As Darren placed bacon on two plates, he said, “Was your life like one of those Texas TV shows where the family live on a ranch and the ranch hands come in for breakfast and the comforting mother figure does the cooking and the dad had been hard at work in the barn?”
Chance laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. Crazy family, Mama that no one will cross. That was my life.”
“And you left it?”
“I needed to try something new. To be on my own. Damn, now I’m missing the ranch like crazy.”
“Here.” Darren sat a plate in front of Chance. “Focus on eating instead.”
Darren sat down across from him, and Roger took up a spot at Chance’s side. It took only a few seconds for the sad puppy eyes to convince Chance to break off a piece of bacon and slip it to him.
“You’ll make it worse for yourself,” Darren warned.
“I saw you feed him earlier.”
Darren huffed. “So what if I did. Watch out. If he thinks he can get away with just stealing food off your plate, he might try it now that he knows you’re easy.”
“Would you do that?” Chance asked Roger, who gave him his sweet-dog look.
“See?” Chance turned back to Darren. “He says, ‘No, I’m a good boy.’”
Darren rolled his eyes. As they ate, Darren told him more about the house and how much he’d enjoyed choosing all the succulents for the yard. When they finished and Darren cleared the plates, Chance realized it was later than he’d thought. He needed to get some work done in the lab.
But instead of heading upstairs to get his suit, he walked back to the front windows and gazed out at the ocean again. Darren came up behind him and wrapped his arms around him. Chance laid his hands over Darren’s where they were clasped at his waist and enjoyed the solid warmth of him.
Darren rested his chin on Chance’s shoulder. “I like this, how you feel against me, how you look standing in my kitchen.”
“I like it too, but I have to go soon. I have work to do.”
“What are you doing next weekend?”
Chance’s pulse accelerated. Was Darren going to ask to see him again? “Schoolwork. Not much else.”
“Do you have time to show me the equine therapy center?”
That wasn’t what he was expecting. “Oh, wow. You really are serious about helping out.”
“I really am.”
“I can do that, sure.”
“Good.” Darren kissed his neck. “And after, you’ll come back here with me.”
Chance let out a shuddery breath. “I will.”
“If you want to, you could spend the whole weekend here.” Darren licked the tender spot right under his ear and then nibbled his earlobe.
“I…I’ll have to see if I need to be in the lab, but…yeah, I’d like that.”
“Do you have to leave right now?” His hands moved to Chance’s hips, and his thumbs rubbed his bare skin under the edge of his T-shirt.
“Maybe not right this minute.”
“Good, because I owe you a blowjob.” Darren circled him and dropped to his knees.
“Here?” Chance’s voice came out much higher than usual.
“You like the view.”
He did, but he wasn’t going to be watching the ocean if Darren Walsh was on his knees in front of him.
“Anyone could walk by,” Chance pointed out, more as a challenge than because he cared.
“You can’t really see in. That’s one of the advantages of being set back and uphill from the road. Besides, I like the idea of risking it.”
How had Chance gotten lucky enough to meet this man?
Darren pulled the tight sweats down far enough to release Chance’s cock. Then he glanced up at Chance, his expression saying there wasn’t anywhere else he’d rather be. Chance nearly swooned with the power of that knowledge. Then Darren swiped his tongue over Chance’s head, and his knees buckled. He braced himself on the window and forgot everything but how fucking good Darren’s mouth felt.
He tried to enjoy the view and the fact that Darren was sucking him where his neighbors could walk by and see, but his gaze kept returning to Darren, to his lips sliding along Chance’s cock as he surrendered to pleasuring Chance.
Darren must have felt him watching. He opened his eyes and gazed upward as he drew Chance’s cock deeper.
“So good,” Chance muttered, fingers stroking Darren’s cheek.
Darren worked him while he held his gaze. Chance slid his hands into Darren’s hair, but he forced himself not to hold on too tight. He needed to let Darren control it.
A few moments later, Darren pulled off. “You shouldn’t fuck my mouth as hard as I fucked your ass last night, but you can go ahead and thrust. I won’t break.”
Chance’s mouth dropped open. Was this really Darren Walsh talking like that? “All right. I…wow.”
Darren grinned as he teased Chance’s cock with his tongue and a light scrape of teeth, just enough to give Chance a rush of uncertainty, which only made him harder.
Then he sucked Chance down again, and Chance gripped the sides of Darren’s head as he worked his cock in and out. He wasn’t thrusting as hard or fast as he wanted, but it still felt incredible.
Darren hummed around him.
“Oh my God…that’s…I…close, Darren, I’m close!”
Darren held his hips so he couldn’t pull away.
Chance looked out the window at the waves roaring up and crashing on the rocks below, at the vast expanse of ocean, at the beach full of people. Then with one last thrust into Darren’s mouth, he came, cock spurting again and again. Darren took it all.
When Chance finally finished, Darren pulled back, and he was the most amazingly debauched sight Chance had ever seen with his hair ruffled, his lips swollen, and Chance’s spunk running from the corner of his mouth.
“You look amazing.” Chance sank to his knees and kissed Darren, needing to taste himself, needing confirmation that this had actually happened.
Darren kissed him back like he’d been dying for it. Then Chance reached between them, desperate to free Darren’s cock. They both fumbled with the fastening of his jeans, finally freeing him. It took only a few tight, quick strokes before he was coming over Chance’s hand, making the way slicker for Chance to keep going until, Darren pushed his hand away.
“Too much. Too… God, this is all too much.”
Chance’s heart skipped a beat. “It is?”
Darren kissed him again, softer this time. “A good kind of too much, an overwhelming I-don’t-know-how-I-can-stand-it-but-it’s-the-best-thing-ever kind of too much.”
Chance’s tension left him. “It totally is.” In that moment, he didn’t care if they had to pretend forever that the world didn’t exist, because no one had ever made him feel this good.
He’s forty years old. Do you really think he’s going to want some kid for very long?
Chance pushed that thought away. So there was an age gap. So in the real world they had little in common. But Darren wanted to support the equine therapy center; that could become a joint effort. Surely there were other things they could do together: watch each other’s favorite movies, cook, play cards. It would work. God, he hoped it would work.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After a second shower for both of them and a second set of too-tight sweats for Chance, Darren kissed him goodbye, promising that this time he would call—every day if Chance wanted that. They’d also planned for Chance to spend at least one night with him the following weekend.
A few moments after he’d walked Chance to his Lyft, he picked his phone up and located Chance in his contacts. Chance answered on the second ring.
“Darren? Did I forget something?”
“No, I just wanted to prove I was serious about calling.”
Chance laughed, the sound almost as good as his hands on Darren’s body. “You’re crazy.”
“Maybe, but so are you.”
“I had a really good time.” He could hear the smile i
n Chance’s words.
“Me too. I can’t wait until next weekend.” Darren did not want to know how ridiculous he looked smiling at his phone.
“Aww. Me either.”
“Damn, we’re sickening. Go away.”
Chance huffed. “You called me.”
“Goodbye, Chance. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Dare.”
“I don’t let anyone call me that,” Darren protested. And yet, he wasn’t sure he actually minded when it was Chance.
“You do now.”
Chance was gone before Darren could say anything else. As a kid, he’d hated when anyone called him Dare. As an adult, he put a stop to it, with very rare exceptions. Apparently Chance was going to be one of those, which shouldn’t surprise him. None of life’s usual rules seemed to apply to Chance.
Darren walked over to the window where not that long ago he had—oh my God—gone down on Chance right there with the possibility of a neighbor walking by and seeing him on his knees. It had seemed like a great idea at the time, and holy fuck, it had been hot. Now, he wondered if he’d gone a bit insane.
What would he end up doing if he spent another weekend with Chance?
Whatever it was, he’d likely be too blissed out to care.
But how long could they realistically keep this up?
Just enjoy it while it lasts.
That sounded well and good, but he already missed Chance, and he’d only been gone a few minutes. He wished Chance had been able to stay for the rest of the day. How was he going to eventually say goodbye to him for good?
What am I doing?
Ruff! Roger gave an excited bark.
Darren turned, expecting to see his dog by the side door, pawing his leash to ask for a walk. Instead he was looking longingly out the front window where he’d watched as Darren walked Chance out.
“He’ll be back.” Roger whined like he was as impatient for that as Darren.
“You want to go for a walk?”
Roger rushed over to the side door and bumped his nose against it.
“I thought that would distract you.”
Darren had plenty of work to do, but he doubted he’d be able to concentrate. He and Roger could both use some exercise, so he pushed his feet into his shoes, clipped the leash to Roger’s collar, and they took off. But instead of being distracted from missing Chance, all he could think about was how nice it had been to have company on Roger’s walk last night.
Keep this casual. Don’t get in over your head.
It was way too late for that.
***
Chance had hoped Joon wouldn’t be home when he got there. Joon had said he had a lot of work to get done over the weekend, but when Chance opened the door of their apartment, the eye-stinging aroma of hot peppers made him cough. Joon was standing at the stove, sautéing something Chance was sure would burn the shit out of his mouth.
Joon raised his brows when he noticed Chance. “That’s quite a look for you.”
Chance had gotten so used to wearing Darren’s clothes that he’d forgotten how tight they were. “I didn’t want to wear my suit home.”
“So you stole the guy’s clothes? I like that.”
“I didn’t steal them. He gave them to me.”
Joon assessed him more closely. “Well, I can’t blame him; you look hot in them.”
He might look good in a slutty way, but Darren would look fantastic in the aging T-shirt Chance had on—loose, relaxed, the man he’d fucked, not the one in a suit.
“I take it things went well if you got souvenir clothing,” Joon said as he stirred whatever was in the pan.
“Yeah, they did.”
“So who was it? Anyone I might know or want to know?”
Chance hadn’t decided how much he wanted to say to Joon. Telling him would certainly go against his pact with Darren to keep things secret, but if they kept seeing each other, it would get very hard to keep things from his best friend/roommate.
Joon glanced over his shoulder again. “Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“You’re quiet.”
“You know I don’t like to gossip about the guys I hook up with.” That was true. Joon always tried to get details out of him, but he would rarely say anything other than whether he thought he’d see them again or if they were particularly amazing or awful.
“Yes, and you know how I hate it, so you usually at least say something.”
“Well, I don’t want to this time.”
“Hmm. It must have been good if you stayed all night.” Joon wasn’t ready to let this go. “Did he make you breakfast?”
“I fell asleep, and he didn’t wake me.” That was partly true. Telling Joon he was asked to stay the night would only fuel his need to know more.
“I hope you got off before you went to sleep.”
Chance laughed. “Oh, I did, and I got more this morning.” An image of Darren on his knees for him in front of the windows flashed in Chance’s mind.
“Damn, if you’re through with him, pass him my way.”
“He’s too nice for you.”
Joon glared at him. “I like nice boys on occasion.”
“No you don’t. He’s not toppy enough either.”
“As long as he’s versatile, I can make do.”
Chance laughed. “You’re such a slut.”
Joon sighed. “Yeah, I am.”
“Seriously. He’s not your type.”
“You intend to return those oh-so-tight clothes and get seconds, don’t you?”
Chance couldn’t stop his lips from curling up in a smile. “Yeah, I do.”
“That’s a shame about the clothes. You could get a lot of ass wearing that outfit.”
“Enough.”
Joon held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “You know it’s true.”
“I’m going to see him again, hopefully more than once.”
“And you’re seriously not going to give me more details?”
“Not now.”
“Hmpf! I was cooking lunch for you, but I just changed my mind.”
“You were cooking lunch for yourself, and I happened to walk in. Since you always cook like you’re feeding the whole city, there’s enough for me.”
Joon flipped him off. “Bitch.”
Chance rolled his eyes and headed for his bedroom, where he changed into his own clothes and attempted to make his suit look like it hadn’t spent the night waded up on a man’s bedroom floor.
When he came back to the kitchen, he stood by Joon and studied the contents of the pan, suppressing the urge to cough as the spices assaulted him. Joon would just make fun of his lack of tolerance for the eye-watering steam the peppers produced.
“What is it?”
“Yukgaejang. Spicy beef soup,” Joon said as he added zucchini and something Chance thought were fern fronds.
“Have I had that before?”
Joon sighed. “How do you never remember?”
“I remember the tastes but not the names.”
“You have, and you loved it, even though you said I was going to kill you, and you drank like four beers to put out the fire in your mouth.”
“Oh, that one. Isn’t it too early in the day for that?”
“After the night you must’ve had? Hell no.”
“Thanks, but I should head over to the lab for a while. I’ll heat some up for a late lunch.”
Joon looked him up and down. “You should’ve left on that guy’s clothes.”
Chance snorted. “I don’t need that kind of attention.”
“Everyone needs that kind of attention.”
“No, you do, not everyone.” Chance put on shoes and grabbed his bag.
“Hey!” Joon called as he headed out the door.
“Yeah?”
“You really like this guy, don’t you?” Joon’s voice was softer now, and Chance couldn’t lie to him.
“I do.”
“That’s awesome. Too bad I didn’t
meet him. I didn’t even see you dance with anyone except hot Daddy Darren.”
Chance tried like hell to keep his expression neutral, but he must have failed because Joon’s mouth dropped open. “No fucking way.”
“Listen, Joon, I don’t—”
“You slept with Darren Walsh, and you weren’t even going to tell me? And you think he’s nice and—oh my God, you topped him?”
“Joon!”
He held up his hand. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d react just like this.”
“Of course I’d react like this. How else would anyone react?”
Chance assumed that was a rhetorical question.
“You said you hardly knew him, that you’d barely spoken to him.”
“Aren’t you the one who is always telling me talking isn’t important? To just seduce them and bring them home?”
Joon shook his head like he couldn’t believe Chance had said that. “You never listen to me.”
“True.”
“Okay, then. How did this happen?”
“He asked me to dance. We did, and then… I think you can figure out how it went from there.”
Joon frowned. “He said he wanted to fuck, and you were like, yes please, and he took you home?”
“I was the one who suggested the fucking.”
“Daaaamn. You really do like him. So does he have an amazing house?”
Chance couldn’t stop his smile. “Does he ever.”
“Fuck. Now you have to show it to me.”
“What? No.” Chance was so not going to do a creepy drive-by with Joon. For all he knew, Joon might dive out of the car and try to steal Darren for himself.
“I need a better visual.”
“I do not want you visualizing me with Darren.”
Joon groaned. “Now that’s all I can think of. He must’ve been so good. He looks like he would be.”
“I had a very pleasant evening,” Chance said.
Joon flipped him off. “So you’re really seeing him again?”
“Yes, but I don’t know where this is going.”
“Back to bed, I hope.”
Why did he try to have serious conversations with Joon? “Don’t say anything to anyone else, okay?”
“Uh-oh. He wants you to be a dirty little secret? Is he married?”
A Chance at Love Page 7
