Hearts of England Read online

  "Okay," Ben answered. He shrugged and moved away to one step from the rain. "No worries."

  They stood in silence for a while and Ben pulled his jacket hood up. He turned to face Cory.

  "Let's go," he said with a wide grin. Then with a few steps he had moved out into the rain.

  The sheeting water had slowed a little and there was even some blue sky showing at the edges of the storm clouds. The air smelt of rain and Cory simply pulled his hood around his face and trudged back to the car in the wake of Ben's footsteps. He stumbled a few times before he realised he wasn't concentrating at all on the path Ben was taking. This way he'd be lucky if he didn't end up with a broken leg or something equally dire. Hurrying his steps a little he caught up with Ben who looked at him briefly with another of his intriguing smiles.

  Ben didn't appear pissed with him although he had every right to be. What kind of guy leads another man on and then pushes him away with something as crass as 'I don't want to'. I'm a fucking idiot is what I am. They made it back to the car much faster than the climb up the hill and it was only when they had shucked jackets and clambered into the small Ford with the doors shut that Cory knew he could talk.

  Cory went to start the engine but then stopped and touched Ben gently on the knee.

  "I'm sorry." He imbued his words with as much meaning as he could but wished it could be more.

  "No biggie," Ben said softly. "Honestly. Let's get back to the hotel and get showers then compare notes."

  "I need to read some more," Cory said. He really wanted to get further into this book and find out more about the ghost of Cathy and how the moors fitted the story. That would surely give the brain in his pants time to convince the brain in his head it was more than okay to just have a short fling with the sexy Brit sitting next to him.

  The journey back to the hotel was quiet but comfortable, and when they separated to go in to their own rooms Cory had more or less convinced himself that he could pull his head out of his ass and enjoy fun times with Ben. After his shower. After he had read more of Wuthering Heights. After dinner.

  * * * *

  Ben was disappointed. Way past that actually. Cory was hot and Ben had been convinced that there was going to be a coming together of momentous proportions. He had never, and he meant never, kissed anyone like that before. Like it consumed them from the inside and there was no need for breath. Ben still had the taste of the man on his tongue, warm skin and the touch of rain. He wasn't sure what to do with all the emotions and need rolling around inside him. So he did what he did best, stiff upper lip and all that bloody nonsense and then had a wank in the shower. It took the edge off the need and the lust but it didn't clear his head of the strange glimpses of emotion in Cory's eyes. Cutting them dead with a simple 'I don't want to' was enough to throw a bucket of ice water over Ben's head, and he wished he could understand where he had gone wrong.

  Maybe he'd come across as a bit pushy? Should he have been polite and not initiated moving Cory back against the wall? Ben was a definite switch but maybe Cory wasn't. Hell. That was probably it.

  Satisfied with his summing up of the whole crap situation he dressed in clean, dry jeans and pulled on a shirt. Buttoning it up as he looked in the mirror he paused as he fiddled with the top buttons. Eyes drawn to the juncture of neck and shoulder he recalled where he had kissed and tasted Cory's skin. Groaning, he remembered the taste and texture. Fuck. This was never going to leave him, was it?

  "Bloody hell," he snapped at his reflection. "Pull yourself the hell together man. Not everyone wants a string bean English lecturer."

  The talking-to helped and straightening his spine he began to open the door. Distracted by the sudden thought that he didn't have his key card, he was caught off guard as Cory barrelled into his room and slammed the door shut behind him. Wild-eyed he stood with his back to the door and his palms flat against the wood.

  "You okay?" Ben asked concerned. "What's wrong?"

  "This book doesn't end well, does it? I saw things unravelling so I read the last chapter."

  "No, it doesn't end well."

  "And the script ends the same?"

  "Yes."

  "Fuck." Cory slumped a little against the door and Ben took a step forward. Crazy Yank was clearly having some kind of mental breakdown.

  "Cory—"

  "Don't talk," Cory said. "Let me talk for a bit."

  Ben nodded and took a few steps back so he could sit on the side of the bed. Emotions snapped on Cory's face and Ben couldn't even begin to identify a single one.

  "I'm genuinely sorry about what happened on the moors today," Cory began.

  "It's fine." It wasn't but Ben didn't like to make people think he was upset about anything.

  "No, it's not fine. Look, I had this partner. Started off the same as you. Just a short break fuck in a foreign country." Ben tried not to let the words hurt, but let's face it, they'd only known each other two days, what did Ben expect? Declarations of forever were not thrown about after two days. What they were starting today was really going to be nothing more than just a few days together to ease the itch of need. "He was an asshole."

  "Who?"

  "The ex. Met him in Canada and he followed me back to LA. He was in films. Jeez. It's a long story. He was my possibly-forever guy, or at least my next-few-years guy. Cut a long story short, what he was financing went south and he sold some shit about me and my brother to the National Enquirer. I don't give a damn about me but he pulled Josh into it and made a couple hundred thousand out of it all."

  "Oh that's not good," Ben said. He wanted to say more, but relationships were difficult to talk about at the best of times. "No wonder you didn't want to get involved with anyone. I am so sorry he broke your heart like that."

  Cory snorted.

  "Broke my heart? I hadn't given him that much power. More like made me think anything more than casual sex was dangerous."

  "You didn't love him?"

  "No."

  "I'm not really following all this," Ben said. He rubbed his temples with his fingers. Cory was making absolutely no sense.

  "It's all Josh's fault." Cory stepped away from the door and stalked towards the bed. He moved into Ben's space and in response Ben leant back. A well-placed shove from Cory and he was flat on his back with his feet on the floor. Cory clambered to straddle his lap and wasn't that all kinds of fucking brilliant? "He said I should start looking for a forever guy, you know, start a family, settle down, actually open an office at Pinewood to expand the whole company."

  "You're getting an office here?" Ben couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. Pinewood was no more than thirty minutes from where he lived. That fact held much more promise than an ocean separating them.

  "It makes sense, because a lot of the films I scout for end up filming at Pinewood, and it wouldn't hurt to have a European office," he said. Crouching over, he ground himself down on Ben and suddenly Ben was under no illusion that Cory didn't want him. He was hard and ready and Ben was too. "So I find this guy and I start to plan a future, a place here, a place in LA, and then he turns out to be a complete asshole. There was no way he could be anything special for me and I resign myself to the fact that I'm going to be doing this alone. Then I meet you."

  Cory stopped moving and, suddenly as still as a statue, he simply stared down at Ben.

  "Not once did Tony-I-want-your-brother's-money-Abney make me feel the way you make me feel," he began. "Not once did he make me think I wanted to stand in the rain and wind in the middle of Yorkshire and kiss until there was no air left in my lungs. Not once did he make me imagine that there was anything other than sex at the end of it all." He paused and his gaze skimmed Ben's face. "You see, I don't want sex with you."

  Ben wriggled under Cory. If Cory didn't want sex then he was surely going about this the wrong way. Ben didn't want sex either but he meant it in an entirely different way. He wanted to make love and kiss until there was nothing left but the two of them. So sue him if he wa
s the intense type of guy.

  "I want to make love to you," Cory said. His voice was a whisper. His lips hovered over Ben's and the small puffs of breath smelt of peppermint toothpaste. "And kiss you until we forget where we are."

  "I just said that," Ben offered weakly.

  "When?" Cory looked a little confused as he placed a gentle kiss to Ben's lips, a whisper of a touch and nothing more.

  "In my head," Ben answered.

  "In your head, see, that's why I like you."

  "Because I have conversations in my head?"

  "Because what you say, what comes out of your mouth, is real." Cory deepened the kiss and for a few minutes Ben got with the plan and simply enjoyed the taste and the touch. When the kisses grew heated Ben wasn't even sure whose hands were where, as jeans and underwear hit the floor and then his shirt and Cory's. Finally he was naked and under Cory—exactly where he wanted to be right at this moment. With muttered curses and whispered commands they learned what they wanted, and when Cory wanted more Ben was so very ready.

  "I don't normally do this," he said. "Not after just two days—" Cory kissed a path to his heavy dick and teased him, biting marks of possession into Ben's hips. Ben suddenly lost the ability to form a coherent sentence when a hot mouth closed over the end of his dick and a lubed finger circled him and pressed and teased. Everything was over embarrassingly quickly for Ben but when Cory fell onto his back he had evidently come just while giving Ben a blow job.

  "More," Cory said. He rolled on his side and stole a kiss. "More reading Wuthering Heights, more walking on the moors, more kissing and making love, more of you."

  "I can go with that," Ben said.

  "Three weeks," Cory said gently. He laid his head on Ben's chest. "Let's see how much we can fall in love in three weeks."

  "You're staying the whole three weeks?" Ben asked. Hope flared inside him that the man in his arms would be around a lot longer.

  "We could finish here then maybe scout some places for the company?"

  "I'd like that," Ben replied.

  "After all, tell me why I would ever think of leaving my maybe-forever guy?"

  Ben had so many questions but he could only focus on one. "You know I could be that already?"

  "Don't you?" Cory asked the question softly and there was determination in his expression.

  Ben did. Ben felt a connection with this man that he had never felt before. Strong, unbreakable, full of promise and very new. Forget the practicalities of who lived where and did what with whomever. This felt right and he wanted to try for more. So much more.

  "My maybe-forever guy. I like that," Ben said. He slid a hand between them until it closed around Cory's hard length. "Ready for round two?"

  "As long as we never reach the final round I'm happy, Ben. Let's do this thing."

  The End

  About the Author

  RJ Scott lives just outside London. She has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies and was told to write a story. Two sides of A4 about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born. She loves reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror; however, her first real love will always be the world of romance. Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and more than a hint of happily ever after.

  Email:

  [email protected]

  Webpage:

  www.rjscott.co.uk

  Facebook:

  http://www.facebook.com/rjscotts

  Twitter:

  @rjscotts

  Also by RJ Scott

  Available at Silver Publishing

  Oracle

  Moments

  The Christmas Throwaway

  "Valentine 2525" in Never Say Never

  All the King's Men

  Back Home

  Deefur Dog

  Jesse's Christmas

  The Gallows Tree

  The Art of Words with Meredith Russell

  A Better Man with Jaime Reese

  "Child of the Storm" in Hearts of England

  Silver Shorts 2012, Week 6

  Silver Shorts 2012, Week 7

  Silver Shorts 2012, Week 15

  TEXAS

  The Heart of Texas

  Texas Winter

  Texas Heat

  THE FIRE TRILOGY

  Kian

  Darach

  Eoin

  THE FITZWARREN INHERITANCE

  The Psychic's Tale, by Chris Quinton

  The Soldier's Tale, by RJ Scott

  The Lord's Tale, by Sue Brown

  The Fitzwarren Inheritance (Print)

  SANCTUARY

  Guarding Morgan

  The Only Easy Day

  Face Value

  Still Waters

  Full Circle

  SHADOW OF THE WOLF with Diane Adams

  Shattered Secrets

  Broken Memories

  Splintered Lies (Coming Soon)

  Available at Love Lane Books – for young adults:

  Love Is In The Hallways

  Love Is In The Title

  Love is in the Message

  The Decisions We Make

  Awards:

  Best Paranormal Author 2010

  Nomination: Love Romance Café

  Best GBLTQ Author 2010

  Nomination: Love Romance Café

  Oracle

  Best Gay Paranormal / Horror 2010: Honorable Mention (5th)

  Elisa Rolle's Rainbow Awards

  Oracle

  Best Cover 2010: Second Place

  Elisa Rolle's Rainbow Awards

  Oracle

  Best Cover 2010: Runner Up

  Love Romance Café

  The Christmas Throwaway

  Top 10 Bestselling Books of 2010

  Are (All Romance ebooks)

  Reviews:

  5/5 for The Christmas Throwaway

  RJ Scott has created a beautiful and inspirational story that grabs hold of the heart and doesn't let go, even after its final words are read. It is a sweetly sentimental book that cultivates an emotional response and inspires belief that love can prevail under the most improbable of circumstances. The characters are well developed and engaging, and the attraction between Zach and Ben was entirely credible. To use a trite but true cliché, The Christmas Throwaway is simply a feel-good story, a touching and romantic read that embodies the meaning of new beginnings and happy endings.

  —Lisa from Michele n Jeff Reviews

  * * * *

  Book Wenches give 4.5 to Moments

  Although I began reading it looking for a Hollywood train wreck, this novel is much more than that. It is a well-told story of love, personal growth and redemption that I found to be touching and quite involving. It features well-developed and arresting characters, heartfelt emotion, and a romance that is both intriguing and affecting… I will definitely be seeking out more of Ms. Scott's work in the future.

  * * * *

  Readers Roundtable gives 5/5 to Oracle

  Oracle by RJ Scott is in one word beautiful. You have to take the journey with Alex to find that beauty but it's there and it will bring a smile, and a few tears, to your face.

  * * * *

  Hearts on Fire Reviews gives 5/5 to The Art of Words

  "Anyone who likes vulnerable male characters (as I do) should like this book. Blu is a fascinating character. You just want to give him a reassuring hug, ruffle his hair, and take him to McDonald's (ok…just kidding about Micky D's. He isn't that childlike. He doesn't need McNuggets….just some confidence, served in abundance, please!!) He really doesn't believe in himself. He's a neurotic bundle of nerves in the beginning but by the end of the story the reader will be smiling with him.

  The writers actually had me teary eyed at one point. And when a book hits me on an emotional level like that I usually rate high. They deserve it. The writing was crisp, clean, and realistic. The story wasn't bogged down with a lot of conflict, whic
h I appreciate since it was a relatively short read. Blu's problem with self-esteem and his shameful secret was enough to keep the story flowing.

  I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes m/m romance.

  And I definitely would read another book by this writing pair."

  * * * *

  MM Good Book Reviews gives 4.5/5 to Still Waters

  "R.J. Scott has provided us with a wonderful story of lovers torn apart by betrayal, a bit of action, a bit of danger, some passionate sex, twists and a really well written storyline that flows smoothly. So, really I have to recommend that you give it a read."

  * * * *

  Dark Divas Reviews gives 5/5 to The Art of Words

  Ms. Scott and Ms. Russell show the depth of both Blu and Tom's insecurities without emasculating either character. Both Tom and Blu have inner strengths that can at times hinder each other but also help each other, thus allowing each of them to grow. It is this balance that they must find in order to make both the professional and more importantly, the personal relationship work. This reviewer believes that the balance is there and a HEA is most definitely in order. The reader will not be disappointed when reading The Art of Words.

  * * * *

  A Great Review for Face Value

  "I love a good mystery and here is one that has stretched out over three books in the Sanctuary series and looks to continue on as there is no resolution in sight at the end of Face Value. Scott continues to unravel the story of the powerful Bullen family while introducing us to new Sanctuary agents and people involved in the Bullen family past. Once again, the author has done an incredible job of bringing us a variety of interesting characters, from endearing to malignant, in a mystery that deepens with each book.