Deputy Mark Forrest and Nurse Francis Archer can’t deny the chemistry that arises between them. A chance meeting awakens the idea of something greater than either had ever imagined.<br><br>Mark craves being able to let go, and Francis loves to take him out of his head. But Mark’s past bears a truckload of personal demons that have kept him in the closet and made him lash out at the LGBTQ community in the town he’s come to regard as home.<br><br>Despite finding love and a new purpose in Acker, Francis’s new job might end up being temporary, and he doesn't want to lose the life he's settled into. Can the two of them build a future together despite a bitter past, and diverging paths?

Thirteen

Mark had obvious difficulty looking Francis in the eye.


“You talked about submission, didn’t you?” Francis made his tone a low rumble.


A whole-body shudder went through Mark, and he nodded.


Francis cupped Mark’s cheek and made him look at him. “Was it a good conversation?”


Mark licked his lips a bit nervously. “Y-yeah, it was… I feel better about it all now. It’s… just started to take me into that headspace and then you were there and—”


“Ah.” Francis leaned in to kiss Mark and pressed close to him, all the while mindful about not spilling the remnants of his wine. “What a good, gorgeous darling I have,” he rumbled into Mark’s ear after the kiss.


Mark made a choked little sound. “I… please don’t….”


“Don’t what? Don’t talk to you like that when we can’t just leave to be in private?” Francis made an educated guess.


“You do know that nobody here would judge you even if they knew that you submit to me?”


Chapter 70