His to Hold

by Jessie Pinkham

  He’d made a good call, because he beat Aiden to the buoy by a mere second, with the security drone coming in third.

  “You’re fast.” Aiden’s words came out between gasping breaths. “Not letting me win so I feel good, I take it?”

  “Was I supposed to?” It always seemed patronizing to Cole.

  “No. I went all out, and I’d prefer that you did as well.”

  “Wish granted. Are we still on for the rematch?”

  “Of course,” said Aiden. “Just give me a minute to get a little more oxygen for optimal performance.”

  Cole was content to wait. “No hurry,” he said. After all, he was having an excellent time treading water, chatting with a cute guy he really liked. Nope, no rush at all.

  ****

  Back at the office at the start of the workweek, Max was pleased with his matchmaking. “Two dates in one weekend, hmm?” he said when Cole came into the office.

  “We clicked.” Did they ever! The first searing, electrifying kiss hadn’t been an anomaly, as proven by two repeats.

  “So it would seem. Other potential anchors are all comparing unfavorably to you.” Max’s smile flattened as he got solemn. “You know he doesn’t have a lot of time.”

  “If this is the ‘don’t waste Aiden’s time’ talk, I already got it from your uncle, and he’s scarier than you are.”

  Besides, he was considering being Aiden’s anchor seriously enough that he’d taken Gabe’s advice and gotten some books on the subject. The previous evening he’d read the first half of a book co-written by an empath-anchor couple who strongly recommended meditation. The theory behind that held that to be a good anchor Cole needed to be centered and reasonably aware of his own emotions, which made sense even though he’d never been the meditating type before.

  “I won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to make that commitment,” said Max. “As long as you’re honest about it.”

  “I’m honestly thinking about it, despite the pressure.” The more time he spent with Aiden, the less intimidating he found the other man’s empathy, though part of him still insisted that he must be losing his mind to even consider being Aiden’s anchor.

  “I’m glad,” said Max.

  Gabe came in, still shrugging his coat off. “Thinking about what? Aiden? You’ve got to be really into him since you didn’t want to go to the game yesterday.” He turned to Max to explain. “My old roommate had tickets to the Bluehawks game and was too sick to use them. Front row tickets, and this one still went to watch it at your cousin’s when he could’ve been there.”

  The Bluehawks were New Kilkenny’s hover soccer team, a distant second to his hometown Sand Devils in Cole’s heart. “I had already made plans.”

  “It wouldn’t have been the first time you canceled a date to attend a game.”

  “I was young and stupid then.” Small wonder that relationship hadn’t worked out. In retrospect, Cole couldn’t blame the woman he’d ditched in favor of a game for her unwillingness to see him again. He’d told her that he was sick only to show up in photos of the game day crowd, but at least he could say he’d learned from the mistake.

  Besides, he thoroughly enjoyed watching the game with Aiden, who provided somewhat snarky and very amusing commentary, not to mention another kiss.

  “Do you know when I first thought of you for Aiden?” asked Max.

  “Nope.” He figured he was about to find out, though.

  “When you told the interns how important it is to fight fairly, and how winning a fight doesn’t mean winning the relationship.”

  “Really?”

  The incident in question had been several weeks ago. Cole had passed on a bit of hard-earned wisdom when he heard the interns discussing the best ways to win an argument with one’s partner. His own pigheadedness had cost him a fantastic boyfriend before he figured out the broader strokes of what he thereafter deemed Disagreeing Without Killing Your Relationship 101, and if the interns listened to him, they might save themselves some heartache.

  “It’s even more important when you’re dealing with an empath,” said Max.

  “So, are you going to end up being an anchor to someone, Max?” asked Gabe. “Sounds like it’s a cause near and dear to you.”

  “It is, because this is my cousin’s life. I’m not looking to be an anchor, but I wouldn’t be averse in principle, if I met the right woman. Assuming there is a woman out there for me. I’m much better at matchmaking than my own love life, but let’s not talk about that.”

  “No, let’s,” said Gabe. “It sounds interesting, and since Cole here is refusing to share the salacious details of his dates…”

  Max held up his hand. “Please. I don’t want the salacious details of my cousin’s dates, thank you very much.”

  Gabe conceded. “I suppose that’s fair.”

  “I really don’t care if you think it’s fair or not.”

  Cole laughed and headed over to his desk. If during the morning his mind wandered to the spine-tingling kisses he’d shared with Aiden over the weekend, well, he was only human.

  Chapter Six

  In the end, Cole showed up at Aiden’s graduation party with a Raptors jersey for lack of a better idea. While sports apparel wasn’t a traditional graduation gift as far as he knew, he didn’t worry about tradition when it didn’t suit him, and he felt confident Aiden would like the jersey, which was more than could be said for any of his other gift ideas. Yes, the meteorite bookends seemed appropriate for a geologist, but who used bookends in the 26th century? Cole barely used his one and only bookshelf, preferring digital books for almost everything.

  Patrick answered the door and looked pleased to see Cole. “Come in. We’re just setting out the food.”

  “Is there a place for gifts?”

  “People have just been giving them to Aiden as they come in.”

  Aha, everyone else brought a present, then, so whatever Aiden had said, it was good Cole did as well.

  Aiden broke away from an older couple which, judging by looks, Cole guessed to be Patrick’s parents. “I’m glad you could make it,” he said, giving Cole a quick hug.

  “Happy to be here.” He held out the gift bag. “Congratulations.”

  “You didn’t have to bring a present.”

  “I wanted to.”

  Aiden pulled out the Raptors jersey and held it up. “Graf! I don’t have anything with his name yet.”

  Good. Cole had selected Graf specifically because the upper level goalie was the newest Raptors player, since he hoped to avoid duplicating any jerseys Aiden already owned.

  “Thank, Cole. This is great.”

  Aiden’s happiness was thanks enough all by itself. Damn, he was cute with a big smile lighting up his face. Cole would’ve liked to have kissed him, but their kisses tended to get a little steamier than he cared for Aiden’s family members to witness.

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.”

  The jersey went on a small table already covered in cards and a few other gifts. It wasn’t until this point that Cole realized he’d forgotten a card. Well, it was too late now, and the gift was always more important anyway.

  “I’ll give you a quick rundown on who’s who. Mom’s parents are there talking with her. Dad’s parents over here.” Aiden gestured with his hand at the couple he’d been speaking with. “You already known Max, and that’s his mom next to him. She and Dad are twins. My sister ran out to pick up the cake, and that’s my family. It’s just as well for me there aren’t too many of us. Oh, and those people Dad’s letting in are my friends, Meg and Karl. I’ve got one more friend coming, Ian, who hasn’t been on time to anything since we were eight.”

  “He sounds like my sister,” said Cole, though in her case he thought eight was actually being generous.

  “Speaking of sisters, here’s Annika now.”

  Aiden’s sister looked nothing like him. He seemed to have inherited his mom’s looks, where she most strongly resembled her p
aternal grandmother. She entered with arms full of cake, which she set down while Aiden led Cole over to the table.

  “Anni, this is Cole. Cole, my sister, Annika.”

  She shook his hand with enthusiasm. “Pleased to meet you, Cole. I’ve heard good things.”

  “I’d be worried if you’d heard bad things.” Cole once again spoke without thinking. Fortunately, it was a harmless statement this time, but he really ought to be more careful when meeting Aiden’s family.

  She laughed. “No need to worry.”

  “Mom really went all out with the cake, didn’t she?” asked Aiden.

  It was a large cake for their small group, elaborately decorated with 3D frosting rocks and miniature mortarboards among the words Congratulations, Aiden!

  “Doesn’t she always?” To Cole, Annika explained, “Mom doesn’t believe in small cakes or simple cakes. She likes them extravagantly decorated and generously sized.”

  He didn’t care one way or the other when it came to what the cake looked like. Generously sized, on the other hand, was a concept Cole could get behind. “Cake is good. More cake is obviously better.”

  Aiden agreed. “You’re right. We don’t want to run out of cake.”

  “That’s clearly not going to be a problem,” said Annika. “In case you hadn’t realized, Cole, in our family it’s not a celebration without copious amounts of food.” She gestured toward the well-laden table. “The less healthy, the better.”

  “Anni’s studying nutrition,” said Aiden. “It can make her a downer about delicious treats.”

  She pointed at the frosting rocks with a disapproving glare. “Just don’t eat these sugar bombs, and maybe take a little frosting off the edges. It’s just going to cause a massive blood sugar spike and you’ll crash hard.”

  “And it’ll be worth the crash,” said Cole, earning himself a pleased nod from Aiden. “It’s not like you get graduation cake every day.”

  “No,” she agreed. “It is a special occasion. That’s just a lot of sugar.”

  “Don’t worry, Anni,” said Aiden. “We’ll make a giant salad for your graduation. You won’t have to worry about sugar at all.”

  “Don’t be a jerk. You know I’ll want custard.”

  “I’ve never heard of a graduation custard,” said Cole, “but I guess you can have whatever you want for your party.”

  “Right, and I for one want cake with frosting.” Aiden pinched off a glob from one of the cake’s back corners. “Mmm, delicious.”

  Cole swallowed hard and tried not to focus on Aiden sucking frosting off his finger, a sight which his cock appreciated too much for the present audience.

  “It’s your blood sugar,” said Annika.

  Meg and Karl made their way over, giving Cole something else to focus on besides the image of Aiden sucking. “You must be Cole,” said Meg. “Meg. Nice to meet you.”

  “I’m Karl.”

  Cole shook their hands. “It’s a pleasure.”

  The two were obviously acquainted with Annika’s feelings on sugar, because Karl said, “If you don’t want your frosting, Annika, feel free to send it my way.”

  Meg looked at Cole. “Never mind that, I want to know why I didn’t get a good-looking older man at my graduation party.”

  “I was there, and I’m six months older than you,” Karl said, with an exaggeratedly silly pout.

  “Ew, you’re practically my brother.” She turned to Cole again, as though waiting for his reply.

  “Sorry, I’m not on the market,” he said, and he hadn’t realized until the words were out of his mouth that they were true. He didn’t know if the relationship with Aiden was going to work, but until they decided one way or the other, he wasn’t looking to date anyone else.

  The beautiful smile Aiden gave him made Cole’s stomach do a happy flip.

  ****

  The day after his fifth date with Aiden, Cole met up with Gabe for lunch.

  “So, how’s Aiden?” asked Gabe.

  Cole couldn’t help but smile. “Good. We hung out and watched another soccer game yesterday. He’s so damn adorable when he’s mad at his team.”

  “You like him a lot.”

  So it was that obvious. “Yes. It’s early days yet, even for his rushed timeline, but I think we could work.”

  “You met his family this weekend, right?”

  Cole nodded. “At his graduation party. That went well.”

  “Hell of a commitment,” said Gabe. “How do you even know you’ll be sexually compatible without hitting the sheets together?”

  “We’ve talked about it before the game.” That had started out as an awkward conversation until they relaxed a little. At least Aiden’s late empathic development meant he’d had time for some sexual exploration. “We’re both fairly vanilla switches.”

  “Sure, you can rule out fetishes and whatnot, but it’s not the same.”

  “Lack of chemistry isn’t a problem, I can assure you.”

  Gabe waggled his eyebrows. “So you want to jump his bones, then.”

  “In a word, yes.” Cole was pleased with his self-restraint thus far, which hadn’t been easy, because the more time he spent with Aiden, the more he wanted them to spend quality time naked. “Or he could jump mine. I’m not particular.”

  “That’s something. Not everything, but something.”

  “Believe me, I’m not taking this lightly.” He’d gone so far as to ask his parents how they knew they were right for each other, which got them all excited over the prospect of finally having grandchildren. Cole was the youngest of three, with two older siblings uninterested in kids, so his folks had been waiting a while.

  According to his father, Cole was mature enough to handle a lifelong commitment, which was encouraging if not entirely illuminating.

  “Not saying you are taking it lightly. Speaking of empaths, did you read about that horrible fringe group?”

  “What horrible fringe group?” asked Cole.

  Gabe swallowed a bit of his casserole before explaining. “Some wackos who want to go back to the days when empaths had no rights. They say empaths were created to serve, like drones.”

  Cole was so revolted he almost choked on his stew. “How incredibly fucked up.”

  He didn’t claim to be perfect, and he had his selfish moments, but nothing like this. He at least recognized that every human, or hell, even aliens, deserved to be treated with respect and allowed self-determination.

  “I know, right? Not that my sister is much better. We’ve never seen eye to eye, but now I’m ashamed to be related to her.”

  He couldn’t relate personally, since to Cole’s knowledge his own sister had never done anything more shameful than cheat on an exam when she was fifteen. “I just don’t understand that mindset,” he said. “How can anybody think it’s all right to treat another human being so badly?”

  “My family isn’t known for caring about people in the first place. If I didn’t look so much like my father, I’d suspect I’m the product of an affair between my mother and a man who actually had a heart.”

  It was one of those occasions where Cole had no clue how to respond when Gabe spoke about his family, so he skipped over the subject altogether and said, “I guess that’s why these bastards compare empaths to drones. It’s dehumanizing, so they have an easier time treating empaths so horribly.”

  “No doubt.” Gabe shook his head. “Just when you think humanity has progressed and moved past the worst of our selfishness, a new group pops up to prove you wrong. Still, if you end up with Aiden, at least he will have a good anchor.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “I mean it, and you’re welcome. I hope I get to meet him soon.”

  “That’s what my parents said.”

  “It’s a natural sentiment considering you might spend the rest of your lives together,” said Gabe. “It’s weird, because until recently the idea of spending my life with one guy was insane, and it’s starting to so
und kind of nice. Provided it’s the right guy, of course.”

  “Maybe you can test out Max’s matchmaking skills.”

  “I think you’re doing a fine job of that already,” said Gabe.

  “It’s not just sex appeal.” Cole wanted to make that very clear. “Yes, he has plenty of that, but there’s so much more. I enjoy his company. He’s fun, insightful, open, and honest.” Though the list didn’t do Aiden justice, Cole was unable to come up with words which sufficiently conveyed what made him so wonderful to be with.

  “How do you know it’ll last, though? I’m not trying to be negative, just realistic.” Gabe always said he was trying to be realistic when he was truly a pessimist.

  “According to my dad, there’s no such thing as one hundred percent certainty for anything. You make a commitment to prioritize your relationship, to nurture it so it doesn’t wither, he said. Mum’s more of a romantic, and she said when it’s the right person, you’ll just know.”

  Cole, usually more pragmatic, hoped his mother was correct here. He felt something special around Aiden, something he’d never experienced with anyone else. In fact, he was beginning to resent that he had to wait five days until he next saw Aiden.

  ****

  It’d been a stressful day at McLaughlin, Green, and Callahan. First Cole’s supervisor had come back with the bad news that one of their clients completely changed his mind on what he wanted for his new shopping tower for the second time. Next, Cole met with a new small money client who didn’t know what she wanted, but she did know exactly what she didn’t want, and that was everything Cole suggested. He spilled soup on his shirt when someone bumped into him at lunch, and to round out the day, found a new glitch in their computer software.

  By the time he got home a stress-relieving orgasm was clearly in order, so he made himself comfortable on his couch and unzipped his pants. First, he started with a light caressing of his balls, always a good first step.

  Talking about sexual preferences with Aiden had given Cole some intriguing masturbation fodder. For instance, Aiden was a self-professed fan of oral. “Giving, receiving, I love it all,” he’d said. “Not just cocks, either. I’m talking the whole body, and if you throw in something sweet to lick off, so much the better.”