Common Powers Read online

  This was insane.

  He had rules, didn’t he? Where were they now?

  Gone.

  He wanted Sammi and Sammi wanted him. That message came through to Mitchell loud and clear, as if Sammi had spoken the words, whispered in his ear. Of all the men the guy could have, and Mitchell knew Sammi could take his pick, he’d picked him. Why was he so damned lucky?

  “You’re the only man in this place worth a damn.”

  Wait. Did he really hear that? Hear Sammi’s voice in his head? No way. He was just so horny and hot, so excited, he’d closed his eyes. Right. But his eyes were open now.

  Sammi’s eyes grew wide and he cocked his head to the side as he stared into Mitchell’s face. “Did you just—?”

  Mitchell shook his head, not wanting to believe what he’d heard. “That’s a great trick, Sammi. You’ll have to show me how you do it.”

  “Later. Let’s get out of here.” There. Sammi’s lips moved as he spoke.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Fuck. There went the rule about bringing strangers home. What the hell was going on? What was wrong with him? Who the hell was this guy and why did Mitchell respond so aggressively to him?

  “Because you’ve never met anyone like me before, Mitchell. And you never will again.”

  How the hell did he do that? Know what he was thinking?

  The bartender returned with the two shots of whiskey. Sammi picked his up and downed it, throwing his head back, then shuddered as he put the empty glass on the bar. Mitchell did the same, placing his glass next to Sammi’s. He wrapped his hand around Sammi’s neck and dragged him in for a deep kiss, just so he could taste the whiskey on Sammi’s tongue.

  Fuck. Delicious.

  “More.” Fuck, was that Sammi in his head?

  “So much more.” There it was again.

  How the hell? Their lips were locked together, tongues searching mouths.

  Sammi broke the kiss, his unblinking gaze boring straight into Mitchell. They clung to each other, and Mitchell swore Sammi was as shaken as he was.

  “Take me home.” Sammi rested his forehead against Mitchell’s chest, holding on to his jacket as if were the only thing to keep him on his feet.

  Mitchell dug into his pocket, peeled off some bills and tossed thirty bucks on the bar. The bartender grinned and scooped up the money and the glasses.

  He took Sammi’s hand and led the way to the door, pushing past sweaty men dancing to the thumping beat. All he wanted was to get out of here and go home with Sammi. They reached the door and Mitchell jerked it open and stepped out, towing Sammi behind him into the cool night air.

  “I live just up the street and around the corner.”

  Like a dog follows its master, like summer follows spring, Sammi followed Mitchell. If Sammi had had a tail, it would have been wagging. He was definitely panting in anticipation.

  He couldn’t believe it, but this just might be the man, the one. He didn’t want to let his heart hope, because he’d been disappointed before. Hope meant waiting for the letdown. It always had before, why would this be any different?

  But it was different.

  Mitchell’s voice had captured his heart the first time he’d heard it in his mind, and it had gone straight to his soul and to his dick. And when he’d touched Mitchell, he’d burned with a desire he’d often faked but had never known in his short, tormented life.

  But he couldn’t stop thinking this guy was the one. Another soul like his.

  He’d gone into the bar in hopes of swapping his body for a night’s brief protection from the bastard who owned him, just as he’d done the last five nights. No expectations, only to spend the night, stay safe, maybe eat. Instead, had he found his destiny?

  Mitchell. He’d heard Sammi’s voice, but he’d denied it. No surprise there. Not many had Sammi’s gift, or curse, and Sammi was lucky Mitchell hadn’t freaked out.

  Finally, the one person who could hear Sammi as well as Sammi heard him. No words would be needed between them, only thoughts and emotions. If they made love, gave themselves to each other, the connection between them would be forged. Lizzy had said so.

  Strong. Lasting. Unbreakable.

  A bonding of souls. Of men with the same gift.

  They hurried through the night. By the time they’d turned the corner, they were running, hand-in-hand, down the street to Mitchell’s fourplex. They flew up the stairs to the second-floor apartment and Mitchell slammed into the front door.

  Sammi giggled, nearly out of breath from their run.

  “Fuck! My keys.” Chest heaving, Mitchell dug them out of his pocket, fumbled with the lock, then pushed the door open. He stepped inside, then reached out, grabbed Sammi by the shirt and pulled him in.

  Sammi tumbled against Mitchell in a lust-driven rush to get to his body. Mitchell kicked the door shut and stripped off his jacket. Frenzied, two sets of hands pulled on belts, unsnapped buttons, slid zippers down, and jerked jeans open as lips kissed, teeth nipped, and tongues sparred, trying to get there first.

  Sammi won.

  He pushed Mitchell against the door. His head thudded and he groaned.

  “Sorry.”

  After falling to his knees, Sammi pulled Mitchell’s cock free. He wanted Mitchell to fuck him, but first, he wanted Mitchell in his mouth.

  Every pleasure zone in Sammi’s body tingled at the glorious sight of it, thick and long. Velvet-headed, brown-sheathed, his heavy balls pulled tight to his body, Mitchell’s cock was every fantasy Sammi had ever closed his eyes and jerked off to.

  Sammi laved the engorged head, digging into the slit with his tongue.

  “Oh, fuck!” Mitchell cried out and fell back against the door, burying his hands in Sammi’s hair as Sammi wrapped his hand around the base of Mitchell’s dick.

  This was the other part of his curse.

  Sammi didn’t need any words, he felt Mitchell’s pleasure, pouring off him like a fountain. Sammi opened himself to it and drank it in. It filled Sammi’s cock as he licked, sucked, teased and taunted Mitchell’s magnificent cock and swamped his pleasure centers. Near madness, Sammi gathered Mitchell’s pleasure and folded it into his own.

  Mitchell held nothing back and Sammi took everything he was given.

  “Fuck, I’m coming.”

  “Not yet.” Still on his knees, Sammi ringed the head of Mitchell’s cock with his thumb and forefinger and squeezed, cutting off the impending orgasm.

  “Shit,” Mitchell groaned.

  Mitchell’s pain, pleasure, and frustration at not coming filled Sammi. Using all his talent, all his experience, all his passion, he’d give Mitchell the best orgasm of his life.

  It would rock both of them.

  It would bond them together forever.

  It would free Sammi from Donovan.

  “Fuck me,” Sammi begged.

  “Oh, yeah,” Mitchell rasped.

  Sammi had been doing the most incredible things with his tongue to Mitchell’s cock and having to stop nearly killed him, but the pain was fucking delicious.

  Damn, he wanted more of Sammi. He pulled Sammi to his feet and kissed him, driving him across the hall. They thudded against the wall and sent a picture crashing to the floor.

  Sammi climbed Mitchell as if he were a mountain, legs wrapped around his waist, arms looped around his shoulders, his smaller body easily held in Mitchell’s arms.

  Still rigid, his cock stood painfully trapped between Sammi’s body and his own belly. Raining kisses on Sammi’s face, Mitchell carried him down the short hall to his bedroom.

  Once in the room, Mitchell peeled Sammi from him. “Take off your clothes or I’ll rip them off.”

  “No, wait! They’re the only ones I have.” Sammi broke away long enough to undress, while Mitchell kicked off his shoes, shucked the rest of the way out of his jeans, and pulled his T-shirt over his head.

  He scooped Sammi into his arms, then tossed him on the bed. Sammi rolled and came up on his knees. “I know what yo
u want.”

  “Good.” Mitchell climbed onto the bed and pushed Sammi down onto his back. Stretching over Sammi as if he were about to do a set of pushups, Mitchell held himself suspended in air.

  Their gazes locked. Mitchell lowered himself. Skin met skin. Desire caught and ignited. Heat scorched them. Both men gasped as the flames of their pleasure danced over their skin, raising the fine hairs on both their bodies.

  “Do you feel that?” Sammi stroked Mitchell’s back.

  Mitchell pulled Sammi on top of him. “Oh, God, yeah. Like nothing I’ve ever felt.” Mitchell cupped Sammi’s firm ass and tugged it against him. Sammi’s cock ground into Mitchell’s belly.

  “How the hell do you do that? It’s so fucking intense with you.”

  “With us.”

  “What?” Mitchell paused in his attack.

  “This is how it could be forever, with us.” Sammi turned his head and, not breaking his gaze, licked Mitchell’s arm. Mitchell shuddered.

  “It’s so good.” And it was. Better than anything Mitchell had ever felt, or dreamed of feeling. How could it be? What the hell was happening?

  “Don’t worry. It gets better.”

  Now Mitchell knew Sammi hadn’t spoken, despite his eyes being open. A pinprick of fear ran down his spine, but not enough to extinguish the fire burning him.

  Sammi wrapped his arms around Mitchell and rolled over, bringing Mitchell back on top. His legs spread open, and Mitchell’s hips and legs fell in between them. Pushing up on one arm as he reached down, Mitchell guided his straining cock to Sammi’s sweet opening, then froze.

  “Fuck, no lube and no condoms.” Mitchell rolled to the side, yanked open the nightstand drawer, snatched up the bottle of lube and tossed it on the bed. He scrambled in the drawer searching for a condom.

  “Fuck.” His hand came up empty.

  “Forget it. Just use the lube and fuck me.” Sammi pleaded.

  Mitchell was on the edge of breaking the gay man’s golden rule. No glove, no love. Not to use a condom was insane. It was playing with death. His last test had been negative, but Sammi? Wracking his brain, he remembered seeing some in the bathroom.

  “No, wait.” He lurched off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. After searching the second drawer he opened, he found the condoms. He rushed back into the room with the box raised as if he’d discovered something marvelous and precious then jumped back into bed.

  Kneeling beside Sammi, he watched as Sammi pumped his beautiful cock with one hand and stroked the skin behind his balls with the fingertips of the other. Sammi’s pubes had been trimmed short into a neat dark patch and his balls were smooth, free of any hair.

  Damn, it turned Mitchell on. Sucking on those hairless globes would be a treat.

  “You like watching me touch myself, don’t you?” Sammi purred as he squeezed a dab of lube onto his fingertips, reached lower then bathed his tunnel with it. Slipping a finger into his own ass, Sammi groaned, his stare never leaving Mitchell’s.

  Mitchell groaned back. “Yeah.” Could his cock get any harder? As Sammi’s finger slipped in and out of his ass, he had a fuck-me smile on his face, eyes slitted, lips parted, his pink tongue just visible, driving Mitchell wild.

  Unable to stand it another second, Mitchell ripped open the condom, rolled it on and grabbed the base of his dick. “Take your finger out, Sammi. I have something better to fuck you with.”

  “Oh God, yes.” Sammi pulled out his finger.

  Mitchell caught Sammi’s knee in the crook of his arm, leaned forward and opened him wider. He found Sammi’s tight entrance with the head of his cock, pressed against it and sank in. Both men cried out as Mitchell filled Sammi.

  Mitchell covered Sammi as he shuddered beneath him, and it reverberated through both of them. They hung onto the edge of a cliff, eternity stretching out before them.

  Sammi clung to Mitchell, fingers digging into Mitchell’s ass, kneading each cheek as he pulled him closer, deeper.

  Mitchell began to pump.

  He couldn’t take his gaze off Sammi as his lean, sculpted body writhed on the bed, the sheets now fisted in his hands. Damn, he was achingly beautiful in the throes of pleasure, yet with a vulnerability that tore into Mitchell’s heart.

  Sammi’s chest was well-defined and smooth, his belly rippled as if he’d spent time in the gym. Two dark, small, rigid nipples tempted Mitchell, and that wild forelock of dark hair fell over Sammi’s face, cloaking his eyes. His full lips parted as he panted and his pink tongue darted out to moisten them in a slow swipe.

  Everything about Sammi drove Mitchell insane with desire and lust, as if this creature had been created solely for Mitchell’s pleasure.

  “I was, just for you.”

  The voice echoed in his head again. Sammi’s?

  As Mitchell pounded into him, Sammi rocked with each thrust. Wrapped in the hot velvet of Sammi’s tight tunnel, Mitchell stroked in and out, sending pleasure shooting straight to Mitchell’s balls.

  And something else. Something crazy, yet…

  Lost in a haze of arousal, Mitchell experienced both their pleasures, as if he could feel what Sammi felt as well as his own. How was that even possible?

  “Do you feel that? It’s wild.” Mitchell gasped.

  “Oh God, yes, it’s so good. This is it, Mitch. This is you and me together. You belong to me and I belong to you. Can’t you feel it?” Sammi cried out, his hands clutching Mitchell’s shoulders.

  “Shit. This is crazy.” He’d just met Sammi, he didn’t even know him. Mitch shook his head. Had he lost his mind?

  “None of that matters. Only this.” “Only us.”

  Mitchell held Sammi’s hips and thrust harder and deeper, as if he wanted to bury himself inside Sammi and never come out. Yeah, only us.

  Sammi keened deep in his throat as Mitchell fucked him. “Say it. You’re mine. You belong to me and I belong to you.”

  “I belong to you.” Mitchell closed his eyes and let all their combined feelings fill him up, pushing him to the brink of coming. You are mine. He growled, his fingers digging into Sammi’s hips as he slammed into Sammi’s ass like a pile driver.

  Mitchell lost reason. Lost all sense and, in that moment, broke his ultimate rule.

  He fell in love.

  Together, they rode a tidal wave that swelled, built momentum, climbed upward, higher than either of them had ever been before. Poised on the crest of that sweet wave, they opened their eyes and locked gazes.

  Together.

  The moment Sammi had waited, dreamed, hoped for.

  The bonding.

  Without knowing why or how, Sammi opened his soul and stripped his heart bare as he poured his love into Mitchell. Mitchell’s heart answered him as a vortex of emotion whirled around them like a blinding white tornado, sweeping the lovers up in its maelstrom as their souls blended, bonded.

  “Sammi? What’s happening?”

  “It’s okay, Mitchell. I promised it would be wonderful.”

  Burying his hands in Mitchell’s hair, Sammi pulled him down into a soul-bonding kiss. Eyes open, they clung to each other as if their lives depended on it.

  From this point on, their lives would be entwined. Bonded together. Feeling each other’s emotions, knowing what each needed from the other, hearing each other’s thoughts.

  Building in intensity, their bodies seemed to melt into each other and their hearts beat in perfect synchronization. Sammi’s breath was Mitchell’s breath. They rode the rising crest of a mutual orgasm that promised to open a new world for both of them.

  With a final surge, the tidal wave broke over them and they shattered on the rocks.

  Chapter Two

  The alarm went off. Mitchell awoke, rolled over and reached for Sammi, but the bed was cold and empty.

  Shit. He’d left.

  Mitchell’s heart stopped. Then, as if it had been jump-started, it thudded hard and fast in his chest. Bolting upright, he searched around the room. Sammi’s clothes w
ere gone and so were his.

  Mitchell had been so naïve to think that after their amazing night together Sammi wouldn’t leave. He closed his eyes, fell back on the bed and sighed.

  “Sammi?”

  “Mitchell.”

  Mitchell’s eyes flew open and he gave a half-laugh of relief as he ran his hand over his face. Sammi had stayed, not run away, not left him. And in a way Mitchell couldn’t understand, they were still connected, even beyond the incredible sex of last night.

  Last night? Fuck, it had been the most incredible sex of his life.

  As he lay in bed, he could still smell Sammi, could smell their lovemaking caught up in the sheets of his bed, and his cock began a slow, steady rise. Mitchell reached down and stroked it, dwelling on thoughts of his lover’s amazing body.

  He sure as hell didn’t want to think about why or how he could hear Sammi in his head.

  The alarm rang again, warning him that this time, he really needed to get his ass out of bed. He slapped it off. Shit. He had to go to work today. He’d rather stay home and make love to Sammi all day, but he had responsibilities and a bastard of a boss who was just waiting for a reason to fire him.

  The bedroom door opened and Sammi entered, carrying a tray. He wore only a pair of black boxer briefs. Mitchell groaned, recognizing them as a pair of his. Sammi looked better in them than he did. They snugged just right, cupping Sammi’s package and emphasizing the muscles of his thighs.

  “You like me in these?”

  “Yeah. You can wear my briefs anytime.”

  Sammi grinned and held out the tray. “I made breakfast. I hope you don’t mind.” He placed the tray on the side table and sat on the bed. He stroked Mitchell’s leg as it stuck out of the covers and his fingers played in the dark hairs that covered Mitchell’s calf.

  “Are you kidding? Breakfast in bed. It doesn’t get any better.” Mitchell grinned and, along with Sammi, took a piece of bacon and ate. “How long have you been up?”

  “For a while. I watched you sleep for about thirty minutes. You know you have this soft snore?”

  “Do not.” Mitchell grimaced.