by Bolden, Beth
But Ana, instead of answering with increasing excitement, promptly burst into tears.
Instantly, Diego stopped and leaned against an empty stretch of low wrought-iron fencing. Shifting Ana in his arms, he gave her a soft smile. “Ana Banana, what’s wrong?”
“Saaaaaaad,” Ana wailed.
Diego exchanged blank, confused looks with Abby over Ana’s head, but then Benji was suddenly there, putting a big palm on her narrow back, and gently transferring her over to his own arms.
“It is a sad movie,” Benji cooed at her, and she calmed from sobbing hysterics to only a trickle of tears. “But Dumbo is happy at the end, right?”
“Dumbo sad!” Ana exclaimed again, and for a moment, as everyone in their group held their breath, she looked to be on the precipice of a second outburst.
“Sometimes you’re sad so you know what being happy is, Ana-girl,” Benji said softly, seriously.
“Happy,” she parroted back, a puzzled look on her sweet face.
“Yeah,” Benji said, hugging her close, “we’re happy right now.”
“I guess that’s a no on Dumbo,” Diego said.
“Actually, I think she should ride it. She’d like it, and it might give her a different perspective,” Benji offered.
Diego rolled his eyes. “Sure thing. You want to ride it with her, then, Mr. Child Psychologist?”
Benji grinned. “I’d love to.”
Abby and Diego watched from a little distance as Benji carried Ana over to the ride.
“He’s very sweet with her,” Abby offered, kindness tempering the crisp edges of his accented words. “You’re very lucky to find someone who loves your kid as much as you do.”
Diego opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. What could he say? No, you’re wrong? We’re not involved, and I’m not lucky? All Abby would have to say was, have you seen that guy? He’s ripped and gorgeous and adores your child—and you.
Abby shot him a sideways glance. “We all sign NDAs, by the way, if that matters.”
Diego wanted to be at a place in their lives where that didn’t matter, but he knew better.
“It does, actually,” Diego said with a reluctant sigh. “This is all very new, and well . . . you’ve surely seen the circus around Leo and Caleb. I’m not sure I’m ready to subject Ana to all that.”
“Well, as one queer man to another, it’s pretty damn cool regardless.” Abby grinned. “It meant a lot, that interview you guys did.”
Diego shoved his hands into his pockets. He didn’t want to be tempted by Abby and his vision of changing the future, of being a beacon of hopeful light for others. It was hard enough being yourself, without all that extra obligation and responsibility. But after being confronted by the possibility, how did he turn away from it? Even if it meant his life as he knew it was completely changed?
“We hope to do a lot more like that, in the future, with the new album,” Diego said. Which, he thought, was a good way of saying they planned on continuing to be as honest as possible. Some things just might not be possible.
“I’m really glad to hear it,” Abby said quietly. Then, clearly changing the subject, he raised his voice. “Oh, look, there they are! Ana’s laughing! They’re having so much fun!”
Diego, looking up to see his new boyfriend and long-time friend and his daughter laughing together as they whipped around a big model of Dumbo, knew he had a lot to think about.
Starting with, how obvious were he and Benji if Abby had figured it out in only a few hours?
———
Plain and simple, it was a joy to spend time around Diego and his daughter. Ana was such a mini version of Diego, feeling all emotion so deeply, that Benji had always loved her. How could he feel any differently when she was Diego’s?
“One last ride before lunch!” Abby announced, as they approached the ride Benji had honestly been dreading the whole morning. The teacups, with their distinctively pastel-patterned outsides, and their hard bench on the inside. The bench that he’d been imagining sitting on while Diego climbed on top of him.
The all-black ensemble had been a funny inside joke with Diego, but now Benji was wishing he hadn’t worn such tight pants. Of course, it might actually keep his dick controlled as he suffered through the biggest threat to his self-imposed discipline yet.
“Uh,” Diego said, shooting Benji a very knowing sideways glance. “You want to ride this one with Abby, Ana? You can take one teacup and Uncle Benji and I can take the other.”
Ana did not look even the tiniest bit disappointed and eagerly clambered into the teacup with Abby.
“Really?” Benji said under his breath. “Do you really think this is a good idea? Two guys, one cup?”
Diego threw his head back and laughed, settling down into their own cup. “Sometimes,” he said, eyes twinkling, “you just want to play with fire.”
“I thought that was happening later,” Benji pointed out as the ride started up. They slid together hip to hip as the ride started turning. Diego’s leg was warm and firm against his own, and he was desperate to know what it would feel like, minus all the cloth separating them.
“Why can’t it happen now?” Diego teased, he reached over and covered Benji’s knee with his hand, then biting his bottom lip, slid it even higher.
Probably nobody could see them, and everyone was so busy enjoying the ride, Benji doubted they’d be looking into their particular teacup. Still, seeing Diego’s hand on his thigh, and imagining it creeping up higher, cupping his hard cock through his jeans, right in the middle of this ride, was enough to set plenty of fires.
“You’re so . . .” Benji breathed out unsteadily. “God, I want you.”
Diego smiled, a little smugly, and Benji fantasized about wiping that smirk off his face. With his dick.
Finally, the ride slowed, and Benji took a deep breath.
“Need a minute?” Diego asked, expression so innocent, Benji could only imagine what he’d look like on his knees, all that perfect beauty, mouth open, begging for it.
“Just so you know, if you’ve cut off the circulation to my dick,” Benji hissed as they climbed out of the cup, “you won’t be able to have any fun with it later.”
Diego’s impudent look promised that he’d take plenty good care of it later.
“I’m starving,” Benji announced, wrenching his attention away from Diego and every single part of his tantalizing self, “what’s for lunch?”
———
After lunch, Diego and Benji went on Space Mountain three times in a row, and then Diego solidly defeated Benji on Buzz Lightyear, before they met back up with Ana and Abby.
Ana had spent the last forty minutes getting decked out from head to toe in the princess boutique, and when they met back up again, under the shadow of the huge castle, she twirled and giggled in excitement.
“You’re so beautiful, Ana Banana,” Diego said, crouching low so he could take in the tiara they’d woven into her flyaway curls, and the beautiful, rhinestone-encrusted dress they’d dressed her in. “You’re a lovely Belle.”
“Belle!” Ana repeated.
“We have something for you two, remember, Ana?” Abby said, joining Benji and Ana. “You said you wanted to give your dad and uncle something.”
“Pwince!” Ana exclaimed loudly. “Pwince and pwince!”
“What is it, Ana?” Diego asked.
Abby gave him a sheepish grin as he revealed two gold plastic crowns. “Ana wanted to be a princess, but she wanted you to both be princes too.”
Diego exchanged a quick, silent look with Benji, who knelt down almost instantly afterward, watching as Ana took the crown from Abby and carefully set it on his dark head.
“Pwince!” Ana cried with delight. “Papa! Pwince too!”
After Benji seemed so pleased with his crown, what else could Diego do? He tipped his head down and let Ana crown him as well.
“Pwince and pwince!” Ana shrieked, this time her voice really carrying.
/> Diego hoped that everyone who was watching assumed they were two princes from neighboring kingdoms not . . . two princes who loved each other.
“Where to next, Princess Ana?” Abby asked her, clearly taking a hint from Diego that it was time to move on.
Ana didn’t understand how things looked and didn’t understand why people might judge them for being together. There was a shining innocence that radiated out of her pleased face and Diego reached out and gave her a quick, firm hug. “Thank you, Ana Banana, I love the crown.”
As the afternoon continued, he half expected that Benji would take his own crown off, but it stayed, perched proudly on his head. And if they got a handful more searching looks from passersby, Diego tried to brush it off. It would be fine. They were just two friends, out with a young girl, having a good time.
By four, Ana was drooping big-time, and Diego reluctantly called the day short. As they returned to the VIP building, he couldn’t thank Abby enough for the time he’d spent or how kind he’d been to Ana.
“It was the best time,” Diego said, “Ana, Benji, and I can’t thank you enough.” This time he was ready ahead of time, with a few hundred-dollar bills curled in his fist, so he could give Abby a tip worthy of his service. But when he tried to pass him the money, Abby just shook his head.
“It’s all taken care of,” Abby said, calmly and infuriatingly. Benji grinned, and Diego had a feeling that during the last diaper change had been when Benji had “taken care of it.”
By the time they pulled out of the Disney parking lot, Ana was already asleep in her car seat, snoring delicately away between them.
“Thank you,” Diego said, even though the two words felt insufficient. “You were the best security guard in the world.”
But Benji just shrugged, continuing to act like the incredible thing he’d planned for them today was routine and no big deal. “Ana deserves to have a good time, and so do you.”
Diego grinned. “Trying to win over my favor for when the epic band battles begin this week?”
“A little, and maybe just trying to win you over period,” Benji said softly.
The partition was up, so Diego did what he’d been craving all day. He reached over and gripped Benji’s hand in his own, squeezing gently. “You realize you’ve already done that,” Diego admitted. “I’m . . . I’m a hundred percent in this. A hundred and ten percent, to be honest.”
“Me too,” Benji said, and his heart was in his eyes as they gazed at each other. “I can’t wait to get home.”
“Yeah, a little eager for later?” Diego asked with a smirk. He leaned over. “I’ll admit it, I am too.”
CHAPTER TEN
When they finally pulled up into the driveway, Diego carefully unbuckled Ana’s car seat, but she woke up when he carried her into the house.
“We should get something for dinner,” Diego said to Benji as he set her into her playpen. “You good with pizza?”
Benji shrugged. “Why not?”
“I’ve got some beer, too, around here someplace. We can eat out on the terrace, after I get Ana to eat something.”
Except that by the time Diego called in the order, found the beers in the fridge, and returned to the living room, where Benji was playing with Ana, she’d fallen asleep again.
“Maybe I should just take her to bed. Her mom’s gonna be here early tomorrow to get her, so it’s not like I was going to be able to sleep in anyway,” Diego grumbled.
“It’s up to you,” Benji murmured quietly. “But she does seem pretty wiped out.”
“A lot of excitement for one day,” Diego admitted. Carefully, he picked her up and started toward the stairs. “Pizza should be here in a few minutes, if you don’t mind taking care of it. My wallet’s on the counter.”
Benji rolled his eyes. “Like I don’t have the cash to pay for a pizza.”
Between the two of them, they could probably pay for a million pizzas, but that wasn’t the point. “Just . . . don’t argue, okay?” Diego hissed. “I’ll be back down soon.”
Fifteen minutes later when he came back downstairs, Ana successfully sleeping in her bed, the living room was quiet. Benji had flipped off the main light and turned on one of the side lamps, as well as the recessed terrace lighting. Mood lighting, Diego’s suddenly uncooperative brain supplied.
Ana was sleeping dead to the world upstairs. An earthquake probably wouldn’t even disturb her. They could do anything they wanted here, downstairs. The knowledge trembled through Diego.
Benji appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, carrying two bottles of beer. “Everything good with Ana?”
“Yeah, she’s done for. Barely even woke up as I put her pajamas on. Did the pizza come? I thought I heard the doorbell.”
“On the counter in the kitchen,” Benji said. He set the beers down on the side table by the light. “I even used your money, you stickler.”
Diego shot him an apologetic glance as he approached. “It’s just you took care of today, and I know that wasn’t cheap.”
He’d half expected Benji to stop once he bumped up against Diego’s personal space bubble, but instead, he kept coming, crowding Diego further until his back hit the wall in the living room.
“Are you hungry?” Benji asked. His words were straightforward, but the look in his eyes as he gazed down was hot and tangled Diego’s insides.
“For food?” Diego’s voice came out high and squeaky as Benji leaned closer, plastering his body against Diego’s. “Not particularly.”
“Good.” He hadn’t known Benji, one of his very oldest friends and always overflowing with sweet kindness, could look that darkly hungry. It was like once they’d acknowledged it the other night, he’d stopped trying to stifle it.
And Diego realized that he didn’t even want to stop it. He wanted it to pour out of Benji, until they were both caught and consumed by the flood of desire.
Benji leaned down, and in his kiss was all the desperation and the longing he’d been suffering from. Diego returned it, all of it, slanting his mouth hungrily over Benji’s, hands coasting over all his body, all those incredible muscles that he’d been dying to touch forever.
Slipping behind the wall, Benji’s hands coasted down his back, and then slid lower, and then lower still, until one breathless moment, they were cupping Diego’s ass and pulling him even closer.
Air seemed overrated and stopping felt impossible. Diego gripped the hem of Benji’s t-shirt and separated their mouths only for the half a second it took to yank it over his head. Then his hands were all over his biceps and his forearms and his pecs, reveling in the way Benji’s heart thumped fast under his palms.
Years and years ago, Diego had envisioned that when they finally came together, it would be like this, all driving, undeniable heat. He’d never believed that either of them would take that final, irrevocable step if they stopped to think at all, but it turned out he was wrong. They had thought about it, they’d even fucking talked about it, and were both still here, both still just as committed to making this work.
Benji pulled back for a moment, panting breaths against Diego’s lips, his fingers digging individual little bruises into Diego’s ass, and asked, “Should we stop?”
Diego knew what he was asking. Should they slow down? Should they do this on a bed? The couch was actually way closer. But Benji was insanely strong, and Diego knew he could easily pick him up. And there was something so perfect about having it finally happen this way, like he’d always dreamt.
“No, no,” Diego said breathlessly. “Just like this.”
Benji made an amused, aroused sound, and Diego knew exactly how he felt. And knew how he felt too—his cock hard and hot against his own, those insanely sexy jeans tight enough that Diego could feel every burning inch. “Kiss me,” Diego insisted.
Benji didn’t need any more encouragement, lowering his head and hefting him up at the same time, as Diego wrapped his legs around his waist. The feel of their cocks rubbing together sent pleasure siz
zling up his nerves, and as Benji started to thrust up a little, Diego moaned into his mouth.
He could feel his blood pounding in his head and his cock, and Diego knew it wouldn’t take much more stimulation to nudge him over the top—especially if Benji kept kissing him like he was simultaneously the most precious thing in the world and the sexiest.
Diego adjusted his grip on Benji’s shoulders, and somehow the slightest adjustment felt even better. “Fuck,” Diego muttered as he wrenched his mouth away, everything tied up in a knot as he throbbed, right there on the edge.
“Yeah,” Benji exhaled in the grittiest, roughest voice he’d ever heard, and that was all it took for Diego to go toppling right over, his teeth sinking into the meat of Benji’s shoulder.
Benji yelped and Diego felt him tense up as he came too.
For a long moment, they didn’t move, and everything was blissfully quiet, except for their panting breaths.
Then Diego couldn’t help it, he chuckled. “I always imagined it would happen like that,” he admitted. Benji’s eyes were still closed, his forehead resting against Diego’s.
“Let’s do that a hundred more times,” Benji said, with a laugh. “A thousand.” Diego slipped from his grip and his feet landed back on the ground, but he still felt shaky, unmoored.
“Sure, but let’s take a shower first,” Diego said. He reached out a hand. “Take one with me?”
———
Diego’s bathroom was a testament to excess. The rest of his house was fairly modest, despite the views from his terrace, but his bathroom was enormous. It was completely tiled, with a whole glassed-off room devoted to shower jets, and an insanely huge soaking tub that was easily big enough for the entire band.
If they were even into that, which Benji wasn’t, not really. What he was into was standing in front of him, pulling his shirt over his head.
Even in the recessed lighting of the bathroom, the rose was bright against Diego’s skin. He reached over and flipped on the shower. “Or,” he said, glancing back, the look in his eyes coy and warm, “we could take a bath instead.”
