Loving Bailey (2 page)

Ashton tightened his grip and pulled Bailey
closer, urging the younger man almost into his lap. Bailey went
willingly, curling himself into Ashton and shifting until their
bodies were pressed tight together, hip to hip, and thigh to
thigh.

"You're sure you want me to move in here with
you?" More tease than uncertainty lurked in Bailey's voice this
time, so Ashton tickled him in the ribs until he giggled and pushed
Ashton away.

"The bungalow is small, I know, but it's
close to the beach and the neighborhood is great. If you'd rather
live somewhere else, I'm not opposed to looking, but I'd love for
you to live here with me while we look." Ashton fell back against
the sofa, laughing. Bailey lurched forward, looming over him. Their
gazes caught and held. The laughter died on his lips as he
recognized the heat in Bailey's blue gaze. He swallowed hard as a
surge of passion overtook him. They'd waited so long, resisted the
desire that sparked between them even as it grew more and more
insistent with each glance they exchanged, each kiss they shared,
each caress they dared explore. "Bailey…" he whispered.

Bailey's mouth firmed with determination. He
shifted, pushing Ashton back into the sofa cushions, propping his
elbows against the arm of the sofa so he could lean forward and
brush his lips across Ashton's mouth. Bracing himself for a
familiar onslaught, Ashton exhaled softly. He'd expected passionate
demand and entreaty, this soft coaxing kiss took him off guard and
he opened to it immediately.

Bailey scooped his arms under Ashton, and
despite their similar size, easily maneuvered Ashton into his lap.
Ashton sat astride Bailey, their lips clinging in a dizzying caress
that left him yearning for more.

The drone of the television faded into
nothingness, replaced by the steadily increasing rhythm of his
pounding heart. The rush of blood sensitized his skin and obscured
every sound outside his body, until the only sounds he was
conscious of were the low soul searing noises that Bailey made as
the kiss deepened and his hands wandered.

Bailey bucked against him, pushing their
groins together, and Ashton groaned. Yanking his mouth away, he
panted. "Enough. Please."

"Don't you…"

"Please, Bailey. Honey, just a few more days.
We've waited this long, a few more days is okay, isn't it?" In need
of distance and distraction to get his passion under control, he
lurched off the sofa and grabbed the takeout. "What did you
get?"

"Thai. Sesame chicken and jasmine rice from
that place around the corner that you like." He didn't need to see
Bailey's face to know he was pouting, Ashton could hear the
displeasure in his voice.

Chapter Two

The almost exuberant bubble of future
happiness was nearly impossible to contain. Bailey couldn't resist
sneaking kisses and caresses as Ashton piloted his car through the
afternoon traffic to Bailey's house—his dad's house, since in just
a few days his house would officially be Ashton's house. His
boyfriend was mellow and amused, and refrained from scolding him
for his inappropriate touches until his hand grazed Ashton's erect
cock, trapped behind a straining zipper, causing him to inhale
sharply and step a little too hard on the brake at the
intersection.

Even the mild frown that garnered couldn't
dim his happiness.

In less than a week, they would be together
in every way.

Smilingly unrepentant, he withdrew his hand,
stroking down the smooth denim-covered thigh until it rested on
Ashton's knee. Ashton grunted in approval and the car swung around
the corner smoothly. They were just a few blocks from the house
when the first tiny doubt sank in. Would his dad approve?

He opened his mouth to say something, but
then decided he was being silly. His dad had Eden, and the gap
between Eden's twenty-seven and his dad's forty-seven, was way more
than the gap between his own twenty-one and Ashton's thirty-six.
There was no point in bringing up something that Ashton had used in
the early days of their relationship to keep them apart.

Instead, he smiled confidently at Ashton as
the car was tooled carefully into a parking space at the curb
several houses down from his dad's place. "This is going to be
great."

The indulgent smile on Ashton's lips didn't
quite match the banked lust in his eyes. "I'm looking forward to
meeting your family."

Bailey leaned close over the console and
kissed his chin, savoring the faint bristle that left his lips
tingling. "They'll all be here. Dad, my brother, Eden.
Everyone."

"I've been looking forward to meeting Eden
again." A grim note in Ashton's voice brought Bailey's gaze
flashing to his face. "Oh, no need to look so concerned. I won't
hurt him. I've been waiting ages to tell him what I thought about
his callousness in breaking your heart." He tipped Bailey's head in
his direction with a fingertip, brushed his lips lightly across his
mouth. "Or I could thank him, since that incident brought us
together."

Troubled, Bailey withdrew slightly, frowning.
"He didn't ever do anything to lead me on, you know. It was just my
crush. My own stupid fascination with who I thought he was. I'd
really rather you didn't tell him off, since I ended up with him as
a friend and you as…"

He stammered to a halt, blushing
furiously.

Ashton chuckled, unsnapping both seat belts.
"Fine. I'll be all that is polite to your family and your friend.
Now we must go in, or surely they'll think you've run off."

Bailey led his boyfriend across the neatly
trimmed grass to a side gate that led directly to the backyard of
the sprawling ranch house. Laughter and excited voices filled the
air. He noticed Ashton taking in the surroundings with interest and
scrambled for something intelligent to say about the home he'd
grown up in. "My dad built it. Or rather his company did years ago.
We've lived here all my life. My mom, she…"

How was it possible there were so many things
they hadn't talked about in the last year? Did they really not know
each other at all? His dismay must have shown on his face because
Ashton chucked him under the chin.

"I'm just curious is all; we'll have a
lifetime to share all the things that went before. Whatever your
mom did, her story doesn't have to be told now. Now is for
celebrating the birth of the man I love." He pulled the latch and
swung the gate open, gesturing Bailey to precede him inside as
though it were his home.

That avowal emboldened and reassured Bailey,
who linked his arm through Ashton's and refrained from skipping as
they entered the yard. They went largely unnoticed as he led Ashton
to the redwood picnic table on the patio where a buffet of all his
favorites had been laid out.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, grabbing two
plates and shoving one at Ashton. "Dad and Eden made all my
favorites. Or maybe they had some catering done." His eyes widened
at the varied display.

"A little, is that Tom Ghai Pan? Wow…I think
I'll stick to good old fashioned hot dogs and potato salad. Hmmm.
And barbecued beans." Ashton filled his plate with food Bailey was
sure he never ate at home.

"You know, I can cook this stuff, right?"
Ashton lived on take out. In the past year, he hadn't seen the
kitchen of the man's beach bungalow used for anything but
storage.

"Are you implying that you think I can't
cook?"

"I'm deducing that, yes. We haven't eaten a
home cooked meal at your place in the past year, so yeah. I say you
can't cook."

"Next week, you'll be eating those
words."

"Promises, promises!" He chortled. Ashton
picked out a spot for them to eat beneath the oak tree where Bailey
and his brother had climbed as children and they settled down
happily.

Out of the blue Ashton took the plate from
his hands and set it aside, then bent and kissed him. Bailey opened
his lips to protest, but was quickly swept away into a controlled
stream of sensation. The kiss was sweet, tender, passionate, but
left Bailey with no doubt that Ashton knew exactly how far he was
taking this, and nothing untoward was about to happen in his dad's
backyard surrounded by their friends. It felt like a
declaration.

"Ahem." The harsh throat-clearing sound
impinged on his consciousness and he slowly withdrew from the kiss.
His cheeks burned, and he knew he flushed, but embarrassment wasn't
what made his skin prickle and his heart race.

Turning his head, he met his dad's gaze, then
Eden's. Both were staring from him to Ashton. His dad looked livid,
Eden merely concerned.

Rising, Bailey reached down to offer a hand
to his quizzical companion. The moment of truth lay at hand. From
the expressions on their faces, he should have volunteered a lot
more information about his boyfriend than he had. Bailey took a
deep breath, steadying his nerves as all passion fled. "Dad, this
is my boyfriend, Ashton Duval. Ashton, this is my dad, Drew Harris,
and his boyfriend, my friend Eden St. Cyr."

Ever confident, Ashton stepped smoothly
forward, murmuring polite meaningless phrases, while Bailey tried
to get his thoughts in order. He clung to Ashton's hand in search
of courage. His heart quailed a bit when his dad seemed to connect
dots, or maybe Ashton had said something that clued him in.

"Baby, Dr. Duval is a professor at the
college, did you know that?" His dad's voice when he spoke to Eden
was icy and cold, the same sort of tone he'd used when he'd called
Bailey on the carpet for any number of misdemeanors over the
years.

"Freshman composition?" Eden, thank God,
didn't seem the least bit upset.

Ashton nodded. "Yes, I've been at the college
for many years. This is my last year teaching there, though."

"You're goddamn right it is!" Drew bellowed.
"Taking advantage of students under your care like this is
unconscionable!"

"Dad!"

"Drew!"

"Mr. Harris…"

Bailey's anguished moan conflicted with
Eden's protest and Ashton's reasonable tone. His professor's voice
carried over the others, cut through them with the precision of a
man accustomed to silencing a room with his voice. "I did not take
advantage of a student." He turned a censorious gaze on Bailey.
"You need to talk to your father. I thought we cleared this
up."

"Bailey?" Eden asked. Bailey simply stared at
him, wide-eyed. As though sensing a long story, Eden continued. "I
think, Dr. Duval, that it might be best if you left now, and Bailey
and his dad can sort this out. It seems there are some things that
need to be said."

Heart sinking, Bailey tried to protest, but
his dad cut him off with an angry scowl. Maybe he should have told
his father more about his boyfriend, but at first they'd just been
friends, then the relationship had been too new, and then too
special to share.

He whipped his head around as he heard Ashton
agreeing. "You are quite correct, Mr. St. Cyr. I think that Bailey
and his father have much to discuss."

What had he done? Bailey quailed more at the
idea of disappointing his lover than his father. Drew's anger was
irrelevant. Bailey was an adult. Ashton… He couldn't have Ashton
upset with him. Nervous tension knotted his stomach. He glanced
anxiously up at Ashton, hoping his feelings weren't written on his
face. Ashton's stern expression didn't soften as he met Bailey's
gaze. Still, he had to be impressed. Drew's anger didn't appear to
intimidate Ashton at all, and Bailey counted his dad as one of the
most terrifying things on the planet.

Ignoring Drew's growing rage, Ashton bent and
pressed a kiss to Bailey's lips that left him smiling and Drew
snarling. "Call me when you've told him everything," he admonished,
pushing Bailey's long brown hair back behind his ear in a tender
gesture before striding away.

Eden intercepted Bailey's glare and Drew's
admonishing gaze. "Okay, problem solved for now. Discussion when
the guests go home. You"—he pointed at Bailey—"don't leave here.
You"—he turned his attention to Drew—"are going to tell me more
about this sudden realization that you love me." Eden hooked his
arm through Drew's elbow and led, more like dragged, him over to a
remote corner of the yard where they could lean on the fence and
watch their guests while talking in relative privacy.

Whoa! A glimpse at his father's rapidly
paling face indicated that Eden's comment wasn't as out of the blue
for the two of them as it seemed to him. Astonished, Bailey gasped.
Had his father really never told Eden how he felt about him? Hiding
his feelings was a mistake Bailey would never make. He told Ashton
constantly how much he loved him, how much he looked forward to
them being together.

But his lover was right. He needed to be open
with his dad, apologize for his foolishness in hiding things. Come
clean. Dad would understand, once he knew how they felt about each
other.

After all, he'd never told his father that
his boyfriend was young. Just that they'd met at school. He glanced
after Drew and Eden, having an intensely intimate conversation near
the fence. He'd better get to mingling with the crowd of friends
and coworkers before his dad figured out that he was moving into
Ashton's place when he moved out next week. Not that he would hide
that fact, he just hadn't shared the news yet.

Idiot that he was.

Chapter Three

"No, Dennis. I don't care that you're no
longer married." He scowled at the bottles behind the bar. No
amount of alcohol could make getting back together with Dennis
sound like a good idea. "No. I'm involved with someone right now,
anyway."

Glancing at a bemused looking Arlo, Ashton
rolled his eyes. "It's not about you, Dennis. Scratch that. It
is
about you. I don't like you and I'm not a naïve young kid
fresh out of grad school anymore. You used your position as my boss
to keep our relationship going long after it should have died a
natural death. I'm moving on personally and professionally; you
should do the same."