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“Shit. That means we’ll have to rush.”

Wes smiled against his mouth. “In over an hour?”

“Oh yeah.” Reluctantly, Braden pulled back and nodded toward the door. “Shower with me, Wesley.”

Suddenly it was like neither of them could get there quick enough. Wes tossed the albums to the bed and shoved to his feet. They were both moving out the door, through the house and down the hall with quick feet and laughter.

Braden stumbled into Wes when they got into the bathroom, almost making him fall. Their mouths meshed together in a mixture of kisses and laughing.

“You want me.” Braden ripped his shirt over his head.

“And you’re always trying to make me admit to shit.” Wes’s shirt was gone, then he pulled out of his pants.

Braden’s almost hard cock ached at the site of his firm ass, two globes he wanted to sink his teeth into and his dick between. “Hurry up!”

“What are you talking about? I’m naked. Stop talking and take your clothes off.”

Wes reached into the shower and turned it on. Braden made quick work of his pants, pulling a rubber out of his wallet before getting rid of them.

Wrapping his arm around Wes, Braden leaned down a little and let his mouth slam down on his. They almost tripped again climbing into the shower, but Wes kept them up. As soon as they were in the small stall, Braden dropped down.

“Fuck.” Wes ran a hand through Braden’s hair, already looking blissed-out and Braden had yet to touch him.

He planned to remedy that. Now.

“Mmm. I don’t know what I want more, your cock or your ass. Oh, I know.” He licked his tongue down Wes’s thick shaft. “Eenie.” Then he pushed Wes so he stood sideways and Braden could reach his ass. He bit into the closest cheek. “Meenie.” Wrapped a hand around his shaft. “Miney.” Then turned him all the way around, pushed him so Wes’s chest leaned against the shower wall. “Moe.” He traced Wes’s crack with his tongue.

“
Fuck...
” Wes shivered, and Braden smiled.

“You like that? I do, too.” Water rained down on them as Braden lapped at Wes’s hole. Wes moaned, moving his ass closer to Braden’s hungry mouth. Braden let his tongue swirl around Wes’s pucker, his nails squeezing into Wes’s right cheek. Jesus, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get tired of this. He loved the feel of Wes against him. The sounds he made. Being the one to bring him pleasure.

Braden pushed a finger into his tight hole, using his other hand to thread between Wes’s legs to wrap around his dick.

Wes’s hips rocked forward and backward, fucking himself on Braden’s finger and also thrusting into his hand. “Holy shit.” Wes dropped his forehead against the wall of the shower. “Keep that up and I’m going to come.”

Braden pushed in deeper, twisting his finger. “That’s the point, baby.”

“But I want you to fuck me. Wanna come while you’re fucking me.” He looked down, over his shoulder at Braden, and damned if his breath didn’t fucking catch. Seeing his taut, lithe body as water poured down it, that goatee that drove him fucking crazy, the need in his eyes and the smile that Braden was starting to consider
his.
The one he only saw when Wes looked at him. He wanted to keep it there.

“Well, since you asked nicely.” Braden winked and pushed to his feet. He grabbed the condom from the edge of the tub, opened it and rolled it down his shaft. The water was their lube and the ass play already prepared Wes. Braden wrapped his arms around Wes’s stomach, lined his chest up to the man’s back, and pushed inside. His cock jerked, his balls burned with the need to come, surrounded by all that tight heat.

“You’re not moving,” Wes groaned.

“You want this over before it starts?”

“Come on, Roth. You’re better than that.”

Yeah, he was. Or he’d make himself be. He pulled out and thrust forward again. He let go of Wes’s waist, pulling the man’s hands over his head and threading their fingers together from behind as he made love to him. It wasn’t just fucking right now.

Their bodies slapped together. The water started to turn cold, but it wasn’t enough to put out their fires. He kissed Wes’s neck, let go of one hand when the man obviously wanted to jerk himself off. But Braden wanted that, too, so he twined their fingers together so they could both jack Wes.

It went quickly after that. As soon as Wes’s muscles clamped around him, a curse pulled from Wes’s throat and he came in their hands. Braden shot, too, his orgasm drowning him in a series of waves.

Wes leaned against the shower wall, his forehead against it and Braden’s against the back of his head, as they came down from their high.

“Was that good enough?” Braden finally asked with a laugh.

“Yeah...yeah, it was.”

***

W
es sat at the kitchen table with Jessie that evening. They’d gotten pizza because it was her favorite, and were drinking hot chocolate while playing
Memory
.

His stomach was in knots, which he had to admit was a little ridiculous. He was nervous about talking to Jessie about this. The last thing he wanted was to screw up with her, to do the wrong thing or to make her feel like he was taking more away from her than she already lost. But then...she liked Braden, too. She would love to spend a holiday with him. The idea of getting away made his chest feel light.

But then those damn nerves hit again because this was big. He’d never met a man’s family except for Alexander, and he hadn’t planned to do it again.

“Hey, Jess? What would you think of going with Braden for a few days over Christmas?”

She looked up at him. “With you?”

“Of course, sweetheart. I’ll be there, too. And Braden’s family. He has lots of nieces and nephews you could play with.”

Her little eyes lit up at that. “But what about Santa? Will he know where I am?”

Ah, of course. It always came back to Santa, didn’t it? “Of course. He knows everything.”

“Will aunt Lydia come, too?” she asked. Wes shook his head.

“No. She’ll stay here. And if you want, we’ll stay here, too. It’s all up to you.”

“I wanna go with Braden!”

Was it possible to feel excitement and dread at the same time? Her statement worried him but also made him thankful...because he wanted to go with Braden, too.
Please let me be doing the right thing.
Was it smart to get so entwined with a man right now? To let Jessie spend more time with him when she obviously loved him? What if they stopped whatever this was they were doing? What if it hurt her?

“Uncle Wes, do you love Braden? I love Eric.”

Wes almost swallowed his tongue. How did he answer this? “Braden is a good friend to us. He helps us out a lot and I like him. You like him, too, right?”

She nodded and took a bite of her food. “Is he your boyfriend? Are you gonna get married?”

The weight in his gut doubled. He thought about everything Braden had done for them. About helping him go through Chelle’s room and his promise to help again. The shower and the press of Braden’s lips to his forehead when he’d left. Holy shit, Braden was pretty much his boyfriend...and he was strangely okay with that.

He ignored the marriage part, because how could you explain to a four-year-old that the world was a fucked up place and marriage wasn’t something that was equal? “I don’t know what Braden is to me, kiddo.”

“Do you like him?”

The words weren’t as sticky in his mouth as he’d thought they would be. “I do.”

“He makes you laugh. I like it when you laugh.” Jessie got up and climbed on his lap. Wes held onto her, feeling like he had a mini-version of his sister in his arms.

“I like laughing, too.”

“I wanna go. Can we go with Braden?”

He squeezed her tighter. “Let’s do it.” He wanted nothing more.

––––––––

B
raden just finished zipping his suitcase when his phone rang. His first instinct was to ignore it, that way if it was Wes calling to cancel, he couldn’t. It wasn’t as if he’d let the man change his mind, anyway, so he went ahead and pulled the cell out of his pocket to see that it was Cooper.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” Braden asked when he answered.

“Sitting here with two dogs running around me. My boyfriend decided we both needed pets for Christmas.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it,” Braden said, and heard Noah saying something similar in the background.

He didn’t know why, but that made him smile. Braden sat down on his bed and asked, “You’re really happy?” He knew the answer to the question before he’d asked.

“Of course,” Cooper replied.

“Yeah, I know. Dumb question. It’s just, I can’t help but think about you
before
. It’s not that I’ve never been in a relationship like you hadn’t. You not only committed to someone for the first time, but it was another man. It’s just...” What was he trying to say?

“You’re serious about Wes. What are you asking? If I miss the single life?”

No, he didn’t think so...was he? Again, he’d been in monogamous relationships before.
Relationships I knew wouldn’t last forever...
Yet, with Wes, he wasn’t sure he could say the same thing.

“I don’t, if that’s what you’re asking,” Coop said. “I don’t want anyone but him. What’s there to miss when I have what I want?”

Braden nodded as though Cooper could see him. “I don’t know what I’m thinking or why I asked that.”

“Well, you didn’t technically ask, and it’s because you’re thinking about getting serious with someone for the first time. If you haven’t already.”

“Shut up,” Braden teased. “We’ve had too many of these heart to hearts lately. What’s up? What are you guys doing for Christmas?”

“Not much. Hanging out with the dogs, I guess. Noah wants to try and cook a turkey. Neither of us have ever done it before. Should be a good time.”

Braden chuckled.

“How’s shit at work? Fred still being a bastard?”

Was Fred ever not a bastard? “He’s being himself, which is a yes. It doesn’t bother me, though. He can fuck off for all I care. He avoids me and I avoid him.”

“He’ll be doing that with both of us when I go back next month. Good thing I don’t give a shit, either.”

Braden pushed to his feet, grabbed his bag, and headed for the living room. “You guys want to come to my parents? They’ll love it.”

“Nah, that’s okay. You need the time with your man,” Cooper teased him. The bastard.

“Your loss. I need to get my ass off the phone, though. I gotta grab Wes and Jessie so we can get on the road.” As soon as he opened the front door, Jock ran out with him.

“Have fun. Drive safe. Merry Christmas.”

“You, too.”

Braden was about to hang up when Cooper said, “Hey. You won’t regret it if you go there.”

Braden opened his truck and put his bag in. Jock jumped into the backseat and laid down with a thump that matched the one hitting Braden’s gut. He wasn’t so worried about himself. Not really. It was Wes he worried about. Wes he wasn’t sure would ever take that next step.

***

J
essie talked enough for both herself and Wes as they drove to Braden’s family’s house. He guessed that was a good thing, because he wasn’t sure what he would say, anyway. It hadn’t been like this for the past two weeks since he’d decided to go, but then, they’d both been busy. He’d covered some extra shifts at the hospital because of time off, which they usually didn’t give around the holidays.

They were together on Wednesdays, when Braden stayed for dinner now, but most of the past two weeks Wes had spent with Jessie because of Christmas break. When Braden hung out with them, they had too much fun to really let Wes’s mind wander.

This was different. This was the enclosed space of Braden’s truck as they drove to spend five days with Braden’s family.

He was being a fucking pussy.

“How many kids is there?” Jessie asked for the third time.

“Six,” Braden said as Wes replied, “Are. How many kids
are
there.”

They both ignored him and Braden continued talking. “But my sister is pregnant. She’s due next month. Maybe the baby will come early and there will be seven before we leave. Plus you, Squirt. That would be eight of you guys.”

Jessie giggled in the backseat and stroked Jock’s head as it lay in her lap.

They spoke off and on for the rest of the ride, and before he knew it, Braden pulled off the road and onto a long driveway lined with trees on either side. Snow covered the ground and colored trees as they slowly made their way toward the house. It wasn’t long until the trees opened up to a huge chunk of snow-covered land with a large, ranch-style home with red shutters.

“My parents built her from the ground up. Drew their own plans and everything.” Braden pulled up in front of the house and killed the engine.

“It’s incredible,” Wes told him, and it really was. It was large without being overdone. Homey and somehow modern, but also like it had been around for years.

“Thanks.” Wes turned to Braden when he spoke, and the man winked at him before looking into the cab. “There’s tons of space for you and Jock to play here. There’s an old fort I built when I was a kid. I’ll show it to you.”

“Yay!” Jessie bounced in the seat.

Despite the awkwardness Wes felt, he reached over and squeezed Braden’s leg, hoping Braden knew it meant he appreciated all he did. He appreciated how good he was with Jessie, the fact that he invited them out here in the first place and also dealt with Wes’s moodiness.

When Braden nodded, the blood pushed through Wes’s body more swiftly, and somehow he relaxed slightly. Braden got what he couldn’t say.

“Let’s go, Squirt,” Braden said to Jessie, and they all climbed out of the truck. She immediately started to play with Jock. Wes wasn’t surprised when Braden walked over to his side of the truck. “We’re good, Wesley. No biggie. Just try and have fun, yeah?”

Before Wes had a chance to reply, a woman’s voice yelled, “Braden Roth, you get your butt up here right now and give your mama a hug!”

With a wink and a smile, Braden looked at Wes and said, “It’s show time.”

Braden nodded toward the house. The gleam in his eyes told Wes he was up to something. Jessie was with Jock about halfway between the house and where they stood. “Race us to the house, Jess!” he called, and she immediately started running. Braden did, too, though he wasn’t sure he could call what either of them were doing actual running because of the snow and their clothes. Still, one foot in front of the other, Wes found himself chasing after them. They both slowed down, letting Jessie win, but the second she hit the steps, they both went faster, obviously neither wanting the other to win.