Summer Stock

by Vanessa North

  “Why?” Trey rasped, burying his face in the side of Ryan’s neck, taking in the sweet smell of his soap and the still-damp scent of his hair. Ryan must have showered before he arrived—maybe even just for him. And the thought of why—not to mention the vision of Ryan’s hard movie-star body under a soft spray of water—made him groan. But what Ryan said next floored him.

  “Because now that I know you? What kind of man you are? I know we must have been amazing together.”

  They had been amazing, but more amazing was the connection and the trust they’d nurtured since. He pressed his hips into Ryan’s and kissed him slow and sweet, drawing it out, nipping at his lips until Ryan let out a husky, wanton gasp and thrust up against him.

  “Oh god, Trey, we gotta stop.”

  Shuddering, Trey pulled his lips away and let his forehead hit the wall with a gentle thunk. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to growl or whine, and settled for a breathless “Why?”

  Ryan laughed and touched Trey’s ear, a tender, thoughtless caress. When he followed it with a stroke of his finger along Trey’s nose, Trey shuddered. Ryan might not realize he was cataloging the most visible of Trey’s old injuries, but Trey felt that touch like a balm he hadn’t known he needed.

  “Because Caro’s gonna be here any minute for movie night. She wouldn’t have a problem with us being together, but that doesn’t mean she needs a peep show, you know?”

  “Oh Christ.” Trey pulled back and looked down—both of them were hard, both obviously rumpled. There was no way Caro wouldn’t notice immediately what had been going on.

  “The powder room is to your right, before you get to the kitchen. I’m going to disappear upstairs for a minute.” He glanced down the hallway and smiled. “Ferdy has made himself at home on West’s couch—which is fine, but we should put a towel under his face—I’ll bring one down with me. Caro will buzz when she gets to the gate; if I’m not back, just hit the button on that panel there that says ‘gate’ to let her in.”

  So matter-of-fact. Trey swallowed and nodded, then practically ran to the powder room to straighten himself up. He splashed cold water on his face and thought of unsexy things like doing laundry and cleaning Ferdy’s ears. When his hard-on had finally subsided enough that it wasn’t tenting his shorts anymore, he combed wet fingers through his hair until it looked halfway normal.

  He paused and touched his lumpy, permanently swollen ear with one fingertip. Ryan hadn’t prodded him for more information about the beating that had landed him in the hospital and his ex-husband in jail, but he was an observant guy—knowing what he knew, it wouldn’t take much for him to put it all together. Maybe he already had.

  Trey heard footsteps on the stairs and took a deep breath, then he left the solitude of the powder room. The hallway opened into the living room, and Ferdy was indeed sprawled out on a gigantic couch, all four feet in the air, snoring for all he was worth. Ryan was placing a towel near his head, but didn’t wake the dog. He glanced up at Trey and grinned.

  “Talk about words I never thought I’d say, but I like your dog.”

  Trey laughed and reached down to ruffle Ferdy’s ears. Ryan caught his hand and pulled him close, giving him a chaste kiss at the corner of his lips.

  “Stay.”

  Trey nodded. “I’m planning on it.”

  “Good.”

  Just then, the gate alarm buzzed and Ryan walked away to let Caro in. Trey made himself comfortable on the couch with Ferdy. A few minutes later, Caro’s effusive greetings carried down the hallway, followed by herself, a bundle of energy and wild, sun-streaked curls.

  “Trey, hi! Ryan just told me you were here. It’s so nice to see you outside of the theater.”

  “Hey, Caro.”

  “I brought wine—you guys want a drink?”

  Trey shot an inquisitive glance at Ryan, who shook his head slightly. He’d apparently meant what he’d said about not fooling around when they were fucked up.

  “I’m not drinking tonight, Carebear,” Ryan said quietly. “And I don’t think Trey is either. But you can help yourself.”

  She looked from one to the other, eyes narrowing, then widening. “Okaaay. Well, I’ll pass too.” Taking a seat on the chair by the window, she folded her legs up underneath her and stared at her cousin.

  “So, what’s new?” Trey asked, to break the silence.

  “I think I’ve finally talked Mason into selling his place and moving in with me.” She grinned.

  “What, like roommates?” Ryan sat down next to Trey, who covered his surprise with a cough.

  “No, not like roommates,” Caro said slowly. “Like partners.”

  “Why would you move in with your business partner?” Ryan’s brows drew together, and he cocked his head to one side.

  “He doesn’t know?” Trey was incredulous. How could Ryan possibly not know that his cousin and Mason were a couple?

  “Doesn’t know what?”

  Caro shook her head. “Ryan, Mason and I have been together for five years now. You get a joint Christmas card from us—not from the theater. From me and Mason. We own a business, yes, but we also . . .” She held up her hands. “How did you not know?”

  “But he doesn’t—” Ryan stopped. “You don’t—”

  “That isn’t your business,” Caro said softly. “I really thought you knew. I’m going to have that glass of wine now.” She stood and disappeared into the kitchen, hurt in every line of her body.

  Trey could feel the tension in Ryan’s body as he turned to face him.

  “Really, dude? How did you not know? Haven’t you ever seen the way they are together?”

  “But he’s ace,” Ryan blurted. “I didn’t think . . .”

  Trey shook his head. “Like Caro said, that’s not your business. They make each other happy, what do you care?”

  “I’m just surprised is all. It explains a few things though.”

  “Yeah, like what? The slow dancing? The fact that they always leave work together? Oh, I know, maybe it’s the fact that they finish each other’s sentences or that when they’re in the same room, they can’t take their eyes off each other?”

  “More like the fact that Mason is so protective of Caro and sometimes acts like he’s my dad or something. God, I’m fucking blind. No wonder he believes I’m self-absorbed.”

  Trey didn’t have anything to say to that. He had spent a lot more time with Caro and Mason over the last five years than Ryan had, and even though neither of them had ever come out and said to him that they were together, and they didn’t wear rings, he had thought of them as a unit for so long, he couldn’t imagine thinking of them any other way.

  Caro walked back into the room, wineglass in hand. “I can’t wait to tell Mason about this.”

  Ryan turned red all the way up to his perfect ears. Adorable. “Please don’t.”

  “Oh, no, I’m gonna tell him. I don’t keep secrets from him.”

  Trey watched in astonishment as Ryan stood and crossed the room with a menacing scowl. Caro shrieked and threw a pillow at her cousin, who snatched the wine from her hand, set it aside, and began tickling her until she was breathless and crying, punching Ryan on the shoulder.

  “You fucker.” She laughed, wiping her eyes, when he let her go.

  “Does he make you happy?”

  “Yeah. He really does. And we’re going to make it official, get married someday, but we just . . .” She shrugged. “I don’t know, that stuff didn’t seem important, but lately something’s changed. We want that security. I didn’t mean to blindside you.”

  “No, I didn’t mean to be so self-involved that I was blind to something big and important in your life.”

  Trey sat still as a stone, watching them with a lump in his throat. If there were an easy way to get Ferdinand and sneak out, he would have, but instead he was a helplessly awkward observer to something that looked an awfully lot like a reconciliation, especially when Ryan whispered in Caro’s ear and she started crying and hugging hi
m again. Finally, Trey couldn’t stand it anymore. He didn’t belong here.

  He cleared his throat, and both the Hertzogs turned to him. “I should go,” he said, and Ferdy sat up.

  “No, don’t. I’m sorry, I made everything weird.” Caro gave Ryan a little shove, and he came back to sit next to Trey.

  “Please stay.” Ryan’s hand found Trey’s thigh and squeezed.

  “You know what? Why don’t I go?” Caro peered back and forth between them. “I’m not really in the mood for a movie anymore.”

  Trey started to protest, but Ryan’s hand tightened on his leg and he stopped.

  “I’ll walk you out.”

  Their low murmurs reached Trey where he sat, but he couldn’t make out any words until he heard Ryan shout, “Love you! See you tomorrow!”

  He let his head sink against the back of the couch. Ferdy, the traitor, had fallen back to sleep. It seemed his mastiff could sleep through anything except a thunderstorm.

  Which left him absolutely nothing but awkwardness.

  “Hey.” Ryan strolled back into the living room, a wide smile on his face. “So, I’m a big idiot, that’s been established. And now things are super weird, and I feel not so sexy. But I found out that I don’t get off on humiliation, which is good to know.”

  Trey couldn’t help it, he laughed. Then he stood and crossed over to Ryan. “And here I was the one feeling not so sexy because I was here for this incredibly personal thing that just happened with you and your cousin. I was a total third wheel.”

  On the couch, Ferdy snorted and twitched.

  Trey took Ryan’s hand—it was warm and a little damp, like he was as nervous as Trey.

  “Do you—do you want to watch a movie?” Ryan whispered, all wide-eyed. He had a dusting of freckles over his nose that Trey hadn’t ever noticed before.

  “No.”

  “Neither do I.”

  Trey’s kiss was everything Ryan needed in that moment to set his mind at ease. Gentle, for about half a second, then Ryan’s face was clutched in Trey’s hands and his lips yielded to rough bites and a demanding tongue. Ryan whimpered and let go of his nerves, clinging to Trey’s waist with both hands. “God, yes.”

  Trey pulled back. “What’s in your backyard? A swimming pool?”

  Ryan shook his head. Why the hell would Trey want to go swimming? “No, just a hot tub, a few lawn chairs, a hammock. Path down to the beach, but I don’t really want to walk on the beach right now.”

  “Is the hot tub covered?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Can we leave the door cracked for Ferdy?”

  Relieved, Ryan nodded. “Sure. I mean, I don’t think West gives a flying fuck about the AC bill.” He crossed to the sliding door that led out to the patio and opened it, letting the warm ocean breeze blow into the living room. Then he took Trey’s hand and led him upstairs.

  The guest room was decorated in wide navy-blue stripes on white, with whitewashed paneling and walnut floors. In the weeks he’d been living here, he’d never thought of it as anything more than a convenient place to sleep, but when he pushed Trey down onto the soft white bed and saw his strawberry-blond stubble glinting in the twilight glowing through the window, he couldn’t help but think it was the perfect nautical backdrop for the brawny townie. A million “captured by the pirate” fantasies ricocheted through his head, flushing his face and hardening his dick.

  “What are you thinking?” Trey skimmed a finger over his cheekbones. “To make you turn pink like this? Take off your shirt, I want to see how far that blush goes.”

  Ryan tugged his shirt off and tossed it over his shoulder, then started divesting Trey of his too. “You look like a pirate. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the room. But it gave me some crazy-dirty thoughts.”

  Chuckling low and filthy, Trey rolled Ryan until they were both lying on their sides, and he kissed him again.

  “I’d kiss you for hours.”

  Ryan whimpered into Trey’s mouth and let himself get carried away by the rhythm of their bodies rolling and thrusting together. Heat rippled between them, sparking higher everywhere their bodies touched, and accelerated by throaty noises and lush kisses.

  When Trey’s hands skimmed over Ryan’s nipples, Ryan arched and whined; when they pinched, he gasped and shuddered.

  “God, yeah.”

  Trey leaned in close, clutching Ryan’s chin in one hand, and bit at his Adam’s apple, sending a shiver of delight through his whole body.

  “Can I take these off?” Trey tugged at the waistband of Ryan’s shorts with his other hand, and Ryan shoved at them, as anxious to be naked with Trey as he’d ever been for anything in his whole life.

  “Shhh. Slow down.” Trey, still holding his face, kissed him again, slowly and thoroughly, tightening his hand slightly when Ryan tried to hurry him along by reaching for his shorts again. Ryan groaned and acquiesced, let Trey ease down his body and strip them away.

  “I want you to remember everything this time,” Trey whispered, so softly, Ryan wasn’t sure he heard it correctly, but then Trey met his gaze and smiled, lips quirking up in a way that had become so familiar, so dear, over the last couple weeks. Ryan reached for the big, beautiful man who was the closest friend he had here on Banker’s Shoals.

  Trey kissed him again then, teasing, plucking kisses at first, then lush and openmouthed, like he could kiss straight into Ryan’s soul—and maybe he could, because Ryan couldn’t remember the last time someone had made him feel this good. He arched up his hips, trying to get friction on his cock, and Trey broke the kiss.

  “Lie back, I’ve got you,” he murmured, and Ryan sank back against the pillow, hotly aware that Trey still had his pants on, and Ryan was naked as a jay. But then Trey’s hand found Ryan’s dick, and clothing didn’t seem important at all. Ryan let his head drop back and his legs drop open while Trey kissed him, by turns gentle and rough, all the while slowly pumping Ryan’s cock.

  Pleasure seemed to slide along every nerve ending, and a low moan escaped his lips.

  “Do you have lube?” Trey asked quietly, almost against Ryan’s lips, and Ryan nodded.

  “In the bathroom.”

  Trey laughed, a soft huff, then guided Ryan’s hand to his own dick. “Inconvenient. Here, don’t you dare come. But keep yourself . . . happy. Which door?”

  Ryan gave his dick a gentle stroke. “Left out my door, first on right.”

  Trey’s warmth disappeared from the bed as he left on his quest, but he returned a moment later, naked and glorious. He was all hard muscle and copper-gold hairs, with a black smudge of tattoo over his hip bone, and everything about him made Ryan ache with want. Trey set a strip of condoms down on the bedside table, and Ryan chuckled.

  “Ambitious?”

  Trey smiled. “Hopeful.”

  Snick. A lube bottle opened, and Ryan watched Trey’s face as he poured a bit on his fingers and then gave Ryan the wickedest, dirtiest smile he’d ever seen.

  Trey’s lube-slick hand stroked over Ryan’s dick first, making him thrust up eagerly, then it slid lower, caressing his balls, and then lower still, to that spot on his taint that made him cry out. Holy fuck.

  “You said you like ass play,” Trey murmured. “And I want to make you shoot sparks.”

  Trey massaged his prostate from the outside, then dipped a finger inside like he was just testing the waters. Ryan nearly jerked up off the bed, but Trey’s other hand was there, shoving his chest back down, and then his lips were on Ryan’s and Ryan’s hands were in Trey’s hair, and there were two fingers probing his ass.

  “Unh—damn, Trey,” he whined as Trey’s thumb nudged the same spot from the outside that his fingers were stroking on the inside.

  He felt like he was boiling out of his skin, and his dick was leaking a stream of white fluid. He was going to come, and that wasn’t what he wanted—he wanted Trey inside his body, Trey as far gone as he was, Trey biting his own lip and shouting.

  “No, please.” He sh
oved at Trey’s arm. “Both of us. It’s got to be both of us.”

  Trey reared up over him and reached for a condom. He tore the wrapper with his teeth, rolled the rubber over his gorgeous cut dick, and then lined himself up.

  “Is this what you want?”

  It wasn’t a teasing, mocking “tell me you want my dick, bitch” sort of comment—but something else, something quiet and sincere, and Ryan nodded, a smile turning up his lips. “More than anything.”

  And with that, Trey slipped inside him as gently as possible, but he was big—thick—and Ryan winced a little before Trey’s fingers wrapped around his dick and stroked it fully hard again.

  Then their lips came back together, and Ryan was gone. “Oh please, please,” he murmured into Trey’s mouth, hands clutching at broad shoulders as Trey glided in and out in a devastating rhythm. Time seemed to slow as their bodies rocked, and Trey’s hands grasped at Ryan’s own, entwining their fingers.

  The storm building between them was bigger and hotter than anything Ryan had ever known. He’d never wanted like this, never felt wanted like this, and when Trey bit the side of his jaw, rough and demanding, he arched up and begged.

  “Please don’t stop, please.”

  Trey let out a low growl and started driving into him harder, wilder. With their hands clasped over his head, Ryan couldn’t get any friction on his cock at all, but Trey’s dick was punching his prostate, and there was a tightening happening everywhere until he threw his head back and shouted, pleasure releasing like a tightly bound spring set loose.

  He arched and shuddered, both pinned and sheltered by Trey’s big body as his orgasm wrung every ounce of sensation from him, and he sank back, sore and sated as the fog of pleasure cleared.

  Trey eased out of him and tugged the condom off, then lay down next to Ryan. “Are you okay?” he murmured, and Ryan nodded.

  “You should—you should finish.”

  “I will, roll onto your side.”

  Ryan, practically boneless, did as he was told, pressing his back to Trey’s front, then sighed happily as Trey’s cock slipped between his legs, thrusting into the hard flesh of his thighs. As much as he could, he tightened those muscles around Trey’s dick, and then a shock of wet heat splashed between his legs as Trey’s teeth came down on his shoulder and Trey groaned, long and low, before collapsing down to the bed with Ryan.