Unbreak Him

by Sam E. Kraemer

  "And this will be my first time making love because I've never been in love with anyone I've had sex with. Now, do I have to beg?" Kyle asked with a smirk.

  Grant expertly prepared him to receive his hard cock. When he slid in thirty minutes later, after bringing Kyle to the edge at least four times, Grant was gentle and waited for Kyle's unaccustomed body to relax so they could both enjoy it. And, enjoy it they did. After a bit of time, Grant withdrew and lay on his back so Kyle could be on top of him, making the height difference less noticeable because they both loved kissing.

  "I'm almost there, Kyle," Grant warned as his hand continued to stroke Kyle's cock while the younger man rode him hard. It was amazing to feel that hard cock inside him. It seemed as if Grant’s cock had radar guidance to his prostate, and Kyle knew he couldn't last.

  "God, baby, go," Kyle groaned as he slowly rose and lowered himself, squeezing his muscles to hold Grant inside him as he felt the pulsing, which set him off as well. The orgasm seemed to go on for infinity, but was over too soon. Kyle fell forward and rested on the older man's chest, trying to remember how to breathe correctly.

  "I think you've… just changed… me into a dedicated… bottom," Kyle whispered between wheezing gasps for air.

  Kyle climbed off him and collapsed on the bed, face down. He felt the bed shift and heard Grant walking across the bedroom floor to the bathroom, returning with a warm cloth and a towel a few minutes later. Kyle vaguely remembered hearing the toilet flush.

  After Grant cleaned him up, he hopped into bed and lie on his side, stroking Kyle's sweaty hair. "You okay?" Grant whispered.

  Kyle turned on his side and offered his most satisfied grin. "Beyond. It was incredible. For your first time topping, you knew exactly how to push all my buttons," he observed.

  Grant returned his grin. "I just made love to you the way I've always wanted someone to make love to me. Once you recover, I'd like you to return the favor," Grant whispered as he closed his eyes, his hand gently resting on Kyle's back as they both fell into a satiated sleep only true lovers could know.

  The two men were sitting at the kitchen island at ten o'clock that night, eating scrambled eggs and toast with jelly. Kyle was drinking orange juice as Grant sipped a cup of tea. "So, do you miss your old life?" Kyle asked.

  Grant swallowed and wiped his mouth, chuckling a bit. "I fight the urge to self-abuse from time-to-time, but for the first time, I understand why I do it. You and Felicity helped me finally see it. I don't think I'm a masochist as I came to believe over the years. I think I just behaved in the only way I'd ever learned to behave. The physical pain took away the pain of memories I've tried to hide from for too long. I think I'm going to seek therapy again because I finally feel like I'm ready to come to terms with my past."

  He glanced up at Kyle and reached for his hand, gently holding it. "I want to be better, Kyle. We have the potential to be great together, and I don't want to let my past get in the way of our future," Grant explained.

  Kyle leaned over and kissed him gently. "You know, I wouldn't mind getting a playful, no-blood-drawn, spanking sometime. I also wouldn't mind a little kink in the bedroom, but I think we both know I'm never going to be Dom material. Do you think that's an avenue you might want to explore?"

  Grant went back to eating his eggs as he seemed to contemplate what Kyle had told him. After a minute, he wiped his mouth and tossed the napkin on his empty plate. "Do I want to become a Dom? No. I'm not cut out to be a disciplinarian to anyone other than the dog I'd like us to get soon. Will I tie you up and spank that cute hiney with a paddle? Oh, name the time and place, my darling man," Grant told him with a wicked smile.

  After the kitchen was cleaned up, the two men walked hand in hand upstairs in their boxer briefs, both crawling into the California king, where Kyle proceeded to make love to Grant for the first, but not the last, time in his life. It was gentle and powerful at the same time.

  When they settled down to sleep, Kyle couldn't remember the empty feeling he had when his parents gave up on him. For the first time in a long time, his heart was full of love. It was a feeling he'd cherish for the rest of his life.

  The next Friday morning, Kyle looked out the bedroom window to see it was raining, which wasn't a surprise in Pennsylvania in November. Thanksgiving was two weeks away, and he wondered if Grant had any traditions.

  He walked into the walk-in closet where Grant was pulling out clothes and kissed him on the cheek. "It looks cold, so dress warmly," Kyle instructed.

  Grant looked up at him with a smile. "You too, mister. No getting sick for us. I thought that maybe we could invite Connie and Brian, and Brian's brother Luke, if he doesn't have plans, for Thanksgiving. I haven't cooked a big meal for a long time. Do you think they'd come?"

  "Well, we can ask the two of them to come over. I don't know where Connie and Brian live since Connie left our old building, but I doubt it's as big as this place. Maybe we can combine plans?" he suggested.

  "Oh, the management company rented your old apartment. I called your landlord to ask about getting you out of your lease, and they told me they'd sublet it after you called them to tell them you were being transferred to a call center in India. That sounds like a lovely job," Grant teased.

  Kyle knew he had to come clean with the man. "They never tented my building, Grant. I made that up so you'd let me stay here with you. I wanted to watch out for you because I was so afraid you'd hurt yourself. I've known I loved you for a while, and I wanted to be sure you were okay," he admitted as he pulled on his favorite suit slacks, grabbing his white shirt, jacket, and a silver tie before he walked out of the closet.

  Grant walked out behind him with two ties in his hand, holding up one then the other before taking the silver one from around Kyle's neck to replace it with a beautiful navy and burgundy rep stripe. "I know. After you told me about them tenting it, you didn't know anything about what tenting a building entailed, so I called them to ask. They had no idea what I was talking about and accused me of being someone from the housing authority who was trying to shake them down," Grant explained as he tied a full Windsor knot, shoring it up to its proper spot before he folded down Kyle's collar.

  "There. That's perfect," Grant told him before he finished dressing.

  Kyle, however, was stunned at the man's admission. "You… you knew I was lying, and you didn't call me on it?"

  Grant tied his own tie and inched it into place, looking at Kyle in the mirror. "Why on earth would I shoot myself in the foot? I've wanted you since the day you trotted up to my office with that damn thumb drive from Cooper. I was getting exactly what I wanted, so I could let a little white lie go unchecked, especially since it was shaving about six months of hell off achieving the final goal. Whatever happened to that thing, by the way? The thumb drive?"

  Kyle smiled. "I have it in a box in the closet. We can take a walk down by the Delaware River sometime and give it a proper burial at sea," he offered.

  Grant's loud laugh was like music to Kyle's ears. He was looking forward to the future more than ever before in his life. When he was in that six-by-nine cell, he had no idea his life would ever take the most incredible route it had. For the first time in his adult life, Kyle Rance felt truly blessed.

  "Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule. I realize you're under a deadline for the Velasquez campaign, but I wanted to show my appreciation for the spectacular job you did with bringing them on board. Are the newly acquired resources going to be sufficient to service the account? We can start hunting for more talent if you need it," Jerome Timmons offered to Grant later that day.

  They'd been summoned to lunch with the big man himself, and Kyle wondered why he was included. It was Grant's day to shine. Kyle was merely another cog in the marketing machine.

  "I think we're good. I plan to have things settled by the twenty-second so I can give the team the twenty-third and -fourth off since I'm going to need my key players on the twenty-fifth for the fina
l presentations. Would you be available to attend, Jerome? I believe the brothers would feel better if you were there," Grant suggested. Kyle knew it was bullshit, but he was impressed the man knew how to make the old man feel good.

  "No, no. You've got this under control, Senior Partner. Adding me in the mix would just muddle things up, and they need to know they have your undivided attention. This will mean a good bonus for your team at the end of the year, and we haven't even told Kyle about his salary increase," Timmons stated as the waitress walked up to the table.

  She snarled as she dumped a tray of water in Grant's lap. Kyle looked up to see it was Lindsey Blume, and he wasn't surprised at all. "Shit!" Grant hissed. Kyle was pretty sure it was the ice water.

  Instead of apologizing, she snapped, "You fucking fag. I wish it was hot soup," before she stomped off.

  Jerome held up his hand, and the maître de hurried over to their table. "Can we get some napkins and that little girl's head on a platter? She dumped ice water on my partner, here," Jerome instructed as the man fell all over himself trying to dry Grant's crotch.

  Kyle chuckled as he pulled out his phone, hitting the contact. "Hemmings Dry Cleaners, this is Angie," he heard answered.

  "Hi, Angie. This is Kyle Rance. Could you send someone by the office at three this afternoon to pick up a suit to be pressed? My boss got water dumped on him at lunch, and he has an appointment after work," Kyle told her.

  Grant looked up at him and smiled. "I do?"

  Kyle nodded as he finished the logistics and disconnected the call. "Of course you do. We're going to celebrate, Senior Partner." He offered a wink in support, and when Jerome Timmons told Kyle of his raise, he was genuinely speechless. It was double his salary from the mailroom, and while he was satisfied with it, Grant wasn't.

  "Twenty-percent more or we'll never keep him. He's the brains behind the 'Columbia's Best' pitch, Jerome, and the Velasquez brothers like him. You need to get him into a contract because if he left, they'd likely go with him," Grant argued. Kyle was about to protest when a swift kick in the shin stopped him short.

  He turned to look at Grant, who raised an eyebrow. They both turned to Jerome, who was texting on his phone as the salads were delivered. Just as their new waiter was returning with the entrees, Jerome's phone rang. He excused himself and stepped out into the hallway of the restaurant.

  "What are you doing?" Kyle hissed.

  "Take a deep breath, sweetness. This will go in our favor, trust me," Grant assured.

  Jerome returned a moment later with a confident smile. "Okay, the partnership is prepared to offer you a contract for one year as a Senior Associate with a Junior Partnership guaranteed next year. Included will be an end-of-year bonus and an expense account. You'll get the salary Grant has insisted upon, but you'll have to sign a three-year non-compete agreement in the event you leave before you make full-partner," Jerome explained.

  Kyle glanced at Grant, who was beaming at him. He had one more question. "There's no fraternization policy, right?"

  Jerome laughed as he cut into his strip steak. "You guys are funny."

  That night after Grant and Kyle went out with Connie and Brian to celebrate the good news, they came back to the row house and made love for hours, each taking a turn at sending the other into the stratosphere.

  When Kyle settled in for bed with his arms wrapped around Grant, he wondered what his twenty-year-old prison self, the brooding kid who used to lie in the metal bunk with the shitty mattress and the scratchy sheets at night and stew over his mistakes, would think about the life he was beginning. Maybe if he knew he could be a success on his own, he'd have never made the silly mistakes of his youth. Of course, there was no way to know the answer to that quandary, but Kyle did know he was a lucky man.

  He'd met a broken man who seemed at his whip's end, and somehow, Kyle had been able to help him 'unbreak' himself. Of course, he never thought the man would 'unbreak' him as well, but life offered surprises, and Grant Cummings was the best possible kind.

  Epilogue

  Ten years in the future…

  Grant was standing in his office holding the CLIO award he and Kyle shared for the "Tucano Menswear" worldwide campaign, dusting it to put it on the shelf in front of him with the various other mementos from the successful campaigns they'd created for their vast array of clients. It had been a long time coming, as he remembered back to the very first award they won for the "Hemmings Dry Cleaners" campaign.

  "And, this year's ADDY goes to Grant Cummings and his team at Timmons & Associates for the 'Hemmings Dry Cleaners' campaign. Congratulations," the chair of the local AAF chapter announced. They were ironically at The Rittenhouse Hotel, and he and Kyle had secured a room, planning to celebrate the nomination. They had no idea they'd win, so when their names were called, they hugged each other tightly as the spotlight was focused on their table.

  "Come on. All of you," Grant had beckoned Kyle, Amy, Nancy, and Zach with him. Everyone was receiving a thick glass award, and they pushed him to give a quick acceptance speech.

  "Thank you for this honor. These people with me deserve it more than I ever have, and I thank heaven every day I have a team like them with which to create. They could still go on without me, but I couldn't go on without them. Thank you, Kyle mine, Amy Hu, Nancy Stone, and Zach McCoy. Thank you, Jerome Timmons, and the rest of the partnership for providing us with the environment in which to create. Thank you, AAF, and goodnight," Grant announced before he hugged everyone on his team. Once they reached their table, he and Kyle left, bringing a great laugh from the team. They also called for a late checkout the next day. They were still exhausted despite not leaving the hotel until three that afternoon.

  "Grant, Mariel Andrews called regarding the campaign for the Parks Department. She has more ideas," Connie May, their office manager, told him as he breezed into Grant's office.

  Grant chuckled. "As managing partner of Cummings & Rance, I delegate that one to my partner, Kyle. Is he back yet?" Grant asked.

  "He had to pick up Josie, remember?" Connie reminded.

  Grant nodded. "Who knew we had snakes in our fucking field? Anyway, will you call the cleaning service and ask them to dust the case every time they clean? I mean, when we have clients in for meetings, we want these awards to shine brightly to document our successes, and I'm not so happy with this new case. I think it needs doors, what do you think?" he asked Connie, who laughed.

  "I think you're a prissy bitch, but I'll mention it to Lucas when he gets into the office. Don't forget, you and Kyle have drinks with Lance and his board of directors tomorrow evening. Kyle was working on the boards this morning," Connie reminded as they both heard a commotion coming from reception.

  Connie opened the door and motioned to Grant, who walked over to see their receptionist, Jackie, being licked to death by a large dog with an Elizabethan, cone-style collar around its neck. Kyle was tugging the leash without much success. "Get down, Josephine! I'm sorry, Jackie. She loves you," Kyle offered as an excuse.

  The young woman who was about twenty-one, giggled loudly as she fought off the large Dalmatian. "It's okay, Kyle. Josie, sit baby," Jackie ordered, to which the dog immediately responded, tail beating the carpeted floor.

  Grant laughed. "She sure as hell doesn't behave like that at home. Hell, I can't believe she's already five. It feels like only yesterday when Kyle gave her to me for my birthday. Anyway, call Lance and tell him we'll come to their offices first. It's better to present the proposal to them in private, and then we'll take them out after," Grant directed.

  Connie nodded as he walked out, leaving Grant's door open as he liked it. He didn't want to be cut off from the rest of the office, even though it was small. Gerard from T&A ran their copy services office, and he had three people who worked for him. Everyone contributed to the success of Cummings & Rance in their own way.

  Grant and Kyle were full partners in every aspect of their lives, and they had ten associates who worked with them. Their f
irm was about three years old, the two of them striking out on their own after Kyle's contract ran out, so the non-compete agreement was nullified. Jerome was retiring anyway, so he gave his blessing.

  When the big accounts went with them, the rest of the partnership was pissed, but Jerome had only laughed and said, "They just don't want to have to work so hard. With you two leaving, they'd play hell keeping them anyway." Grant agreed one hundred percent.

  Just as he was placing the CLIO back on the shelf in his office, where most client meetings were held, the ginormous dog came lumbering in and hopped up, putting her paws on Grant's desk. The man walked over to her and patted his chest with both hands. The dog hopped up and gave him a lick as he patted her shoulders. "Hello, baby," he told her as he rubbed noses with the dog.

  "And, I won't be kissing you until you wash your face," Kyle stated from the office door, hands in the pockets of his jeans. The office was casual unless they had client meetings, and everyone agreed it made for a much more productive working environment, though Grant drew the line at sweats… except for Amy Hu who was due any day and was willing to come in to train her replacement and get the young man, Ethan, up to speed before she left them to stay home with her new baby.

  "So, what did the vet say?" Grant asked as he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a baby wipe, wiping his face so his lover would kiss him. After the soft kiss, Kyle licked his face just as the dog had done, causing Grant to giggle. He never imagined himself giggling in his whole life.

  "Antibiotics for the bite. We're lucky it wasn't poisonous. I called a pest control company on the way here because the vet said there might be a nest. Until we know for sure, we have to keep her in the backyard or walk her on the leash. No more roaming the fields," Kyle told him.

  They'd purchased a small cottage and acreage in Doylestown to get away from the city on weekends and holidays, which was where poor Josie was bitten by a non-poisonous snake. They loved the country house so much, they were working with Archie Speirs and John McCaffrey to add onto it. They wanted a solarium, just like Felicity and Lance had at their home, though that room had been turned into a playroom for their children, and their 'playroom' was now the nanny's room. So much had changed in the ten years since Grant met Kyle.