CHAPTER 1
Theo Perez
The Stonewall Investigations Christmas party was in full swing.
Holiday music cheerily filled the grand living room with its arched windows and walls of garland-covered bookshelves. The fireplace crackled and warmed the space, keeping the winter cold from biting through the old walls of the Victorian mansion. A towering Christmas tree took most of the focus, with its multicolored lights and crystal ornaments, the star at the very top twinkling with a glittery gold sheen.
And then, of course, there was my date for the party: Maverick Gold.
Forget about the tree or the decorations or the rest of the crew. I could barely keep my eyes off Mav for more than four seconds.
He stood by the royal-blue couch, chatting with Zane as he drank his glass of eggnog. His throat bobbed up and down, that sexy throat I wanted to clamp my lips and teeth around.
Like a sex-starved vampire, I wanted to suck the life out of him.
Except not just through his neck.
Two months we’d been together. The longest relationship I’d ever had, and for good fucking reason.
Well, mainly the reason was because of the good fucking.
And Mav’s sexy, golden smile. And his toned body, and his bright hazel eyes, and his charismatic charm that left anyone he talked to in a happy and smiling daze.
There were lots of things to like about Maverick Gold. And every day, I found even more. It was why I felt comfortable inviting him to the party, even with Alejandro ribbing me about my doe-eyed walks through the Stonewall hallways. I’d never felt this way. Like I was strolling across cloud nine from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep.
And then the dreams would come. The intense, heat-raising, cock-throbbing, ball-tightening dreams. Do you know what it’s like for a thirty-year-old man to wake up with his sheets drenched in come from a wet dream, something he hadn’t had in about fifteen years?
No? Well, I’ll tell you: it’s a fucking mess.
But that’s what Mav did to me—messed me up on so many different levels. He made me reconsider how I viewed relationships, and he made me reconsider how I viewed men. Not just as sex toys I could use to empty my nuts and move on, although, sure, that was nice, but he was teaching me that there was so much more. We’d end up spending hours licking and sucking and fucking, and then, instead of me calling an Uber and getting the hell out, we’d stay up together for another set of endless hours, talking about anything and everything under the sun, until our lips were once again locked and our cocks were once again aching for another release.
Fuck. I’m getting hard.
Probably not a good time to sport a tented boner. I stuffed a hand in the pocket of my jeans and held my cock down before it made a guest appearance at the party.
“Theo, have you tried the eggnog?” It was Holly, her boyfriend holding her by the waist and taking a sip of the eggnog in question. They both wore matching green sweaters with jingling bells attached to them. Andrew and Declan walked up then, hand in hand, Andrew wearing a set of fuzzy antlers with Declan wearing a Santa hat that flopped down across his forehead.
“Two glasses already,” I said, lifting my third.
“We’re going to have to carry you out,” Andrew teased, smile wide and eyes beaming. He was a great guy; that had been clear from the second we met. He ran the Miami branch of Stonewall Investigations and sometimes came up to the New York offices for meetings. Today was the first time I’d met his husband, Declan, and I was equally as impressed by how kind and friendly he was.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I reassured them. “I could outdrink Mr. Claus himself.”
Andrew chuckled. “I didn’t know Santa was a drinker.”
“Huge,” I said. “It’s how he keeps warm up at the North Pole.”
More laughter, this time from Maverick, who had overheard the convo as he came over to us. Zane, the founder of the detective agency, looked just as amused. He wore a dark red button-up that matched his husband’s dark red pants, the two of them looking like holiday royalty. Zane and Enzo had planned this entire Christmas escape, down to their outfits, making them even more perfect than they already seemed. If their two kids were here, I think my head would have exploded from the familial cuteness.
“Hey, babe.” Maverick’s smile lit me up brighter than the twinkling lights strung around the room.
“Speaking of poles,” I said under my breath, loud enough for Mav to hear and shoot me a fiery look.
I loved fucking around with him, almost as much as I loved fucking the life out of him.
“All right,” Zane said, taking the center spot in the room. “Everyone here?”