Free Touching Evil by Rob Knight Page B

Thick and hot. Longer than I imagined it."
    "You're more substantial. Not your cock. Just the everything else."
Greg was still too fucking skinny. But he was heavier than Artie'd
thought.
    He got a grin, Greg leaning down to kiss one nipple. "I'd forgotten about the afterglow part."
    "Are you a snuggler?" Artie could be. He'd had one guy once who'd
rolled off and gotten dressed and gone home, every time. That was
lowering for sure.
    "Really? I don't want to leave. I just want to feel you." That was
unnerving as fuck, but the way Greg snuggled made up for it. He knew
it. Knew it was the way it was when Greg touched things and all, and
this close? Sharing this kind of connection, things would flow. It was
cool. Greg hummed soft and low, the covers tugged over them. "We can
rest a minute?"
    "Uh-huh. We can hang out. Think about doing it again. Think about
more food." He grinned, arm sliding to pull Greg closer, getting all
the angles right.
    "You're a bottomless pit." Right, like Greg could talk. "Duke gonna be okay?"
    "Oh, he'll shred my sports coat. Then he'll watch a movie or
something." His fingers kept coming back to one hipbone, tracing it
over and over.
    "That sports coat has seen better days." Greg just purred, cuddling into him with a sigh.
    "Hey! I like it. It's comfy and it hides my gun." Just like his pillows were a little lumpy but shaped to him.
    "I do like the way it makes your ass look." The compliment was just offered, casual and easy.
    "Cool." Then it hit him what Greg'd said and he got tickled,
chuckling like crazy. "You perv. You've been watching my ass all this
time."
    "Artie. Any gay man with eyes and the sense God gave a goat watches your ass."
    He flushed hot. "Leah says some of the girls do, too. You, though? I like." Like was such a weak word for it.
    "Yeah. You're good for me. Good to me." Greg kissed his chest. "And those girls don't know what they're missing."
    "This is true. They'd never make it past Duke."

Chapter Six
    The chrysanthemums were beautiful, blooms big as saucers, almost
drooping on their stems. Orange, white, rust, even one variegated
series—Doctor Van Hoord would be proud of him. Greg could
remember her, tiny and wizened and odd, snapping out information on
genus and phyla, her graduate students panicked and scribbling.
    He moved the little wheelbarrow to the heirloom roses, pruning them
back almost viciously. Such a violent act, pruning. Snipping off
healthy branches for the well-being of the plant. Shears snipping and
snapping and cutting deep, sap wetting the blades like blood or tears
or...
    "Oh, for Chrissake, Gregory, get a fucking grip. It's gardening ."
The sound of his own voice, irritated and clipped, made him chuckle,
got him back on track. Sometimes things just needed to be about dirt
and worms and manure or a man might lose his mind.
    "Should I get near you with those clippers in your hand?"
    He jumped, clippers clattering to the rooftop. "Shit! You scared me. Damn. Hey. Hi. Sorry, I was in the zone."
    "I tried to call your cell. You should carry it with you, Greg. Just in case." Artie looked, if anything, even more tired. Damn.
    "I have it up here. Somewhere." Turned off. He thought. Maybe. He found Artie a smile. "You want a coffee?"
    "Yeah. That sounds good. Are you done? I don't want to interrupt the communing."
    "Less communing, more pruning." He wheeled the rose branches to the compost heap, tossing them in with the rest.
    "Then coffee sounds good. It really does." Scrubbing a hand over his
face, Artie waited for him to lead the way, shoulders slumping a
little. Okay, a lot.
    "You off duty, detective?" If so, Greg was so dumping Artie into the
tub with some lavender oil and a little Bach. The man needed a break.
    "I am. I tell you, man, folks have gone crazy. It must be the
season, or something. We got two more cases dumped on us today, and
Leah is all swollen." Artie leaned against the roof unit while he put
shit away and opened the door.
    "I'll have Alice call