Elias

by Amy Aislin

  "It's fine. I'm not in a rush," he lied.

  "We wanted to speak with you about the VP position," Julie said.

  Elias held his breath.

  "As you know we've been reviewing applications since Thanksgiving," John said. "Yours has always been at the top of the pile. You've been with us for a long time, you know the organization, how we work, and your staff speak extremely highly of you."

  It felt a little bit like John was buttering him up only to let him down gently, so to say he was shocked when John said, "The job's yours," was a bit of an understatement.

  "I'm sorry, what?"

  John chuckled at his reaction.

  "We're offering you the job," Julie said.

  "You don't have to decide right this second," John said, smiling at the perplexed look Elias was sure was on his face. "We understand that it's a big decision. The job is more…everything. More travelling, more responsibility, more staff management, more damage control, more consulting, more money."

  The VP position… It was his? Why was he having such a hard time wrapping his mind around that? It was everything he'd ever wanted, right at his fingertips.

  Then why did it leave him feeling hollow?

  "It'd be great if you could let us know by Friday morning." Julie picked up a resume from the coffee table and handed it to him. "We'd like to announce it at my retirement party on Friday evening, and if you don't take the job, this is who we plan to hire for it. We wanted to let you know whom you'd be reporting to, if you decide to stay in your current position."

  Too overwhelmed by what was happening, Elias couldn't focus on the words on the page. Whoever the person on this resume was, John and Julie's backup person if Elias didn’t accept the position, he was sure he or she would be an excellent fit. Top Line didn't hire amateurs. He had two days—less than that, more like forty hours—to let them know if he wanted the VP job…the one he'd been hoping for for months.

  But he didn't need those forty hours. He already knew what his answer was.

  Elias was right: Ty was napping on the couch when he walked in the door almost an hour and a half later. Setting down his bags, he divested himself of his boots and coat and shucked his suit jacket, leaving it draped over one of the kitchen island's stools.

  Dressed in boxers and a hoodie, Ty lay on his back on the couch, one arm flung over his head. The other rested on his stomach, thumb hooked into a book, marking the page he'd left off at before passing out. Elias set it face down on the coffee table so Ty didn't lose his page, then laid himself gently over Ty. Lining up their bodies perfectly, he pressed tiny kisses to his boyfriend's face. It only took seconds for Ty to wake since he never slept too deeply or too long during his after-work naps.

  Lifting his arms, Ty wrapped them around Elias's neck and pulled until Elias's entire weight was on him in a full-body hug.

  "Hi, baby," Elias mumbled into Ty's neck. He was warm and scruffy and smelled like the pine-scented soap he kept in Elias's bathroom. Ty grumbled a sleepy greeting in return and spread his legs so Elias could settle between them. A just-woke-up Ty was always cuddly and cute. Elias nuzzled his neck. Ty squirmed and huffed a laugh.

  "What?"

  "Your beard tickles," Ty said, voice sleep-rough.

  Elias grunted. Lifting his head, he smiled at Ty. "Should I shave it?"

  Ty cupped his face in both hands, running his palms over his beard. "Never." He brought Elias's face down for a kiss. Elias went willingly, licking his way into Ty's mouth, tongues tangling together. Ty tasted slightly minty, like he'd brushed his teeth before conking out. He hardened against Elias’s thigh, which made his own dick stir in his pants. It never took more than a few seconds for Ty to get him all fired up. He hoped it never changed, even if sometimes it happened at inappropriate moments—like when Ty licked his fingers clean after sampling something at the grocery store.

  "Wait," Elias said, pulling back, stopping things before they went too far.

  Ty raised an eyebrow. "Wait? Not a word I thought you'd ever say under these conditions."

  Elias chuckled and sat up. Grasping Ty's hand, he yanked him to a seated position next to him.

  "There's something I need to talk to you about," Elias said.

  "Does it involve the chocolate syrup I bought today?" Ty's smile was wicked and lascivious.

  "Did you?" Elias toed off his socks. "I bought some too."

  "Extra syrup?"

  Ty got that look in his eyes Elias knew meant nothing good, so he distracted him before he could get too many thoughts in his head about what to do with extra chocolate syrup.

  "I got the VP job."

  The expression on Ty's face was tough to describe. A weird mixture of disappointment, anxiety, and happiness flitted over his features before his lips curved in a smile that, while it wasn't quite forced, lacked its usual wattage.

  "Oh, wow. Congratulations, Eli." His smile transformed into something much more genuine as he said the words, and it hit Elias that even though Ty didn't particularly care for what Elias did for a living, he was sincerely happy that Elias had gotten what he wanted. Elias was so humbled by that thought and by Ty's generosity that he cupped Ty's neck and hauled him for a kiss that scorched his insides and left them both panting.

  When he let Ty's mouth go, he said, "I turned it down."

  "Huh?" Ty was wonderfully dazed, his mouth curved in a shy smile Elias rarely saw.

  "I turned it down."

  "You… Wait, what?" Ty shook his head. "You turned it down?” He said it slowly, clearly still trying to understand.

  "I turned it down," Elias confirmed for a third time.

  "You turned down…the VP position…that you've wanted for months?"

  "Correct. Also, I quit. Gave my two weeks notice."

  Ty's face blanked. "Who the fuck are you right now?"

  Elias laughed so hard he had to hold his stomach. He'd never felt so free.

  Ty straddled his lap and cupped his face, peering into his eyes with his own narrowed ones. "Oh God, he's gone mental," he muttered. "Completely bonkers."

  Elias kept chuckling. "Oh, and also?"

  Ty looked like he physically braced himself for Elias's third bit of news.

  "I took the Director of Photography job."

  No reaction from Ty. Until seconds later, when the words finally sunk in. His eyes went anime-wide, mouth stretching into the biggest grin Elias had ever seen. He brought his hands to his mouth, looking like a five-year-old given a puppy for Christmas. Then he launched himself at Elias, making a high-pitched "Eeeeee" sound that had Elias wincing.

  "Oh my God!" he yelled in Elias's year. "Really? Really?" He pulled back to look at Elias, who nodded. "Oh my God! Oh my God." His voice went from happiness to wonder. "We both got new jobs today."

  They'd both gotten…? "Baby, did you get the position in Guelph?"

  Ty nodded. "I was going to text you about it, but I didn't want to bother you at work."

  "Ty." Elias waited for him to meet his eyes. "You can bother me as much as you want, okay? I like hearing from you throughout the day." He was rewarded with another shy smile. "Especially when it's for something like this. Congrats, baby. I'm proud of you."

  But the smile had slipped off Ty's face.

  "What's wrong?" Elias asked.

  "I just realized we won't see each other as much anymore since I won't be working in the city."

  "I won't either," Elias said.

  Ty's eyebrows winged up. "You won't?"

  "Nope. CanadaTravels's offices are in Hamilton of all places."

  "Oh, well that's good for you. You'll be commuting against traffic."

  "Yeah, for a while, until I move closer."

  "You're not going to stay here?"

  "No," Elias said. "I'd rather sell this place and move than have a long commute. Want to help me start looking for a place this weekend? I was thinking Oakville or Burlington, maybe Stoney Creek."

  Ty bit his lip, fiddling with Elias's shirt b
uttons. Elias rubbed his hands up and down Ty's lightly-haired thighs, waiting him out, knowing that whatever Ty had on his mind, he'd spit it out in a minute. Sometimes he just needed a few seconds to sort the thoughts out in his head and properly word whatever it was he wanted to say.

  "Do you want to maybe…move in with me?" Ty's eyes met his before shifting quickly away.

  Move in with Ty, into his charming home in the country? Share the bills and a mortgage and a bathroom and a driveway? More importantly, share a home and a life? Elias could picture it so easily: a house that smelled like Ty's hot chocolate, the two of them cooking dinner together in Ty's seventies-style kitchen, sharing chores, growing old together, maybe getting a dog they could walk together before and after work—something cute and fuzzy Ty would name Puff or Snowshoe or Waffles or something equally as fun. God, he wanted that so bad his stomach flipped.

  "Yes."

  A frown marred Ty’s boyish face. "Yes?"

  "Yes." Elias grinned at his shocked face. "Did you want me to say no?”

  "No!" Ty leaned down and rested his forehead against Elias's. "I just thought I'd have to convince you."

  "Did the convincing involve the chocolate syrup?" Elias was done talking. His hands slid from Ty's thighs, up over his hips, and ended on his ass, where he cupped and squeezed, kneading the firm globes. Fuck, he loved the way Ty instantly responded with a whimper and a ragged release of breath.

  "It definitely involved the chocolate syrup," Ty murmured, voice gone husky. He ground his growing erection against Elias's. "And an orgasm or four."

  "Four?" Elias lifted his head, his lips a hair's breadth away from Ty's. "Ambitious."

  "Not really. Just horny," Ty admitted before he closed the tiny gap between them.

  This kiss? It was on a completely different scale of smutty than the lazy one they'd shared earlier after Elias had woken Ty up. It was an inferno about to burn them both alive, each of them pulling at the other's clothes, breaths hitching when their erections bumped, groans and expletives following roaming hands.

  "Need you," Ty said against Elias's throat. "Right now."

  Elias heaved himself off the couch, Ty wrapped around him like a clinging monkey, leaving their discarded clothing in the living room. He fell on top of Ty after setting him down on the bed, but Ty was having none of it. He quickly flipped them over. Elias landed on his back with a muttered, "Oof," Ty's naked body on top of him. Lips landed on his nipple, and Elias groaned at the slight bite of pain when Ty used his teeth, electricity pooling in his gut.

  Fuck the foreplay, Elias wanted Ty inside him, and he wanted it now. Reaching over into the night table, he blindly felt for the lube and condoms and tossed them on the bed.

  Ty grinned. "In a hurry?"

  He was teasing, but Elias was dead serious when he said, "Yes. Fuck me."

  Ty's entire body stopped moving, lips just above Elias's belly button, hand wrapped around Elias's dick. Elias could feel him vibrating above him.

  "Really?" Ty's voice was gravel, and he blinked owlishly at Elias. So far, Elias had always topped, but today he needed Ty.

  Elias only grinned at him.

  "Fuck, you're so hot." Ty crawled back up Elias's body and kissed him hotly, wetly, grinding his erection down on Elias's. The feel of Ty above him just made Elias more desperate to have that hard dick inside him.

  Grabbing the lube, Ty must've read his mind, because he didn't waste any time slicking up his fingers and probing at Elias's hole. Elias spread his legs as wide as he could to make it easier for him, and yet he couldn't help the flare of apprehension that briefly paralyzed his muscles when Ty inserted a finger into him and his whole body tensed with nerves.

  "Easy," Ty whispered, using his free hand to massage Elias's inner thigh. His tongue licked a path up the underside of Elias's erection, over the prominent vein there. Licks of heat winging up and down his spine, Elias was so turned on by the hot licks and the thigh massage that he didn't realize Ty had inserted a second finger until he scissored them apart, stretching Elias. When he was satisfied with that, he did something with his fingers, hitting Elias's prostate, making every nerve ending in Elias come alive.

  "Fuck, Ty, please."

  "I'm getting there," Ty said and licked the pre-come dribbling down Elias's dick. The sight of Ty going down on him was so torturous, Elias almost came right then and there.

  Bending his knees, he dug his feet into the mattress. "Ty, I'm gonna come," he ground between clenched teeth.

  "Not yet," Ty said, voice as tight as Elias's. Giving the tip of Elias's cock one last lick, he ripped into a condom packet, sheathed himself, and dripped lube down his length. Then he lined himself up at Elias's hole, looked up at him, and said, "Ready?"

  "So ready," Elias said. He wrapped his legs around Ty's waist, heels digging into Ty's lower back.

  The first breach of Ty's cock wasn't exactly painful, but it wasn't pleasant either. Elias gritted his teeth and bore down, knowing it would get easier once Ty's cock head got through.

  "Hey. Eli, look at me."

  He met Ty's gaze. Ty was sweating and breathing hard, but he still managed to shoot Elias a comforting smile, eyes bright.

  "Relax," he said, massaging Elias's thighs again. "You're too tense. It'll hurt you if I keep going. Relax."

  Closing his eyes, Elias released a slow breath and forced his body to do as Ty said—relax. Hands unfisted from the comforter, feet quit digging into Ty, back muscles unclenched—and Ty slipped in easily, as though Elias's body had sucked him in.

  "Whoa," Elias rasped, eyes popping open. He'd never felt so full before, so connected to another person.

  "Shit." Ty's eyes were squeezed shut, and a muscle ticked in his jaw, hands clenched on Elias's thighs. "Fuck, you're so tight."

  "Haven't bottomed in over ten years," Elias admitted.

  "Shit," Ty repeated with a weak chuckle. "Here I was trying not to come, and you go and say that?"

  "Sorry?"

  "No, you're not. Fuck you."

  "Well, that's the idea."

  Grinning, Ty moved then, eyes riveted on his own dick moving in and out of Elias. "Shit," he said yet again. "I wish you could see how hot this looks from here."

  Elias had watched himself enter Ty numerous times in the past few weeks but never the opposite. Desperately wanting to see, he grabbed his pillow with a shaking hand and placed it under his head, lifting himself up. At this new angle, he had a decent view, but he wanted Ty's perspective. Groaning in a combination of frustration and pleasure, he let his head fall back as Ty continued his steady in-and-out rhythm.

  "Harder, Ty."

  Ty took him at his word and slammed back into him so hard it sent him scooting up the bed an inch.

  "Yes, like that," he managed to utter. "Just like that." Ty slammed home again. "Fuck, yes. Don't stop."

  Ty did stop but only for a few seconds. He let go of Elias's thigh with one hand and leaned over Elias's torso to brace it on the mattress. The other hand stayed on Elias's other thigh, keeping him spread open. Then he went to town.

  And it was so good, so good, so good. Elias couldn't think, couldn't breathe, Ty's fast clip stealing his reasoning. The sound of Ty's balls hitting Elias's ass with every motion was loud in the room, revving him on further. Grasping his leaking dick, Elias pulled and squeezed.

  A flush stole over Ty's cheekbones. He croaked, "I'm coming," burying himself in Elias's ass and shuddering as he came, swearing beneath his breath. Elias finally let himself go and came all over his stomach.

  Panting, abdomen painted in ropes of come, Elias let his legs fall to the bed. When Ty quit shaking, he gently withdrew from Elias, then got up to get rid of the condom. He came back from the bathroom with a warm washcloth and cleaned Elias up before crawling into bed and snuggling against him.

  "Fuck, you're so hot."

  Elias snorted. "You said that already."

  "Bears repeating."

  "You're going to give me a swelled hea
d."

  Ty laughed. Realizing what he'd said, Elias smiled too, even though he hadn't meant it that way.

  They lay together, breaths evening out slowly. Elias ran his hand up and down Ty's sweaty back. His ass hurt a little but in an oh-so-good way. He was sated and loved and still buzzing off the endorphins. Knowing Ty would be asleep within seconds, Elias let his mind wander, trying to figure out the logistics of selling his place and moving to Ty's.

  Moving to Ty's. Ty had asked him to move in with him, and Elias had jumped at the chance. It was insanely fast, completely stupid, and foolishly reckless.

  Yet perfectly right.

  Elias should've been freaking out and was honestly surprised that he wasn't. Back when he'd first been courting Ty—if offering up coffee and hot chocolate and apple turnovers could be considered courting—he'd done it partly because his advice column masquerading as a horoscope told him to be nice, partly because he felt bad for the way he'd treated Ty that first day, but also because blond, blue-eyed, boyishly handsome Ty had hit all of his buttons. Never in a million years would he have guessed that their first encounter would lead to the most important relationship of his life. Never would he have expected Ty to put up with a grumpy, emotionally-repressed fucker like him.

  But for some stupid reason, Ty wanted him as much as he wanted Ty. Ty put up with his lack of communication better than anyone else ever had, although Elias had to admit to himself that he'd opened up to Ty more than he ever had to anyone else in his life except his adoptive parents. And that was all Ty's doing. His generous spirit, his understanding nature, his ability to see through Elias's walls… He made Elias feel safe.

  Of course he was moving in with Ty. No way was he letting him get away ever.

  "Ask you a question?"

  Elias's entire body jerked. "Jesus!" he said. "You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were asleep."

  "Are you kidding?" Ty lifted his head and rested it on his hand. His face was still slightly flushed, but his body had cooled down, and his breathing was back to normal. "There's way too much going on in my head."

  Yeah, Elias could imagine. He wasn't feeling all that restful either. A lot of changes were happening at once. "What did you want to ask me?"