by Trina Solet
Hearing the invitation, all the kids stared at Julian eagerly while he considered it.
"Let all the dogs and all the kids stay together, Mr. Julian," Gloria urged him and all the other kids clamored their agreement.
There was a hopeful look in Danny's eyes so Julian said yes. He got down to give Danny a hug and told him, "If you need anything, Sam or Wyatt can get me or Rob on the phone right away."
Then it was Rob's turn and he got on one knee in front of Danny. "Be good and listen to the grown ups and have fun."
"I can send you guys updates and pictures," Sam offered. He always knew how to reassure Julian.
"It's a plan," Rico said. "And this means that you two should go get busy."
"I will be busy working," Julian told him, but Rico refused to accept that.
"What's wrong with you? This is a prime makeout opportunity," he said in a low, urgent voice. Clapping both Julian and Rob on the shoulders, he pushed them together and got in their personal space. "You're wearing comfortable clothing. You're a little filthy, a little sweaty. Make the most of it." Rico threw in a wiggle of his eyebrows and an evil chuckle.
With a sigh, Sam pushed his way in front of him. "He means take some time to be alone or whatever," Sam said getting a little embarrassed as he looked between them. "We'll have fun with Danny and Lenny. You make sure to have fun too." Sam had a more low key way of putting it, but he obviously had the same idea as Rico.
As they all went off and he and Rob waved to them, Julian was kind of at a loss. "Where are we supposed to go?" he wondered.
Rob gave him a confident grin. "We'll go for a drive and see where the road takes us," he said decisively and took Julian's hand.
Julian wondered if he was going to take charge of their outing. He didn't mind since he had no idea what they could do together out here. Doing things on the spur of the moment wasn't his strong suit anyway. He just couldn't say no to a chance to be alone with Rob for a while.
With Rob behind the wheel, they drove past the school fence and got on the river road. Knowing Julian didn't want to go too far in case Danny needed them, Rob picked a spot by the riverside. They went over a small hill, then down and found themselves in a valley with birch trees all around.
"Did you know this was here?" Julian asked as he got out of the car and admired the spot where the river flowed by gently and birch trees dropped yellow leaves on the ground.
"No. Just luck," Rob said as he got out and let his green eyes travel up from the white bark of the trees to the yellow canopies above.
Soft earth and dry leaves under their feet, they walked around with their hands clasped and their fingers entwined. The path led them to the top of the hill. Coming out from among the trees into a clearing overlooking the river, they were greeted with brilliant sunshine and the brass and copper of autumn reflected in the river's flow.
"The back seat is clear. Just reminding you," Rob said after they had been looking at the view for a while.
They had transferred Danny's car seat to Wyatt's car. Julian had to laugh, but he wasn't sure he was brave enough to do anything in the back seat in the middle of the day. He could hardly believe he was even out here with Rob like this, and he couldn't help asking himself what it meant, if anything.
Rob noticed his hesitation and pointed his thumb back the way they came. "I made sure to pick a nice, secluded spot."
It was true that Julian couldn't see the car clearly among the trees, and with every moment, he was tempted more and more to give in. Then he noticed something in the distance and he frowned.
"What is it?" Rob asked noticing the shift in his mood right away.
Julian had seen a familiar sight across the river. It reminded him that they hadn't gone that far from the town. "That's the cemetery," Julian said thinking of the slab of expensive, black marble that marked his grandfather's grave. "I keep thinking I should pay my grandfather's grave a visit, but then I remember how he tried to kill everything in me that made me who I was."
"He didn't," Rob said and took him by the shoulders gently so he could gaze into his eyes.
"I'm not so sure. I think I would be a much better big brother to Danny if I hadn't fallen under my grandfather's influence."
Rob denied it. "No way. You're the perfect big brother, and Danny adores you."
"He's a sweet boy. I think he overlooks my faults," Julian said, thinking of Danny with love.
"You don't have any faults," Rob said too sharply and Julian raised an eyebrow at him. For a moment, Rob looked like he was about to take it back, but he didn't. "Am I supposed to hide how much I like you?"
Now Julian got flustered and looked away. He had to say something, but he couldn't get the words out. This was his grandfather's stamp on him. He just couldn't express his emotions.
"I will restrain myself if you want me to. I don't have to share every one of my thoughts and feelings with you," Rob said, and Julian took a quick, painful breath. But then Rob's voice got thick and low and he took Julian's hand and kissed it. "I won't tell you how fast my heart beats because of you, or how happy I am just to look at you."
For too long Julian just felt stunned, ready to lose himself in Rob's green eyes, but then he found his voice, a little bit at least.
"Don't hold back with me," Julian finally told him in a single exhaled breath. Those words had rushed headlong out of him before he could stop them. He was dying to hear more, to feel everything Rob felt.
"OK," Rob said simply and smiled, but Julian was too uncertain and hopeful, wondering what might happen next.
"I never know what the next step should be," Julian confessed.
"We kiss and then go back to the car so I can suck you boneless," Rob said in a gravelly voice. Slowly he leaned in, leaving plenty of time for Julian to stop him. The tension seemed to stretch on forever like endless falling. Then their lips met, touching, caressing.
Rob's hands gripped him hard by the arms pulled him in for a deeper kiss full of heat and longing. And Julian responded, showing him what he couldn't put into words, answering with his own heat.
He was clutching Rob by the back of his neck and around the waist. Rob's arms were around him too. They were locked together kissing like they wouldn't stop for anything. But they did, and Julian held onto fistfuls of Rob's jacked and just breathed.
"Let's get into that back seat before I do something indecent to you right here," Rob told him in a rough voice and they hurried off to the car.
Hot for each other, impatient for naked skin under their hands and mouths, they kissed and groped their way under each other's clothes. Pushing Rob's jacket off his shoulders, Julian fumbled with his fly and got the same treatment from Rob.
As soon as Julian had his fly undone, he was reaching past the zipper and the thick denim, to feel Rob through the soft fabric of his boxers. Hearing him grunt, Julian couldn't wait to get the boxers out of his way too.
He pushed down the waistband and had his fingers circling hard flesh. Rob wasn't in the right position though, so Julian pushed him down. Leaning against the door and window, long legs spread wide, Rob made room for him and stroked his fingers through Julian's hair, murmuring curses and encouragements while Julian bent over his cock.
When Julian wrapped his lips around the head and licked, he made Rob moan and buck his hips. Loving the way Rob pushed into his mouth, Julian hummed around his cock and took him even further down. Then he was losing himself to the feeling, sucking and bobbing his head purely on instinct.
"Fuck, Julian," Rob groaned as he mussed his hair. But soon he was lost to the feeling too.
Head thrown back, resting against the window, broad chest expanding with labored breathing, he was looking down at Julian with hooded eyes. The smoldering look in them drove Julian to suck deeper, faster, harder. A pained moan told Julian to get ready and soon he was swallowing and licking up Rob's come.
It seemed like it took only a breath for Rob to have him on his back with his jeans and his boxers dow
n so he could pin his hips to the car seat. Rob's fingers felt hard, unyielding, even cruel, but his tongue was pure sweetness, pure bliss as it licked him up and down then tortured the head of his cock for a while.
In vein, Julian tried to breathe through it, but the sensation was just too much, too good. After sucking off Rob, he was too pent up with need. He moaned and begged for release, but Rob licked him thoroughly and sucked him so slowly.
Time stretched out while Julian rode the edge of coming. This went on until Rob decided it was time to take Julian over the edge. With a mixture of relief and almost painful extreme of pleasure, Julian came, spilling down Rob's throat, calling his name in a guttural voice.
Panting, kissing, mingling their tastes, they were entwined in the back seat for a while. No thought, no memory, nothing in his head, Julian hardly knew his own name. He just kept saying Rob's, whispering it in his ear as he nibbled it.
"Nothing feels as good as you," Rob told him.
"It's you. I don't know how to be like this without you," Julian confessed and kissed him with a passion he never knew he had inside him until this man came along.
Chapter 23
Mitch and Rico were done dismantling the big office, and now they were installing new shelving. Some of the pieces were stacked in the front hall. Coming back from washing his hands after walking Lenny with Danny, Rob stopped to admire the nice looking, probably expensive wood. While Mitch checked things over and flipped through papers on his clipboard, Rob told him, "I can't wait to see Julian sitting in that big office."
"Aha," Mitch said while eyeing him knowingly.
"What? I just don't like to see Julian holding himself back from taking what's rightfully his," Rob said.
"And what's holding you back?" Mitch asked.
"What are you accusing me of?" Rob asked then he admitted the truth "I lost my mom when I was a teenager. It's not easy for me to believe that anything good can last."
"I remember that feeling," Mitch said and a very sad look came over his chiseled features. "When Sammy's mom died, her grandmother tried to take her away from me. My fear from that time stayed with me for too long, until I met Rico." Now Mitch's face brightened like Rico's name was magic.
"I guess I have to figure out how to let go of my fear too," Rob said.
"It will be worth it," Mitch told him and he smiled.
Yeah, he was a man who was ready to be happy. He and Rob both headed to Julian's office and found Rico in there lamenting the loss of the bar they had removed from the big office.
"Too bad about the bar. A bar in the office is so Mad Men," Rico said while shaking his head at the empty space where the bar used to be.
"Are you bothering Julian again?" Rob demanded.
"What are you, the manny or the bouncer?" Rico asked.
"Yes," Rob said then turned to Julian. "Want me to toss him out?"
"We're working here," Rico claimed.
"Not in here, we aren't," Mitch said and pointed him toward the other office.
Rico turned to him. "Rob is so possessive. He's afraid someone else will notice Julian's pouty mouth, dark good looks, ass that begs to be..."
"Hey!" Rob warned him before he could finish and Julian dropped his head to his desk.
"I was just reading your mind, wasn't I?" Rico accused Rob. "You wanted to rescue your precious Julian from me. This is what you get."
"I need hazard pay dealing with you," Rob told him.
"This from a man who was just gladly picking up after the dog," Mitch pointed out.
"Ugh." Rico turned away from Rob in disgust and kissed Mitch. "He's all yours," he said to Julian while pointing his thumb at Rob then he walked away, ready to actually do some work.
"Are you sure you like him?" Rob asked Mitch as he was about to get to work too.
"I'm very sure," Mitch said without taking his eyes off Rico's retreating form.
"That's love, all right," Rob said.
"Yeah," Mitch agreed on a sigh. He had such a soft look in his eyes that Rob felt like he was seeing right into his heart. It was a little embarrassing to get such an intimate glimpse into exactly what he was feeling, but also kind of nice.
As he shut the door between the two offices, Rob was amazed that Mitch ever took a chance on someone like Rico. It gave him hope that Julian might take a chance on him. Julian was buttoned up pretty tight, but if a stoic like Mitch and someone as flippant and loudmouthed as Rico had so much real emotion to offer each other, maybe there was hope for him and Julian too.
That's when he noticed that Julian was holding a photo and looking at it very intently.
"I came across this picture of my father as I was going through some old papers. I wanted to show it to Danny," Julian said. He handed the photo to Rob, and he saw a good-looking guy, who looked a lot like Julian, leaning against a red Lamborghini. Even in the photo, the resemblance didn't go deeper than looks. The guy in the photo grinned and lounged against that sport scar like he didn't have a care in the world.
"He looks like a guy who knew how to live it up," Rob said, still looking at the picture.
"He did, but he didn't know how to be a father," Julian told him.
"Sorry," Rob said as he wondered if Julian might think of him as the same type of guy. While Julian was so serious and focused, Rob had been going through life rudderless all this time. Maybe Julian would never think of him as anything more than a hook-up.
Hearing the work start up in the next office, Rob reminded himself about the guys making all that noise. Rob wasn't going to make it easy for Julian to dismiss him. For now he just went with him to look for Danny.
They found him sitting on the stairs, stacking colorful, wooden letters to build a tower. As they sat on either side of him, Julian showed him the photo.
"That guy standing next to the red car is our dad," Julian told him.
"Our dad," Danny whispered like those words were magic. "He has a red car, but he doesn't live anywhere." Danny now turned sad and Rob looked over at Julian.
They both put their arms around Danny, and Julian told his little brother, "You can keep this picture if you want."
Danny nodded then started to look around and call for Lenny. Getting up, Julian stayed close to Rob and explained in a low voice. "When I told Danny that we had the same dad, he asked me where he lived. I told him he didn't live anywhere. Then I tried to explain death to him, that it means someone is gone and never coming back." Julian exhaled a shaky breath, and Rob could tell what a difficult conversation that must have been.
"There isn't a good way to explain it," Rob told him then they heard Danny's calls for Lenny growing more frantic.
"I lost Lenny," Danny hiccupped as he ran over to them.
"He isn't lost," Rob reassured him. "He's around here somewhere."
Danny called for Lenny tearfully as they took him into the living room then the library and the smaller office. When Lenny didn't show himself, Danny looked up at Julian and blinked back tears. "I don't know where he is."
"We'll find him," Julian promised.
"We'll ask if Mitch and Rico have seen him," Rob said.
Going into the big office, they heard a lot of banging and drilling, and Rob had to yell over the noise to get their attention.
"I lost Lenny. I called him and he didn't come," Danny said to them, sounding heartbroken.
"He probably couldn't hear you," Julian told him and smoothed back his hair.
"That's because of all the noise we were making," Rico said. "We won't make any more noise until you find him."
Danny called again, but his voice wasn't very loud now that he was so upset.
"You want us to help you look?" Mitch asked.
Danny nodded. Mitch and Rico went to search the dining room, and Julian and Rob took Danny into the kitchen. As he called plaintively for Lenny, Danny's voice still didn't carry far, so Rob and Julian called for him too.
Back in the front hall, Danny called Lenny's name and this time they heard
the jingle of his dog tags. Then there was a sharp yip just before Lenny ran over on his tiny feet. The little guy was under the stairs the whole time.
"Lenny, you're here," Danny said and got down to hug his precious dog. Danny gathered the little doggy to him and called his name more happily now. He then picked up Lenny and carried him over to Mitch and Rico to show them that he was found.
"Thanks guys," Rob said to Rico and Mitch while they both petted Lenny.
"This guy would never go anywhere without you," Mitch reassured Danny before he and Rico went back to work.
Danny gave Lenny a stern look as he held him in his arms. "Don't ever go anywhere, Lenny. And you don't go anywhere too, Rob," he said and fixed Rob with a very serious look.
"Me? I'm right here," Rob assured him.
Then Danny assured him right back. "Don't worry, Rob. I'm not gonna take away your shoes."
"My shoes?" Rob looked at Julian, but he only shook his head.
Danny was ready to explain. "Ry said to take your shoes, but the other kids said, 'Nooo!'"
"OK," Rob said still confused.
"Why did Riley want you to take Rob's shoes?" Julian asked.
"So he won't go away," Danny said.
"This was something you talked over with the other kids?" Rob asked.
"Yes," Danny said with a nod. "We talked about important stuff when we were painting the pies. Then they told me about dates."
"Uh, they did?" Rob said and gave Julian a quick glance.
"Do you know about dates?" Danny asked both of them.
"We've heard of them," Julian told his little brother.
"He learns so much from those kids," Rob said as he and Julian eyed each other apprehensively.
Once Danny had gone off with Lenny, Julian sighed. "He got so scared just because he couldn't find Lenny for a little bit. And he's worried about losing you too." Now Julian looked at him long and hard. "I don't want to pressure you."
