Another excerpt from The Low Between

The excerpt on the Amber Allure website comes early in the story, and I'm dying to share more of my guys with everyone. This comes later in the story, after Carlo and Joe have agreed to work together. Carlo has crashed at Joe's place while Joe took care of some business. Joe is on his way back...

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The six-block walk to the store was swift. Though traffic was starting to pick up, the distant horns and growling engines disappeared once he was inside. He relaxed automatically. This was his haven, the one place he felt secure. It had been since his discharge from the Army, when he'd been struggling to find a new home in the city determined to haunt him. Everywhere he'd turned, he seen reminders of Emmett. Buying the business from old Mr. Morgan had been his last resort at starting fresh.

The sanctuary still worked. When he started up the silent staircase, he almost felt like he could handle anything Carlo might throw at him to add to his headaches.

More silence greeted him as he let himself into the darkened apartment. For a moment, he wondered if Carlo had decided to try and survive on his own, but as his eyes adjusted, he saw an outline stretched out on the couch. Rather than turn on the overhead light, he crept around the edge of the room to flick on the bedroom light instead. Enough spilled through the open door to reveal Carlo, fast asleep, the army blanket Joe used to hide the sofa's shabbiness pulled tightly around him.

He shouldn't stare. It wasn't his right. But Carlo Baresi truly was a gorgeous young man, and it had been too long since anybody but Joe had slept on that couch. Besides, he didn't have an audience. Nobody could see him appreciating the fine slope of Carlo's nose, or the way his hair fell boyishly across his forehead, or the soft full pout of his slightly parted lips. Only Joe would know, and he was too tired to care about the right or wrong of it.

With a sigh, he leaned against the doorjamb and drank his fill. If he'd been bolder, if they didn't have this business hanging over their heads, he would've liked to kiss Carlo when they traded places in the cab. Hell, he would've liked to do a lot more than that, but kissing would've sufficed. Carlo had the mouth for it, lush and ready to burst at the first nibble. With those dark eyes tilted up at him, Joe would've been a goner, incapable of refusing a single request, be it simple or sexual.

He hadn't kissed anyone since Emmett. For all his fantasies, he doubted he'd be kissing anybody any time soon. It was ridiculous to even consider. Carlo had the looks to be a real heartthrob if he ever got a decent break with his acting career. If by some miracle he wouldn't refuse a man's advances, someone as battered by life as Joe would never catch his attention.

Yet, in spite of what should've been common sense, he wondered. There had been moments when Carlo's gaze lingered a moment too long, or his nostrils had flared as he fought for some kind of control. Joe had caught Carlo watching him on the ride back to the store, too, not to mention the blush at Carlo's unfortunate assumption they'd be sharing the apartment.

The corner of his mouth quirked. Looked like Carlo had been right on that count.

When Carlo shifted in his sleep, Joe stepped back into the bedroom and shut the door to temptation. He could use a couple hours himself before opening the store. For all the anxiety Copper caused, there was something comforting about knowing Carlo was in the next room. He might even invade Joe's dreams if Joe could relax enough to slip that deep.

It wouldn't make tomorrow any easier, but it sure would save tonight from being a complete disaster.

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