“Fuck,” Lucas gasped and Mark took advantageof the momentary break from the kiss to take his own quick breathof air and then to bring his lips down over Lucas’s stubble-coveredchin, along the sharp line of his jaw and then down to the softerskin of his neck.Lucas let his head flop back to give Mark betteraccess, and it was a move of surprising vulnerability that madesomething stir protectively in Mark’s chest.He could be trustedwith this, but no one else could.No one but him should be allowedto see Lucas so open, and certainly no one else should be allowedto touch him or to discover the little hollows along hiscollarbone, the spot that made him twitch and squirm a hair’sbreadth away before pressing back even harder for more.
Mark wasn’t consciously aware that he hadbared his teeth until he’d used them to nip at Lucas’s shoulder.Hedidn’t know why he’d bitten until he felt Lucas’s body slump alittle, relaxing and submitting to a demand Mark hadn’t evenunderstood he was making.And he didn’t know why it was sointoxicating to be in control like this—to have the strong, almostfierce man in front of him give in to Mark without a struggle.Hedidn’t understand any of it, but he loved it all.And he wantedmore.
So did Lucas, apparently.He was exploringmore of Mark’s body now, his hands roaming over Mark’s chest, hisstomach.Then he reached behind to cup Mark’s ass and pull him ineven closer.
Mark moaned as their cocks ground together,both of them hard and straining against the fabric between them.Itwas too perfect and for a wonderful, horrible moment he thought hemight embarrass himself by coming right then and there.Instead, hepulled himself away, only a few inches, just far enough to regain atiny bit of control.Lucas stared at him, eyes as wide and dark asthey’d been the night before.This time, Mark had a moment toappreciate a few other details.The flush on Lucas’s golden skin,the plump swelling of his spit-wet lips, the way his chest moved ashis breath came quick and shallow…
Then his eyes flashed a little wider and helooked as if he was waking up from a dream.He frowned dazedly,then said, “Mark, what the fuck are you doing?You can’t dothis.”
Mark stared at him.“What?”
Lucas took a deep breath as if gathering hisresolve then shoved Mark away, hard enough to make it clear that hewas serious.“You’re a priest, for fuck’s sake.A…a pillar of thecommunity.You can’t be fucking around behind the corner store likea kid, like a…” He looked down at himself as if trying to put alabel on his own brand of depravity.Finally he shook his head.“You’re better than this.”And with that, he was off, walkingquickly, almost angrily toward the far end of the alley.
Mark stared after him.There was truth inwhat Lucas had said.He was a priest, and was supposed to be anexample of righteous living.He was supposed to be conservative andthoughtful and beyond reproach.Fucking around behind the cornerstore?Not priestly behavior, and he knew it.But somehow it stilldidn’t feel wrong.
He broke into a jog to catch up with Lucas.His cock was still hard and didn’t really appreciate the jostlingbut he tried to ignore that.Lucas was waiting at the mouth of thealley, staring out at the street as if daring anyone to wonder whathe’d been up to.Luckily the road was quiet and the few pedestriansdidn’t seem interested in the men coming out of the alley.
Lucas started walking as soon as Mark wasbeside him, his stride long and fast.He’d obviously waited forMark to ensure his safety, not enjoy his company.Mark had to spendmost of his energy just trying to keep up and they didn’t slow downuntil they reached the steps to Mark’s building.
“I can come in with you, if you want,” Lucassaid neutrally.“To make sure there’s no one inside.I thinktonight should have taken care of it, but there’s noguarantees.”
Mark had almost forgotten the reason they’dbeen out that night.“I think I’ll be fine,” he said.He wastempted to ask Lucas to come inside for another reason, but thewalk had cooled him off a little and he knew it wasn’t a good idea.He needed to think, needed to get some level of control back, andneither of those seemed like a probable outcome of spending moretime with Lucas Cain.
“Okay,” Lucas said, and he stepped back alittle.“Okay,” he said again.“Look after yourself.Becareful.”
Mark got the feeling Lucas was talking abouta lot more than just avoiding a beating.“I’ll try,” he saidquietly.There was nothing else to say, and nothing else to do butwatch as Lucas walked away from him down the sidewalk anddisappeared into the falling night.
ChapterThirty-Seven
“Lucas?”Mark’s voice was coming from rightbehind him, but Lucas didn’t look up from his task.“What are youdoing to my car?”
Well, that was a reasonable question, onethat deserved an answer, so Lucas pulled himself out from under thehood and leaned against the front of the car.“You said it doesn’tstart in the rain, right?”
Mark looked confused.He’d come out to thefarm that morning as was becoming his habit, worked quietly withLucas for a while and then gone off to help Alex tempt an injuredowl to eat.Returning from his task to find Lucas messing with hiscar…yeah, it made sense that he was bit confused.
Still, he wasn’t recovering too quickly.“Inthe rain.It doesn’t start.Right?”Lucas prompted.
“Yeah…” Mark said cautiously.
“So I figured it was your distributor cap oryour spark plug wires.Those are the most likely things.”
“Okay…”
“So I’m replacing them.If that doesn’t workyou might need a real mechanic, but this is a good first try.”
“You’re fixing my car?”
“Hopefully,” Lucas said.“No guarantees.”Hesaw Mark’s frown and hurried to say, “I’m being careful.It’s nothard.I can’t mess it up.Well, I could if I got the wires mixedup, but I didn’t.It can’t hurt to try.”
“You’re fixing my car.”Mark didn’t soundupset, which was a relief, but he was looking at Lucas far toointently.
Lucas ducked his head back under the hood.This was why he’d wanted to get the job done while Mark waselsewhere.It wasn’t a big deal.He’d been surprised when Elise hadtold him that priests didn’t make much money, he’d heard Markcomplain about his car having trouble in the rain, and he’d figuredhe could do something to help.That was all.He didn’t want Marklooking at him like that.Except for the part of him that did wantMark to look at him, like that or any other damned way.Lucas triedto ignore that craving and focus on the engine.
His task was made a little more challengingwhen Mark edged in beside him and ducked his own head under thehood of the car.“The distributor cap?And what was the otherthing?”
“Spark plug wires,” Lucas said, pointing.Talking about cars was a lot easier than thinking about how Marklooked at him.“I’m pretty sure it was the wires.”He gently lifteda couple of the new wires and pointed at a few black marks on themetal beneath.“I think the rain was making them short out.Allthat energy that should have gone to your ignition got wasted.”
Mark nodded slowly.“I know nothing aboutcars,” he admitted.
