Anna Martin's First Love Box Set: Signs - Bright Young Things - Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me

by Anna Martin

  “Yes.”

  “Lots?”

  Luc huffed a laugh. “Maybe.”

  “Okay. My deafness is genetic.” At Luc’s expression, he signed, “G-E-N-E-T-I-C.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Of course.”

  Caleb swallowed hard. These conversations—they weren’t supposed to be said between two men their age. Not yet. They were the conversations of men much older than themselves… but then again, between the two of them, they’d experienced as much as men twice their age. So maybe it was okay.

  Not knowing how else to make promises, unable to speak grand declarations or discuss their plans for the future in the sort of detail he wanted, Caleb lifted Luc’s left hand and pressed a kiss to the fourth finger. He hoped that would suffice.

  Luc twisted his hand so it was wrapped in Caleb’s and slithered down from the countertop. With both feet planted back on the floor he leaned up and kissed Caleb’s cheek, then leaned away again so Caleb could read his lips.

  “Yes,” he said softly.

  Silently, they returned to bed.

  By the next morning, the fog had been burned away by the sun, and the night before felt like a dream.

  All that was left was two half-finished mugs of chamomile tea as evidence it had happened at all.

  14. Flip

  The next morning was proof that Luc could sleep through anything. Caleb woke early, as was his habit, probably due to the morning sun streaming through his window. Even though Luc was on the side of the bed closer to the window he was still sleeping, sprawled on his belly, the blanket only just managing to cling to the cute, plump curve of his butt.

  Caleb rolled onto his side and tucked his arm up under his head to pillow it.

  This weekend had held so many promises, and they’d managed to fulfill all of them and more, so much more. He’d started the weekend with a boyfriend, and now Luc was, what, a fiancé? Even though they wouldn’t get to that point in their lives for a while, years, possibly, it felt like a warm blanket around his shoulders. They were safe. And solid.

  Unable to hold back any longer, Caleb reached out and ran his hand down the length of Luc’s back. The skin was silky and soft under his fingertips. It was strange. Despite the birthmark on Luc’s chest, the rest of his skin was almost completely blemish free, not a freckle or scar to be found.

  Luc arched under his touch and turned on the bed, cracking one eye open the tiniest amount and smiling. He shifted and draped himself over Caleb’s chest, tucking his head under Caleb’s chin.

  Caleb was getting used to snoozing in the morning when Luc was in his arms. He’d always considered sleeping in to be a horrible habit, especially when the sky was clear and the air outside likely to be crisp and cool. It was perfect running weather.

  That was before he discovered how incredible it felt to hold another person. He laid his cheek on top of Luc’s hair and contemplated how disgustingly in love he had fallen.

  After a while he slipped out of bed and crossed the hall to the bathroom. It was only a little after eight. Still late as far as he was concerned and probably terrifyingly early according to Luc.

  Tearing himself away from an almost naked, sleeping Luc in his bed was almost painful, but he couldn’t lie there any longer and consoled himself with the thought of cooking breakfast and doing something nice for his boyfriend at the same time.

  The real surprise was the cool breeze that drifted into the bathroom as someone (and he could guess who) opened the door and the creak and groan of the tub as Luc climbed in. Caleb stood aside to make room for him under the spray.

  Caleb made quick work of washing his body, not wanting to linger watching Luc’s soapy hands roaming over his own chest. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Luc’s cock had sprung to attention, and it was almost all Caleb could do to ignore it.

  As soon as he was clean Caleb kissed the tip of Luc’s nose and left him alone with his erection. He forcibly moved his mind away from thoughts of what Luc might do with that erection. That was not going to get breakfast made.

  Caleb dressed quickly and roughly toweled his hair before heading to the kitchen. Breakfast food was the best, and he’d taught himself to make whatever his mom didn’t have a recipe for.

  Saturday mornings called for the works, and he started batter for pancakes and mentally planned bacon, for him at least, and eggs to go with it. Halfway through making the pancake batter, he remembered how Luc liked coffee and started the percolator. He liked it too, from time to time, but drank it sweet with plenty of milk, whereas Luc liked it strong and black.

  By the time Luc arrived, the bacon was cooking, the pancakes were ready to go, and Caleb had just finished whisking cheese into the eggs. Luc inhaled and looked like he was probably going to forgive Caleb for getting him out of bed so early. Luc wrapped his hand around the back of Caleb’s neck and drew him down into a slow kiss, making sure he slipped his tongue into the equation.

  Then he sat down at the kitchen table, an angelic expression on his face, like he was determined to behave himself.

  They ate at the kitchen table, both still a little damp from the shower, Luc definitely not awake yet, although the mug of coffee Caleb had set in front of him certainly helped. He said he didn’t mind that Caleb was eating bacon—it was turkey bacon, which was slightly better, in Luc’s world.

  When they were done eating they sat in the kitchen for a while, basking like cats in the warm sun streaming in through the window, nowhere to go and no one to see but each other. Caleb felt the hairs on his arms prickle as he thought about the dirty promises Luc had made over the course of the week, promises he’d been too tired to keep the night before.

  Caleb distracted Luc from his lazing with a light tap on the arm.

  “Can I take your picture?”

  “What… like with your portraits?”

  Caleb nodded.

  “Okay,” Luc said impulsively.

  “Sure?”

  “Yes. I’m sure. Where do you want to do it?”

  Caleb paused for a moment, then grabbed hold of Luc’s hand and dragged him down the stairs. Like most of the houses in the area, theirs had an attached garage with a laundry room at the back.

  After much begging, Caleb’s mom had agreed to move her washer, and the small space had been set up as Caleb’s studio. There wasn’t space for a darkroom, not if he wanted the studio space there too. In the end he’d conceded that the studio was his first priority, especially while he had access to the darkroom at school.

  Stacked against one wall were the canvases he painted on, all in various stages of completion. Painting still wasn’t his first choice of artistic medium, but he did it as a good way of learning technique, or form, or light and shade.

  He’d hung a plain white sheet on the farthest wall as a backdrop and took Luc to this area. Caleb held up a finger, asking him to wait, and fetched a chair for him to sit on.

  Luc did as instructed, slightly amused but not willing to let Caleb see it lest he thought Luc was laughing at him. Which he definitely wasn’t.

  There was a blind over the window that Caleb pulled down, plunging the room into darkness. Then he started setting up a series of lights in different positions. Luc’s initial amusement slipped away as he grew fascinated with the work Caleb was doing, his sureness, and his knowledge of each piece of equipment.

  When he pulled out an expensive looking camera from a drawer and took a few test snaps Luc sat bolt upright.

  “Hey!” he exclaimed. “I wasn’t ready.”

  Caleb giggled. “Practice,” he signed and slipped the strap from the camera around his neck.

  This setup was familiar to Luc. He’d seen enough of Caleb’s portraits already to know the style he preferred. All the pictures were a little rough around the edges, raw enough to not be perfect, and Luc liked that. He didn’t want to be photographed looking sweet and perfect. Caleb caught everything else instead.

  Sitting ba
ckward astride an old dining chair, Luc let his chin rest on his folded arms and tried not to pose as Caleb took a few pictures, adjusted the lights, then took a few more. He was frowning as he looked back through the pictures on the camera’s small screen.

  “What’s wrong? Do I need to do something different?” Luc asked.

  Caleb shook his head, still frowning as he looked through the images. He sighed heavily.

  “Not right,” he signed.

  Luc waited a few more moments, then stood and helped Caleb turn all the lights off. Then Caleb led them back to the bedroom.

  Caleb nudged Luc until he was lying flat on the bed, diagonally across with his feet dangling over the edge. Then he crawled up until his knees straddled Luc’s waist and smiled.

  Feeling a little self-conscious, Luc smoothed his hair back from his face and flicked his tongue over the ring in his lip.

  This position was much, much more intimate than the distance the studio had put between them, and it was this which had Luc suddenly filled with nerves. He didn’t mind Caleb taking his picture. He wondered what anyone else would think when they saw the results.

  Caleb lifted the camera and took a few shots, then looked through the images, smiling now. When he rocked his hips back and forth, adjusting his position, his ass rubbed tantalizingly over Luc’s groin, making him arch his back up into the rough pleasure.

  The camera clicked again, and Luc understood.

  He didn’t need to ask what would happen to these images, what Caleb would do with them. Those weren’t the right questions to ask. Instead he let his eyes close a little, looking up at Caleb from under his lashes, twisting his body into something more sensual, more sexual.

  Then Caleb took the camera from around his neck, set it carefully on the bed, and pulled his T-shirt off over his head in one smooth motion. He looked down at Luc again, silently asking him to comply.

  Luc stripped off too, without hesitation.

  He was still self-conscious about the birthmark on his shoulder. He doubted that would ever go away. There was something different about how Caleb looked at him, though. It was like Caleb saw him differently from everyone else, and he liked it.

  Caleb lifted the camera again and took a few more shots, then smiled when Luc lifted his arms above his head, stretching sinuously.

  When Caleb rolled off Luc’s body and stripped off his jeans and socks, leaving him in just his underwear, Luc didn’t hesitate in following his lead. Then Caleb’s focus changed, and he wanted to take close-up pictures: a detailed record of the unusual birthmark, the elegant line of Luc’s collarbones, his wrists with the layers of bracelets that adorned them. Each small, flat nipple, but especially the one with the silver hoop threaded through it.

  He made a study of Luc’s feet, then his hands, capturing in stark black-and-white high contrast each fingernail with its ragged, bitten edge and flaking black polish.

  When Luc drew him into a kiss Caleb didn’t hesitate, following obediently and slipping his tongue between Luc’s lips. Luc ran his hands up and down Caleb’s bare sides a few times, an easy, soothing gesture. Then his face lit up with an evil grin and his fingers dug into Caleb’s ribs, tickling him hard.

  Caleb immediately shrieked and rolled over, trying to get away, but Luc wasn’t going to let go that easily and followed, rolling on top now and laughing at Caleb’s attempts to escape. They ended up with their positions reversed, Luc on top with Caleb stretched out beneath him. He didn’t exactly hate the position, even though it wasn’t his favorite.

  There was no stopping the roll of emotion in Luc’s belly. He thought it was probably a combination of love and lust and affection, the bone-deep friendship that bound them together. He cherished each of those things individually. Then sometimes when they all clashed together it was overwhelming.

  “I love you,” Luc said, reaching down to smooth Caleb’s hair back from his face.

  “I love you.”

  Luc smiled, slow and easy, feeling satisfyingly content. He pulled the camera toward them and gave it back to Caleb.

  “Like this,” he said.

  Caleb took the camera with trembling fingers, and Luc looked down into the lens intently, wanting everything he was scared of saying to show on his face. Caleb took one more picture, then turned the camera off, setting it on his nightstand.

  “Do you want?” Luc asked.

  For a moment Caleb didn’t reply. Then he crashed his lips up against Luc’s and all of the strange, built-up tension that had been growing between them. Underwear alone wasn’t enough to contain their erections, and Caleb rocked his hips hard, bringing their straining cocks together through the layers of fabric.

  Taking Caleb’s hips in his hands, Luc licked a wet stripe up his neck and finished by nibbling on his earlobe. They could totally do this—rocking and grinding and licking and kissing—until one or both of them came in their boxers. But Caleb had other plans.

  There was a padded envelope in Caleb’s nightstand, a package that had been ordered from the Internet. He reached in and took a condom from the box and handed it to Luc.

  For a moment they just looked at each other, Luc not wanting to make assumptions as to what Caleb was suggesting. Then Caleb rolled away, onto his back, opened his legs a little, and tugged at Luc’s wrist.

  “You want me to… make love to you?” Luc asked.

  Caleb nodded.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Please.”

  They had been building up to this for a while now. For Luc, it was strange to consider reversing roles, especially since he’d partly defined his identity as a gay man by his desire to bottom. But for Caleb, Luc wanted to top. He wanted to show Caleb how amazing it felt when two people made love. He wanted to give back to his boyfriend a little bit of what Caleb had given him.

  Luc took his time with the lube, carefully working one finger into Caleb’s hole while his mouth made short work of covering Caleb’s cock and thighs and balls with licks and kisses. He played with one finger until one was definitely not enough. Then he started swapping his first finger for the middle one and back again, until Caleb was ready for two.

  This preparation couldn’t be rushed; Luc knew that from experience. And he knew too that taking their time at the beginning would be so worthwhile when they got on with it. Later.

  Caleb reached for Luc a few times, wanting to share in these incredible sensations, but Luc held back, wanting to be the instigator and the one who got to worship the body underneath him. There was no point in denying some things were broken. Nevertheless, it was still perfect.

  Luc had never quite got used to the clean, all-over tan Caleb managed to keep year round, or the fine golden hairs that covered his legs and arms and part of his chest too. That wasn’t a look he wanted on himself. He went to far too much trouble to make his body smooth and hair free. On Caleb, it was different.

  When Caleb started to whimper and buck up into Luc’s touch, Luc curved his fingers and pushed them in deep, finding the sweet spot that was the source of so much pleasure on his own body. He watched, delighted, as Caleb arched and practically screamed.

  Caleb hardly ever made any noise—he didn’t attempt to speak, even when they were in a café or restaurant, and apart from laughter and the noises he made in bed, and that one, precious “I love you”, Luc didn’t know any of Caleb’s sounds. So he cherished them, understanding that Caleb didn’t share his voice with just anyone.

  Luc made quick work of the condom and lined his body up, wanting to take advantage of the high Caleb was riding. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to last long.

  As someone who had concentrated his sexual focus on the prospect of getting fucked, being the one doing the penetrating felt slightly off. He had no frame of reference as to what he was supposed to feel, what it should be like for him in this position. Because of that he was totally unprepared for how fucking good it felt when the heat of Caleb’s body gripped his own, dragging him in deeper when he knew he
should wait.

  Caleb’s hands were bunched in his sheets, holding on for dear life. His eyes were screwed shut, and his mouth was open, panting hard as he adjusted.

  “Caleb,” Luc said, surprised at how his voice sounded. Then he tapped Caleb’s leg. “Baby. You okay?”

  Caleb nodded quickly and grabbed hold of Luc’s arms, pulling him down roughly so they could share hot, deep, searching kisses. The change in position made Caleb grunt and moan, and Luc wondered if they should stop, if he needed to give Caleb more time.

  He held his body as still as possible until Caleb started to work himself back and forth, encouraging more of Luc’s cock into his own body. With his head a cloudy mess, unable to discern reasonable thought from emotion-fueled lust, Luc let Caleb guide him and found a careful rhythm of back and forth, give and take.

  If Luc had thought Caleb could be loud when he was the one doing the fucking, it was nothing compared to the noise he made while being fucked. Long, slow groans and short, desperate gasps were punctuated with deep grunts or little squeaks of pleasure when Luc was able to guide himself over Caleb’s sweet spot.

  Once they were comfortable, Luc started to increase the speed of his thrusts and found Caleb’s lips for hot, openmouthed kisses where they could lick at each other’s tongues and swallow each cry of pleasure. Luc had never imagined that Caleb would enjoy this so much. He buried his face in Caleb’s neck and groaned, feeling like the sound was coming right from his toes.

  Caleb had been thinking about this for weeks. About Luc’s body, his kisses, the way they fit together. The other way they could fit together, if Luc agreed. He hadn’t shared it with his boyfriend, mostly out of embarrassment, but he wanted to know what it felt like and had experimented some with his own body, just to see what it felt like. Having Luc inside him was something else entirely. He felt full and stretched and… taken, like his body was being cared for and overpowered at the same time. It was a heady combination.

  His fingers curled around Luc’s upper arms, gently squeezing the muscles there, surprisingly defined for a person as slim and lithe as Luc. He rocked his hips up into each thrust, his body aching and sore already but demanding more of the sweet torture.