All in for You

by David Horne

  Pete frowned. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  That pushed Toby to be able to speak again. “No, it’s not that. I just don’t know what to say.”

  “I know, it’s hard. I’ve never really felt anything like this before. I don’t know if you have.”

  “Not for anyone.” Toby shook his head.

  “What?”

  Toby shrugged. “Not anyone real.” He repeated what he was saying.

  “What does that mean?”

  The writer laughed slightly. “I fall in love with a lot of fictional characters.”

  “Like fiction, fiction?”

  The writer took a moment to blush and glance away. “Yeah. I guess it’s just a thing.”

  “Like in movies and television?”

  “Books mostly. It’s no surprise that I’m a reader.”

  “You’re a writer, yeah.” Pete nodded.

  “But not about a living person, no. This is new territory for me.” Toby’s voice was thoughtful.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “I’m worried about whether or not we can make it.” Toby was honest. “It just seems like this may an insurmountable hill that we can’t beat.”

  “It always kind of feels that way, but you’re good luck.” Pete grinned at Toby.

  “I just think that was all coincidence.”

  “Gamblers don’t do coincidence.”

  “That so?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I thought you weren’t a believer.”

  “I may have been recently converted.” Pete laughed weakly. He was trying to keep it all together.

  Toby could appreciate that. It was hard to keep the conversation sane. Everything seemed to swirl around him. “Yeah, maybe. But it’s not always gonna be winning and roses. It can’t be just that. I mean, what happens when the good luck runs out? Do I just get tossed off to the side?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Pete shook his head. “I guess that was a bad attempt to inject humor into the situation.”

  “I’m not good at talking to people either. That’s why I write. It’s so much easier to communicate that way.”

  “Yeah, I don’t even know what I’m saying to you half the time, and then I offer to do things like showing you around the city and I don’t even know why I would do that. I don’t like leaving the hotel.”

  “You don’t have to show me around if you don’t want to.” Toby felt a bit of guilt start to bubble up. He had already felt bad every time Pete had offered to help him out, and this just made it so much worse.

  “Don’t be sorry. I’ve had so much fun. I had forgotten that this city was so fun. It’s been just working for me for a while now. I keep to myself and just get stuff done that needs to be done. I went out and did things, yeah. Because it gets boring to sit in a hotel room for so long with nothing to do.”

  “Yeah, I mean, you could have just watched TV for all I know.”

  “I don’t find TV that interesting.”

  “Neither do I.” Toby laughed. “Probably for the same reason.”

  “Because you know all the tropes and the ending is just easy to read?”

  “Being a writer kind of changes what makes you appreciate a story.” Toby shrugged.

  “What do you appreciate about them?” Pete seemed honestly curious.

  The writer was grateful for the change of subject. He knew the other words would come back. They would have to talk about it again if one of them didn’t run away from their feelings. But for now. For now, this would work. “I appreciate wordplay, the way that the stories are told. I love the fact that there are so many things that can be told, the same story a thousand different ways. There are so many ways that things can change to make the story new but still old.”

  Pete tilted his head, a little curious about what Toby was trying to say. It felt a little weird like it was something specific to the writer’s job. “What does that mean?”

  Toby smiled as he shrugged. He was happy to have someone to talk about this stuff to. It must be hard to find people who want to listen to someone ramble about storytelling too. “Well, one of my teachers used to say that there were no new stories, only old stories told new ways.”

  “That… that makes a lot of sense.” Pete smiled, making a mental note to ask him about this sort of stuff more often. The clear evidence of passion on Toby’s face was undeniable. There was no resisting the attraction that increased between them when Toby was passionate. It made the card player want this writer, even more, to know that this guy could feel so strongly about something as simple as the written word. “I didn’t think there would be a lot of wisdom out there anymore. But that’s a new bit that I hadn’t heard before.”

  Toby was grinning as he started to tease the man a little bit. “You don’t think that you’ve heard all the wisdom in the world, do you?”

  “No, but I hadn’t heard a lot of new wisdom recently.”

  “You should go looking for it more.” Toby laughed.

  Pete’s laughter joined the writer’s laugh. It felt like magic, a connection that they had shared before.

  It deepened the forming connection. Toby hoped that deepening went both ways. Pete had to feel it too. He was almost sure of it, but there was still some doubt there, some fear that it was all going to go sideways at any moment. The real world didn’t work like one of the books that he wrote. This story wasn’t going to end the same, with everyone happy and content for the rest of their lives. It couldn’t. Those were a fantasy, and he knew it. He knew romances failed more times than they succeeded.

  Chapter Eleven

  Pete stared out the window. Toby was still asleep. It was better to just let the man sleep. Waking him up in the middle of the night while Pete pondered what was going to happen when they left Las Vegas.

  Toby groaned and blinked half awake. “What’s up?”

  Pete frowned. “I didn’t want to wake you; you can go back to sleep.”

  “Hard to sleep when you’re so far away.” Toby was still half asleep. Pete couldn’t blame him for talking like that. People tended to talk like that when they were half asleep and not aware enough to figure out that they needed a filter. And Toby was no different than others. Because he knew that Toby probably wouldn’t say something like that if he was fully awake. “Why don’t you come back to bed?”

  “Sorry, just had trouble sleeping.”

  The card player frowned heavily as Toby pulled himself up to a half-sitting position. “Something on your mind?”

  Pete moved back over to sit on the bed. “No, not really.”

  “Did you have trouble sleeping?”

  “Kind of not used to sharing a bed.” Pete gave a weak smile. He didn’t do much other than that. Probably because they were both exhausted. “It still feels a little weird.”

  “I can switch beds if you want.”

  “No, I want to get used to this.” The card player shook his head. He knew that the last thing he wanted was the man slipping away from him that way. “I guess I just need to buck up and handle it.”

  “Not if it makes you uncomfortable.” Toby straightened up a little more.

  “It doesn’t, not really.”

  “You just said…” Toby frowned.

  “Just because something is new doesn’t mean that I don’t want this moment with you.” Pete tried to say the right words and he hoped that what ended up saying came out the right way. “I wanted to be in bed with you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure, yeah.”

  “Awesome.” Toby gave a thumbs up.

  This made the card player let out a deep laugh, the guffawing sound that took both of them by surprise. “Really?”

  “What?”

  “What kind of reaction is that?”

  “Well, I couldn’t think of anything better to say.” Toby shook his head, smiling softly. “And I’m half asleep, so I may not be thinking straight.”

  “Well, it just broke al
l the tension.”

  “Good. That’s a good thing. I’m not conscious enough to handle tension.”

  “Well, that’s good to know. Don’t wake you up with a bunch of tension. It will just lead to you saying silly things.”

  “It made you smile.” Toby grinned at him. His eyes were still half-lidded and heavy.

  Pete leaned over and planted a soft kiss on the other man’s cheek. “You should get some more sleep.”

  “Are you going to come to bed?” Toby reached out to the other man.

  Pete let himself get pulled into the warm embrace. It was oddly comforting in a weird sort of uncomfortable way. Something that he knew that he was going to get used to. Something that he wanted to get used to. Toby was something special. He knew that and he was determined to see that happen.

  But another thought pervaded his process. He knew the old saying about things that happened in Las Vegas. Would this be the same thing? Would it end the moment they got back and separated? There was no way to know. He couldn’t tell the future, no matter how much he wished that he could. “Sure.”

  “Good. I missed you.”

  “You were asleep.”

  “Missed you so much that I woke up.” Toby teased a little bit.

  Pete’s heart skipped a beat. “Sorry to wake you then.”

  “Just means I get to see you more.” Toby pulled the other man down to lay down with him.

  Pete let himself get pulled down.

  Another kiss happened, the heat flowing between them. That seemed to be enough to wake Toby up.

  The writer blinked awake with a smile. “Hey, now, look at you.”

  “Are you flirting with me?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” Toby was smiling, but more than half awake now. His eyes were fully open.

  Pete felt the corners of his lips start to pull up into their smile. He reached out, pulling Toby in for another kiss instead of answering that.

  They rolled until Pete ended up on top of the other man. The card player could feel the heat flowing off of this man under him, it was intoxicating. There was something earthy and heady about the scent of Toby’s skin.

  A shiver ran down his spine. Another kiss followed, with Pete descending on the other man with a great desire that couldn’t be denied.

  The bodies started to writhe, heat flowing even more as they touched each other. Pete let his hands run down to the writer’s shaft, playing with the soft skin of the writer’s shaft.

  Toby let out a soft moan, trying to roll over onto his side so they could touch each other more.

  Pete let this happen and the hands quickly roamed over every bit of exposed skin. He couldn’t resist the feeling of this man’s touch.

  Toby’s kisses were bringing moans forth, forcing them out of his lips like they couldn’t resist. They rolled again, this time with Toby ending up on top of the gambler, settling his legs between Pete’s legs. They were so close. “God, do we have any lube?”

  “Picked it up earlier,” Toby whispered in response, reaching over to the nightstand that stood between the two queen-sized beds.

  Pete groaned again, reaching for the bottle of lube. Something that would finally bring them together. This may be something that he would regret later, but he wasn’t going to let that bother him. “Good.”

  “Yeah.”

  Pete could barely focus. “I want you.”

  “I want you too.” Toby had a half-smile on his face, something that almost was a smirk, but not one that portrayed any sort of sarcasm or derision, instead it was more like a smirk of pure lust and need. This man needed him. Pete knew it deep down. There was something about this guy that just showed the desire that they had shared so much.

  And Pete wanted this man just the same. He wasn’t sure if it was love or lust, but it was something, and whatever it was, it was strong. It was so strong it felt like it didn’t belong in reality. And as Toby’s mouth descended upon his cock, he could feel it even stronger. He was hot and cold and tingly with electricity all at the same time.

  Magic, it was the only way he could describe the tongue working its way over his shaft, the way it felt when the head bobbed down to take as much of him into Toby’s mouth as possible. The fingers of one hand curled in the writer’s hair. “That feels so good.” Pete groaned, letting his head fall back onto the pillow with a heavy breath.

  “Yeah.” Toby only pulled his head away long enough to say that one word before he buried himself back into the gambler’s manhood.

  Pete started to shift and tug on the other man, pulling him up so that they could share the moment of pleasure.

  It didn’t take long for the man to have a shaft in front of his face, dangling there. He wrapped his hand around it, then softly licked it with his tongue. At the same time, he did it, he could feel Toby’s lips play softly around his shaft, causing him to buck his hips softly from the sensation. He knew that he wasn’t going to last long like this.

  “I can’t do this for much longer.” Toby groaned and shifted, flipping his body back around.

  “I want you right now.” Pete shifted, allowing the other man to straddle his hips facing him.

  “I like riding. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “God, not at all. I just want you right now. Don’t care how.” Pete reached for the lube again, taking a bit in his palm and rubbing it up and down his shaft as Toby shifted into position.

  Neither of them could wait very long. Pete had barely finished the up and down motion to make sure he was lubed when Toby was lowering himself onto the shaft, enveloping it in the warmth of his body.

  “That feels so good.” Pete groaned again.

  “Yeah.” Toby’s voice was impossibly breathless.

  There was no resisting the moment. Pete pulled his hand clear as the other man bottomed out on him and wrapped his hand around the other man’s shaft. They couldn’t stop. They wouldn’t stop. This was magic. The motions that they took, the need, grunts, and groans sounding through the hotel room. This was beyond the point of no return; they were an unstoppable force and an unmovable wall teamed up to defeat the carnal lust that they felt. Or maybe that was the combined lust that they felt. It was hard to think in metaphors, but he knew that this was big.

  It was so big that he knew he wouldn’t last long now that they were joined. There was no reason to wait, Toby was already moving, his face flushed and getting close to his release.

  They were going to get there together. Pete could see that coming. And it didn’t matter, as long as it happened together. It was what belonged between them.

  The moment that came belonged to both of them. It was true magic, the moment that two people came truly together. Fears melted away, if only for a moment. The awkwardness was gone. They simply wanted each other more than words could express. All they could do was moan and groan and writhe as the orgasm swept over their bodies, contracting and pumping along with the thudding of their collective pulses.

  They both fell onto the bed, catching their bed, cuddling close to each other.

  Pete closed his eyes, listening to the thumping of Toby’s heart. It matched the rhythm of his own heart. Everything still felt right, even as they both came down from the high that they had shared.

  He drew in a shaky breath.

  Toby was the first one to speak. “How are you feeling?”

  “Uh, pretty good.” Pete smiled.

  “Just pretty good.”

  “I’m not a man of a lot of words.” Pete groaned and continued to cuddle close to the man he was sharing a bed with.

  “I know, I’m just teasing a little bit.”

  “You do a lot of teasing for a man who didn’t know what to say to me the first time we met.”

  The writer laughed. “I guess I’ve been getting more comfortable around you.”

  “Is this what you’re like when you’re comfortable around people?”

  “I guess it is, but I’ve never thought about it before.” Toby shrugged.

 
They were both fully awake now. Pete ran his fingers over Toby’s arm, feeling the soft flesh of the writer’s skin.

  Toby visibly shivered.

  “Cold?” Pete asked the other man, his finger tracing a bit slower.

  Toby shivered once again. “No.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” Toby smiled sleepily.

  Pete leaned in to give the man a quick kiss. This one was less hungry than the ones before, slower, holding more emotion and less raw need.

  “Mmm, that’s always nice.” Toby pulled himself closer to the gambler.

  “Want to try to get some sleep?” Pete smiled softly. He was starting to feel a little tired. Whatever reason he had dragged himself out of bed to stare sleeplessly at the light of the city was gone. None of those worried mattered. There was this moment, this perfect afterglow that flowed through them, shared between them.

  Pete wondered if that was love. He didn’t know. He didn’t know how to make that judgment. He had never really felt this way about anyone else before, and this moment that they had just shared had cemented the emotion that had been teased at and hinted at before.

  Toby’s eyes closed softly, still snuggled close to the man. “Yeah, some sleep would be nice.”

  “And when we get up, we can go and get some more sightseeing done.”

  “One more day in Vegas,” Toby mumbled. “Hope it’s a fun day.”

  “Just one. Then we head back home.” Pete agreed, letting sleep start to fade out between them. “I know it’ll be great.”

  But Toby was asleep before Pete finished talking. The gambler smiled and brushed some hair out of the sleeping writer’s face before settling down to sleep himself. It didn’t take very long for him to pass out, safe, and comfortable in his lover’s arms.

  Chapter Twelve

  Toby woke up first. He had a smile on his face. He couldn’t help it. Everything in the world just felt right. The night before still felt sort of like a dream, so unreal, but there was definite evidence of them having fallen in love.

  But he couldn’t help but wonder if that was all in his head. Could that be the case? It was possible, after all, there was a saying about things that happened in Las Vegas staying there and maybe this was just that case.