16. Lance
Chapter 16
Wet heat engulfed my dick as early morning light painted the walls of Hudson’s bedroom. “Fuck,” I grunted, loving the swirl of Hudson’s tongue around my shaft. Yanking him up, I caught his lips in a slow, bone-melting kiss. “Good morning,” I murmured into his mouth.
“Morning.” Hudson’s grin and the scent of his sleep-rumpled skin were my own personal treasures. “We’ve got a shitload of things to do,” he said, biting his lip and rocking his hard cock against my thigh, “but I thought we could start the day off right.”
“Mmm, that’s what you thought, huh?” I savored the slow, leisurely kiss.
We were having a barbeque at the Juicy Peach sponsored by the orchard, the roadhouse, and the Dairy Palace. A celebration of a bumper crop of peaches and bringing the townsfolk together.
Hudson and I had a lot to celebrate as well.
Once Casey Joe was released from the hospital, we’d gotten him settled in at his place. Of course, he’d refused the suggestion of any help and stubbornly claimed he’d do it himself because he wasn’t an invalid. So, the three of us had taken to daily check-ins as he recovered.
For the first couple months, he’d done an okay job of taking better care of his health. But Hudson, Henry, and I had already noticed a slip in his determination. It was something we’d have to address with Casey soon, but we were waiting until his next checkup with the doctor.
Henry had his own little situation going on, but he’d been pretty tight-lipped about it. All I knew was he was preoccupied and maybe even a bit…was smitten the right word? Definitely distracted and knee-deep into whatever was going on. Hudson and I agreed we’d let Henry tell us about whatever was going on in his own time, but that didn’t mean we weren’t curious as hell.
Hudson and I had only been back from a short trip to the city for a few days, but we’d returned to Haven Grove ready to wrap up the summer and get a good start on everything fall-related for the orchard, store, and ice cream shop.
The trip to the city had been productive.
I’d signed the papers to finalize the sale of my ice cream shop there so I could turn right around and buy out my mom for the Dairy Palace.
Hudson, my sweet Golden Retriever of a man, had taken in the city with wide-eyed enthusiasm—loving the restaurants, theater shows, and five-star hotel—but declared he was a country boy at heart.
We’d both been happy to get back to our simpler life in Haven Grove.
Hudson whimpered into my mouth as I deepened the kiss.
I ran my hand down his back, savoring each hard line and soft curve. “Exactly what did you have in mind?”
Hudson grinned and gripped my dick. “Grab the lube and I’ll show you.”
Sex with Hudson was amazing, and I had no doubt we’d never get bored. Things were too electric and soul-deep between us. And it wasn’t just the sex. What we had was so much more than could be described by words. Every day we got to spend together, getting to know each other in our new roles, and finding new reasons to fall head over heels in love reminded me exactly why my heart had never settled for being away from Haven Grove.
Hudson slicked his hole and tossed me the lube before positioning himself on his hands and knees, his legs spread for me as he stroked his cock. As I pressed my lubed dick to his pucker, Hudson’s eyes shot toward the door.
Smoothing a hand down his back, I chuckled. “It’s locked, all good.”
And then we lost ourselves to the moment. The tight heat of his body opening for me. His gasp of pleasure as I stretched that taut ring of muscle. The perfect rhythm, the slide of my shaft in and out of his ass, the slap of sweaty skin, the hot press of our bodies.
Gripping Hudson’s hips, loving the dig of my fingers into his soft flesh, I breathed in deeply savoring the scent of our lovemaking.
Falling.
Deeper.
Pouring myself into him as the soundtrack of our coupling danced on the air, our hearts and bodies becoming one; desperately straining for release.
Shifting forward, I pressed my chest to Hudson’s back. Wrapping an arm around him, my hand gripping his chest, I whispered, “Love you. Love being inside you. Love being by your side. Love knowing you love me back.”
Hudson’s breaths came in great gulps, his hips rocking back to meet my thrusts. “Fuck, Lance. Holy fuck. God, it’s so good. So fucking good.”
With my arm still clutching him close, I straightened upright, bringing Hudson with me. The new position forced a cry from his lips, his arms reaching overhead to tangle his fists in my hair.
“God, Hudson. You are so fucking good. So tight and so perfect for me.” I sucked on the sensitive skin where his neck met his shoulder as I pumped my hot, slick cock into the heat of his body. Reaching for his dick, I took him in my fist and stroked. “Wanna feel this tight ass on my cock when you come for me.”
Hudson moaned and thrust his hips back and forth, sliding his cock into my fist and riding my dick. “Please, Lance. Fuck. Please. Give it to me.”
With a gentle bite to his neck and a thumb teasing over his nipple, Hudson froze and cried out as his release spilled over my fingers. The hot clench of his ass had me grunting through my orgasm as I pumped my hot load into him.
Breathing like we’d run ten miles, we dropped to the mattress laughing through kisses and totally spent.
“Well, damn,” Hudson drawled. “Now we’re gonna have to cancel the barbeque since I won’t be able to walk normal for a fuckin’ week.”
I chuckled and pressed a kiss to the swell of his bicep. “No can do, we’ve got that new roadhouse peach-infused barbeque sauce set to show off. Plus, the cinnamon peach whiskey and caramel peach ice cream. You’ll just have to suck it up, buttercup.”
We kissed and touched and laughed through a shower and getting ready for the day. While I hadn’t officially moved into the old farmhouse, I spent much of my time there, and we’d fallen into a nice routine. The bathroom was small, but we moved together through showering, brushing our teeth, and combing our hair almost effortlessly.
Dressed in worn jeans, a dark gray t-shirt, and work boots, I started coffee while Hudson finished in the bathroom.
“Shit, are we out of eggs?” I asked as I bent to inspect the fridge.
“Should be some in the other one,” Hudson said as he pulled bread from the package for toast.
Heading out to the mudroom to check for another dozen eggs, I caught sight of Casey Joe lounging in a chair under the big oak tree out back.
“Hudson?” I called out.
He appeared at the door to the mudroom looking fucking edible in light wash jeans, a teal t-shirt, and socked feet, his gaze following mine. “Well, shit.”
“Invite him in for breakfast.”
Hudson swung open the screen door. “Dad? What are you doing out here?”
Casey Joe startled at his son’s voice and pulled himself from wherever his mind had taken him. “Thought I’d help if you needed it. Got any coffee?” His fingers gripped a sucker, and he popped it in his mouth as he walked toward the door.
I grabbed the eggs and slapped Casey Joe on the back as he walked into the house.
In the kitchen, he placed a wrapped box with a bow on the counter and popped the sucker from his mouth. “These damn things are gonna rot my teeth and give me diabetes,” he groused. “Might as well just go back to cigarettes.”
“The suckers smell better, and I doubt you’ll die from a cavity or two,” Hudson said as he got three mugs from the cabinet.
“Brush your teeth sometimes,” I said, elbowing Casey as I headed toward the stove. “You’ll be fine.”
Hudson manned the toast while I scrambled eggs.
“You two heathens not even gonna cook up some bacon?” Casey Joe asked.
“You know where the skillet is,” Hudson said over his shoulder, but I didn’t miss the grin playing on his lips.
Casey Joe settled in next to me to fry bacon and the three of us worked in comfortable silence to put together a pretty damn tasty breakfast.
Once settled at the table with our food and coffee, Casey nodded toward the gift. “Open that later. Not even sure what it’s for—guess to say good job for saving the orchard or something like that.”
Hudson eyed me over his coffee cup, but neither of us said a word.
Casey Joe huffed. “And maybe kinda a way to say I’m sorry for walking in on you—fuck, won’t ever make that mistake again—and I’m sorry for the way I reacted when I found out you were together. Took me by surprise—woulda seen a tsunami wiping out Haven Grove before I guessed about you two. But that damn heart attack made me see I’m glad to be here. Glad to have you all in my life.” The words rushed from him before he took a long swig of coffee and returned to eating.
Hudson’s hand found mine under the table and I gave a little squeeze.
I hadn’t known my best friend would come around, but I’d wanted very badly to believe he would. He loved his son too much to let him go, even if that meant dealing with the fact I was now taking on a very different role in Hudson’s life.
Breakfast was nice, though Casey Joe seemed distracted.
We cleaned up and Casey popped another sucker in his mouth. “Guess I’ll see you at the Peach.” He waved the sucker our way and headed out the back door.
“That was a bit weird,” Hudson mumbled.
“He’s trying. The health scare, the fact that he’s not keeping up with things on his own, undiagnosed depression—” I paused when Hudson’s brows shot up. “What? You don’t think he’s definitely got depression?”
Hudson shrugged. “Yeah, probably. Guess I’d just never really thought about it.”
“Stopping by, cooking bacon, dropping off a gift, offering to help with today,” I said, “it’s all his way of reaching out the best he can right now. I’d say most days he’s fighting just to keep his head above water.”
“How do we fix that?” Hudson curled into me, letting me pull him close.
“I’m not sure we can. He has to be the one to realize he needs help and be ready to accept it. Maybe he’s doing better than we think and he’ll get a good report from the doctor.”
“At least he stopped the cigarettes and beer.”
“Most of the beer.”
I pulled him in for a hug and kiss before we pulled the door closed behind us and headed out for an afternoon of fun with our favorite small town.
The barbeque turned out to be a great time. Most of the folks in Haven Grove either hadn’t realized Hudson and I were a couple now, or they just didn’t care. We spent the day talking, laughing, and sharing our goods with the town.
Henry’s Roadhouse crew manned the food tables, dishing up BBQ pork, brisket, and sides. The peach-infused barbeque sauces were a huge hit and the limited number of cases we’d ordered were completely sold out by the end of the day.
Henry mixed cocktails like they were going out of style and couldn’t wipe the grin from his face when person after person raved about the cinnamon peach whiskey along with his specialty mixed drinks.
The dessert table was a desolate wasteland by the time we wrapped things up, not even a crumb of caramel peach cobbler was to be found. Every other dessert had been gobbled up as well.
The Juicy Peach, Dairy Palace, and Riggs Family Roadhouse swag was absolutely wiped out, and my head was already calculating the reorders we’d need to tackle.
“Oh my god,” Hudson groaned as we dropped onto the front porch swing after the barbeque. “We have so much inventory to go through and orders to make.”
I laughed. “Exactly what I was thinking.”
“Tomorrow,” he said, resting his head on my shoulder. “Let’s go watch the stars in the orchard.”
We washed up and gathered a blanket, some fruit, and wine.
“Grab the gift,” I suggested. Having absolutely no idea what Casey Joe might have opted to give us, I figured we might as well open it now rather than putting it off.
The moon shone brightly on the orchard. Rows of trees cast shadows along the ground. In an intersection of two pathways, Hudson spread out the blanket.
The night was warm, and we stripped out of our shirts before laying out on the blanket, our heads meeting in the middle while our bodies stretched in opposite directions. Our shoulders pressed together, and Hudson feathered a kiss to my arm before cupping my face and bringing our lips together.
“Today was good,” he murmured against my lips.
“Any day we get to spend together, working and sharing our life is good.” I deepened the kiss.
Hudson broke away, pressing his forehead to mine. “Let’s open the gift.”
I handed the box to him and smiled as he tore into it. Even now, Hudson had the enthusiasm of a puppy with a chew toy when it came to opening gifts.
Tossing the wrapping paper, box, and tissue paper to the side, Hudson pursed his lips and frowned at the folded rectangle of metal and wood. Covering his hand with mine, I gripped the knob and turned it, winding up what appeared to be a music box.
As the first strains of “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran tinkled from the music box, Hudson opened the two halves of the rectangle and whispered, “Oh my god.”
“What?”
He turned a double photo frame my way. The moon wasn’t the best light, but in the left-side frame, I could easily make out a picture of me and Hudson from about a week before I left Haven Grove. I sat on the tailgate of my old truck, laughing about something; probably some dumb-ass shit Casey Joe had said. Hudson stood behind me and to the side with his gangly arms pressed against the side of my truck; all smile, elbows, and a look of adoration painted on his face.
Swallowing a lump in my throat, I took Hudson’s hand as he ran a finger over the two men behind the glass. “So much has changed,” he murmured.
“But in some ways, nothing has,” I whispered into the soft hair at his temple.
The photograph on the right had been taken about a week ago.
Me on the tailgate of my truck again. My legs dangling and spread to make room for Hudson. His back pressed into my chest while he sat on the very edge of the tailgate. My arms wrapped around him, his hands on my wrists. We were both laughing, faces awash in sunlight, and that same look of adoration on Hudson’s face as he tipped his head up to look at me.
But this time, my face mirrored his.
Adoration, respect, friendship, and love.
The picture frame held our history and our future.
Pain and healing.
Family and friendship.
A love from way back then and the same but different love of now.
And the love of forever.
“Well, Dad wins the best gift ever award,” Hudson said with a sniffle.
I rolled to face him and pulled him into a hug. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Hudson said. “I wouldn’t go back to that picture, but I don’t regret those years. We all had our own pain and heartache back then. Still do. And we all have our own healing to do, in our own ways.”
I pressed a kiss to his jaw.
“Thank you,” Hudson murmured.
“For what?”
“For showing me what real love is,” he said, his words thick. “I was so busy convincing myself I couldn’t love, couldn’t be in a healthy, real relationship, I almost missed out on the love of a lifetime. Something changed the moment you walked into that coffee shop—something that was meant to grow and flourish on the foundation we started all those years ago.”
I held him tight. The soft summer breeze stirring the peach trees, the heat of the day slowly giving up, and the scent of grass teasing our senses. “Never really believed the saying ‘Home is where your heart is’, but now I do.”
“Haven Grove is the only place I’d ever want to call home.”
“No,” I said, my chest tight with the overflowing love I had for this man. “I mean, yes, Haven Grove is great. But I meant my true home. My heart is with you. Wherever you are, that’s where my heart will be. Always.”
Hudson’s eyes shone in the moonlight. When he spoke, his words were heavy with emotion. “Then it’s a good thing I plan on spending the rest of my life right here loving you.”
~The End~