New tricks by Kate Sherwood Page A

They’ve been inside my sweaty boots all day, and….”
    “Then you should stop asking questions.” Aaron paused. “Unless you want the game to be over. Do you want the game to be over?”
    Quinn thought about it, but not for very long. “No. I don’t want it to be over.”
    “Good. Me neither.” Quinn hadn’t realized that Aaron was leaning forward until he shifted back and stretched his long, lean body out from the chair. Damn, Quinn liked it when Aaron stretched. “Take your socks off, Quinn. Ball them up , and then throw them on the couch.”
    Quinn tried not to grin and did as he was told. He looked down at his feet; it was strange how naked they looked. He wondered if Aaron was looking at them too.
    “Now your top shirt. Slowly . Make it a show, Quinn. Make me want to touch you.”
    Quinn absolutely hoped he’d be able to persuade Aaron to touch him. As soon as possible. But he wasn’t all that into putting on a show; he preferred to be the one watching and judging. Or at least, that had been his preference before Aaron; now, he liked to watch and admire . But this was Aaron’s thing, and Quinn wanted to play Aaron’s game. He unbuttoned the shirt, forcing himself to move slowly, but he was pretty sure that instead of looking sensuous and seductive, he was looking uncoordinated or possibly drunk. He forced himself to keep going, running a hand up his chest under the shirt and pushing it off his shoulder, then doing the same with the other hand on the other side. He held the shirt there, halfway down his back with the sleeves caught just above his elbows, and he remembered how stiff his muscles were and rolled his shoulders again.
    Apparently that was enough; Quinn was lucky that Aaron didn’t have much real-world knowledge of this sort of thing. Lucky that Aaron didn’t have much real-world experience about boyfriends in general , that nasty voice in the back of Quinn’s head added. But Aaron couldn’t hear that voice, and he seemed pleased. “Very nice. Let it fall to the floor.” Aaron’s voice was a little husky, or at least Quinn hoped it was. “Now just stand there. Let me look at you.”
    It was strange; Aaron looked at Quinn all the time, but it didn’t usually affect him like this. Well, it usually affected him; any attention from Aaron was good, and it tended to lead to sex, so that was good too. But there was something different about this, about Aaron looking at Quinn like he was appraising him rather than just waiting for Quinn to notice him. It was getting Quinn pretty hard, pretty fast.
    “There’s a new mark on the side of your neck. What did that?”
    “How can you even see that? It’s so dark in here….” Quinn caught himself. No questions. “It’s just scratches. Your asshole brother hit me with a hay bale. He thought it was funny.”
    “Why did he hit you?” Aaron sounded more serious than usual; actually, he sounded like he might be about to get Quinn in trouble for fighting at work.
    “We were just screwing around. He was tossing bales down from the top of the loft, and I said something about how he was too slow, so he started pelting them down really fast….” If it had been a normal night, if they hadn’t been doing whatever it was that they were doing, Aaron would have laughed at that. But things were different this night.
    Aaron barely moved, just reached into his jacket’s breast pocket and pulled out his phone, then hit a number and held it to his ear. “Danny? It’s Aaron. I’m at the apartment. You were careless today, and you damaged my property. I don’t like it, Danny. Don’t do it again.” He clicked the phone shut without waiting for an answer.
    Quinn stared across the room. “Aaron, what the fuck! That’s—Jesus, Aaron, that’s a little much, don’t you think? Why did you drag Danny into this?”
    Aaron’s gaze was fierce. “I’m not going to warn you again, Quinn. No more questions.” He stood up and took a step closer, then