Aria (13 page)

Aiden thought he could get used to someone to cook for. “I don’t miss having a regular job. I still practice every day, but it’s so much better than having to drag myself into work.” He took a sip of his wine and smiled. “Not that I ever had a job like yours, where I was the boss.”

“It’s a nice change of pace. The first couple of years were tough, though. I spent most weekends in the office doing the billing. I hired a bookkeeper and office manager a few years ago, once I was sure we’d survive. Now the business end of things basically runs itself.” He put his hand over Aiden’s and added, “Which gives me a little more time to spend at the beach.”

As always, Aiden and Sam found plenty to talk about—Aiden’s latest contracts, Sam’s race discrimination case that seemed headed for trial, despite offers to settle. News from Jules and Jason, Sam’s family.

“Let me do the dishes,” Sam said after they’d cleared the table, nearly two hours later.
“I can do it.”
“House rule. Whoever cooks gets a pass from cleaning up.”
Aiden’s shoulders tensed at the words. “Sure.” He did his best to look as though it really was fine. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if it had been a house rule when Sam and Nick had lived together.
“I’ll meet you in bed in a few minutes.” Sam gave Aiden a quick kiss on the cheek and turned on the water.
“Sounds good.”
Aiden undressed, put his clothes away, and stood in front of the bed. Strange—he didn’t know which side of the bed to sleep on. He hadn’t thought about it before, the little things that he’d taken for granted with Cam. He knew it shouldn’t matter, but he didn’t want to screw this up. It felt almost comical, worrying about something so inane. They’d have plenty of time to work things out.
In the end he decided on the side that was not next to the alarm. If it was a problem, Sam would tell him. He bunched up the pillow under his neck and shifted around a few times, trying to get comfortable, wishing he’d shipped his pillow with the other things he’d sent ahead. He’d slept in so many hotel rooms—why was it so difficult to feel at home here?
I’m tired and I’m jet-lagged. I need to relax and stop worrying. It’s going to be fine.
He closed his eyes, figuring he’d rest until Sam got into bed. He knew he wouldn’t be up for strenuous sex, but he was looking forward to something slow and sensual. It had been too long since he’d seen Sam. He needed the added reassurance of Sam’s arms around him, Sam’s body next to his. He didn’t plan on falling asleep, but the next thing he knew, it was morning and Aiden was left with only the memory of a sleepy kiss before he woke up alone.

“Here, let me help you.” Aiden took a few of the bags from Sam and set them down on the kitchen counter. He peered inside one of the bags. It was filled with an assortment of fruits. “These look incredible.”

“Farmer’s market on Saturday morning. I try to get there early, before the good stuff’s gone.”
Aiden wished Sam had woken him up so he could have gone as well, but he said only, “When I lived in Hamburg, I used to go to the open-air market every week. Of course, I had an apartment there, so I could cook.”
“You’ll have to come next week.” Sam set some of the vegetables in a basket on the counter.
“Thanks.” Aiden walked up behind Sam and slid his arms around Sam’s waist, kissing him on the back of his neck. “You’re welcome to wake me up the next time.”
Sam shivered in response, then turned to face Aiden.
Aiden shifted his balance from left foot to right, trying to get up his nerve to say what had been on his mind since he’d woken up alone. “I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I guess I was more jet-lagged than I realized.”
“Honestly, I was so exhausted myself, I don’t think I’d have been able to stay awake, either. But we do have the entire day together, without interruptions….” He trailed off, and Aiden saw more than a hint of lust reflected in his eyes.
Aiden pushed away the lingering anxiety and pulled Sam roughly against him, claiming his lips, claiming him.
“Oh, fuck,” Sam hissed.
Aiden led Sam into the living room, then pushed him until the back of his knees hit the edge of the leather sofa. “When’s the last time you had sex in the living room?” Aiden pulled Sam’s T-shirt over his head.
“Never?” There was a breathless quality to Sam’s laughter.
“Good.” Aiden shoved Sam playfully onto the couch. He was already hard in anticipation. It had been too long, and the thought of taking Sam here…. “Because I’m tired of jerking off in the shower, thinking about how hot it would be to fuck you.”
“Glad I wasn’t the only one having those thoughts,” Sam said as Aiden grabbed his sweats and yanked them off along with his briefs. “And you know I like the naked Sam, fully dressed Aiden thing.”
Aiden knelt down by the couch and, starting with Sam’s toes, slowly licked his way over Sam’s skin. He could taste a hint of soap along with the slight saltiness there. Sam smelled good, with no hint of cologne or aftershave: just an unadulterated masculine scent. Subtle. Distinctly Sam’s. Aiden had tried to imagine that scent when they’d been apart with little success.
Sam’s legs were covered in fine hairs, softer than Aiden’s. They tickled Aiden’s upper lip as he slid his tongue over the side of Sam’s calf. He bent and lifted Sam’s knee to lick behind it. Sam rewarded him with a low moan. “Damn. Do they teach you that in music school?”
“You wish.” Aiden chuckled as he parted Sam’s legs and moved inward. Teasing Sam but not claiming the prize of his erection. Circling. Biding his time.
Sam arched toward him in a silent plea.
“Not yet, baby. I want you begging.” He could sense Sam’s control beginning to falter.
That’s it, Sammy
.
Let me see what’s underneath that calm personality.
He opened Sam’s legs wider and moved so that he kneeled between them before tasting Sam’s inner thighs, coming oh so close to Sam’s balls but not touching them. He slipped his hands under the globes of Sam’s ass, wedging them between skin and leather. His own cock ached beneath his pajama bottoms. He felt the small bottle of lube and the condom he’d stashed in one of the pockets, and he couldn’t help but grin.
“What?” Sam had clearly noticed Aiden’s smug expression. “You know something I don’t know?”
“I might.” Aiden pulled out the lube and turned it from side to side, imitating a twisted version of a spokesperson on late night TV. “But I’m not going to use it unless you beg me to.”
“You’re cruel.”
“Nope. Just practical.”
“God, Aiden. I want you.”
Aiden nipped at Sam’s thigh, then leaned over and licked his abdomen, flicking his tongue and pressing it into Sam’s belly button. “What do you want, Sammy?”
“I want you to fuck me. Please. Fuck me, Aiden.”
“That’s better.”
Sam grabbed Aiden’s head, guided him upward, and claimed a kiss in blatant rebellion. “Two can play at this game,” he said with a growl.
“Are you this hard to beat in court?” Aiden turned Sam’s head and nipped at his earlobe.
“Worse. You should have seen what happened when I—”
Aiden squeezed Sam’s cock as he leaned down and took one of Sam’s nipples between his teeth.
“Oh. Shit.”
“Beg me again.”
Sam canted his hips up into Aiden’s hand. “Fuck me, Aiden. Please. Make me come with you inside me.”
“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Stop talking, Lind,” Sam teased, “or I—”
Aiden turned his attention to Sam’s other nipple, biting a bit harder this time. Then he uncapped the lube and poured it into his palms. He rubbed them together until the liquid warmed. He took Sam’s cock in one hand while he continued to nip and suck. Sam’s moans echoed through the living room.
“Aiden,” Sam warned. “Gonna come. It’s been way too long.”
But Aiden had already released his grip. He slipped a lubed finger inside Sam’s hole, stretching him. “Good?” he asked.
Sam only nodded and gasped in response as Aiden worked two more fingers inside. Aiden was at his limit now. He withdrew his fingers long enough to slip on the condom. A moment later he was moaning and buried inside Sam, reveling in the feel of Sam’s tight passage. He moved with slow, deliberate strokes, stopping from time to time to catch his breath.
“It’s been too fucking long.” He loved it this way—face-to-face, so he could see Sam’s expression, hear his stuttered inhalations, watch his body as it shook each time he thrust.
Sam bit his lower lip and reached between them to stroke himself but never broke eye contact. Aiden shifted slightly to change the angle and Sam cried out as Aiden brushed his prostate with his tip. “Aiden. Oh, yes… I….”
Aiden let out a half laugh, half sigh. He watched as Sam finally gave in, closed his eyes, and made the face Aiden remembered when they’d had sex in Alabama. Sam opened his mouth and sucked his lower lip in, holding it in place with his teeth. Some of his blond curls had fallen onto his forehead, and tiny beads of sweat were visible there, pinning the curls in place.
Aiden pushed back inside, nailing Sam’s gland again and again with each thrust. He could feel Sam’s legs tremble, pressed against his chest as they were, wedged between them. He snuck one hand down and pinched Sam’s nipple so hard he cried out.
“What do you want, baby?” Aiden asked. “What do you want me to do to you?”
“Fuck me harder. Make me come.”
“Say my name when you come, Sammy. Say my name.” He thrust harder, faster. “Come on, baby.”
“Fuck. Oh, fuck! Aiden! I’m coming.” Sam convulsed beneath him and shuddered.
Aiden kept moving, but it didn’t take him long, not with the heat of Sam’s release between them. “God, Sammy! So fucking good!” He pushed all the way inside and threw his head back. He came with a shout, then nearly collapsed onto Sam, stopping himself at the last minute and helping Sam straighten his legs. He pulled Sam close and rolled them onto their sides so they both fit on the couch.
Sam sighed audibly. “God, Aiden. I missed you so much.”
“I know.” Aiden’s voice was barely a whisper. “I missed you too.”
“
Y
OU sleeping?” Sam liked the idea that he might have had something to do with the peaceful, sated expression on Aiden’s face.
“Nope. Basking.” Aiden rolled over and ghosted his lips over Sam’s.
“Basking?”
“Like a snake.” He laughed and began to lick a line up Sam’s jaw, found his ear and nibbled at the lobe.
“God, Aiden, you’re going to wear me out!” Sam didn’t really mean it—another round of sex sounded fine to him. Better than fine. He could get used to this
.
“You complaining?”
“Shut up and kiss me.” Aiden straddled him and leaned down to nip at his chest, looking up from time to time with a wicked grin.
“You’re going to make me beg for it again, aren’t you?”
“Why not?”
“
Please
kiss me.” Sam took a deep breath and waited.
Aiden laughed, then obliged, his chest pressed against Sam’s, pinning Sam beneath his body.
“Better?” Aiden asked.
“Better.”
Aiden gazed down at him with a strange look in his eyes. Then, as if gathering his courage, he drew a long breath and said, “I think I’m in love with you, Sammy.”
Heat rushed to Sam’s cheeks. “Glad to hear it”—Sam tried his best to lessen his discomfort—“because I think I love you too.”

Aiden turned around, nearly knocking over one of the stage crew. The space backstage was supremely narrow; the old theater was simply not built to accommodate the number of performers moving about during the scene change between acts. There was only one reason the venue had never been torn down and replaced with a new one: there were few theaters around with the acoustics of the Frank George Theater.

Aiden made his way over to his costuming assistant, a round woman with pink cheeks and the patience of a saint. She wasn’t a professional by any means but volunteered at the theater when she wasn’t working as a curator for the local county library. It had been years since Aiden had sung in such a small venue, but he’d taken the job as a favor to a director friend who was trying to garner financial support for a new production of
Prince Igor
, a seldom-performed Russian opera.

The opening night performance, in spite of many technical glitches, had been well received, but Aiden was happy tonight’s performance would be the last. He was looking forward to leaving southern Ohio behind and flying back to Philadelphia to spend a few days with Sam before rehearsals for his next gig in Rome.