They went into a few of the stores, and Leo picked up a few antiques he thought his dad would like. They walked hand in hand down the streets while Nathan told him stories of coming there some weekends as a kid with his parents.
The Hyde House wasn’t too busy when they arrived half past twelve, and Nathan’s father was already sitting at a table, waving them over. Edward Wilder stood at almost six feet, with a short buzz on his head and light brown eyes that matched his only son’s, though that was where the similarities ended between them. Where Nathan was shorter and thinner, his father was heavier—though he carried it well—and taller, with wider shoulders. Leo knew his lover took after his mom, but Nathan would never admit it, and the conversation would be cut short before any further mention of the woman he was estranged from.
“Leonardo, nice to meet you. Nathan’s always talking about you. It’s nice to finally put a face to the man.”
“Likewise, sir. I hope you’ve heard all good things.”
“I have, no worries. I don’t think Nathan would’ve agreed to let us meet if he hadn’t put you in my good graces already.”
“Okay, enough of that.” Nathan chuckled, shifting uncomfortably in the seat next to Leo as he looked over the menu with a finger lodged between his teeth. “Did you order anything, Dad?”
“Not yet. I just got here myself. Ordered some water for the three of us while we wait.”
The three of them took a minute to look over the small menu until the waiter returned with the drinks, and they decided they were ready to order. Nathan went with the cabbage rolls for the starter and taco bowl for the entree. Leo decided on the poached salmon, asking for a glass of house merlot to wash it down with while Edward ordered the hummus and Korean noodles for himself.
“So, Leonardo.”
“Leo, please.”
“Leo, of course. What part of Italy do you live in?”
“My family resides in San Leo. I’ve basically been there my entire life.”
“Ah, I haven’t had the pleasure. I was actually stationed in Venice while I was serving many years ago, before Nathan was even born.”
“My dad loves to brag about his Army days.” Nathan smirked, sipped his water through the straw, wiped his lips with a napkin, then continued, “He purposely failed the physical so he could get honorably discharged and become a small-town cop in Idaho, though.”
“Now retired. I’m a lot older than I look,” Edward explained with a smile of his own. Leo distinctly remembered Nathan telling him his parents met when they were older, his father having a failed marriage under his belt and his mother a string of abusive relationships behind her. At thirty-four, Edward married and had his first child with twenty-seven-year-old Melanie Hill. They were married for fifteen years before she was unfaithful to Edward, who was nothing but good to her all those years. Nathan wouldn’t go into too much detail, but Leo could always tell there was something more to the story, especially since it resulted in him never speaking to her again.
“How’s retirement treating you? My dad’s a few years away, and he’s worried he’s going to waste away to nothing if he’s not up at the ass crack of dawn to open his shop.”
Edward chuckled and shook his head with a wave of his hand. “Retirement’s one of the greatest periods in life, if you build up to it right. All my years in the service gave me nice severance packages that have enabled me to travel with my old lady anywhere we please at least once a year.”
Leo felt Nathan stiffen beside him, and when he looked over, Nathan had a set jaw and faraway look in his eyes. “Where’s your wife now?” Leo asked.
“Not here, obviously,” Nathan snapped, then chuckled humorlessly as he roughly tore apart the paper that once covered the straw.
“Nate.”
“What, Dad? I’m surprised she even let you come see me, unless you didn’t tell her where you were going. But of course you didn’t because you’ve always been a little puppy when it comes to your women, isn’t that right?”
“Nathan,” Leo warned, putting his hand over Nathan’s. He was surprised at Nathan’s sudden change in tone. “You need to calm down.”
“I’m sorry, Leo,” Edward replied.
“No, don’t act like a victim, Dad. What he’s not telling you is that his amazing old lady, Christina, hates gay men. You should’ve heard the things she said while I was living with them. I couldn’t wait to get away from there. And Dad never defended me. Too worried about losing yet another woman, even if it meant not sticking up for his only son.”
Edward cleared his throat and silently excused himself before disappearing toward the bathroom.
“Nathan, that wasn’t fair.”
“You don’t know the half of it, Leo. Why do you think I never mentioned her? They got married in some chapel in one of those wonderful places they visited and came back to tell me they’re husband and wife. Didn’t even bother to tell me they were thinking about it. I don’t blame my dad, but he never stood up for me either. While she was running her mouth, saying guys like me are going to hell for the things I do, he was sitting there eating and minding his own business like he didn’t hear a fucking word.”
Leo cradled Nathan’s face in his hands and quieted his rant with a short kiss, then whispered words that only his ears could pick up. “It’s in the past, babe. If that kind of person doesn’t understand that love is love, then you don’t give them the power by letting them know how much it affects you. Your dad obviously still values his relationship with you even if he’s made his mistakes in the past. Don’t let her ruin that.”
Nathan closed his eyes and nodded. He wrapped his arms around Leo and hugged him tightly, as if he were looking for the support he needed all those times his stepmother was tearing him down.
“Sorry I overreacted like that.”
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to, but I accept it.”
Nathan left a minute later to go find his dad, and the two returned with misty eyes but on good terms. They picked up the conversation where they left off before it got sour. The three bonded over the amazing meals they’d ordered, which arrived a few minutes after that, and ended lunch on a good note with promises to get together again before Leo’s trip back home.
THOUGH WEDNESDAY night was spent in an emotional conversation about Nathan’s mom, and the fact that her infidelity spanned the course of three years with two different men before Edward found out, and the horrible stepmother he had to endure for four years until he finally moved out, Thursday night was a lot more uplifting. Nathan invited over his two best friends from high school, Samantha and Derrick, for dinner so they could finally meet the man he never stopped talking about.
“I almost convinced myself you weren’t real,” Sam said, then took a bite out of her pizza. Derrick agreed, laughing behind a bottle of beer. “He always used to talk about this beautiful Italian and Puerto Rican man with blue eyes and we’re like, honestly, come on. You need to show us proof, or we’re just gonna chalk it up to having wet dreams about some guy named Leo.”
Leo laughed and raised his eyebrows at Nathan, who was blushing furiously in the corner of the living room. “Why didn’t you show them pictures of me?”
“Because I didn’t want to share you!” he admitted, flashing his middle finger at his best friends for outing him like that. “Plus even if I did show pictures, they probably would’ve thought I found them on the internet or something. They never believe me when I tell them stuff.”
“That’s not true. I believed you when you told me you were gay,” Derrick confirmed.
“One time out of a million, and that’s because you caught me staring at Mike Jensen’s ass.”
“Yikes.” Samantha snorted, waving her greasy hands in the air as if she were surrendering a losing war. “Let’s not go down the Mike Jensen road unless you wanna scare poor Leo off, okay?”
“Oh, now I’m definitely intrigued.”
“I’ll tell you later.” Nathan winked at him as
Derrick tapped him with a cigarette, and the two disappeared onto the patio after excusing themselves for a smoke break.
Leo decided to take the time to clean up a little bit. He grabbed bottles off the coffee table and tossed them in the garbage can in the kitchen as Samantha settled onto one of the barstools.
“You make him happy.”
“You think so?” Leo smiled and returned to the living room to pick up balled-up napkins and empty plates. “He’s always seemed happy to me, but you know how easy it is to fake that while video chatting.”
“Nathan’s gone through a lot. You know about the shit with his mom and stepmom, but high school was kind of heavy on him too. Obviously not my place to tell you, but he bottles it up inside a lot. Mostly because he thinks it doesn’t matter since it happened before you two met.”
Leo didn’t blame him. There was some stuff that he’d failed to mention in the two years they had spent getting to know each other, but mostly it was because he didn’t want to turn Nathan off, not because it struck a chord deep inside him. Stories about men he was with and things he did, nothing that haunted him six years after he finished grad school.
“I know there’s a lot that hurts him, but the last thing I want to do is push him, you know? Risk losing him just because I want him to talk to me.”
“Sometimes what he needs is a little push, though. He really likes you. He just doesn’t know what’s acceptable to tell you when you two haven’t even established what you are yet.”
“Yeah, we’re kind of running the clock on that.” Leo scratched the back of his neck. He’d hoped, at this point in his vacation, they would be closer to figuring out where they wanted to go with their relationship, but with a week left, he didn’t know if much more was going to come out of it other than late-night pillow talk after mind-blowing sex. “I don’t suppose such a good friend like yourself would give me any insight.”
Samantha laughed as she shook her head. “Sorry, I’m kind of obligated to keep my mouth shut, but I will tell you this. If you want Nathan to tell you anything, a little nagging there won’t hurt. I’ve known him long enough to know he’s not opposed to getting roughed up a little bit.” She ended with a wink before the patio door opened and Derrick lifted the cigarette toward her as if to ask if she wanted a hit.
She traded with Nathan, who didn’t smoke, but was one of those people, unlike Leo, who didn’t mind being around the smell of nicotine. Nathan looked back as the door closed before staring at Leo with a curious expression as he took the seat Samantha previously occupied.
“Was she telling you embarrassing stories about me?”
“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe. You were such a nerd in high school!”
“Shut up, I was not. She’s the one that used to walk around wearing Coke-bottle glasses and had braces till senior year.”
Leo chuckled softly, rounding the kitchen counter to wedge himself between Nathan’s legs. He scrunched up his nose lightly at the lingering smell of smoke. “She wasn’t saying anything about you, but now we know who the snitch of the group is.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
“You like it.”
“Nah. Lies. Fabrications. Slander.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Since you asked so nicely.” They kissed lazily, tongues dancing along the space where their lips parted, intertwining their fingers as their chests bumped lightly, and they were once again lost in their own little world.
A bubble that was interrupted when the patio door slid open. “Okay, who’s ready for the pool?” Derrick exclaimed, bouncing excitedly in the small space of the living room.
Nathan and Leo quickly got dressed and met Samantha and Derrick, who were already soaked by the time they arrived, down at the pool. They spent the rest of the afternoon having some good fun as the sun set, playing Chicken and chasing each other around the pool deck, making good memories that were sure to last a lifetime.
Chapter 5
Nathan
HAGERMAN WAS a town about an hour away from Boise in Gooding County, and it was one of Nathan’s favorite places to visit. He remembered visiting the town with a bunch of friends the summer before senior year, taking a guided canoe tour down the Snake River that was definitely worth the price. This time, he had planned there stay months in advance, deciding their second weekend together should be spent away from his small apartment, enjoying the outdoor attractions that Hagerman offered. Plus it was more of an excuse for him to come somewhere he loved to visit with someone he absolutely adored.
Instead of taking advantage of the town, though, they spent all of Friday laid up in bed with the TV playing on mute and the view of the river to keep them company in the beautiful garden room of Thousand Springs Winery.
“This place is not cheap, Nathan.”
“I told you not to look it up.” Nathan frowned, reached for Leo’s phone, then tossed it on his nightstand before continuing to massage his lower back. “It’s only two nights.”
“And we just wasted one by doing nothing but making love.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Hell no. Just saying, pretty steep price to pay for a bed that could do exactly what your own bed can.”
“You’re ruining the mood, I hope you know that,” Nathan mumbled, rolling off Leo, then smacked his ass and made his way into the bathroom to start the tub. “I’m not concerned about it. I work hard for the money that I spent, and I wanted to do something special for you, so just be quiet and enjoy it, okay?”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Leo saluted, and turned to lie on his back with his fingers locked behind his head. “Only if I can ask you one more question.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Do you know how unbelievably fucking hot you look right now?”
Nathan groaned and slammed the door to the bathroom shut, met by Leo’s thunderous laughs on the other side. Soon Leo joined him and crowded him with tight hugs from behind, their joined bodies reflecting back on them on the full-length mirror that covered one of the walls in the luxurious bathroom.
“Do you have any idea how much I’m going to miss you when I leave?”
“Probably not as much as I’m going to miss you,” Nathan responded, smiling at Leo through the reflective glass, taking in the view of them together. He never thought the day would finally arrive where they would be together, wrapped in each other so intimately, enjoying each other’s presence. It was torture talking about it, wanting it, but not being able to have it, and now that he finally did, he was terrified of having to go without it again. “I’m gonna have to hold you hostage next Friday.”
“Only if you do that thing with your tongue again would I consider missing my flight.”
Nathan jerked his arm back to hit Leo on the ribs, chuckling softly when he groaned and leaned to the side but didn’t let him go, nearly toppling both of them over on the tiled floor.
“Think that tub can fit the both of us?” Nathan asked.
“Probably not, but I know we’ll make it work.”
Though it was a tight squeeze, Leo and Nathan managed to cuddle together in the small bathtub, their lips pressed together, allowing them to ignore pinned knees and the inability to move more than an inch to readjust. Leo ran his wet fingers through the dark strands of Nathan’s hair and nibbled gently on his earlobe while Nathan traced patterns of nothing in particular along Leo’s defined collarbones.
“What are you thinking about right now?”
Leo smirked, humming softly against Nathan’s skin before answering. “The first night we met.”
“You were such a jerk to me.”
“I was not!” Leo scoffed and leaned his head back to be met with gentle kisses along the length of his neck. “I was defensive and kind of turned on by how hot your profile picture was.”
“Please! Coming from someone who looks like you, I highly doubt that.”
“Give yourself some more credit, babe. You’re a fucking catch, and I don�
��t know how the hell I got to you first.”
Nathan shrugged and laid his head on Leo’s chest, snuggling closer, if it was even possible in the tiny space they had left over. “Don’t know, but I’m glad you did. Dating sites are just a cesspool of men and women wanting to hook up for a quickie, but that’s not what I wanted. Which is why I lied about where I lived and met you.”
“Greatest thing you’ve ever lied about, honestly. It brought us together.”
“Ugh, are you getting all sappy on me now?”
“Shut up, Nathan.” Leo shook his head, dragging his fingers up and down Nathan’s spine, making him shiver and mumble softly against him. “I’m serious. You’re just about the best thing that’s happened to me in two years. I’m glad we finally got to be together, even if for a short time.”
“If I decide to come to Italy, would you spend a ridiculous amount of money on a hotel room just to lie in bed and take a bath together?”
“Probably not.” Leo laughed, and Nathan scoffed, playing as if he was hurt, but truthfully, it wasn’t important to him. As long as they were together, he’d be happy. “But I do promise to make love to you near the water and dine you with the greatest meals you’ve ever tasted and show you all my favorite spots in San Leo like you showed me here.”
“Mm, I’m already planning a trip down there for next year. It’s happening.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” Nathan said, grabbing Leo’s arm, then kissed his wet palm to seal in his words, a ritual they had quickly become used to in the short week they’d spent together. “Now let’s get out of this tub and finish off the rest of the night in bed.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
SATURDAY WAS spent outside the hotel room, much to Nathan’s protest and promises to make Leo’s day worthwhile if they could just stay in bed. They started off with breakfast in the dining room of the lodge, eating a variety of foods from crisp bacon to scrambled eggs, biscuits as soft as clouds, and sausages right out of the pan. Leo had a couple of mimosas while Nathan settled for the freshly squeezed orange juice they offered, and both ended with a steaming cup of coffee.
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