#midweektease comes to you this week from
Love Unmasked
Handsome Tom Wells sets lonely Scott Palmer’s heart racing as he watches Tom come and go from his apartment across the street. Scott longs to meet Tom, and when he scores a new job delivering goods for a local distributor, fate hands him the opportunity.
Tom works in a nightclub—the Candy Apple, and in the sultry environs, a masked stranger seduces Tom. The seeds of passion are sown, but just who has ignited Tom’s passion?
Scott’s longing to know Tom leads him to join the elite nightclub. On his first visit, the club holds a masquerade event.
Who is kissing who? Who’s under the black velvet mask?
An erotic MM romance, with a twist of fun and HEA.
Read the teaser
Tom sank his head onto Scott’s
shoulder. He slipped his hand onto Scott’s thigh.
“I want to know you. I want that mask
off. I want to see you. Who are you, because you’re not the guy I thought you
were originally. It wasn’t you who sucked me off on the night of the first
masquerade party.”
Scott’s stomach lurched. Just as he
feared, someone did have sex with Tom. That’s what Tom had meant with all the
references to “this time” when they’d been in the storeroom. His jealousy
spiked and made his tone harsh as he answered. “I think the sex is hot because
you don’t know me—because of the masks.” He didn’t mean it. It was just
something to say.
Tom lifted his head and slid his hand
along Scott’s jaw. He brought Scott’s face to his, kissed him, and whispered.
“I’m not wearing a mask.”
Scott didn’t answer. He returned
Tom’s kiss. The meaning in Tom’s words thrilled him.
Tom tunneled his fingers into Scott’s
hair and gazed into his eyes. “How did you know who was under the mask at the
last event, so that you could arrange this? There are other male servers.”
Worry spiked down Scott’s spine. “No
one looks like you. Your body, the way you move, it’s unmistakable.”
Tom smiled and ran his hand up and
down Scott’s side. “Yeah, I like you, too.”
Scott didn’t know how to carry on. He
looked away.
Tom held his hand. “Hey, wait for me
to finish my shift. Come home with me. We could fuck, talk, and have breakfast
together. Time to unmask because we have obvious sexual chemistry and there’s tenderness
in your kiss, don’t deny it.”
Scott couldn’t do it. He wondered
about the first masquerade party and the guy who’d sucked Tom off then. It was
suddenly clear that Tom had approached him the night he’d been at the second masquerade
party because Tom thought the other man had returned.
“Did you have chemistry with the
first guy?”
Tom gave Scott a look that bordered
on hurt. “I don’t think so … no, no I didn’t. He was out to get me. I succumbed
because I needed the sex. I work long hours and honestly, I don’t get much sex.
I thought you were him because you wore the same mask, but not now.”
Scott stroked Tom’s wrist and arm. He
shifted so that he could bring Tom into his embrace. “I didn’t mean…”
Tom cut him off. “The other guy, he’s
not all that great in reality. I saw him again here in the club with a girl,
and he was unpleasant when I spoke to him. It made me feel bad about … about
things, but it also made me realize there was someone else. You, in fact…”
Scott kissed him softly. He breathed
in the slight woody scent of Tom’s cologne. He soaked up the feel of Tom’s skin
and rubbed his jaw on Tom’s shade of stubble.
“I’ve kept you away from work long
enough. Better dress.”
He stood and dressed as fast as he
could.
Tom dressed quickly, too.
He held Scott’s waist. “I mean it.
Wait for me. Just stand at the end of the bar where I first saw you, around two
a.m. and tell me, tell me you’re there for me, although I’d know your body
anywhere now, and those lips ... yeah...” He grinned.
Scott’s stomach dipped. He couldn’t
speak a lie, but he gave a tiny nod, knowing he wouldn’t do it, but not wanting
to tell Tom. Exactly why he couldn’t rip off the mask and let Tom know his
identity was a mystery to him then. He took Tom to the door and showed him out
with a kiss.
Scott had never used a room like this
before. He tried to remember the process for vacating it that Charlie had told
him when he joined. He made sure he’d not dropped anything and went to the
door. It was only then he noticed the surveillance dials on the wall. Too late to turn anything down or off ... oh
well… Alongside was a small printed sign. It displayed the instructions for
leaving the room.
He flicked the small catch across on
the inside of the door, checked that the words, ‘Ready for Cleaning,’ showed in
the space on the outside, and let the door swing shut. Scott pondered how the
green light changed to red for occupied or needing cleaning as he made his way
along the corridor to the main room. Must
be on some sort of automatic switch or maybe it’s linked to the surveillance or
the door catch... Music became louder. Scott gave up thinking about it. He
slipped the mask off and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. He half-expected
Tom to be lurking at the corridor entrance to catch him sneaking away, but only
a man and woman leaned on the wall there making out.
Scott walked quickly to the exit and
out into the night air. The sunny day had given way to a crystal clear night,
cool and sparkling. Scott admitted to himself that he was already so
emotionally invested in Tom that he needed to take courage and tell Tom who he
was. How could a half-mask make any real difference
to my appearance? He asked himself as he drove home. Scott sat in his
parked car outside his apartment block deep in thought. What am I afraid of? I don’t know. Tom already wants to see me without
the mask. Maybe it’s because I just couldn’t take it if he didn’t love me,
because I think I love him. Yeah, I’m in love with him. Fuck, that’s so
dangerous. The best thing I can do, now I know he’s gay, is make some kind of
pass at him as myself, when I deliver to the club. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll ask
him out.
Copyright Elodie Parkes , Encompass Ink
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