Empty Nests (17 page)

Gabe really hoped it was, because he wasn’t blowing smoke. James was creeping under his skin at a rate that was more than a little scary. And even more terrifying was the realization that he didn’t want to slow down. He knew he had to let James set the pace, but he was already planning ahead to more dates, and nights in, and sex. And even more telling, he hadn’t crept out to check his messages.

“Sure.” James’s voice gave that endearing little squeak Gabe recognized as James being nervous and in unfamiliar waters but trying to put on a brave face.

“For what it’s worth, I’d like to meet your family at some point. I’d like to meet Dylan under slightly less mortifying circumstances.”

James chuckled. “Not the most embarrassing moment of my life, but I’d say it’s in the top three.”

“Top five for me.”

James rolled on his side and squinted at Gabe. “Okay, most embarrassing?”

Gabe felt his cheeks begin to redden remembering it. “Only if you tell me yours.”

“Deal.”

Gabe took a deep breath. “I met my two best friends, Frank and Nate, when we were all in college together. Stanford. We were put together as roommates, and these guys are a couple of committed hetero übernerds. We weren’t even meant to be in the same residence hall, but there was flooding in one and…. Anyway, after about six weeks, they tell me one Saturday afternoon they’re off to play Dungeons and Dragons and they’re starting a new campaign, and I had learned by this point not to expect them in until the next morning. Great. So I call up the guy I’ve been sort of seeing because I figured we had all the time in the world.” James put a hand to his mouth, trying and failing to press down a smile. “Well, the DM’s girlfriend got sick after a couple of hours, the game was called off, and by the time Frank and Nate came in, we had stripped naked, gotten a bit inventive with edible body paint, and were doing it hard and fast across my desk. This is also how they found out I was gay.”

James lost it and started to laugh. “So getting walked in on is nothing new for you,” James managed to gasp.

“At least we were still fully clothed, and I didn’t have the words ‘dirty little girl’ painted across my chest.”

James went into fresh peals of laughter. “Dirty little girl?”

“I’d painted ‘insert here’ with some arrows on him.” After that, he, Frank, and Nate developed some very strict rules about what was allowed to go on in the rooms and when. It had also killed that relationship. James’s giggles settled down. “Okay, your turn.”

“Right. When Dylan was about five, he started asking questions about why his mommy wasn’t around and why we didn’t live with mommy and things like that. So I gave him a very sugarcoated version of what had happened. Then I had to explain what gay was. Not too long later, we’re at Back to School night for the kindergarten. I’m trying to make small talk with one of the other parents about the fine intricacies of macaroni art, and I’ve got Dylan by the hand, but I’m not really paying attention to him. He’s chatting away with one of his friends—to this day I don’t know about what—but he suddenly pipes up in a voice just loud enough for everyone to hear, ‘It’s okay, my daddy only likes boys.’”

Gabe hissed in sympathetic pain.

“I could have died. The room went silent, and I could have just dropped dead and melted into the floor.”

“I am so sorry.”

“And the thing is, there is no way you can try to explain that, or make a joke of it, or anything else. Anything that comes out of your mouth after that just sounds bad. I prayed so hard for an earthquake or asteroid strike or fire alarm. Anything.”

“I don’t think I would have survived that,” Gabe said. “I mean, when my goddaughter was seven, I went to some family fund-raising night at her school, and she tried to set me up with her teacher. That was embarrassing enough.”

“Was the teacher at least male?”

“Yes. He was also straight.”

James managed a cringe and laugh at the same time, which crinkled up the corners of his eyes. Gabe leaned in for a fresh kiss. James opened to him without hesitation and was soon driving the kiss himself, skimming his hands over Gabe’s body.

He tossed a leg up over James’s hip, pulling their bodies flush. James got his fingers into Gabe’s hair. Gabe was sure the bit of hair-pulling was accidental, but it was one of his few kinks. His cock was working its way back to life quickly, and by the feel of things, so was James’s.

James pulled back from the kiss, and Gabe took the opportunity to roll James on his back, then slide down his body.

He nuzzled his face high on James’s thigh, which already smelled thickly of sex. James’s hips bucked violently. He readjusted himself so he could pin James’s thighs down before taking a long lick of his cock.

James let out a curse, arms flailing. Gabe took another lick. James’s cock was a little thin but well-formed. Curving up beautifully from a patch of blond curls, it was a shade of deep pink. He kept up the licks, already tasting cum. With each lick James’s entire body jerked. He twirled his tongue around the tip, causing James to let out that pained whimper. He kept up the teasing, positive James would come at the first full suck.

Gabe reached between his legs and started stroking himself slowly in time with each lick. James had stopped flopping and now had the duvet in a white-knuckled grip, his hips arching up with each touch to his cock.

Gabe stroked himself faster, imagining what could be ahead of them. There were still some parts of James he had yet to even touch, but the desire to flip James over and slide in was a strong one. He wanted to try sex in the shower or the bath, both of which could easily fit two. He wanted to abuse his position in the company and join the mile-high club in the corporate jet.

James’s hips were beginning to buck erratically, and his eyes were squeezed shut. Gabe took pity and sucked James down as far as he could manage. James screamed but didn’t cum. Gabe stroked himself hard and fast as James thrust into his mouth. Finally James’s back arched, and he froze for a second before pumping himself dry into Gabe’s mouth. He glanced up to see James’s face, open and wild, full of nothing but passion. Gabe swelled with pride that he had been the first person to put that look on James’s face.

He swallowed and sucked James through the aftershocks before releasing into his hand and collapsing against James’s thighs.

J
AMES
’
S
EYES
fluttered open. The room was dim. He must have fallen asleep again. He tried to sit up, but Gabe pulled a blanket up over the both of them and pulled him back down.

Gabe pressed his lips to the side of James’s head. “Get some rest,” he whispered.

James closed his eyes, filled his nose with Gabe’s scent, and slept.

The next time James awoke, there was light in the room. The clock told him it was after six, and from the other room, he could make out Gabe’s voice. He couldn’t hear a second voice so he figured Gabe had to be on his phone. Either that or he’d just spent the night having sex with a lunatic.

James smiled to himself. He’d spent the night having sex. A giggle spilled from his lips, then another. Bits of his body ached, and he could smell himself and Gabe, but he felt so good. His cock twitched, sending an ache into the surrounding muscles, but it was such a good ache!

He swung his legs off the bed and reached for his jeans, only to find them missing. He was pretty sure he’d dropped them right by the bed. He got up and wandered around the room, feeling exposed in his nakedness, but found nothing except a dark blue silk robe folded neatly on top of the dresser. He was pretty sure it hadn’t been there the night before.

He wrapped the sensuous cloth around himself and stepped out of the bedroom. Fortunately it connected to the far side of the living room, where Gabe was on his phone, pacing about, a slightly grumpy look on his face. He was also naked. James’s cock gave a twitch of interest.

Gabe turned in his pacing, noticed James, and smiled. He waved James over, then put his hand over the bottom half of his phone. James could still hear multiple voices talking. “I tossed your clothes in a quick rinse cycle,” he said softly. “This shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes, if you want to grab a shower. Then I’ll make breakfast.”

James mouthed okay and received a quick kiss.

Gabe took his hand off the phone. “Enough,” he snapped. “This is a nonissue. This shouldn’t even be on the table. I don’t know what memo floated up from where or what ladder-climber is trying to drag this in on the bottom of his shoe, but this conversation should not even be happening.” Whatever reply Gabe got didn’t agree with him, and he rolled his eyes.

James went to take a shower. He found the bathroom and had to stop at the door to take it in. It was at least twice as large as his kitchen. The sun coming through a large skylight illuminated a half-sunken tub easily big enough for two. The shower looked like it could hold a dozen people and was large enough to qualify as its own separate room. There were also two sinks comprised of matching porcelain bowls. One was surrounded by bottles, combs, an electric razor, and a toothbrush sitting in a coffee cup. The other sink seemed to be unused except for an unwrapped toothbrush, but it was still there, waiting.

Bowerbird
, James thought as he headed to the shower. In the distance he could still make out Gabe’s voice.

He had to stop again at the entrance to the shower room, not so much to take in its size, though it was large, but to absorb its complexity. There were two stone benches, three shower hoses with different heads, and a large rain showerhead hanging from the ceiling. There was a whole collection of knobs, handles, and dials. He stepped in, peering at each one even before taking off his robe. He was looking at what he thought might be the rain showerhead control when he heard the bathroom door open.

“It’s a little overengineered.” James turned. Gabe was leaning against the shower entrance, still naked. “I can only assume I was
really
not paying attention when I signed off on it.”

“Did you also sign off on it being big enough to hold a dozen people?”

“Oh, hell if I know. Though considering my designer, he may very well have been contemplating that.” Gabe stepped close, gently tugging on the belt of James’s robe. “I prefer just two, though.” He stroked James’s thigh. “That’s a good color on you.”

“You picked it. You seem to be good at that.”

Gabe pressed his lips to James’s neck. “A hard-fought-for skill.”

“You fought for the ability to pick out colors?”

Gabe hummed against his throat, sending a pleasant wave down his body. “My old business manager, Gregory, didn’t just drag me to the country club. Tailors, stylists, vineyards, anything he could think of.” Gabe’s voice took on a hint of darkness.

“Was he… I mean…?”

“Long in the past and long gone from my life.” Gabe stripped the belt from James’s robe, letting it fall open. James had been half-hard since seeing Gabe pacing naked around his living room. Feeling Gabe flush against him brought him to full mast. Gabe slipped the robe from his shoulders and tossed it toward the sinks.

“Do the people you’re talking to know you take conference calls naked?”

“No. It could make negotiations more interesting.”

Gabe went to the row of knobs and spun a few. The rain showerhead came to life. James stepped under it and decided he wanted to be nowhere else on earth. “Oh, God.” The water was almost too hot and coming down on his head like a massage.

“Now that’s something I don’t regret signing off on.”

Gabe joined him under the water and kissed him hard. It was a bruising kiss, almost possessive, but James melted into it, drinking it up. The idea that someone desired him, especially someone like Gabe, was still novel, and he wasn’t quite sure it was real. But Gabe’s arms wrapped around him felt real enough.

Gabe pulled back. James felt Gabe’s erection against his stomach and his pupils were blown open. “There, that’s how I wanted to start this morning. Not yelling at idiots.”

James didn’t answer. His brain was already in the process of shorting out. Gabe pressed a button on the wall. A small nozzle came out and soap fell into his hand.

James managed an amused look. “Yes, it’s a bit overengineered.”

Gabe ran his soapy hands across James’s back. He leaned heavily against Gabe so he didn’t collapse.

“You like that?”

James smiled and gave a happy little mumble. Words were too much trouble.

“Good.” Gabe’s hands slid a bit lower, then a soapy finger slid between James’s cheeks. He leaped forward against Gabe as a shock of electricity went from the tip of Gabe’s fingers up his spine and stopped somewhere behind his eyes.

“Oh, God!” James managed to breathe, his eyes squeezed tight.

Gabe chuckled and held him tight with his free arm. “Should I do that again?”

James nodded but kept his eyes closed.

Gabe’s finger slid a little lower and was soon circling his hole. For James, something like that had always been an abstract concept. He’d never taken the time to do much more than wash back there, and it certainly had never felt anything like this. Now he felt like he was about to fly right out of his skin. His core was chilled and his skin felt like it was burning. Then just the tip of Gabe’s finger slid in.

James was aware of his own cries echoing off the bathroom wall as he ground himself against Gabe’s leg, desperate for release as Gabe twisted his finger slowly. Then Gabe slid his hand down between James’s legs and pressed a spot behind his balls.

James’s legs nearly gave out under him as he poured onto Gabe, having no idea anything could feel any better than the night before. Gabe managed to guide him over to one of the benches. James leaned back against the wall.

“Liked that, did you?”

James nodded. Gabe turned the shower off before sitting down and pulling him close.

As James came back to earth, Gabe started slowly stroking himself. James shivered at the eroticism of it. It was something he had always considered secret and private, but here was Gabe doing it right in front of him like it was something to be shared. Maybe it was. He reached out and carefully placed a hand over Gabe’s.