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

by Ana Ashley

  Despite everything, Mário had been the closest thing to a father figure to David growing up, which was why on the day he was asking Joel to marry him on the beach they used to frequent as children, Mário was the one in charge.

  Vítor’s role as his real father was to walk him down the aisle on his wedding day, so he’d been happy to leave his brother to care for the son he raised as his own. Thinking about the day Vítor had told me that David had asked him the question still got to me. Vítor had been beyond happy and proud.

  It was a hot afternoon and the cloudless sky was making it almost unbearable, but Mário had managed to source a gazebo to keep all the food for the celebration under the shade, and Joel's family had brought enough umbrellas.

  Afonso was helping Mário, and I was so proud of him for playing his part in the celebration and also because he looked comfortable around such a large crowd of people. He'd been working in Pedro's snack bar all summer, and he loved it. Sometimes he came home exhausted, but he'd grown more confident. I'd seen some mail at home for online courses, but he hadn't mentioned anything, so I was waiting for him to come to me and let me know what was on his mind. I wasn't worried, because I knew he would.

  "Hey!"

  I jumped up from the beach towel where I was sitting against Vítor's chest and ran toward the voice. I hadn't seen Isaac in months, so I only stopped when we were hugging.

  "I missed you, man."

  "Missed you, too," I said.

  I heard two sets of coughs, and we both chuckled as Max pulled Isaac into his chest and I was pulled back into Vítor's.

  "Vítor, this is Isaac and his husband, Max. Max, this is my boyfriend, Vítor."

  They shook hands and Isaac winked at me and mouthed hot silver fox.

  I couldn't agree more.

  "So, has he done it yet? We were afraid we were late because someone, cough, Max, was too sleepy after the flight."

  "If you hadn't—"

  Isaac put his hand on Max's mouth to stop him from ending his thought and then replaced it with his own mouth for a quick kiss.

  "I see the honeymoon period isn't over yet," I teased.

  "Never," they said at the same time.

  I laughed and grabbed Vítor's hand and walked him toward the water.

  "Come on, let's go in the water because David and Joel are going to take forever and I've got a hard-on for you."

  "I'm not going to give you a hand job in the water in front of the family," he said.

  I laughed. "It wasn't my intention. I only wanted to cool down, but now that you mentioned it…"

  I squeaked when he picked me up, ran to the water, and dropped me in.

  "Fuck, that's cold," I said, brushing water out of my eyes and running my hands through my wet hair. "Erection successfully extinct."

  Vítor chuckled and pulled me closer, so I wrapped my legs around him. The weightlessness provided by the water gave me additional flexibility to grind against Vítor.

  "Baby."

  "What?" I said innocently.

  "You know what."

  I kissed him but didn't pursue my teasing any further; after all, I could have more fun with him and his giant cock later.

  "Look, Fred is here, let's go say hi," he said. I reluctantly unwrapped my legs from his hips and followed him back to where our towels were.

  Fred went straight over to Afonso. I saw them hug and then Afonso gave him a cold drink before he came over to us. Afonso's eyes never left Fred until someone else's drink request forced him to look away. I wasn't so concerned over my brother's crush on Fred, more that I was afraid it wasn't returned.

  "Hey, Fred."

  "Sweet cheeks."

  He'd stopped calling me that since I'd got together with Vítor unless Vítor was around to hear it.

  "If I didn't respect you so much, I'd have you in a headlock, Fred." Vítor growled behind me.

  Fred winked at me. I knew exactly what he was up to. He wanted to rile Vítor up so he'd go all Animal Planet on me in bed later. What I wouldn't tell him was that Vítor didn't need riling up to go at me every chance he could grab.

  "Hey, Dad." I heard Mateus calling as he came over to join us. Since I'd been officially introduced to Mateus, Vítor and I had spent a few weekends in Porto so I'd had the chance to get to know Mateus better. He was surprisingly receptive to our relationship, which I'd taken to be a very positive thing, considering they'd gone through a rough patch when they'd discovered Rodrigo wasn't Mateus' biological father but his uncle.

  "Oh hey, son."

  Mateus approached, and I didn't miss Fred's look of interest.

  "Son, this is Fred. He's the detective I told you about that helped find Afonso. Fred, this is my son, Mateus."

  They shook hands, and I saw something pass between them. I looked at Vítor discreetly and noticed he saw it, too.

  From the gazebo, Afonso was staring in our direction, looking confused.

  "Hey, Flea. Come over here," I called. "There's someone I want you to meet."

  He walked up to us slowly, like he was afraid to approach. His eyes locked on Mateus, but then he looked at Fred and dropped his gaze like he was feeling guilty. Vítor tightened his arms around me, which told me he hadn't missed that, either.

  "Afonso, this is Mateus, Vítor's son. Mateus, this is my brother, Afonso.

  Mateus gave my brother a hug. Afonso froze in Mateus' arms for a moment before he returned the hug with a "pleased to meet you."

  "Er, I have to go help Mário. See you around. Well, I guess when you come to get food. We have drinks, too. Whatever you want." Afonso ran to the gazebo without looking back once.

  Fred excused himself, too, to go see Isaac and Max.

  "So, where are the grooms to be?" Mateus asked.

  "We haven't seen them yet," I said.

  "This is such a cool idea. And Joel doesn't have any idea that his family is here?"

  "Yup, he doesn’t know Max is here, either. They grew up together in America."

  "Great, I might go introduce myself to them, but I'm going to say hi to Teresa first. She'll never forgive me if I don't go straight to her."

  Vítor turned me to face him and ran his hands through my wet hair.

  "I don't know how this is my life now, but I'm not going to complain."

  I saw Mateus engulfed in one of Teresa's mom hugs and smiled.

  "It never ceases to amaze me how easily he makes friendships," Vítor said as I leaned on his chest, his still-cool skin against mine.

  "He was raised well by his dads."

  "Oh look, there they come."

  David and Joel were beaming as they approached the party. The first ones to get to them were Filipe and Joel's little cousins who were only eight, ten, and eleven. After the rest of the family joined them with hugs and congratulations, the happy couple came over to where we were.

  "Congratulations guys. I'm so happy for you," I said as I gave each a hug.

  David looked at Joel as if for reassurance and then said, "Vítor, I er… I was wondering if I could call you dad."

  Vítor's hand trembled in mine. He'd mentioned not long ago how much he hoped that David would one day be ready to call him dad instead of using his first name.

  Emotion caught in my throat. I could only imagine how my man was feeling.

  "Of course you can, son," Vítor said. "Nothing would make me happier."

  "Does that mean that Tiago is your stepdad?" Joel joked.

  "He's going to be our daddy," Mateus said, giving David a congratulatory pat on the back. "Come on, food is ready."

  Mário already had the food ready to go and buckets of drinks on ice. Afonso looked busy and eager to do his job.

  "I'm so happy for them. David has changed so much since Joel came back. He's so much happier now," I said.

  Vítor kissed my forehead.

  "What would you say if I asked you to marry me soon?"

  I turned and gave him a soft kiss with a promise of more later.

  "I
would say yes," I said, "but I'm not going to be anyone's daddy unless we have our own child."

  Vítor's laugh reached all the corners of my heart.

  "How did I get so lucky?"

  "A Gypsy, a bunch of dried flowers, and a chin dimple."

  Do you want a sneak peak of Vítor and Tiago’s relationship in the future?

  Keep reading for an exclusive bonus scene.

  Bonus Scene

  Vítor

  As I drove back into Lisbon over the bridge, with the window down and the early summer breeze on my face, there was only one thought on my mind. Let's never lie to each other again.

  All I could hope for was that Tiago would forgive me for keeping the reason for my recent excessive overtime a secret from him. After all, it wouldn't be a secret for much longer.

  The traffic was low and I found a parking space straight away. So far today was going to plan.

  My heart rate increased a little as I got out the key to the apartment. In all the months we'd been together, this mix of gratitude and excitement I had every time I came home to Tiago, never failed to hit me like a warm blanket on a chilly day.

  I was thankful every single day that we'd found each other.

  The apartment was surprisingly quiet when I walked in. Usually Tiago and Afonso would be in the kitchen chatting while Afonso practiced new recipes for his course, or they'd be out in the balcony.

  "Baby?" I called.

  No reply.

  On my way to our bedroom, I noticed Afonso's bedroom door closed, which was unusual. Maybe he wasn't feeling well and was asleep.

  I found Tiago sitting in the middle of our bed with his back against the headboard, reading a book.

  Leaning against the door frame I said, "you're wearing too many clothes to be on the bed, but on this occasion, I forgive you because I'm taking you somewhere."

  Tiago looked up and smiled. His dark-rimmed glasses framed his face perfectly, but they never let me see right into his eyes. His smile, however, told me something was wrong.

  I closed the door and walked over to the bed and sat down.

  Without saying a word, Tiago got up on his knees and crawled over to straddle me. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my neck.

  The unmistakable feel of his mouth sucking on my skin was enough to get my dick hard and ready to play. Not that it wasn’t always that way with Tiago, but today I felt something was off with him, so while my dick was ready, my head wasn't.

  "Hey, baby," I whispered, to get his attention but my words got stuck in my throat when he pressed his hips against mine. Best feeling in the world, except…

  "Tiago, baby. Stop."

  "What, can't a guy want a little sex when his fiancé gets home from work early?" he huffed, and lifted to move but I tightened my hold on his hips to keep him where he was.

  "Baby, you can get all the sex in the world, and whenever you want it." I cradled his face with my hands, smiling at him calling me fiancé. We'd been engaged a few weeks, but hearing the word reminded me that soon he would be mine forever. "But usually when two guys have sex, there's two erections to play with, and I don't think our math is adding up at the moment."

  His eyes moved away from mine.

  "What's up? Did you have a fight with Afonso? Is that why his room door is closed?"

  "Yeah, kinda. But I don't want to talk about it, okay?" he said, looking back at me.

  I placed a soft kiss on his lips and nodded my agreement. He'd tell me when he was ready. The brothers' journey hadn't been an easy one, and more than once I'd felt powerless to help them both out, but the love they had for each other was strong, so I knew they'd work it out whatever the issue.

  "You said you were taking me somewhere," Tiago said.

  "Yes, there's some progress with the house that I'd love to show you."

  I hadn't finished talking when he jumped up from my lap, radiating excitement.

  He stopped as we passed Afonso's bedroom door and took a deep breath before opening it slowly.

  I placed my hand on his lower back to offer my silent support.

  "I love you, Flea," Tiago said gently.

  "Love you too, big brother." I heard Afonso say back, before Tiago closed the door again, and we left the apartment.

  His silence during the car journey put me a little on edge. I'd wanted this to be a surprise. The start of our new life together, but now I wasn’t sure Tiago was in the right frame of mind.

  As I pulled up onto our new driveway, he finally spoke.

  "Afonso doesn't want to live with us. He said we should have the house to ourselves so we can enjoy each other without him in the way."

  "But he's not in the way, I love having him around," I said.

  "I told him that," Tiago said, raising his voice slightly.

  "Is that all he said?"

  Tiago huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. I parked up in front of the garage, since we couldn't use it yet because it was still full of building and decorating materials, and then turned to him. "What else did he say?"

  "He said he wants to live on his own because he's twenty-two now and it's about time he gains his independence. I mean, he's independent, right? I haven't stopped him from doing his culinary studies, or working at Pedro's bar. For goodness sake, I even charge him the stupid rent he insists on paying every month." With each statement, Tiago's voice raised further, and I could tell he was close to tears.

  "Baby, all those things are right, but Afonso does have a point. Maybe it's time."

  Tiago turned his face to me so quickly it was a wonder he didn’t hurt himself.

  "What? Don’t you want him to move in with us? Is that why you're agreeing with him?"

  His voice was laced with hurt, and I had to take a breath to stop his words from getting to me because I knew he didn't mean them.

  "Tiago, baby. Listen to me. Do you think the Afonso that moved in with us after the rescue would have asked to move out on his own?"

  He shook his head. "No, of course not. In the beginning he was even afraid of when I left for work every day in case I didn't come back."

  "Precisely. This is how far he's come. He's a bright young man. He's smart, has a great heart and enough friends and family to support him." I unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled him into my arms. "Nothing would make me happier than to have him live with us. God knows it was hard enough when Mateus moved out. But only if it makes him happy too. The last thing we want is for him to feel that he has no choice."

  Tiago held me tight. "I'm so scared, Vítor."

  "I know, baby. But we can help him out, make sure he's okay, and that he knows he can stay with us as often as he wants. Besides, I bet he'll want to move near us," I said, placing a kiss on his head.

  "Do you really thing that?"

  "Absolutely. His friends, his college and his work are all here, and soon so will we," I said.

  When we’d talked about building the house I'd designed for Tiago, we never thought we'd instead end up falling in love with a dilapidated house a stone's throw from the beach in Caparica, and close enough we could walk to my son's café.

  The location meant a daily commute into Lisbon for both of us, but the house, so desperate for a second chance to be loved by a new family, spoke straight into our hearts. I still designed a lot of new features into the renovation that meant the house looked more like our home, and less like a simple rehabilitation job. The space afforded by the location and having our family nearby more than made up for the early morning drive into the city.

  "Okay, I'll talk to my brother when we get back later," Tiago said, and then got out of the car.

  I caught up with him by the front door. Fortunately, it was a new door that had only been installed this week, so I was the only one with the key.

  "The door looks nice. We chose well, didn't we?" He said.

  "Yeah… erm… okay so, I have a confession to make," I said before I pulled Tiago into my arms and slammed my lips onto his. He melt
ed into my embrace and I felt his erection against mine with each pass of my tongue over his as I deepened the kiss.

  When I pulled back he was kiss-drunk, his skin was flushed and his eyes a darker-than-usual shade of brown.

  "Now every time I'm standing by the front door to our house I'm going to spring wood. Thanks," he said with a chuckle. "What's your confession?"

  "You know all the late nights I've been spending at the office?"

  "Yes?"

  "I haven't been at the office."

  He narrowed his eyes in confusion. I turned the key in the lock and opened the door slowly, allowing Tiago to walk the threshold to our sanctuary ahead of me.

  He raised his hand to cover his mouth, and I looked around trying to see the house from his point of view.

  The marble floor on the corridor leading to the open living space was shiny and inviting. Since Tiago had last been in the house we'd had the walls painted, light fixings installed, and the place had been cleaned up from building materials. The house was ready for us to move in and put our stamp on it.

  "Oh my god, Vítor. I can't believe… I thought the builders delayed the work," he said, staring at me with those big shiny brown eyes.

  I gave him an apologetic look. "I wanted to get it all finished for you. You've been working so hard at the center, I didn't want you to stress over the house, so I told you a little white lie. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

  Tiago cut my words off by jumping up into my arms and wrapping his legs around my waist. I caught him as I always did, and always would.

  He placed butterfly kisses all over my face and neck as he said thank you and I love you repeatedly.

  "You haven't seen the rest yet," I said between groaning at the way he was sucking on my skin, and chucking when he found my ticklish spots.

  "Hmm do we have to see it with clothes on?" he said, pulling my shirt up and over my head.

  "I like where your mind is at."

  Without putting him down, I walked us to our bedroom where the main surprise was.

  "Look," I said, placing a kiss on his lips before he unhooked his legs from around my waist to get back on his feet.

  I'd contacted the company we'd bought our furniture from, and they'd been willing to do a fast delivery of our bedroom suite, even if they couldn't deliver the rest until next week.