Finding You: The Complete Box Set (a contemporary MM romance series)

by Ana Ashley

  The sun was lower down, so there was now some shade in the outdoor seating area of the restaurants around the square. As much as I liked getting some color on my skin, it was still very hot, and I’m sure Joel’s light skin would burn under the sun.

  We sat and were immediately greeted by a waiter.

  “Boa tarde. What can I get you?” He looked happy despite the sweat on his forehead indicating he’d probably rather be working inside in the cool air-conditioned restaurant.

  Joel asked for an iced tea, and I asked for an espresso and a bottle of cold water.

  “How can you drink a hot coffee in this heat? Wouldn’t you rather have an iced coffee?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just used to drinking a small coffee in the afternoon, I guess.” I leafed through the menu filled with traditional desserts and cakes.

  “Ooh, they have Sericaia.” I’d seen the traditional egg-based cake featured in a TV program and had wanted to try it for ages.

  “They have what?” Joel asked puzzled.

  “It’s a traditional cake from this area.”

  “Shall we see what they have for dinner, and then if you like, we can try that cake as dessert?” Joel suggested.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  We ended up staying in the same spot for nearly two hours. We had a light dinner because we had both wanted dessert. I enjoyed the cake so much I asked if I could meet the chef who made their cakes since the menu stated they were home baked on site.

  No amount of charming Mrs. Fonseca, likely the grandma of the family-owned restaurant, made her give away her recipe.

  “The old lady was totally into you,” Joel teased on the way back to the car.

  I laughed. “She was a tough nut to crack.”

  “An uncrackable nut since you came out of there empty-handed.”

  “Not quite,” I said, lifting a bag with the two extra slices of Sericaia Mrs. Fonseca insisted we should take with us since she couldn’t share her recipe.

  The sun was now quite low in the sky. I was glad we had still been able to do quite a lot today despite leaving the apartment later than expected. Not that I minded. I would quite happily be late all the time if the reason for it was Joel and his sexy mouth.

  I was already eager to get to the hotel and get my hands on him again. My thoughts were causing an uncomfortable situation in my shorts for the second time this afternoon, and I silently willed Joel to get us to the hotel as quickly as possible.

  We were now outside the town on small country roads. It was still light but not for long. I was adjusting myself in my seat while trying to think of something else other than Joel’s mouth when I felt the car slow down.

  “Fuck,” Joel said.

  “What’s wrong? Why are we stopping?”

  “I don’t know. The car isn’t working.”

  Joel managed to pull over to a patch on the side of the dirt road before the car came to a complete halt.

  16

  Joel

  I’d been thinking about getting naked with David in the hotel shower when I felt the car slowing down. My thoughts rapidly changed to trying to get the car to a safe place before it stopped altogether.

  I tried starting it up again, but nothing happened.

  “Fuck, what do we do?” I asked

  “Do you have any paperwork for the car? A number we can ring?”

  “Both our phones are dead, remember?” We’d used our phones to browse the internet for information and to take photos. My phone died at some point in the afternoon, and David’s soon after.

  “Shit, how far are we from the hotel?” David asked.

  I looked at the navigation system, which fortunately still had some battery life.

  “Six miles. Can we walk six miles? We may even see a small village on the way and ask for help.” A little bit of panic was starting to rise in my belly. We were literally in the middle of nowhere, so it was unlikely we’d find many people driving past, and the sun would be setting very soon.

  “It’s too far. Look, grab your jacket and let's walk to that hill over there.” David pointed to a small hill about two hundred yards away. Maybe we could get a view of what was around us and see where we could go for help.

  It didn’t take us long to walk up. Much like what we’d seen on the drive to Évora, this one also had a single tree at the top. We stopped when we reached the tree.

  “Wow, this place is incredible.” While the hill hadn’t seemed too high from where we’d come, it was clearly much higher up from the other side because I was looking at miles and miles of uninterrupted fields of wheat, broken into various sections by olive trees. There was nothing around us. I could see the car and the road we’d been, but then it disappeared behind the tree line.

  “Let’s sit down,” David said, taking my hand and leading me to the tree.

  “What? Why? What if someone comes and we don’t see them?”

  David kissed me softly and said, “Trust me. Sit here with me.” He laid down a blanket he brought from the car and then sat with his back to the tree and pulled me down to sit between his legs, my back to his front.

  “Do you see the car?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” My breathing became a little uneven when David placed soft kisses on the back of my neck as he tightened his arms around me.

  “We’ll see if someone comes, which to be honest, I’d be surprised—”

  “What?” I screeched. “What the fuck are we going to do here in the middle of nowhere?”

  David laughed, but he then ran his hands through my hair, and I immediately relaxed under his touch.

  His voice was soft but confident as he tried to reassure me. “We’re going to watch the sunset from here, and then we’re going to make ourselves comfortable in the car and try to get some sleep. I’m sure someone will be driving past here at some point so we can ask for help then.” I was only half-listening to what he was saying. Suddenly, I couldn’t care less where we were because his hands running through my hair were causing all sorts of shivers to run down my spine, all the way to my cock.

  I turned my head and kissed David softly. His hands came down to my neck to keep me in place ever so gently while his thumbs caressed my cheeks tenderly. We could have been kissing for minutes or hours; I wasn’t sure. Screw being rescued or spending the night in a comfortable hotel bed. Every single part of me felt safe and content in David’s arms.

  David looked at me with his big brown eyes full of emotion, desire, and unspoken feelings. Despite how right this thing between David and me felt, it was also temporary, and part of me was screaming to be careful.

  I turned around and settled once again against David. I pulled his arms around me and laced our fingers together.

  The sky was turning a deep and vibrant shade of orange and red with the sun now hidden behind the hill in the distance.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “What for?”

  “For sharing the journal with me, for taking time off work to come on this trip with me, for not panicking when the car stopped, for coming up the hill with me. Making me feel safe.”

  “Are you going to thank me for the sunset too?” David let out a chuckle.

  “Did you make it happen?”

  “I am led to believe it happens every day, but what do I know? I’m only a baker, so I can't take credit for the sunset.”

  “You are so much more, David.” I wanted to tell him he was everything, but the words were stuck in my throat, and I knew it would make him run for the hills in the far distance.

  I knew all this was very new to David. He seemed comfortable in his own skin when he was around me, and I’d only caught him checking his surroundings a couple of times today. Not that we had displayed any kind of affection in public, but I wondered if, in his mind, he was worried that people might guess we were together by looking at us.

  Part of me wanted to tell him no, people wouldn’t guess. We were just two friends on holiday together.

  The o
ther part, the one that held hope for something more, whatever it may be, wanted him to wonder if people thought we were a couple. I wanted him to consider that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if people knew.

  Fuck, I was a selfish bastard. When I told my parents I was gay, they didn’t bat an eyelid. Not only that, but they also accepted my best friend and made him part of our family. David’s experience was the complete opposite of mine, and he hadn’t even come out to his family yet.

  My earlier state of relaxation leaning against David gave way to tension, and I felt that I was going to be sick. I should just take a breath and appreciate this moment for what it was, nothing more, and manage my expectations.

  There was a strong possibility that David might never come out to his family, and our time together would be forgotten in the past a few years from now, not to be repeated or shared with anyone else.

  I let out an “oomph” when my back hit the ground as David maneuvered me at super speed so I was lying on the ground and he was straddling me.

  “Stop it,” he said, lowering himself, so we were face-to-face. “I could hear your brain working overtime. What’s up?” He ran his hands over my face, moving my hair away from my forehead and then caressing down my cheeks.

  “Oh, nothing... nothing important,” I said, looking up at the sky and noticing it was still very light despite the darkness below the line of the horizon.

  “If you don’t come out of your head, I’m going to make you.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how do you propose to do that?” I asked, running my hands down his firm, broad chest and letting them rest on his waist.

  “Like this,” he said, stealing a too-short kiss from my eager mouth. “Like this,” he said, licking a path from my ear down to my collarbone.

  “Fuck.”

  “Like this”—he pulled my T-shirt up and teased one of my nipples into a hard peak—“and this,” he finished as he then moved to the other.

  “Jesus, fuck, that feels amazing, David.” I could feel my need for him unfurling, and there was only one way this could end.

  “Oh, yeah?” What he said next caused my already erratic breathing to come to a halt. “Joel, I’d like to taste you, if that’s okay.”

  It was possible I died since my heart rate had just increased tenfold. We’d been in the same position only this morning, but somehow, it felt that we’d also come so far, and I had no doubt from the look in his eyes this time it was going to happen.

  “Um... okay,” I said, trying to keep my lust at bay for a second. “David, you don’t have to, you know? I won’t mind.”

  “I want to, Joel. I really want to.”

  I placed my hand on his face and held it for a moment, trying to read him. I saw nothing but desire in them, so I nodded.

  David scooted lower down my body and brought his mouth back to my chest. He made his way toward the button of my shorts so slowly I thought I was going to expire from need. Without stopping the teasing sucks and licks on my skin, he opened the button of my fly and lowered the zipper.

  When he palmed my erection through my boxer shorts, I involuntarily raised my hips to increase the pressure. I could see a small patch where I was now leaking. David took a sharp intake of breath like he was surprised to see my body’s reaction to what he was doing, then licked the patch while stroking me over the boxer shorts.

  “Fuck, David. Are you sure you’ve never done that before?”

  He chuckled but didn’t give me an answer because he was too busy getting rid of my clothing to release my aching cock. I felt a chill the moment I was exposed, reminding me we were out in the open. I really hoped we couldn’t be seen from the road, although no cars had passed in all the time we’d been here.

  David gave my cock a tentative stroke like he was trying it out for size. Fortunately for me, he must have found that it fit because he carried on doing it, applying the slightest bit of pressure and twisting his wrist as he motioned up and down.

  “Mhmm.” My moan turned into a cry when David replaced his hand with his mouth, and my body felt like it was going to spontaneously combust. I couldn’t even look at him because I knew it would be too much. There was no finesse in it. David was exploring and trying, and I had willingly volunteered to be his subject.

  Words were stuck in my throat. “Oh fuck, yes, David, oh God.”

  He gave me a break from the overwhelming sensations by kissing my stomach and my thighs. I was equal parts appreciative and frustrated. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was doing it to torture me.

  When he returned his mouth to me, there was a renewed purpose, and he took no prisoners. He had me on the verge of coming within a minute. It was all too much, and I just couldn’t keep my orgasm at bay. I didn’t even want to. I was so ready to give in.

  “David, baby I’m...fuck, I’m going to come soon,” I warned.

  He nodded and kept going, faster, deeper.

  “David. David. I’m... I...” I came into his mouth, my body coiling in pleasure before relaxing again. I had expected him to withdraw his mouth from me just before I came, so I was surprised to see he hadn't when I lazily lifted my head to pull him into my arms.

  “Did you like that?” he asked.

  “I think all the residents in the nearby villages know how much I liked it,” I said before taking David’s mouth for a searing kiss.

  Seeing David’s delight in the pleasure he gave me made me so proud of him. I felt as though my heart was suddenly too big for my chest.

  I pulled my shorts back up, now feeling the chill of the summer night, and turned to David to return the favor.

  “No need,” he said, and his face lit up by the moon was five shades of red. “I um, came in my shorts.”

  This man really had the power to take words away from me. I’d never been with anyone who had been so into satisfying me that they’d come without even touching themselves.

  We lay on the ground for a little while looking at the moon and the stars. The soil beneath me still felt warm from the sun. I knew we’d have to get back to the car soon, but lying here with David pressed against me was so perfect I didn’t want to move.

  I could pretend just for a little while that we were real boyfriends and had a lifetime of adventures ahead of us.

  “We should get back to the car,” David said, jolting me awake. I hadn’t realized I’d dozed off.

  “Okay.”

  When we returned to the car, David changed into a clean pair of jeans, and I did the same since I wasn’t sure how cold it would get overnight.

  We leaned the seats of the car as far back as they would go and used the sleeping bags as blankets to keep warm. We turned to face each other but didn’t speak for a bit, the silence between us a welcome friend.

  My eyes mapped David’s face, his dark eyes and those ridiculously long eyelashes, the five-o’clock shadow, his perfectly proportional nose, his brown hair, which despite the short length seemed to get wavier as the day progressed. All his features combined made him the most attractive man I’d ever seen, and when I added what I knew about him as a person, he became almost perfect.

  Okay, I knew no one was perfect, and I certainly didn’t want to put David on a pedestal. It was unfair to do that to him. He had the right to mess things up and make the wrong choices. But despite all that, I knew in my heart that he was perfect for me. He always had been. Because he was probably the only man who would ever make me feel like I could say the words I love you out loud.

  “I’m hungry.” His statement interrupted my thoughts.

  “What?”

  “I’m hungry. I’m going to eat some cake,” he said, looking for the bag with the two slices of cake. “If you want some, say now or forever hold your pea—”

  “Want some!” I shouted. “Gimme.”

  We ate cake and talked until we were both too tired and eventually fell asleep.

  I woke up at some point in the middle of the night to find David holding my hand in his sleep. With a smile on
my face, I rapidly fell back asleep.

  17

  David

  The last thing I remember before I fell asleep last night was holding Joel’s hand as he mumbled away about all sorts of random things until he could no longer string a sentence together and probably fell asleep himself shortly after.

  The loud sound of a tractor was enough to jolt me awake, but the awkward position I’d slept in made it difficult to get up fast enough to get out of the car and ask for help. Joel was still asleep with his hair sticking up at all angles, making him look all kinds of sexy.

  Being stranded in the middle of the countryside wasn’t how I’d imagined spending the first night of our holiday, but I wasn’t going to complain when making love to Joel under the stars was now the new highlight of my life.

  Making love was unequivocally what we’d done. From the moment Joel nodded his consent while making sure I was ready to take the next step, it became more than getting him off and doing something I’d never done to another man.

  Exploring Joel’s body, I felt like the Portuguese ancestors who discovered the New World. Land was still land, water was still water, and people had the same number of limbs, but Joel was my New World. His body was so similar to mine but also so different.

  He was slimmer and taller, his skin was a lighter shade, no doubt from all the time he spent indoors in the city. The part of Joel that was new was his reaction to each of my touches. For all my tentative and unsure strokes, kisses, and licks, Joel reacted as though I’d been doing this forever. That we had been doing this forever and each time was better than the last.

  I suddenly found the confidence I didn’t know I had, but I also knew that I wasn’t suddenly a pro at sucking dick. The fact Joel had enjoyed it so much given my inexperience meant that we were beyond the no-strings-attached summer fling we’d agreed to, whether we acknowledged it or not.

  I couldn’t start to unravel what it all meant, so I decided to do the only thing I could. Try to get us back to the hotel.