Smoky Mountain Dreams (30 page)

The pressure grew in Christopher’s balls, the heavy, pushing
tension that meant he was going to come. He wanted to, but it was happening so
fast, and who knew when he and Jesse could find time to touch again?
Christopher tried to pull out, but it was too late. He slammed his head and
hands back against the trunk of the tree, feeling the smack and scrape but
barely registering it as pleasure rocked him, and his trembling heart and
wildly wanting soul tried to exit his dick and make a home in Jesse’s body
instead.

“Oh, babe, fuck yes,” Jesse moaned after swallowing Christopher’s
cum, then standing and kissing him hard. Christopher’s knees had given out, and
he was pinned against the tree as Jesse rocked his hips urgently against him.
Dazed and still shuddering, Christopher managed to shove out of Jesse’s arms
enough to slide down and open his mouth. In the light of the moon, Jesse must
have seen what he was offering, because he whimpered, ripped open his jeans,
and pulled his hard dick free, a string of pre-cum dragging away from his
underwear as he did.

Christopher fell on Jesse’s cock, sucking him urgently.
Jesse pressed his hands against the tree trunk above Christopher’s head,
rolling his hips as Christopher sucked. Finally he grabbed hold of Christopher’s
hair with one hand, fucked into his throat, and then pulled out, jerking
himself fast and rapid. Christopher fastened his mouth over the head, letting
Jesse tug at his shaft, and worked his tongue underneath, sucking and
swallowing the copious amounts of pre-cum Jesse was putting out.

Then Jesse grabbed his head again, yelled into the night,
and plunged into his mouth. Christopher opened his throat, stretching his head
farther back to take him deeper. When Jesse’s jean-clad legs trembled, clenched
beneath Christopher’s hands, and his hips jerked, Christopher struggled not to
choke as Jesse unloaded down his throat.

“Fuck! Oh, babe,
fuck
!” Jesse
cried, his hands clenching spasmodically in Christopher’s hair, and his cock
jerking uncontrollably in Christopher’s mouth. “Babe, oh yes,” he murmured,
shuddering and then slowly trying to withdraw from Christopher’s mouth, only to
hiss and thrust back in, shooting another thick dollop of jizz.

“Oh, oh, I think…oh, fuck,” he whimpered.

Christopher pulled off Jesse’s cock and helped him down to
the ground, both of them shaking and holding each other, their softening dicks
exposed to the brisk November breeze.

Jesse started to chuckle, and pressed kisses to Christopher’s
hair. Then he whooped loud and clear into the night sky, and Christopher
started to laugh a little too. “What’s so funny?” he finally managed over his
own fit of giggles.

“Nothing,” Jesse said. “I’m just happy. Gotta admit, it
feels really good.”

After they managed to pull up their pants and pack up the
Mercedes trunk with the picnic supplies, Christopher climbed into the passenger
seat and rested his head back. He caught a glimpse of himself in the window’s
reflection, and his goofy smile made him grin even harder. If this was falling
in love, he liked it.

Jesse climbed behind the wheel and put his hand on Christopher’s
knee on the drive home. Christopher felt warm and safe with it resting there.

“I wish I could come in,” Jesse said, pulling into
Christopher’s driveway. “Take you in, get your clothes off, and play with those
sensitive nipples I missed because they were under your jacket.”

Christopher laughed and unbuckled his seat belt. “Just make
it harder, why don’t you?”

Jesse shot him a look. “Did I make it harder?”

“In every possible sense of the phrase, jackass.”

“Good. Will you jerk off thinking about me tonight?”

Christopher grinned. “If you do for me.”

“Ever sexted?”

“No. Have you?”

“No. Well, not unless you count some dirty chats on Grindr.”

“Oh, I’ve done those too. When I’ve been really horny and
didn’t want to actually hook-up with anyone.”

Jesse put the car in park, and turned to Christopher,
suddenly very interested. “What kinds of guys did you chat up on Grindr? Why
didn’t I see you on there?”

“My pic was sort of lame. I didn’t want to put up a torso
because, well, you’ve seen it. And my face was out for work reasons. So, uh, I
put a picture of my feet. Got a lot of foot fetish guys that way, which kind of
sucked because it isn’t my thing. Like at all.”

Jesse started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop. He rubbed
his thumb under his eye to catch a tear forming there, and Christopher laughed
a little too, but it didn’t seem all that funny.

“Chris, man, dude—”

“Dude?”

“
Dude
. Your torso is just fine.
No—it’s hot. Might not be ripped, but some guys, like me? We’d be looking for
guys like you. Because we like that kind of guy. And damn, I’ve really never
heard a worse Grindr fail story. Which probably just says I haven’t talked to
enough people about Grindr, but…well, if you want me to take some hot pictures
of you, sans face, so you can have a good one for your profile—”

“Do you want me to have a good one for my profile?” His
heart skipped a beat.

Jesse sputtered, his mouth opening and closing. “Uh, now
that I think about it? No, not really. At all. So forget it. Keep the feet pic
up. I think that’s what you need to do. Absolutely.”

“Wait—did you put
your
face on
Grindr?”

“No. Just my dick.”

Christopher’s jaw dropped. “No joke? Holy shit. Well, it’s a
really fucking amazing dick, so I can see why you’d be willing to share.”

“I was never looking for companionship on that thing. Just
an orgasm. And with you it’s more. Orgasms plus. And I’d really like if neither
of us went on Grindr anymore.” Jesse swallowed. “What I’m saying is I’d like to
be exclusive.”

Christopher knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn’t
care. “That’s what I want too.”

“Okay. Cool.”

Jesse leaned over the gear shift and kissed him, passionate
and long, until he hit the horn with his elbow and they both jumped.

“Fuck. It’s past seven. I’ve got to go spend some time with
the kids before bed. Especially Brigid. I need to…I need to focus on her a
little more.”

“I know. I get that.”

Jesse frowned and took Christopher’s chin in his hand. “But
you—
this
—it’s so good and feels so right. I won’t
neglect it or you. You won’t feel like second, okay? I don’t want you to feel
like that.”

Christopher ducked his head to kiss Jesse’s fingertips and
didn’t respond. Second was his place in this and that was okay. Jesse would
see. Christopher could handle it, and this thing, whatever it was, would have a
real chance to grow into something amazing. He could feel it.

“When can I see you?” Jesse asked.

“Sext me tonight,” Christopher said, smirking. “And we’ll
figure it out after we come.”

He heard Jesse’s groan as he shut the car door, and his
heart did a strange clenching thing when he realized that Jesse didn’t pull
away until Christopher had unlocked his house and gone safely inside.

B
EFORE
HIS LUNCH SHOW, CHRISTOPHER WENT
to Up the Crick for a free breakfast.
Darla wasn’t working and he had to wait while a new guy took his time figuring
out what keys to press in order to put in his employee code. He settled down at
the same table he’d shared with Jesse, his mind replaying the conversation he’d
had with Holly when he’d stopped by her hat stand that morning to tell her the
good news about dating Jesse. She hadn’t been as happy about it as he’d
expected.

“Obviously his kids will always come first,” Christopher had
said. “That’s good, isn’t it? Means he has his priorities straight.”

“
And
it means his priority won’t
be you. I’m just saying—kids complicate things.”

Christopher had shrugged. “Since when have I been anyone’s
priority?”

“You could be Gareth’s priority,” she’d sing-songed
teasingly, but also somehow in earnest.

“Bullshit. I’d be his second choice because his first choice
didn’t work out.”

Christopher sighed as he ate his breakfast, thinking of
Jesse and his first choice who’d died in a car accident. It was ridiculous to
feel sorry for himself when the poor woman was dead, yet sometimes he couldn’t
help it.

But Holly didn’t understand the need to discover the kind of
peace a person could find in being the second choice, in knowing that he’d
never be first in anything. In the surrender to that. Sure, it was a peace born
of disappointment and perhaps low self-esteem, but it was something he could
always embrace, and now it seemed it might just pay off for him in unexpected
and surprising ways.

Don’t you ever settle for being second
choice, Christopher.

“It’s okay, Gran,” he murmured. “I’m used to it. It’ll be
easier this way. You’ll see.”

“Am I interrupting?” Gareth asked.

Christopher’s stomach dropped like lead and he tried to keep
from rolling his eyes as he shook his head, mouth full of bacon and eggs, and
gestured at the empty chair across from him. The chair Jesse had sat in when he’d
shown him the drawings for Gran’s locket.

Gareth’s plate was full of biscuits and gravy, and
Christopher was willing to bet that they were Birch’s Biscuits given how much
the Birch family gave to the park.

“Hi,” Gareth said. His voice was the same deep rumble that
had felt amazing on Christopher’s dick, vibrating into his balls as Gareth had
groaned and moaned, his beard tickling and rubbing against Christopher’s
sensitive anus until Christopher had come hard, crying out and begging for
more. It’d been a hot night. There was no getting around that and, yeah, maybe
Gareth had been onto something earlier in the fall when he’d accused
Christopher of being unable to forget about it. There was truth in that.

“Hey,” Christopher answered once he’d swallowed.

Gareth relaxed a little, his eyes reflecting the deep browns
of his plaid flannel shirt. It made his irises appear the same color as the
winter mountains—a soft gray-brown filled with wilderness.

“I’ve been meaning to apologize to you,” Gareth said as soon
as Christopher had put another forkful of eggs and a bite of toast in his
mouth. “About the way I treated you after we made love last summer.”

Made love? You screwed each other blind
but you did not make love. I’m an old lady and I’ve done it all. I know what
lovemaking looks like and that was not it.

Oh my God, Gran, get out of my head!

“Uh,” Christopher’s mouth was still full and he couldn’t say
anything else for a moment while he chewed and tried to figure out how to shut
this down as fast as he possibly could. Gareth didn’t give him the chance.

“It was a damn mistake lettin’ you go. Rick and I were
broken up for a damn good reason, one that came clear to me all over again once
he got back from Afghanistan. I thought I needed to take care of ‘im, because I
felt guilty. You understand? But we weren’t meant for each other.” He sighed. “Listen,
Christopher, truth is, I moved out a month ago, and I’ve been regrettin’ how I
treated you a helluva lot longer than that.”

“Wait—”

“I treated you somethin’ awful for too long afterward. I
know it. It was cowardly of me. It’s not a good excuse, but I did it because I
was so fucking pissed off that I’d made such a huge mistake, and I was
embarrassed that I let you get away. And not sure at all how to go about
getting you back.”

Christopher desperately swallowed his food. “Listen, I’m not
angry—”

“You’re not?”

“Okay, I
was
angry. Maybe I’m
still a little angry. Mainly about how you treated me. Not how it all went
down.”

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Christopher. So sorry.
Sorrier than words can say. You were always so nice to me, ever since you came
here. I miss how we used to get along. Don’t you?”

“Sure, Gareth, but the thing is—”

“That’s only part of what I’ve got to say. Can you hear me out?”

Christopher wiped a napkin over his lips nervously and tried
to decide if he wanted to listen. Finally, he nodded, and took another bite of
food. Though as soon as he’d started to chew, he doubted his own
motivations—wouldn’t it be kinder to tell Gareth he was seeing someone else,
and it was getting serious? Leave him with some sort of dignity?

Like he’s treated you with such dignity
since that night?

Isn’t love kind, Gran? Didn’t you say
the fruits of the spirit of Christ are—

Stop using my religion against me, young
man. He hurt my baby and I don’t have to forgive him for that.

Christopher was pretty sure her words in his head meant he
wasn’t ready to truly forgive Gareth either. So maybe it would be okay to feed
his ego a little—hear about how great he’d been in bed and how very deeply
Gareth regretted walking away and now wanted him back.