Free Darwin's Natural Selection by Katie Allen Page B

someone, you’re just giving those bastards at the lab some ammo against you.”
    Darwin ignored a twinge of guilt. The last thing he wanted to do was get Tom mixed up in his drama. “You’re like the anti-Cupid,” he said lightly, trying to push away his uncomfortable thoughts.
    “Damn right,” Calvin growled. “It’s bad enough I have to worry about the four of you.”
    “Five now, with Claire,” Darwin couldn’t resist adding. “Plus the rat, so six.”
    Grumbling a steady stream of obscenities, Calvin ended the call.
    Darwin’s grin fell away as he slid his phone back into his pocket. As much as he hated to admit it, C was right. He shouldn’t be starting something with Tom. They’d only been out once and hadn’t even slept together—in person, at least—and Darwin was already well aware that Tom was his weak point.
    If the lab bastards used Tom as bait, Darwin knew he’d walk right back into their cage.
    There had been five of them trapped there, human lab rats for those bastards’
    twisted experiment. They’d managed to escape and scattered across the country, figuring it would be easier to hide if they were alone.
    All too soon, however, Ed was exposed, his picture circulated on the news after he’d saved his girlfriend, Claire, from the homicidal asshole scientist she’d worked for.
    The truth about Claire’s boss falsifying his research results had come out eventually, and Ed, Claire and her favorite lab rat had escaped, but the damage had been done.
    Ed had been tracked down too easily, making Darwin feel vulnerable and antsy.
    His job, his name, his beloved cabin—none of this would hide him for much longer.
    Staring blindly out his living room window into the thick stand of evergreens, Darwin let his imagination run wild for a few moments before giving his head a sharp shake. It was no use, though. There was no way he could stay away from Tom. He hadn’t even managed to keep his distance when Tom had been a silent stranger on the job site.
    Now that he’d seen the other man’s sweet dimpled smile and felt his lips, Darwin was truly and completely sucked in.

    *
     
    Between the butterflies in his stomach and the pacing in front of the theater, Tom felt like a junior-high student on his very first date. The leap of his heart when he spotted Darwin walking through the crowd toward him just confirmed it. He couldn’t help a sappy grin from spreading across his face.
    “Hi,” he said when Darwin got within earshot. Although he hadn’t lost his smile, a bare tremble of nerves shivered beneath his skin. What he felt wasn’t straight-up fear anymore, however, but had merged with arousal into some sort of horny-scared hybrid.
    “Hi,” Darwin responded with a matching smile. He leaned in close, making Tom’s heart accelerate. When Darwin’s lips brushed his cheek in a light caress, Tom almost swallowed his tongue.
    “Fags,” sneered a teenager under his breath, barely loud enough for them to hear.
    Darwin’s head came up, his gaze focused sharply on the teen.
    “Leave it,” Tom muttered under his breath. “He’s just a stupid kid.”
    Instead, Darwin took a few steps closer to the teenager and his friends.
    “Darwin…” Tom trailed off when he saw the congenial smile on Darwin’s face. What’s he up to?
    The teen took a step back, his eyes wide, obviously intimidated by Darwin’s size.
    “Hi,” Darwin purred to the kid. “Good to see you again.”
    “What?” the boy yelped, sounding slightly panicked as his eyes flicked from Darwin to his friends and back again. “I’ve never met you, freak!”
    “Sure you have,” Darwin said, still in that over-the-top-sexy voice.
    “A couple weekends ago at the club? We hung out and then I gave you a ride back to your house in North Lake. How could you forget?”
    From the way the teen’s friends whipped their heads around to stare incredulously at their companion, Tom was pretty sure Darwin had guessed right—the kid must