The Fall

by Kate Sherwood

  “Wait,” Will said. He turned to look at his brother. “What about the train thing? The rich boyfriend?”

  “The ex?” Nick shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t think he’s going to be too interested in helping Mackenzie out after the guy dumped him. Well, does it count as dumping when you just refuse to get back together? I don’t know.” He paused as if pondering the issue, then shook his head to dismiss the ideas. “But, yeah, the ex is out of the picture. Mackenzie’s on his own… Joe? Hey, Joe, where are you going?”

  But Joe didn’t answer. He dropped the plates off on the kitchen counter, grabbed his keys, and headed for the truck. He had someone he needed to talk to.

  Chapter 17

  “I DON’T think you’ll need your bed,” Mackenzie told Griffin. “I mean, you don’t really need it here… you just sleep on my bed. And you know you’re going to do the same at Kristen’s. And she hasn’t got much space….” He dropped the overstuffed monstrosity onto the floor. “No, we’re not taking it.”

  He looked around the rest of the room. He’d left out pants and a shirt for the next morning, but otherwise his clothes were mostly packed. He was leaving a few pairs of his grubbiest jeans behind; the dirt was too ground in for them to ever be presentable again. And there was a T-shirt he’d found when he was packing. It was Joe’s. Mackenzie had been tempted to take it with him, but it was probably best to make a clean break. He picked up the shirt and held it to his nose, but there was no scent left in it. Joe was gone.

  The knock at the door startled him, and he checked his watch. Only eight o’clock, but Sunday nights in the country weren’t usually visiting time. When he opened the door and saw the man standing there, he held out the shirt almost guiltily. “This is yours,” he blurted out. “Sorry. You left it here.”

  “You just happened to be holding it?” Joe asked, confused.

  “Strange, but true.” Mackenzie tried to collect himself. “I’m just getting packed up, and I found it.”

  Joe reached for the shirt, and Mackenzie had to fight a sudden urge to snatch it away and keep it for himself. “Thanks,” Joe said. He peered around Mackenzie, then crouched to greet Griffin. “You’re packing?” he said, looking up.

  “Yeah. I’m going back to the city for a bit. Maybe… I don’t know, maybe permanently. I mean, I can make a living down there. Save up a little, maybe try another approach at this whole thing next time around….”

  “But you’re not getting back together with the troll? I mean, Nathan? You’re not getting his help?”

  “No,” Mackenzie said. He raised his chin. “I realized I deserved a hell of a lot better than him.”

  “You do,” Joe agreed slowly. He was clearly thinking something through. “And you… you deserve a hell of a lot better than me too. But….”

  That last word made Mackenzie afraid to breathe. “But…?” he prompted.

  But Joe, predictably, would not be rushed. “They’ve got a new plan at the house. The family does. They want me and Will to buy their parts of the family businesses. You know? So I’d own the farm.”

  Okay, slight distraction, but Mackenzie tried to roll with it. “That sounds good. Right?”

  “Yeah, maybe. The thing is… when they told me about it, I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to know whether you thought it would be fair. And if you did think it was fair, I wanted to tell you about it and, I don’t know, tell you I was happy about it.”

  “Okay,” Mackenzie said. He really wasn’t sure what was going on, but he didn’t seem to be able to turn down any chance of contact with Joe. He glanced behind him at the upheaval caused by his packing, then opened the door anyway. “Come on in. I need more details before I can really give you a good opinion.”

  “No,” Joe said with a confused frown. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, yeah, I do want your opinion, eventually. But the thing is… I wanted to talk to you about it. You know?”

  “No. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” There was no point in pretending otherwise, even if it felt like a failure to admit to his confusion.

  Joe grinned then, not a full-power smile but still enough to make Mackenzie’s knees a little weak. “Yeah. Sorry. I just mean… something big happened. Or something that might be big. Whatever. It happened, and you were the first person I wanted to tell about it. I wanted your opinion, because you’re smart and you have good judgment and… I like talking to you. And if it worked out, you would be the first person I’d want to share it with. Because owning the farm would make me happy, and being with you makes me happy, and doing both at once would be… I’d be really happy.”

  “Oh,” Mackenzie said. He wasn’t sure if his heart was going to stop beating altogether or burst right out of his chest. “Okay. Yeah, I… I get it.”

  “But you don’t sound happy about it,” Joe said, peering at Mackenzie’s face. “I screwed up; I got scared. I know that. And you’re going back to the city now. You’ve got a job lined up, Nick said. That’s great.” His smile looked a little forced, but at least he was making the effort. “I just… well, I guess I just wanted to say it. And if I can be a little bit pushy… if you do end up coming back up here… you know, if that ever worked out for you….” He stopped talking and frowned, staring at the floor for a moment before looking back up at Mackenzie. “No. Fuck it. I said this much, I might as well say the rest. I want you to stay. You don’t hate it here, and we can just fucking make the business work. If you can’t get people to take the train, then I’ll drive them back and forth from the city. You can sleep at the house, and we’ll set up cots in the church basement. We’ll fucking pay people to start B&Bs, or we’ll get Will to offer to do the renos for free…. Or I don’t need to buy the farm. I could put the money from that into doing the renos… I mean, I have to find cash for Ally’s school, eventually, but she’s got enough for the first chunk, at least. I want you to stay. I want you to be with me, and I want us to talk about stuff every night and eat pizza in your bed, and I want Griffin to meet Red, and they won’t get along, but I’ll kick Red’s ass if he beats Griffin up. I want….” He stopped and took a deep breath. He actually looked like he might pass out, and he was holding onto the doorframe as if it was giving him balance. “Okay. Yeah. I know. Too little, too late. And too much about me, not enough about you. I just….” He shook his head. “I just can’t figure out what I could say, from your perspective, that would make this seem like a good idea. I know why I want you. But I can’t really think of any reason why….” He nodded decisively. “Okay. So, I said it. Probably pointless, but—”

  “It was pointless,” Mackenzie agreed with a slow nod. His heart had slowed to a healthier pace during Joe’s speech. “It was nice to hear, but there was no point to it.” He looked at Joe and smiled. “Because all you really had to say, you said right at the start. You want me to stay.”

  Joe stared at him for a little too long. “Wait,” he finally said. “What?”

  “Let’s simplify it a bit,” Mackenzie suggested. He felt like his whole body was glowing, like the words coming out of his mouth should float and bounce in fluffy rainbow clouds. “Joe, do you want me to stay? Do you want to be with me?”

  Joe squinted as if trying to discern a trap, then nodded slowly. “Yes?”

  “Okay,” Mackenzie agreed. He looked around the room. “I can unpack most of this. I still need to go down to the city for a few days; I made a commitment to do some work, and I’m not exactly irreplaceable, but I’d like to not be a flake. But I’ll come right back. I promise.”

  Joe was still squinting. It wasn’t his best look. “What? Really? It’s that easy?”

  “Easy?” Mackenzie shook his head. “I doubt it. I think we’re probably going to have to work our asses off if we want this to last. But this part? Yeah, it’s pretty straightforward. You missed me, even though you didn’t want to admit it. I missed you too. So let’s stop missing each other.”

  “So… if I wanted to come in….” Joe turned his head sidewa
ys and looked at Mackenzie obliquely. The man had a surprising number of ways to express his disbelief.

  “That would be excellent,” Mackenzie said. He was feeling a bit like a relationship counselor, but better that than whatever the hell Joe was being.

  Joe stepped forward cautiously, and Mackenzie eased back to give him room. “Really. This easy,” Joe mused. He turned sideways and stretched his arms out, wiggling them around experimentally.

  “What, are you looking for trip wires now?” Mackenzie shut the door and looked at Joe in amusement.

  “I was just seeing how it feels,” Joe said. “And it feels pretty good.”

  “I bet we could make it feel a little better,” Mackenzie said in his best sex-kitten purr.

  “Really?” Joe grinned, full power. “Sex too? I mean, this is going much better than I expected.”

  “This dweebish side of you is new and not entirely welcome,” Mackenzie said. “I guess I appreciate the honesty, but could you try to be a bit less of a nerd?”

  “I’ll try,” Joe said sincerely. He looked over at Griffin, curled up by the door, then stepped forward and rested his hands on Mackenzie’s hips, like a nervous boy at his first dance. Then he didn’t do anything else. Just as Mackenzie was about to throw his arms up in despair, Joe grinned again, but this time it was his wicked, sexy smile, and he flattened his hands and ran them slowly up over Mackenzie chest. “Still no chance of you putting on a show for me?” he asked softly.

  “Someday, maybe. But not today. Today, you should just undress me and show me who I belong to.”

  “I’ll undress you,” Joe said, and he pulled Mackenzie’s shirt over his head with one fluid movement. “But I don’t need to show you who you belong to. You already know that, right?”

  Mackenzie knew the answer Nathan would have wanted to hear to that question, but he was pretty sure Joe didn’t have the same expectation. Joe just wanted Mackenzie to tell the truth. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I belong to me.”

  “You do,” Joe said softly, scratching his stubble against Mackenzie’s. Then he made a warm trail along Mackenzie’s jawline with his lips, finding all the sensitive spots as if Joe had some sort of special radar. “But I really appreciate you giving me access.” He kissed his way down Mackenzie’s chest as he worked Mackenzie’s fly and then slipped his fingers inside the fabric to find the warm, sensitive skin inside.

  Mackenzie gasped at Joe’s firm grip and leaned his shoulders back against the wall, letting his hips jut forward wantonly. Joe was keeping himself busy pulling off Mackenzie’s shoes and socks with one hand, then using his mouth on Mackenzie’s cock when both hands were needed to deal with his pants. Mackenzie was about to suggest that Joe lose a bit of his own clothing when his words were interrupted with another deep kiss. Then Joe slid his hands down Mackenzie’s body, cupped his ass, reached a little lower, and suddenly lifted Mackenzie up. No warning, hardly any strain, not even a break in the kiss. Mackenzie was not small, and he’d never been manhandled like this, but he wrapped his legs around Joe’s hips in enthusiastic support of the idea. Joe grinned into the kiss, then started moving them toward the bed, massaging and playing with Mackenzie’s ass muscles as they went.

  When they reached the bed, Mackenzie let his legs relax in anticipation of being set on the floor. He gasped when he found himself flying through the air, instead, as Joe tossed him into the middle of the bed as if he were a feather pillow. Mackenzie landed softly and stared at Joe, who grinned back at him, then slowly, tantalizingly, lifted his T-shirt up over his head. Mackenzie’s mouth watered in anticipation as each inch of skin was revealed, but his impatience really grew when Joe’s face was covered with fabric. He wanted to see Joe’s eyes, his smile, and he wanted Joe to see him too. When the shirt was gone and Joe was looking at him again, Mackenzie brought the flat of his hand over his chest, down his stomach, then wrapped it around his cock and jacked himself, slow and tight.

  Joe’s grin showed his appreciation, but he didn’t speed up his own routine. Another slow peel of fabric as his jeans were shed, and then he ran his hand inside his boxer briefs and wrapped it around his own cock.

  “Striptease a la Joe,” Mackenzie said musingly. He was almost too turned on to think, but not quite. “Not quite a performance, right? Reality and nature, just slowed down for my enjoyment.”

  Joe shrugged. Apparently he was totally comfortable taking his clothes off while Mackenzie stared at him, but too bashful to talk about it. At some point, Mackenzie would work on that. He wanted to hear dirty words coming out of this man’s mouth. Then Joe slipped his underwear down, and Mackenzie stopped thinking about anything that could possibly be missing from his current experience. Damn, the man truly was beautiful all over. Mackenzie didn’t realize he’d frozen until Joe grinned and nodded his chin at Mackenzie’s stilled hand. Mackenzie slid his fingers experimentally along his cock and watched Joe mirror the gesture on his own body. Mackenzie brought his other hand up to his chest, tweaked his nipple, and watched Joe do the same to himself.

  But then Joe moved, crawling up the bed, sliding along Mackenzie’s body until they were lined up perfectly and Joe’s lips hovered over Mackenzie’s. “We should do more of that sometime,” he said softly. “But for now, I really want to touch you.”

  Mackenzie tried not to squeak his answer. “Okay,” he managed, and then Joe kissed him, and all the tension left his body. They stretched out next to each other on their sides and stayed like that for quite a while, kissing and touching and laying claim to each other. At some point they became more mobile, shifting and remolding their bodies into new, more sinuously connected shapes. When Mackenzie finally found himself facing away from Joe, his ass rubbing into Joe’s cock, it seemed only natural to arch his back a little, inviting a more intimate connection. And Joe seemed happy to oblige, sliding his hand down to line himself up….

  “Wait,” Mackenzie forced himself to say. Damn, he didn’t want to. But it was necessary. “Condom.”

  “I’m clean,” Joe said quietly. “Got tested a couple months ago. And I….” He shifted around so he was looking straight at Mackenzie. “I’ve always used condoms. Ever since I was a teenager. Always.”

  Always had, but was willing to change now. Because of Mackenzie. Because whatever they were doing was real, and serious, and Mackenzie felt exactly the same way, but he couldn’t let the sentiment get in the way of what he needed to say. “I haven’t,” he said quietly, “and Nathan… he slept around. I’m not really sure how much or how careful he was.” He sighed and twisted around so he could kiss Joe without disturbing the arrangement of their lower bodies. “I really, really want you inside me, skin on skin. I want that a lot. But it’s more important to me that you’re safe.”

  Joe looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. “Okay. If you’ve got some. Otherwise we’re going to need to renegotiate….”

  “I do,” Mackenzie said quickly. He even knew where they were; he’d packed up his toiletries right before Joe arrived. But the bag was so far away, and Mackenzie felt so perfect where he was… “Griffin!” he called. “Griffin, come here!”

  “What are you doing?” Joe asked. He sounded like he wasn’t sure whether to be amused or alarmed.

  Mackenzie ignored him, focusing on the fuzzy head that peered at him from around the corner. “Get it, Griffin,” he ordered, waving his hand in the direction of his toiletries bag. “Get it!”

  Griffin looked a little doubtful but trotted over to the bag and looked back at Mackenzie for confirmation. “Good boy, Griff. Get it! Bring it here!”

  Griffin’s shoulders might not have gone up, but his shrug was as clear as it could be. He picked the kit up in his jaws and walked slowly to the bed, stopping once to adjust his grip.

  “Good boy, Griffin!” Mackenzie said, ruffling the dog’s ears. “Clever boy.”

  “Good dog,” Joe agreed from right beside Mackenzie’s ear. “Now go lie down.” He kissed Mackenzie’s shoulder, then nipped it g
ently. “Call off your dog,” he whispered.

  “Good, Griff. Go lie down.” Mackenzie waved toward the door, and Griffin reluctantly turned away, clearly unimpressed at being used like some sort of servant.

  “Red would have chewed that kit up and then puked it on the rug,” Joe said with a grin.

  “That would do nothing for the mood,” Mackenzie said as he burrowed through the bag and came up with a familiar cardboard box. “Jackpot.”

  “Still sealed shut,” Joe mused. “Should we check the expiration date?”

  “You should stop talking.” Mackenzie quickly opened the package and handed a condom back over his shoulder, then burrowed a little more until he could pass back a bottle of lube. “Now get to the action.”

  “Wow. That’s a sexy sales pitch you’ve got there.”

  Mackenzie didn’t complain about Joe’s continued chatter because he could feel the man was moving around behind him. “The sale’s been made. I’m just waiting for delivery.”

  Joe was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m trying to decide between saying something about having your meat delivery right here, or something about coming to your back door….”

  “Neither, please.” Mackenzie squirmed around again so he could look at Joe. “But I would really like it if you’d kiss me some more.”

  Joe apparently agreed. They stopped talking then, Joe focusing on Mackenzie’s body, and Mackenzie… well, he was focusing on his body, too, letting himself get lost in the sensations Joe seemed able to elicit with the slightest touch. When Joe finally slid inside him, it was almost disappointing, not because it didn’t feel perfect, but because it meant they were getting closer to the end, starting to read the final chapter of a book that had kept them enthralled throughout. But as soon as Joe started moving, the disappointment faded away, and Mackenzie let himself go. Joe was there: he was a solid presence against Mackenzie’s back, a strong arm wrapped around his chest, soft lips on his neck, and a glorious, masterful presence inside him. They moved together in perfect unison, never speeding up, just sliding and working together in a slow, ancient dance. When Mackenzie felt his orgasm building, he clutched Joe’s arm, pulled it into his chest, and held on as if it were the only solid thing in a world suddenly made of light and music. He felt Joe arching into him and knew his pleasure was being shared.