Page 7 of His Boys to Protect

“Oh, of course,” Skylar replied with a wink.

“Jesus, Wolf, where'd you find her?” Aaron asked Ward in an aside. “I thought you normally went for brunettes. But I gotta say, this one's a looker.”

Ward felt a knot loosen in his chest. Even Aaron was convinced? Maybe this whole thing might go smoothly, after all.

Although, hearing Skylar call himself by that name just feltwrong.

Skylar smirked up at Aaron. “Who's to say I'm not a natural brunette?” He punctuated that statement with a quick, downward flick of his glance.

“Oh!” Aaron laughed. “A saucy one, too.” He gave Ward a back-handed slap on the chest. “I like her–” He broke off at the sound of a commotion up by the altar. Aaron stiffened and fussed with his bowtie. “Shit. How do I look? Is it straight? Jesus, I'm nervous.”

Ward clapped him on the shoulder. “It's gonna be great.”Unlike my own wedding.

Aaron blew out a breath, then flashed him a quick, nervous smile. He whirled around and raced back up to the altar while everyone around them quickly took their seats.

Ward followed suit, taking the chair next to Skylar, achingly aware of the boy beside him. The warmth of his little body. The allure of his posture and the hints of bare skin. Ward inwardly cursed, reminding himself that they weren't alone.

Skylar leaned towards him and whispered, “Wolf?”

Ward blushed. “Nickname from college. Well, from childhood, really.”

“Oh?”

Ward hesitated. His girlfriends had teased him mercilessly about his name, but something in the earnest curiosity of Skylar's face made him blurt out, “Ward is my middle name.” He paused. “My first name is Wulfric.”

Skylar's eyebrows went up. “That's not a name you hear every day.”

“My brother and I were both named after our grandfathers,” he began to explain, then had to stop when music drowned out all conversations throughout the room.

Everyone turned to watch the wedding procession start up the aisle, but Ward found Skylar looking at him instead.

And as Ward gazed back into the boy's incredible blue eyes, he couldn't tear his focus away to save his life.

Chapter 4

________

SKYLAR

SKYLAR WAS in serious trouble.

Ward hadn't said how he wanted him to act, so Skylar was having to take cues from Ward's expressions and body language. The last thing he wanted to do was upset or disappoint the man. Not just because Ward was a client and it was Skylar's job to please him, but because the man was surrounded by old friends. But even trying to follow Ward's lead was proving difficult, since Skylar was simply too distracted by him. Ward looked too damned good. And he smelled even better.

Jiminy Christmas on a cracker.It was taking everything Skylar had to sit still rather than burying his nose against Ward's throat and inhaling the scent of him. Whatever cologne or aftershave the man wore, it was worse than catnip. Skylar had to bite back the urge to actually purr. He wanted to strip Ward down and crawl all over him. Rub himself all over Ward's body. Mark himself with Ward's scent.

The wedding hadn't even started, and he wanted it to be over already.

Jeebus. For the first time in his life, he actuallywantedsex. Not because he would get paid for it, but because his body was vibrating with need.

Prior to starting hormone therapy, his sex drive had been pretty much nonexistent. But with testosterone? What a wild adjustment that had been! The hormones had given him a piece of his humanity, a part of himself that he'd always been lacking.

But that was nothing other than pure, physical need. An itch to be scratched. What he felt now, with the gorgeous man sitting beside him? The desire was so much more.

He wanted Ward to utterly consume him. To claim him.Fuck. He'd never been this aroused in his life.

Not even with Charlie.

Skylar winced as a pang of guilt hit him. He loved Charlie. He really did. The boy was the one and only truly good thing in his life. Not the simple, easy pleasures, but a thing that really mattered.Well, him and music, Skylar thought, though he didn't get much time to play anymore. But he did love Charlie, even if theirs wasn't a typical relationship.

---