Our Gravity

  Suncoast Society

  Our Gravity

  At thirty-one, Bryce is a damned good attorney, but it feels like that’s all he’s got going for him right now. He’s just about given up on finding a boyfriend, much less a submissive, and his dreams of being a father look increasingly slim. Then mutual friends in the Suncoast Society take over.

  Dustin is relatively new to the area. The realtor thinks his friends are wasting their time fixing him up, especially since Bryce is fifteen years younger than him. No younger guy has ever wanted him before. Except this feels like forever in a scary-fast way. Bryce is not only okay with Dustin not wanting kids, he’s also the Dom of Dustin’s dreams.

  Enter Kira, Bryce’s lifelong best friend. She’s about to make Bryce’s dreams come true with a devastating price. Dustin knows he owns Bryce’s heart, but can he accept the guy he loves marrying a woman whose last wish is that Bryce be by her side?

  Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), BDSM, Contemporary

  Length: 86,671 words

  OUR GRAVITY

  Suncoast Society

  Tymber Dalton

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  OUR GRAVITY

  Copyright © 2017 by Tymber Dalton

  ISBN: 978-1-64010-845-5

  First Publication: December 2017

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2017 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

  [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  For the spirit of Annie.

  And for Hubby, for his love and support.

  And for Sir, always. He knows why.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner is also the bestselling author of over one hundred twenty-five books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.

  She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for her newsletter to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.

  Honest reviews are always welcomed. They help with a book’s visibility and can boost its placement on book retailer sites. Even a few lines about what you felt reading the book will help. Thank you so much, it’s greatly appreciated!

  Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cXKR7v

  http://www.tymberdalton.com

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  http://www.twitter.com/TymberDalton

  For all titles by Tymber Dalton, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/tymber-dalton

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  Because I’m sure someone will ask, her name’s pronounced “Keer-ah,” not “Ky-ra.” :)

  Seth is first featured in The Reluctant Dom, and the events he discusses with Dustin take place in that book. Kimbra, Walt, and Holly were first featured in Two Against Nature. Wylie and Everett are featured in Splendid Isolation, which also introduces Lara and Brad from Fire in the Hole.

  While the books in the Suncoast Society series are standalone works which may be read independently of each other, the recommended reading order to avoid spoilers and to not miss any backstory information is as follows:

  1. Safe Harbor

  2. Domme by Default

  3. Cardinal’s Rule

  4. The Reluctant Dom

  5. The Denim Dom

  6. Pinch Me

  7. Broken Toy

  8. A Clean Sweep

  9. A Roll of the Dice

  10. His Canvas

  11. A Lovely Shade of Ouch

  12. Crafty Bastards

  13. A Merry Little Kinkmas

  14. Sapiosexual

  15. A Very Kinky Valentine’s Day

  16. Things Made Right

  17. Click

  18. Spank or Treat

  19. A Turn of the Screwed

  20. Chains

  21. Kinko de Mayo

  22. Broken Arrow

  23. Out of the Spotlight

  24. Friends Like These

  25. Vicious Carousel

  26. Hot Sauce

  27. Open Doors

  28. One Ring

  29. Vulnerable

  30. The Strength of the Pack

  31. Initiative

  32. Impact

  33. Liability

  34. Switchy

  35. Rhymes With Orange

  36. Beware Falling Ice

  37. Beware Falling Rocks

  38. Dangerous Curves Ahead

  39. Two Against Nature

  40. Home at Last

  41. A Kinkmas Carol

  42. Ask DNA

  43. Time Out of Mind

  44. Happy Valenkink’s Day

  45. Splendid Isolation

  46. Similar to Rain

  47. Happy Spank Patrick’s Day

  48. Fire in the Hole

  49. Pretzel Logic

  50. This Moody Bastard

  51. Walk Between the Raindrops

  52. Rub Me Raw

  53. Any World That I’m Welcome To

  54. Heartache Spoken Here

  55. Roll With the Punches

  56. See You Sometime

  57. Borderline

  58. A Case of You

  59. Reconsider Me

  60. Never Too Late for Love

  61. Blues Beach

  62. Happy Spanksgiving

  63. Our Gravity

  Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. All titles available from Siren-BookStrand.

  MUSIC PLAYLIST

  Every book I write has a “soundtrack” of music that I listened to while I wrote it. This book was almost exclusively written to a repeat loop of several of Jack Johnson’s albums. A few songs in particular stand out.

  Banana Pancakes

  Better Together

  Never Know

  Good People

  Inaudible Melodies

  If I Could

  Do You Remember

  Home

  I Got You

  Posters

  Bubbles Toes

  Constellations

  Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

  Ones and Zeros

  Cocoon

  Times Like These

  F-Stop Blues

  Dreams Be Dreams

  You Remind Me of You

  No Other Way

  T
he News

  Crying Shame

  Subplots

  Adrift

  My Little Girl

  Anything But the Truth

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  About the Author

  Author's Note

  Music Playlist

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Landmarks

  Cover

  OUR GRAVITY

  Suncoast Society

  TYMBER DALTON

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  Fuck.

  My.

  Life.

  Bryce Butler removed his glasses and laid them on his desk. Sitting back, he rubbed his eyes, keeping them closed for a moment in hopes it’d help both how dry and gritty they felt, as well as stave off the tension headache attempting to coalesce at the base of his skull.

  I need new glasses.

  He’d been putting it off because, lately, he barely had two seconds to take a shit in peace, much less find a couple of hours to get to the optometrist and have his eyes examined.

  Maybe it’s my head I need examined.

  Because if he was honest, he was keeping himself busy and refusing to take time off.

  It was easier to focus on work and not the gaping maw of emptiness that made up the sum of his personal life.

  In front of him, his computer monitor displayed a PDF of the Florida Supreme Court ruling he needed to dissect and quote to help his client receive a hearing about new evidence discovered regarding his case, thanks to the frequently sketchy and mostly illegal bullshit one Sarasota county prosecutor had engaged in for years.

  Kimbra’s hard work on the Louis Olson case had finally blown open and exposed the malfeasance committed by the prosecutor and his office over the years.

  Now the real backbreaking work had started—processing a massive backlog of cases the guy’s office had prosecuted, where the defendants insisted they were innocent, and there had been enough reasonable doubt that maybe they weren’t lying. Especially cases where DNA evidence sat, frequently untested, in state labs or evidence lockers.

  Sorting the legitimately wronged defendants from the ones lying and trying to take advantage of a bad situation was something else, however.

  He’d drawn this case, along with four others, when Kimbra handed out the first round to everyone in the office willing to work on them.

  That was in addition to his usual caseload.

  Why’d I become a lawyer again?

  Oh, yeah. To do good and make a living for myself.

  Except…lately, it didn’t feel like he was living. At all. Much less doing good.

  He opened his eyes and squinted at the large monitor docked to his laptop. Without his glasses, he could barely make out the words despite the high zoom magnification.

  Yeah, I need new glasses.

  The sound of a knock made him turn. Kimbra Luzon leaned against the doorframe, and he thought it was a smile on her face, but at that distance, and without his glasses, he couldn’t tell.

  “You sleepin’ here tonight, or what?” she teased.

  “Maybe. Not like I have anyone to go home to except Archer.”

  She walked in, her long dark curls bobbing and the smile on her face coming into slightly clearer focus with every step. “How’s that cantankerous pussy doing, anyway?”

  “He chewed through my cell charger cable last night. I had to stop and buy a new one on my way here this morning.”

  “That makes, what, eight in the past month?”

  “Nine. I should buy them in bulk.”

  “You’d think Archer’s owner would learn not to leave charger cords where that cat can get to them.”

  “You’re doing that arched eyebrow thing at me, aren’t you? I can’t tell for sure without my glasses, but that sounded snarky.”

  She stopped by his desk and signed something at him.

  “Okay, I know that was snarky. I think.”

  “When’s your next ASL class?”

  “Tomorrow night.” He’d decided to try to learn it since, being on the public defender rotation list, they frequently dealt with clients who were deaf or hard of hearing. He already knew bare-bones Spanish, enough to stumble his way through a client meeting without—usually—needing an interpreter or Kimbra, who grew up speaking it fluently, thanks to her Cuban father.

  Six classes in and he already felt lost, although the instructor had assured him that was normal and that his skills would improve with time and practice. Everyone else in the Friday night classes seemed so much more fluent than him already, though.

  “How’s your classes coming?”

  He held out his right hand and waggled it back and forth.

  So-so.

  She laughed. “Smartass.”

  “Yeah, well, better a smartass than a dumbass.”

  She tipped her head toward his monitor. “How’s the Bradley case coming?”

  He made the sign for so-so again.

  She tapped the watch strapped to her right wrist, the gold band light against her dark golden brown skin. “You realize it’s after eight, right? That as soon as my ass is out the door, you’re going to be the last one here?”

  “Yeah, well, not like Archer will give a shit.” He reached for his glasses and settled them on his face. Kimbra’s concern came into clear focus, as did her stunning blue eyes.

  “I’m worried about you burning yourself out.”

  “Why?”

  “When’s the last time you went on a date? Or went out? Or did anything but come to work, go to court, or go to the jail to talk to clients?”

  “I’m taking an ASL class every Friday. That’s out. It’s on a date. Doesn’t that count?”

  “I’m counting that as work. Come to the Suncoast Society munch Sunday night. How long’s it been since you’ve gone to one? You don’t even make the coffeetimes anymore.”

  “I thought you were only in the lifestyle because of Walt? Since when did you get kinky again?” Alone in the office, they could talk about this topic without fear of others overhearing.

  “No, I’m not, not really. I’m vanilla with sprinkles, but I have a lot of friends in the lifestyle. I’m not nearly as kinky as Walt, and definitely wasn’t his submissive, but I do like to hang with my friends.”

  “Are you making that an order as my boss?”

  She planted her hands on her hips and arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him. “If I have to.” She delivered it with more than a little snappy head shake, which made her dark curls bob.

  He dropped the playful act. “What good is it going to do? There’s rarely any single gay guys there. None that flip my switch, anyway.”

  “Then let’s hit the Toucan next weekend. I’ll be your fruit fly, baby.” She grinned. “Might find me some sugar while I’m there, too.”

  “I think that would get you in trouble, would it not?”

  She shrugged. “We’re still not quite exclusi
ve yet. She hasn’t even come out to her family.”

  “But you said her brother—”

  She waved his comments down. “Trust me, even she admits she’s being silly, but I’m not gonna rush her. Things are fine the way they are. So…you, me, and the Toucan?”

  He snorted. “Even less guys my type than at the munches. At least the times I’ve been there. Sure, it’d be fun to go if I already had a partner, but not my scene for hookups. You think I’m walking around topless in a chest harness and strutting around in a pair of assless chaps, think again.”

  “I think technically all chaps are assless, but no, didn’t mean that.” She sank into the chair next to his desk.

  Her tone turned concerned. “Honey, you’re gonna burn out at this rate, then we’re going to lose one of the best attorneys we got. I can’t afford that. You need time to relax. You can’t fill someone else’s cup if your well is dry.”

  His face burned as he tried to ignore the truth in her words. “Yeah, well, all I seem to attract are twinks who are more interested in partying than working on a long-term relationship. They make me fucking feel old, and I’m only thirty.”

  “You’re an old soul, is what you are. What about FetLife?”

  He snorted. “Apparently there are plenty of guys there who can’t read a profile. Last time I tried seriously looking on there, I had Doms falling out of my ass wanting a crack at my crack. Not a damn one of them had bothered to read that I am a Dom and I’m not the slightest bit switchy. Or I get hit on by women who miss the fact that, helllooo, gay.”