Interpretive Hearts

by Amanda Meuwissen

  Teddy barely remembered the stitches in his hand, slowly healing, since his mouth was doing the heavy lifting.

  “O-o-o-kay,” Finn stuttered with a matching stutter of his hips. “I won’t last much longer if you keep that up.”

  “I’m keeping everything up.” Teddy swatted friskily at Finn’s rear, buzzed on feeling and affection for this man more than anything he’d drunk that night. “Better continue taking advantage, Doc, while that’s still true.”

  Finn giggled again, hiding his face as he climbed off Teddy to snatch up the supplies, as if the teasing was more to flail over than how Teddy had just been sucking his cock. “You make it sound so dirty.”

  “It is.” Teddy looked at Finn adoringly, still keyed up and ready, though grateful he’d had the break to temper down his orgasm. “The naughty nurse who seduced me.”

  “Physical therapist,” Finn said, which he failed at making sound authoritative since he was rock-hard and tearing open a condom packet.

  “When you’re in scrubs, I can think of you any way I want.”

  Finn laughed harder, returning to snuggle close to Teddy and gently tapping his shoulder. “Since you’re my patient, seduced or otherwise, you have to listen to me for your own good.” He punctuated the words by kissing Teddy deeply. “Now, roll onto your side. It’ll be the best position.”

  Teddy had assumed as much, but it still sent a thrill through him thinking of what came next. After stealing another quick kiss, he rolled as requested—onto the side without his incision site so he could settle in comfortably.

  The snap of the cap on the lube made him arch back in wait for Finn’s touch. Soon after, the slick slide of a finger teased him with a swirl around his puckered skin, gentle but quick with its first press inside. It slid in easily, and Teddy’s breath hitched at the answering come-hither stroke.

  The last touch to so intimately caress him had been his own, and before then, he honestly couldn’t say.

  He wanted to rock back into those gentle initial thrusts, but too much tension or movement made his hip ache like he knew it would. He had to stay still and let Finn do the work, which made it a challenge that, at least with Finn, was even more alluring.

  Given how long it had been since he’d had a partner, however, he should have expected the familiar burn of a second finger stretching him, making him hiss.

  “Relax,” Finn whispered, squeezing his shoulder in reassurance.

  “Thought I was,” Teddy bit out, annoyed that his body was once again rebelling against what he wanted. “It’s been a while, and I… urg,” he groaned in frustration as another twist made him hiss louder.

  “It’s okay,” Finn said as he withdrew his hand. “We’ll go slower, or we don’t even have to do this tonight. We can—”

  “I want to,” Teddy said stubbornly.

  “I know. So do I. But I don’t want you hissing at me.”

  A sharp snicker broke the brief silence, which quickly turned into helpless laughter that caused Teddy to glare over his shoulder.

  “I shudder to think what’s funny.”

  “Sorry!” Finn said through his chuckles. “Shit, I’m sorry. Suddenly, all I could think was… ‘Here kitty, kitty.’” He burst out laughing again, forehead pressing between Teddy’s shoulder blades.

  Remembering Finn’s drunken flirting on the beach that night, Teddy couldn’t help laughing too. They laughed so hard together that Teddy forgot to be frustrated with his body. It soothed him further when Finn’s laughter dwindled with a parting kiss to the back of his neck.

  Finn snuggled closer again, and Teddy felt him twitch between his legs. Another kiss grazed his neck as a freshly slickened finger returned to stretch once more inside him.

  Maybe it was because of the pause or the laughter, but even when that prodding finger doubled into two, there wasn’t the same burn, and the first truly deep thrust with both made Teddy moan instead of hiss.

  “There we are,” Finn puffed against his neck. “Just needed to make you laugh, huh?”

  “Like few can. Shit.” It was a good curse, because the more Teddy sank into the sensations and relaxed, the better each stretch felt.

  He could feel Finn teasing the tip of a third finger when he already felt so full, but that last digit merely danced along the rim while the two inside him pushed deeper, twisting to keep opening him up.

  This was how Teddy remembered it; he’d just needed to let his body get there on its own time.

  He haggardly told Finn he was fine now, ready, more than prepared, but Finn hushed him and kept on, fucking him slowly with those talented fingers until Teddy was panting hard, a mewling puddle on the bed.

  “Finn,” he pleaded, trembling all over from how close he was without any attention on his cock, which was leaking insistent spots of wetness onto the sheets.

  “Okay,” Finn said softly. “Now you’re ready.”

  Yes, sir, Teddy thought again, reveling in Finn’s authority. Maybe that was part of what made being with him so easy, because Finn was the only person Teddy had ever been able to give control to and feel safe, trusting completely in where he’d lead him.

  And indeed, he led Teddy right to where he wanted to be, welcoming the press of Finn’s head. Fuller than two fingers but not so large as three, Finn pushed in slowly, stretching Teddy at an agonizing pace to gauge his comfort. It almost made Teddy hiss like before when Finn neared the base, so close to being fully inside him, but he paused to let Teddy adjust, and the final push home broke a ragged cry from Teddy’s throat.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  Pressing another kiss to Teddy’s neck, Finn slid the hand that had guided him inside up around Teddy’s waist and reached for his erection, stroking once very slowly before he started to rock back and thrust forward, moving his hand in time with his rhythm.

  “See, you don’t have to move your hips at all like this.”

  “Ngnn… I s-s-still… want to,” Teddy gasped. God, he wanted to pound back against Finn hard.

  “I know, but I got you.”

  He had him from behind, molded against his back, thrusts moving slow and then more powerfully, and finally picking up pace. He had him in front as well with the wrap of his fingers, jerking his hand in sync with his hips so Teddy was surrounded and attended to at every angle without ever having to move.

  It felt selfish and wonderful to be that closely held and cared for.

  Teddy shook and struggled to catch his breath, feeling himself all too quickly building toward an end. Finn read his tells as easily as he did when Teddy was his patient, knowing to hasten his strokes and rock more fervently forward.

  He panted, too, warm against Teddy’s neck, so strong in his care for him but just as frantic to reach an end. There were no words as his pace quickened more and more, no sound but breath, no cohesive thought in Teddy’s mind but release, and when it finally struck, he felt a tingle course all through him.

  Spurting over Finn’s fingers, Teddy had to rock forward, he had to, just a little to see him through his orgasm. The compulsion made his hip protest, but not enough for him to regret it.

  Finn’s fingers, slowing and turning gentler, squeezed one last time as his hips stuttered like they had while hovering over Teddy’s face, finishing after him with a few quiet groans. His forehead rested between Teddy’s shoulder blades again, and then he kissed him there again, and the buzz Teddy had felt through every moment lingered into the aftermath like a warm blanket draped over him just as Finn still was.

  “I am truly grateful you decided to seduce me,” Teddy said.

  “Me too.” Finn chuckled. “And that when I decided to be stupid… you followed anyway and seduced me right back.”

  “Well, even stupid, you are nearly impossible to resist.” Teddy tilted his head back to coax a kiss, and that, too, was better than anything he’d thought he could have in this chapter of his life.

  They caught their breaths, and
Finn disentangled from him to go to the master bath to clean up, coming back with a dampened cloth to wipe away the remaining traces from Teddy, though most of the mess had stayed with him.

  “I feel entirely indulgent letting you do all the work,” Teddy said, rolled onto his back now and lounging contently like a—dammit again—cat, as Finn chucked the cloth back toward the bathroom and returned at a pleased prowl.

  “Good,” he said again, kissing Teddy and snuggling beside him. “My new lease on life about always taking chances does tend to lead to overindulgence on occasion.”

  “At risk of that leading to more visits to Blaise’s bakery and pounds to my midsection, I’m up for anything.”

  “Still?” Finn waggled an eyebrow, playful fingers dancing down Teddy’s chest toward his length.

  “Maybe not that up.” Teddy knew Finn was mostly joking, though that made him want to be playful back. “At least not until morning. Then, when you sit on my face, how about this time, I don’t let you get away?”

  The flutter of Finn’s eyes away from Teddy and back up again was déjà vu—something Teddy recognized now as a sign of the man Finn had been before they met, more hesitant and unsure, but then the lock of their eyes proved the confident person he was trying to be.

  “Tough sell,” Finn teased. “But how about, after that, we work on your morning stretches by getting your ankles over my shoulders, and I’ll return the favor?”

  Shit. Finn never failed to meet Teddy challenge for challenge. “I think I can manage that if my physical therapist approves.”

  Finn pulled Teddy closer with a gentle tug at his waist. “I’ve been told I work miracles.”

  “It would appear so.” Teddy stroked Finn’s face, scratching through his soft stubble and staring into those bright teal eyes that had first entranced him.

  Finn’s playfulness dropped to sweet contentedness as he hugged Teddy’s chest and then reached down to pull the covers over them.

  They settled in like that, holding each other, not caring that so many lights remained on. Besides, there was a master switch beside the bed.

  “You’re staying the weekend?” Teddy asked.

  “I did bring enough clothes, if that’s okay. You show me your stomping grounds, I’ll show you mine?”

  “With my luck, we’ll run into Oliver and a few of my exes while we’re at it.”

  Finn’s chuckle said that Teddy had nothing to worry about even if that proved true. “You’ve jinxed us now. Oliver will totally end up being at whatever breakfast place we go to.” He hummed as if thinking about it, and when his eyes found Teddy’s again, there was a depth of emotion there that made Teddy feel very vulnerable, though without the fear he might have felt in the past.

  “I don’t want to see Oliver,” Finn said. “I came to see you, but even if we did run into him, I never once felt this way about him. And the sad thing was? I didn’t realize what I was missing until….” A shock of wetness appeared that Finn blinked from his eyes. “Sorry, I don’t mean to get all….”

  “Romantic?” Teddy said softly.

  “Just not so soon.”

  Intimacy had never been Teddy’s strong suit, and yet…. “Doesn’t feel too soon, just feels like what it is. You make this all… not easy,” Teddy said, looking down at his hip, “but possible. And I didn’t think anyone could do that.”

  Finn breathed in sharply, but he was smiling when Teddy looked up. “I think that’s the sweetest thing any patient has ever said to me. Especially while I’m in bed with them.”

  Teddy laughed and Finn laughed with him, and in the end, they sought each other’s mouths again to kiss soft and slow.

  “I’m still sorry about that night on the beach,” Finn whispered while they were wrapped up close, “but I’m also glad. I’m glad you know my bad parts, my tragic parts, and that you didn’t mind seeing them.”

  “Same. I will likely reveal my inner asshole again someday.”

  “And I might get scared and act like an idiot someday. But….”

  “We’ll deal with that as it comes.”

  “Exactly.” Shifting to rest his head on Teddy’s shoulder, Finn said with tired humor, “Tell me another story about you, Rick, and Dan in your wild younger days.”

  Teddy would have laughed again if he wasn’t mildly affronted. “That story was about Dan’s mesh tank top and inappropriate introduction. Rick and I merely had sword props. Now, if you want a story about me in a mesh tank top….”

  “Seriously?”

  “It was the 90s,” Teddy said like that was explanation enough.

  “I’m all ears.”

  “We have a problem, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I need to take out my contacts before we get too comfortable.”

  Laughter came so easily between them. It was a new experience for Teddy, but he was starting to get used to it.

  After a trip to the bathroom, Teddy returned, content with Finn in his arms, and regaled him with every story he could think of—his first audition when Rick got him obscenely drunk afterward, Rick and Dan’s joint bachelor party that somehow ended on a boat and to this day none of them knew how, even the time Teddy went home with a man dressed as a hot dog from a costume party and didn’t find out until morning that it was a dancer from his same company—until neither of them could keep their eyes open and they finally fell asleep.

  Chapter Nine

  THEIR time in the city had been like a dream, brand-new for Teddy in many ways despite walking old, familiar ground. They had not run into Oliver or any of Teddy’s exes, only Teddy’s friends and family again as planned, and spent a good amount of time with just each other too.

  On the flight home, they managed to arrange their seats together, and all the tension Teddy had felt on his flight there was blissfully left behind rather than returning to the beach with him.

  Now it was the following Friday after an equally blissful week, and Teddy was finally joining one of Finn’s bonfires, staring at the pictures on Finn’s end table in the living room. They’d grown so close since that fateful day they met off Teddy’s patio, but this was the first time he’d been inside Finn’s house.

  The newest photos on display were of Finn and Rose with an older gentleman who Teddy took for Rose’s father, given the resemblance. There was also a photo of a couple that Finn had clearly gotten a combination of his features from—eyes from his mother, smile from his father. His parents—before the accident when his mother died and his father was left needing full-time care.

  Another photo included young Finn, who had the same smile as he did now, the same bright spark of life that was so infectious. Sometimes adult Finn had trouble believing in that brightness no matter how much he instilled it in others, but he was trying, something Teddy felt like he could finally do too.

  “Good-looking couple, right?” Finn said, startling Teddy with his reappearance from the kitchen. He carried a platter of chips and crackers to bring outside, along with a six-pack of beer. Teddy had meant to follow him and help until he got distracted by the display of memories.

  He took the six-pack from Finn now. “You had to get your looks from somewhere,” he said, meaning the sentiment, however teasing in tone. “They seem like they were really happy. You too.”

  “We were.” Finn gazed fondly at the photos, not quite as sad as Teddy would have expected, more contemplative. “We were happy, and I had them taken away from me. You had a father you would have been better off without and removed him from your life because you wanted him gone.

  “Either way, it seems unfair. I know even for people who have happy families and get to keep them, everyone has personal tragedies. I see plenty every day….” He trailed off, then took a breath and shifted his gaze back to Teddy. “Just means we have to try harder to make the most of what we have. And be thankful… for what we have….” He leaned closer, a playful twitch at his lips. “When what we have is truly beautiful.” He kissed Teddy, and Teddy melt
ed into the touch, allowing the faint parting of lips and flick of their tongues.

  “Smooth talker.”

  “Got you into bed, didn’t it?”

  Teddy snorted, pulling back to shake his head at Finn. He had gotten him into bed more than once now. “Are you saying we should bring these snacks back into the kitchen and tell everyone to go home?”

  “Tempting, but Rose would never forgive me if we did that. Later,” Finn said, kissing Teddy once more before leading them toward the patio. “Just because you live next door doesn’t mean you have to go home when everyone else leaves.”

  Imp, Teddy thought, not for the first time, and followed Finn with a pleasant flutter in his stomach that he’d felt from day one, but it was much better now that he’d given in to the disruption in his life.

  There hadn’t been much to disrupt, just a path laid out that included warmth he’d often been missing that went far beyond a bonfire on the beach.

  The fire was nice, though, with spring rapidly turning into summer, friends gathered near the water’s edge for food and booze and good conversation. Teddy was back to being careful with his alcohol, never more than a drink or two since it wasn’t his style and his medication would be long-term for several more months, but a beer on the beach with company wasn’t as loathsome as he’d feared that first day when a volleyball rolled in front of his chair.

  “Glad to have you with us,” Blaise said. The crew was all couples—Blaise and Rose, Meagan and Ronnie, Teddy and Finn—except for Carlos, who didn’t seem bothered by being the seventh wheel when he had a plane to catch in the morning to see Erina’s ballet.

  “I guess Rick and Dan are picking me up?” he said like a question to Teddy.

  “My condolences.” Teddy grinned.

  “Dude,” Carlos whined, “I thought you were scary. If you’re the easy one, I am so screwed.”