Is It You?

By Tinnean

William "Wills" Matheson is a computer whiz, hired by Huntingdon right out of college. He's groomed for a position in the Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security, a sister organization to Huntingdon. Eventually, he's promoted to senior special agent in the department of Interior Affairs, under the notorious Mark Vincent.

Instructed by Trevor Wallace -- The Boss, and yes, that's in caps, of the WBIS -- to follow Vincent after his apartment is destroyed, the younger agent discovers why the man is considered the best when Vincent easily spots him. Rather than knocking him down as expected, Vincent orders Wills to accompany him to his friend's bedside in GW Hospital. There, Wills meets the rent boy known as Sweetcheeks and is instantly struck by the handsome redhead.

Wills has never had a male lover before, but he's more than willing to give it a try. Gradually he begins to wonder if there could be a future for them together.

Things look positive for them when Sweetcheeks confesses his own love, but Wills is a WBIS agent, and Sweetcheeks is a rent boy. Will their jobs come between them before they can explore their newfound love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: May 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646564088

Tinnean

I’ve been writing since the 3rd grade. I was on the staff of my high school magazine, and then... I got married. There was a long interval when raising my kids took preference, although I would scribble sci fi, contemporary, or paranormal stories with very strong heroines. (This was before I discovered m/m. Don’t laugh, I led a very sheltered childhood.)It was with the advent of the family's second computer – the first intimidated everyone – that my writing took off. I discovered 1. Fanfiction; 2. m/m (yes, I know. Finally!); 3. the wonder that is copy and paste. Does anyone remember what typing up a manuscript on a manual typewriter was like? Okay then, nuff said.While I was involved in fandom, I was nominated for both Rerun and Light My Fire Awards. But even then, my original characters would come knocking, to the point I’ve left Jim and Blair, Rodney and John, and even Lyle and Mr. Taggart (Blazing Saddles) behind. I’ve been published by Nazca Plain, JMS Books, Dreamspinner, Wilde City Press, and Less Than Three Press, and now I’m taking the leap into the self-pubbing pool. My novel, Two Lips, Indifferent Red received honorable mention in the 2013 Rainbow Awards, and Home Before Sundown was a 2017 runner-up.Now I reside in SW Florida with my husband and three computers, but I’ll always be a Noo Yawk kinda gal.

Book preview

Is It You?

By Tinnean

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2020 Tinnean

ISBN 9781646564088

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission from the publisher, with the exception of excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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This is for Bob, because…Bob. It will always be for him.

Thank you to Tim Mead and Jim for their unstinting help, and to Gail Morse for her constant, amazing help.

This takes place in 2002. None of the buildings in Boston are as tall as the one that houses Huntingdon’s headquarters. Obviously this was done to conceal the real location of Huntingdon. Wills and Sweetcheeks first put in appearances in Houseboat on the Nile. The events of this story are touched on in Not My Spook! They both appear in Forever, and eventually we’ll get to read Sweetcheeks’s story in The Light in Your Eyes duology.

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Is It You?

By Tinnean

Chapter 1

I suppose, if it came right down to it, Mr. Wallace was the cause of it.

He was the man who ran the Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security, and he told me, Meet Mr. Vincent at the DC morgue, so that was what I did.

Mr. Wallace didn’t tell me to follow Mr. Vincent to George Washington Hospital.

But I did anyway.

It was dumb on my part, and maybe a bit egotistical as well. Who the hell was I to think Mark Vincent needed anyone to look out for him?

But in the morgue he’d looked…I couldn’t pinpoint it, but it seemed to be a combination of disillusionment, frustration, and sheer pissed off-ness.

And I’d also seen the look in his eyes when he’d thanked me for not giving up on him. Oh, those weren’t his exact words, but that was what he meant.

He really hadn’t expected anyone to do that for him.

I couldn’t see doing anything less, any more than I could have walked away when Mr. Adams told me what I’d have to do on occasion. It was the way I was raised…

But I guessed you could also say that Mr. Vincent had a hand in it as well.

When he turned into the hospital’s parking garage, I killed my headlights and let the car inch forward into it as well. Mr. Vincent’s taillights were about twenty feet ahead of me. Truthfully, I was proud of myself for having come this far without him spotting me. He really must have been distressed.

But when a van started backing out of its spot, and he zipped around it, I realized I’d been made. The van stalled, and I lost precious minutes waiting for the driver to regain his composure and drive off.

Okay, I had two choices. I could try to track down my boss, or I could get the fuck out of Dodge.

I swore under my breath. No, there was no choice. I had to find Mr. Vincent and make sure he was all right. Only then could I drive home with a clear conscience.

My friend Michael would have called me goody two-shoes, and there would have been an unpleasant edge to his words. Not that that had stopped him from relying on goody two-shoes to haul his ass out of hot water, which I’d done more than once.

I sighed. Thinking of Michael always saddened me. So much distance between us. How much longer would we have remained friends if he hadn’t died?

Someone rapped on the driver’s side window. And I jumped and jammed on the brakes, which screeched a bit, even though I wasn’t going more than five mph. How the hell—

I shouldn’t have let myself become distracted. I should have known. It was Mr. Vincent. I lowered the window.

Lost, Matheson?

Shi—uh…No, sir. My foot was cramping up from the force I was placing on the brake, and I shifted into neutral.

Care to tell me what you’re doing here, then?

Sorry, sir. I know it isn’t my place, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.

I’m okay.

Of course he was. He was Mark Vincent. I sat there trying to look unconcerned, all the while wracking my brains for a graceful way to get out of this cluster fuck.

Abruptly he said, All right, I’m right over there. Take the next spot.

He was going to clock me. Well, there was no getting around it. I’d overstepped the bounds, and he had every right to discipline me as he saw fit.

I parked my car and got out, waiting for him to punch me in the face. I just hoped he wouldn’t break my nose. It was my best feature.

He looked me over, then shook his head and turned to walk away. Don’t just stand there, Matheson. I have to take care of this, and then you can explain why you felt the need to baby-sit me.

Yes, sir. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe I hadn’t totally screwed this up. I hurried after him, through the doors that opened into the emergency department. I wasn’t familiar with it. The few times I’d been injured in the line of duty, I’d seen doctors who worked out of the WBIS.

Mr. Vincent, however, knew where he was going.

He crossed to a cubicle and yanked the curtains aside. Fuck. Haven’t they found a bed for him yet? He looked furious, and I was grateful that glare was not directed at me.

On the bed were two figures, one with disheveled white hair who was sleeping with his thumb in his mouth. The other, obviously the patient, was drowsily stroking the spiky platinum strands. He had been severely beaten. S’okay, baby.

Baby? Who—

"It’s not okay." My boss snarled.

Wait, he was calling Mr. Vincent baby? I barely kept my jaw from dropping.

You’ve been down here for hours. I’m not leaving until I get you settled.

You always make such a big thing out of everything. The man in the bed shifted and sucked in a breath.

You need something for pain? Mr. Vincent looked around, as if he were searching for a nurse.

I’m okay.

You’re not, but I won’t argue with you.

Promise? The injured man closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep.

He’s been doing that on and off since you left. Slouched in a chair was a good-looking man with reddish curly hair. His voice was a warm baritone, and the sound of it was like silk caressing my cock.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I’d always had a weakness for redheads, but every one of those redheads had been girls. This wasn’t a cute, androgynous guy who could just as well have passed for a cute girl. This guy was all male. He was wearing stonewashed jeans, and the way his foot was propped on the lowered railing of the bed drew them tight across his crotch. Was he even wearing anything under them?

I dragged my gaze up and found myself staring at his mouth. His lips were made for kissing—and why had I even thought of that? I’d never kissed a guy. Michael had turned his head away the only