Epilogue
“YOU’RE making a mistake,” Dean muttered. “You’ll be miserable here.”
Aiden watched the muscles in his back flexing in the moonlight as he walked to the edge of the grass to take a leak in the bushes. “That argument might seem more reasonable if I wasn’t staring at the most beautiful ass I’ve ever seen. I could never be miserable looking at that.”
Dean glanced over his shoulder to smirk at him. They’d stayed just long enough at the park to watch the fireworks, then booked it back to the farm and torn each other’s clothes off. They hadn’t bothered to go inside, except to grab a blanket—and lube. Then they’d stretched it out on a grassy hilltop overlooking the north pasture and made love under a clear sky while fireflies danced over the field. Even at this hour, the air was sultry against their naked skin.
“Small town life isn’t for the Great Aiden Scott.” Dean returned to the blanket and stretched out beside him. He caressed Aiden’s side with a calloused hand, sending a shiver through him.
“You’re mocking me.”
“Damn straight,” Dean replied, reaching between his legs. Aiden had thought they were finished—at least for the evening—but apparently his cock had other ideas. It hardened in Dean’s hand, a little tender but ready for another round. “Though the irony of that expression isn’t lost on me, given the circumstances.”
Aiden laughed and kissed him, reaching around to give Dean’s ass a firm squeeze. “I admit I liked being a world-famous pianist. I still do. I’m hoping I can play with orchestras occasionally and do some recording. I think I’m still… good.”
“Listen to you!” Dean reached between Aiden’s legs, making him gasp when he teased Aiden’s opening with a finger. Dean was usually the one to bottom, not because Aiden insisted, but because he loved it so much. Now the desire to let him inside made Aiden moan and spread wide for him. “You’re brilliant, and you know it. You were before the accident, and you still are. Even my uncultured ears can tell that.”
Aiden pulled Dean on top of him. “I don’t suppose it matters that I love you?”
“It matters,” Dean replied. “God, how it matters! My body and heart—my soul—are screaming at me to shut up and let you make the worst decision of your life, just so you’ll stay here with me.”
Aiden almost laughed at the hyperbole, but he knew Dean meant it, that every word was filled with pain. He stroked the side of Dean’s face, brushing fingertips along his stubbled cheek. “It’s not the worst decision of my life, Dean. My career is important to me, but it’s not the only thing I value. When I left as a teenager, I misinterpreted you letting me go without a fight as you not loving me—”
“Because you were a fucking idiot!” Dean snarled.
Aiden shushed him with a finger to his lips. “I was. You didn’t fight because you loved me and didn’t want to hold me back. It should have been obvious, but I was a dumb teenager, and that led me to hurt you even more. I’m sorry.”
Dean’s face was largely in shadow, but as he turned his head, his eyes glistened in the moonlight. “It’s fine. I never wanted you to feel guilty about it.”
“No, you wanted me to take off like a rocket and fly to the moon—just like my parents did, and Mrs. Martin.”
“And that’s what you did.”
Aiden smiled, remembering Paris, Moscow, London…. “Yes, and it was wonderful.” The smile faded. “It was also lonely.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re gorgeous. You could’ve had anyone you wanted.”
Aiden squirmed at the compliment. He was used to men chasing him, it was true. But most hadn’t been interested in him. Not really. They’d just wanted to fuck a celebrity. Louis had been the only one he’d been with long enough to care for, and that hadn’t exactly turned out well. “That’s the thing, Dean. I never wanted any of them. I didn’t know what was missing, why I couldn’t connect to any man I got involved with, until I came back here. Now I know. They all came up wanting because I was holding them to an impossible standard—they weren’t Dean Cooper.”
“You idiot,” Dean growled, but he was apparently beyond talking about all that, because he took possession of Aiden’s mouth and pressed his hardness insistently against Aiden’s opening.
Aiden accepted him joyfully, whimpering with need as Dean thrust into him. It took longer to reach orgasm this second go-around, but that was good. He didn’t want it to end. He could happily be joined to Dean for the rest of his life.
When at last they were both spent and Dean had licked his belly clean, despite how it made Aiden giggle and squirm with ticklishness, they lay together on the blanket, holding hands, shoulders pressed together, Dean’s leg draped possessively over one of Aiden’s. The moon had disappeared below the horizon, leaving a sky bedecked with millions of bright stars, more than Aiden could ever remember seeing before.
“Are you sure you’ll be happy?” Dean asked, after a long while.
“I’m sure.”
“You’d better not give up your music.”
Aiden laughed and shook his head. “I couldn’t if I tried. You’d better not give up looking out for everyone in this town. That’s more important than anything I’ve ever done.”
Dean made a rude noise but didn’t contradict him. Then, in a soft voice, he asked, “So… this is real? I’m not dreaming that you love me and you’re staying with me?”
“It’s real.” Aiden rolled onto his side and raised himself up on one arm so he could look into Dean’s eyes. There was so much pain there, pain Aiden had caused years ago. It would take a long time to soothe it away, but he’d spend the rest of their lives trying. “I love you, Dean. I always have, really. I was just blinded by other things. But now I finally see clearly.”
Dean took a slow, deep breath and released it. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for that.”
“I think I do.”
Under the star-filled canopy, while fireflies flickered around them in the warm night air and a soft breeze caressed their bodies, they kissed.
JAMIE FESSENDEN is an author of gay fiction in many genres. Most involve romance, because he believes everyone deserves to find love, but after that anything goes: contemporary, science fiction, historical, paranormal, mystery, or whatever else strikes his fancy.
He set out to be a writer in junior high school. He published a couple short pieces in his high school’s literary magazine and had another story place in the top 100 in a national contest, but it wasn’t until he met his partner, Erich, almost twenty years later, that he began writing again in earnest. With Erich alternately inspiring and goading him, Jamie wrote several novels and published his first novella in 2010. That same year, Jamie and Erich married and purchased a house together in the wilds of New Hampshire, where there are no street lights, turkeys and deer wander through their yard, and coyotes serenade them under the stars.
Visit Jamie: jamiefessenden.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Fessenden-Author/102004836534286
Twitter: @JamieFessenden1
Coming in September 2019
Dreamspun Desires #89
Him Improvement by Tanya Chris
The course of true love runs through every neighborhood….
Only one thing stands between Gregory MacPherson II and his dream revitalization project for the gritty neighborhood of Ball’s End: a rinky-dink, run-down used bookstore called Hailey’s Comic. But when master negotiator Mac shows up to make a deal with the owner, he comes face-to-face with quirky, colorful Hailey—unexpectedly good-humored about Mac’s attempted eviction and, also unexpectedly, a hot guy.
Hailey won’t give up his lease, no matter how much money Mac offers. When it comes to consummating their mutual attraction, though, he’s a lot more flexible. Soon Mac has as hard a time prying himself out of Hailey’s bed as he does prying Hailey out of the building. But Hailey doubts Mac’s plans serve Ball’s End’s best interests, and he insists Mac give him
a chance to prove his case. If they’re going to build a happy ever after, one of them will have to be remade….
Dreamspun Desires #90
Romancing the Rough Diamond by Clare London
Trust is the most precious jewel of all.
When Mayfair jewelers Starsmith Stones wins the commission for a gay royal wedding, CEO Joel Sterling is recommended to the brilliant young designer Matt Barth—only to discover Matt’s the man with whom he shared an anonymous and passionate kiss on the celebration night.
Disenchanted with the commercial jewelry industry, Matt nowadays prefers muddy archaeological digs to designing. Openly resentful of Starsmith’s hostile takeover of his family’s firm, he is horrified at the realization he’ll be working with the man who engineered that deal—but the opportunity to create something fabulous and unique for the royal couple is too tempting to refuse.
Working as a team reignites the spark between Joel and Matt. But when betrayal from within Starsmith threatens both the project and Joel’s confidence, will they have built enough trust to keep their newfound love as precious as the royal jewels?
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Small Town Sonata
© 2019 Jamie Fessenden
Cover Art
© 2019 Alexandria Corza
http://www.seeingstatic.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64108-212-9
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-540-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019933804
Digital published August 2019
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
Small Town Sonata Page 20
