Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Mike took a last walk through the house, checking everywhere was clean and tidy.
The meal was in the slow cooker, and the potatoes au gratin were ready to shove into the oven.
All that was left was to steam the broccoli and warm the bread through.
The round glass table in his dining room was set, silverware and wineglasses gleaming, and the chairs had clean cotton covers over them.
In the bedroom, he’d put fresh white sheets on the bed, and a white throw was on top of the ottoman. The house positively sparkled.
He glanced at his watch. Tommy should be arriving any minute.
Mike was amazed to find he was nervous. He thought back.
When was the last time he’d had someone to the house?
Not since Dirk, that was for sure. He felt the usual twist in his gut; Dirk had been pretty special.
No, more than that—Mike had really thought he’d found a life partner.
When he’d discovered how Dirk had been keeping his feelings quiet about Mike’s career, it had been a real blow.
Sunday night, Kevin had asked, quite casually, if Mike intended to let Tommy know about the porn.
His first reaction had been that Tommy didn’t need to know.
They were only gonna have sex, for Christ’s sake.
It wasn’t as if Mike was proposing. Kevin had pursed his lips, making it clear he thought Mike was making a mistake.
Mike shook his head at the recollection. Kevin could be such a queen.
The doorbell rang, and Mike almost jumped out of his skin.
Fuck. I need to calm down.
He walked into the hallway and opened the front door. Tommy stood on the step, dressed in the same jeans he’d worn on New Year’s, a white shirt, and the black leather jacket. Mike was pleased he hadn’t gotten rid of the scruff on his jawline. It made Tommy look so sexy.
“Come on in.”
He stepped to one side to let Tommy enter. Tommy glanced around him, one hand rubbing against his jeans-clad thigh, the other clasping an overnight bag. Mike held out a hand.
“Give me your jacket and I’ll hang it up for you in the hall closet.” When Tommy dropped the bag to the floor to remove his jacket, Mike gestured to it. “Shall I take this from you and put it in my room?”
Tommy blinked. “Uh… sure.” He nibbled at his lower lip, handing Mike both his jacket and the bag.
Mike pointed to the living room. “Have a seat, and when I come back, I’ll get you a drink, okay?”
Tommy nodded and entered the room. Mike put the jacket on a hanger in the small closet and then hurried into the bedroom, where he placed the bag on the chair at the foot of the bed. When he returned to the living room, Tommy was gazing at the fireplace from his seat on the couch.
“D’you use it?”
Mike nodded. “The house was built in the forties, and it stays pretty warm throughout winter. But I do love a good fire on a cold night.”
Tommy smiled. “Always did love a fire.” He sniffed the air. “Something sure smells good.”
“We’re having coq au vin for dinner, so I hope you like chicken.”
Tommy’s eyes lit up, which Mike took for a yes.
“I have some red wine opened in the kitchen. Would you like a glass before dinner? Or do you still not drink?”
Tommy chuckled. “I kinda fell off that bandwagon the Friday before I asked you to have breakfast with me.”
Mike widened his eyes, and Tommy flushed.
“Ben—my roommate—and his sister got me drinkin’ peach schnapps.”
That flush crept higher, to the tips of his ears, and Mike thought it adorable.
“Let’s just say my tongue gets loose when I drink an’ leave it at that.”
Mike laughed. “I bet you were cute when you were drunk.”
Tommy stared at him.
“What?”
Tommy smiled. “Hell, only my momma’s ever called me cute. Oh, an’ Kevin at Woofs.”
Then that shy smile faltered, and Mike didn’t need to guess why. The memory of what had taken place over the winter break must’ve still been pretty raw.
He clapped his hands together. “So is that a yes on the wine?”
“Sure.” Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know a lot about wine.”
“You’ll like this.” Mike walked out of the living room into the kitchen, where the bottle of merlot stood on the countertop. He poured out two glasses and carried them through into the living room.
Tommy took a glass and sipped from it. He gave an appreciative nod. “Tastes good.” He put the glass down on the tiny square table in from of him and drew in a deep breath.
Mike sat next to him. “You okay?” He set down his own glass and relaxed against the cushions, hoping Tommy would follow suit.
Tommy scraped his hand through his short hair and then rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. “This is harder than I thought it’d be,” he said quietly. He laced his fingers together, eyes focused on the woven rug beneath the table.
Shit. Mike leaned over and stroked Tommy’s back, keeping the movement slow. “You change your mind?” Not that Mike gave a flying fuck if he had. What was more important was that Tommy was okay.
Tommy inclined his head, his eyes large and round. “This… this is a huge deal for me, Mike.” A tremor rippled through him.
Mike kept up the slow rubbing. “Listen, we don’t have to do anything. You’re here to have dinner, right?” He let his fingers travel up and down Tommy’s spine, trying to ease the tension.
Tommy shook his head. “I… I want this, okay? Really, I do. It’s just that—” He inhaled deeply.
“—all my life my parents taught me that sex only had one place, and that was in marriage. That sex outside of marriage was plain wrong. I listened in church when they preached against immorality an’ the ‘pleasures of the flesh.’”
Mike listened in silence. He’d already worked out what it must’ve been like, growing up in Tommy’s family.
“Then I get to college, an’ everything changes.
” Tommy looked him in the eye. “I don’t know if I can make you understand, but I’ll try.
It’s like….” He closed his eyes. “Everything my life was based upon—the rules, the teachin’s, how people are s’posed to behave—it all got stripped away, little by little.
” Tommy opened his eyes and looked at Mike.
“I’ve spent more ’n a year an’ a half in the real world, an’ it’s so different, Mike. I watch television, for one thing.”
Mike stared at him. “You didn’t watch TV at home?”
Tommy smiled. “Sure, we had one, but my parents got to choose what we watched. An’ there was no cable. But the stuff I see on TV is….” He shook his head once more, his expression bewildered. Then his eyes widened. “An’ then there’s sex. Mike, people’re havin’ sex everywhere!”
Mike laughed. “Well, yeah.” He was beginning to see Tommy clearly for the first time, a young man who was slowly but surely breaking down all the barriers that had surrounded him all his life.
All the structure he’d known had been torn away from him.
Being away from his parents for the first time had to have been a real culture shock.
“Asking you to….” Tommy blushed furiously. “I’ve never been so forward in my life. I just knew I wanted you, wanted you so bad that you were all I could think about.” He glanced at Mike through long dark brown lashes. “When you said you wanted to think about it, I was sure you were gonna say no.”
Mike sighed. “Look at it from my point of view. Suddenly there’s this gorgeous young man taking an interest in me.”
When Tommy gaped at him, Mike had to smile.
“You know how you laughed when I asked why you’d picked me and you said, ‘Have you seen yourself in a mirror?’ Well, I could say the same thing to you.
” When Tommy tilted his head, Mike continued.
“You have no idea how beautiful you were, standing there in that parking lot, offering me what amounted to a very appealing gift.” He reached out and stroked Tommy’s cheek.
“One I’d be a fool to turn down.” There was a look of wide-eyed innocence about him that really got to Mike.
Before Tommy could say another word, Mike cupped his face and drew him closer, until their mouths were almost touching. Tommy shivered, but he said nothing. Mike inhaled, taking Tommy’s warm, clean scent into his nostrils.
“Too much talking,” he whispered, and then his lips met Tommy’s, soft and pliant. Mike slid his tongue between Tommy’s lips and explored his mouth as Tommy remained still. There was a fluttery feeling in his belly at that first taste of Tommy.
Then Tommy relaxed, hands tentatively coming to rest on Mike’s biceps, while those soft lips were feeding him the sweetest little noises, ones that spoke of need and desire.
Mike stroked his tongue in and out of that hot mouth, his fingertips caressing Tommy’s cheek and chin.
Tommy closed his eyes, and Mike eased him down onto his back on the couch, his own body coming to rest on top of that firm, muscled flesh.
Tommy spread, one foot on the floor, his arms slipping around Mike, hands splayed across his back.
Mike forced himself to lie still, concentrating on the mouth that pushed low moans into his.
Tommy cupped the back of Mike’s head and deepened the kiss, his tongue flicking over Mike’s, hesitant at first but growing more confident.
He opened his eyes to gaze up at Mike, and their lips parted.
Tommy’s breathing was shallow, his chest rising and falling.
Mike could feel how hard the young man was, and he had to fight the urge to grind against him. He didn’t want to rush this.
“I like how you kiss,” Tommy said at last, his breath warm against Mike’s mouth.