Never Leave, Never Lie by Thea Verdone EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Thea Verdone
- Language: English
- Genre: Gay Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
ALEK
Musical notes fluttered like fireflies in the dark parlor room. Alek sat
at the piano, all ten fingers gliding over the keys, his gaze fixed on
the window. Sound tangled with color and emotion. Fear was the
color ochre, viridian love, chartreuse shame.
The sun disappeared behind the tree line and shadows clawed at the
Gothic Victorian mansion. Ian would be home soon. Ian’s favorite meal—
eggplant parmesan—was in the oven. The casserole dish just fit on the rack
beside the strawberry galette. The table was set, the wine poured.
Ordinarily, Alek would be waiting by the door. Ian joked that coming
home to Alek was like being greeted by a 1950s housewife. Alek disagreed.
He didn’t need a medicine cabinet full of barbiturates and
methamphetamines to marshal the courage to suck Ian’s dick after handing
him an aperitif. He was more than willing.
Besides, they weren’t even married yet, though Alek had plans to
remedy that. Tonight. Alek was going to propose, and when Ian said yes,
Alek would feed him, and fuck him, all in time for the galette to come out
of the oven.
Until then, he would play the piano, because if he was left alone with
his thoughts—the thoughts that said No one will ever love you and Ian will
leave, like everyone else and You don’t deserve him—he’d never have the
courage to ask.
He pushed the thoughts away, sending them through his fingers as he
hammered the keys in a violent staccato, transforming his fear and doubt
into music, like alchemy, until he felt nothing.
“Is that a new song?” Ian asked.
Alek’s pulse stuttered, but his fingers didn’t stumble as he finished the
last few notes that remained. The scent of cedar and salt—Ian’s signature
scent—wrapped around Alek like a security blanket and behind closed eyes,
his synesthesia built the image of a forest in summer when sunlight baked
the trees and turned shadows sepia. It had been that way since the night they
first met.
“It’s beautiful,” Ian murmured against Alek’s neck, his dark stubble
scratching Alek’s skin like a match.
Alek turned and met Ian’s lips, tangling their tongues, tasting the
moments they’d been parted. The piano strings were still, not a single note
reverberated, but Alek’s music carried on seamlessly inside his head,
playing an underscore to their kiss. Alek straddled the bench and pulled Ian
down by the collar of his tee until he was on his knees.
“I missed you.” Alek brushed the sawdust from Ian’s umber hair.
“Likewise, love.”
“How was your day?”
“The Queen Anne’s almost finished. The Craftsman is down to the
studs.”
He and Ian restored historic homes. Alek oversaw interior design and
sourced antique materials, while Ian threw sledgehammers against brick
walls, carried loads of lumber over his shoulder, and did other hot
construction things.
Ian’s dark eyes narrowed. “You hate small talk. What are you
plotting?”
Alek splayed his hand against his chest. “Me? Plotting? I have no idea
what you mean.”
He should ask Ian now. The more time that passed without music, the
more his doubts crowded. He reached into his pocket, his fingertips grazing
the soft velvet box… No. Not yet.
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