by Amy Lane
“That’s sweet. So, uh….” And just like that, Ross was back to feeling self-conscious. “About that divorce….”
Tenner let out a breath. “It was my fault. I… I never should have told her I was gay.”
Ross’s eyebrows went up to his hairline. “When was that?”
“About a year and a half before the divorce. I… she wanted passion and excitement. I mean, we’re not even thirty yet. She deserved some. And I was not….” He made motions with his hands. “You know.”
Well, this was embarrassing. “Alas, no. Very bisexual. But I’ve been with guys who’ve been all or nothing, so let’s say I do.”
Tenner rolled his eyes. “I should be so lucky. Anyway, I thought it would make her feel better—it wasn’t her issue—she’s beautiful and smart. And she used to be funny. It was a me thing, and she shouldn’t have to live with that.”
“What happened?”
“She stopped touching me, period,” Tenner muttered as if he was ashamed.
And Ross, who had shown up for the mac and cheese and the adorable single father, found his chest becoming very, very tight. “Like, no hugs or….”
“Or holding hands or kisses on the cheek or hanging out in front of the television. No smiles over jokes or telling each other about our day or… none of the good parts. It was like I killed everything between us, even our friendship. And we were really good friends.” He shrugged. “I thought.”
“Oh, baby—” Ross reached across the table to cover his hand at the very least, but Tenner jerked away.
“I should go check on Piper. She gets lost singing to herself sometimes.” And with that, he disappeared up the stairs, leaving Ross to wonder what in the hell he was doing there.
Little Bubbles of Hope
TENNER MOSTLY expected Ross to be gone when he got downstairs with Piper.
He got it—he did.
Tenner had been a hot quick fuck in the dark, and Ross wanted more of that. He’d been human and kind with Piper, and damned seductive as they’d been preparing dinner. But nobody signed on for the long haul when all they’d done was bang someone against a cinderblock wall, right?
And Tenner’s long haul was obviously fraught with some damage. There was the kid, the ex-wife, the obvious caveat that Tenner didn’t do quick and easy. So why would Ross want to hang around for that?
But Tenner couldn’t lie to himself. After those years with Nina, trying to be straight, he’d learned that only led to heartbreak. So he had to admit… he’d sort of liked the guy.
That upper lip curl Ross had when he was being particularly full of himself? Yeah, on the one hand it pissed Tenner off, but on the other?
Dead sexy.
And he’d listened and taken his ration of crap and given back as good as he got.
And he’d been honest about leaving, about the possibility of his return. He’d even seemed to know why it was important.
It wasn’t that Tenner was looking for Mr. Right, or even Mr. Right Now, but God, he refused to start another relationship that was out and out doomed from the get-go. He had to have learned something from those loveless years with Nina, right?
So it had been nice having male company—an adult—in his kitchen, someone who knew a side of Tenner that Tenner had barely shared with anyone.
That surprise kiss had been… tremendous. God, so sweet.
But as Tenner set out Piper’s PJs and made sure her clothes from Nina’s were clean and folded in her backpack, and her “daddy’s house” clothes were in the hamper, he had to admit, he kept waiting for the sound of the front door opening and Ross’s casual, “Thanks for dinner, Ten, see you around!”
But it never happened.
Piper fell asleep while he was loosely braiding her hair for bed. One minute she was sitting up, talking about how someday she would play baseball, and the next minute, her little head had slumped to the side and Tenner had to stretch her out in bed and finish the braid there.
“Night, pumpkin,” he whispered, kissing her forehead, but she didn’t wake up.
He wandered downstairs dispiritedly, wondering how Ross had managed to leave without making any noise, and was surprised to hear Mario Kart in the background.
“Hey,” Ross said from the couch, where he was wielding the remote controller. “You didn’t have any passwords enabled, so I got a head start.”
Tenner found he was staring at the cocky blond god with hunger in his eyes, so he said, “Not much of one,” to cover.
That lip curl, the dead sexy one, made an appearance. “Want to see what I can really do?”
He hadn’t left. He was there, crouched in the stuffed chair, ready to play Mario Kart with Piper and Tenner.
“Sure,” Tenner said. “Piper’s asleep, though. It’ll be just me.”
Ross slid him a sort of sideways smile. “Not a hardship. Now come sit and pick your character. Let the asskicking begin!”
As. If.
TWO HOURS later, they were still neck and neck, and Ross called a time-out—not a halt. He’d been very careful to say it wasn’t over until someone was wiping the floor with someone else, but a pause, while he went to use the bathroom and fetch them both another beer.
It was their third since Piper had gone to bed, and as Ross came back and handed Tenner his, it dawned on Tenner that Ross might not be okay to drive.
“You can stay in the guest bedroom,” he said guilelessly. After all, Ross was a friend. A guy friend. Over for some beers and some gaming. “You don’t have to drive back to Pat’s like this, or take an Uber.”
Ross grimaced. “I’m not sure there’s an Uber out here this late anyway. Wow. I’m sorry.” He sat down on the couch next to Tenner this time, and not in the chair kitty-corner to him. “I honestly didn’t mean to get too buzzed to drive.”
Tenner shrugged. “Pat’s done it a time or two. So have some of the other guys we work with. Piper won’t see anything wrong with it.”
“Mm.” Ross took a hearty swig of his beer as if fortifying himself. “There’s not, you know. Even if I didn’t sleep in the guest bedroom, there’s nothing wrong with me staying the night.”
Tenner stiffened. “I am not—”
Ross held up his hand. “No, that’s not what I meant. No, of course you can’t expose your daughter to every guy you date. I get that. I really get why it’s important for any guy in your life to be Daddy’s friend for a good long time before you tell her anything different, you know?”
Tenner nodded. “It would be the same if I was dating a woman,” he said, and Ross shook his head.
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“Yes, yes, it would—”
“No, no, it wouldn’t. I mean, the same rule would apply, Ten, but look at you. If you were dating women, do you think you’d have been so hungry Friday night? Would you have gone—what? How long was it?”
“Two and a half years,” Tenner muttered, hardly able to believe that dry spell was over.
“Yeah. If you and Nina had split up and you’d been dating women, do you really think you would have gone so long after the divorce to get you some?”
“That’s insufferably crude,” Tenner said before taking a sip of his beer. And belching.
Ross laughed softly. “Yeah, that’s the problem. I’m being crude. No, fess up. There’s something more going on here.”
Tenner regarded him with a certain amount of distrust, which was hard, because Ross didn’t get any less pretty after three beers.
“It’s Nina,” he said after a minute. “In the custody settlement, I get fifty percent custody, more or less, because swapping Piper out over the school week seemed unnecessary to both of us. So we try to make that up over the summer. And Nina travels a lot with work, so we do that too. But the legal agreement says, and I quote, because she could afford a truly fancy lawyer, that as soon as I start ‘flaunting my lifestyle,’ we will have to revisit the agreement. I could lose custody completely.”
Ross’s eyes were all o
ver the place and so was his expression. It went from disbelief to anger to confusion and back to disbelief again.
“Can she do that?” he asked finally.
“I don’t know!” Tenner protested. “I don’t. I signed it. Because I wanted it to be as quick and as painless as possible. And as long as I got to see my daughter again, it felt like a fair trade.”
“It was not!” Ross argued, and apparently, he’d settled on anger. “What does that even mean?”
“I assume it means she doesn’t want me to date men,” Tenner said, shrugging.
“Or maybe it means she doesn’t want you to have key parties with a lot of cocaine and a disco ball!” Ross argued. “Because what kind of lifestyle does she think you’re going to flaunt? Mediterranean salad and microbrews aren’t exactly noteworthy as a lifestyle. Does she have a thing with computer engineers? I mean, most of the time I assume they’re sort of boring, but I kind of like you, so you get a pass—”
“Thanks so much.”
“Yeah, well, you’re sarcastic and that turns my key. But oh my God! No wonder you were uptight! Tenner, that’s no way to live!”
“Well, it’s certainly no way to date,” Tenner muttered, taking another swig of beer.
Ross dropped his chin to his chest and massaged the back of his neck with one hand. “Tenner, man, you deserve more than a quick fuck against a wall. How are you ever going to meet someone if you’re afraid to even step a toe out of line?”
Tenner set his mostly empty beer down and straightened, then got up and moved behind the couch. “I have no idea,” he said, tired enough to not dodge the question. “But I’m not meeting the perfect guy and getting married tonight.” He paused. “Here—put both your hands down by your side. I’m going to show you some neck stretches, okay?”
“Gonna rub one out, I mean rub my neck?” Ross said, and he must have been tired and drunk, because so far he’d been more subtle than that.
“Sure, I’ll rub one out on your neck.” Tenner giggled a little. “Seriously, you’ve been resting all your weight on your elbows, and that’s not good for your shoulders or your neck. Now straighten up and look straight ahead.”
Ross did, and Tenner placed careful fingers on the sides of his neck and his jawline. “Now look over your left shoulder—stretch—no, don’t use your fingers. Just look as far as you can for a good ten seconds.”
Tenner counted silently to himself, the soft heat of Ross’s skin burning through his fingertips.
“Return to neutral. Now, look the other way.”
And again. Tenner’s palms itched with the desire to cup Ross’s jaw, to lean his head in and nuzzle the back of his neck. God, the alcohol was part of it, but the warmth, the closeness, the permission—the intimacy—all of it was making Tenner’s skin throb with the promise of heat.
He must have paused too long since that last exercise, because Ross’s voice came as a surprise. “Whatever you’re thinking about, go ahead.”
Tenner took a step forward, surreptitiously checking the staircase with his eyes to make sure there was no small person there to see things she shouldn’t.
Then, very carefully, he ran his lips along the back of Ross’s neck. Ross hummed in his throat and leaned back against the couch, tilting his head and exposing his jawline.
Tenner leaned a little more and nibbled up the side, to his jaw, to his ear. He sucked on the lobe for a moment and watched as Ross arched his hips off the couch.
“You like that,” Tenner whispered, and Ross arched again.
“I’m a total freak for my neck and ears,” Ross admitted. “How far do you want this to go?”
Tenner started to withdraw, but Ross turned his head and caught his lips first. A quiet kiss, lingering just enough for tongue, for a gentle gasp of acceptance, and then ending.
“Not tonight,” Tenner rasped.
Ross’s slow grin made him regret those words almost instantly. “I’ll be back,” Ross promised. “Maybe not tomorrow—I gotta work late. But Tuesday. You doing anything Tuesday?”
Tenner thought but it was hard, because he was still leaning over the couch and he could still smell Ross’s grass and earth and sun smell, which apparently didn’t go away when he was indoors, and ah, God. “Dance. Piper has dance class, and she likes it when both Nina and I watch her.”
“Aw, man! I’ve got softball practice with Pat Wednesday night!” Ross’s face lit up. “You could come too! We don’t even have to… I mean I’d like to… but come! Maybe we can figure out how to help your team limp forward a little.”
“Into the T-Ball leagues?” Tenner asked dryly. Well, Ross had been there. He’d seen what a disaster they’d been.
Ross raised his ringers to Tenner’s cheek, rubbing a little against the rasp. “Yeah,” Ross said. “Do that. We can have all Thursday after work together, and I’ll leave Friday morning. I’ll bring clothes Wednesday night….” He paused and his eyes searched Tenner’s. “A sleepover. If that’s okay.”
Tenner bit his lip, suddenly embarrassed. On the one hand, cow and barn were never destined to meet again. But on the other… oh, had this been like a first date?
“Sure,” he graveled. “Sure.” All his reservations about Ross leaving, about Piper getting attached—they could deal with that, right? Ross could come over Wednesday, and people could assume he was spending the night in the guest room, the way he’d be doing tonight, right? It’s not like Tenner would get attached to this gorgeous roller coaster of a man who liked to laugh and play Mario Kart and who cut a hot dog piece in half on Piper’s plate so she could win the game of who had the most hot dogs.
Right?
“It’ll be all right, Ten,” Ross said gently, brushing their lips together again. “All the things you’re thinking, making you frown like that—they’re gonna be okay.”
Tenner kissed him one more time and pulled away. “Wednesday and Thursday sound good,” he said, carefully not addressing anything else. “Are you up for one more game, or are you ready to crash?”
“One more game,” Ross said. “C’mere, sit next to me. We can pretend we’re straight.”
But when Tenner sat down, Ross scooted over until their thighs were touching, and whenever it was Tenner’s turn to play, Ross rested his hand on Tenner’s knee. And before Ross took his turn at the controls, he snuck his head in for a quick kiss.
Fun—yes. And a little juvenile, considering what they’d done in that alcove. But it was, in its way, wholesome. Innocent. It was two kids who’d never had sex before enjoying all the excitement of finding other things to do.
And every time Ross touched him, that insistent throb of arousal under his skin grew in power and proportion until it became a massive, waiting monster in his groin and his chest.
Wednesday and Thursday, he thought.
It was like waiting for prom, except he was going with a boy this time.
The Moons in Our Orbit
THE BRIGHTLY blocked comforter and matching area rug over the hardwood floor certainly made Ross feel welcome in the guest room.
“The shower is fully stocked,” Tenner said, lingering in the doorway. “We get up around six thirty. I mean, you don’t have to be out by then, but—”
“I’ll be gone by then,” Ross said, taking a step forward so they were standing close. “I usually do jeans and a dress shirt for work, so I need to change. Nice room.”
“Thanks. I, uh, had my parents in mind when I decorated.” He shrugged. “They stay at Nina’s when they visit Piper.”
Ross’s heart wasn’t getting less bruised. “Because…?”
“Because I came out to everybody. I was destroying my family. Did you expect my parents to throw me a party?”
“Mine did,” Ross argued, stung. “I mean, when I came out as bi. I mean, it was my sixteenth birthday party, but my mom’s a total smartass. She made my cake rainbow and had ‘Just tell us who’s coming home for dinner,’ put on the top.”
Tenner was regarding him in shoc
k, his mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out, so Ross kept going.
“It was the first time Desi had Pat over for dinner. I remember her looking at him with this sort of challenge, and Patrick sort of rolled his eyes. He said, ‘If he brings home a guy, make sure he can play baseball. That is all I ask.’”
Tenner narrowed his eyes. “You lie.”
“You know the guy. Tell me if I’m lying!”
Tenner laughed suddenly. “He was begging. He wanted me to play for the Sunspots so bad. I guess if I didn’t play for them—”
“Then the team couldn’t play, and if the team didn’t play, there wouldn’t be enough people for the league, blah blah blah. He was lying.”
“He was not!”
“He was exaggerating. Trust me. I get that you’ve known him for what? Six years?”
“Seven,” Tenner told him.
“Yeah. You have no idea of the depths that man will sink to play or see a baseball game. It’s insane.” Ross sobered. “Anyway. I got a cake. You got a raw deal. I’m sorry.”
Tenner’s shrug almost undid him. “I got Piper. I win.”
He made to leave, but Ross stopped him with fingers along his jaw. “A good night kiss,” he breathed, not asking.
Tenner opened his mouth, not arguing, and Ross tasted him again. Ah! This wasn’t getting any worse. He tasted of beer, of course, but the last few hours had made the taste more Tenner than beer.
And Tenner—fierce competitor, responsible father, upright citizen—had an amazingly wild undertone.
Ross pulled back, breathing hard, and leaned his forehead against Tenner’s. “You and me, we’re going to have a good time together,” he promised rashly. There were so many reasons this couldn’t work; he wasn’t so cocky he couldn’t see them.
He needed more of that taste inside him, more of that complexity, the bitter and the sweet. He wasn’t ready for it to end now. He just wasn’t.
