Chapter 3
Carmel
Randy
I stopped midway between my closet and the bed where my bag sat, my arms full of clothing. “You’re just going to sit there and watch me pack?”
Logan leaned back against the pillows. “I’m admiring the view.”
So was I. He’d discarded his tee, and his bare chest gleamed with sweat, his dark nipples almost black.
I wanted to clean every inch with my tongue.
I smiled. “The ocean? Or me?” My bedroom window had a great view of the Pacific.
“Both are pretty good.”
I gasped. “I only warrant a pretty good ?”
He pretended to think about it. “Okay—maybe you have the edge.”
“Maybe?” I gave him a mock glare.
Logan didn’t rise to the bait. “I’ll miss you.” His intense gaze added to his quietly spoken words.
I gazed at him, loving the contrast of his skin against the snow-white sheets. It was a contrast I loved to capture in photos, the pair of us locked in an embrace. There were framed photos all over the house: everywhere I looked, I saw his face, his neat black beard hugging his jawline, the eyes that reminded me of ebony.
Fuck, he’s beautiful.
I placed the clothing in the bag. “I’ll miss you too. But it’s only for a weekend. I’ll be back Sunday night. If you want to stay here, you’ve got your key. On second thoughts, maybe not. You’ll spend more time staring at the ocean than you will studying. But then again, I won’t be around to distract you.”
He smiled. “I like your kind of distractions. And I won’t be studying during vacation time. I want a rest before I start my Masters.”
During the past two years, we’d gotten into a routine. Either I worked from my office in LA during the week, returning to my house in Carmel at weekends, or I divided my time between the two and worked from home. Logan was studying at the Academy of Art University, School of Architectural Design, in San Francisco, but every weekend he drove to my house.
At least he doesn’t travel by motorbike anymore . His Honda Civic might be old, but it was way more reliable. The only thing that stopped him from moving in with me was his studies. But once they were completed, that was it. There would be nothing to get in our way.
I’d had several fleeting relationships over the years, none of them really serious, but this one had lasted the longest so far, and had the most potential for enduring happiness. I’d been a cynic most of my life: Happily Ever After was for fairy tales, Hallmark movies, and romantic fiction, but a guy a little more than half my age had turned all that on its head.
I couldn’t envisage life without him.
Logan knelt up and shuffled across the bed to where I stood. He locked his arms around my neck and kissed me, a lingering, sweet connection, warm, as soft as silk. He gazed into my eyes.
“No regrets?”
I blinked. “About what?”
“Us.”
I smiled. “I still think we’re crazy.”
“You mean the age gap thing? You’re forty-six, I’m twenty-two. So what? It works, doesn’t it?”
Yeah, it worked.
He tilted his head to one side. “Since we’ve been together, I figure you’ve had three or four of these reunions, or whatever you want to call them. So I have to ask…do they know about me?”
I shook my head. “We don’t usually discuss family stuff. It’s a habit we got into a long time ago.”
His dark eyes sparkled. “I’m family?”
You are so much more than that. Logan was my life.
My throat tightened, and I responded the only way I could, with another kiss.
“So does that mean you’re gonna tell them about me?”
I gently unlocked his hands from around my neck. “Why are you asking?”
“They’re your family too, right? I’d love to meet them. You never talk about them. You just disappear for the odd weekend.”
I smiled. “You want to meet them?”
“Of course I do. They’re your best friends. So I was thinking…”
Something in his tone intrigued me. “Don’t stop there.”
“What if you get there and ask if I could join you the next day?”
I stared. “You want to come to the cabin?”
“Why not? It’s not as if I haven’t been there before. In fact, I’ve probably stayed there as many times as they have over the years.” He became very still. “Unless you think I’d be in the way.”
I placed my hands on his shoulders. “That never crossed my mind. I… I’m simply not sure how they’d react to such a suggestion.”
“Think of that huge bed—and sharing it with me.”
I chuckled. “Oh, so now you’re resorting to bribery? What if they say no?”
He shrugged. “Then it’s no. But you can ask, can’t you?”
“Yeah, I could.” I smiled. “Only because it would make you happy.” I peered at him. “But you have to do something for me.”
“What? Clean your house for a month? Do all your laundry?” He grinned. “Wake you up with a blow job every morning?”
I laughed. “Ooh, now there’s an idea.” I wasn’t about to let him deter me, however. “You need to tell your dad about me. More importantly, you need to tell him you’re gay.”
Logan set his jaw. “No, I don’t. I keep telling you. We’re not that close. I hardly see him anymore. I mean, I did when I was a little kid, but since I went to high school, he’s visited less and less.”
I looked him in the eye. “You haven’t told me all that much but I’ve heard enough to read between the lines. You keep pushing him away. You won’t let him get close.” I cocked my head. “Am I right?”
He sighed. “Maybe? Okay, one day I’ll have a heart-to-heart and tell him everything. But I know what he’ll say. What he’ll do. He’ll explode. Maybe not about the gay part, but me being with a guy twice my age? Probably the same age as him? He’ll freak.”
“You’ll never know until you try. And if he freaks, then at least everything is out in the open.”
“I promise to think about it, all right?”
I kissed his forehead. “Good enough. For now.”
“So you will ask them? About me joining you at the lake?”
I could never say no to him, but as weaknesses went, it was no biggie.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, yes, I’ll ask them. Now let me finish packing. I’ve got a five-hour drive tomorrow and I want to leave here reasonably early.”
“Do you have to pack right this second?”
I smiled. “Why? Did you have another activity in mind?”
Logan gestured to his bare chest. “I’m already halfway to naked. Might as well finish the job, right?” He slid his hand down my chest to where my shaft tented my shorts, and molded his hand around its girth.
I knew when to give up the fight.