Chapter 11 #2
Maybe Rocco should’ve let him get the rest of the sentence out. Maybe Taylor would’ve said what he himself was struggling not to confess, but instead, he leaned in and kissed him, hard. Taylor’s lips lush on his, his heart racing as their kiss deepened.
“I want you,” Taylor murmured into his mouth as one kiss slid into the next, one after another in a never-ending chain. “Want you so bad.”
Rocco, sliding into Taylor’s lap, could feel just how much he did, his cock hard and throbbing in his slacks.
“I want you too,” Rocco said, even though that was hardly a surprise.
“I just don’t want you to think I’m only here for—” Taylor’s voice broke into a gasp as Rocco’s hands slid down, palm pressing against his erection. “For that. Don’t get me wrong. I love that. But we can . . .”
Rocco applied more pressure, in a way that he knew Taylor liked, and Taylor’s words devolved into groans.
“How about this,” Rocco said, undoing Taylor’s belt and then unzipping his pants, “we do this first, and then we can pretend to watch some TV while I’m thinking of how to lure you to my bed?”
“No luring necessary,” Taylor said with a gasp as Rocco’s hand closed around his bare cock.
He gave an experimental twist of his fist and then let go, guiding his fingers into Taylor’s mouth.
He sucked them deep, eyes fluttering closed, cheeks hollowing out, and Rocco’s heart gave another feeble gasp of complete surrender.
“God, that’s so fucking hot,” Taylor groaned as Rocco wrapped his now-wet fingers around Taylor’s erection.
He stroked him tight and firm, the way he’d learned Taylor liked. He wanted to be overwhelmed. Then to be edged, until he couldn’t take it anymore and begged to come.
“Honestly, everything you do is so fucking hot,” Taylor continued, babbling now, in that loose, uncontrolled way that meant he was already reaching that place, the one where Rocco liked to lead him to and then pull back, just enough.
Rocco slid down off Taylor’s lap and took Taylor’s spit-slick cock into his mouth, tonguing at the head, gratified at how it twitched in his mouth. Then he slid it deep, sucking hard.
“God, yes, please,” Taylor said with a long drawn out groan.
But that was always the cue to Rocco to pull back. He did, and Taylor groaned even louder. “I hate it when you do that,” he complained, fingers deep in Rocco’s hair now.
“No, you don’t.” Rocco teased the head with a few light licks. Keeping Taylor right there on the edge.
“No, I don’t,” Taylor agreed breathlessly. “Every time you do it, I want to bend you over the nearest flat surface and make you scream.”
“Exactly why I do it,” Rocco said and then sucked him deep again.
He repeated his actions a few more times, until only nonsense pleas were falling from Taylor’s lips, his chest was flushed all the way up to his chin, and his fingers dug hard into his skull.
“You wanna come?” Rocco teased. He took one of his hands and pressed it against his own erection, feeling Taylor’s desperation.
Taylor’s only response was a broken moan.
Nevermind how hot Taylor thought Rocco was, he couldn’t be even close to as hot as Taylor was like this.
Rocco gave him one last long suck, letting his dick slide even farther into his throat, and Taylor pulsed down it, his hands clamped hard around his head.
“Fuck,” Taylor said as he finally stopped shuddering and his cock slipped out of Rocco’s mouth. “That was so good, I think I almost died a little there at the end.”
“Yeah?” Rocco had thought so too.
And as good as it was for Taylor, it was nearly as good for Rocco.
Just seeing him like this . . .well, he was more and more convinced he was in deep enough in this that he couldn’t have gotten out even if he’d felt the inclination.
And he didn’t. Not even close. Especially not after Taylor roused himself, never one to leave Rocco unsatisfied, and led him into the bedroom. Did exactly as he’d promised too.
Taylor sucked cock differently than Rocco did, but that didn’t mean his technique left anything to be desired.
Especially not when his long, perfect fingers were buried two-deep inside him, hitting him in a spot where Rocco could only hang on for the ride.
When he came, it felt like it went on forever, pulse after pulse of come falling onto Taylor’s tongue.
And Taylor thought he was hot, but could it be any hotter when Taylor tugged him into a hot kiss, sharing his own load with him?
After, they curled up on the couch, just as Rocco had suggested, the TV playing at a low volume, some holiday movie that Rocco didn’t recognize, but probably the rest of the town had memorized.
“So, you wanna talk about what went wrong this afternoon?” Rocco asked. “Or are you allowed? Are you bound by town secrecy?
Taylor chuckled, his arm warm and firm around Rocco’s shoulders.
He dropped a kiss against Rocco’s bare collarbone.
“Just a homeowner who’s unhappy at the specified order for the holiday light tour.
They think their street should be first on the flyer, because it’s, according to him, ‘better decorated’ than the one that is first.”
“That sounds annoying.”
“Hey, you gotta deal with the anti-goat cheese contingent, I gotta deal with the jerks who believe because they’d spent all year planning and collecting lights and putting them up, that they deserve more recognition than the other guy.”
“I guess they take it pretty seriously.” Rocco should know that by now, but every time he thought he understood the intensity Christmas Falls residents brought to the festival, he was surprised.
“You’re beginning to get it,” Taylor said with a chuckle. “Seriously is an understatement.”
“But you got it all worked out?”
“Yep. I listened to them and then told them, very nicely, to take a seat.” Even though his eyes were on the TV, Rocco thought he could feel Taylor smile in satisfaction of a job well done. Was that taking care of the residents? Or was that taking care of Rocco? Maybe it was both.
“You’re good at that. Steve Mills wouldn’t have done nearly as good of a job.”
“Oh, did you hear? He’s moving back to Indianapolis. Withdrew his application for city manager today.” Now Rocco could feel Taylor’s smile.
“Good,” Rocco said.
“But I guess Mrs. Steve Mills will not be accompanying him,” Taylor said.
“Uh, that’s awkward.”
“Guess she likes it here.”
“Or she likes it away from him.”
Taylor shrugged. “Maybe both? Anyway, I’m not worried about the job anymore. I think I’ll be a shoo-in.”
“As you deserve,” Rocco said and yawned deeply.
“Come on, we’d better get you to bed,” Taylor said.
Caught between sleep and consciousness, Rocco murmured, “Stay.”
And the last thing he remembered was his head hitting the pillow, Taylor’s body warm, cuddled against his own.
Thursday morning, Taylor dodged the walk of shame by heading out the back door of Jolly Java, detouring to the kitchen for a moment to give Rocco a quick kiss goodbye.
They’d spent every night together this week, without him even meaning to.
Liar. You totally meant to.
When he let himself into his house, Meredith gave him the stink eye from her perch on the sofa, and despite her prickly look, he went over and gave her a quick rub, apologizing without words for his absence last night.
Somehow, without attempting to, they’d spent about half their nights tucked up in Rocco’s little apartment above the coffee shop, and half of them here.
They’d fallen into this routine without even discussing it, even though as Taylor fed Meredith and then headed to the shower, he knew they needed to.
But it was so good, he didn’t want to.
What if he was imagining the look in Rocco’s eyes just before he fell asleep?
The one that proclaimed trust and affection and something deeper, too.
Something that resonated inside Taylor too, a truth he kept shying away from.
Not because he was afraid of it, but because it was too big, too bright, too hot for him to touch.
If it was just him, too? Ugh, Taylor didn’t know what he’d do if that was true.
Make him fall in love with you, the way you’ve fallen for him.
Taylor braced a hand against the shower wall and wanted to ignore it, wanted to deny it, but there was that truth again.
It followed him all the way into work, through the morning staff meeting, and there was no question of it not following him to lunch, because he was meeting Griff, the festival organizer, and if there was anyone who’d been transformed by that bright light, it was him.
Before last year, Griff had been gruff and short-tempered, the festival always seemingly winding him tighter and tighter, but then he’d met his boyfriend, Logan, and he’d changed.
He was still Griff, but he was softer. Sweeter. Less prone to frustrated outbursts. Even given to smiling sometimes.
And though he’d always been gossip-averse, he’d even begun to indulge in Christmas Falls’ second favorite thing.
“So, I hear you’re spending a lot of time at the coffee shop these days,” he said as the waiter at The Snowflake Shack finished taking their order.
“I thought we were here to talk about the cookie exchange,” Taylor pointed out.
Griff laughed. “We can do that. But I know why you wanted to. And I don’t know if I can swing it.”
“Listen, he’s not going to put goat cheese in the cookies,” Taylor said, chuckling. “He promises.”
Griff shot Taylor a knowing look. “I gave up lunch with my boyfriend for this, and we’re going to talk about goat cheese?”
“Oh come on, you and Logan are inseparable,” Taylor said. “Besides, you owe me a favor for defusing that ridiculous light tour issue.”
“True.” Griff leaned back in the booth. “So you wanna talk about it?”
“No.”
Yes.
But Griff seemed to understand that he’d actually meant the opposite because he just sat there, waiting him out.
Taylor gave in, saying in a rush, “Okay, fine. I guess I didn’t expect this to happen. I didn’t intend for this happen. Rocco and me, it was just supposed to be a means to an end.”