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

“It’s just ‘cause I needed sleep.”


“I don’t usually…take…S’all your fault, anyway,” Bryn said, turning to sniff Ellis’s sleeve and breathing in Ellis’s scent. Good Lord but he smelled incredible. Subtle, rich, musky, with a hint of vanilla or maybe chocolate?


“It was?” Ellis asked mildly. “How you figure?”


“You…the earth. You made the earth move.”


Ellis chuckled. “Well, I’ll try to work on that.”


“Good. I dance, you know. Gravity. I like it.”


“I’ll have to come see you sometime.” Ellis put Bryn down slowly and held him against his side as he hailed a cab. “I’ve never been to the ballet.”


“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Ellis helped Bryn into the taxi and gave the driver Bryn’s address.


Bryn rested bonelessly against the leather seat. The buildings and lights blurred by the window, and he had to shut his eyes before the vertigo overcame him. “You must be loving this,” he said, eyes closed.


Chapter 35