Stealing Pretty

by R. Cayden

  “Oh my!” Cynthia said, holding her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry to hear that!”

  Jameson shook his head, a determined look on his face. “I’m safe, but thank you for your concern. The only reason I mention this is to explain something else.”

  “Your security company,” Cynthia said, nodding toward the audience. “We all remember the complaints from the tabloid reporter. Are you saying that’s why your guards attacked him?”

  “The security guards working on my property are very professional. They didn’t attack anyone,” Jameson said. “My boyfriend did.”

  Another rumble went across the audience. All of Gray’s muscles tensed, and his fingers dented in the can he was holding as he watched the screen.

  “Your boyfriend!” Cynthia said brightly. “That is an announcement!”

  Jameson smiled casually. “An intruder made it all the way to my house, and my boyfriend saw someone trying to open my bedroom window. Can you blame him for losing his cool and trying to keep me safe? As for the other stories—well, you know how these tabloids are! At least they didn’t try to claim I was a lizard person this time.”

  “Well, Justin,” Cynthia laughed. “As much as this security story has captivated the nation, you know that’s not what people are thinking about right now.”

  With another laugh, Jameson lifted the cocktail sitting in front of him, then took a sip. “You mean the part where I have a boyfriend? I brought a photograph to share.” A coo went across the audience, the excitement palpable even through the television screen. “Maybe your people could pull it up?”

  An excited murmur went across the audience, and Cynthia perked up in her seat. “Now that is exciting! Producers, can we get a look?”

  A picture flashed on the screen, one Gray himself had taken a few days earlier. In it, Jameson and Raiden stood, hand in hand. They were down by the beach, right around sunrise, and Jameson was beaming up at Raiden with a contented smile on his face.

  Raiden’s face, however, was smudged out with a gray squiggle, and he wore a flannel to cover his identifiable tattoos. “Come on, now,” Cynthia laughed, then pretended to pout. “Such a tease! I take it your man doesn’t like the spotlight?”

  Jameson laughed, then took another sip from his cocktail. “He’s like me. We appreciate our privacy. And you know, I really do apologize for the whole bodyguard kidnapping scandal. I would have come out immediately to correct it, but my boyfriend and I were away on vacation, and we didn’t look at our phone for days.”

  “Ohh la la,” Cynthia sang, getting another laugh from the audience.

  Weird jealous feelings swirled through Gray for just a moment, watching Jameson talk about his fake boyfriend to a national audience, but once he took a deep breath, the emotions all passed. He just had to remind himself that it wasn’t Jameson out there at all. In fact, the television audience had no clue who Jameson was, just like they had no clue who Gray was. And as long as everyone bought into the story, and believed that Jameson was in a relationship with some mysterious stranger with a blurred face, then he could do his part as the bodyguard to secure their privacy, and give Jameson the space he needed to live the life he wanted to live.

  To be Gray’s boyfriend, just like Gray was his, and to finally have something that was truly their own.

  Jameson set his cocktail down, then nodded. He was charming the audience with every twinkle in his eyes and gliding right through the interview. “That’s why I really came here today, Cynthia. To let the people know that I’m okay and to ask for a little more space. You know as well as anyone else does how challenging it can be to grow up in this business. It took me a while to find myself and figure out what kind of relationship was right for me. But now that I’m happy, and now that I’ve been retired for a few years, I’d just like everyone to know that I’m doing fine, and there’s no need to worry.”

  Cynthia nodded, and when she started clapping her hands, the audience joined in. Gray chuckled to himself as he watched the two of them sell it, smiling and pulling the audience into their good mood.

  “Just tell me one thing,” Cynthia said. “Does this mean we can finally put the rumors about the women bodybuilders to rest?”

  Jameson laughed and turned his palms up toward the ceiling. “I don’t write the stories, I just live with them,” he joked.

  “Stay tuned. After this break, we’ll be back to hear more of Justin Sweet’s coming out story. Because I, for one, have a million questions!”

  The camera swept to commercial, and Gray puffed out a breath. He was able to pull some wild-ass stunts and not lose his cool, but it blew him away that Jameson was able to maintain his composure like he was with the whole world watching. He’d figured out how to offer a fake version of something true on Cynthia’s show, and he’d sold it perfectly.

  Somehow, his beautiful boyfriend sat there with the nation watching and judging, and he pulled the damn thing off. It was like driving a stolen motorcycle, but amped up a million degrees.

  None of the other tabloid rumors mattered now that Justin Sweet had come out, and that was a story Jameson could steer himself.

  “Damn,” Gray said, relaxing back into the couch. “My boyfriend is fucking amazing.”

  The rest of the interview flew by easily. Jameson hit the right mix of notes, spinning together old stories and revealing just enough. He made the audience laugh and lured them into his sympathy while Cynthia played the perfect dancing partner. There was no space in the conversation for Jameson’s coming out to go poorly or for the tabloid rumors to be a problem. She just complimented how handsome he looked in the color blue that he was wearing and echoed exactly what Jameson had asked her to echo.

  “Thanks for joining us tonight, Justin!” she said brightly. “We’ll let you get back to that vacation and some well-deserved privacy!”

  Gray jumped to his feet, and the band blasted out a quick song while Jameson exited the stage. As soon as he got into the small lounging room, he let out a shaky breath.

  Fuck, did Gray ever want to touch him. His blood was pumping, and his whole body ached with the need to wrap Jameson in his embrace and drag his lips along his boyfriend’s sweet neck.

  Instead, he kept his arms neatly folded behind his back and only allowed himself to step another foot closer. “You were amazing, beautiful. You couldn’t have done it better.”

  Jameson went to the fridge, then pulled out a tiny bottle of vodka. “I did it,” he said, then twisted the lid off the bottle and threw half of it back with a wince. “Wow. I really did it.”

  Gray arched his eyebrows, then straightened his suit. “And that means we’re much closer to getting back to the hotel.”

  Jameson laughed, then threw back the rest of the vodka. He was still in Justin Sweet mode, and Gray chuckled at how forced the movement looked to him now, like it was obviously fake. “I’ll have to do drinks with Cynthia and a little press. It’s like I said—this doesn’t mean I get to retire. Justin Sweet’s coming out is going to take more time to manage than my retirement took, not less. But it gives me a story that I can control, and that gives us the cover we need to do our own thing.” He turned to Gray, light shining in his eyes. “Thank you again for doing this with me.”

  Gray cracked his knuckles. “Raiden’s going to love being on television, even if his face is blurred out.”

  “He’s a perfect decoy. You two look so different.” He smiled softly at Gray, then tossed the empty vodka bottle into a small trash can. “I know it’s not ideal, just standing around while I do stuff like this. But if people believe he’s my boyfriend, no one will guess that I’m actually in love with my bodyguard. And the rest of the time, when we’re with the people we care about, you and I can be ourselves.”

  “And they’ll never get to have Jameson. They’ll never get the real you or the real me,” Gray said. It felt extremely satisfying, that Gray himself could be one of those things Jameson wanted to protect.

  “The real us,” James
on smiled.

  “Exactly,” Gray agreed. “Plus, it’s like you said, we don’t have to hide all the time. Just the once or twice a year you make a media appearance. It’s the rest of the time that really matters anyway. Family time, friend time, date time…” He licked his tongue across his teeth, and wished again that he could pull Jameson into a kiss. “Sexy time.”

  Jameson giggled. “I’m pretty sure I can do anything if you do it with me,” he said softly.

  “Tell you what, beautiful,” Gray said. “Keep smiling at me with those eyes, and it’s a deal.”

  Jameson blushed, then pulled his expression back together. “Anyway, Raiden might luck out. If people ever get suspicious, and especially if they start suspecting something between you and me, we’ll leak some more blurry photos of him. He could be a Hollywood legend by the end of this.”

  Gray laughed. “I’m sure he won’t complain.” On the wall across from him, the credits started to roll across the television screen, and the band played up again. “You ready to go shake some hands?”

  Jameson let out a puff of breath. “I can’t believe I’m finally out of the closet in Hollywood. I know it’s not the same as it used to be, but still, some people are going to be assholes about it.”

  “If anything happens, I’ll be here. I’ll always be here.”

  “I know you will, Gray. That’s why all of this is possible.”

  Jameson

  In an overpriced hotel in Chelsea, after the show and the cocktails and everything had wrapped up, Jameson was surprised to feel a new kind of pleasure with Gray.

  With the two of them, he was used to going fast and always running ahead with pounding hearts. For the past weeks, the point had been to get away and speed into some future together.

  But now, Jameson was making Gray wait, and that was a new kind of exciting. He stood naked in front of the big bathroom mirror, slowly and luxuriously applying his makeup for the evening. He pursed his metallic blue lips and lengthened his eyelashes with stroke after stroke from the mascara, and he brushed a soft glimmer over his cheeks. He took as much pleasure as he could in every touch, and when he was almost done, he dusted a little shimmer across his butt cheeks, too.

  Jameson giggled. Something about knowing Gray was sitting out there, hard and desperate to see him, made him electric with desire. Finally, he went to his bag and pulled out the last touch: a pair of thin cotton briefs that sat on him like a pair of panties.

  He slipped into the briefs and ran his hands along his curves. He was just beginning to explore what it meant to enjoy feeling femme in bed. And even though playing with makeup had always been freeing, back when he was so often home by himself, Jameson had never quite bridged that gap and played with what that meant for him sexually.

  A shudder went down Jameson’s back. He looked good in the mirror. Real fucking good. And as soon as he stepped out that door, Gray was going to lose his mind for all the right reasons. Just like always, he would see Jameson the way he saw himself. Strong and delicate at the same time, nervous but eager to relax.

  Lovable, Jameson hoped. Just like Gray was.

  He stepped out into the hotel room, and just like he expected, Gray sat up like a bolt on the loveseat, then jumped to his feet. The room was split into three levels, and Gray was down in the middle, at the lowest level. Around them, a stylist had done the space with an impeccable eye for sophisticated flare, with lush curtains, sprawling rugs, and delicate glass lights hanging from the ceiling. In the Tom Ford suit Jameson had ordered for him, Gray was handsome as a devil.

  Jameson held his hands behind his back, then turned, perking his butt up. “Hi. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  “You fucking kidding me? You come out looking like that, you take all the time you need.”

  Jameson’s cock hardened, and he skipped down the two steps and across the room to Gray. They crashed into each other with a kiss, and Jameson moaned in his arms.

  “Thank you for showing me how to be alive again,” he said.

  “Thank you for believing in me,” Gray answered with a smile.

  His skin tingling, Jameson pulled open Gray’s suit jacket and started to tug it off, but Gray immediately grabbed his wrists. “Hey now,” he teased. “I thought I was going to keep the suit on for a bit, remember?”

  Jameson’s cock twitched. He felt horny as a teenager, and he wanted to tear Gray’s clothing off, but somehow, him keeping it on was even hotter. “You look sexy,” Jameson purred, stroking his hand down Gray’s chest.

  Gray’s hand landed on Jameson’s thigh, and Jameson whimpered again. He stood there while Gray explored his briefs, toying with his hard cock and then cupping his butt. He rubbed and grabbed, and Jameson quivered with pleasure.

  Jameson smoothed his hands down the soft, sturdy fabric of the suit jacket, then kissed at Gray’s neck, running his tongue up to the scratchy beard. As Gray groaned and squeezed his ass, Jameson stroked his hard cock through his pants and fondled his bulge.

  Pressing his hands flat against Gray’s chest, Jameson pushed him back, and Gray stumbled into an armchair with a laugh. Jameson bit his lip and looked down while he stroked his cock through his briefs, trailing his fingers across his tip.

  “You’re my boyfriend,” he said.

  “Yeah I am,” Gray growled. He spread his legs wide and rubbed his hard cock through his pants. “And we’re in love.”

  GRAY

  Jameson took one slow step forward, then dropped to his knees. He rubbed his hands across Gray’s thighs and hummed to himself as desire pulsed through Gray’s body. Unlike in the motels, he didn’t feel rushed or like someone was going to take Jameson away from him at any minute. Instead, Gray realized that they had all the time in the world, time they could spend exploring together, playing together, coming together…

  Gray flicked open his pants, then tugged his cock out. It was fat in his hand, with black hairs curling at the base and a sack that hung heavy. “I’ve been thinking about those lips all night,” he said and stroked his thumb up the top of his shaft.

  Jameson lunged forward, then took Gray in his mouth. Unlike the first time, when Jameson was convinced he was going to choke, he was able to loosen his throat and quickly take Gray. He stretched his lips wide, pursing them around the thick shaft, and flicked his tongue across Gray’s slit, igniting something deep inside of Gray.

  “Fuck,” Gray groaned. He pushed his hand into Jameson’s hair, petting him. “You’re so good at that.”

  Stroking his fingers along Gray’s base, Jameson went straight back to sucking him off. Gray kept whispering compliments, telling him he was beautiful, swearing that he’d never felt as good as Jameson made him feel.

  They were good for each other. Good in a way Gray was only just beginning to understand. There was something chaotic about it, like one of them always had a little good-natured mischief in mind. But somehow, in the end, they grounded each other, too. They balanced out and found a way to keep each other safe.

  Jameson pulled his lips back and gasped when he finally released Gray’s cock.

  “I’m close,” Gray groaned. He’d flung open the top buttons of his shirt, and his forehead was damp with perspiration.

  Jameson crawled up onto his lap, Gray’s cock still in his hand. “I guess we better hurry up,” he said, then winked. “Handsome.”

  Gray grabbed the arms of the chair and gasped as Jameson gripped his cock. Jameson snatched the lube from the table, where Gray had been smart enough to set it earlier, squirted some into his hand, and started to work it up and down Gray’s veiny shaft. The touch was familiar, and he realized that Jameson knew the spots to rub to make Gray gasp.

  “Fuck,” Gray growled. “I want to be inside you, beautiful.”

  Jameson leaned forward, steadying himself on the arm on the chair. He placed his hand on Gray’s chest, and then, slowly, he rebuttoned the top two buttons of Gray’s shirt.

  Gray jerked his hips up, which made Jameson bounce. “Th
ank you,” Gray laughed.

  Jameson winked. “Anytime.”

  He held Gray’s eye as he lowered himself down, pressing his twitching hole against Gray’s tender crown. Gray stretched his boyfriend wider, and as he thrust, Jameson’s body opened, pulling him in.

  “Oh god,” Jameson whined. He steadied himself on the arms of the chair, and Gray wrapped his arm around Jameson’s midsection to support him. After a breath, Jameson pushed down again, sinking onto Gray’s rigid shaft.

  Gray rocked his hips up, taking Jameson with him. The lines between their bodies dissolved as he plunged deeper, then began to thrust against Jameson’s prostate. A steady whimper came out of Jameson, bouncing with every thrust, and when he tried to moan, only animal noises came out.

  “Harder,” Jameson begged. “Fuck me harder!”

  Gray wrapped his other arm around Jameson, then pulled him close while he slammed his full length in. Jameson moaned as Gray lifted him, then held him tight as they both tumbled to the floor. The chair clattered to the side while Jameson gasped, and deep pleasure riveted through Gray’s body. “Oh god, oh god,” Jameson gasped.

  Gray rolled on top, and Jameson slapped his hands against the rug as they both rode the start of an orgasm. Jameson’s cock was leaking all over his stomach as he whined, taking everything that Gray gave him. “I’m close,” Gray growled.

  “Fuck!” Jameson yelled. He screamed it loud, loud enough that the whole city could probably hear him, and then he screamed it again. His hole tightened, then clenched down on Gray, tugging him in. The orgasm was so close, like the waves of the ocean, growing stronger and stronger, until finally Gray felt the entire universe surging through him, and while Jameson sprayed jets across his chest, his own release arrived, instant and explosive.

  “Fuck yeah,” Gray moaned. He bucked his hips one more time and stretched Jameson’s hole even wider as he sprayed his wet, warm release. Gray fell on his boyfriend with a kiss and rubbed his beard all over Jameson’s face while Jameson trembled with pleasure.