Reunited: Matchmakers Book 4

by Declan Rhodes

  My fingers touched the lips before the words came out. I said, “It was good. No, it was excellent. I can’t deny that.”

  Before he could say anything, we both heard the sound of Kenneth’s stomach rumbling. We laughed out loud in unison “Are you ready for some beef stew? I think my tummy’s hungry.”

  “I’m famished, but I’ll enjoy it more with the tension out of the way.”

  Kenneth looked down, and I followed his eyes. His cock was still at half staff. “The tension isn’t all gone. Maybe we can take care of the rest later.”

  14

  Kenneth

  When I finally woke the morning after my physical reunion with Daniel, I didn’t have any idea of the time. When I moved into my dream home that looked over Lake Michigan, I banned alarm clocks with big, blocky numbers from the bedroom. On most mornings, I didn’t have to wake up at a specific time anyway. After my body settled into new patterns, I discovered that my usual time to wake was approximately 7:00 a.m., give or take 30 minutes.

  I heard soft snores at my side and turned my head. It was real. I didn’t dream the night before. If I did, it would have been a perfect fantasy. So many times, I hoped that one day I’d have Daniel back in my bed despite all the circumstances stacked against it.

  His broad, muscular chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. Dark hair spread across his pecs in the perfect density. Both sides of his abdomen were mostly hair-free, but I loved to brush my cheek against his chest. A sprinkle of gray hairs, like on his head, only made him more handsome to my eyes.

  Daniel lay flat on his back with his arms slightly splayed at his sides. I wanted to cuddle up against his left arm, but I feared that I’d wake him. When my eyes first opened, I was on my side pushed right up against the edge of the mattress. That was how I slept almost every night when alone.

  I decided to let my eyes wander leisurely over Daniel’s magnificent body while he still slept. I loved his bushy eyebrows and the slight cleft in his chin. I wanted to kiss his cheek and whisper, “I still love you,” in his ear.

  The hem of the top sheet rested about an inch below Daniel’s navel. As I continued my visual exploration, I spotted the unmistakable tent of a morning erection. My mouth watered. Multiple times in the past, I dove beneath the sheet and blanket to wrap my hungry lips around Daniel’s morning wood. He loved it, but it was even better when I let him wake first before I slipped beneath the bed covers.

  After I completed my inspection, I rolled over to face the windows to the woods beyond. I knew that most people would probably prefer the view in summer, but I enjoyed the late winter scene. The bare trees failed to obscure the view of the distant water. As I blinked my eyes to force everything into focus, I spotted a Cardinal as it flitted about until it landed on a branch near the window. It was a male clad in feathers of flaming red, Daniel’s favorite color.

  While I watched the birds, I heard a gentle grunt behind me. I rolled back over and saw that Daniel pulled the sheet nearly up to his chin. His eyes were closed, but I speculated that perhaps the time was near when he’d have to wake up whether he was ready or not. When I glanced out the window one more time, I knew that it was too far away to be sure, but I thought the Cardinal smiled at me.

  I scooted my body up close and lay my arm across Daniel’s chest. A second later, I planted a kiss on his cheek and felt the tickle of his razor stubble against my lips. I whispered, “Good morning, you.”

  One of Daniel’s eyes flickered open. When he saw me, it opened wide. His body was suddenly rigid with tension.

  “Oh, fuck. Did we? Where am I?”

  “We did, and you’re at my place.” I blocked the next words with a kiss on the lips. Some of the tension faded away as he parted his lips for the kiss. I pushed forward to drape my naked body across him while we heated up our waking moments.

  Our lips pulled apart with a light smack, and I gazed into Daniel’s green eyes before I rested my cheek on his muscular chest. His heart pumped loud and clear in my ear.

  “Did we jump into a time machine? It’s hard to believe this is true.”

  “I’m not so sure. If it were a time machine, I’d not be living in this house. We’d be back in that scary apartment I rented in Boystown just off Halsted. Remember that? You screamed when you saw the mouse run along the baseboard.”

  Daniel laughed as I reminisced. “I hope you don’t have any mice here. I can handle snakes, but rodents, no.”

  “Sean had better make sure there are no mice here. I don’t pay him a good salary for nothing.”

  “Sean? Who’s Sean?”

  Daniel tensed up again beneath me. I wondered whether he feared that Sean was a boyfriend or another kind of intimate companion. I needed to set matters straight quickly. “He’s my live-in personal assistant.”

  Daniel pulled out from under me and raised himself on one elbow. “Live-in? Someone else is here? I didn’t see anybody else last night.”

  “Didn’t you hear the little noises in the kitchen while you were waking up? He was gone last night, but he’s back this morning. Don’t worry at all. Sean’s fantastic. You’ll like him when you meet him.”

  As if on cue, we both heard light clanking coming from the kitchen. Daniel pointed his nose up into the air. “Is he cooking breakfast?”

  “Maybe… Should we wander out there and see?”

  Daniel sighed and lay back flat on his back. He stared at the ceiling for a moment. He was suddenly deep in thought. I reached over and slowly walked my fingers down his abs along the treasure trail.

  “I told myself this would never happen. It couldn’t. Not after the past.”

  My fingers stopped. I asked, “Do you regret last night?”

  Daniel continued to stare at the ceiling. “No. It was mind-blowing. How can something that phenomenal be wrong?”

  I pulled the fingers back from Daniel’s abs and reached up to rake my fingers through his tousled, wavy hair. “Ten years ago, this was pitch black. I like it better now.”

  I’d successfully distracted him from his most pressing worries. “When the gray started to appear, I wanted to color it, but Blake told me no. Iris backed him up.”

  “It’s sexy.”

  “And ten years ago, your hair was buzzed close to your scalp, almost like it is now. The only difference is your forehead is bigger.”

  I’d grown my hair out three different times in the past ten years. I never liked it that way. The first time it felt so long when I had to sweep the locks to the right to keep them out of my eyebrows. “Is it okay this way? I sometimes wonder whether I should grow it longer as I get older.”

  “It’s splendid. It gives you that hungry look. Like you’ll devour me if I kiss you.”

  I pointed to my lips. “Then kiss me. Right here.”

  Daniel responded to my request with a passionate kiss, and we twined our tongues together. Then he pulled back so that our eyes could meet.

  I pointed to my collarbone. “And here.”

  A small shiver swept through my body when Daniel’s lips met my collarbone at the base of my neck. He licked in a small, lazy circle until I made another request.

  “Here.” I pointed to my right nipple, and my toes began to curl before Daniel’s lips arrived.

  His tongue flicked in a motion as light as a butterfly’s wings and caused the nipple to harden into full arousal. My cock followed suit, creating a massive tent beneath the sheets. I didn’t know where we were heading until Daniel pumped the brakes. He slowed the train as it threatened to barrel down the tracks. “So much has changed.”

  I raised both my eyebrows. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”

  “Undoubtedly, this is better than...then.”

  “And neither of us has to struggle anymore. I hawk all of that bathroom mirror product, and you—well—I’m your customer.”

  “Bathroom mirror product?”

  “That’s what I call it. We sell nearly all of the items you might apply when you stand in front of th
e bathroom mirror. I think our shampoo is the only product outside those boundaries.”

  Daniel raised an arm and tangled his fingers into his hair. “I still have a question about you as a customer. Did you know that it was my company before you signed up?”

  “I did.”

  “And that didn’t stop you?”

  “It did for a moment, but nearly ten years were in the rearview mirror. You don’t have much competition in your specific niche. Maybe you’ve noticed that.”

  “There’s a new upstart in Chicago. You could have chosen them.”

  My eyes opened wide. “You mean Bullseye? Surely not. I know the man who runs that, too.”

  Daniel poked my chest. “That’s the name. I’ve been trying to remember it for the past three days, and I was too lazy to look it up. Yes, I’ve heard they’ve got strong capital backing, and the website looks solid.”

  “And he’s ridiculous. Steven Arp. One of my investors is a second cousin. He told me hilarious stories about his childhood experiences with Steven, but now Mr. Arp has turned into a bitter, sarcastic middle-aged man. I think the only reason he started the service was to try and connect jumper cables to his own sex life.”

  “Are you sure that wasn’t my motivation?” I didn’t need to answer. I instantly knew the answer to that question. The twinkle in Daniel’s eyes told me his reasons were different. Still, I was curious what he’d say.

  “And they were?”

  “I think Blake and I started Match Made for the same reason that the majority of successful businesses begin. We saw a niche where we thought we could offer a service nobody else did and do it better than any potential competition.”

  I changed the direction of the conversation. “Bed isn’t the place for business talk.” I pointed at my navel. “And there.”

  Daniel surprised me. He not only trailed his lips and tongues down my belly, but he also slipped a hand beneath the sheets. I whimpered helplessly when his fingers wrapped around and proceeded to deliver a long, leisurely stroke.

  “Did you miss this as much as I did?”

  “You’ll never know how much because I can’t explain it.”

  Daniel pulled the sheet down and exposed my fully erect cock. At the same time, his bare ass came into view. At some point during the years gone by, I came to believe that in 99% of the cases, the body of a man in his 40s could never match the beauty and function of a 25-year-old. Daniel blew all of that speculation away. Perhaps he was part of that elusive 1%, but I suspected it was merely the result of care and attention as he aged.

  Daniel pointed. “Here, too?”

  My mouth grew dry and cottony. “Yes. Oh, my God.”

  I had to tangle my fingers into that wavy hair when Daniel’s lips closed over the head of my cock. His tongue swept across the head in a slow, languorous motion. He crawled downward on the bed until he positioned himself between my legs and rubbed the left side of his chest on my thigh. The connection of skin upon skin was electric. I gently pushed Daniel’s head downward to take in more of me.

  When he pulled back to look into my face with my fingers still tangled in his hair, a sensation of rightness washed over my body. I think there are only a few moments in life that I will ever feel that way, and, surprisingly, lying naked with Daniel, reunited, with him about to swallow my cock, was one of them. I pushed the back of my head hard against the pillow and moaned.

  Daniel whispered, “Sean can hear,” and I blushed while I closed my mouth.

  I was never someone who was quiet in bed. Friends told me that I wasn’t quiet in general. I tried to remember what I was like the night before. Then a delightful thought filled my mind.

  I never thought of Sean as a possible sexual target. He was straight, at least primarily, but I wondered whether the sounds from my bedroom could cause him to touch himself. Or, perhaps, he was enough of a consummate professional to keep his attention focused on breakfast. All thoughts of Sean faded away when I saw Daniel licking his chops, ready to devour me.

  Daniel noticed my distraction. “What? Is there something funny about my technique?”

  “I thought about Sean and what he missed out on last night.”

  “I hope he found a way to have as much fun as we had,” whispered Daniel. He opened his mouth wide and clamped his lips shut halfway down my shaft. I instantly arched my hips to help drive my cock head into his throat. As quickly as he took me into his mouth, Daniel pulled off again.

  I said, “He’s straight.”

  “But he’s a man, too. We tend to like sex. Period.”

  Daniel swallowed my head again and began to bob up and down. He choked slightly when my cock head hit the back of his throat. He was primarily a top in bed, but he loved to suck cock, too. Versatile was the best way to describe Daniel because he didn’t hesitate to switch roles entirely when he was in the mood. Sex with him for those two golden years was always an adventure like the twists, turns, and upside-down loops of the best modern roller coasters. I was more than ready for the ride to start again.

  In the morning, it didn’t take long to get me off. I could hold back for much longer later in the day, but my body was primed to shoot minutes after I woke up. I tensed and clenched my teeth while I tried to hold back. A hoarse whisper escaped. “I’m close…”

  Daniel didn’t retreat or slow down. He kept pushing me forward like I was edging up the first high hill. I was only seconds away from that eruption that would send me screaming and bucking my hips as I flew down the breathtaking slope on the other side.

  My fingers formed a fist and held onto Daniel’s hair while my balls started to ride up. Daniel bobbed faster and then pulled his lips off at the last second. I opened my eyes wide just in time for us both to watch me shoot a thick, white load onto Daniel’s chest. An expression of pure pride in his sexual prowess spread across his face.

  “Good fucking morning, Kenneth. Damn, I guess I couldn’t avoid you forever.”

  Ever the particular Virgo desperate to keep things clean and tidy, Daniel reached behind him for the tissue box on the nightstand. He cleaned the cum from his chest while I watched. I’d avoided him, too, but I suspected that it was for different reasons. Daniel was angry when we broke up, and I was embarrassed.

  Daniel continued to talk. “Somehow, in the big cosmic wheel of life, we were meant to be together. That has to be why this is happening.” I didn’t disagree with the sentiment, but I suddenly feared that the afterglow caused fuzziness in Daniel’s brain. I gripped the bedsheets with my hands, worried about what he might say next. When his mind rolled in one direction, it was hard to apply the brakes.

  I whispered, “It is a tremendous reunion.”

  “Why don’t we make it formal this time? Save ourselves all that tension over dating for weeks or months and jump right ahead to the logical conclusion. Let’s get married now. It only makes sense.”

  My voice squeaked as I tried to force words out of my mouth. I didn’t want to say them, but Daniel suddenly jumped the tracks, and we weren’t riding down the same hill together anymore. “I...can’t. Not yet.”

  15

  Daniel

  Nothing happens when you stare at a bookcase for an hour. I always wanted to believe in telekinesis, but it didn’t matter how long I focused my attention on my worn copy of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and willed it to move. It didn’t budge. It didn’t crash to the floor in a sudden, startling instant. Nothing happened.

  I wanted to forget about all of the events that unfolded in my life after I returned from my cruise. I wanted to jump back to the moment when I saw tears in Seb’s eyes. I told myself that he wasn’t a total failure as a boyfriend. He was a little distracted, but he felt safe. Seb was the kind of man I could have in my life by merely tossing my hat in the ring again. Kenneth was the reach for the gold medal that eluded me once, and he dangled, shiny and priceless, out of my grasp once again.

  I didn’t learn any lessons from my first loss. I moved forward too fast bac
k then, and I stumbled out with a broken heart and sulked like a dog with my tail between my legs. After Kenneth rejected my second proposal while we lay in his bed, I felt numb.

  We shared a delicious breakfast prepared by Sean, a smiling, happy-go-lucky personal assistant. With a wink and a nod, he said, “I’d guess that the two of you had a great night together.”

  Sean didn’t say anything else when his comment failed to perk up the mood. Kenneth ate the crisp bacon while he stared down at his plate. I glanced at him three different times, but he never looked up. We ate in thunderous silence, and I left less than five minutes after I took the last bite.

  We had a phenomenal night together. I could have been happy with that. I should have been ecstatic about our connection and kept my mouth shut. A marriage proposal after an accidental reunion and one hot night together? Idiot!

  When I gave up on my attempt to move the books in my bookcase through the sheer will of my mind, I stood and decided to pass the time by arranging them back in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. Blake found my taste in books fascinating, and he occasionally borrowed one of the philosophical texts to take home and read. Frequently, he returned them with some variation of the comment, “I think they write these words to entertain themselves. They don’t make a whole lot of sense.”

  Of course, he never put the books back in the order he found them. I told him once about the alphabetical system, but he either ignored my statement or promptly forgot it. I fought to forget the last twenty-four hours as I slid each book out one by one to put it back in its proper place.

  When I finished, I crossed my arms over my chest and managed a half-smile. I’d accomplished one task in my four-hour morning at the office. Perhaps it didn’t mean anything to anyone else, but my office was a friendlier place with the books in order.

  I crossed over to my desk and checked my email inbox. I knew what I wanted to find. I didn’t have any text messages from Kenneth, and I thought that perhaps he would attempt communication in another way. If he were like me, he would take advantage of the email format to send a more serious and thoughtful message. Unfortunately, the only relevant news in my inbox was a statistical report from Blake on our success rate in matching customers with long-term dating partners. The sole meaning I could take from it was that I was bucking the trend of our clients.