Texas Pride

by Kindle Alexander

  Austin changed up his sun streaked hair, adding mousse. He styled it in the slightly disarrayed look so popular these days. He chose his Armani slacks with a matching light weight cashmere sweater, both in colors to compliment his complexion. The Italian leather loafers came from the shoe collection he started fifteen years earlier after getting his first real movie contract. The shoes cost a pretty penny back then. Made of the softest leather on the market, they felt incredible on his feet, giving him confidence. They also matched his clothing perfectly.

  He chose to wear his Rolex on his wrist and checked his reflection in the mirror before spraying himself with cologne. With one last glance, Austin checked his teeth as the knock on the back door sounded. Judging by the time on his watch, Kitt was punctual.

  As he made his way down the hall, the wide open window showed Kitt finger combing his hair. The windblown look did wonders for the guy who stood in his starched Wranglers, polished boots and a pearl button, solid white button down. Standard dress-up cowboy attire. The thought that Kitt had dressed up for him made Austin grin. He went straight to the back door and opened it.

  “Thank you for coming over.” Austin used the grin most people said was his most charming. He looked Kitt over as he stepped back to let him in. During the time they’d spent working together, Austin had studied Kitt enough to know his hair wasn’t copper like he’d convinced himself in the beginning, but a natural darker brown. The sun had just worked its magic on it, bringing out the natural blond, gold and auburn highlights, giving it a rich depth. Kitt’s eyes, hair and skin tone all matched, and as far as Austin was concerned, Kitt was an embodiment of a tanned chiseled Greek god standing before him.

  “Sure, thanks for invitin’ me over.” Kitt stepped inside, tucking his fingers in his front pockets. He didn’t move more than a step inside the house. “I didn’t see Mike’s truck out there.”

  Austin assumed it was manners more than nerves that kept Kitt right at the door. He needed to invite Kitt in.

  “Make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink? Beer, wine, mixed drink?” Austin asked shutting the door behind Kitt. He resisted the overwhelming urge to lean in closer and take a deeper breath of Kitt’s scent, because from where he stood, Kitt smelled fabulous.

  “Beer’s fine,” Kitt said, and now, Austin realized it was nerves rather than manners keeping Kitt back.

  “You drink Bud Light, right? I had some delivered today.” Austin walked in the kitchen to the refrigerator. The living room led into the kitchen with a large granite bar separating the two rooms.

  “Yeah, but whatever you have that’s cold is fine.”

  “I was just heading outside to start the grill. I’m a little behind on the steaks, but the baked potatoes should be done and warming, and the salad’s ready. You do eat salad, right?” Austin asked handing Kitt the beer as he placed the steaks on the kitchen island.

  “Sure. I guess,” Kitt said, his eyes constantly tracking Austin, but he didn’t move from his spot.

  “Good, I’ve got an excellent spinach and feta deal in there. I think you’ll like it. Just a sec, I’ll be right back.” Austin stepped out and made quick work of starting the grill that sat on the porch close to the back door. It didn’t take long and he was back inside. Austin noticed Kitt had taken a seat on the bar stool that he’d stood behind just minutes ago. As Austin watched him, Kitt took a long, long, swig of the beer in his hand. Austin was suddenly struck by how good Kitt looked in his house. He was a cozy kind of guy, just like Austin’s house had turned out to be. Okay, well, Kitt was a cozy kind of guy when he wasn’t bowed up tight like right now.

  “You look nice tonight,” Austin said.

  “So do you.” The words came automatically before Kitt narrowed his eyes and looked down. His face reddened and he turned away.

  “Thank you, I did a quick change. I’m glad you decided to come tonight. How do you like your steak?” Austin asked as he reached for the plate of steaks.

  “Medium rare.” It wasn’t quite the one word answer Austin had come to expect from Kitt, but close.

  “Me too.” Austin looked up at Kitt with a grin. “I thought we’d eat inside, but if you’d rather eat outside, I can move everything out.”

  “No, it’s fine. Where’s Mike?” Kitt asked. He was up to five words now.

  “I’m guessing in town, but I don’t know for sure. I think he’s got the hots for the young woman who brings the groceries. He may be heading somewhere else.”

  “Laura?” Kitt asked, draining his beer. Austin wound his way back into the kitchen and reached in the refrigerator to get him another. He slid it across the bar before dumping the empty bottle in the trash.

  “I guess. Short, Hispanic, pretty...he might have said something about a date, I’m not sure. Let me go put these on, I’ll be back.”

  The night was full on now and Austin didn’t turn on the porch light. He didn’t want to draw bugs to the food. He worked from the light shining through the window to lay the steaks on the sizzling hot grill.

  “I thought you and Mike were needin’ insemination information,” Kitt said from behind Austin startling him a bit. He stood a few feet away and held Austin’s beer out to him. He took it and took a drink as he weighed his answer. He extended a hand to the table on the patio for Kitt to take a seat. Nothing brilliant came to his mind so he decided on the truth.

  “I must confess. I’d love to listen to you talk about artificial insemination, if you’re so inclined, but this was more of a get to know my neighbor kind of invitation.”

  Kitt stayed quiet for several long moments, just staring at Austin under the weight of the moonlight climbing high in the night sky.

  “Okay. So no Mike?”

  “I didn’t ask him to come. I can call him up if it makes you more comfortable,” Austin offered taking a seat at the table.

  “No, it’s fine.” Kitt took another long drink of his beer.

  “You were a great help to us the last few days. You and I got off on the wrong foot, I just wanted to make sure we were good,” Austin said.

  “I’m good.” And he was back to two word sentences.

  “I can see you are.” That got Austin nothing but silence. “Good with everything.”

  Kitt nodded. There was more silence and both men sat staring at the other. Finally, Austin rose to turn the steaks and shut the lid before coming back to the small table.

  “Would you like another beer?”

  “Sure.” Not that the one word didn’t answer his question, but Austin hoped for a little more.

  Awkwardness surrounded them again, and much to Austin’s frustration, Kitt offered nothing for him to grab on to keep them talking, nor did he seem to want to instigate conversation himself. Austin schooled his features, keeping his face pleasant as he excused himself and went back inside. Silently, he berated himself. He’d completely failed to make Kitt comfortable, and he was rushing this dinner. He should have never started cooking so quickly. What was he thinking? Well, he knew exactly what he thought: if they got dinner done and out of the way, nothing would stop them from filling the rest of the night with hot sex.

  Austin struggled within himself. He didn’t know how to recover, how to make Kitt feel more comfortable. He worked quickly placing the salad and baked potato condiments on the table. The steaks were close to being done, and he grabbed two more beers before going back outside.

  Austin took it as a good sign Kitt hadn’t left. He handed one to Kitt before walking over to check the grill.

  Austin forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down. They’d have dinner together. They’d sit and talk during dinner. He would bring the conversation to their sexuality and let Kitt know he was gay. Certainly, it would be all it took. Things weren’t as bad as they seemed, he just needed to get them inside over the intimacy of dinner. The steaks looked done, and he put them on a plate before looking up at Kitt who stared out into the night.

  “Let’s eat.”


  Chapter 8

  Well, if Austin were being honest, he’d rate this dinner experience somewhere around a three. A three out of about a thousand, and that measure only applied if a thousand meant things were just barely fair.

  They ate together at the kitchen table. Austin sat directly to Kitt’s right, close enough so that they kept bumping knees together under the table. The bumping was intentional, of course. Austin made it a slight caress, falling just short of running his foot up Kitt’s leg. The whole thing totally turned him on except Kitt seemed to want nothing to do with it. So much so, he angled himself until he sat awkwardly at the table. Completely out of Austin’s reach.

  Austin switched them to wine. It was a great bottle, something many years old that he’d brought with him from California. Kitt drank it like it was water, pretty much finishing the whole bottle himself. About two minutes after sitting down, Kitt started talking about artificial insemination and kept going on and on through the salad, steaks and baked potatoes.

  Now, had Austin paid attention, he would know for sure. But since he really hadn’t, he could only guess Kitt started at the conception of the idea of artificial insemination and moved through each year’s struggles and highlights until they reached using it in the day to day life of a farmer…yeah, Austin was done hearing about artificial insemination.

  Austin picked at his food. He never took full bites and drank quite a bit of the second bottle of wine he opened. The original plan was to slow dinner down to keep Kitt at the table drinking more wine, but now, he couldn’t eat because all hope of turning this dinner around to anything positive faded fast. Kitt, on the other hand, ate quickly. It was amazing how Kitt could eat so fast, yet never break his lecture of agriculture management. Kitt couldn’t have been in his house for more than an hour, but he could see the other man physically trying to find his way out of the situation and right out the door.

  What Austin couldn’t tell was whether the bulge in Kitt’s Wranglers was due to his interest in Austin, or whether Fisker might be waiting for him. Maybe, Austin got in the way of their plans tonight. That caused a scowl to form and determination to set in. He wasn’t going to let Kitt slip away so easily. If Kitt refused to give him the chance to romance him, then Austin would change tactics. Kitt was a hardworking, straight forward kind of a guy, and that’s how Austin would play it. Should’ve done it like that from the beginning.

  “So talk to Mike and let me know when you’re interested in movin’ forward with any of it. I have no problem helpin’ you out. I’ve got the equipment, even the storage devices. I do it for everyone around here, and I won’t charge you anything to help make up for that first day we met. Thank you for the dinner. I should get goin’. Want me to help with the dishes?” Kitt rattled on like a machine gun and started to rise from his seat.

  “How long have you hidden?” Austin asked as straight forward as he could.

  Kitt’s nervous energy faltered. The question clearly confused him. Austin pushed his chair away from the table, sat back in his seat, crossing his right leg over his left knee and picked up his glass of wine to take a sip, all the while looking Kitt directly in the eyes.

  “I don’t hide it. Everyone around here has the same offer I gave you. Well, not the no charge part, but everything else.”

  Austin reached forward, placing a hand on Kitt’s hand as he started to pick his plate up.

  “Kitt, hold up. Give me a minute,” Austin said purposefully directing his gaze to Kitt’s chair. He waited until Kitt sat back down, and then nodded his head to Kitt’s glass of wine. “Don’t run off so quickly. I have a couple of questions for you and I think you misunderstood the first one. Do you hide from everyone, or just from the people around here?”

  Kitt didn’t answer. He just gnawed on his bottom lip with his eyes trained on Austin. The nervous energy turned into a shell shocked look.

  “Kitt, it’s the biggest reason I’m here. Please understand, I’m not calling you out, I’m just tired of always hiding, and I’ve never been any good at guessing who’s what. I am the master of hiding though, so I can spot it in someone from a mile away. I’m gay, Kitt. And I think you are too.” They never broke eye contact as Austin revealed his biggest secret to Kitt.

  “You’re gay?” Kitt asked.

  “Yes.” Austin said it with more confidence than he felt. It was only the third time ever in his entire life he’d said it out loud.

  “But you’re gettin’ married.” It wasn’t really a question, but a statement of fact, and it clearly confused Kitt by the look on his face.

  “If I was getting married would I be here without her? Cara’s paid and paid very well indeed. I’m trusting you with my secret. Only a handful of other people know about me, and honestly, I’ve had the hots for you since I first laid eyes on you.” Austin let that sit there between them, never breaking their eye contact. A blush slowly crept onto Kitt’s cheeks.

  “Do you date?” Austin asked after a moment of silence. It was really more of a ‘Do you randomly fuck?’, but he changed it at the last second.

  “No.” Kitt’s response came immediately. He still hadn’t admitted anything to Austin, but at this point, Austin assumed the yes had been given.

  “What about Fisker?” Austin wasn’t going to leave anything out.

  “How do you know that?” Kitt asked, the blush crossed with a little bit of alarm on his face.

  “My security watches the place from every angle. I’m hiding here until people stop caring about me. I’m seriously done with that other world. I’m done living that kind of lifestyle. They caught the car out on the highway. It doesn’t fit the area, they tailed it.” Austin kept it simple, not explaining anything more.

  “You saw a Fisker and decided I was gay?” Kitt asked incredulously.

  “No. Seeing the driver helped me come to that conclusion, but it was the Andrew Christian underwear you wore on the first day I saw you that gave me the true hint.”

  “Damn, I knew I should’ve ditched those.” Kitt muttered breaking eye contact with Austin for the first time since he sat down. His brow narrowed and his lips pursed, but his eyes came back up to meet Austin’s as he heard the next question.

  “Hmm… I guess that’s as close to a yes as I’ll get from you. It feels good to say it out loud though, you should try it. I’ve hidden for eighteen long years. Is Fisker your boyfriend?” Austin asked.

  “No,” Kitt said quickly, shaking his head, but stopped. “Shit! Okay, maybe. I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” Austin asked, still sitting in his casual stance. He took a sip of the wine to hide the fierce jealousy Kitt’s simple ‘I don’t know’ provoked within him.

  “No, he’s not my boyfriend. But all of the sudden he’s pushin’ for it,” Kitt explained.

  “You don’t want it?” Austin asked and reached over to fill Kitt’s glass of wine for nothing more than something to help hide the aggression.

  “No, it was good the way it was. He made time for me, and I drove to Dallas when I could.”

  “How often?” Austin asked, somewhat relieved, but still possessive.

  “Once a month, give or take a week or two,” Kitt said, before draining his newly filled glass of wine in one long swallow.

  “Hmm. And now he wants more. So he’s planning on coming down here regularly?” Austin kept asking questions trying to get a clear image of what exactly Kitt’s relationship with the Fisker guy was and if there really was a chance for him in Kitt’s life.

  “He wants to. I don’t know,” Kitt replied shrugging.

  “Well, to come to the real reason I asked you to dinner. I definitely want more.” Austin finally got to the point of this whole evening.

  His revelation seemed to confuse Kitt. Austin leaned forward and took Kitt’s hand, threading their fingers together. Kitt’s eyes stayed glued on Austin. He didn’t necessarily participate in the handholding, but didn’t pull away either. Austin was forced to continue with his speech with no
real encouragement whatsoever.

  “I want more. I’m hiding here for an indefinite amount of time. The frenzy it would cause if I came out would hurt everyone involved in my life. I need to get them settled before I make any further moves. In saying that, I think I’d like to pass this time here with you.”

  “Just sex?” Kitt asked immediately. He finally showed some signs of interest when his fingers tightened around Austin’s.

  “It’s a good place to start…” Austin didn’t move a muscle. He just stayed leaning forward with Kitt’s hand in his, and waited for him to answer.

  “Keep it under wraps?” Kitt nodded as he spoke.

  “Yes, absolutely,” Austin said, and Kitt nodded again. It seemed they struck an agreement. The tone of the entire conversation stayed very matter of fact which completely contradicted what was actually going on inside of Austin. He forced himself to stay easy and rejected the notion to jump up right way, push Kitt down on the table and shove his dick straight inside Kitt’s ass. “Tell me, how do you like it?”

  “Sex?” Kitt asked.

  “Yes.” They never broke eye contact.

  “I usually give, but I like to receive. I just don’t get it very much. How do you like it?” Kitt increased his hold on Austin’s hand. They were talking so casually about things. Getting all the ground work laid out seemed just like something Kitt would do. Austin could see how he made such a great student and excellent business man. Kitt wasn’t the rush in kind of guy at all.

  “Every way’s the right way for me, but I’m going be honest. I’ve fantasized about you pretty much nonstop since I first saw you,” Austin said. He leaned his body a little bit closer to Kitt. He wanted to kiss him so badly. Kiss him, stroke him, make love to him, do everything he’d dreamed of, but instead, he forced himself to stay seated and talking.

  “Really?” That seemed to surprise Kitt.