by Con Riley
Marco followed him to the bedroom doorway, waiting until they stood outside before he quietly spoke. “I need to help settle Mamma for the evening. I will be a while. Do you want to . . . ?” He inclined his head in the direction of the courtyard where his brothers were now noisily talking.
“No.” Aiden reached up and cupped Marco’s face. “I know they’re your brothers, but if they start up with telling you what to do again I might have to kick all their asses.”
Marco looked absurdly pleased. “Go upstairs. Watch TV or have a bath. I will be up as soon as I can.” He hesitated before kissing Aiden’s lips. “Do not judge them harshly. These weeks have been very stressful. Mamma wanted to have her sons close. She was annoyed that I limited tonight’s meal to only us instead of the whole family. I should have been more forceful and waited until we all had a chance to rest.”
Aiden thought about pleasing parents as he climbed the stairs to Marco’s rooms. He mentally calculated the time difference and then quickly called his mom. His long pause after she picked up led to her sounding worried, but once he’d gotten past the lump in his throat, telling her about his day had been easy. She sounded so delighted as he shared, asking him question after question that for once he happily answered. Next, he fired up his laptop and checked his online banking, pleased that the payroll payments seemed to have been made correctly. He emailed Evan also, saying thanks once again. Instead of signing off quickly, he added a full description of the de Luca home, taking his time to describe it, knowing Evan would enjoy its architecture.
Sound filtered through the window. Far below, Aiden could just make out the brothers sitting around a table with Marco standing by them in the lamplit courtyard. It was impossible to guess what they were talking about—all of their voices were raised; all of their gestures were exaggerated.
He watched as Marco turned away, only to be yanked back by one of his brothers. There was no need for translation when someone made loud kissing noises. The table erupted in laughter as Marco took obvious pleasure in putting his tormentor in a headlock. His other brothers took off running before Marco could reach them, starting up a game of tag that soon turned into wrestling.
Even from where he sat, Aiden could easily distinguish Marco’s breathless laughter.
Maybe they weren’t complete assholes.
While Marco was still outside, Aiden looked around his living space. It baffled him that Marco had chosen to live in a small house that had seen better days, under constant threat of Seattle rain, when he could live here, in spacious luxury, bathed in intense Italian sunshine. Aiden’s arrival that afternoon only highlighted how like his home city Marco usually was—vibrant, busy, and bursting with volatile energy. No wonder he’d seemed out of place in their quiet neighborhood.
The walls around the living space were covered with framed family photos. Aiden studied one that was a candid moment in black and white. Maybe the photographer had caught the very first time Marco had ever held a baby. His expression certainly reflected the same mix of shock and fascination Aiden had felt while holding Marco’s niece. It was a perfect image, encapsulating the secret parts of Marco’s makeup that people didn’t notice at first glance. As a very young man, no older than twenty, he looked concerned and intently focused, thoughtful and very loving.
Even though he was dragging with exhaustion, Aiden wanted Marco to hurry up and come find him. He crossed to the window again. Marco now sat on the table with his brothers standing around him, engrossed in deep discussion.
Trying not to grumble, Aiden headed for the bathroom, marveling once again at the size of the tub. Marco had shown it off after he had woken him earlier, promising that they could share it after his brothers left. Aiden set the water running, adding a generous amount of bath oil that smelled familiar. By the time he finally heard the doors to the hallway open, he was already soaking, chest deep in steaming water.
Marco stood in the doorway, panting.
“Did you run up the whole way?” Aiden watched as Marco nodded. He took a huge breath, stripping his shirt over his head and shoving his shorts down before answering.
“I had a terrible thought”—he rolled his Rs dramatically—“that I might have dreamed you.” His underwear landed neatly in the hamper. He leaned over the tub, kissing Aiden before stepping between his legs.
“What are you doing all the way down there?”
Marco knelt at the far end of the tub. “I’m just taking a moment to admire you. Having you here is something I’d only imagined. I didn’t think you would ever have the time to leave Seattle.” He stopped talking and gazed at Aiden before surging forward, sending a wave of water up to Aiden’s neck. “I didn’t think I could have this. When I saw you today . . . .” He leaned in, chest to chest, with one arm on the tub rim to the side of Aiden’s head. His next words were followed by kisses. “My heart nearly stopped. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you. No idea at all.”
Aiden thought he might.
The last three weeks had been the most challenging since his father died. Having Marco to talk things over with, even from a distance, had made all the difference. But this? Marco’s kisses became more frantic. He sucked on Aiden’s tongue, his needy noises joining the soft sound of lapping water. This was what he’d needed.
His hands slipped across Marco’s back, stopping at his ass cheeks. Slick with bath oil, they felt supple under his probing fingers. Marco squirmed when Aiden stroked over his hole. The more he moved, the more he agitated the bathwater, one particular wave splashing over Aiden’s face.
“Stop.” He pushed Marco away. “This tub’s deep, but keep moving like that and you’re going to flood the bathroom.”
Marco suddenly looked exhausted again. “Maybe this would be easier in bed?” The fact that he couched his words as a question, when more usually he was full of firm directives, made Aiden take over.
“Turn over and lie on me.”
Marco hesitated.
“Do as I say, Marco Fortunato. Lie on me and relax.”
Marco’s easy acquiescence was another sign of exhaustion, Aiden decided, and he settled Marco against him, his back to Aiden’s front, before adding more hot water. The level rose, soothing the ache of travel from his muscles. He hoped the same was true for Marco as he kissed him, tilting his head to reach his lips.
“There, isn’t this more relaxing?”
Marco nodded when Aiden reached around and slowly stroked his cock, taking time to work it over as he held Marco to his chest.
“Lift this leg up.” Aiden tapped Marco’s right leg, then adjusted it so it rested on the edge of the tub.
“Oh, fuck.” Marco squirmed again when Aiden cupped his balls before pressing a fingertip inside him.
“Is that okay?” Marco’s frantic nods made him push in farther, taking it slow with only water and a little bath oil to ease his finger’s passage. “Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you.”
Marco ground against Aiden in groaning reply, sending jolts of pleasure through him. Aiden stroked Marco’s cock with one hand, slowly at first, thumb and forefinger making a tight ring that Marco soon tried to thrust through at a faster rate, making bathwater splash. Aiden wouldn’t let him increase the pace, loosening his grasp when Marco tried to get off. He eased his finger out of Marco’s hole.
“You came all this way to kill me?” Marco sounded indignant. “If you loved me, you would fuck me.”
“Shut up and let me do this.” Something about the way Marco instantly relaxed, responding to firm instruction, made Aiden warm inside. He remembered when he’d needed this too—someone to take over when he’d had too much on his mind, giving him relief through extended, mindless pleasure. Doing the same now for Marco seemed like returning a favor.
He jerked Marco off, taking his time, enjoying Marco’s mounting excitement. It was nothing but pleasure to take his limp and boneless weight when he finally came, his spunk spreading like milky clouds in the water that rippled around them.
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When Marco twisted, straining to meet Aiden’s mouth with his own, Aiden decided that flying halfway around the world was worth it just to hear his whispered “Grazie.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
It took a while for Aiden to relax into doing nothing. Once he’d gotten over his jet lag, the lack of purpose or definition to his first week in Milan annoyed him, leaving him twitchy and increasingly frustrated. Marco noticed quickly, sitting Aiden down at the opposite side of his wide desk and broaching the subject as if it was very familiar.
“So, you feel far too lazy?”
“Yup. All of this sitting around feels wrong. It is wrong. I should be doing something useful.”
“And you cannot treat this time like a vacation?”
Aiden simply shrugged.
“I’m sorry.” Marco said. “That was thoughtless.” Aiden hadn’t taken time off purely for himself in years and years. “I can see this is a difficult adjustment. Next week I will have more time to entertain you.”
Most of Marco’s days were taken up by the work he’d neglected while his mother was very sick. His business hadn’t seemed to take up so much time in Seattle, but now that Marco worked in his own time zone, Aiden realized just how many hours he must have put in while Aiden had been asleep. Caring for his mom also seemed to fall squarely on Marco’s shoulders, while his brothers only ever called in casually at mealtimes.
Still, Marco took the time to deal with Aiden’s frustration. He reached across the desk and linked his hands with Aiden’s.
“It was difficult at first in Seattle. I was in vacation mode for a while, but that quickly faded. Once I moved to Peter’s place, I had no idea what to do with myself.”
Aiden nodded. “It’s like the days take so much longer.”
“Yes!” Marco’s smile was sympathetic. “I would think of things to talk about while you were at work, then wait for you to get home.” He looked down at the desk. “I think that did not please you.”
“Not at first. No.” Aiden was only being honest. It was how they’d agreed to be with each other. Marco’s attention had been overwhelming. He squeezed his hand. “I didn’t realize how you felt then. I still don’t really get it.” That was true too. Why Marco had persisted was beyond his understanding.
“Ah, for that you can blame Ben. He was the one who told me that I might meet my match in Seattle. He said I should do as he had.” He affected a deeper, bossy tone, imitating his oldest brother. “‘Come find someone capable of devotion, who understands the real meaning of family.’ So I did. He even suggested I look you up.”
Aiden’s cheeks reddened. “You’re making that shit up.”
Marco’s headshake was slow. He pointed out the photo Aiden had admired days before. “He always looked out for my best interests.”
“Wait, that’s not you holding a baby?”
“No. That’s the first time he held me. All I did was cry. He said then that he knew I would be trouble.” He leaned across the desk, knocking a pile of papers over, kissing Aiden slowly. He sat again only at the ping of a business-related email.
Watching Marco quickly scan the message, frowning in concentration and firing off a swift reply, reminded Aiden how he felt out of place and idle.
“I can think of one way to keep you busy.” Marco’s smile was speculative until his email pinged one more time. He was soon engrossed in his work again—focused and frowning in a way that made Aiden badly want to touch him. Instead of distracting him any further, Aiden headed downstairs, where he discovered Signora de Luca in the kitchen.
“Aiden Phillip,” she warned, “tell no one you found me in here.”
Her recovery was impressive; Aiden could see that after only seven days. “It can be our secret, Signora de Luca,” Aiden said, “just as long as you give me a chore to keep me busy.” They worked side by side, making lunch together.
“Come and sit outside with me now while we wait for Marco Fortunato.”
She was much easier company than Aiden had first expected. It took her a while to mentally translate their conversations, and that allowed him time to weigh the words he chose in response. He found himself telling her things that before he would have kept closely guarded.
“Tell me more about your brother.” She was fascinated with their adoptive status and the bond between Aiden and Evan that Marco had described to her during his phone calls home. “Your meeting cannot have been accidental.” She touched the crucifix that hung around her neck. “It was part of a divine plan.”
Aiden wasn’t so sure about that. In his opinion, there was nothing divine about the start in life they’d each had. He kept that thought to himself, only offering a quietly voiced, “Things worked out for us, I guess. Eventually.”
Evan had emailed overnight, as he had taken to doing on a daily basis, keeping Aiden up to date on all things store related. He slipped in nuggets of other information that Aiden turned over slowly in his head. Being away from home had given him time to think, an activity he’d avoided before. Some of his thoughts were uncomfortable. Some made him look back at decisions he’d made and slowly shake his head. Gradually, as the therapist had suggested, he allocated mental space to things he should let go of and things he should deal with.
“Who are you thinking about now, Aiden Phillip?” Marco’s mother missed nothing.
“Levi.”
“Ah, the boy who also takes care of his brother.”
Maybe a week or so earlier, that oblique reference to the way he’d treated Evan might have set his teeth on edge. Now he simply nodded. Levi was as much of a caretaker, knowingly or otherwise, as Aiden had ever been for Evan.
“And why does thinking of your Levi make you sad?”
“I’m not sad.”
“I should think not.” Marco crossed the courtyard, sunglasses perched atop his head, walking with a swagger, his teasing very obvious. “With me as your boyfriend, your dimples should be a permanent fixture.”
“Hush.”
Marco did as his mother directed, dropping a kiss on both their foreheads before settling on a chair between them while Aiden spoke.
“Evan told me that Joel found a spot for Levi’s brother in a rehab program. I was just thinking about how bad Levi must be feeling.”
“Why would that make Levi sad?” She studied Aiden’s face, dark eyes narrowed, searching for an explanation.
“It wouldn’t be sad if his brother would take the place. He turned it down. He won’t even go to visit.” Aiden was frustrated on Levi’s behalf. It must have seemed like a golden opportunity. A chance to reclaim his own life. “He must feel as if his brother has chosen alcohol over him.”
“Is that how you feel about your father?” She had really paid attention.
Marco’s fingers curled around his as Aiden struggled to answer. “About his gambling? Yes. No. Sometimes. Mostly I just feel frustrated.”
That was another thing about all this time on his hands—the thoughts that had been coiled tightly inside him for years kept on coming out now, often without his permission. “It’s been five years. I’m done with being angry with him. I’m only angry with myself.”
Marco asked, “Have you spoken to your mother again?” His fingers tightened around Aiden’s hand as he spoke. He’d walked in on the tail end of a heated telephone conversation between Aiden and his mom the night before. After years of Aiden treading carefully around her feelings, shielding her from a reality that he thought might break her, her actions now made him wonder why the heck he’d bothered. Far from being fragile, she was showing her mettle. He battled with shame about underestimating her so badly, as well as with relief that he could share his load now. But it still drove him crazy that she was making decisions while he was out of the picture.
“No. Not yet. I’ll call her later.”
Marco’s mother’s tone was stern. “Make sure that you do. Do not let the sun set on your quarrel.”
Marco had said the same thing the night before af
ter listening to Aiden rant about the way she’d already put their house up for sale. He’d watched Aiden struggle to keep his temper.
“You were angry last night. You think she does not know what she is doing?”
“No. But I do think her decision to sell is a knee-jerk reaction. I make enough so she doesn’t have to.”
“Maybe she wants to support herself. Or at least contribute. That house must be worth a great deal of money.”
Maybe that was what had really upset him. Hearing what his family home could sell for hadn’t made him feel any better. He tried to explain the way he felt.
“The cash value of the house doesn’t mean a thing. What about everything that happened in it before Dad died?” It had been his and Evan’s first secure home. That had to count for something after how hard he’d worked to keep it. He’d gestured at Marco’s home. “Surely you can understand. This place must be worth more to your family than its financial value. You wouldn’t want to walk away from this kind of history.”
He watched Marco and his mother share a long look.
Marco raised his mother’s hand to his lips before placing it on the table and covering it with his own. “I already walked away once. My brother did too. Sometimes you need to leave your history behind to find what you really value. Besides, perhaps your mother will sleep easier somewhere she has chosen for herself. A fresh start for her somewhere that allows her to give you your freedom.”
Aiden sighed when Signora de Luca nodded. Maybe his mom saw his outburst over the phone the same way he viewed Levi’s brother—turning down an opportunity that offered a better future.
“I will call her. I promise.” He felt easier after talking.
They ate lunch sitting in the shady part of the courtyard until Signora de Luca started yawning. Marco joined Aiden upstairs after settling his mamma for her siesta.
This was the best part of Aiden’s too-long and far-too-lazy days here.
Marco joined him in their bedroom, where Aiden waited, already naked, his thickening cock in hand. Marco sounded amused as he quickly pulled off his clothes and climbed in bed beside him.
