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 okay,” Ellis murmured. He rubbed Bryn’s foot and took off a dress sock before moving on to the other shoe.


A fresh wave of fire flooded Bryn. His cheeks burned. He was not only embarrassed but strangely sort of ashamed. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been as nice to anybody as Ellis was being to him. And maybe it was the booze, the sick, or the exhaustion, but it was fascinating to watch Ellis work. He took off Bryn’s other shoe and sock, putting the socks neatly into each shoe. Then Ellis helped Bryn out of his coat, hanging it on a nearby chair back. The tie was slower, and Ellis never glanced at Bryn as he deftly undid the knot and pulled the fabric out of the collar with a low swish. Ellis’s breath was coming faster and through his nose, and though it was difficult to tell with the pants and the kneeling, Bryn thought Ellis was hard. By the time Ellis started unbuttoning Bryn’s shirt, Bryn was too. He caught Ellis’s wrist, swallowing on a dry throat.


Chapter 37