Jest has been on his own since his mid-teens and still blesses the chance that let him realize his dream of playing percussion in a band that has become his substitute family. Although he misses the close sharing, he doesn't expect to find a partner and certainly not one as clearly out of his element as the man who one night wanders into the club where Jest's band plays, looking totally lost and friendless.<br><br>Greene has struggled to build himself a life far from the undisciplined communal community in which he grew up. He's lonely though, and not sure how to remedy that, so he works as a game programmer in Silicon Valley until he makes a faux pas at a party. Traveling aimlessly, he meets Jest and the other members of Taken By Storm, and is intrigued but terrified of slipping back into a disorderly world like the one of his childhood.<br><br>They say opposites attract, but can a rebel drummer and an uptight programmer find enough common ground for a relationship?

A Different Drummer

Greene arched his neck a centimeter and slid his tongue out to swipe across the slit where the first crystal drop poised. Jest tasted faintly salty, with a hint of spice and a lot of man. Dizzy delight flashed through him. Absorbed in the first taste, he twitched when Jest stroked him, once, twice and a third time. Oh, yeah. Oh, double yeah!


He reached then to clasp one hand around Jest and echo the motion. On the second stroke, he heard the other man give a faint gasp and then a grunt. He wasn’t quite ready when the moist warmth of Jest’s mouth slipped over him, tongue flicking as fast as a snake’s to tease here, tickle there and tantalize everywhere. Seemed the drummer’s mouth was every bit as skillful as his hands.


For a moment, Greene almost lost track of what he was supposed to be doing. Oh yeah, a meat lollypop. You lick like this and suck like that and…


Chapter 10