Ends with a Bang
ENDS WITH A BANG
Laurel: Everybody is saying they loved it.
Walter: Maybe we should have a winter carnival?
Harvey: Chainsaws and ice sculptures!
Laurel: Has anybody seen Gladys?
Sheryl: Mabel is raiding her store for vintage dresses.
Laurel: Any excuse for a clothing montage.
The carnival had wound down. Vendors had broken down their tents and returned unsold inventory to their stores. My feet ached. Despite being a small town, I had walked miles helping. Just when I thought I couldn’t go any further, somebody said thank you for not giving up on the carnival. Seeing the faces of happy kids made the sore feet worth it.
I laid back on the picnic table, staring at the stars. We had dimmed the lights around the green to prepare for the fireworks. The committee wanted to ensure they could be seen across the town. I checked my phone, swiping past the committee’s texts. Still nothing from Tyler.
“Where are you?”
Everything had gone off without a hitch. The carnival. The reveal. The expression on Tyler’s face. A grin worked its way on my face as I imagined our second-chance romance as a movie on the Romance Channel. I wonder if Chris or Tessa knew somebody? That’d be the icing on the cake. Then we’d be able to rewatch it on the anniversary of our… first kiss? Reunion? Wedding?
As I thought about the future, the butterflies fluttered, excited about the prospects ahead of me. To think this all started with a dreadful phone call. I could be sad about the circumstances that brought me here. I missed Mimi and her boisterous laugh. Firefly made it feel as if she were still here. They told stories, continuing her legacy. With Evie ready to turn the house into a bed-and-breakfast, she’d never quite be gone.
My eyes watered as I thought about it. Not the missing her, but how my fiery grandmother, even a world away, had guided me on this journey. Because of her, I had Evie… Tyler… Jason and Amanda. Her last gift had been filling my heart with love.
“I was hoping to bump into you.”
I wiped my eyes, bolting upright. Turning, Tyler stood on the other side.
“Wait…” His fingers grazed the wooden picnic table. He squinted in the dim light. When he reached the corner, his eyes widened. “Is this our picnic table? ”
He must have found the spot where Amanda carved her name. If he searched long enough, he’d find Jason and mine etched into the bench. Damn, those foolish kids for vandalizing public property.
“Jason found the old tables in the mill.” It had been Amanda who insisted that if we were going to get reacquainted, it needed to be perfect. In the dark of night, we lugged them across the green, all for this moment.
“I wanted it to be perfect,” I said.
“Is somebody feeling a little nostalgic?”
Tyler took a seat next to me, the wood groaning. I prayed it held up, or the night was going to end with a trip to the hospital. When he rested his hand on my knee, the world quieted. I had thought about what I wanted to say, but all the rehearsing in my mind turned into a jumbled mess.
“It’s hard to believe we were sitting here twenty years ago.”
“It’s amazing how much has changed,” I said.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m still sitting next to the most handsome man. Still getting a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking about kissing him.”
“You’re a much better kisser now,” I laughed.
“Hey! You were the slobbery one.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” Had I remembered it wrong? Did my pride rewrite the narrative? “Not that I’ve thought about it much.”
“Same.” I lied. “Except when I’m lying in bed going to sleep. Or first thing in the morning. Or those hours in-between.”
“That much, huh?” His thumb ran back and forth over my knee. “I guess I think about it from time to time.”
Had we turned into those awkward teens? I couldn’t help but laugh hard enough the table groaned in reply. Our first encounter had been a passionate exchange in the bathroom of a bar, and now we tripped over our words as we tried to be coy.
“What’s so funny?”
“Just thinking about how nervous I was then versus now.” He rested his head on my shoulder, and I wrapped an arm around his back, pulling him tight. “Tyler Bailey, it feels like somebody had a master plan for us. We went through the motions, living life. Somehow, it brought us back to where it started.”
“Not fate,” he said. “Hazel.”
My chest tightened. It was one thing for me to think she had a hand in our relationship. Knowing he shared my thoughts reminded me that her memory lived on.
“I’m staying.” All those poetic lines I imagined saying went out the window as I blurted out my big reveal.
“I heard… are you sure?”
I kissed the top of his head. “Firefly did what it does best. This is home. I want to be close to my family… to my friends… to…” I let the words hang, open for interpretation. I changed the rules of our relationship. It had been the only fear I had about tonight. Our relationship had an expira tion date looming over our heads. Moving to Firefly might have a different?—
Tyler spun about, pushing me onto my back, sprawled across the picnic table. He straddled my waist, leaning over me. The dim street lamp illuminated the side of his face, highlighting the red tones in his beard. If somebody had told my younger self, this would have been the outcome; I’d have kissed him sooner.
“Jon Olsen, I don’t even know what to say. So far today, you rescued the town. You’ve saved the library… my job. Now you’re telling me you’re staying?”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“It’s the only thing that could have made today better.” He leaned in, hovering inches above my face. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for twenty years.”
He leaned forward, hoping for a kiss. I put a hand on his chest, stopping him. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. I wanted it… him … but we had waited twenty years for the perfect moment.
“Wait for it…”
His eyebrow rode up his forehead. We sat like that for almost a minute before a loud whistle filled the green. The burst of red lit up the downtown, bathing it in a flash of crimson light. He snorted as the fireworks crackled. Another stream of gold rose into the sky before it burst in a flash of blue and green.
“Now, this is the perfect moment,” I said.
I grabbed the front of his shirt, bunching it between my fingers as I pulled him on top of me. His lips pressed against mine, a passionate kiss twenty years in the making. As he held my bottom lip between his teeth, I could smell the lingering chlorine from the tank. He might smell clean, but I was already imagining the dirty way tonight would end.
With his weight lying across my abdomen, I wrapped my arms around him. What had once been a nervous uncertainty transformed into excitement. I didn’t know where this adventure would take us, but we’d have a story worth telling. People would call it fate, but I knew better. A meddling grandmother had made this possible. Who was I to argue?
“I love you.” What? That hadn’t been part of the plan. I tried to suck the words back in. We had a perfect moment, and I didn’t want to rush?—
“I’ve felt the same since the first day we met.” He kissed my cheek. “Right person, wrong time.” He gave me another kiss. “It’s the right time now.” He settled on top of me, giving me a tight squeeze. He leaned in close, whispering into my ear. “Jon Olsen, I love you.”
“Ew.” I knew that shriek. “Can you guys save it for the bedroom?”
I leaned my head back to see an upside-down Amanda. Jason stood on her left, with Evie on her right.
“I told you they’d be here,” Jason said. “He’s watched one too many romcoms.”
Tyler slid off me, taking a seat on the bench. I sat upright and spun about. I was preparing a witty retort when Tyler piped in. “Romcoms wish they were this perfect. ”
“Gag me,” Amanda said. She and Jason slid onto seats opposite Tyler.
“You’re just jealous that Tessa isn’t here,” Jason said. “Let the boy have his happily ever after.”
Evie sat on the table next to me, bumping shoulders. I wanted to be angry that they interrupted a perfect moment. But as Evie rested her head on my shoulder and Tyler wrapped his fingers around my hand, I realized this was the happily ever after.
The sky lit up in a series of red and blue bursts.
“This is home,” Evie said. “It still feels weird.”
“Our home,” I added.
“You’re both saps,” Amanda added.
I glanced over my shoulder at Tyler. “Yes, I am.” Everything I wanted in life had come to this point… literally. I found… re-found… the man who made me smile. The sister I thought I lost had let me into her life. These weren’t friends; they were family.
Our story had come full circle.
Now we wrote the next chapter… together.
The fireworks had long since ended. The others had called it a night while Tyler and I remained lying on the picnic table, staring at the stars. Tomorrow, we’d begin cleaning the green and resetting Firefly. I’m sure it’d be a week or two before they had their next big extravaganza.
We walked down the sidewalk, heading to Tyler’s house. When we reached the front porch, I paused, unsure if I wanted to risk spoiling an otherwise perfect evening. We had entered the awkward linger, the time when we decided if we wanted to call it a night or?—
Tyler opened the door and, without a word, shoved me through the doorway. I laughed as he shut the door, flipped the lock, and turned his attention to me.
“This is what I wanted to do twenty years ago.”
“What do you mean?” Oh, I knew exactly what he meant. If I hadn’t been a scared teenager, our first kiss could have led to a lot of other firsts.
Tyler didn’t let up as he swooped in with a kiss. Unlike our first, he kissed with confidence, his hand on the small of my back, pulling me closer. He held me as if he’d never let go. His lips held their position, squished against mine until they parted, his tongue grazing the tip of mine. A simple gesture, and I could feel the tightness in my jeans. Tyler didn’t have to work hard to motivate.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” I mumbled.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you adjusting yourself at the dunk tank.”
I had been found out. Good. I wanted him to know my body reacted to the sight of him in nothing but underwear. If I had my way, we’d be living a clothing-optional lifestyle. Socks. I’d let him wear socks and nothing else. It’d make going to the grocery store interesting, but I’d proudly show off my erection every time he suggestively handled a zucchini.
Tyler reached down and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it in the hallway. Before I could run my hands through that beautiful chest hair, he pulled my shirt up, pulling it off and casually flinging it over the stair banister.
He sidestepped the awkward linger and moved into the sexy time dilemma. Did we drop our pants here? Move to the living room? I’m not sure if his kitchen table could hold me? The bedroom? There were so many flat surfaces we needed to christen.
“Bedroom.” My boyfriend read me like a book. He turned and darted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. The eagerness had me laughing. “Better hurry up,” he shouted. “Or I’m starting without you.”
“Damn, you’re hot,” I mumbled.
I ran up the stairs, fumbling with the button on my jeans. I could hear clothes hitting the floor and the springs of his bed. Just the thought was enough to have my cock aching to come out and play. Reaching the landing, I turned into the bedroom.
I barely had time to take in the beautiful man in his briefs when I tripped over his pants. I spun about, arms flailing as I tumbled onto the bed, landing between his legs. Graceful it was not; I got a close-up view of the curves of his bulge… being clumsy worked in my favor.
“Are you alright?”
I kicked off my jeans in the least sexy way. Looking up his body, my cheeks turned red as he watched. Something about seeing this beautiful bear laid out in bed with me between his legs made me as nervous as that first kiss. No. Not nervous, excited, anxious, eager. I never wanted this sensation to fade. Each time I caught him watching me, I wanted the butterflies in my stomach to flutter.
I kissed his thigh.
Tyler had enough hair on his legs that it tickled my nose as I moved from one to the other. I wanted my lips to touch every inch of him. With each kiss, I moved forward, dragging myself up his leg. I reached the bottom of his boxer briefs, eyes focused on the growing tent in his underwear. There’d be plenty of nights for me to learn his body. I’d have it memorized in time, but right now, I needed to see him naked.
As I reached under his butt, Tyler lifted his ass off the bed. I pulled his underwear off, his legs pressed against my chest. Damn. Maybe I needed to draw him like one of my French girls. The sight of him relaxed, legs on my shoulder and his cock standing proud. It was almost too much to handle. I wanted to show him some radical love all night long.
His eyebrow moved up. “It’s yours if you want it.”
“Fuck,” I mumbled. I had been prepared to climb on top and milk him until he came in me. Burying my cock in him hadn’t crossed my mind. Now, it was all I could think about. I called myself a bottom, but now I was feeling bottom-flexible.
I pushed down my underwear, my cock springing to attention. Inching forward, the heat from his ass was enough for me to reconsider tonight’s activities. Seeing the eagerness in his eyes, I also detected a hint of nervousness.
“Been a while? ”
“You could say that.”
I recognized that look. My eyes widened. “You’ve never bottomed?”
That smirk, it’d get me into trouble every time. “Is it cheesy to say I was waiting for the right guy?” My heart and my cock leapt.
“So cheesy,” I said with a smile. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” We might have shared our first kiss, but there had been a series of firsts with other men. Something about this, about sharing another first-time experience, felt like it had been decades in the making.
I inched forward. His head shot up when I brushed against his ass. “Be gentle.” He stretched for the nightstand, wiggling himself along the bed until he grabbed a clear bottle. This would require more than spit or precum. If I was going to fuck Tyler for the first time, he’d need plenty of lube.
“I’ll see what I can do.” I shot him a wink.
With a few pumps, he filled his hand with the clear liquid. He reached between his legs, struggling to do a sit-up. I groaned when he grabbed my cock, coating it in lube. With a few more strokes, I didn’t need any more encouragement. I moved into place, taking the bottle from his hand.
“Going to need more than that.” With a few more pumps, the lube dripped down the crack of his ass. I used my cock to rub it into place. The moment the head touched his hole, his eyes widened, and he moaned.
“Ready?”
He nodded .
I held my cock, pushing my hips forward enough for the head to vanish. Tyler groaned, his fingers digging into the comforter. I held still, a low moan starting in the back of my throat. Tight. Hot. Amazing. I could have stayed here and spent the evening in bliss.
“Relax,” I whispered. Each kiss was gentle, before moving to his other leg. I returned to studying him, pressing my lips against the bone in his ankle, just beneath a small scar. I wanted to thrust forward and bury myself in him, but I forced myself to wait. Tyler’s first time needed to be memorable. Same for his second… third…
“You’re huge,” he said with a slight laugh. “Did your dick get bigger?”
“That’s what you get for being sexy.”
“A burden I bear.” He pulled at the comforter, taking another inch of my cock. He felt amazing. It had been years since I topped a guy, and never in my life, somebody as amazing as him. The universe tested my patience, and I gave, sliding a little more inside him.
“I want you in me,” he mumbled. That made two of us. He squeezed, and I couldn’t help but moan. If this was his first time, he had taken notes while watching porn. “Slow,” he whispered.
I pulled back a little before pushing forward. His head tilted back as he growled. Slowly, I worked a little more inside him. His cock had gone soft when I started, but now, as I stretched him open, I could see a steady drip of precum. Each time I slid inside him, he stiffened.
His body relaxed as I reached that magical spot. It was as if he let out a breath, and the tension in his body vanished. That was my cue to shimmy forward, burying my cock in my boyfriend’s not-so-virgin ass. When my balls pressed against his ass, his head tossed back and forth, mumbling.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He repeated. “Wait.” He begged. “You’re so big.” Why, thank you. “It feels fucking amazing.”
“Yes, it does,” I said. Pulling his legs tight to my chest, I savored the skin contact. Inside and out. “Ready?”
He nodded.
Lucky for him, it had been so long since I topped; it’d be a quick experience. If he loved it, it wouldn’t take much coaxing to go again. Who knows, maybe this was the start of my power-topping era?
With one more kiss to his calf, I shifted my hips, sliding out of him. One-second wait, and then the length of my cock inside. I spread his legs, leaning down for a kiss. The challenge of bellies, topping, and kissing. I slid out of his ass as I stole a kiss.
“Don’t stop,” he whispered between fevered kisses.
“Didn’t plan on it.”
I sat upright, grabbing him by the thighs. With a wiggle of my hips, my cock found its home and slid in. I continued a steady in and out, every few strokes, burying the length inside my beautiful bear of a boyfriend. His eyes were shut, and his moaning constant.
When I wrapped a lubed hand around his cock, his upper body almost shot up off the bed. I had given that look plenty of times in my life. “Play with my cock, and I’m going to come.”
I tightened my grip as I picked up the pace. The warm tightness around my cock was enough to make me come. But more than that, the thought of being Tyler’s first… another first, made it even more amazing. The first to fuck him. The first to breed him. We’d be seeing what other firsts we could discover together.
I tried my luck and slammed into him. He moaned, and his cock thickened. His legs wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer as my strokes turned erratic. He grunted, his hips lifting off the bed. That was my cue to stop holding back. With a few fast strokes, I sank into Tyler.
“I’m coming,” I moaned. I didn’t need to move as my muscles tensed, my balls drawing tight against my body. My cock twitched, thickening as the electricity along my skin forced cum inside my boyfriend.
“Holy shit,” he moaned. I squeezed his cock, giving it just enough encouragement… his ass tightened, and I howled. He shot into the air, the first rope of cum suspended in my chest hair. The next coated my belly. A few seconds later, we were both panting.
I collapsed forward, holding myself up with the hand not covered in lube and cum. It was almost comical as I groaned, pulling my cock free. We both let out a slight hiss. With his legs locked around my waist, he pulled me forward.
“Damn,” he muttered before kissing me. I wiggled my hips, my cock still sliding between his cheeks. “Don’t go getting ideas. It’ll be a while before we do that again.”
I rolled to my side, his legs still wrapped around me. I wasn’t done kissing Tyler. There would never be enough kisses to satiate me. After that, it only confirmed that he had been a missing puzzle piece in my life. I prepared to call Firefly my home, but in truth, it had been home for a long time. It took me a while to realize that. It became home twenty years ago when a nervous boy kissed an equally nervous boy. Here, this place, this man, this was home.
“Should we go hop in the shower?”
Tyler chuckled, and then, as he shook his head, he started to snort. I’d never tire of that goofy laugh. It warmed my heart and made the hair on my skin stand on end.
“Oh, no,” he whispered. “Now it’s your turn.”
I rolled onto my side, ready to feel my boyfriend buried inside me. At home, right where we were meant to be.