2017 Top Ten Gay Romance

by J. M. Snyder

  His brother rolled his eyes and then gave Sebastian an “I told you so” look. “We only started just before Christmas. It’s too soon to bring her. She went to see her own family. From Chicago.”

  Pablo smiled. “But no girl for you, huh, Sebastian?”

  Sebastian’s cheeks got pink, but instead of answering he brought his beer bottle to his lips.

  “He’s shy,” Hector answered for him. “He’s got girls interested, but he doesn’t know how to talk to them.” He shook his head. “Remember it was CeCe who pursued him.”

  “Maybe you should give him pointers, being the stud you are and all.” Pablo laughed when his brother scowled. “Seriously. I’m surprised you don’t have a girlfriend, Sebastian.”

  “I’m going to school to learn not find a girlfriend,” Sebastian said quietly.

  “Wise man. Don’t waste that Stanford education.”

  The sliding door opened to reveal Mama standing there holding a spatula. “Hector, come help me with the dinner.”

  “Coming, Mama.” Hector rose and headed inside, closing the door behind him.

  Pablo gazed out at the pool. “Do any swimming up there?”

  Sebastian cleared his throat. “Not too much. Not working today?”

  “No, today is my first of three days off. Then I’ll work four days, long shifts. I asked for these days knowing Hector was coming.”

  “I hope you didn’t mind that I came, too.”

  Hector had called just two days earlier to ask if Sebastian could come for a visit, too. He’d originally been planning to go skiing with another group of friends but according to Hector the trip had gotten canceled and Sebastian didn’t want to hang at Stanford alone.

  “Don’t mind at all. I like seeing you.”

  Sebastian fell quiet, seeming to be very interested in his beer. Pablo was about to say he was going in to see if more help was needed when Sebastian shifted just a little in his chair.

  “Was it hard?” Sebastian asked in a near whisper.

  “What?”

  “Coming out to everyone. Your family, friends, co-workers. I would think it was really hard to have everyone judging you like that.”

  Pablo nodded and set his beer down on the table. He wasn’t going to lie to Sebastian. It had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. “Yeah, it was. It took a lot of thinking and wondering for me to decide to tell everyone I was gay. My family comes from a long line of pretty strict Mexican Catholics. I wasn’t entirely sure how they would react. I thought they’d be accepting, but, you know, it’s difficult to tell. You can only hope.”

  “But they did.”

  “Yep. I lost a few friends and sometimes work can be tense,” Pablo admitted. “There’s still a lot of macho attitude in the force. Guys don’t want to work with you, stupid pranks played on you, that kind of thing.”

  Sebastian bit his lip. “Sounds awful.”

  He shrugged. “It’s no picnic. But I had to be true to myself. Even if no one I’d known before wanted to know me anymore, I still had to do it. No regrets.”

  “You’re very brave.”

  The sliding door opened again and Hector stuck his head out. “Dinner’s ready.”

  * * * *

  Pablo stood brushing his teeth just before bed. After dinner, he, Hector and Sebastian had cleaned up the kitchen, and then they’d all played a board game. Hector had announced just before they’d all retired that in the morning he and Sebastian were going to the zoo. Something they’d done often as children. Pablo had been invited to join them.

  He rinsed out his mouth, set his toothbrush down, and turned toward the door leading to Sebastian’s room. He should probably let it go. Just turn around and enter his room, turn out the light and get some sleep.

  But he couldn’t.

  Pablo tapped lightly on the door.

  “Come in.”

  He twisted the knob and found Sebastian sitting on the edge of the bed. Not a good place to find someone when thoughts of burying yourself deep inside them wouldn’t leave your mind, Pablo decided. Perhaps he should make up some lame reason for coming into the room and then go back the way he came.

  “Can we talk?” he asked.

  Sebastian glanced up at him, his blue eyes wide with uncertainty. And something else Pablo couldn’t quite figure out. He wanted to, though. Pablo slid the lock to the bathroom door as he also made sure the door out to the hallway had also been locked. They were about to have an important conversation and he didn’t want Hector or Mama to interrupt and freak Sebastian out.

  “You okay?” Pablo sat next to him, the weight of him squishing the mattress down.

  He nodded, but he sank his teeth into his bottom lip. “Just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “What we were talking about. You know, before dinner.”

  “Is there something you want to say, Sebastian?”

  Sebastian let out a shaky breath. “When I was sixteen you kissed me.”

  Not quite what he had expected, but Pablo went with it. “Yes.”

  “But you never…I mean, then nothing. You didn’t talk to me or do it again or even acknowledge it.”

  Pablo sighed. “I shouldn’t have kissed you that day.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s not what you think, cariño. You were too young and too uncertain and you were seeing CeCe. It was wrong.”

  “Then why?” Sebastian whispered.

  “I was really attracted to you, I wanted you, and I just couldn’t resist you that day.”

  Sebastian wouldn’t look at him, but he said, “I was attracted to you then, too.”

  “How come you haven’t told anyone?” he asked gently.

  “That I’m gay?”

  Pablo reached for his hand, held it. “Yes.”

  “Scared, I guess. What’s everyone going to think?”

  “So no one knows? Not even Hector?”

  Sebastian shook his head. “No. I sometimes go to San Francisco on the weekends to a club there. That’s where I meet guys.”

  “You use protection, I hope.”

  “Yeah, always.”

  “Good.” He squeezed Sebastian’s hand. “You know Hector would be totally cool, right? And me. Mama, too.”

  Sebastian’s bottom lip trembled. “It was just easier not to tell anyone. But it’s killing me. I’m depressed all the time. I don’t know how much longer I can pretend.”

  “Then stop, Sebastian. It’s okay.” He put his arms around Sebastian, intending to offer him comfort, a shoulder to cry on, should he need it. But Sebastian’s chin came up just as he drew the younger man to him, putting his lips within kissing distance. Just like in the pool, Pablo knew he should resist. But just like back then, he didn’t.

  Pablo covered Sebastian’s lips with his.

  Chapter 3

  Sebastian briefly wondered if he was dreaming when Pablo kissed him. He’d dreamed of such a kiss ever since he was sixteen. Well, maybe before that.

  And just like before, the kiss was not sweet or hesitant but possessive, demanding, all consuming. It felt that way, too. That Pablo would consume him. Sebastian decided that was okay with him.

  He opened his mouth under the assault, thrilling to the feel of Pablo’s tongue rubbing along his. Sebastian heard himself moan and he fisted Pablo’s T-shirt, trying to pull the man closer still.

  Pablo lowered him to the mattress and lay on top of him, entwining their legs, grinding their pelvises. Sebastian’s cock felt harder and more constrained against his briefs than he could ever remember.

  Sebastian tore his mouth away from Pablo’s, gasping for air. As Pablo’s lips returned to his almost immediately, the man slipped a hand between them and squeezed the hard ridge in Sebastian’s jeans.

  “Please,” Sebastian begged against Pablo’s mouth. He wanted to be naked beneath Pablo, wanted Pablo to be driving into him over and over until their bodies were slicked with sweat. And he wanted it now.

  Pablo drew b
ack just enough to frame Sebastian’s jaw with his other hand. “I want you so much.”

  “Yes.”

  Pablo crushed their mouths together, then ran his tongue along Sebastian’s trembling bottom lip. “I’ve got lube and condoms back in my room. I’ll be back in less than ten seconds.”

  All Sebastian could do was nod. Pablo moved off him and he immediately sat up to yank off his T-shirt. His fingers were on the snaps of his jeans when Pablo came back, shirtless, holding a bottle of lube and a strip of about five condoms.

  He was about to say something about way too many condoms when Pablo stripped out of his sweatpants, revealing his very large, very erect cock jutting out between two muscular golden brown thighs. Sebastian’s mouth went dry.

  Pablo now wore only that sexy slightly curved smile. “Allow me.”

  He strutted over to the bed, tossed the condoms and lube next to Sebastian, and grabbed the waistbands of Sebastian’s jeans and briefs. Sebastian lifted up enough to make it easier to tug the garments off. Pablo left them on the floor at the foot of the bed.

  Sebastian had to fight the urge to cover up. He wasn’t rail thin or anything, but he knew his pale slim body didn’t compare to Pablo’s muscular, perfect body.

  “Gorgeous,” Pablo said softly. “You’re beautiful, cariño.”

  He shook to his very toes at both the smoldering look in Pablo’s eyes and the softly spoken, near-reverent endearment.

  Sebastian realized that though he’d had plenty of sex, he’d never had any guy look at him the way Pablo had just then. His breath catching just a little, Sebastian hitched his legs up, holding them spread wide with an arm tucked under each thigh.

  Pablo picked up the lube and squirted some from the bottle. One of his hands slid along Sebastian’s inner thigh causing goose bumps to appear on the sensitive flesh. The other hand moved to Sebastian’s hole, a slippery finger pushing inside.

  He let out a shaky breath and forced himself to relax. He wasn’t a virgin or anything. But this was different. This wasn’t just some random hookup. This was Pablo.

  A second finger joined the first, both long and slender, probing up to the knuckles. Sebastian’s eyelids grew heavy and he forced them to remain open. He wanted to see everything Pablo did to him. Maybe this would be his only time with Pablo.

  Pablo met his gaze and smiled. “A third or…”

  Sebastian shook his head. “Now. Please. Fuck me.”

  Pablo’s fingers withdrew and he stepped back enough to roll the condom over his impressively large dick. After squirting out more lube and coating himself with it, Pablo aimed his cock at Sebastian’s entrance.

  Spreading his legs as far apart as he could manage, Sebastian blew out a breath as the man’s thick cock pushed inside him. He was a little stunned when his muscles stretched to accommodate the intrusion pretty well. Pablo pressed in, sliding home, deeply imbedded in Sebastian’s ass.

  For a moment neither of them moved. They stayed just as they were, joined. Then Sebastian couldn’t stand it and he shifted ever so slightly. He hadn’t believed Pablo could be any deeper in him, but the slight shift proved otherwise. A moan escaped from his lips.

  Pablo’s hands gripped Sebastian’s legs as he pulled back, almost out, then thrust forward. He grunted like some ancient gladiator as he repeated the out and in, over and over, slamming into Sebastian with enough force to not only shake the bed but to move it.

  Sebastian moved one of his hands over to encircle his dick, his fingers curving tightly around the head. He brushed his thumb across the crown, sending shockwaves throughout his body. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as Pablo’s cock stroked his prostate.

  “Pablo, oh my God.”

  Pablo answered with another gladiator grunt and sped up his powerful thrusts. Jerking furiously on his own dick, Sebastian clenched around the cock ramming his ass. He was spiraling out of control and he knew by the tingly feeling in his shaft and the unbearable tightening of his balls, his orgasm was imminent.

  “Uhh.” Cum erupted from his dick, coating his fingers and splattering his stomach. Pablo’s eyes closed and then with three more hard thrusts, he tensed and cried out his own release.

  Pablo pulled out of him almost immediately and disappeared for a minute or so. Sebastian thought he should probably move. At the moment he lay with his wobbly legs half off the bed and his hand and stomach covered in cum. He yawned, unable to make himself move.

  Sebastian’s eyes flew open when he felt a warm, wet cloth rub across his stomach, then down lower to wash over his cock and balls. Pablo smiled at him.

  “Thanks,” Sebastian said, smiling back, perhaps a little bit in awe. No one had ever bothered to take care of him after. Hell, half the time he didn’t even get the name of the guy.

  “Why don’t you get under the covers? I’ll be back in a second.”

  And Pablo was gone again. Sebastian forced his body to move up the bed, and he pulled back the sheets and blanket and slipped under them, naked. Was Pablo coming back to sleep with him? Sebastian hoped so.

  He fluffed his pillow a bit and waited. And waited. His gut rolled a little in disappointment. Maybe Pablo wasn’t coming back after all. Although, he’d said—

  Pablo stepped into the bedroom once more. He wore a pair of loose fitting blue gym shorts, but remained shirtless. With no hesitation at all, Pablo headed for Sebastian’s bed, pulled back the covers, and lay down next to him.

  Sebastian hid his smile behind a yawn. “I hope Hector and your mom didn’t hear us.”

  Pablo’s chest rumbled with a chuckle as he pulled Sebastian against him, wrapping an arm tight around his middle. “You were kind of loud.”

  “Me?” Sebastian squeaked. “You were making noises like you were some Roman gladiator fighting off a lion.”

  “A lion?” Pablo shook his head. “A cute little house cat, maybe. And I don’t think either of us did much fighting.”

  “Well, yeah.” He wasn’t sure how he felt about being compared to a house cat, but Pablo did say he was cute. That had to count. Noticing the overhead light was on and shining in his eyes, Sebastian frowned. “Gotta turn off the light.”

  Reluctantly he left Pablo’s arms and scooted out of bed. The light switch was across the room next to the door and he was completely aware Pablo had a very good view of his bare ass.

  “You keep strutting around naked like this, you may not get any sleep,” Pablo said from the bed.

  Sebastian flicked off the light and hurried back to the bed, bouncing on the mattress as he reached Pablo, who quickly covered him with the sheet and blanket. He sighed contentedly as the man once more drew him close.

  “I’ve never done this before,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

  “Hmm?” Pablo’s hand, which had been gently rubbing along his spine, stilled on his back.

  Sebastian laughed. It came out as sort of a giggle, so he covered his mouth quickly, then cleared his throat. “I meant I’ve never slept with a guy. I mean sleep with him. In bed. Together. Like this.”

  “Ah, makes sense. I guess if all you’re used to is hookups you wouldn’t.”

  “Yeah, no. Never. Most of the time I was grabbing my underwear and getting dressed as I ran to their front door.” He felt his face warm in the dark. Silly to blush when Pablo couldn’t even see. “I’m not a slut or anything.”

  “I never thought you were. But you’re young and experimenting. It’s pretty normal.”

  Sebastian bit his bottom lip and nodded. “Um, so, you know. How much experimenting did you do?”

  Pablo shrugged. “Some.”

  Well, that was certainly vague. Sebastian wondered if “some” was in between virginal and raging slut. Probably.

  “When was your first?” he asked.

  Pablo didn’t answer for a while and Sebastian thought either he had fallen asleep or just didn’t want to talk about it. But then Pablo shifted his arm just a little to squeeze around Sebastian’s middle a bit t
ighter.

  “My first was when I was sixteen,” he said finally.

  “Wow, young.” He thought about Pablo kissing him when he was sixteen and he wondered if he would have been ready for something like this then. Sebastian didn’t think so.

  “Yeah. An older guy. Someone I worked with after school. I already knew I was gay and we’d both done a bit of flirting. One day we were in the back of the warehouse and we both sort of got carried away. We didn’t have lube or condoms and it was pretty awkward and messy.”

  Sebastian wrinkled his nose. “Doesn’t sound so great.”

  Pablo chuckled. “No, it wasn’t. Luckily I tried it again and it got better. How about you, squirt? When was your first time?”

  “Squirt?” Sebastian straightened indignantly and glared down at the man in the dark. “Who you calling squirt?”

  Pablo laughed. “Kitty has claws. I like squirt, though. It suits you, being so cute and all.”

  There he was calling him cute again. Sebastian thought squirt was probably not something he should like but he sort of did, in an odd way. Great. When did he get this pathetic, anyway?

  Pablo leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “So? Tell me about your first. I know I was your first kiss.”

  “Well, first guy kiss. CeCe was my first kiss.”

  “I know. I always felt like an ass for kissing my sister’s boyfriend.”

  Sebastian toyed with the few wiry hairs on Pablo’s chest. “I think some part of her knew even without me telling her.”

  “That we kissed?”

  He shook his head. “No, about being gay. She never said anything. Never has still. But she knew our seeing each other was more like friends.”

  Pablo blew out a long breath. “I always wanted to ask but I haven’t. So you and CeCe never?”

  “No,” Sebastian said. “We kissed, held hands. But no we never had sex. We broke up right after high school graduation.”

  “Who was your first then?” Pablo asked again.

  “A bouncer at a club. I got a fake ID to go there. I knew a guy up at Stanford who could get real-looking fakes or so he said. Looked real to me. So, I showed up to this club. Didn’t tell anyone I was going.” Sebastian sighed. “Guy wasn’t fooled at all. He told me to come with him. I thought I was so busted. But he took me into a back room of the club.” He knew he was blushing in the dark again. “Told me to suck him. I kept gagging and he was getting mad.”