by Jet Mykles
◆◆◆
Luc combed through Reese’s soft, unruly curls as he listened to him float off to sleep. Sex with this precious creature had been everything he’d expected and more. There was no place he’d rather be on this earth than serving as a pillow while Reese slept. He wanted this now, tomorrow, next week, maybe forever.
Now, he thought as he pressed his lips to the top of Reese’s head, I just need to figure out why you won’t let it happen. Because, really, not gay? So untrue.
Chapter Five
Reese followed the scent of coffee, butter and bagels down his narrow townhouse stairs.
Luc was standing in the kitchen, cigarette lit and window open, using the sink for an ashtray. Toaster, bagels, and butter dish were all sitting on the counter between the main room and the kitchen and the coffee pot was half full. A plate of crumbs sat beside Luc as he sipped from a mug. The television in the main room was on low, showing some movie that Reese's sleepy brain vaguely recognized. It was also dark because the curtains had been drawn over the wide front window.
Luc had on black briefs and nothing else. Cut muscles from the slope of his shoulders down to the curves of his calves were on full display. Sable eyes shadowed by a cap of tousled auburn hair turned toward him. A shadow of red morning stubble darkened his jaw. “Hey, gorgeous.”
Reese stopped on the last step, just staring. It really had happened. Lucas Sloane was in his home. Had slept here. Had fucked him.
Holy shit!
Strangely, his voice came out normal. “Hey.”
Luc flicked his cigarette into the sink, a small, sexy smile on his face. After setting down his mug, he sauntered over to Reese, stopping just before him. With Reese on the bottom step, it put them almost eye-to-eye. Luc braced a hand on either side of the stairwell and leaned toward him.
The kiss was soft and tasted of smoke and coffee, underlined by the minty toothpaste from his own mouth. A weird combination of morning tastes that Luc’s presence made special somehow.
Luc pushed back a little to meet Reese’s gaze. “How do you feel?”
“Okay.”
“Hangover?”
Reese shook his head. Surprisingly, he felt fine. Worn out and achy in a few places where he hadn’t had cause to ache in years, but that was a good thing. No, it wasn’t. Gah!
All-too-knowing eyes were watching him closely. One hand came to brush a curl from his forehead and tuck it behind his ear. “Not at all?”
“No.”
Luc grinned. “Good.” He grabbed for Reese.
Reese’s yelp of surprise was cut off when Luc’s mouth opened over his, voracious this time. Long, strong arms wrapped around him and pinned him to Luc’s strong body as the other man devoured his mouth. There was never a happier meal. With a happy sigh that he couldn’t at all help, Reese wound his arms around Luc’s shoulders, sinking his fingers into abundant hair, tipping his head so they had better access to each other.
Luc’s hands had started to explore the waistband of Reese’s sweats when the phone rang. Reese was content to ignore it, more interested in the tongue that twined with his and the hard length in Luc’s groin that was pressing against him.
“Reese! Are you there?”
Reese broke back from Luc’s kiss with a gasp, shocked by the loud desperation in his sister’s voice.
“Get out of bed and pick up. Damn it, where are you? Reese? Hello?”
Luc’s eyes narrowed at him.
“If I don’t answer,” he said softly, “she’ll just call back.”
With a small groan, Luc released his hold.
Reese ducked past him into the kitchen to pick up the land line and stop Reegan’s string of demands. “I’m here.”
“Oh, thank God you’re okay! Did you turn your cell phone off?”
He leaned his elbows on the tiled counter that separated the kitchen from the main room, then ran a hand through the hopeless mess of black curls that was his hair. “I don’t know. Probably.” Where was his cell phone?
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Why?”
“Why? Luc said you were drunk and fell in a pond at the hotel. I wanted to come out to see you, but he promised me that he’d get you home safe.”
Reese glanced over his shoulder, eyeing the rockstar who was sneaking around behind him. There was a devilish twist to that gorgeous mouth and a delicious growth in those briefs.
“Yeah. He gave me a ride home.” He shook his head at Luc, but the redhead ignored him, placed a hand on either side of Reese’s hips, and pressed his crotch against Reese’s ass. Reese had to bite his lip hard to suppress a moan.
“What happened?”
“Huh?”
“How’d you fall into the pond?”
“Oh. I, uh—” Warm hands slid up his bare back. Man, that felt good. “—we took a walk. I slipped. I guess I had too much to drink.”
“So you were drunk.”
“I guess. A little.”
Gooseflesh broke out all over his back and arms. The fabric of his sweats and Luc’s briefs might as well have been nonexistent. Luc’s cock fit nicely into the crack of his ass, and Reese could swear he felt the veins of it.
Reegan laughed. “You’re not the only one. Did you get a chance to see Mom before you left?”
He so could not think about his mother right now! “No.”
“She was plastered. And Dad wasn’t much better off. We had to get them a cab home.”
“Mmmm.” He sank forward until his chest was flush with the countertop, turning his head and holding the cordless to his top ear. The position snugged his ass back into the bend of Luc’s heavenly body. Kisses ghosted over his shoulder blade and the middle of his back.
“So I guess you guys are getting along again?”
“Huh?”
“You and Luc. If you took a walk together.”
“Oh. Yeah. You could say that.”
“Oh? Could I say more?”
Luc slid one hand around to palm Reese’s hard-on. “No. We just… We’re fine.” More than fine. He struggled valiantly for coherence, despite the fingers that dragged the waistband of his sweats down to expose his weeping cock. “Hey, didn’t you just get married? Aren’t you supposed to be having sex or something?” Well, hey, sex wasn’t far from his mind.
“Dave is in the shower.”
Luc nibbled on the back of his neck. His palm closed over the head of Reese’s dick and squeezed.
“Oh.” Reese was fast losing his ability of speak. What he could manage was breathy. “Shouldn’t you join him?”
“I had to find out if you were okay. I called your cell phone and texted but you didn’t answer.”
“I’m okay.” Hopefully, she didn’t hear his breath hitch.
“Reese?”
“Yeah?”
“Is he there?”
Clarity tried to intervene. Reese reached down to grab hold of Luc’s hand, trying to stop the beautiful massage of his dick. “What?”
Reegan’s evil chuckle filled his ear. “Is he there? Omigod, did you sleep with Luc last night?”
Reese caught sight of Luc’s free hand out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see the man swipe his fingers through a good amount of soft butter from the dish that sat not far from Reese. Reese’s mouth fell open, but the denial he wanted to utter wasn’t something he wanted his sister to hear. He couldn’t stop that hand while holding the other and the phone. While he was struggling for words, warm, buttered fingers plunged down the back of his sweats and teased his hole. A strangled "fuck" escaped his mouth.
“Reese? He is, isn’t he? He’s there?”
Reese swallowed a moan when a finger pushed in. “How did you …? I mean, what makes you think…?”
Reegan hooted. “You’re usually far more coherent, brother mine, even in the morning. And I think I hear him in the background. You’re both breathing hard. What’s he doing to you?”
Two fingers wiggled around inside Reese, finding th
at oh-so-sweet spot. Breath escaped from him in a whoosh. “Oh, don’t even go there, Reegan.”
"Spoilsport."
"Christ!" He wasn't sure if the outburst was directed at his sister or the demon behind him.
Reegan cackled like the witch that she was. “Okay, far be it for me to distract you from the sex you need.”
“What?”
“Say hi and thanks to Luc for me.”
Reese lost hold of Luc’s hand. “Thanks?”
Luc used the hand to shove Reese’s sweats down to his knees.
“Reegan?” Reese called, as though having her on the phone would somehow save him from the pleasure that threatened to engulf him. But she was gone.
Reese couldn’t think about it now. He dropped his cheek to the countertop, still holding the phone aloft, and finally let out the moan that was pushing at his throat.
“The bride doing well?” Luc asked, voice insufferably calm and normal even as his wicked fingers cost Reese his sanity.
“She says thank you,” Reese breathed.
Fingers left his ass, but the other hand encircled his dick, squeezing hard and pumping slow.
“Thank you?” The butter dish rattled.
Reese couldn’t find the curiosity to raise his head and see what Luc was doing. Whatever the redhead was doing was fine with him.
He figured it out when the blunt head of Luc’s cock swiped up the crack of his ass, all buttered up. He threw back his head and moaned when that greased-up cock pushed for entry. “Ah, shit! Can we t-talk about this later?”
Greasy hands gripped his hips. “Sure thing.” Finally Luc’s voice went a little breathless. “Ah, so tight.”
Reese dropped the phone with a clatter and reached down to grab the edge of the counter. It gave him some leverage to push back and impale himself.
The butter dish clattered again just before a warm, greased hand replaced the dry one on his dick. He cried out, arching into Luc’s thrust.
“Oh, yeah,” Luc groaned, curling over Reese’s back. “Cry out for me, tiger. You sound so fuckin’ sexy.”
Reese couldn’t very well halt the sounds that pushed from his throat. He didn’t even know what they were. But if they prompted Luc to do more of what he was doing, Reese wasn’t going to try and stop.
Luc’s hand worked his cock in rhythm with his thrusts, urging Reese to forward into one and back onto the other.
He did so with abandon, unable to control his body’s responses to this man. It was almost as though his muscles and bones followed Luc’s mental commands, totally disregarding Reese’s. He cried out Luc’s name, begging the man to fuck him harder.
Which he did. Hips slapped hips in time to desperate cries.
Luc slammed home one last time, his body shuddering over Reese’s as he came.
Bewildered, lost, Reese pressed back into him, taking everything he gave.
Body still trembling slightly, Luc draped himself over Reese’s back. His hand pumped Reese’s dick furiously. Teeth bit down on Reese’s earlobe. “Come for me, tiger.”
That was all she wrote. Reese shattered, clutching the edge of the counter and pressing his forehead to the tiles as he found agonizing release.
They stayed like that for precious moments. Reese wasn’t sure he could stand anyway. When he could find his voice, his first breathy words were: “You bastard. Reegan heard you.”
Luc chuckled, pushing to his feet. “She wouldn’t have known if you’d just talked normal.”
“I ahh!” He hissed at the pleasure that rippled through him as Luc’s dick slid from his ass. “How’m I supposed to talk normal when you’re touching me?”
“Mmmm. Just my touch scrambles your brain?”
Reese decided to avoid that line of conversation. “Anyway. Butter?”
Water sounded at the sink. Luc laughed. “It was the closest thing handy.” A wet rag gently wiped down Reese’s ass. “Besides, there’s nothing better than hot buttered buns.” He slapped Reese’s left butt cheek playfully.
Reese groaned. He still couldn’t move. Or, rather, didn’t want to move.
Luc wiped off his hips and legs. “Move over so I can get the cabinet.”
Reese groaned again and pushed to stand. Kind of. He sort of rolled around so that his butt was braced against the counter, then reached down to pull up his sweatpants.
Grinning, Luc squatted down to wipe spunk off the painted cabinet doors.
Oh, man! We just did it in the kitchen!
Luc stood, eyes twinkling. He dropped a quick kiss on Reese’s lips then nibbled at his chin. “Coffee?”
“Yes.”
Still dazed, he watched Luc get another mug then fill it with black goodness. When Luc held it up in question, Reese held out his hands.
“Nothing in it?”
“Just sugar,” he said, reaching for the bowl he kept handy on the counter. A spoon was in the drawer right by his hip.
“You hungry?” Luc asked as he doctored his coffee.
Riding the sex buzz, Reese had to think about it. “Actually, yeah.”
Luc moved back toward the sink. “I found bagels, but that’s about it. I could go out and get something…?”
Reese stirred. “No.” Someone might see him leaving. “Bagel’s fine. Although, I think I’ll try the cream cheese instead of butter.” He sipped with a glance toward the fridge. “I think there’s some in there.”
Luc laughed as he refreshed his own mug. “Hey, I hung up your tux back there —” He tossed his head in the direction of the tiny utility room off the kitchen. “— but I think it’s history. It a rental?”
Reese grumbled as he abandoned his coffee to rummage in the fridge for the cream cheese tub. He’d put the tuxedo out of his mind. “Yeah.”
“I’ll pay for it, if you want.”
Cool! was his first thought. He so did not want to find out what the penalty was for returning the rented tuxedo ruined. But his second thought was more appropriate. “Nah, that’s okay.”
“It’s no problem. It’s kind of my fault it got ruined.”
Of course it wasn’t a problem. Luc was, like, mega-rich now. He probably made more in a week than Reese made in a year. “It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Luc watched quietly as Reese cut his bagel and stayed that way while it toasted.
Reese became conscious of the silence after he smeared cream cheese on the onion bagel and took the first bite. He glanced over at Luc to see him still staring, one arm crossed over his chest to support the one that held his mug aloft. Reese concentrated on chewing, trying to tamp down his desire to step up to Luc and trail his fingers over the light hair that decorated his chest and arms. “What?”
“You gonna let me stay?”
Reese swallowed. “Huh?”
“I’m wondering if you’re gonna throw me out.” Luc sipped as he waited for an answer.
Reese flushed. “Uh, no,” he said around another bite. “You can stay.” He took his breakfast into the main room. “If that’s what you want.” Why would he want that? Sure the sex blew Reese’s mind but that was probably par for the course for Luc.
“Really?” Luc followed with both mugs of coffee, setting them on the table before kneeling beside him on the couch. “What happened to Mr. I’m-Not-Gay?”
Reese eyed him. “You said no one needs to know.” He glared when Luc just continued to study him with a weird little smile. “No one knows about this, Luc.”
“Reegan knows.”
“Reegan suspects. But anyway, she doesn’t count. She won’t tell anyone. She won’t jeopardize my job.” He put down his plate and turned to face the man of his dreams. “I’m serious, Luc. No one can know about this.”
“So as long as I keep it quiet, I can fuck you again?”
Reese couldn’t help the full body shiver, but he tried to maintain serious eye contact to let Luc know that he meant it. “Luc….?”
He reached out to toy with a curl above Reese’s ear
. “You’re so cute when you’re worried.”
Reese slapped his hand aside. “Luc, damn it!”
“Relax, tiger. No one knows about this. I got it.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
◆◆◆
Luc knew. He didn’t like it, but he knew. Reese had some bug in his head about being gay and until Luc figured out what it was so he could squash it, he’d decided his better bet was to play along. He’d gotten into Reese’s bed, he’d gotten into his body. Even if Reese was determined to keep it a secret, those were two huge steps. He could be a little patient and work for the rest.
He thought about it as he sank into the couch next to Reese. Watching the play of muscles on his back move the tiger etched into his skin, Luc was blown over yet again by just how beautiful Reese was. Not muscular but lean and sleek like a cat. He was like one of those gorgeous paintings that fantasy artists created to depict mythical elves or sea nymphs. Luc couldn’t believe that he’d ever denied the pull he felt for this one person. Long ago, he’d been attracted to Reegan but he was sure he would have enjoyed Reese so much more if he’d allowed himself. If he’d accepted his feelings.
And was he doing that now? Accepting his feelings? He’d fully admit that most of the reason he’d come home had been to see Reese, to apologize and maybe reconnect. But even he hadn’t been prepared for the wealth of emotion that had cocooned them last night. Before, he hadn’t thought beyond reconnection, lust and some fun. Okay, a lot of fun. But now…
Yeah, maybe he needed to take time for himself too. Figure out what he wanted out of this before he fucked it up and hurt Reese again.
Chapter Six
Reese was pretty sure he was walking funny at school on Monday. He hoped it wasn’t noticeable but couldn’t very well ask anyone to know for sure. Luc had stayed with him all of Sunday. They’d eaten breakfast, napped, had sex, taken a shower, had more sex, ordered Chinese, eaten, had sex, watched a movie, and then made out for a long time before having sex again. The man had truly remarkable stamina. Reese had finally decided Luc needed to go at around midnight for no other reason than that he simply had to get some sleep to get to work in the morning.
