Bellann Summer

I've been known to surprise my readers with some storylines. I think my first surprise came with
today's snippet. I had included it in an epilogue of another book. I believe my readers thought Creed would end up with someone else, and so this took them by surprise. Controlling His Men (Granite County)
Investigator Dean Titan from the Division of Criminal Investigation and Chief Deputy Creed Darnley stalked down the main street of Granite City. Both were beyond angry after having spent the last four hours sitting at the station, listening to a couple of dipshits from the Department of Justice explain how former Pine County Sheriff Sullivan Bechard had escaped from custody.
In unison, they stopped walking in front of the On Tap bar. Dean indicated for Creed to go first and then followed. The place was dark, smelled of stale beer, and still had the stench of cigarettes from when it was still legal to smoke indoors.
Sliding onto a stool next to Creed, Dean pulled out a couple of twenties and laid them on the bar. Old Byron Smith filled two glasses with beer on tap and set them in front of the still-fuming men. Dean nodded to the money in front of him. Grabbing one twenty, the older man walked back to the old-fashioned cash register in the corner.
“I have to say, this whole week has been fucked up,” Creed said.
Dean’s eyes followed Byron from the register, back to the bar where he set his change on top of the remaining twenty and walked away.
“Yeah, I have to agree with that. This week started with a kick to the ass, and now this shit with Bechard,” Dean said, glancing at Creed.
Creed took a deep swallow of beer, his tan Adam’s apple bobbing, drawing Dean’s eye. Turning his head, Creed caught Dean staring at him. To Dean’s surprise, Creed stared back. Okay, this was new. Dean broke the moment by picking up his glass and drinking half of the beer down.
“Didn’t you have a big date with Aaron Leeder from the community center this week?” Creed drank the rest of his beer and indicated with his glass that he wanted another.
Turning to Dean, he said, “Oh, yeah. In the middle of dinner, the guy who owns the bicycle shop came over and accused Aaron of stepping out on him.”
“You’re kidding?” Dean laughed.
“Hey, it wasn’t funny. All the while those two were arguing, they kept getting closer and closer, until they were practically plastered together. I finally got up and left.”
“What did they do when you got up?” Dean asked.
“Nothing, they didn’t even notice,” Creed complained.
“Yeah? Well, I went into the hospital to see Job on Monday. He was on call all weekend, so we hadn’t seen each other.” Dean took a moment to empty his glass and gestured for a refill. “The attraction between us is out of this world, but Job has a few hang-ups, you know? I thought we could talk about it and maybe work things out.”
“Hang-ups?” Creed asked. His dark eyes were traveling over Dean’s face and shoulders.
“He claims real men don’t submit to sex the way I like them to. He said what I want isn’t natural,” Dean answered.
 “I thought the only rules in the bedroom were the ones the people involved decided on,” Creed stated.
Dean watched Creed take another drink of beer and wondered if his lips were as soft as they looked.
“Hey,” Creed said, getting Dean’s attention. Mischief danced in those dark eyes. “It sounds like we’ve both had a shitty week. My apartment is two blocks from here. You wanna go blow off some steam? I like unnatural.”
Dean blinked. Smiling, he looked down at the prominent bulge behind the zipper of Creed’s pants, and back up into the handsome man’s face.
“Sure.”