Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (73 page)

“Hey,” he said when he noticed I was awake. He smiled shyly and

held up his hand. “You wanna smoke?”

I nodded. I carefully moved off the mattress to avoid waking

Darrin. Sam sat up to make room for me. He held up the blanket so I

could slide in beside him. He watched me as I did so, his gaze

guarded. It seemed like he was asking me a silent question.

“What?” I said as I nestled under the blanket beside him. It

seemed strangely natural to be so close to him. But it felt more

intimate in a way than when I’d had my cock inside him.

He didn’t say anything, just held the cigarette out to me. I took it

and inhaled a long soothing drag. We sat together silently for awhile,

taking turns with the cigarette.

“You have a crush on him, don’t you?” he said finally, nodding

toward the mattress where Darrin lay sprawled in a deep sleep.

I looked at Sam, shrugging my shoulders. “I guess so. He’s hot.”

My feelings for Darrin Peters had lost some of their intensity.

Sam nodded, looking away. “Yeah.”

There was something I needed to know. “How long have you guys

… you know?” I asked carefully.

Sam snorted quietly. “How long have we been screwing each

other, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, it’s been a few months. Why?”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 437

“Are you in love with him?”

Sam seemed surprised at my question. “What? No. We just like to

have fun together. We found this place. We come here whenever we

need to let off steam. Or if we just need a friend. Or a fuck.”

I nodded. “That’s cool.”

“It’s all right.”

We sat in silence again. The breeze coming through the open

window brought the cool sea air and the smell of saltwater. I snuggled

closer to Sam.

“I asked him to bring you here,” he said finally, in a voice so quiet

I barely heard him.

I stared at his profile, trying to figure out what he meant. He

turned, and his brown eyes delved into mine.

“Why?” was all I could manage to say. My breath caught in my

throat. Something in his gaze caused a strong reaction inside me. It

was like he knew me inside out already. But we’d never spoken two

words before this night.

He didn’t say anything.

He didn’t need to.

I knew.

His eyes told me everything. They widened and stayed locked on

mine as our faces moved closer of their own volition. His hand came

up behind my neck and he guided me the last few millimeters to his

waiting lips.

The kiss began tentatively, as we both tried to figure out if there

was something here, between us. Very soon, that something reared up

like a flame. Our mouths hungrily consumed it. Sam whimpered and

opened his mouth to my eager tongue. My cock, already semi-erect

from our close contact, rose hard against his thigh as I gasped into his

mouth. I clasped his face in my hands and plundered his willing

mouth with my tongue as waves of pleasure coursed through me. I’d

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 438

been so focused on Darrin, and all along it had been Sam who was

waiting for me, wanting me. I’d been a fool not to see.

I forced myself to pull away and catch my breath. I stared into his

intelligent brown eyes and said. “It’s you.”

“Me?”

I nodded and smiled. “It’s you I want.”

He pulled my mouth to his again and whispered, “I’m yours,

Marco,” against my lips. “I’ve always been yours.”

THE END

Author bio
: I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with my husband

and two children. I have a BA in Psychology and a certificate in

Dramatic Scriptwriting. I very much enjoy writing erotic fiction and

exploring the vast arena of sexuality and relationships.

website:

http://www.elizabethlister.ca/

Facebook Pag
e: www.facebook.com/ModernEroticRomance

Debut e-book EXPOSURE available at
Amazon.com
and

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?boo…

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 439

Ryan Loveless – TWENTY YEARS LATER (WELCOME HOME TO THE

CONQUERING HERO) (Military/Reunion)

Genre:
contemporary

Tags:
military men, business men-lawyers, in-

Dear Author,

the-closet, over age 40, reunion, long lost love,

These two men have been

through so much for the

childhood sweethearts, coming out, don’t ask

chance to truly be together -

don’t tell

hiding no longer. Can you

Warnings:
implied het, infidelity (involving a

share a peek into their

main character)

triumphant story and let us

see who they are and who is

Words:
9,322

watching over them in the

world they can finally

TWENTY YEARS LATER

share?

(WELCOME HOME TO THE

[PHOTO: Two naked sandy

men kiss on the beach as

CONQUERING HERO)

men stand near. The crew-

by Ryan Loveless

cut top cradles his dark-

haired partner and almost

Twenty-six years ago:

blocks him from view. The

other hooks his leg and

Boys weren’t pretty, so Patrick had no

arms around the first. He

excuse for thinking George was. Plump lips

wears a ring on his pinky

Patrick wanted to brush his thumb over, cheeks

finger.]

that flushed when Patrick smiled at him (so

Sincerely,

Patrick smiled a lot), and bony shoulders

Dianna

George thought were too frail and Patrick

thought were perfect because they were at the

right height for him to lay his arm across added

up to ‘pretty’ in Patrick’s mind, and that couldn’t

be.


Because boys weren’t pretty. 


George was smaller than all the boys in

their class, so Patrick, who was tallest,

protected him. Most of the time George pushed

him out of the way, though, and teased and

teased about Patrick being his “knight in

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 440

shining armor” and told him to quit being a big dork.

They walked home from school together every day. Over the

bridge, short cut through the bean field and back up a hill into

George’s yard. As they dipped into the shallow valley, out of sight of

cars on the road above, George reached for Patrick’s hand and they

walked as long as they could like that.



The first time Patrick kissed George, it was over too soon to be

strange. He pecked George on the lips in the second before they

released hands.



George smiled and Patrick smiled because George’s cheeks went

pink and he wanted to kiss George again, but they were back up where

cars could see. They kissed every day in that hidden spot after that and

the kisses got longer and longer and sometimes they took their shirts

off and laid down on the grass to explore each other’s chests and

kissed until George’s mother yelled for them.



“Just roughhousing,” they said when she asked why they looked

rumpled and they practiced their chastened expressions when she

scolded them.



If they slept over at each other’s houses, they lay in bed together

and held hands, but they didn’t kiss because sex ed had made it clear

that kissing in bed was only for married people. There was only one

thing to do about that, so Patrick proposed.



He got down on one knee and presented a ring he’d pinched from

his mother’s jewelry box. It was an old thing too small for her finger

since she’d had Patrick’s little brother five years ago. The grass

squished under his knee, wet from the rain that shook the windows all

night long. 



“George Henry Stuart,” he recited George’s full Christian name,

“will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”



“Well, I do declare,” George said, having read the same books

from Patrick’s sister’s shelves, “I would be most delighted to be

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 441

yours.” He extended his hand and Patrick slid the ring on after

remembering which was the correct finger. Holding George’s hand, he

stood up. 


“We’ll have to be married in our hearts,” he said. “No one’s going

to do it for real.”


“Fourteen year olds can get married in Missouri,” George said. “A

girl in my sister’s class got pregnant and her parents drove her and her

boyfriend there to have a wedding.”



“We’re twelve and boys and I can’t get you pregnant. So it’s

different.”



George’s expression turned down. “I know. I was only

pretending.”



When they kissed, Patrick held on a long time, even after George’s

mother started calling. He didn’t want to let go, didn’t want to lose

him, ever.

Two years later, he sat in the backseat of his parents’ station

wagon and pressed his nose to the window as he waved goodbye to

the best friend he’d ever had. His sister sat on the opposite side of the

seat, sniffling.

“Straighten up,” their dad said. “You’re going to love Chicago.”

Patrick hated it already. George wasn’t in Chicago.



****



The Present:




In George’s fantasy, he sees Patrick again across a crowded room-

Grand Central Terminal, that’s Hollywood romance suitable. Although

twenty-six years have passed since they last spoke, their eyes meet,

and without breaking that contact, they move toward each other,

slipping through hundreds of rushing commuters and tourists gawking

at the ceiling. Stopping in front of the clock in the middle of the

Grand Concourse; George slides his hand into Patrick’s thick hair. He

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 442

urges him down as Patrick draws his strong arm against George’s back

to hold him close and says, “I’ve been waiting forever” into George’s

mouth.



In reality, Patrick has a shaved head, addresses George as “sir”

and has no spark of recognition for him.




****


“Mr. Stuart? I’d like you to meet Major Patrick Reynolds. He’s

consulting with us this week.” George looked up from his desk. Same

name as his old love, but it couldn’t be, could it? For Patrick to turn up

at George’s work after almost three decades? His gaze skipped past his

supervisor and settled on Patrick. He sucked in a shocked breath.

Patrick
. Larger, rougher, but
Patrick
. Patrick’s smile hadn’t changed in

twenty years, although the face around it had. The smoothness of

youth was gone, replaced by five o’clock shadow, and crow’s feet

around the eyes. George stumbled as he stood, but hid his clumsiness

behind his desk.

Patrick strode forward, hand extended. “Pleased to meet you, sir.

Looking forward to working with you.”
His expression held no sign

of recognition. George clutched his hand, searching Patrick’s green

eyes for a clue,
something
, but the only thing that happened was

Patrick’s expression changing to amused confusion when George

didn’t let go.