Rediscovery (5 page)

“I think that sounds wonderful,” Lee agreed, which was how they had ended up sitting on Michael’s couch, steaks and sodas on the coffee table, and
Raiders of the Lost Ark
playing on TV.

“I can’t believe you want to watch this,” Michael said as the opening credits rolled.

“I can’t believe you have it and don’t watch it at least once a week,” Lee retorted. “Come on. Harrison Ford all dusty and sweaty and doing the hero thing? It’s like a wet dream come to life.”

Michael flushed a little. “He was my first crush.”

“Good taste,” Lee said. “Mine was Johnny Depp.”

“
Donnie Brasco
?” Michael asked, trying to think what movies might have been out at the time Lee was fourteen or fifteen.

“
21 Jump Street
all the way,” Lee said. “I saw it in reruns, but I was so in love with him.”

“They’ve both gotten even better with age,” Michael said. “It gives me hope.”

“Hope for what?”

“That I’ll still be able to catch a man’s eye when I’m their age,” Michael replied.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” Lee assured him. “They still look good, for sure, but it’s character that holds the eye, not looks. That’s what all the good ones, the ones we follow for years, have. It’s true for actors, but it’s also true for friends and lovers. The ones we stay with are the ones with depth, not the ones with pretty faces.”

“The pretty face doesn’t hurt,” Michael joked.

Lee shook his head. “That face,” he said, pointing to the screen as it showed a close-up of Harrison Ford, “has never been pretty. Attractive, handsome, chiseled, drop dead gorgeous, but never pretty. It’s the interesting faces that catch our eye and the interesting characters that hold our attention.”

Michael had to admit the truth in that statement when what had caught his eye about Lee was the way his smile changed his face from average to stunning. Lee’s flustered expression when Michael told him that was too adorable for words, so Michael settled for kissing him instead.

“I thought we were watching the movie,” Lee said, his voice slightly breathless, when they parted.

“We are,” Michael said, putting his arm around Lee’s shoulders and relaxing against the back of the couch, “but don’t tell me you never sat on a couch with a boyfriend and made out while you watched a movie.”

“Maybe once or twice,” Lee chuckled. “So is that what we are now?”

“I thought it fit,” Michael said. “We’ve had two dates, a handful of very enjoyable kisses. You’re sitting on my couch watching a guilty pleasure movie with me. What else would you call it?”

Lee grinned. “Perfect.”

Michael grinned back and settled in to watch the movie. It didn’t take long before he was caught up in the action. It didn’t matter that he could recite half the dialogue with the characters because Lee could recite the other half, it seemed, and so before long they were cracking each other up with their imitations of the characters.

“Do you have the others?” Lee asked when the first movie finished.

“Do I have the others?” Michael scoffed, pulling out
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
. “Of course I have the others.”

“Good. Put it in while I stretch my legs for a minute,” Lee said. “We’ll make a marathon of it.”

Michael grinned as Lee went down the hall to the bathroom. He couldn’t remember when he’d had such an enjoyable day. Everything seemed fresh again, even a movie he’d seen a hundred times. It made him wonder what else would be fresh with Lee involved.

When Lee came back, Michael took his turn in the bathroom, lingering a moment to swipe a damp wash cloth over his neck and under his arms to get rid of the worst of the sweat from their day spent outside. He had no idea what the rest of the evening would bring, but he didn’t want to be too disgustingly sweaty if Lee showed any interest in more intimate activities.

Lee had already jumped through the credits when Michael returned so they could start watching immediately. They fell back into the same routine of quoting the film, but the heat of the day had sapped their energy, and as the film continued, they spoke less and less. Michael’s last thought before he fell asleep was that he ought to offer Lee the guest bed down the hall.

Sunlight
through the blinds he hadn’t closed last night woke Michael the next morning. He blinked a couple of times to clear his thoughts and remember why he was sleeping on his couch instead of in his bed. As his vision cleared, he saw Lee on the other end of the couch, his mouth slightly open as he snuffled in his sleep. The sight was too endearing to resist. He shifted on the firm cushions so he could lean over and kiss the slack lips.

Lee stirred beneath him, his eyes fluttering open. Michael lifted his head enough to give Lee space to pull away if he wanted, but Lee’s arms encircled his neck, pulling Michael down on top of him instead. It was all the permission Michael needed.

Their lips met, a familiar sensation now, but Michael lingered, all of their conversations about taking the time to really look at things playing back through his mind. The day before, there had been no stubble on Lee’s upper lip, but Michael felt the telltale roughness now. He didn’t mind—he liked the reminder that he was kissing a man—but it served to remind him of the day and night they’d spent together, even if the night was unintentional. That, in turn, drew his attention to the slightly stale taste of his own mouth. Wanting to spare Lee his morning breath, he nuzzled his way across the stubbled cheek instead, enjoying the rasp of day-old beard against his lips. Lee turned his face into the caress, assuring Michael that he enjoyed the gesture as well. His hands stroked encouragingly up and down the length of Michael’s spine.

Letting his lips wander over Lee’s face, Michael relaxed into the moment, wanting to be here and nowhere else with Lee quiescent beneath him. Even as he brushed his lips across Lee’s forehead, he took in the sensation of the muscular body beneath his, its wiry strength as much of a turn-on as the scent of his skin or the way his body moved beneath Michael’s. He worked his way down to Lee’s ear, brushing the hair away from the elegant curve of flesh. Lee shivered beneath him, the movement rubbing them together from head to toe. Surprised and aroused in turn, Michael licked the smooth whorl, wanting to see if the reaction would repeat.

It did.

“Tell me if it gets to be too much,” Michael whispered, his breath sending another shiver through Lee’s body.

“It won’t,” Lee gasped, turning his head to give Michael better access.

Michael took his time, licking and sucking on Lee’s ear, blowing into it, even slipping his tongue into the canal and back out again. Lee moaned and writhed beneath him, clearly as delighted with Michael’s actions as Michael was with Lee’s reactions.

When he had finally exhausted his creativity with that swath of skin, he moved lower, thinking of the spot on his own shoulder that he loved to have sucked or bitten. He pushed aside the collar of Lee’s shirt, tantalizing the juncture of neck and shoulder. Lee subsided beneath him, not pulling away, but definitely without the same enthusiastic response attention to his ear had garnered. “What else do you like?” he murmured.

Beneath him, Lee chuckled. “Take your time and find out.”

Michael rolled his eyes teasingly, but his body thrilled at the idea. Like everything else he’d done at Lee’s side, sex suddenly seemed new again, exciting in a way it hadn’t been since he was sixteen and making out on the couch with his first boyfriend.

Michael rocked back onto his heels for a moment, stripping out of the T-shirt he still wore from the day before and then pulling Lee’s shirt off as well. He’d gotten glimpses of the other man’s arms and shoulders and the top of his chest when he wore his leather vest at the con, but this was Michael’s first chance to see him fully shirtless. Lee’s chest was completely smooth, making Michael hope Lee wouldn’t mind his own pelt of chest hair. Lee didn’t seem to mind at all if the way he dug his fingers into the thick mat was any indication.

Michael let him play, taking his time exploring the vine tattoo that ran around Lee’s bicep and up across his chest. Lee rocked beneath him, urging Michael to linger. Michael’s fingers traced the edges of the ink, teasing around the circle of one aureole, wringing a hoarse cry from Lee’s mouth. Smiling, Michael bent his head and kissed Lee swiftly, his lips wandering from Lee’s mouth down his neck to the hollow at the base of his neck. He had intended merely a meandering journey on his way to his lover’s nipples, but the sudden intake of breath when Michael’s tongue teased the slight indentation changed his mind. He stretched back out full-length along Lee’s body, his fingers continuing their teasing as he licked and sucked at Lee’s skin.

Lee’s hands tightened in Michael’s chest hair and on his back, the pressure nearly painful. “Are you telling me it’s too much?” Michael asked, lifting his head.

“I’m telling you I’ll hurt you if you stop,” Lee gasped.

Michael grinned. “Then don’t tug quite so hard, or you’ll be hurting me while I try to continue.”

Lee’s hand flattened immediately, his fingers loosening their grip on Michael’s chest hair. Michael returned to the very enjoyable process of driving Lee wild, his own body thrumming with desire as he wondered what other surprises he could discover. Lee’s ear, the hollow of his throat… two things he had learned already from focusing completely on his lover rather than assuming he knew what Lee would like.

Lee rutted against him like a teenager as he continued, giving Michael ideas. He’d had his first boyfriend at sixteen. They had shared hand jobs and rutted against each other like wild men, but it had been a couple of years and a boyfriend later before Michael had been ready for more. Shifting so he was lying on top of Lee again, he ground his erection against the other man’s.

“You’re going to make me come in my pants,” Lee gasped.

“I know,” Michael said. “How long has it been since you wanted it so badly you couldn’t even wait?”

“Years,” Lee said. “I learned finesse somewhere around the time I learned the joys of anticipation.”

Michael rocked harder against Lee. “Forget everything you learned and remember what it felt like the first time.”

“I don’t have a clean pair of shorts.”

“I’ll lend you some,” Michael said, feeling his own climax bubbling in his blood as Lee started thrusting back up against him. “I know I’m not alone feeling this way.”

“No,” Lee said, his head falling back. Michael dove onto the offered neck, nibbling and sucking at the tendons of Lee’s throat as he continued to drive them toward release. It tore out of him at the hoarse shout that escaped Lee’s mouth along with the rush of wet heat between their bodies.

Lee collapsed beneath him, all tension gone from his body as the aftershocks continued to rack Michael.

Michael lifted his head finally. “I think a shower is in order, and then maybe some breakfast. Will you stay?”

“I can’t go anywhere without a shower,” Lee said with a laugh.

“That didn’t answer my question,” Michael pressed. “Will you stay?”

Lee smiled, his expression shyer than any Michael had ever seen on his face. “Yes.”