writing at University. Whilst there, she was dared to write an erotic story - so she did. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Noble Romance, Ravenous Romance and Xcite Books. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.

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Nessie

by Caroline Stephens

He was dreaming of his home. Warm sun-soaked beaches and clear blue water. Jude Hannigan opened his eyes; he shivered, scowling up at the dreary grey sky. He peered into the distance, hoping for a glimmer of blue sky. No such luck. Just stormy clouds and constant drizzle, with a layer of grey mist hovering over the murky depths of the Loch. Jude hated the mist with a passion, even more than he hated the rain. It was oppressive, hanging over the beauty surrounding him like a dark shroud.

Jude shifted on the wet grass. Picking up his binoculars, he scanned the horizon looking for a sign. Any sign would do, but all he saw was endless swathes of mist and... rain. _What was he doing here?_ Sitting on a hillside, soaked to the skin, with cold feet, above a Loch in the wilds of Scotland when he could be surfing in the Californian sunshine, or studying dolphins in Florida or Hawaii, like all the other marine biologists. _The sane ones_ , Jude reflected.

Jude blew out a breath searching the horizon again before focussing on the ruins of Urquhart Castle, just below him. _Who was he kidding?_ He knew why he was here—the thrill of an adventure and a mystery no-one had ever solved. Jude had jumped at the chance to debunk a myth, or find positive proof the Loch Ness monster existed. But now his four months was up, and he had to decide whether to stay or leave. The research grant had been generous, but an inheritance from his grandfather meant Jude could stay, forever, if he chose. All he had to do was decide. Green hills, dramatic scenery and a quiet village called Drumnadrochit, or the sun-drenched beaches, endless blue sky and the sparkling delights of Malibu.

"Hey Jude."

Jude rolled his eyes, looking up at one reason to stay. Callum McAllister, guest house owner and chef extraordinaire. Six foot three inches of raw sex appeal with an unruly mop of red hair, jade green eyes, and a soft lilting accent that made Jude shiver all over. Friends first, they had progressed to being lovers within a month. Now every night, snuggled in a huge bed under the eaves of the small house, Jude warmed his feet on Callum, and explored miles of pale skin. He knew he loved Callum despite his insistence to try haggis, neeps and tatties. Jude mock-scowled. "That's getting old."

Callum chuckled, slumping down next to Jude. "I dinna get out much."

"What? You stay inside and miss all this... mist and rain?"

Callum laughed. "It can be dreich sometimes."

Jude frowned.

"Damp and drizzly to the Americans amongst us," Callum clarified, grinning broadly.

"Dude. Understatement."

Callum nudged Jude's shoulder. "Any sightings?"

"You already know the answer."

"Aye, I do."

Jude gazed into the distance. Even with the constant drizzle and the mist caressing the Loch, the scenery was breathtaking—Mother Nature in all her magnificence. Green hills, rich with vegetation and wildlife, swept down to the shores of the Loch and its gloomy depths. The inky dark water was beautiful too, in its own way, shrouded in mystery, hiding a secret no-one had yet discovered. Jude turned to Callum. "It's wonderful."

Callum smiled. "Aye, it's bonnie. I never tire of it."

"Does it ever stop raining?"

Callum shrugged. "Sometimes."

"In summer?"

Callum snorted. "This is summer."

"But my feet are cold. Dude. That's not cool."

Callum chuckled, staring out across the Loch, a faraway expression on his face. "Your feet are always cold."

The words were intimate, knowing. Jude studied Callum's profile, sharp and angular, yet soft somehow. Perfection. Callum was a man of few words, but there was a wildness lurking beneath the surface, just like his homeland. Jude sighed. The tension in the air was thick between them. The unspoken question had been hanging over them for days—the elephant in the room. _Or Loch Ness Monster?_ Jude smiled. He was wet and his feet were cold, but Jude knew without a doubt, he was staying.

"I'm staying." He covered Callum's hand with his own. Warm calloused skin made his cold hand tingle. _It wasn't fair!_

Callum flicked a gaze toward Jude, hope shining in his expression. "What about your cold feet?"

It was a stupid question, but it somehow said it all. Jude grinned. "I'll buy some thick socks."

Callum squeezed Jude's hand, before pushing him down onto the ground. Callum crushed their mouths together in a rough hungry kiss, his lips warm against Jude's cold ones. Moaning, Jude devoured Callum's mouth, moulding their bodies together, luxuriating in the feel of the firm familiar body. Callum's cock was hard against his own. Breathless they pulled back from the kiss.

"Let's take this inside. I need a wee dram," Jude said in his most outrageous Scottish accent.

Callum mock-scowled, pulling Jude to his feet. He smirked. "I've something better than a wee dram in mind to warm you up. Race you back home." With that, Callum took off up the hill.

"Lead the way," Jude said, jogging after Callum.

Callum turned, watching Jude run up the hill toward him. He smiled, cocking his head to one side. He had been listening to the sounds of the Loch since childhood. No longer quiet, the swell was louder, waves lapping at the shore; it was coming. Anticipation curled in his stomach. A thunderous splash announced the arrival. Rising out of the murky depths, the creature bobbed its elongated neck and head above the surface, stretching its long shiny body. It flicked its sinuous tail into the air. White frothy waves crashed to the shore as it powered through the water. Callum watched the creature frolic in the icy depths, obviously enjoying the mist and drizzle. The thrill of witnessing _the myth in the flesh_ still excited him, even after all these years.

"Come on slow coach." He waved at Jude, who seemed oblivious, his woolly hat pulled down over his ears. Callum watched the creature sink majestically beneath the shadowy depths, wondering what Jude would say if he discovered Nessie was real. He smiled. _Maybe one day he'd tell him._

About the Author

CAROLINE STEPHENS lives in Bedfordshire spending her working days as a Training Administrator in the NHS, but still has plenty of time for writing. Having written M/M fan fiction for years, she finally worked up the courage to attempt an original story with her own characters. A romantic at heart, she believes in happy endings.

**Website:** http://carolinest.livejournal.com or http://calysta18.livejournal.com

**Find me on Twitter:** <http://twitter.com/calysta18>

**Goodreads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/carolinestephens>

**Email:** caroline.ste@ntlworld.com

Also by Caroline Stephens:

Dance of Death

Cover Art

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Slap and Motley

A Coming Out Story

by Sandra Lindsey

"Parcel came for you." John held out the plain box as though it might do something unexpected if not immediately attended to.

Terry dropped his briefcase and took it, examining the label. "I've not ordered anything recently." He opened the top and fished out some paperwork. "Ah. It's from Kelly. 'Just some things I thought you might like', this says."

John's mood eased. He'd feared it might have been from Terry's soon-to-be-ex wife, but his sister had shown them nothing but support since they'd confirmed her suspicions about their new domestic arrangements. Doubtless any gift from her would be well-meant and harmless.

"Good grief!" Terry's exclamation pulled John's attention to the table where the contents of the parcel had been spilled across the polished wood.

He moved swiftly to Terry's side and hummed agreement, inspecting the small boxes, laughing as his lover added, "She's gone loopy!"

"Doing it in style, though. Clarins, Dr. Lewinns, Decléor—this stuff isn't cheap."

"I've no doubt—I know my sister. But why? I've never had any interest in creams and stuff before. Does she think I'm going to change after thirty-four years?"

"She didn't know you were interested in men until a couple of weeks ago," John pointed out, dropping a soft kiss beneath Terry's ear.

"Only because she never paid attention," he muttered in return. "But seriously, what is all this stuff? Eye contour balm? Line control cream? Energiser for tired eyes? What's wrong with a splash of cold water?"

John peppered kisses along Terry's jaw, chuckling at his indignation and bafflement.

Terry paused, a pot containing some kind of pink substance dwarfed between finger and thumb, and a look of disbelief on his face.

"What's that?"

"Looks like make-up." He unfolded and read through the paperwork. "Yes, 'blusher—gift with purchase' it says here. Well, at least she didn't specifically order that for me. Guess I'll give it her next time we meet up."

"Um," replied John.

Terry looked at him suspiciously. "Um what?"

"I don't suppose I could have it, could I?"

Terry's eyebrows shot up. "Is there something I don't know about?"

John laughed. "Many things, but we'll get to them all in good time."

"Something specifically to do with you and make-up? I know you were an eighties teen, but..." his light-hearted jibe dwindled away at his lover's change of expression. John didn't like being reminded of their age difference, or that he was the older.

"You know I'm part of Brinstock Am-Dram?"

"That's where you disappear every Tuesday, right?"

"Yeah, well, it's to do with that. It's... We... I..."

Embarrassment creased John's face. Terry's fingers itched to trace the deepened lines though he restrained himself, wondering what dark secrets had been hidden from him through the years of their friendship.

"I'm their panto dame."

Terry laughed and folded his arms about his lover, exchanging the minuscule pot for an extended kiss. "If you'd told me that before, I might have come to watch. Break a leg."

About the Author

After growing up in North Wales, and growing up further in Sheffield and Oxfordshire, SANDRA LINDSEY found her home near a historical lake in the mountains of Mid Wales. When not curled up reading or writing she is usually to be found baking, gardening, talking to her chickens or line dancing in the village hall.

_Slap & Motley_ is Sandra's first published work, but she has plenty more ideas. Keep up with her at: http://sandra-lindsey.livejournal.com

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Like a Girl

by JL Merrow

Her name's Nina, and she punches like a girl.

"Come on, love," I say. "Give it some welly."

"You sure?" I can see the doubt in her soft brown eyes.

"Just go for it," I urge. "You're not going to break me." Fat chance. You could make two of her out of a lass like me.

"All right," she says, uncertain. " _Chudan_!"

She steps forward, her little fist coming out from her hip like a fledgling sparrow thrown out of the nest. As it nears me, it flutters off course, and when I do my inside block I catch her arm harder than I meant to.

Nina hops back, grimacing and clutching her wrist.

"Sorry, love," I say, wishing the mat would turn into a black hole and swallow me up. I'm three belts higher than her; I ought to have more control. "You all right, there?"

"No! No, I'm fine, it was my fault," she says. She smiles, and tucks a stray wisp of long, black hair behind her ear. "Again?"

I nod, awkward like.

" _Chudan_!" This time it's strong and true, and if I hadn't blocked she'd have winded me.

"That's more like it!" I tell her, a big grin on my face. "Bloody brilliant!"

She opens her mouth, but her little voice is drowned out when Sensei yells in my ear. "Change sides!"

We both step back. "Um, do we bow again?" Nina asks.

Bloody hell, I should know this. I know I should. "Go on, then," I manage and we bob heads at each other like a couple of nervous nodding dogs. _Oh, yes-yes-yes-yes-yes_.

I take a breath, and step back into _gedan berai_. " _Chudan_."

Nina's chest rises, her gi falling open just a tiny bit farther, showing the red tank top she's wearing underneath. She's such a scrap of a target; her belt loops twice around that handspan waist and the ends fall almost to her ankles. I have to ground myself before I can make the move. _Don't think about the woman. Only the technique_.

I make the punch, and she blocks it with a perfect _uchi uke_. "I did it!" she cries, delighted, and she gives a little jump.

"Well done, Miss Kapoor," Sensei tells her from right behind me, and I jump a bloody mile. "Back into stance, now, ladies." Nina smiles at me under feathery eyelashes, secretive like.

****

I try not to watch her in the changing rooms afterwards, I swear I do. She wears sensible cotton underwear, all white to match her _gi_. It looks grand on her warm tan skin, but I'd like to see her in red, to match the tank top. "Nina," I say. "Do you fancy going for a coffee?"

"That'd be great," she says with a smile, and I turn away as she pulls on her jeans.

****

Nina's twenty-three, and she's just moved into the area. Got a new job working as a receptionist. "I just love meeting people," she says like she means it.

"Good for you. I can't stand the buggers," I say, and she laughs as if I've said something clever.

Her parents are second generation, and they don't believe in arranged marriages.

"Should bloody well think not," I tell her, a bit short.

"Oh, but there's a lot to be said for them," she says, leaning forward on the table between us, dark eyes so wide there ought to be a warning sign. _Danger: deep water. Swim at your own risk._ "Most young people choose who they marry based on sexual attraction, but older generations have a better idea of what's really important. Reliability. Similar interests, and a steady job."

"They'd like me then," I say, though I doubt it. "Say what you like about undertaking, but you can't tell me folk are going to put off dying just because there's a recession on."

She laughs again, and I can almost hear my brothers. _Get her, thinks she's a comedian or summat_. I tell them to bugger off in my head; I do it often enough to their faces.

****

We go for a walk in the park, after. There's geese and swans and moorhens, and a couple of lads larking about pushing a shopping trolley into the lake. "Bugger off, you lot!" I yell at them, and they laugh and give me the finger but they bugger off all the same.

We get the shopping trolley out. "Not sure that was worth it," I say, looking at the twisted, rusty metal.

"Well, you know what Tesco say." Nina grins. "Every little helps."

Then she shrieks and runs, as I pretend to go for her with a _mawashi geri_ for such a bloody awful joke.

****

"Think you'll keep on with the karate?" I ask, as we sit on the grass with our backs against a chunk of Roman wall and watch the kiddies feeding Hovis crusts to the birds.

Nina makes a face, half smiling and half frowning. "I don't know. I think I punch like a girl."

"And what the bloody hell's wrong with that?" I say, all heated like I'm on a soapbox on Hyde Park corner.

Nina smiles properly, and slips her hand into mine.

About the Author

JL MERROW is that rare beast: an English person who refuses to drink tea. Having grown up by the seaside, she also loathes fish and chips. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.

She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporaries and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour.

**Website (including free reads section):** <http://www.jlmerrow.com/>

**Blog:** <http://jl-merrow.livejournal.com/>

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/jl.merrow?ref=profile>

**Goodreads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2980235.J_L_Merrow>

Some of JL Merrow's other books:

Pricks and Pragmatism

Camwolf

Sex, Lies and Edelweiss

Muscling Through (July 2011)

Wight Mischief (November 2011)

Snared

Tortoise Interruptus

Dulce et Decorum Est

A Ghoul Like You

Stroke to His Cox

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Last Client

by Jay Rookwood

The young man hesitated before he pressed the doorbell. He'd promised himself he wouldn't return to this place, wouldn't be the kind of person who needed someone else. But the events of last week had ripped away the façade.

"Jonathan? Is that... God, what's happened?" The joy on Keith's face as he opened the door was short-lived.

"Can I come in?"

The older man stood aside to let Jon past then helped him peel off his drenched mac. The cramped living room hadn't changed much: the TV was new, but the heirloom three piece suite still dominated the space. "You look cold. Do you want tea or coffee?"

Jon shook his head, and moved into Keith's arms. "No, just you." He struggled to keep his voice level, even as he felt Keith's warmth and strength and love flowing into him.

"Do you want to tell me what's happened?" asked Keith as Jon finally broke away.

"I need to." Jon drew them both down onto the sofa; he couldn't remember ever feeling so hollowed out, so drained. This all seemed to be happening so fast, but if he didn't say it now he wouldn't ever. Jon clung to the momentum that had brought him this far, and pushed forwards. "But first I have a confession, so please promise you won't judge me."

"I promise."

"I've been working as an escort."

"Oh," Keith's face fell. "Look, perhaps you shouldn't—"

"It hurts. You're jealous. I understand. Just—"

"You know what I'm like, I can't stand to have someone else touch you."

"I'm sorry, Keith. I wouldn't have said anything, only I need to tell you what's happened, and you need to know that first."

"You've not been raped or anything, have you?"

"No, this was... different." Jon closed his eyes, felt his nerves steadying. The hardest bit was over. "Keith, you ever seen someone die?"

"A few times. It's an occupational hazard of being a GP. Why?"

"It's sort of complicated. Few months ago I got a new client, Malachi, black guy in his, I dunno, late forties, I guess. He was a loner, a lot of my clients were. Lost his partner to AIDS, had no family left. He was nice, never really wanted much from me. Often we wouldn't even have sex, just talk. He liked gardening, loved Bob Marley, had a big collection of orchids in his conservatory. I used to like being around him, couple of times I even gave him a couple of hours extra. I—"

"You got involved, attached."

Jon nodded. "Then Malachi booked me for a full weekend. Said he was moving back to Tobago and wanted one last blast before he left, so we went to Amsterdam. He asked me to treat him as if we were real-life lovers. I didn't think anything of it, it's not that unusual a request. And you know, we had a really good time. I don't think I've ever enjoyed myself more than I did last weekend. Not even that week in Prague."

"Even the sex?"

"Especially the sex. Anyway, the flight back was really late, and by the time we got in it was almost two a.m. so I stayed the night with him. Should have seen the expression on his face when I made it clear we wouldn't just be sleeping. The next day before he woke up I went down into the kitchen to make him breakfast in bed. All the cupboards were empty."

"You mean he was out of food?"

"No, I mean all the cupboards had been emptied out and cleaned, like new."

"He was moving to another country, though."

"That's what I thought, but I started looking around, and there were other things missing, odd things—things you wouldn't take with you if you were moving to another country. Then I found some stuff about an organisation called Dignitas."

"Ah."

"You know about them?"

"Yes, the assisted suicide organisation. Very controversial."

Jon nodded. "Had to look it up on my mobile, weren't quite what I expected."

"So he was planning to die?"

"Terminal cancer. He was diagnosed just before he started seeing me. All that time he was hiding it then he arranged to go to Switzerland just when it was beginning to get too painful to hide any more. The weekend was..." Jon halted, tears pricking his eyes.

"I think I understand."

"No." Jon shook his head. "That's not everything. I couldn't let him fly out there to die on his own—I needed him to have a friendly face, you know? He spent most of that last night in Zurich crying in my arms, he was so scared of dying but in so much pain. Then we went to Dignitas and... They use orange juice, did you know that? Could have been just an ordinary drink with a friend, but after a while he became sleepy, then he dropped off, and a while later..." Jon clenched his fist, driving the nails into his palm and focussing on the pain to maintain control. "Before he fell asleep he said, 'Thank you, I never thought I'd ever fall in love again after Harvey died'. After that he just looked at me until he couldn't keep his eyes open no more."

"Watching someone die is never easy."

"No, except... Malachi would've flown out to die alone. No family to send him off, no friends to remember him, nothing. I don't think I realised until he died, that's what could happen to you. That's when I knew I had to come back here."

"I'm not planning on dying for a while yet."

"No, but you're not much younger than him, you'll probably die long before me. I've wasted so much time already that we should have spent together. I don't want to waste one more day."

Late that night, Keith watched as sleep gradually melted away the hardness of Jon's face. His insolent-young-thug sexiness hid a much more sensitive, vulnerable boy beneath, even if so very often it was 'look like an arsehole, act like an arsehole'. The more Jon seemed to need and crave security and sensitivity, the more he seemed to push people away. Keith had long since given up trying to understand why he cared so much for him, it was just one of life's mysteries.

But perhaps Keith was still thinking of the old Jon, who certainly wouldn't have flown out to Switzerland to hand-hold a dying stranger. Already he looked so different from the scrawny Dickensian urchin he'd been not so long ago. So if the young man had matured so much on the outside, was it really too much to hope that the same had happened on the inside?

About the Author

JAY ROOKWOOD realised he was genderqueer at twenty-five, after years of confusion over having two libidos—gay male, and bisexual female. He's been writing for his own pleasure for years, but only recently started thinking about writing professionally. He hates most flying insects, and likes cats, dogs and spiders. Especially spiders.

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Sunshine Superman

by Elin Gregory

Sunlight danced on the grey-green water, making Sam squint as he put the tiller over. Ahead was the little cove, the gleaming hulk of Stag Rock just off centre with waves foaming about its weedy, limpet studded foot. As he guided _Heartsease_ between the high chalk cliffs, they caught the stutter of the motor and redoubled it into an echoing clamour. Sam cut the engine to coast in on the next wave. The keel crunched into shingle as he went over the side, calf deep, to urge the dinghy farther up the beach. His back twinged as he straightened up. Sam Yelf with his _Heartsease_ had been working the coast of Wight, from Freshwater to the Needles, for over fifty years, so he had earned a twinge or two. Lobsters, that was the game. Sam could remember the old willow pots, but _Heartsease_ was laden with modern ones—metal and net with plastic floats rather than the traditional glass ones. Ugly, but they did the job.

A catspaw of wind ruffled the fringe of hair around his bald patch as he walked up the beach to the usual rock. He folded his Guernsey to sit on and opened his lunchbox. In it was the little digital radio the grandkids had given him for Christmas. He tuned it into IOW Radio's weather forecast, before picking up a sandwich. The weatherman's voice fell flat on the warm air then the next song started. Sam grunted and turned the radio up.

"Well, I'll be ..." he mumbled as the music of his youth filled the little bay. A song about sunshine and belonging and doing it with style. He had known all the words once but now he remembered other things far more clearly.

Sam put out a hand to lay it on the warm chalk, remembering a time when the hair on his knuckles had been black, not white.

It had been the first hot, still day of 1968. Back then, the sea under Stag Rock was smooth as oil apart from the ripples around the shoulders of a swimmer. Sam watched the smooth sweep of arms and wondered who it was. The man stood and picked his way, surefooted, through the shallows. Water beaded on skin primed for tanning with coconut oil as the last little wave broke about his ankles and he stepped out onto the sand. He was about Sam's age but with brown hair, brown skin, brown eyes, little blue trunks, glass beads glinting at wrist, throat and ankle. He wrung water from the length of his hair and smiled at Sam, who stared, his Marmite sandwich halfway to his mouth, until a swooping herring gull made a grab for it.

They both found that funny, he and Jerry, though in other ways they were very different. Jerry spoke posh, had passed his Eleven Plus, had been to college. He was a chef at the Albion Hotel. He cooked the lobsters the Yelfs caught. Odd then, that they should have hit it off so well— except for that other thing they had in common, the thing that back then you couldn't even mention. It took Jerry about ten seconds to work that out.

"Hello," he said and nodded to the sandwich, though his eyes roved. "Can _I_ have a bite?"

They ate together on the rock while they introduced themselves.

"I work nights," Jerry said, "but days I do what I like. What do you do, Sam?"

Jerry's warm brown eyes weren't just interested—and a little predatory—they were kind. Sam meant to tell him all about lobstering but that interest and kindness made him babble and he soon found himself telling Jerry about keeping out of Dad's way when he was drunk, or stepping in if he started on Mum or Joanie. The interest turned to sympathy but the kindness didn't waver.

"Well, then," Jerry touched Sam's cheek, brushing away a crumb, maybe, or a grain of sand, "possibly, if you like, I could broaden your horizons—or something?"

Sam had no experience of long haired lads who talked about the Summer of Love and offered him a strand of beads in exchange for a kiss. But Sam was a fast learner.

All that long hot summer, when Dad was sleeping off the beer or just couldn't be arsed, Jerry joined Sam as the _Heartsease_ puttered amongst the rocks. He brought exotic leftovers, a blanket and a transistor radio. Jerry said that "Sunshine Superman" was _their_ song and that he'd take all Sam's troubles away. Sam knew he couldn't do that, but he came close.

Especially at the secret landing places where nobody would see them if they stripped off to swim. Where, if they wanted, and they usually did, they could fit their bodies together, making the shingle squeak under the blanket as they moved, until they drowned out the little sounds with louder ones. If a dog walker or golfer on the cliff above heard them they'd think it a gull. Except, Sam and Jerry agreed, gulls didn't normally take the Lord's name in vain, which Jerry was inclined to when he got close.

That summer Sam laughed more than he had ever done before in the whole of his life. That summer he finally took the bottle out of Dad's hand and they started lobstering properly.

In October Jerry left for a job on a cruise ship, as Sam knew he would.

"Be happy, Sam," Jerry had said, on this very rock, and Sam had been.

He had never seen Jerry again, but there had been Graham—and Craig, Sandra, Trevor, John, Elsie—until, finally, he found a different kind of heart's ease with Maureen. Mrs Yelf, dearly beloved, wonderful wife and mother, who was probably cooking shepherd's pie for supper since it was a Wednesday.

Tonight he'd go home to a snug house with its mantelpiece filled with pictures of kids and grandkids. He was blessed, he knew, both now and by all his happy memories.

"Jerry." He grinned as the song ended. "God bless you, wherever you ended up."

Sam smiled, enjoying the sun on his closed eyelids, while the wind, cat's paw soft, kissed his cheek.

About the Author

ELIN GREGORY has been writing stories for 50 years, initially in crayon, mostly for the fun of it, more recently to share with friends. She lives in Wales, is married and hopes, one day, to have a quiet little room of her own with lots of book shelving.

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Escape to the Country

by Stevie Woods

London 1780

Andrew looked up from his book to watch Stephen, hunched over his desk writing in one of the ledgers. He smiled at the faintly disgruntled expression on his lover's face. As if he knew he was being observed, Stephen looked up and caught the smile on Andrew's face.

"What's so amusing?" Stephen asked brusquely.

"You, doing something you dislike." Andrew's smile widened.

"Well, of course, I'd rather be doing something I like." Stephen laughed, the look in his eyes telling Andrew exactly what he would rather be doing.

"Behave," Andrew cautioned.

Stephen sighed, exasperated. "I'm sorry. You certainly didn't visit me to entertain yourself reading my books."

"I don't need an excuse to visit you," Andrew said.

Stephen shoved his papers away and stood abruptly. "I've had enough. I need a change of scene, away from the drudgery of the city," he declared.

"Drudgery?" Andrew smiled. "We have hardly stopped attending the theatre, balls or soirées all season."

"Exactly! And enough is enough. Let's go to the country."

"What? Leave mid-season?" Andrew was wide-eyed at the idea.

"And why not? London doesn't need me." Stephen walked around the desk to stand directly in front of Andrew's chair. "But you need me, don't you?" he asked huskily.

"Always." Andrew shook himself. "I will willingly come to the country with you. London society won't miss me either."

Stephen gathered him close as he searched out Andrew's oh-so-willing mouth. The kiss was both tender and demanding as Andrew opened up to let Stephen plunder his mouth, both men sighing at the contact, before Andrew pushed Stephen away.

"Damnation!" Andrew exclaimed "We agreed only to do that in your bedroom."

"I know. I forgot myself in my need to taste you. Come upstairs?"

"You are incorrigible."

****

Stretching out his long legs and crossing his ankles, Stephen leant back and made himself comfortable, using the old oak tree as a backrest. He was content merely to relax and watch Andrew, who sat on the small rise nearby sketching the lake below them. Stephen could vividly remember the first time he had brought Andrew to stay with him at his country estate. Things had been so different then. It was before he had accepted how he really felt about his friend; before he understood that he yearned for more than just friendship with Andrew.

Those days seemed so long ago now; Stephen could hardly believe a time existed when he and Andrew weren't together. At least here, in his own private little world, Stephen could forget that as far as the world outside was concerned, they were merely good friends. In his heart, he could believe that he had a right to be with the person he loved; that it made no difference that he loved a man.

"What are you thinking about?" Andrew interrupted his thoughts, standing before him, sketchpad in hand. Stephen hadn't even realised that Andrew had moved until he spoke.

Smiling, Stephen replied, "You. The first time I brought you here."

"Oh my, that seems like another lifetime." Andrew smiled. "I could only watch and want from afar in those days."

Stephen stood then and pulling Andrew into his embrace, he shoved Andrew back against the tree, out of sight of the house and any possibility of being seen by his servants' prying eyes. Stephen sought out the tender skin of Andrew's neck.

Andrew moaned as he arched his neck, presenting Stephen with more skin to kiss. Andrew turned to capture Stephen's lips, breaking away a few moments later to say, "Let's go inside."

Stephen grinned. "Had enough outdoors for the day?"

"Yes, and what I want to do now would get us arrested if we were seen."

It was only a few minutes later Stephen closed his bedchamber door to find himself shoved back against it by a desperate Andrew, swooping in to continue the kiss he'd started back by the lake. Stephen gasped as he felt Andrew's tongue invade his mouth and he grabbed onto his lover, pulling him even closer so he could feel Andrew's hard body press him against the door behind.

"Want you, want you so much," Andrew murmured against Stephen's lips, his breath mingling with Stephen's, the two becoming one.

As it should be, Stephen thought. "Whatever you want, you know that," he whispered.

Andrew's fingers scrabbled to remove Stephen's breeches but his haste was hindering rather than helping, so Stephen grabbed his hands. "Slowly," he said softly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Andrew sighed and between them they quickly divested themselves of their clothing and together they moved to the bed where they lay down side by side.

"I think it's my turn," Andrew said, his hands sliding down Stephen's spine.

Stephen frowned. "I had no idea you were keeping score."

"I'm not, I just want you."

"Ah." Stephen smiled. He rolled onto his back and spread his legs.

Andrew deftly prepared him, watching Stephen's face as he slowly pushed forward, breaching Stephen in one smooth movement.

"Good, Stephen?"

"Perfect," Stephen whispered.

Andrew pulled out and pushed back in. Stephen grunted, lifted his legs higher and wrapped them around Andrew's waist. Andrew smiled and adjusted his angle.

"That's it, Andrew, again...do that again. Come on...harder, you can do better than that."

Andrew did as he was bid, thrusting in again and again and each time he hit that sweet spot. Stephen thrust back to meet him and soon the only sounds were low moans and the slap of skin on skin, until Andrew slid a hand between them to grip Stephen's cock, pumping in time with his thrusts.

"Andrew...I'm...it's near. Oh God, I can feel...Andrew."

As Andrew grabbed his cock, Stephen lifted his hips higher encouraging Andrew to thrust harder. Stephen knew he was close now.

Stephen came first; spurting over Andrew's hand and his own stomach. Andrew climaxed just a few seconds later, filling Stephen with his seed.

As their senses came back to them, Andrew slipped out of Stephen and rolled them so they were face to face. They reached for each other, arms entwining as they kissed gently.

"That was wonderful, Andrew."

"Yes, that was the best yet."

"You say that every time," Stephen said laughing.

"Well, each time is new; therefore each time is the best yet."

About the Author

STEVIE WOODS has been writing gay erotic romance for several years now after stumbling over the genre and being immediately smitten. She has a soft spot for historical, but also likes to try other genres, finding the similarities as intriguing as the differences.

She has novels and novellas published in both eBook and Print by Amber Quill Press, MLR Press, Torquere Press and Phaze Books. You can find out about her various works, one-off stories and series, on her website together with the necessary links.

**Website:** http://steviewoods.com

**Blog:** <http://swquill.wordpress.com/>

**Live Journal:** <http://swquill.livejournal.com/>

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001969101724>

**Twitter:** <https://twitter.com/#!/StevieWoods>

**Good Reads:** <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1200331.Stevie_Woods>

**GLBT Wiki:** <http://bookworld.editme.com/StevieWoods>

**Email:** Stevie@steviewoods.com

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Prince Charming's Buttons

by Stevie Carroll

I kneel before Cinderella, and slide the glass slipper onto her tiny, exquisitely shaped foot. The slipper fits perfectly.

The audience applauds. The stepmother and the stepsisters are appalled. Baron Hardup is ecstatic.

I pull Cinders to her feet. We kiss, and Buttons steps forward to congratulate us.

The audience applauds harder. They're on their feet. It's the last night, after all.

So far, so traditional. But then...

Four nights a week I go home with Jen—Cinderella to those in the audience—to the flat we rent together. We're poster children for lesbian domesticity, right down to the matching blonde hair—hers strawberry, mine ash like my name—as well as the 'hers and hers' towels in the bathroom, and the two cats that get into everything.

We're the leading lights of our little theatre group. Our Sebastian and Viola in last summer's _Twelfth Night_ were particularly well received by the local press.

Our parents—all four of them—keep asking us when we'll get a CP. But then...

Three nights a week I go home with Colin—Buttons in this winter's panto—to the terraced house he shares with three other guys from the cast. His mum's glad he's found a steady boyfriend at last, although she hasn't met me. She's offered to lend him money for a deposit, so we can get a place together. We haven't told her everything yet, either.

I take off my stage make-up, change out of the prince's finery and into jeans and a T-shirt, then I check in the mirror that my packer's positioned correctly. I don't wear it on stage for panto—the principal boy is a strange, sexless creature, flat of chest and crotch—but it comes in handy for Shakespeare, when my costume doesn't have a codpiece. I tuck my hair up inside my peaked cap, and pull on my leather jacket. Then I kiss Jen goodnight and head off to find Colin.

Colin's ready first tonight. He's become a lot more confident since we've been going out—not that I'm claiming all the credit for that—and it shows most obviously in the way he dresses. No more baggy jumpers and too-big M&S jeans. These days he wears vintage Levis or pre-owned Paul Smith.

One day I'll take him to London for a shopping spree in Camden and Covent Garden. He needs off-stage clothes with lots of buttons on them, now I've seen his current stage costume. I have a thing for buttons. Big, shiny, silver buttons, and little pearly ones too. Colin's still ginger, of course—I've got less of a problem with that than he does—and short—likewise—and there's no losing those cute freckles.

We go for a post-performance drink at the _Toast and Marmite_. The wrap party was last night, because a couple of the bit-part actors were heading straight off tonight. I was with Jen at that, and Colin was on his own, poor lamb.

A couple of local yahoos call out after us as we leave the theatre, but they do that when I'm with Jen as well. It's all talk: they wouldn't dare pick a fight with me. At least their antagonism proves I can pass for a boy as easily as I pass for a girl.

Our preferred seats are downstairs, away from the karaoke, although I can hear Vic belting out _Dancing Queen_ up above us. Vic gets me, when a lot of the others don't: my need not to be constrained by gender, as well as my own particular flavour of polyamory. But then Vic's been switching between genders on stage—and sometimes off—since long before any of our trio were born. Some productions Vic's the dame, some he's the other leading man. I like his style.

Colin and I are both on our second pint, when I decide to pop the question. I've been building up to it all week, but I'm nervous even so.

I ask him if he'd like to look for a flat with Jen and me. Together we could afford a three bedroom, ground floor place. The cats would like getting in and out whenever they like, and it would suit their humans better too. Not for some kinky three-in-a-bed scenario: there'd be a double room each for Jen and Colin. I'd take the smallest room, and divide my time between them just the same as I do at present. When I'm not with one of them, they'll have enough space to do their own 'entertaining' if they want.

Much to my relief, Colin's okay with the idea. More than okay, he's nearly as enthusiastic about it as Jen, and it was her idea in the first place.

With that settled, we arrange a time for the three of us to meet-up next weekend. One of us needs to book the viewings—probably Jen: she's good at that sort of thing—but there won't be so many suitable places that we can't get round all of them in a day.

I finish my beer, and stand up. Time to go home. Time for bed, after a last celebratory drink at Colin's place: there's a good selection of beer in his fridge. These days there's always a bottle or three of Black Sheep in amongst the cheap lagers, and woe betide any of Colin's housemates who might consider nabbing that on a night I'm going to be round.

Not everyone understands how we can live the way we do, but it works for us.

I catch Colin's arm as he's walking past, and give him a big kiss, full on the lips.

One week off, and then we start casting for our next performance. Maybe I'll get to play opposite him this time around. It's time he got a part that stretches his talent, rather than just providing the comic relief. My Colin deserves better than that.

About the Author

Born in Sheffield: England's Steel City, and raised in a village on the boundary of the White and Dark Peaks, STEVIE CARROLL was nourished by a diet of drama and science fiction from the BBC and ITV, and a diverse range of books, most notably Diane Wynne-Jones and The Women's Press, from the only library in the valley. After this came a university education in Scotland, while writing mostly non-fiction for various underground bisexual publications under various aliases, before creativity was stifled by a decade of day-jobs.

Now based in Hampshire, Stevie has rediscovered the joys of writing fiction, managing to combine thoughts of science fiction, fantasy and mysteries with a day-job in the pharmaceuticals industry and far too many voluntary posts working with young people, with animals and in local politics. Stevie's first published story, 'The Monitors' (in Noble Romance's ECHOES OF POSSIBILITIES), was long listed by the 2010 Tiptree Awards jury.

Stevie currently has multiple projects on the boil, including at least two novels, a novella and several short stories. Updates on all of these are currently to be found at Stevie's Livejournal, although a website is in the planning stages and will go live towards the end of the year if not before.

**Livejournal:** <http://stevie-carroll.livejournal.com/>

**Email:** stevie.carroll@dormouse.myzen.co.uk

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Yesterday upon the Stair

by Erastes

The air crackles between us. There are touches unborn, touches that will wither on the vine. We talk, but there are levels to it, layers of sediment which glaze and numb. We don't break through, and I wonder why.

Days drag and we talk but still we do not commune. Nights pass and we've found each other; in the dark, at last, at least. I thought that the man with the eyes of an autumn love was a thief; that my man had gone forever leaving this sad, hollow shell in his place but I was wrong. God alone knows how often I've been wrong about him. He's still steel and he's still fire and still his skin burns under roughened palms and he whimpers just the same when I slide my hand between his legs. His voice might be deeper, but the sob in his voice when on the cusp is the same knife-edge of pain and want. I can't see the years in the dark, and my own have been wasted in a dark place far from his side.

I have too many years to regain. Will he wait while I find them?

I don't know. I know his layers, each one as thin as the one before but ranging from the tautest silk to the toughest adamantine. Funny—when we were kids he was the one they all worried about. The one who was always pale and always sick, always tired. "Puff of wind'd blow you away," my mum would say. He'd eat at my house more often than not, and she never ceased to marvel at his ability to wrap himself around more bangers and chips than the rest of us put together. But he turned out to be the strongest of us all. The one who stood firm in the maelstrom. He was always the one with the secret smile.

But he's keeping me out.

Where did you run to, my starbright, when there was no hand to guide you, no lover to tumble in the snow? Who did you turn to? Why, when your eyes tell me nothing's wrong, do your hands move convulsively in your lap? What is it that you don't want me to know? Worse, what is it that you think I don't want to hear?

Oh, he lets me into his bed, his mouth, his body. In the blackness we have reached a rhythm we can live with. Our cocks keep no secrets from each other. But mouths stopper mouths and speech is only for imprecation. In the light of day we must minuet around each other and shelve the _danse macabre_ of the lost years. I find myself counting the minutes until the night, when the words come last in this race of ours.

There've been times when I've nearly said: "Tell me." And I have played the scenario out in my head so many times I nearly know how it will go. He'll look at me, with that damnable polite-face, all wafer-strong, and he'll frown, and say, "Tell you what?" Or "There's nothing to tell."

He is the very master of that secret smile. We have talked it out, he thinks; the years between. Long talks by the fire while our fingers tangled together and we spoke without eye contact, cleansing each other of the guilt, razing the shadows. He's forgiven me, and I've forgiven him, and we are adults now and when I look across the decades, to the before, I see the two of us on the horizon and we are both too busy to wave.

He's told me about Paul. He hesitated for days before he did. He thought I'd be hurt, thought I'd be angry, but how could I be, when all Paul did was make him happy?

But it's not that man I want him to tell me about. It's the one who hides behind the shadows, the one I can taste on his lips, the one he thinks of when his eyes drift towards the fire at night. Someone claimed my man when I closed my eyes, and now I have a rival I can't fight. When the dark thoughts sweep him away his mind runs in the same direction as his eyes, _westwestwest_ ; runs until he can run no farther. Before the dawn I turn in my half-empty bed and imagine him sitting on a hilltop, like a wolf, crying to a moon he can never catch. He's no wolf, and neither am I. I'm barely a dog, waiting for scraps he won't give.

So I say. "All right?" and he says, "Yes, of course," and we go on, and on. But I wonder if he even knows how his voice has changed in those years apart. I don't know much, but I recognise the sound of loneliness and loss when I hear it. I have heard my own, screaming his name.

Some pains don't need an explanation. Some sounds are older than rational thought. You only need to hear them from the mouth of someone you love.

About the Author

ERASTES is the penname of female author of gay historical fiction. Author of eight published novels and over 20 short stories, Erastes is a Lambda award finalist and keen lover of history. She began writing full-time after leaving the legal profession finding it stranger than any fiction. Find out more at <http://erastes.com/>

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Benefits of Peace

by Alex Beecroft

At the punt pool, Timothy almost turned back. His new boater prickled around his forehead where the sweatband had not yet had time to soften. He had brought a picnic lunch, wrapped in brown paper, and the most accessible of his textbooks to make a start on.

Peace, that's what he wanted, somewhere where he could relax, without imagining other fellows watching him, cataloguing his slightly too long hair and the scarf he wore in place of a tie, wondering if he should be debagged on the high street or simply given a good thrashing where he stood.

Peace awaited him on the aimless river Cam, if he could only work out how to propel a heavy, flat-bottomed boat on a slow current. It looked easy enough. You just dropped the pole and pushed. As the pole went down, the punt went forwards. Simple enough even for an untutored first year, surely?

It was not. The bottom of the punt pool was soft mud into which the pole sank, and from which it had no intention of parting. At his first push the boat slid forward below him, but the pole stood still. He barely avoided a humiliating dunking by bringing the whole thing to a full stop. It was a full quarter of an hour later, and he had made a start on his beer when, after much fruitless pulling, he worked out one had to unscrew the pole from the mud like a tick from a sheep.

Levering himself along the bank, he crabbed his way out into the open stream. Here the bottom was less treacherous, and he got in a more satisfactory push, bending his knees and driving the pole all the way home. Oh, Glory! For a moment he was doing it, rippling across the water with the grace of a swan and a decent turn of speed, red cows watching him from the scrubby meadow on his left, and New Court's green lawns on his right studded with ladies in big hats, and young men who had rolled up their sleeves to bare their sinewy forearms.

Timothy barely had time to sigh with enchantment before the opposite bank was rushing up at a quite unmannerly speed. If he pushed again he would only ram straight into it. It dawned on him that he had no idea how to steer.

"Look out!"

He whipped his head around at the call, just as his punt drove hard into the crumbly soil of the bank. Simultaneously, an oncoming punt smacked into his at right angles to the stern. The blunt square end came surging up, slicing towards his knees, tumbling his open beer bottle into the silty water.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry," gasped a blur at the rogue punt's other end as Timothy wavered, wobbled and splashed, with a feeling of doomed inevitability, and enormous regret for his new hat, into the stream.

A background of laughter and applause from the spectators faded from torment to insignificance when he scrambled streaming into the stranger's punt and looked up. Crikey! No, _Wizard_! He'd tumbled like Cleopatra out of her carpet right at the feet of The English Student. The _only_ English student, in Timothy's opinion. The one who looked like a poet, behaved like one too —declaiming verses in the moonlight, scattering wildflowers under the Master's windows and leaving empty brandy bottles in all the lonely nooks of his quad.

The one he had watched from afar for all the nervous and awkward first fortnight of his first term. The one... who was now looking at him out of clear grey eyes beneath the shadow of his wild romantic curls. He wore an expression that Timothy understood. Beneath his flamboyance The English Student was as much at sea as he was himself. Both barely out of school, uncertain in a new place, keeping the crowds at bay as best they might with the tools at their command.

"Child Roland to the dark river came," said the glorious youth, leaning out to capture Timothy's punt and bring it alongside.

"Beg pardon?"

"Me," he laughed and held out his hand. "Roland Ashby. I've just come up to study—"

"English, I know."

Timothy wriggled out of his blazer and spread it to dry behind him. When he turned back he found Roland watching him with a look that would have said 'prefect in the boy's showers 'if it had not also had elements of embarrassment and even tenderness. He looked down at himself, saw that the wet white linen was leaving very little to the imagination and blushed so fiercely it was a wonder he didn't steam dry in an instant. Pondering, briefly, on freedom and luck, the lack of form masters and teachers and parental controls, he leaned an elbow over the back board and lounged.

Those solemn eyes tracked up the length of him, lingered in his lap, and on his lips. When they met his gaze again he was all but drunk on possibilities. "Timothy—"

"What?"

"Timothy Somper. Reading Classics. You made me dump all my bally beer over the side."

"I thought I was getting the hang of it until you buzzed me like a Hurricane," said Roland. Having managed to crowd Timothy's punt into the bank, he anchored it there with the pole, retrieving Timothy's sandwiches and book. "But I have wine. And you, if I'm not much mistaken, have food. What do you say to going along with me? There are willows farther downstream whose branches touch the water. One can see out, but one cannot be seen. I think it would be pleasant to anchor there with a new chum and... talk. Don't you?"

Timothy's father always said that fortune favoured the brave. He was usually thinking of the Great War when he did so, but it was a useful maxim, even though Mr. Chamberlain had secured peace for Timothy's time.

"Eat, drink and be merry?" he laughed. "Whyever not?"

About the Author

ALEX BEECROFT was born in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and grew up in the wild countryside of the Peak District. She studied English and Philosophy before accepting employment with the Crown Court where she worked for a number of years. Now a stay-at-home mum and full time author, Alex lives with her husband and two daughters in a little village near Cambridge and tries to avoid being mistaken for a tourist.

Alex is only intermittently present in the real world. She has lead a Saxon shield wall into battle, toiled as a Georgian kitchen maid, and recently taken up an 800 year old form of English folk dance, but she still hasn't learned to operate a mobile phone.

**Website:** http://alexbeecroft.com

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Beecroft/67928469701>

Find me on Twitter as @Alex_Beecroft

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They Who Come After The Stories End

by Sophia Deri-Bowen

"Bloody buggering student bastards..."

"Language, Tup," Davies said idly, not even looking up from the tome spread before him. "Cambridge?"

"Oxford this time. A nasty one, too." Tup hung his hat and coat on the pegs just inside the Great Hall. "Honestly, Goose, not a week goes by when some posh creature decides that a temple of learning is just the grandest place ever to knock off a rival, or the Master, or someone else who lives at the top of a long flight of stairs. It's really quite boorish of them."

Davies hid a smile in the turning of a page. "Tup, you're posh. I'm posh. We live in an ancient manor hall and whether you like it or not, the stories are there. Who's taking care of this one?"

"One of Sayers' blokes. Not the toff—and yes, I know I am one, thank you sir—but the other one. With the stupid name."

"As you say, Tarquin Upton Percival Smythe the Third," Davies said, stretching out his lover's name until it creaked.

"Perhaps I'll pay one of them to take care of you next."

Davies laughed and tipped his head up, accepting a kiss. "You wouldn't dare. You'd starve to death without me around, for one."

"And then who'd clean up after the real stories?" Tup—the name got from his unwieldy initials—asked rhetorically, kneeling by the fire to stir the embers to life. "Aren't you absolutely frozen?"

"A bit, now that you mention it." Davies blinked, looking up and seeming to finally return to himself. A whole cantata of pops and cracks accompanied his stretching, attesting to an afternoon spent over the tome in front of him. "Thank you, dearest."

"S'pose I've got to keep myself in breakfast and tea, don't I?" Tup teased, bringing the fire to a healthy height and warming at least their little corner of the Hall they'd made their home. "There's fresh eggs in my satchel, by the by. I stopped by the old Starkadder farm on the way home."

Davies shivered. "Braver than I." He retrieved the eggs, though, and set about making them a little tea in the fire-warmed corner. They hardly needed the whole Hall, but it was empty, and characters who were from stories that had never been written couldn't be picky when it came to finding a place to lay their hat. At least they'd found a kind of work; Davies doing research for the more important, in-demand characters, and Tup acting as a general clean-up man, murders a specialty.

Speaking of such distasteful things—Davies had just set the table when the bell on the wall near their little bed rang. There was no bell-pull, and no apparent source for the slip of paper that came drifting down.

Tup made a face, but quickly crossed the Hall to check it anyway, while his lover stifled a sigh, and looked down at the omelette he'd made them. This would be the third evening running...

"The little princes in the tower again. Serve us up, then." Tup reappeared beside Davies, wrapping an arm around his waist and dropping a kiss on his neck. "And I'll throw another log on the fire."

Tup hated that story, and he hated thinking of those little bodies being handed down the staircase. There were others to take up the slack. He could stay in, and they could share a meal in the quiet space.

****

There wasn't a difference between night and day in the Void, and there was no time, so the two men went to bed when they were tired, ate when they were hungry. Schedules were for when they had to slip into the real stories, and follow days and nights like anyone else. In the Void, though, anytime could be bedtime, or at least an excuse to go to bed. Their lovemaking was quiet that night, bodies twining together under the thick quilts that kept out the chill of the damp Hall. Davies lay in Tup's arms, head resting on his pale chest, and listened to his lover's deep breaths.

He dreamed a little, half-awake and remembering. They had found this place not so very long ago, after wandering through one story after another. They were shadows in them; a story that someone had thought up, and never written. Perhaps not such a great surprise there; who would write about two Englishmen in love with one another in the time of Victoria? Certainly not their not-quite-author, who had daydreamed the two of them while dying of a fever.

And so Tup and Davies had been made, but not all the way. There were so many like them, the stories dreamed of and untold, wandering through the Void. They scavenged and traded, did what they could to help. Everyone settled into their own niches, and Tup and Davies found they favoured British mysteries and their mix of gentility and horror. Damp spring days, echoing stone corridors, a splash of fresh blood, all ringed with the best of manners—that was their natural environment, these days.

Tup shifted, tucking his head under Davies's chin, and their bodies settled a little closer together. Nearly asleep now, Davies didn't quite have the energy to lay a kiss on Tup's head, but it would wait until they woke. Perhaps this was their only gift from the dreamer who dreamed them: they had all of time to spend together, and all of Britain to spend it in. And they had each other, to chase away the cold.

About the Author

SOPHIA DERI-BOWEN is a proud native Philadelphian, who packed up her life and moved to Wales not too very long ago. She's still not quite sure how she managed it, but she now lives and studies in a beloved new country. You can read her blog at: http://sophiaderibowen.wordpress.com.

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End Note

We hope you've enjoyed our free anthology. If you're interested in reading longer stories by the authors, please check out the links in their biographies and take a look at our companion anthology, _Tea & Crumpet,_ published 3rd July 2011.

Find out more at: <http://ukglbtfictionmeet.co.uk/anthologies/tea-crumpet/>

If you're in the UK this summer and want to meet the authors, then get yourself down to the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet on the 23rd July. Find out more at: <http://ukmeet.weebly.com/>

For information on Meets in future years, visit <http://ukglbtfictionmeet.co.uk/>

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