by Shawn Lane
“Yes, you do. With me.”
Neal looked at him, his dark eyes slightly wide.
Wade smiled. “In my spare room,” he clarified. “For as long as you need it.”
“Thanks.” Neal walked toward the hallway that led to the bedroom. “I just have my clothes, my shoes, and my laptop.”
“Any food in the fridge or cabinets you want to take?” Wade asked from the doorway of the bedroom.
It was a one-bedroom apartment, so his fingers curved around the molding of the door as he stared at the queen-sized bed Neal had shared with Dion. He hated the thought of Neal with Dion. Always had.
Well, he really didn’t like the thought of Neal with anyone and he’d never quite figured out why it bothered him so much. Hell, they were friends. Had always been just friends. And yet…he didn’t like it one bit.
Neal had opened several dresser drawers and had pulled out the contents and stuffed them into one of the boxes. “No, he can have all of the food. It doesn’t matter.”
“Okay. You have anything in the bathroom?”
Neal paused and bit his lip. “Some facial cleanser I like and some shampoo and conditioner. It’s the stuff in the shower.”
Wade nodded. “Okay, be right back.”
It took them less than ten minutes to get all of Neal’s belongings and lock up the apartment. After doing so, Neal took out an envelope and stuck the key inside, sealed it, and pushed it under a gap in the door. He paused on the little step.
“It’s weird, you know? I’ve lived here the last year. Slept here every night except last night and now…it’s not my home anymore.”
Wade’s throat tightened. “I know. But you’ll find another one. Another man. The right guy’s out there for you, Neal. You just have to find him and get him.”
Neal turned from the apartment without another word on the topic and headed for his car. “Where should we go for dinner?”
* * * *
A little over an hour later, they walked into Wade’s townhome again. They’d stopped at a little family diner, and Wade had tried to get Neal talking, but mostly he’d just responded to prompts from Wade.
They set Neal’s boxes just inside the front door.
“Want a beer or something?” Wade asked when Neal didn’t make any move to head up the stairs.
Neal shook his head. “I think I’d better stay away from alcohol for a few days. Maybe some tea?”
“You got it.”
Neal followed him into the kitchen and Wade took out two light blue mugs. He filled the tea kettle with water and set it on the lit burner.
When he turned to face Neal again, the man threw his arms around Wade’s neck and covered Wade’s mouth with his own.
He stood there stiffly, shocked to his core. Neal had never kissed him before. Wade didn’t know how to react to the sudden feel of the man’s full, soft lips on his. It was incredible, his lips amazing, but they were friends. Just friends.
Wade gently prodded him away, breaking the kiss. Neal stared at him, his dark eyes wide and hazy with what Wade could only describe as desire, but also hurt.
“Neal, what are you doing?”
“Kissing you.” Neal’s hands rested on Wade’s shoulders.
“I know. But why?” Wade shook his head. “I know Dion hurt you, but this isn’t the way to deal with that.”
“This has nothing to do with Dion,” Neal insisted.
“No?”
“No. You said something earlier about finding the right guy for me and getting him. This is about us. Me…wanting to kiss you.”
Wade frowned. “Since when?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to kiss you. Not now anyway. Just—”
And Neal moved closer, plastering his lips to Wade’s once more. This time, Wade gave into the kiss, molding his lips to Neal’s, kissing him hard and deep, slipping his tongue in between Neal’s lips to stroke the inside of his friend’s mouth.
Kissing Neal was better than he had imagined. Wait…had he imagined? Yeah, he guessed maybe he had.
But this had to be a mistake.
Right?
Wade broke the kiss again, this time feeling the loss of Neal’s swollen lips keenly as his cock filled and rose to full attention, painfully pressing against his pants. “We need to talk about this.”
“Talk? I don’t want to talk.”
“You keep kissing me like that, and we’re going to end up fucking,” Wade said bluntly.
Neal nodded. “Okay by me.”
Wade couldn’t help but smile when Neal tried to eagerly press his body into Wade’s. But clearer heads had to prevail. His achingly hard cock protested at his rationale, though.
“We need to think about this, Neal. Fucking will change everything.”
“It doesn’t need to.”
“Yeah, but it will. This is me and you. You aren’t some random guy I’d pick up at a bar and fuck. You’re my best friend. You’re more important to me than anyone I know.” And it was true. Very true. And it hit Wade with sudden clarity. Neal was the most important person to him.
“I feel the same way. Fuck me.”
Okay, he wasn’t that strong. He cupped Neal’s face and lowered his lips to his. The kiss, more intense than before, became devouring as he nipped and sucked at Neal’s lips. He didn’t know if he could make it all the way up the stairs to the bedroom. Not when there was a good steady dining room table right there.
His hands skated over Neal’s back and down to grab the man’s ass. Neal groaned when Wade squeezed the full, round cheeks.
Damn, did he have a condom and lube handy?
Wallet!
Neal’s hands moved to the hem of his T-shirt. He pulled the shirt up and over his head, breaking their kiss just long enough. Next, his fingers grazed under Wade’s shirt, his warm palms sliding over sensitive bare skin. And then Neal pulled Wade’s shirt up and over his head, too.
Nude chest to nude chest, their hands exploring each other, Wade moved Neal closer to the dining room table, grateful it was made from sturdy wood that would easily take the weight and force of their fucking.
He lifted Neal onto the edge, continuing to assault his mouth while his hands smoothed over every inch of Neal, loving the man’s reaction as he pinched his nipples.
Wade could feel Neal using one foot to rip the shoe off the other, and then he repeated the movement to rid himself of the other. They clunked to the floor.
Wade palmed the bulge in Neal’s jeans, feeling the hard ridge.
“Wade,” Neal gasped against his mouth. “Please.”
Ah, damn. A begging Neal was incredibly hot. Wade broke their kiss, reluctantly, and started tugging on the waistband of Neal’s jeans.
“Lift up,” he urged, and when Neal did, Wade yanked the jeans and briefs down the man’s legs and let them pool at their feet. He nearly dropped to his knees at the sight of Neal’s gorgeous naked body. Perfect abs and pecs. Not too built and not too slim. And a long, beautiful dick that practically begged to be tasted.
There would be time for that later. Now, he wanted to be inside Neal, fucking him, taking him, making him scream with pleasure.
Wade smiled at Neal, loving the intense lust in his best friend’s gaze. Loving Neal.
He reached into the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet and took out a pre-lubed condom and a small travel-sized packet of lube. Prepared for anything. And was really glad for that right at this moment.
He tore open the condom, then lowered his own jeans enough to free himself. After rolling the condom on his hard cock, he opened the lube packet.
“You’re so hot and beautiful.”
Neal smiled. “Right back at you.” He scooted to the edge of the table and spread his legs wide, hiking them onto Wade’s shoulders. “Hurry. I want you inside me.”
Wade slipped two lubed fingers in Neal’s hole, his mind slightly fracturing on the idea he was about to do this with his best friend. A man he�
��d known almost his whole life. Whom he loved so much.
Damn.
He spread his fingers inside, preparing Neal, thrusting them further when his friend closed his eyes and moaned. Wade’s cock pulsed, demanding attention. He withdrew his fingers, and wrapping them around the base of his cock, he eased his dick slowly into Neal’s tight entrance.
The ring of muscle resisted at first, but gave way as he pushed in the head of his cock, Neal’s ass clenching around him.
“Ah, fuck, Neal,” he breathed. “So good.”
Wade slid all the way inside, balls deep. Neal’s legs rested on his shoulders as he drove inside him, over and over again, harder and faster. Neal’s hand grasped his own cock, stroking it, fisting the tip.
His hips snapped as he rammed into Neal, stroking his prostate, watching each thrill that passed over his friend’s face. In the back of his mind, he couldn’t quite figure out why they’d never done this before. It seemed so natural now, so like something they should have been doing for a long time—years, even.
He slid his hand between them and added it to Neal’s cock, stroking with him, pulling the smooth hard shaft, loving the way Neal’s teeth sunk into his bottom lip.
“Wade!” Neal’s whole body tensed and cum shot out of his dick, splattering his stomach and coating their hands.
“Jesus.” Wade lost it then. The sight and feel of Neal coming spurred him on and wave after wave of nearly unbearable jolts of his own impending orgasm flowed through him, tingled up his spine and back down again, until he roared Neal’s name in his own shattering release.
After a moment of shared heavy breathing, Wade slipped out of Neal and lowered the man’s legs. He helped him to sit up, wrapped his arms around his friend’s middle, and held him close. As tight as he could. He wasn’t sure he could ever let Neal go.
Neal leaned his face against Wade’s chest, his breath stirring the hairs there.
“You don’t think this changes anything between us?” Wade whispered.
Neal sighed. “Yeah, it does.”
Wade nodded and kissed the top of Neal’s head.
Neal pulled out of his arms and stood, so Wade got rid of the condom and discarded it in the kitchen trash. Then after righting his jeans, he washed his hands and turned off the boiling tea kettle. Probably had burned all the water out of it by now.
Neal retrieved his jeans and briefs and pulled them on without saying anything. But when he was done, he looked at Wade and smiled.
“I love you.”
The breath caught in Wade’s throat. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. That hasn’t changed at all. I’ve always loved you, Wade. Since we first became friends. It’s true for a long time I loved you as a friend only, but I’ve loved you as more for a long time, too.”
Wade came back to him and wrapped his arms around him. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“I was afraid, I guess. For some of the reasons you’ve said. It changes things. If you didn’t love me the same way, we could maybe lose our friendship. Or if it doesn’t work out, the same thing could happen. I’ve been trying so hard to make it work with these other guys, and it never does, Wade. It’s you I want. It’s you I love.”
Wade tilted back Neal’s head and fused their lips together. When they came up for air, he whispered, “I love you, too. I do. I’ve realized that pretty recently.”
Neal’s smile was brilliant. “Then maybe it will change things for the good?”
“Yeah.”
“I never thought it would happen.”
“Us?”
“Yeah.” Neal nodded. “Getting you.”
Wade kissed the tip of Neal’s nose. “Well, you have me, baby.”
THE END
ABOUT SHAWN LANE
Shawn Lane is a multi-published author of gay romances and believes love and passion know no boundaries. Happily Ever After is for everyone.
She has been published by Loose Id, Ellora's Cave, Amber Quill Press, Dreamspinner Press, and Evernight Publishing.
Shawn lives in California and holds down a boring day job in a legal department of a giant corporation dreaming of the nights and weekends when she can create new stories.
For more information, visit smlgr8.blogspot.com.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!