Reunited: Matchmakers Book 4

by Declan Rhodes

  “What if he does it again? What if we get to that point, and...my heart crumbles again?”

  “Iris and I have plenty of duct tape.” Blake was more assertive than usual around me. His demeanor was slowly shifting. I attributed it to his relationship with Hunter. Blake was in love, and he knew that he would ultimately be a married man. I could only dream about the stability and confidence marriage would offer to my life.

  “Maybe I should play it coy. We’ve got time. Don’t we? We’re not that old.”

  “But you miss each other. You can’t convince me otherwise. Once you calmed down, I saw the looks you gave each other at the hockey game. It was like the expression I saw on my cousin’s face when she visited her brother in the hospital.”

  “Cousin? Hospital?”

  “He got sick when we were kids—some horrible virus. Anyway, I visited him there with my parents, and his sister walked in at the same time. She didn’t admit it, but I saw it in her eyes. She missed him horribly. The first thing she said to him was a question. “When do you get to come home? So, now I want to ask you. Daniel, when will you bring Kenneth home?”

  Blake had a valid point, and I remembered far in the past how every moment together was full of comfort and reassurance. I’d missed that every day since the breakup.

  “Okay, in your understanding, what does going for it mean? I need more specifics. I think my agreement to go down to Chicago is a fairly bold step.”

  “A kiss. Start there. You told me that you’ve had near misses twice now. You said that you backed away from the last opportunity.”

  “It was like somebody reached into my chest and clamped a fist around my heart, or maybe it was more like getting kicked in the balls. It was a reminder of what happened before and a warning to protect me. How do I trust Kenneth?”

  “If we screw up a date for one of our clients, why should they trust us to recommend somebody else?”

  “Because everyone deserves a second chance.” I bit my lip. I’d said it. A considerable segment of our Match Made business was about the belief in second chances. We had both clients who were on a search for a second life partner and the unfortunate ones who failed on their first dating attempts through us, like my absurd dance with Seb.

  “There you have it. When do you drive down to Illinois?”

  I took a long, deep breath. “Tomorrow. I’ll leave immediately after work. Kenneth wants me there in time for dinner.”

  In sharp contrast to the winter storm that kept Kenneth overnight in Milwaukee, the weather for my drive down to Chicago was perfect. It was a bright and sunny day, and the air was warm enough that it started melting the ice shelves along the Lake Michigan shore. It was a welcome reminder that spring was just around the corner.

  As I drove down the wooded driveway that led to Kenneth’s house, I speculated about what I might see inside. Would it be a reflection of the Kenneth I’d known before?

  When we were dating, he lived in an apartment on the edge of Boystown, only blocks from Wrigley Field. His style was a little more--cluttered-- than my own, but all of the bric-a-brac was tasteful.

  Kenneth collected souvenirs from his travels. Paris, London, and Rome were all represented in his living room. I rarely brought home anything but memories from trips abroad because I knew the items would either end up in a closet or clutter up the sightlines across the flat surfaces in my home.

  A short half-circle paved with bricks led directly to the door of the mid-century style house. I killed the engine and closed my eyes for a moment. I wanted to follow Blake’s advice, but I could already feel my stomach starting to clench at the thought of making a move. I didn’t know whether I could do it or not, but it was too late to turn back.

  Kenneth opened the door before I could knock. “Daniel! You know, every five minutes for the last hour, I speculated about whether you’d show.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  Kenneth didn’t answer the question. He shrugged it off. “Don’t worry about that. Come on inside.”

  I carried a small bag in my right hand. It contained all the items I needed for an overnight visit. As we stepped through the door, I gave Kenneth the once-over from behind. He wore a casual button-up shirt perfectly-tailored to fit his body. The pants below were jeans that hugged his ass in a way that caused my heart to skip. His cheeks always fit perfectly in my big hands.

  The living room was tasteful and simply decorated with furniture that matched the design of the house. Shelves placed along the walls held various items that represented the events of Kenneth’s life. I wondered whether a closer examination would reveal any tchotchkes left from our two years together.

  The aroma of delicious food wafted to us from somewhere in the rear of the house. I tried to identify the source. It smelled like beef stew or maybe a pot roast, whatever it was caused my stomach to rumble in anticipation.

  “Just put your bag over by the sofa for now. I thought we could relax for a few minutes. My stew is almost ready. You’ll get the grand tour after dinner. Are you hungry? How about a glass of wine?”

  As I dropped my bag, I sensed an opening. I steeled myself and heard Blake’s “go for it” comment repeated in my head. If I didn’t strike first and fast, I’d have to wait on Kenneth for the rest of the evening. He stood near the only bare spot of wall space in the living room and reached out for a bottle of wine already uncorked and resting on a small cart.

  Before he could touch the wine, I stepped up from behind and wrapped an arm around Kenneth’s waist. With one hand on his midsection and the other on his shoulder, I forced him to pivot so that his back was against the empty wall section.

  “Daniel? Did you…?”

  I didn’t let him say any more words. My lips smothered the rest. I pressed firmly against Kenneth’s shoulders, and my hands pinned him to the wall while we kissed. He didn’t pull away. There was no hesitation. Kenneth parted his lips with a soft moan.

  My tongue found its way inside, and together we performed a mouth tango. Wickedly electric sensations raced to my pelvis. I’d done it. My performance was worth of congratulations, and I wanted to continue kissing Kenneth for hours. I wanted to share the intimate connection for so long that we’d have to finally pull apart when our swollen lips couldn’t take it any longer.

  At the moment we both came up for air and took a breath, that lopsided smile broke across Kenneth’s face. He greeted me with dry humor. “Well, hello. Maybe the sofa is a little more comfortable than the wall.”

  Kenneth took my hand and led me there. He lay back full-length on the leather-upholstered furniture and yanked my hand hard to pull me down on top of him. He didn’t say anything. Kenneth let his lips do the talk, and we kissed again with searing passion.

  My brain tried to tell my body to slow down, but there was a short circuit in the messaging system. I pulled my lips apart from Kenneth’s and kissed the side of his neck. I found that soft spot just beneath his ears, and my reward was the sexiest of full-throated moans.

  Kenneth knew what he was doing. His grunts, moans, and whimpers were the sexiest sounds on earth for me. They always drove me forward toward greater sexual abandon. I followed as he led me down a path, and I didn’t know where it might end.

  The fingers on each of our hands worked feverishly at buttons, and I soon found my shirt pushed back and off my shoulders, almost binding my upper arms behind me. My efforts unveiled Kenneth’s torso, and he wiggled and rocked himself from side-to-side to create friction between us as skin rubbed on skin.

  We each wore jeans, and the erection inside mine stretched the denim so tight I feared they might split open. I let out a strangled moan that nearly evolved into a howl when Kenneth decided on a dual attack. One hand tangled into my hair and pulled my head back to expose my neck. He kissed my Adam’s apple as the other hand snaked its way between us and brushed the outline of my cock.

  A smoky voice that dripped with innuendo whispered in my ear, “Remember…” I didn’t let him fin
ish the thought. My lips found his and obliterated the words. The visceral memories crashed into my brain all at once. It was like the entire two years rushed by as a flipbook on triple speed.

  Somehow, the savory aroma of beef stew tickled my thoughts. I stared into Kenneth’s eyes. “What about dinner?”

  “It can wait. Would you like to see my bedroom? It’ll have to be the first stop on the tour. I’ll turn the heat to low for the stew, and it won’t overcook.”

  Breathlessly, I whispered, “Anywhere with a bed.” It was difficult to believe what I heard as the words echoed inside my head. I’d decided to never go to bed with Kenneth again. There was too much risk, but the pain was almost ten years ago. It was different now. It had to be.

  Kenneth stood, and I followed in his footsteps. I shrugged my shirt back onto my shoulders and admired the sight of the bare flesh in the center of his torso. The open shirt revealed a dark trail of hair that led down over muscular abs to his navel. It continued below before it disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans.

  We entered the kitchen briefly. I couldn’t resist the impulse to step up close behind Kenneth while he fiddled with a saucepan on the stovetop. I kissed the nape of his neck and cupped one ass cheek in my right hand.

  “Damn, Daniel. I sort of hoped for…but this is well beyond the wildest ideas that entered my mind. This is, honestly, unexpected.”

  I moaned in his ear. “I missed you.” Deep in my chest, somehow, the heated moment ripped the duct tape and Band-Aids free of my heart, and, to my delight, the scars were barely visible.

  Kenneth’s bedroom was in the rear of the house. The front section of his home was only one floor, but the dropoff of the bluff allowed for two stories in the rear. The master bedroom took up one back corner on the main level, and floor-to-ceiling windows made it feel almost like a treehouse. It lay suspended in the air with the azure blue waters of Lake Michigan visible between early spring’s still bare trees.

  “This is glorious.”

  “Thank you. You know how much I love the forest. I always wanted to live in the woods. Now I can, but I still have all the luxuries of a normal home. You should see it a little later in spring when more of the songbirds return. I watch the little flashes of color as they dart about, and then I can slide open the side windows and hear them sing.”

  The conversation ended abruptly when Kenneth took the initiative and tackled me to the surface of the bed. The sheet and bedspread were already pulled back. That was my first hint of where Kenneth hoped our visit might lead.

  The bed was pure luxury against my skin. I expected nothing less.

  Kenneth stripped the shirt from my body, muttering, “This has to go,” before he lay on top of my bare chest.

  “What about your shirt?”

  “I think it’s your responsibility to deal with that.”

  It’s easier to take clothes off before you decide to lie down, but after wriggling, squirming, and pulling the sleeves off Kenneth’s hands, he was half-naked, too.

  I gasped when he suddenly dove forward to take my right nipple with lips and tongue. If his memory of the past was perfect, he knew that my nipples had a direct wire that wound through my body to my cock. I grunted and hoped that he’d help me out of my stretched jeans soon.

  I didn’t have to wait. My hips arched into the air almost involuntarily when the fly of my jeans opened, and they started to slide downward. When I lay naked except for my fire-engine red briefs, Kenneth said, “Those have to go, too.”

  Although I knew that when we were both naked was a little late to ask questions of propriety, I decided to raise the primary issue at hand.

  “I forgot to ask if this were okay. Back when I first kissed you, I should have raised the question. Is it okay? I know it’s the height of absurdity to behave like this, but I want to make sure you’re okay. I still care a lot about you.”

  Kenneth listened politely while the flames of passion burned in his eyes. “Fuck, you still have a sense of humor. What if I said I only tear a man’s clothes from his body on my bed and kiss and suck on his chest when I’m pissed and hope it’s not happening?” He slapped my chest. “I’m in heaven right now. Please don’t kick me off the cloud.”

  Unless he’d made a significant change through the years, I knew that Kenneth was mostly bottom when it came to fucking. I didn’t know whether he wanted to take it that far or not.

  After he rolled me over onto my back and made lazy circles around my right nipple with his index finger, Kenneth answered my question. An avalanche of words flowed from his lips.

  “I want you inside me. I’ve wanted that since I first saw you again at the hockey game. No, the wedding. Yes, I wanted to fuck when I saw you turn your head and peck your boyfriend’s lips. I’m horrible that way. Please say yes. Tell me you want it, too, Daniel.”

  I wanted it, but a slight twinge inside me said maybe I should hold up. Perhaps I should slow down. Then I heard Blake’s voice inside my head. He was shouting. “Go for it!” The tension of the moment was like a wrecking ball that progressively tore down any resistance.

  “Yes. Oh, fuck, yes. It would be one massive lie if I said otherwise.”

  I’d never felt sensations like the wave of emotion that suddenly crashed over my body like an unexpected, and shattering, tsunami. A slight whimper escaped my mouth along with a few stray tears that ran down my cheeks.

  Kenneth reached up and touched my face with an expression of extreme concern. “Are you okay? What happened? Did I do something wrong?”

  “It’s just…” I couldn’t come up with new words, so I repeated the previous comment. “I missed you.” I pointed at my jeans that lay on the floor to distract attention from the words in my throat that choked me. I managed to bark out one word, “Condoms.”

  Kenneth’s voice cracked when he said, “I missed you, too. Every day. I know that sounds like the peak of romance-novel hokiness, but it's true. This had to happen again sooner or later.” He pointed toward the nightstand. “Condoms right there. You don’t have to get up.”

  As our fingers touched when we collaborated on rolling the sheath down over my swollen cock, a noticeable shudder wracked my body. I think it was a combination of the desire for connection with Kenneth’s body and fear about what it meant for my future.

  No negative thoughts would stop me from beating my way down the path I was on, but the warning sirens were still there. They sounded muffled like they blared from beneath a skyscraping tower of pillows or out of a house three blocks down the street, but I could still hear them.

  Kenneth closed his eyes, spread his legs wide, and waited for me. It was a moment that was both familiar and completely new. He was ten years older, and I saw more wisdom in his eyes. Then he closed them.

  “Don’t close your eyes. I want you to open them. You know how much I love that moment. I can’t describe it other than the look in your eyes when I punch past your ring is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in this world.” Kenneth opened his eyes, as I requested. I realized at the final moment that his vulnerability and his expectant expression were turn-ons that caused my cock to rage. I thrust forward, and he fought hard to keep staring into my eyes. His breath grew ragged and increased in tempo. I was doing it, what I pledged never to do again. We were one, at least for an instant.

  The air practically vibrated with grunts, moans, and gasps for breath. I gripped Kenneth’s hard cock in my right hand while I ground myself deep inside. I had two goals. The first was to reach his prostate with my fucking action, and the second was to jerk him into a massive eruption as close in time to my orgasm as possible. When I had sex, I wanted the bottom man to have an experience as mind-blowing as my own, if not more.

  Kenneth’s cock always stayed rock-hard through the entire time I fucked him. It was not a feat of sexual gymnastics that every man could do. I don’t think it was anything conscious. It was the way his body worked. I glanced down and saw glistening drops of precum on Kenneth’s cock head a
nd shaft as I stroked faster.

  “Daniel! Fuck!” Kenneth lost the battle for a moment and closed his eyes. I didn’t interfere. Our fucking always sent him to another level of arousal somewhere high in the sky. He told me it was almost like his mind started to separate from his body. The sensation flooded him so profoundly that he couldn’t think. He could only feel.

  The climax happened faster than I expected. As my body matured, it usually took longer to reach an orgasm. That was both a plus and minus, but the excitement of sex with Kenneth for the first time in ten years overwhelmed my usual response. I found myself struggling to hold back while I urgently worked to push my partner closer to the edge.

  I heard the sounds of success. “Daniel! Close! Going to come!”

  A grin filled my face as I clenched my teeth and hissed, “Come for me. I’ll be right there with you.”

  Kenneth’s cock head erupted while he howled and shot white, milky fluid between us. His muscles tightened suddenly against me, and I couldn’t hold it anymore either. The orgasm swept through my entire body, and it curled my toes as I came, too.

  “Oh, holy fuck!” I grunted and involuntarily rocked my body forward and back. The motion plunged me even deeper inside while my cock shot at least three times.

  Kenneth’s eyes opened, and I saw a gaze of both wonder and affection. He reached up and pulled me down on top of him. It caused my cock to pop free while my chest slapped hard against his. Covered in sweat, I rolled to the side and stared back into those soulful eyes. It didn’t matter anymore whether warnings flashed in my mind. It was a done deal. We connected on a visceral level. We had to deal with whatever aftermath was on its way.

  Kenneth’s lips started to move. He had a habit of saying, “Thank you,” after sex. I appreciated the sentiment, but it never felt appropriate to me. It didn’t feel like the right response to the experience of the deep drive inside him on a mission powered by pure lust and sexual desire.