by Jerry Cole
“Are you serious?” Simon’s face twisted as the absurdity of the request hit him.
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
“You don’t really expect me to hold the door open for you, do you?” It wasn’t that he was unwilling, but he had never had to. Except for the few women he took out to formal events, he had never felt the need. Mostly because he never took his dates anywhere.
“Can’t you handle those things on your own?” Simon said.
“Aren’t you a gentleman?” Sparkle’s challenge came through loud and clear.
“Are you a woman?”
“Aren’t I yours? Don’t you cherish and care for your things?” Sparkle smirked triumphantly. He might not be a woman, but he wasn’t going to let Simon get away with not behaving like a gentleman.
“Are you going to continue to answer my questions with questions?”
“Are you going to stop asking stupid questions and come open my door?”
Sparkle stomped his foot in frustration as the cold began to seep into his skin. Simon chuckled softly to himself and got out of the car, walking around the front and opening Sparkle’s door, placing his hand between Sparkle’s head and the roof of the car, as he slid into his seat.
“Thank you, love,” Sparkle said seductively, closing the door behind himself. Simon shook his head and chuckled. It had been a long day, and he seemed to be losing every argument, but he didn’t mind losing this one so much. As Simon circled around behind the vehicle, his eyes caught Sparkle’s movements. Simon watched in amazement as Sparkle leaned across the seat and checked to make sure that the driver’s side was open as well.
It wasn’t a big gesture. It was infinitely small and completely unnecessary, but he was learning to appreciate those things. The small details that let you know that somebody else in the world is thinking about you. There were precious few people in his life that he could say still thought about him. It was nice to know Sparkle, at least for now, wanted to be one of them.
“Ready?” Simon asked as he pulled away from the curb.
“Ready or not, here I come,” Sparkle said. Simon smiled, he just hoped he was truly ready for Sparkle Jones.
Chapter Seven
Sparkle stretched out in Simon’s bed, the sheets twisted around both of their naked bodies. Propping one hand upon his palm, he traced the ligaments in Simon’s outstretched arm, making the muscle jumped sporadically under his stimulation.
“So, are you going to tell me about it, or what?” Sparkle said, breaking the silence.
“What?”
“What sent you over to my side of town?”
“Two of my employees just gave me two weeks’ notice. Two of my best, to be honest with you. They are one hell of a team and I can see them doing big things in the future.”
“Did they get head hunted?”
“No,” Simon said reluctantly. “This time I think it was my fault. They are going to branch out on their own. I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t been so slow in promoting them, I could have kept them around. I just wanted them to get a little more experience.”
“You mean you just wanted to milk a little more hard work out of them with the promise of a promotion someday soon,” Sparkle said.
“Being a good manager is about knowing how much carrot and how much stick to apply,” Simon admitted.
“And they decided to go out and get their own carrot and politely told you where to put your stick,” Sparkle chuckled. Simon opened his eyes and looked at Sparkle’s smiling face. Despite being the butt of the joke, Sparkle’s sympathetic look took the sting out of the day’s failure.
“Something like that.” Simon smiled up at the Sparkle.
“Well, it’s not like they broke up with you. They just decided to move on. Maybe things will be hard for them, and they’ll want to come back. You can promote them then.” Sparkle scooted closer to Simon’s large body and rested his chin on the heel of his hand. Simon reached up and stroked the sensuous man’s thick hair, marveling at the softness and luster.
“Highly unlikely. Aaron and Jerrod are clever and likable. Their clients love working with them. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of their accounts followed them. I just can’t believe that I didn’t see this coming.”
All of the saliva in Sparkle’s mouth dried up, silencing the witty comeback that stood glued to the tip of his tongue, weighing it down like concrete. Instead, he smiled seductively and stroked Simon’s chest sympathetically. Under his cool facade, he was trying to calculate just how bad this situation was.
What does one do when they realize they are fucking their best friend’s boss? Is there a Hallmark card for that? Is it against guy code to keep it a secret?
“So, I decided to see you because you’re good at making me forget,” Simon said, rolling over and pulling Sparkle under his naked body. Sparkle wrapped his arms around Simon’s neck loosely, crossing his hands at the wrist.
“I am?”
“Yeah, the first time I saw you, I forgot that I don’t fuck divas. And the next time I saw you, I forgot that I don’t hold hands.”
“That was the same day,” Sparkle noted as Simon wedged his body between Sparkle’s legs.
“And the next time, I forgot I don’t bring new booty to my house,” Simon said, dropping kisses on Sparkle’s full lips.
“And then?”
“And then I forgot that I don’t need a lover,” Simon said, his hands rubbing across Sparkle’s warm skin.
“And now?” Sparkle struggled against the warm sensation that was making his skin sensitive and his thinking foggy.
“And now, I’m forgetting that I failed today.” Simon buried his face in the crook of Sparkle’s neck, using his tongue to make seductive circles along the long column of taught skin from his collarbone to his chin. Sparkle shuddered with anticipation as Simon’s manhood began to press against his inner thigh.
Memories of Simon’s reckless abandonment both excited and scared him, cooling what would normally be a scorching fire inside him.
“Don’t forget to be gentle with me, baby. I still have to be able to walk in the morning,” Sparkle whimpered, as Simon wrapped his fingers around his extended member and stroked the sensitive head with his thumb.
“Say it again.” Simon’s face was aglow with wonder.
“Don’t forget to be gen-”
“No, not that part. What did you call me?” Simon shook his head, uninterested in everything, save the sound of one word. A word he never thought he would enjoy hearing from any of his conquests.
“Baby?” Sparkle turned his head to the side in curiosity. Of all the things he had whispered to lovers in the heat of the moment, “baby” was perhaps the least risqué.
“Say it again.”
“Baby.” Sparkle giggled at the ridiculousness of the request.
“I like it when you say it,” Simon said, silencing any questions from Sparkle’s confused lips with a deep kiss. Simon’s teeth bit into the soft flesh of Sparkle’s lips, demanding entry and submission. Sparkle gave in willingly, wrapping his arms and legs around the heft of Simon’s heavily muscled form.
“Just let me hold you tonight,” Sparkle gasped when Simon withdrew his tongue from his mouth. Tonight, they didn’t have to indulge. They were both just getting used to the idea of being together, of going to sleep next to somebody you knew you would want to wake up next to. Simon nodded twice and adjusted his body so that Sparkle could cradle his head and shoulders against his bare chest.
Sparkle felt it when Simon finally fell asleep. The man’s body became dead weight, anchoring him to the mattress until morning. He didn’t mind too much. He once spent the night tied up in the trunk of his choreographer-turned-lover’s car. Compared to that, trapped beneath the softly snoring body of a millionaire sex god in a penthouse uptown seemed like a walk in the park.
The problem was, he couldn’t sleep at all. Sparkle liked Simon. He figured that was the only reason why he hadn’t given him a
face full of hot grits for showing up unannounced at his front door late at night. But he was pretty sure that fucking your best friend’s boss was a serious violation somewhere. He was also pretty sure he would burn in hell for keeping such vital information a secret from a man who obviously had trust issues and so desperately wanted somebody to hold him at night and call him baby. He was trapped, and not just under the 280 pounds of man testing the elasticity of his hip flexors and inner thighs.
“You really know how to pick them.” Sparkle stroked Simon’s too dark hair, letting the cool strands slip between his fingers as he contemplated his next move.
Sometime around sunrise, his phone buzzed with a new notification. Sparkle managed to shift away from Simon’s sleeping body long enough to snag the blinking phone off the nightstand and check his messages.
House warming party. Sunday @ 7. Check your email for official invite and directions.
FROM: Jerrod
“Is it an emergency?” Simon clutched the pillow against his face as he spoke.
“No. It's my bestie.”
“You’re not going to call her up and cuss her out for sending text messages early in the morning? Unannounced?!” Sparkle could hear the teasing note in Simon’s voice. He was not amused.
“Didn’t you just hear me say it's my best friend. He gets a free pass because he has my back. And how the hell do you announce a text message?”
“Carrier pigeon?” Simon replied with a shrug.
“Oh shit, so Silver Spoons does know how to clap back. Bravo, boo boo!” Sparkle laughed out loud, despite the early hour.
“I am the man of steel, after all,” Simon said, rolling over and throwing back the blanket to reveal more than a little morning wood. Crossing his hands behind his head, he grinned at Sparkle devilishly.
“You’re quite proud of yourself.” Sparkle rolled his eyes and feigned annoyance, but truthfully, he was impressed. Every inch of Simon’s nearly hairless body was firm, designed for power, and radiating sex.
“You could be proud, too, if you can manage to put your nose right there.” Simon pointed to a spot on his abdomen, right above his cock.
“Oh, is that a challenge?” Sparkle loved challenges.
“Only if you are up for it.”
“Baby, be prepared to be very proud of me,” Sparkle said, licking his lips seductively, before getting down to business. Sparkle crawled across the bed, dipping his torso low into a modified downward-dog position, as he settled himself between Simon’s thighs. With a triumphant smile, Sparkle wrapped his long warm digits around the base of Simon’s throbbing erection and licked it, from root to tip. Swirling his pink tongue around the soft mushroom cap, he pulled his knees up under his body so that his face hovered at a perfect 90-degree angle above Simon’s rod.
“Oh shit,” Simon exhaled, biting his bottom lip and watching Sparkle with extreme interest.
With one smooth motion, Sparkle slid the entire length of Simon’s erection into his mouth and down his throat. Simon’s body spasmed as he felt the tip touch the back of Sparkle’s tongue and push past it.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Simon chanted like a talisman against the pleasure of Sparkle’s soft lips and the complete control of his gag reflex could give him.
Sparkle shifted his gaze up and met Simon’s eyes before slowly withdrawing. Simon was far from satisfied, but completely impressed, and more determined than ever, to spend his nights testing the limits of Sparkle’s abilities.
“You are a wonderful, talented man,” Simon gasped.
“Remember that,” Sparkle said with a flick of his hair, bouncing up and walking across the bed. Simon’s hand snaked out and caught the mocha beauty by the waist, pulling him down next to him on the bed and kissing him hard. Simon nibbled on Sparkle’s full lips. The small noises and moans coming from Sparkle drove him crazy.
“Where did you learn that trick?”
“I was very popular in high school,” Sparkle replied seductively.
“I can only imagine.”
“With the girls.”
There was a moment of silence before Simon burst into laughter.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t see you as a skirt chaser.” Simon struggled to regain his composure.
“I wasn’t interested in ‘skirts’ unless they were bedazzled. I just had a lot of girlfriends. None of us were saving it for marriage. Well, maybe I was, but, I think it was more because of my lack of options than anything else. But we practiced with bananas and zucchinis.”
Simon collapsed into laughter. The idea of Sparkle in a room full of teenaged girls fellating produce was too ridiculous to ignore. Sparkle watched Simon’s face as he laughed, his mouth so wide that Sparkle could see his molars. His whole body shook, and a single tear slid down his face. Simon looked genuinely happy.
Sparkle couldn’t bring himself to get upset. He recalled the faces of the four deeply flawed teens who compensated for bad skin, broke parents, thick glasses, and thunder-thighs with heavy layers of attitude and glitter.
“So was this like a girl group? Like a club?”
“The Wet Pussy Bandits,” Sparkle admitted, finally realizing how embarrassing his teenaged-self must have been to poor Jerrod. Simon howled, dissolving into a fresh set of laughter and convulsions.
“Stop laughing! Those girls made me into the person I am today!”
Sparkle’s defense was half-hearted. Simon wasn’t the first person to laugh at the Bandits. They were all dorks back then, but those girls had been one of the few lights in a very long and dark tunnel. Their quiet revolt and fearless spirit helped carry him through. They were the first ones to call him Sparkle in public.
“You know, some people might call you a man, even if you don’t always look like one.”
“Some people lack imagination.” Sparkle rolled his eyes. “If you’re waiting for me to show you my butch side, then this is it. This is as butch as it gets with me.”
Simon tucked Sparkle under his body, locking him down with his strong legs.
“I won’t lie to you. I don’t get it. The makeup and the shoes; they’re not my deal. They‘re a dead giveaway, and the world is not nice to people who are different. I don’t know why you would want to paint a target on yourself like that. But, you make it look good, and you’re sexy as hell. So, if that’s what you learned from the Wet Pussy Bandits, then I have nothing else to say.”
Sparkle looked up at Simon and waited for him to say “but.” It never came. Instead, Simon rained down a volley of scorching kisses that burned away his thoughts and any hope that he would be able to walk away from this man unscathed. Simon was proving to be more than what he bargained for.
Chapter Eight
Sparkle watched Simon eat with a growing sense of disgust and concern. The man was as red-blooded American as they come. He took the phrase “meat and potatoes” and turned it into a personal mantra.
“Is there a problem with the food?”
“My food or your food?”
“Is there a problem with my food?” Simon stabbed at his steak with his knife and sniffed the plate.
“You know, every time we eat together you order a huge slab of meat with all of the trimmings and then clean your plate,” Sparkle noted.
Simon smiled. “Oh, are you tired of pretending like you are satisfied with fish and rabbit food? You can have whatever you like, just be sure to take care of yourself,” Simon said, waving his hand dismissively.
Sparkle looked at Lupita, the cook who came every evening to prepare the following day’s meals and shook his head.
“You have it all wrong. I am taking care of myself. I eat these new trendy things. They’re called vegetables. All the celebrities out in Japan are doing it,” Sparkle said.
“You know what I mean.” Simon rolled his eyes at Sparkle’s dramatic antics.
“I do. Do you know what I mean?”
“I should eat a vegetable.”
“Yes, but more than that. You should
take better care of yourself. You won’t be young and sexy forever. I want to know that you’re out there being inappropriate with men half your age for a very long time.”
“You’re nearly half my age,” Simon observed.
“So we’re off to a good start.”
Sparkle knew that Simon was an older man, he just didn’t care…most of the time. The thing that brought them together was mutual self-interest, Sparkle had no illusions about that. But, at heart, he couldn’t watch anybody make poor decisions or harm themselves and say nothing. More than that, he was beginning to feel something for the comic-book look-alike. Something more than fondness. He wanted good things for Simon, even if he knew he wouldn’t be there to share them.
“What’s the plan for tonight?”
“I have that house warming tonight.” Sparkle decided to let the subject drop. He cared about Simon, but he knew his place in Simon’s life was temporary and dependent on mood.
“Oh,” Simon said.
“Don’t be jealous,” Sparkle cooed.
“I’m not jealous. What time are you coming back?”
Sparkle began to laugh, clapping his hands, as Simon tried to maintain his composure while inquiring about Sparkle’s plans for the first evening they would spend apart since Simon showed up unannounced at Sparkle’s doorstep.
“I promise to be home by sunrise, okay Mom?”
Simon reached under the table and grasped Sparkle’s knee. The soft muffled giggles burned the tips of Simon’s ears as he made eye contact with Sparkle.
“I will be waiting up for you, so don’t be too late.”
“I don’t like traveling too late. If it’s very late, I’ll just stay over.”
“No, you won’t. If it’s too late, you will call me, and I’ll send a car for you. This is my home, and you are my…you are mine, and I want you here before I fall asleep.”
Sparkle looked up from his salmon on a bed of baby greens and met Simon’s gaze. His chiseled chin and penetrating eyes radiated a kind of tenderness that Sparkle wasn’t used to and wasn’t entirely sure that he deserved.
