Sixteen year old Jacob Smithson has quite a temper. He’s picked on by other kids because he likes boys, and recent fighting has kicked him out of public school. As a last resort, his parents have placed him in the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Boarding School for Boys.<br><br>It’s at his first mass at St. Thomas where he sees Avery Dendritch, a senior who serves as altar boy during the service. When they meet, the attraction between them is hard to deny. The two become fast friends, and as the school year progresses, their friendship deepens into something more. For the first time, Jacob has found a place where he belongs ... and someone with whom he’s falling in love.<br><br>But the other students gossip about their growing relationship, and while Avery can ignore them, Jacob cannot. As the rumors and slurs start up again, can he curb his temper, or will his penchant for fighting get him expelled from St. Thomas, as well?

Without Sin

He kisses Jacob’s neck. Tiny kisses at first, and he licks along the curve of Jacob’s throat as if the skin is spun of sugar. Jacob tastes that sweet.


Avery rolls Jacob back against the wall, trailing kisses across Jacob’s smooth, boyish chest. He pulls Jacob closer. His mouth closes over one hard nipple as ruddy as Jacob’s lips. He swirls his tongue around the bud. It’s like those button candies he used to buy as a kid. Colored nubs on white cardboard. Lick them off. He can do that now, eat this boy up like that. He wants to.


Jacob’s sharp intake of breath is a hiss in the quiet room. “Where did you learn that?” Jacob always asks things like that. Avery doesn’t like to talk about the guys he’s known but Jacob always wants to know.


“My first boyfriend,” Avery replies. He bites Jacob a little harder than he intends to. He thinks they should change the subject.


Jacob moans. His hand fists in Avery’s hair, tugging just until it hurts, then relaxes. “Greg?”


Chapter 23