Room for Rent

by Nicole Stewart

  “Yikes! Let’s not,” Caleb demurred, knowing the comedic answer would appease his audience more than a real explanation would. People behind him chuckled in amusement, proving his point. “In terms of my secret love life or lack of, l’d like to keep that a mystery, too. This time around, I’m not looking to be infamous or notorious. I’m not here to create a reputation separate from my art. I’ve been there, done that. Thanks for spending time with me. I better go and mix and mingle.” Caleb waved and flashed his most beguiling smile for the camera.

  He breathed a sigh of relief as he sat at the bar and snapped for the bartender, but someone else eased onto the barstool next to him and flashed a credit card that caught the bartender’s attention faster. “Two cognacs, please,” the young man murmured.

  Caleb gripped the edge of the bar, thinking his mind was playing tricks on him. He looked closer at the man’s thick black hair and felt butterflies flutter through him. No way possible, he thought. Did he miss Mason so much that he saw and heard him everywhere? Caleb shook his head at himself. “One for me, as well.”

  “Don’t worry. I have you covered,” Mason replied with a slow smile.

  Caleb blinked in shock and his heart stopped beating as his eyes flew over the intimately familiar face. “What the hell are you doing here?” The words fell from his lips.

  Mason arched a brow, his smile tightening. “I came to see what all the fuss was about, but I don’t want to intrude. I figured you made it hard for me to find you on purpose,” he murmured, taking the drink the bartender set before him. He clinked his glass to Caleb’s untouched one and settled back with an arm on the bar, half-turned toward Caleb. “So, do you want me to leave?”

  “No!” Caleb slipped from the barstool and instinctively stepped into Mason’s arms, even though he knew people would soon put two-and-two together. He should have whispered discreetly for him to leave, but he could not form the words. He clenched Mason’s shirt in his fists and hugged him closer. “I just can’t believe you’re real.” He blinked rapidly.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” Mason whispered.

  Caleb sucked in a breath and forced himself to pull away. “Shit. The minute they see you, they’ll harass you with questions,” he warned.

  “They, who?”

  “The press. That’s how you found me, isn’t it? I tried to keep a low profile, but the collection is doing so much better than Gregoire or I ever expected. If you’re seen here, however, the buzz will go from being about the artwork to being about the gossip. You don’t want that. Your parents will find out.”

  “I think they know,” Mason replied, blushing.

  Caleb shook his head. “Yeah, but you have to consider how a big gossip story about our history will make your friends and family back home feel. Come on.” Caleb thrilled at the welcome weight of Mason’s hand in his as he dragged him past the bar and through a door marked Employees Only. He found an exit onto a back alley.

  “Well, this is familiar,” Mason laughed breathlessly.

  Caleb groaned and turned quickly, pushing him against the brick wall. “Yes,” he whispered. His mouth slanted over Mason’s in a hungry kiss. His hands raced over Mason’s chest. Their bodies strained together, and Caleb felt his manhood respond instantly to the contact. He was on fire for him. Groaning, he forced himself to think clearly. “No! You shouldn’t be here. What about Riesling?”

  Mason gathered his face and kissed him harder, faster, shaking his head. “She does not matter.”

  Caleb broke away and paced to cool his arousal. “She matters. You stayed back for her,” he countered. The pain he had managed to forget came roaring to life at the memory of Mason turning down his offer to run away together. It was not something a desire-laden kiss could erase.

  “I left the same night you left,” he whispered. “Caleb, I searched for you for months. I exhausted most of the funds you paid me to sit for you. I’ve been gone ever since. When I couldn’t find you, I decided to use the last of the money to see some of the world. My travels, in a roundabout way, led me back to you. I have a job with a travel magazine, and I convinced them to send me here to cover some of the art scene in the Bay Area.” He held up his press pass.

  “What are you saying? If you’ve been searching for me, then, why did you tell me you couldn’t come with me?” Caleb challenged.

  Mason dropped his hands on Caleb’s shoulders and dragged him back into his arms. “Because my brother asked me to be his best man. I had six months until the wedding. I needed to be there for the planning and rehearsals. I felt like I had to be there for my family. That was the part you misunderstood. It was never about Riesling.” He smiled.

  Caleb’s eyes widened as he did the math. “You missed the wedding?”

  Mason nodded. “They got married a few days ago.”

  “I was so angry with you.” Caleb brought Mason’s lips close to his. “Turns out, I was the one being selfish. I had no intention of making you choose between me and your brother. I should have given you the chance to explain.”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s behind us. All that matters is the here and now,” Mason whispered heatedly.

  Chuckling, Caleb replied, “Our stolen moments.”

  “Yes,” Mason groaned. Caleb’s tongue swept through his mouth. Mason gripped Caleb’s belt buckle, throbbing at the thought of having him inside.

  “You make me want to shirk my responsibilities,” Caleb sighed. “Unfortunately, I have to be in there. This is my show.”

  “Will you come to my hotel?”

  “No. I want you with me. You’ll come to my apartment. You have no idea how much I don’t want to let you go right now,” Caleb said. Mason had a pretty good idea. Caleb cupped him by the back of his neck and gave him another slow, sensual kiss that conveyed both urgency and a deeper longing.

  “Am I allowed to see my portraits?” Mason asked teasingly.

  Caleb shrugged uncertainly but smiled. “We have to stay apart in there. I’m telling you, the minute they see us together, they’ll realize who you are.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen?”

  “Put it this way. The last person who made the front pages with me played a large part in damn near ruining my career,” Caleb laughed.

  “Point taken,” Mason conceded. “So, we’re back at it with the stolen moments?”

  Caleb exhaled shakily. “Somehow, we keep ending up here. Is it fate?”

  Mason kissed him lightly. “All I know is I traveled the globe, looking for you and I’m not leaving without you tonight.”

  Caleb entered through the back door, while Mason went around to the front of the building to reenter like any other guest. He grabbed a brochure and made his way around the room. Near the entrance were oversized prints of the portraits. The whole thing felt surreal.

  Mason wove his way deeper into the building and nodded, impressed at the smaller portraits that offered a more intimate look. People crowded around the pictures, making approving noises. Mason stood behind a group and studied the picture. Somehow Caleb had captured him exactly, conveying the pressures Mason had felt during the sittings along with a certain amount of whimsy.

  The works of art on display were passionate, melancholic, wistful, and adoring. To see himself as Caleb saw him made Mason feel vulnerable, yet understood on a very deep level. His heart swelled with pride at what Caleb had accomplished. He brought out his camera and began taking photographs to accompany his write-up for the travel magazine.

  Mason studied other images where Caleb had taken a different approach. The artist had reimagined Mason as a child. The likeness was so convincing that Mason wondered if Caleb had snuck a photograph from his mother. He chuckled as he followed the timeline in the art. In another painting, he was a well-dressed, well-behaved teenager sitting at a piano with bored eyes.

  He aged from one canvas to the next. Five works pictured him in various poses in his twenties. In his forties he was in a coffeehouse in Italy and in a flower fil
led field. He was in all the places he had imagined himself. The twenty-one paintings took him well into old age, and Mason marveled at Caleb’s work. In the last painting, he stood before a white clapboard farmhouse, his face lined and with many stories to tell.

  His future self stared back at him, and something in the eyes spoke secrets that Mason fully understood. He was looking at Caleb, who was just out of frame in each of the paintings. Caleb had painted himself into his life. The theme struck Mason deeply. An entire series dedicated to growing old together.

  His gaze skated to the artist in the black suit, moving through the crowd, and they locked eyes. They forced themselves to stay away apart. Listening to the other press staff present, Mason began to get a sense of what Caleb had been talking about in the alley. The big question of the night was who was Caleb O’Hara’s muse. Mason ignored the gossip and watched the clock. He could not wait for the event to be over. He wanted to find his way into Caleb’s bed the way he had in his dreams. He wanted to make up for the months they had spent apart. The thing about stolen moments was that it was impossible to know when the next one would come around.

  Looking at the images around him, Caleb had opened his heart and told him everything he could not say with words. Mason heard him loud and clear. But he could not stay as he had to chase his dreams. Mason was only scheduled to be in the area for an all too meager two weeks.

  Caleb waited for the crowd to thin before beckoning Mason to follow him. He jogged out of the gallery to his Jeep waiting curbside. A second later, Mason stepped out behind him. “Are you ready to go?” Caleb asked with a wicked grin as he grabbed the handle of the driver’s door. Mason blushed, knowing what he was really asking: Was he ready for what they had both been craving?

  “Like you wouldn’t believe,” Mason murmured, climbing into the passenger side of the car.

  Suddenly, the door to the gallery opened, and the insistent reporter who had held Caleb up earlier in the night quickly approached with her camera guy. “Shit,” Caleb whispered. “Put your head down.”

  The camera flashed with a blinding white light that stunned him as he jammed his key in the ignition to start the truck. Smelling a story, more press flooded out behind her and quickly surrounded the vehicle, and Caleb scowled. The reporter banged on the passenger window but Caleb shook his head. Mason kept his face turned. “Please respect my privacy,” Caleb said loudly.

  “Mr. O’Hara! Is this your muse? Can we get a statement from you? Sir, what’s your name?”

  Mason put a hand on the glass to block even more of the view. “You’re like a celebrity,” he teased.

  Caleb chuckled. “No comment,” he shouted at the reporters. He toed the gas and eased away from the rabid press, trying not to hurt anyone in the process. “I guess this is what I get for being a player in my former life. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Hopefully some of the fuss dies down soon. I hate to say it, but Gregoire might be stirring some of this up.” He shook his head. “Are you hungry?”

  Mason dropped a hand in his lap and grazed his manhood. “All I want is for you to hurry up and get us home.”

  Caleb chuckled. “Yes, sir.”

  He shifted gears and smoothly accelerated. They flew down the highway with Mason’s fingers toying with the zipper of his pants. It was no surprise when Mason impatiently freed his erection and stroked him to hardness. Caleb exhaled through clenched teeth as his body responded to the touch it missed most. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, and let Mason masturbate him.

  When Mason deftly leaned over the center console and put his mouth on his erection, Caleb groaned and pushed his seat back to give him access. “This isn’t the Mason I remember,” he whispered in awe.

  “I’m tired of playing it safe.” Mason deep-throated him, and Caleb almost slammed on brakes.

  “Oh, fuck…” Caleb set the truck on cruise control and took his feet off the pedals.

  His cock emerged dripping wet from Mason’s lips. Mason quickly swallowed him back down and bobbed. Caleb growled with pleasure as he dropped a hand to the back of Mason’s head and ran his fingers through his hair. It was better than anything he had dreamed. His memory simply could not match the reality. Caleb panted and urged him to go faster.

  The Jeep eased to a stop at a red light. Caleb tried to keep his face neutral, but was struggling. He grimaced with ecstasy as Mason came up for air and kissed his lips right there in front of the traffic cameras and everybody else. Caleb chuckled breathlessly at his boldness. He caressed his face and whispered, “You never cease to amaze me.”

  Mason smiled and went back down on him as the light changed. Caleb swore softly as he made love to Mason’s mouth, wishing he could stretch him out in bed and make love to him the way he wanted. He had to get home and fast! His moans of pleasure filled the car. His excitement rose like heated mercury as Mason jerked him hard and fast against his open mouth. His tongue darted out to swipe the head of Caleb’s dick.

  “Uh! You’re unbelievable! You’re gonna have to stop.”

  “Come for me,” Mason whispered over him.

  Caleb shuddered. “Ooh, shit!” he groaned. Mason hummed and sucked aggressively as he stroked him faster. Caleb felt the moment hurtle toward its zenith. He gasped and pulled the car over on the side of the road.

  Groaning, Mason rhythmically sucked the head of his cock, and Caleb involuntarily rose out of the driver’s seat. He thrust in and out of Mason’s mouth, gasping and moaning as the pleasure took him higher and higher. He clutched the back of Mason’s neck and tensed. “Yes! Uhn! Mason, baby—Ah!”

  Mason shook out of his grip and twirled his tongue into the slit at the tip, teasing Caleb to madness. When he deep-throated him again, Caleb pressed the back of his head and held him as he throbbed in his mouth. His cock sputtered and quaked, threatening to spill, but Mason jerked away before it could happen.

  Caleb growled through clenched teeth at the torture of the sudden stop. He sucked in a breath, shuddering. Mason groaned and kissed him with abandonment, and their erratic breathing heated up the interior of the car. Caleb tore at him to get closer, shoving a hand into Mason’s pants and stroking his cock.

  “Caleb!” Mason sobbed his name, ramming into his palm. His need dampened Caleb’s fingers. Caleb urgently masturbated him and felt more of his pre-cum spill free. They slammed into the center console to get to each other, but there was not enough room in the car.

  “I have to get you home,” Caleb moaned.

  “Wait! Let me—” Mason went down on him again. Caleb swore in shock as Mason gripped his dick and sucked him hard and fast.

  “Mason! Ah, fuck! I can’t take—Let me get you home, baby! Please!” Even as he spoke, Caleb climbed the driver’s seat to get deeper into Mason’s glorious mouth. Caleb huffed, stammering incoherently, from the amazing pleasure. Mason was relentless with his stunning technique. Caleb abandoned his attempt at trying to leave. Mason would have his way, and Caleb would relish every second of it.

  “Come, come now,” he whispered heatedly around Caleb’s rigid member. He moaned and applied the same brilliant mix of rhythm and pressure that had almost undone Caleb the first time.

  The climax struck like a tidal wave. The force of it shoved Caleb into the driver’s seat. He slumped as his cock erupted in Mason’s mouth. He was shocked at the potent ecstasy, and Mason greedily sucked until Caleb’s quivering erection had nothing left to give. Mason finally sat up, and Caleb yanked him closer, kissing his taste from his mouth. He felt completely exposed in that moment.

  “Please, tell me you’re staying,” Caleb moaned. Mason looked him in the eyes and hesitated. “Stay with me. Please. We can go wherever you want to go after this. Just stay with me.”

  “I don’t want to get in the way of what you’re doing here,” he whispered.

  Caleb squeezed his eyes shut, feeling rejected all over again. “You won’t…but I understand.” He did get it. Mason was still exploring who he was as a person. They were
at different points in their lives. It was not fair to make him set aside his life plans for this clandestine relationship. “I understand,” he whispered, getting back on the highway. He would have him for as long as he could. That was all he could ask for.

  Chapter 16

  He hurriedly unlocked the door and yanked Mason into the cool, dark living room. Their passionate kiss sparked like the opening chord of a symphony. The honeymoon starts now, Mason thought, but they only had two weeks. Mason’s body was a house of cards, and one touch would take him down. Giving head in the front seat of the Jeep had only served to raise his arousal to the breaking point. Mason had missed and craved Caleb with a need that now threatened his very future.

  Caleb wanted him to stay. Mason clenched his eyes shut and kissed him harder, wishing he could just say yes. He had made the wrong decision once and nearly paid the price but fate had brought them back together. The problem was that Mason would have to give something up. His writing? Traveling the world? Or, Caleb O’Hara.

  “I wish I didn’t need you, but I do,” Caleb growled desperately, undressing him as they walked across the living room. They left a trail of clothes from the front door as shirts and pants were tossed aside, but they never made it to the bed. Mason stretched out naked on the steps, with his raging boner pointed at the ceiling. Caleb fell at his pelvis.

  With a hum, he slid his expert tongue down Mason’s shaft, and swirled it over the sensitive ridge of his erection. The slippery glide of his mouth made Mason strain forward to offer up every inch. Mason gripped a fistful of Caleb’s hair, groaning at how good he felt. When he looked down at Caleb’s powerful back muscles bunching as his head rose and fell, his body tightened expectantly.

  Memories of every time they had made love ran through Mason’s head, but this time was different. This was no clandestine meeting in the upstairs attic or down a dark alley. Caleb gripped Mason’s throbbing manhood with both hands and focused his attention on the tip, nibbling and licking and teasing him to madness. Mason’s unbridled lust expressed itself in vocal cries of pleasure.