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Deleted Scenes

Cover for Book 5: Two Dogs PositionFrom The Positions of Love Book 5: Two Dogs Position

These scenes were cut from the beginning of the story, after Vic brings home an Easter ham from work and Matt decides to cook it up for a dinner party.

The first scene is the way I wrote it originally; it brings up two very minor characters mentioned in previous stories: Joy, one of Matt's employees at the gym (mentioned in The Bonds of Love) and Doug, a spotter for Vic in the weight room (mentioned in The Powers of Love and again in Seventh Inning Stretch).

When I thought the end of the scene unnecessary, I trimmed it and added a bit about Officer Kendra Jones, who is first mentioned in The Bonds of Love. Then I realized the story was getting too long with these domestic scenes and I cut it altogether. The end of the second scene below is the only bit that made it into the final story.

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Deleted Scene # 1

After eating, they tried to decide who to invite to the dinner party. Roxie and whoever she'd bring -- neither knew her well enough to know if she were seeing anyone, but a girl like that had to have a friend to drag along, at least. Then Matt suggested Joy Shanley, an engineering student at VCU who worked with him at the gym's pool during the busy summer months. Joy was married and had just had her first child, so Matt knew she'd enjoy dinner out. For a long time after that, Matt had stared at Vic, waiting for the name of a third person to invite -- "You pick someone," Vic told him, shrugging it off. "Anyone, I don't care."

"This is your party, too." Matt watched him, waiting. "Who do you want to be there?"

Vic shook his head. "You," he admitted. "I don't care who else shows up. As long as you're here, that's all I ask."

A sly smile spread across Matt's face. "Then what about ..."

Kyle's name rose in Matt's mind and Vic crushed it beneath his thoughts like a cigarette butt. "No."

Matt laughed. "Then you do care who comes or not. Otherwise --"

"Matty," Vic warned. "No." It was bad enough he had to duck Kyle at work -- the man seemed to think he'd been the one to hook the two of them up, despite the fact that Vic had effectively stolen Matt from under him. The last thing Vic wanted was to see that smug grin here in his own home. And if Kyle got a little tipsy, and hit on Matt? Vic shook his head again. "Just no."

"Then who?" Matt challenged. "Roxie knows us both but Joy's specifically my guest. So you need a specifically your guest to round things out."

"I don't ..." Vic sighed. "All right. That kid from the weight room. What's his name? Doug? The one who spots me sometimes."

Matt wrote the name down on a napkin beneath the other two guests. "Doug. You know he's got a man crush on you, right?"

Vic rolled his eyes. "He's Baptist, for God's sake. He closes his eyes in the locker room and refuses to shower when everyone else does. He thinks if he even looks at another man's penis, he's going to hell."

With a laugh, Matt teased, "Well, he'll be in good company. I still think he likes you."

"Tough shit." Reaching out, Vic covered Matt's hand with his own and eased his fingers into his lover's fist. The pen fell away, forgotten. Leaning forward, Vic raised Matt's hand to his lips to kiss the soft skin. His eyes smoldered across the table, bringing faint color to Matt's olive skin. "I already have a man," Vic purred against the back of his hand. "Hottest guy in the whole wide world. No one else even comes close."

"Keep talking like that," Matt warned, "and it'll go to my head."

Vic grinned, suggestive. "Which one?"

"I meant I'll get a swollen head," Matt explained, but that sounded just as bad. "It's another way of saying you're stroking my ego. Vic! Stop snickering! You know what I mean."

Kissing his wrist, Vic murmured, "How about showing me this swollen head of yours? The one you want me to stroke?"

"If you look at my dick," Matt joked, "won't you go straight to hell?"

Vic gave him a flirty wink. "I'm so there."

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Deleted Scene # 2

"Then who?" Matt challenged.

"I don't ..." Vic sighed. "Two's enough, don't you think? We don't have enough chairs for that many as it is. There's hardly any parking on the street, and if we're too loud, the neighbors are going to call the cops. Again."

With a slow nod, Matt conceded. Since the incident with the school bus last month, they had run into that Officer Jones more times than he'd care to admit. She seemed to be following them -- patrolling their street, responding to disturbance calls from their neighbors, posting a speed trap at the exit where Vic got onto the interstate on his way to work. When Vic had mentioned her constant surveillance to Matt, he too could recall seeing her around. Had she always been there before, and he just noticed her now because he knew her name? Or was there more to it than that?

"Matty." Reaching out, Vic covered Matt's hand with his own and eased his fingers into his lover's fist. The pen fell away, forgotten. Leaning forward, Vic raised Matt's hand to his lips to kiss the soft skin. His eyes smoldered across the table, bringing faint color to Matt's olive skin. "I know you want this dinner party," Vic purred against the back of his hand. "Hell, it might even be fun. But this isn't really my scene and you know it. An evening alone with you is all I need to make me happy."

"I want to show you off," Matt admitted. "Welcome people into our home, let them see what muscle-man Vic Braunson looks like in a domestic setting. Show them what I see when I look at you."

"Oh no," Vic joked with a grin. "I'm not taking off my clothes until they're gone."

Matt squeezed his hand playfully. "Oh hush. I'm just saying --"

But Vic leaned across the table and kissed Matt quiet. "I know," he murmured. "Well, it is a big ham. If you want a large party, why not just post an announcement on the gym's bulletin board?"

Matt's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I'll make it a potluck, everyone has to bring something. It'll be fun, you'll see."

"I'm already looking forward to after everyone leaves," Vic admitted, "when I can have you all to myself again."

Pushing his chair back, Matt rose from the table and took both their dinner plates into the kitchen. With a suggestive nod at the hallway leading to their bedroom, he offered, "Why wait? You can have me now, if you want."

Vic knocked over his own chair in his haste to follow his lover.