A Frosty Tail

by Dawn Sister

  “Just one question.” Jack muttered after a few minutes of silence. “Two actually.”

  “Anything, ask me anything, lovely, sweet, beautiful Jack.” Liam murmured across the top of Jack’s incredible hair.

  “What’s a slow cooker and what exactly is broth?”

  ****

  Frosty Mornings

  Liam woke slowly the next morning. At first, aware that he was lying on his back, a position he didn’t usually sleep in, and then becoming very aware that, tucked snugly into his side, was Jack, just as he had fallen asleep the night before.

  After the frenzied mutual hand jobs over Liam’s kitchen bench, they had fallen into bed and made love a lot more slowly and much to their mutual satisfaction. Afterwards, they had eaten, with Liam finding himself having to explain slow cookers and broth to a very confused but enthusiastic Jack. How could someone never have had broth before, or at least know what it was?

  The broth thing was just one of many puzzles surrounding Jack. Liam had questions and Jack had managed to answer some of them, yet, every answer simply generated more questions. Liam supposed he had only known the man two days. Well, technically, he’d known Jack less than thirty-six hours. Another puzzle to add to the list. Liam wasn’t usually one for spur of the moment, sex with a total stranger. In fact, he wasn’t even one for going out and meeting people at all and he rarely, if ever, brought anyone home to his haven in the hills. He’d met Jack under unusual circumstances, granted, and a situation that would have quickly become life threatening had Jack not been there, so, yes, emotions had been heightened and things had perhaps got a little out of hand. Not that Liam was complaining, but it did mean that he found himself in the awkward position of waking up next to someone he’d shagged the night before but hardly knew.

  “I can hear you thinking, big feller.” Jack murmured, his breath cool against the skin of Liam’s chest. Jack’s breath was not the only thing that was cool. His entire body was. “Oh, it’s a bit chilly, isn’t it?” the smaller man shivered as he snuggled closer to Liam.

  His skin felt as icy as it had the night before but strangely, Liam was not affected by it. He felt snug as a bug, himself. He pulled Jack closer to him, the instinct to protect almost overwhelming, holding Jack firmly and feeling his shivers calm.

  “How can you be so cold?” Liam asked. “It’s warm as toast in this bed.”

  “You’re warm as toast.” Jack complained. “I’m bloody freezing.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t mind the cold, mister ‘I do my best work in my bare feet’. How can you work outdoors all day in the middle of winter wearing only a t shirt, jeans and no shoes and feel no ill effects, yet you sleep next to me all night and you wake up freezing?”

  Jack chuckled, the vibrations sending shivers of a different kind through Liam’s body.

  “It’s you. You play havoc with my equilibrium. In a good way, obviously. In the best way possible, in fact.” Jack wriggled within Liam’s hold, and at first Liam thought he was trying to get warm, but he quickly realised that was not Jack’s only intention when he felt some obvious signs of arousal.

  Liam snorted.

  “You’re an imp. That’s what you are.” He grinned, turning so that they now lay facing each other. Liam’s erection pressed against Jack’s.

  “Ha.” Jack exclaimed, his face level with Liam’s as he fed a hand down between them to take hold of Liam’s hardening cock. “An imp? No. A Sprite? Definitely. Ready for another round, big feller?”

  Before Liam could form another question, Jack’s mouth was on his. Jack’s hand had formed a firm tunnel around both their cocks. There was no time to ponder puzzles or even remember his own name.

  A little later, Liam woke alone. Warm and comfortable and boneless and satisfied, but very alone. For a moment he worried that Jack might have left without saying good bye and the thought made him feel very sad, until he heard singing coming from the direction of his kitchen. He felt a flutter of excitement in his stomach as the resident butterflies took flight. Jack was still here, and it sounded like he was making them something to eat. Liam could hear mugs clinking together and pots and pans being moved. There was a crash, as if something very heavy had just been dropped on the stone-clad kitchen floor. The crash was followed by a loud exclamation in what sounded like Gaelic.

  “Jack?” Liam called feeling a little concerned that Jack was loose in his kitchen.

  “I’m alright. I’m alright.” Jack’s reply was less confident than Liam would have liked.

  Stretching stiff muscles and unable to suppress a smile, Liam jumped out of bed, pulled on some sweat pants and padded through to the kitchen and into complete and utter chaos. He wasn’t the tidiest of people, but the mess that confronted him was beyond ridiculous.

  Jack had indeed been preparing—something, in a large cooking pot. This was what had dropped to the floor, scattering the contents everywhere. Jack had his back to Liam and was on his hands and knees attempting to clear up the mess.

  So, the mess on the floor could be easily explained, but the mess everywhere else was a puzzle. Had Jack invited an entire army to come and cook in Liam’s kitchen, he might understand. Liam glanced at the clock. Perhaps if he’d had several hours and not forty-five minutes, he might have managed to make that much mess, but only if he’d taken every item of food in his kitchen, opened the packets and tins and thrown them around willy-nilly, because that’s what it looked like Jack had done.

  “What the hell happened in here?” Liam couldn’t help the slightly flabbergasted note in his voice, even though, what he really wanted to do was laugh when he saw Jack’s mortified, apologetic expression.

  “Oh, Mother Earth!” Jack cursed when he realised Liam was there. “I am so sorry. I was tryin’ tae make you some o’ that broth, just the way you said you’d made it and things kinda got out o’ hand.” He grimaced as he stepped over the mess and accidentally knocked over a bowl of flour that had been precariously balanced on the corner of the bench.

  “Broth for breakfast?” Liam asked in bewilderment. “And why did you think you needed flour?” He watched as the flour covered everything within range with a white coating that looked like early morning frost.

  “Oh! Is that what this is?”

  Jack stuck his finger in the fine powder and tentatively sniffed it before bending to try and brush the flour back into the bowl with his hands. He only succeeded it spreading it further around the floor and everything else. Clouds of flour floated into his face, making him sneeze which, in turn caused him to giggle with surprise. The reaction was so endearing Liam’s heart melted. How could he be angry with someone so bloody adorable?

  “Don’t worry. I’ll have this cleared up in two shakes of a fox’s tail.” Jack muttered, his usually confident, mischievous smile gone, replaced by a worried frown. “I’m so sorry, Liam, so sorry. Please don’t ask me tae leave.”

  Liam gasped and fell to his hands and knees beside Jack. He took the bowl, still half full of flour, from Jack’s now trembling hands and forced the man to stop trying to clean up.

  “Jack, stop.” He told him, grasping Jack’s hands in his. “It’s alright, really. It’s messy, but I’m overwhelmed that you would try to make breakfast for me. I don’t want you to leave. When I woke alone, I thought you had left.” He looked away unable to meet Jack’s eye for fear of the intense emotion he knew he would see reflected there.

  How could he feel so strongly about someone he’d only just met? But he did. What was more, he was sure, beyond a doubt, that Jack felt the same connection.

  Liam had felt the deep sadness when he’d woken alone and thought Jack had gone and the deep sense of relief and pure joy when he’d discovered Jack was still here. That joy bubbled to the surface now, irrepressible despite the fact that this man had just created havoc in his kitchen.

  Jack’s hand, cool, and soothing, caressed Liam’s cheek.

  “I’d never have left without saying goodbye, big feller.�
� He whispered.

  Liam snorted lightly. As cheesy as the nickname sounded, he liked it. It made him smile every time Jack called him that. It had been such a long time since Liam had smiled so much.

  “Good. Now, why don’t I help you clean up?”

  Liam leaned in and kissed Jack gently on the lips. The touch so soft, it was barely there. The same cool sensation as before sent all sorts of shivers up and down Liam’s spine, making him want to push all the mess aside and lie the man down on the kitchen floor.

  “Oh, Liam.” Jack pulled away, giggling, his slender fingers covering his lips. “Tempting, but I think we should tidy up first otherwise things could get messy.”

  “That’s the idea, isn’t it?” Liam asked, revelling in Jack’s mischievous, cheeky smirk.

  Liam stood, offering his hand to Jack to help him to his feet.

  “Were you really trying to make broth?”

  Jack nodded. “The way you told me last night.” He grimaced, looking about at the chaos he’d created. “I must not have listened so well as I thought, and I’m not too good in the kitchen anyway, having never done any cooking, or been in a kitchen before last night, so….” he shrugged helplessly.

  “Nothing you say makes any sense.” Liam chuckled.

  Jack flung his arms around Liam’s neck and pulled him down into a heated kiss.

  “U-until you kiss me, then everything makes sense.” Liam said, breathlessly, when the kiss finally ended. “What the hell is that all about?”

  “I’m sure you’ll work it out.” Jack smirked. “But while you’re doing that, let’s tidy up.”

  It didn’t take long. Jack, despite his apparent incompetence and complete ignorance of everyday things like broth and kitchens in general, was a very quick learner. It seemed like the kitchen was sparkling clean within minutes, making Liam think the mess had been less than it had originally appeared.

  Within ten minutes, Liam found himself chopping vegetables for more broth, while Jack sat on the bench beside him, nibbling on a carrot, his legs swinging, his bare feet occasionally brushing against Liam’s hip, or ribs. Every time there was what seemed like an accidental touch, Liam would give the man a quick glance and get a smirk and a wink in return.

  As he worked, with Jack sometimes helping, sometimes hindering, they talked. Liam found himself telling Jack a great deal about himself. How he’d managed on his own since he was eighteen. How he’d come to move to this village and found a niche for himself as a gardener and landscaper. Jack had a way of drawing him out of himself and he told the man things he’d never told anyone else.

  Liam asked questions in return, but Jack’s answers, whilst not exactly elusive, avoided anything that was in any way informative.

  “Where do you live, Jack?”

  “Oh, I’ve got a place up in the hills.” He waved vaguely in the direction he meant.

  “In the hills? Close by?”

  “Not really.”

  “On your own?”

  “I have family.”

  “You live with your family?”

  “In a way. Two sisters and a brother. We don’t all live there at the same time though. It’d be chaos if we did.”

  Whatever that meant. Liam shook his head in mild frustration.

  “What work do you do? You said you worked outdoors?”

  “Aye. Seasonal work, I suppose you’d call it.”

  “Okay. Mine too.” Liam nodded in understanding.

  “Gardening is a year-round thing.” Jack tipped his head to one side as he took another bite of the carrot in his hand.

  “Yes, I know, but some months are busier than others. I take a month off in the winter, because there’s not that much work for me, and it’s the only time I can take any kind of a break.”

  “Lucky for some. Winter is my busiest time.” Jack rolled his eyes. “My only time, really.”

  “You sound like Father Jacob.” Liam chuckled. “His winter, well, Christmas period anyway, is his busiest time too.”

  “Father Jacob.” Jack mused, a distant look in his eyes. “Nice man, puts out some awesome scraps for the birds—and, erm, other animals.”

  “Yes, he does that.” Liam chuckled. “You’ve met him then?”

  “Not exactly. Seen him from a distance, though.” Jack jumped down from the bench. “Pass me one of those sharp things there, and I’ll help you, do that- thing….” He waved his hands in the direction of the partly chopped vegetables.

  “You mean the knife.” Liam chuckled. “And the word you’re looking for is chop.”

  “Right.” Jack grinned, the dimples in his cheeks and the sparkle in his blue eyes making Liam swallow hard and forget he’d basically had to explain two more, everyday things to this unfathomable, enigmatic man.

  “Tell me about your gardens, Liam.” Jack urged him. “Especially what they’re like in spring, summer and autumn. My work means I don’t get to see much of the rest of the year.”

  “Right, so you work away for some of the year?”

  “In a way, yes.” Jack’s reply was as non-committal as ever and Liam wondered if he was ever going to get more than a token reply to any of his questions.

  Of course, he really hadn’t known Jack long enough to be expecting an entire life story all in one go. Liam certainly hadn’t told Jack everything about his family or past. He decided talking about his gardens, as Jack had asked, was better than worrying about details like past and family. There were things Liam didn’t particularly want to tell so it stood to reason that Jack also had secrets he wished to keep.

  It was, quite possibly, the most pleasant but also the most frustrating morning Liam had ever spent in anyone’s company. Usually, on the rare occasion he ever brought anyone home, he couldn’t wait for them to leave the next day, so he could have his cottage to himself again. For once, he wasn’t in any hurry to get rid of Jack, and Jack didn’t seem in any hurry to go. As they sat to eat their broth, Liam’s thoughts weren’t about how to nicely and tactfully ask Jack to leave but were moving more towards how to get the man to stay longer.

  The day had dawned bright and crisp, with a clear blue sky that reminded Liam very much of his companion’s crystal-clear eyes. There was still no sign of the snow that had been threatening to fall all weekend, in fact, there was no sign at all that it had been cold the night before. Liam couldn’t see any frost, not even in the shaded corners of his garden that never saw the sun in the winter months.

  The weather was perfect for walking and an idea began to form that might hopefully keep Jack in his company just a little longer.

  “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?” Liam asked, fully expecting Jack to tell him he would have to work.

  Instead, Jack shook his head, swallowing his last mouthful of soup.

  “No, not today.” He bit his lip as if he were expecting Liam to challenge him. “Things were well under control when I left my work yesterday.” He added, with a quick glance out of the window. “The world can cope without me for a little while, anyway.”

  “I don’t want to keep you from your work or get you into trouble.” Liam felt guilty now, that he had even tried to suggest that Jack might stay.

  Jack stilled him, with a hand over his, eyes searching his face with a tenderness that touched Liam’s heart. “You’re not keeping me from anything, big feller. Truly.”

  It was Liam’s turn to bite his lip, as he narrowed his eyes. Jack looked earnest enough, but there’d been a flicker, just for a second, of doubt in the man’s eyes. Was it doubt about spending time with Liam, or doubt about whether he should neglect his work?