Ellis Parker is a lucky man: he escaped his persecuting family, survived his tour of duty, and met Maxwell Clark in the city of New Amsterdam. Clark showed Ellis more than the ropes: Clark helped Ellis figure out who he is -- a gay submissive with a massive fixation on a beautiful, mysterious ballet dancer named Bryn Rothe. Ellis knows a Good Man when he sees one, and he wants nothing more than to score a first date with Bryn.<br><br>Little does Ellis know that Bryn has a violent past that is crawling out of shallow graves to haunt him. Even his hectic schedule and beloved stage aren’t enough to distract him. It’s impossible for Bryn to figure out how he feels about Ellis with his demons between them, but when Ellis saves Bryn not once but twice, Bryn is forced to admit that there’s something about Ellis that Bryn might not merely want but need.<br><br>Together, they journey to the scene of Bryn’s original crime -- Charles Towne, South Carolina. There they will dig up secrets that might explain Bryn’s tortured life but might also be his -- and Ellis’s -- undoing.

Earthquakes

“Fuck,” Ellis said in a rush of air. “Fu-nngh!” The next spank landed right over the first two, and Ellis involuntarily slammed himself into the cross. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to crawl up it or somehow go throughit.


“Nowhere to run, honey,” Clark said in a pleasant, husky voice. Ellis’s brain had enough time to wonder if Bryn ever used words like “honey,” and that thought was chased out of his mind by Clark’s insistent tongue tormenting his asshole. Clark interspersed swats with a rim job that undid Ellis faster than should have been possible.


“Sarge…Fuck. Sarge…give it to me. More. Give me…”


Ellis was cut short by the sound of flogger tails in the air. Time slowed with the pulse of adrenaline firing through Ellis’s veins. The first gentle hit to his right shoulder was more of a caress. Another slap struck his left shoulder, then right ass cheek, then left, and the pattern continued, sweet and predictable.


“Count ‘em off, soldier,” Clark ordered.


Chapter 21