K.J. Charles

You wanted me to fuck you, didn't you?"Stephen shut his eyes. "Briefly."Crane lowered his head so his mouth was right on Stephen's ear, voice vibrating, teeth and tongue touching the sensitive flesh. "When I fuck you, Mr. Day, it will not be briefly. It will be long and hard and extremely thorough. I'm going to take pains with you.

Do you remember____uck, yes._ Merrick stood. __nd if you__e telling this story, I__ getting the bottle.

Merrick and I had both had tattoos, my magpie and his elephant and castle, imposed on us as_it__ a long story. A reward, or apology, or both, from the Dragon Head, or grand master, of one of the larger criminal organisations in China after we accidentally saved his son__ life.___ccidentally?___t__ a VERY long story.

He went through the bills with the jaundiced eye of a China trader, asking himself not whether he had been stolen from, but where the theft had occurred. If he couldn__ find it, that would suggest his factor back home in Shanghai was either cleverer or more honest than he had thought, and Crane didn__ think he was particularly honest.

Two death sentences? Really? I mean, you look very well, considering.__rane grinned at him. __ne was in absentia. One wasn__, and I spent three days in a condemned cell. I can__ recommend the experience.___nd__id you say a smuggler?___hat was what the death sentences were for.

I like to make you know your master,_ Crane said. __t's only fair. The rest of the time you've got me so thoroughly enslaved, I might as well be wearing a collar with your name on it.

If you can__ be happy, then be something else. Be useful, that would be good. Decorative, if you like. Selfish, if you must. But don__ whine about it.

I had to let someone know who I was: not merely Simon's assistant, his chronicler, his poor scribbling friend, but the great love of a great life. That I may have lived in his shadow, but I was always by his side. That I was as needful to him as air.