by Leta Blake
“He’s fine,” Grant said. “I’m a doctor. He’ll live.”
“He called my dad a fag,” Lucky said, her arms crossed over her chest. “That’s hate speech.”
Grant bit the inside of his lip to keep the smirk from showing. Robby’s mother looked up at Grant and Lucky and then down at the floor. She blushed and when she turned to her son she said, “Come on, Robby. Enough crying. If you can’t take it, then don’t dish it out.”
“I just said—” the boy wailed.
His mother shook her head and said, “We’ll talk about it at home.” She looked at Grant as she got up from her crouching position and said, “Dr. Anderson, I apologize. My ex-husband and I have different views of life. I’ll talk to my son.”
Grant said, “See that you do. Or my daughter might break his nose next time.” He took Lucky’s arm, turned his back on Mrs. Franklin, and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Dr. Anderson, tell Mr. Garner that he’ll be hearing from me,” Mrs. Franklin called.
Grant clucked his tongue and said, “You do that. I’m sure that Leo will be thrilled talk to you again.”
Mrs. Franklin blinked with gray, round eyes. Grant turned away from her, pushing his way through the waiting parents. He said with a chuckle, “Excuse us, please, or I’ll sic my kid on you. She’s got a great right hook.”
“Really, Dr. Anderson,” some other mother said, though she was smiling like she was amused. “Making a little girl fight for you?”
Grant held up his hand that wasn’t holding onto Lucky’s and said, “Surgeon. Gotta protect the hands.”
The woman rolled her lips in like she was fighting off a laugh, though some of the other parents didn’t look so amused. Grant pushed by the woman and ignored the other parents and their kids.
Lucky followed behind him and, once they were in the car, Lucky got strapped into her booster in the backseat. The booster seat had initially kind of given Grant pause when Leo installed it, but he’d quickly just rolled his eyes at himself and thought, “You have a kid. Get over it.”
“Dr. Grant,” Lucky said. “What’s Mrs. Franklin gonna do? Is she gonna hate me now?”
Grant thought about the shiny new library Curtis was paying for, and Leo’s face when he was determined. “Well, carrot, if she does, she’ll regret it.”
“Yeah?” Lucky asked.
“Yup.” Grant pulled out of the school parking lot and said, “So ice cream?”
“What about dinner?” Lucky asked.
“Ice cream for dinner is a perfectly valid lifestyle choice,” Grant said.
“What about Daddy?” Lucky said, and Grant looked at her in the rearview mirror. She was looking out the window with a peaceful expression on her face. She sat still and quiet in her seat. Along for the ride.
“We’ll take a pint home for him.”
Lucky laughed. “No, silly. He’ll be mad that we ate ice cream instead of real food for dinner!”
“Oh,” Grant said, shrugging. “Maybe. But he’ll get over it.”
Lucky sighed.
Grant looked at her in the mirror again. She smiled and rested her head against the back of the seat.
“It’s okay to be mad sometimes, right?” she said.
Grant nodded. He reached back and patted her leg. “Yep. No matter what. You can get mad at me even. It won’t make a difference. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yeah,” Lucky said.
She sounded sure, as absolutely certain as Grant.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Four Weeks Later
Grant had never been fucked like this before. He’d been fucked into the mattress; he’d been screwed against a wall, and in a sling, and bent over holding onto the side of the bed for dear life. He’d been fucked slowly, and badly, and boringly, but he’d never been fucked like this.
He’d never been penetrated by a trembling, wild-eyed Leo Garner who stared at his face instead of his ass, and bit his own lip, and looked like he might cry. He’d never been made love to like this. In his life, he’d been fucked a lot, but what he was doing with Leo was an entirely new continent of sex, and it was kind of freaking him out.
When, earlier, Leo had looked at him through his lashes, flushing and bashful, Grant would have agreed to anything. But when Leo asked him if he could be the one to…and he’d gestured at Grant in a ridiculous way that somehow made it clear that Leo wanted to try topping, Grant had been more than happy to say hell yes. It’d been a long time. Sure, he preferred to top, but being fucked was pretty great, so he’d helped Leo through the preparation, and reconciled himself to the idea that since Leo had never done this before, it would probably be over before it had even begun.
But Leo was taking his time. He was slow, and thorough, and taking long breaks to just stare at Grant with shining eyes, to lean down to kiss his mouth, and be inside of him.
Leo didn’t say much, didn’t make much noise at all, which was so different from when he was underneath Grant taking dick that it was confusing at first. But Leo’s intense gaze, the breathless wonder on his face as he stroked in and out in long, deep thrusts, made it clear that he loved it, and that he was overwhelmed in a completely different way.
When Leo had pushed in the first time, and Grant pressed down to open for him, Leo’s eyes widened with a strange look of near-fear that’d passed into trembling tenderness. Then Grant had grunted, adjusting to the girth of Leo’s cock, and Leo had almost come right then. Grant knew by the way Leo fought it back, biting his lip and closing his eyes, taking long breaths in and out. It’d taken Leo ages to get all the way inside Grant, and Leo had to stop and breathe through the urge to come several times.
Now Leo’s lips were bitten red as he breathed, “Grant,” and then bowed his head. His face broke into such sweet emotion that Grant’s heart clenched. Tears stung his eyes.
It shocked him. It frightened him. He’d never felt this kind of thing before during sex. He’d felt love for Leo, and a need to bring Leo to a place like this, a place where Leo was open, and vulnerable to him, but this turnabout was something he’d never expected.
Grant took a shaky breath and gazed at the pulse throbbing in Leo’s neck. Fear that Leo might see vulnerable Grant was twined through him. He was entirely out of control—not in a heated, crazed way, but in a fragile, slipping way that Grant could barely contain or understand. He was undone, like every bit of him was about to be exposed—his secrets, his weaknesses, his fears—and he couldn’t meet Leo’s gaze for fear that Leo would suddenly know them all.
Leo shifted on the next thrust.
“Ah!” Grant cried out, twisting under Leo as pleasure jolted like a livewire through his body.
“There,” Leo whispered, pride in his tone.
Grant keened as his cock ached, jerked, and spilled pre-come.
Leo stroked against his prostate again. Grant clenched his hands in the sheets and went still under Leo’s next thrust, groaning and breaking out into a sweat all over his body as the thrust hit the mark once more.
“Oh, God, Grant,” Leo whispered. “I love watching you.”
Grant ground his teeth together, twisting his hands in the sheets, trying to get a grip on his emotions. He shook as chills raced over him, and broken noises wrenched from his throat when Leo hit his prostate again and again. Grant’s cock flexed, enervated beyond endurance, a good grip would bring him to a screaming climax. Leo reached between them running his fingers lightly over the wet head of Grant’s cock, a zing of sensation that made Grant convulse. Licking the collected pre-come from his fingers, Leo said, “I love how you taste. I love it. I love you.”
Leo focused on Grant’s face again, like he couldn’t get enough of Grant’s pleasure, and the fuck grew even more intense. Leo was now faultless in his angle of penetration, raking his cock over Grant’s prostate with every thrust. The jolting pleasure, the electric arcs of chills, and the buzz of too-much-but-so-good had set up camp in Grant’s pelvis and brain. He was freaking
out. It wasn’t the sensations, it wasn’t the fuck itself, it was Leo gazing down at him, Leo moving in him, Leo acting like Grant was so fucking precious and loved.
Grant whimpered. He tensed against how good it felt when Leo thrust again. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to tell himself that he wouldn’t fall apart from a fuck. But it wasn’t a fuck; it was Leo, and Leo was making love to him. Grant felt stripped to his soul under so much adoration.
“Grant,” Leo said. “Please look at me.”
Grant opened his eyes, and Leo slammed his hips forward. The long slide of his cock into Grant was so fucking intense that Grant arched up and broke into jittery convulsions. He hooked his feet around Leo’s waist, wanting to slow him down, to control the depth of each thrust because he couldn’t take much more.
Leo didn’t stop, though. He just cocked his head and studied Grant intently, his lips rolled inward with concentration, as he kept to the rhythm. Grant cried out, kicked at his back, scrabbled at the sheets with his fingers, and finally cracked open with pleasure. He sobbed, riding too much sensation, too much emotion, and Leo’s eyes ate him up in his shuddering madness. Leo took him, and adored him, loved him so hard that Grant ached through and through. Grant wanted that love, he wanted it more than he could ever say, but he didn’t know if… didn’t know….
“You’re scared,” Leo said, seeming in awe of his own understanding. “You’re scared for me to see you like this.”
Oh, God. Leo knew. He knew what he was doing with his cock, what he was doing to Grant, how he was breaking him open emotionally. Leo kissed him again, and then redoubled his efforts, fucking him harder now, not faster, but forcefully, commanding Grant’s body to respond. Grant’s heart pounded, his dick throbbed, and he squirmed on Leo’s cock. He pushed his hips up to take it easier, feeling like he was going to twist out of his skin it was so good. So scary.
God, he was terrified for Leo to see.
“Just look at me. Please, Grant, look at me,” Leo whispered, thrusting in a rhythm that didn’t give Grant time to get a better grip on his reactions, or to hold his face in some kind of expression that didn’t reveal everything.
Leo was so tender, so in love, that Grant couldn’t hold on anymore, not when Leo murmured, “I love you so much,” and gazed at him with open-mouthed adulation.
Grant slipped his hand between them, grabbed his own cock and squeezed it with Leo’s thrusts. He wasn’t going to last much longer, not with Leo staring at him like that, not with Leo pummeling his prostate, and not with Leo forcing Grant to look at him, to see how Leo loved him.
“It’s okay,” Leo said softly. “I’ve got you.”
Grant would have laughed, but he was too far on the edge, too far out there, and wildly desperate for it to be true. He hoped that it was. He fell, dropped over into the terrifying fall of the fuck, of the love that Leo was making to him. He trusted Leo to have him, to be there when he hit bottom and smashed into hundreds of thousands of pieces, and then he did.
Grant came hard, sweaty, trembling, pulling at the sheets and struggling to keep his eyes open as Leo demanded, “Look at me. Don’t take your eyes off me.” And through the near-white-out of his own orgasm, he saw Leo’s expression as Grant’s ass tightened around Leo’s cock, watched Leo’s face collapse as he lost control, and they fell together, entangled, twitching, whimpering as they came and cried out as one.
Afterward, Leo didn’t pull out, holding Grant close and staring down at him for a long time.
“I love you,” Grant said. He hadn’t intended to say it with so much need for reassurance in his voice. It just came out that way.
Leo stroked a hand over Grant’s cheek. “I know. I love you, too. And whoever made you think that you weren’t good enough for this was wrong. You’re everything to me, Grant.”
Grant swallowed and looked away. Leo took hold of his chin and made him look back.
“Did I do it okay?” Leo asked, eyes worried. “Was it all right?”
Grant blinked at him. Leo had just taken him apart, torn him down, and broken him completely with that making love thing he’d just done, and now Leo wanted to know if it was all right? Grant didn’t know, actually. It’d been terrifying. He was a mess. He had no idea.
“Grant?” Leo asked.
“Yeah,” Grant said, shifting a little. “You were amazing.” The thickness of Leo’s cock in his ass was still soul-shiveringly good, and he licked his lips. “You’re still hard,” he observed.
Leo nodded, looking worried, and Grant had to get that look off of his face. “I came, though,” Leo said like he thought Grant didn’t know.
“I remember,” Grant said. “You’ve got me.”
Leo’s face softened in understanding and he said, “Yeah. I’ve got you, Grant. You don’t have to worry. I’ve got you.”
Grant nodded and said, “Well, then, maybe you should have me again.”
Leo brushed his fingertips over Grant’s eyebrows, down across his cheekbones, and leaned down to kiss his lips. Leo moved his hips, thrusting. Grant was still sensitive, and it was almost too much, but he relaxed and tried to open up for Leo, to let it happen. He gripped Leo’s shoulders, holding him close, burying his face in Leo’s neck as the pace picked up again. He could feel Leo’s come squishing out of his ass with each thrust of Leo’s cock easing the friction of the fuck. He wrapped his legs around Leo’s waist, feeling the new transplant scar rub against his thigh as Leo moved.
Leo kissed Grant’s neck and murmured romantic nonsense in his ear. Grant listened hard, taking in every word.
“I love you,” Leo said. “I love you so much. You’re amazing. Everything to me.”
Grant’s eyes rolled up as Leo fucked him harder, clinging to Leo as he was taken apart again. This time, it wasn’t as hard to let go, to fall, and to let Leo have him. It was better, even, because this time he knew he was going to be okay. Leo loved him.
And Leo wasn’t letting go.
Chapter Twenty-Three
One Month Later
The outdoor reception at the farm was relatively low-key, and exactly the way that Leo had wanted it. Grant, for his part, hadn’t cared so long as they got married and he didn’t have to profess a belief in God in order to do it in a church. So, they’d chosen the open space by the Garner Pond, and Leo had decided that the reception could be held around the barn.
There was a dance floor set up inside the barn, and a DJ that Hannah had arranged. She was dating the guy. Apparently, he was in her Narcotics Anonymous group, though Grant wasn’t supposed to know that, but he might have been privy to Sheriff Marie’s plan to put a tail on the skinny-looking kid when Hannah first mentioned him. In fact, Grant might have been the one to call Marie to suggest the idea.
“Oh, my God, Grant! It was beautiful!” Alec said, dragging Grant into a hug and holding him tight.
When Alec released him, Grant grabbed a second piece of wedding cake and shoveled a bite into his mouth. He pointed his fork to where Leo was dancing with his mother.
“It wasn’t The English Patient.”
“Nope,” Alec agreed, nodding, and looking ridiculously pleased with himself. “It was, however, a triumph of the human heart.”
“No,” Grant said. “It was a terrible, over-the-top, tear-jerker. I’d be demanding my money back if Leo somehow convinced me to see it in the theater.”
Alec rolled his eyes and huffed. “Oh, come on. It was epic.”
Grant caught Leo’s eye and his heart clenched at the smile aimed his way. He lifted his chin in acknowledgment of it, wanting to go over and kiss the grin off of his brand-spanking-new husband’s face.
“Yeah, it was,” Grant agreed.
Alec placed a hand over his chest, faking a heart attack from shock. “You agree with me?”
Grant handed him the now empty plate and his empty champagne glass, too. “Hold these.”
As he moved through the crowded dance floor, he saw Lucky dancing with one of her cousins
, and he laughed at how she kept stomping on the boy’s toes. He noticed Nurse Aiden chatting up Mr. Superstar Banks in the corner by the punch bowl, and he rolled his eyes imagining the drama that might unfold from that potential connection.
Grant tapped Meryl’s shoulder and asked, “May I cut in?”
She kissed his cheek and said, “Of course you can. He’s your husband after all.”
Leo grinned and wrapped his arm around Grant’s waist, pulling him closer than their ridiculous dance lessons had allowed in the mirror-lined classroom.
“So,” Leo said, happily. “What’s the plan for tonight?”
“Well, you’d better be the blushing virgin you’ve made yourself out to be, or I’ll have the wedding annulled before you can say cheese-whiz tomato.”
Leo cracked up, and Grant pressed their foreheads together. Leo whispered, “Holy crap, we’re married, Grant.”
Grant brought his hand to Leo’s cheek and kissed him hard. He heard the whistles and cheers, but he didn’t let go. He kissed Leo until he needed to see his face to know that Leo felt the same. Grant pulled back and gazed into Leo’s eyes.
“I love you,” Leo said.
Grant nodded, kissed him again, and was about to answer that he loved Leo, too, when the noise of a low-flying prop plane droned so close that it was impossible to ignore.
“C’mon,” Leo said, tugging him out of the barn and toward the pasture. Once they were both out there, Leo pointed up at the sky.
MORE THAN BACON
The banner flying behind the plane proclaimed it for all the world to read. Grant snorted and started laughing. Leo laughed, too, as he asked, “Isn’t it great?”
Grant rolled his eyes. It was horrible. And he couldn’t stop smiling. He thought his face was going to break from it. “You’re ridiculous.”
Leo nodded, wrapped his arms around Grant’s waist, and pointed up at the sky again. “And you love me more than bacon.”
Grant shrugged helplessly. What could he say? It was true. More than true. “I love you more than anything.”
