ATONEMENT, The Protectors Book #6

by Sloane Kennedy

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Synopsis

“Once a fuck up, always a fuck up.”

Words twenty-six-year-old Dante Thorne has had to live with for more years than he can count and a title he finally earned at the tender age of sixteen when one careless decision led to tragedy. And since he can’t deny the truth of the words, why not live by them instead? Fucking up, fucking, it doesn’t matter; as long as it feels good and makes him forget the day he failed the one person he’d always sworn to protect. A good philosophy to live by until Dante meets the one man who might actually having him wishing he was something more…

At forty-one and with a distinguished career as a Texas Ranger under his belt, Magnus DuCane should have been in the prime of his life. Instead, he’s mourning the loss of the daughter he couldn’t save and contemplating a future that looks nothing like the one he had planned. The only bright spot in his life is the young grandson whose suddenly been returned to him after going missing two years earlier and the new family of men that he’s been welcomed in to with open arms. But with his iron will, unfailing self-control and unflappable discipline, Magnus knows he can start a new chapter and get his life back on track…if he can just get past the disturbing, unexpected feelings one young man stirs in him.

Because everything about Dante Thorne is wrong for Magnus. His arrogance, his cocky attitude, every single unfiltered word that falls unchecked out of his mouth and, of course, the fact that he’s a man.

But when his well-meaning friends send Dante with him as a bodyguard when he returns to Texas to testify in a high-profile case, Magnus begins to see beyond the brash words and endless sexual innuendo. And when he starts to discover that what he sees isn’t all that bad, suddenly the fact that that Dante is a man instead of a woman no longer seems like such a big sticking point…

Links

https://www.amazon.com/Sloane-Kennedy/e/B00U8W8CPA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1484421847&sr=8-2-ent

Teasers

Excerpt

Prologue

Dante

The guy wasn’t bad at giving head. And what he lacked in finesse, he more than made up for in eagerness. But the fact that I had to remind myself to start fucking his mouth was evidence enough that my head wasn’t in the game. I’d like to say that was because of the slight buzz I had going from the two glasses of champagne I’d downed in record time after the first one that I’d slowly sipped during the handful of toasts that had been given to the grooms, but lying to myself was just a waste of time.

No, there was only one reason I was so fucking distracted that even a halfway decent blowjob was doing nothing for me.

And that reason was wrapped up in a gorgeous 6’2 package of hard muscle, a lazy, killer smile and the most intense blue eyes I’d ever seen.

That reason also hated my fucking guts and had no problem reminding me of that every time he flashed those icy blues my way.

Did he have a reason to?

Okay, so maybe I’d enjoyed needling him just a little too much about how uptight he was, his advanced age - though at forty something, he wasn’t at all advanced – and the fact that he was a grandfather. Hell, the man didn’t look anything like any grandfather I’d ever seen.

I’d wanted him from the very first time I’d met him and since I was the kind of guy who was used to getting what he wanted, I hadn’t hesitated in letting him know that five minutes with me would change his entire outlook on life.

A little conceited? Yeah, I suppose. My mother had always told me I needed to think more before I spoke, but I found that most of the men and women I wanted found it more of a turn on when I told them what they wanted. And I never failed to follow through on the promise of pleasure. Whether it was a man or a woman or hell, more than one of either or both, I made sure all my partners got off and then some.

Leave them wanting more.

It was a good rule of thumb because it meant I never had to chase someone. They came to me and then they kept coming back until I decided I was done, which was nearly always the case after the first time.

Like the pretty little number voraciously sucking my dick.

I’d honed in on him from the moment I’d spied him working with the rest of the wait staff to get the hors d'oeuvres set up. He’d tried to ignore my not so subtle glances, but when he’d upended a tray of some strange-looking shrimp dish after I’d discreetly adjusted myself so that only he would see, I’d known it wouldn’t take much. After that, I’d just had to tease him mercilessly with hungry glances and the occasional playful touch as he’d repeatedly approached me with trays of appetizers I’d had no interest in eating. When I’d finally stroked my hand over his groin after he’d appeared at my side with a tray full of champagne flutes, he’d barely managed to hang on to it. All I’d had to do was tell him, “Upstairs bathroom” and he’d nodded so excitedly that he’d looked like a man who’d just won the fucking lottery.

So, the blowjob really should have been better. Or I should have at least been able to look down at the head of brown hair and not see dark hair heavily threaded with silver. I shouldn’t have been hoping I’d see gorgeous blue eyes looking up at me as my cock was being sucked to the back of a corded throat.

Fucking Magnus DuCane.

I’d met the man the day I’d been assigned to stand guard outside his grandson’s hospital room. Little Matty Travers had been undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the children’s hospital in Seattle and I’d been charged with protecting him after his father, Tate and my former colleague, Hawke, had run afoul of some drug dealers. Fortunately, there’d been no threat to the boy and while I would miss interacting with the kid, I was glad he was out of the hospital for good.

What I wouldn’t miss were the looks of disdain Magnus would shoot me every time he saw me. How the fuck was I supposed to know the man wasn’t gay or even bi?

Okay, so maybe I should have gotten the hint early on when I’d sent him a few flirtatious looks and he’d responded with obvious discomfort, but I’d sworn I’d seen something else in those stunning eyes of his, too. And since I’d been more than willing to let the guy use me to test what it would be like to fly his rainbow flag, I’d made sure to let him know that with the occasional touch or suggestion when he’d been leaving his grandson’s room. His response?

Nothing.

Not one goddamn word.

He hadn’t ever told me to fuck off. Hadn’t ever told me he wasn’t interested. No, he’d just stared at me with that look.

That you’re a waste of skin look that my stepfather never failed to lay on me every time he saw me – that he’d cast on me from the moment he’d married my mother nearly twenty years earlier.

In truth, that was the reason I’d kept trying to get his attention. Not just because I’d been eager to find out what it would feel like to bury my cock into what I suspected was his very tight, very virgin ass. No, I’d been desperate to show him I didn’t give a shit what he thought of me.

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t register that me and my sloppy-mouthed new friend weren’t alone anymore. It wasn’t until I glanced up in the bathroom mirror that I saw him watching us.

Fuck, I couldn’t seem to escape the man. Or that fucking look which even now bloomed to life in his gaze as his eyes went from me down to the man on his knees in front of me.

I would have expected Magnus to send me the standard ‘You’re worthless’ look and remove himself from the bathroom, but he just stood there, his eyes on…fuck, where the hell were his eyes?

Not on my face and definitely not on the oblivious man who was still going to town on my cock…no, his eyes were on my bare ass which Caterer Guy was hanging onto as he sucked me down to the root.

No fucking way. It couldn’t be.

Caterer Guy finally seemed to sense we weren’t alone anymore because he popped off my dick and let out a gasp. Before he could scramble to his feet, I grabbed him by the shoulder and held him in place as I turned my head so I could watch Magnus. His eyes finally lifted to mine and then I saw the frown spread across his pretty mouth.

“Did you forget to lock the door, my sweet?” I asked the man at my feet, though I kept my eyes on Magnus. The fact that he still hadn’t fled had my senses going into overdrive and I couldn’t resist the urge to play with him a bit, especially since I’d managed to catch that brief look of something besides derision in his gaze.

“We’ll be done in a bit,” I said to Magnus as I shifted enough so he could see my very thick, very ready cock as it bobbed in front of Caterer Guy’s face. I snagged my fingers in the guy’s hair and forced his attention to me. I looked at him long enough to say, “Finish me off. Our friend here was just leaving.” I shifted my eyes back to Magnus and said, “Unless he wants to join us.”

I expected the suggestion would be enough to send the man scurrying, but to my surprise, he slammed the door behind him and then strode towards us, his jaw so hard that it looked like he’d break his own teeth. I lost interest in Caterer Guy and didn’t care that he hadn’t taken my dick back into his mouth. When Magnus reached us, he kept moving until he had me crowded back against the counter, forcing me to release my hold on the man at my feet.

“Out,” Magnus snarled at Caterer Guy and I felt a shiver of excitement run down my spine and straight to my balls at the harsh order. I wasn’t surprised when the man let out a little gasp and then stumbled to his feet. He’d been too busy sucking my cock to undress himself in any way so he was out the door like a shot, slamming it closed behind him.

Magnus didn’t touch me as he got into my space, though I was definitely wishing he would. My cock actually brushed his trousers when I forced myself not to retreat any farther.

“You want to play your little fucking games, you do it somewhere else because I will not have my grandson walking in on this shit,” Magnus said coldly, his words like little shards of ice. I knew he was right and it was my fault for not making sure the door had been locked, but of course, I didn’t say that. I never said shit like that because I didn’t apologize to guys like Magnus who looked down on me like I was nothing more than garbage.

“Fuck you,” I said, letting my mouth curve into a smile I wasn’t feeling as I added, “Or you too afraid to find out you might actually like it?”

Magnus shook his head at me as if he wasn’t surprised by my response. Like he’d expected it. “Grow up, Dante. Just grow the fuck up.”

And with that, he turned away from me and I was disappointed when he didn’t look back.

Other Books In The Series

Absolution (The Protectors #1)

http://getbook.at/Absolution

Salvation (The Protectors #2)

http://getbook.at/SalvationTP2

Retribution (The Protectors #3)

http://getbook.at/Retribution

Forsaken (The Protectors #4)

http://getbook.at/ForsakenTheProtectors4

Vengeance (The Protectors #5)

http://getbook.at/VengeanceTP5

Author Bio

Although Sloane Kennedy always dreamed of being a writer as a teenager, she didn't take the plunge until March of 2015 when she released her first novel as an independent author. Since then, she has released more than a dozen books including the Amazon best-selling "Barretti Security" series, "Finding" series and "Protectors" series. While she initially began writing M/F romance, she found her true passion writing gay romance and all four of her most recent releases reached the #1 spot on Amazon's Gay Romance bestseller list and Freeing Zane, her final book in the Barretti Security series, made it to Amazon's overall bestseller list. Sloane was born in Germany and grew up in Virginia and Wisconsin. Although she currently lives in Wisconsin, the place where she has always felt most at home is Seattle and many of her books take place in the Emerald city. Although she is unmarried, a menagerie of 2 dogs and 3 cats keeps her busy enough and 3 young nieces take care of the rest of her free time. Sloane loves being able to share her passion for romance with readers and she is truly humbled by all the support she's received from fans and fellow authors alike.