An Excerpt from T.A. Chase's Here Be Dragons

The insistent buzzing broke into the pleasurable dream Kael Hammerson was having. When he managed to pry his eyes open, he realized the noise was the sound of someone leaning on the intercom at his apartment building entrance. Stumbling over a week’s worth of newspapers and piles of books, he made his way to the speaker. Pushing the talk button, he growled, “Piss off. It’s too fucking early in the morning.”

“Hammerson, get dressed and down here in five minutes or I’ll come up and drag your ass out of bed,” Hugh Price, Kael’s boss, ordered.

“Dr. Price, what the fuck are you doing here?” He wondered if he was still dreaming. Staring down at his hard-on, he remembered what his dream had been about. It involved him, Hugh, lube and his boss’s desk at the lab.

“I’ll explain in the car. You’ve got four minutes, Hammerson.”

“Yes, sir.”

Racing to his room, he grabbed a black fisherman’s sweater from a chair. He sniffed it.

Smelled okay. He tugged it over his head and pulled a pair of jeans from the floor. When he slid them on, he realized they were his rattiest pair. Which was saying a lot since all of his jeans sported rips and stains. Pausing long enough to brush his teeth, he snatched a pair of socks, his coat, keys, phone and boots as he ran from his flat. In his haste to not annoy his boss, he missed the bottom stair and tumbled awkwardly to a stop at Hugh’s feet. He lay there stunned and blinking for a moment.

“Shit, Hammerson. Are you okay?” Hugh gathered Kael’s stuff for him, and then held out a hand to help him up.

Kael stared at his boss’s hand for a second. It was a large, well-formed hand with thick fingers and calluses on the palm. He found his mind wondering what it would feel like to have that hand grasp his cock and pump. His dick, which had subsided after the fall, sprang to life again and he groaned.

“Damn. You better not have hurt yourself. I need you at the lab.” Hugh shoved Kael’s belongings at him and leaned down to grasp his forearms. Without effort, he was lifted to his feet. “Put your boots on. We need to be at the docks when the boat comes in.”

Kael rushed to get his socks and boots on. “Docks? Why are we going to the docks?”

Turning, Hugh headed to where the car was parked in front of the building. “Get in. I’ll explain on the way.”

Kael hesitated before climbing into the vehicle where he watched Hugh slide behind the wheel and started the car. Down boy, he thought to his cock. Shit, how was he going to survive a drive in the smallest car on the planet with the man who’d been starring nightly in his x-rated fantasies? The car smelled like Hugh, an enticing scent of man and cinnamon. Hugh chewed gum as if it were going out of style. Kael figured his boss was frustrated or trying to stop smoking.

He stopped his body from leaning over and burying his face in the crook of Hugh’s neck. God, get a grip, he said to himself, or Hugh’s going to kick your ass. Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’d be interested in you.

“Why are we going to the docks?” he asked, trying to get his mind off how much he wanted to kiss the man.

“A boat’s headed in. They found something they want us to take a look at.”

“Um… Dr. Price, I’m a herpetologist. I don’t know anything about fish.”

Hugh shot him a look. “I know that, Hammerson. The captain of the boat said it looked like a snake. I figured you’d be the best one to take with me.”

“So no one else answered the door, huh?” There was a touch of disappointment in him.
“I didn’t check.”

Hugh’s statement surprised him. “I would’ve thought you’d at least bring Monica.”

Monica was Hugh’s personal assistant and Kael had never met a bigger bitch. The woman complained about everything when she wasn’t bragging about being Hugh’s PA.

“She’s out of town with her boyfriend. She wouldn’t be any help. All she’d do is bitch about her hair smelling like fish.”

Their shared laughter warmed Kael. It was the first time he’d spent any time alone with Hugh where his own natural shyness hadn’t taken over.

“So what do you think? Could it be a snake of some sort?” Hugh was back to being all business.

“A sea snake in the North Atlantic? Not possible. The water’s too cold for them to survive.” He saw a flash of disappointment cross Hugh’s face. “But who knows? Maybe they’ve discovered a new species.”

A snort was the only reply he got from Hugh. Turning his head, Kael stared out the window at the houses zipping by. It was grey and dreary out. Another wonderful Irish day.

“Hammerson, I never asked you, but how does a herpetologist end up working in a country without snakes?”

Unnerved a little by Hugh’s question, Kael shrugged. He didn’t think his boss would want to know anything personal about him. “I got involved with the wrong person and it was best for me to leave.”

“You didn’t sleep with your boss, did you?” Hugh’s grin told him he was joking.

“No, that doesn’t happen to geeks like me.” No matter how badly I want it to, his mind provided the rest.

“So what happened?”

“My ex-boyfriend got possessive and abusive.” He felt pathetic admitting to the fact that his ex-partner beat him, but there wasn’t any point in lying. “I got to the place where I knew if I stayed, I’d die. As simple as that. I took a job as far away as I could.”

He came to Ireland to heal a broken soul and found a man he could lose his heart to. He was such a sad excuse for a man.

“Seems to smart to me,” Hugh commented.

They pulled up to the docks. As he got out, Kael glanced around for a fishing boat. He frowned when he saw Hugh heading for a state-of-the-art ship with a big oil company logo on the bow.

“Hey,” he yelled at his boss. “I thought you said a fishing boat caught this thing.”

“I never said that. You assumed that it was a fishing boat. Would you have been so eager to come with me if you knew it was an oil ship?” Hugh looked back at him with a question in his hazel eyes.

Kael stood and thought about it. He’d been rather vocal about his dislike of the exploration of the seas by oil and gas companies. Would that dislike have stopped his natural curiosity and overwhelming need to spend as much time as possible with his boss?

“Well?”

“I would’ve come anyway,” he admitted. How much of a sap did that make him?

© T.A. Chase, September 2006
All Rights Reserved