His Best Man

by Elle Keaton

  Travis let Rod slip out of his hands, stepping back for a second to get a clear look at his handsome face.

  “Come here,” Rod demanded.

  He went.

  17

  Finally.

  Rod’s body was practically vibrating. He suppressed a chuckle as Travis manhandled him into the bedroom. Whatever problem his brain was having, had, his body was on board. He was done with this cat-and-mouse game of bed vs. couch.

  Travis released his hold. Rod slipped down the front of Travis’s body, trying to keep contact for as long as possible, to sit on the edge of the bed. Leaning back on his hands, he allowed himself to enjoy this view of Travis, long and lean—so sexy—worn Levi’s low on his hips and a ratty long-sleeve T-shirt. He looked uncharacteristically shy. Rod felt a wicked grin spread across his own face.

  Travis stuck his hands in his back pockets. “How’re we going to do this?” he asked. “Um, can we, it—I—I want to do this right.” He blushed bright red.

  Rod let out a little laugh. Travis really was nervous about this. “I’m sure you have an idea of how this works. Come on, can’t this be just a little romantic? Do we have to have a military precision operation?”

  Travis laughed. It broke some of the tension between them, which Rod was grateful for. He patted the comforter cover next to him. Instead of sitting, Travis scuffed his toe against the carpet.

  “Yeah, but this is a big deal, and I don’t want to hurt you, and I spent the last two weeks sleeping on the couch dreaming of this moment, and now I am scared as shit. What if I’m terrible, what if it doesn’t work between us, what if that Theo guy is the better man for you? You’re my best friend; I don’t want anything to change—but once we do this, everything will change. Up until now we could turn back, forget what we’ve done so far.” Travis snapped his mouth shut, looking startled that he’d blurted that much out.

  Travis, the king of “Hold my beer, watch this.” It shocked Rod to hear Travis say he was scared. Rod was scared—nervous as hell—but Travis was never scared. Travis never looked; he always leapt. He was the first to use the rope swing, the first to see if the salsa was as hot as advertised. It was unfathomable to Rod that this moment was something he would balk at. But maybe, a little voice whispered, it was because it really did mean that much. He patted the bed next to him again. “Sit next to me.”

  This time Travis obeyed.

  “You still have your shoes on,” Rod pointed out.

  Grinning sheepishly, Travis leaned down and tugged on his laces before toeing the boots off. They fell to the floor with a clunk. He sat back up, still looking shy and apprehensive.

  “Let’s turn on a movie. Come on, scoot over here.”

  “Okay.”

  Watching TV was familiar ground, something they’d always done together, and Rod had the beginnings of a plan.

  They maneuvered around so they were both propped up against the phalanx of pillows Travis had purchased to help make Rod comfortable while he recovered. Rod grabbed the remote from his bedside table and clicked on the TV. He flicked through the movie menu and picked one they’d both seen before.

  The current between them was still there, humming beneath the surface as they watched the actors run around trying to save the world from impending doom.

  Rod scooted closer to Travis so their hips and shoulders were touching. Travis turned his attention from the screen, putting his arm over Rod’s shoulders and tucking him close before turning back to the movie. Rod could tell he wasn’t really paying attention. They’d seen this one at least ten times, anyway. Travis’s gaze kept flicking sideways. The soundtrack rumbled, and the TV was loud enough to rattle the walls, but Rod felt like he was in the middle of a romcom, not a disaster film where actors were dying right and left.

  Travis still just sat there with his arm over Rod’s shoulder.

  “We’ve kissed already.”

  “I know.” Travis didn’t move, eyes intent on the screen.

  “Kiss me again. Those little pecks you’ve been handing out since then don’t count.” Travis continued to focus on the TV. Rod was going to rip the damn cord out of the wall. When he was healed, Travis was going to pay.

  The TV screen flashed with explosions, and the entire city of Las Angeles went up in flames. Rod leaned closer and nibbled on the shell of Travis’s ear. He got the reaction he wanted, because Travis turned his head and Rod was able to kiss him, and this time Travis didn’t go back to watching LA burn.

  They moaned in unison, and whatever had been holding them back snapped, a thunderstorm after a day of unrelenting humidity and cloud cover. If he could, Rod would have thrown himself over Travis. Kissing Travis like this was everything he had ever imagined and more.

  Rod wanted to taste all of Travis, he wanted to crawl in his pocket, he wanted him naked. As they kissed, the arousal he’d been keeping at a simmer for weeks—years—returned in full force. He was painfully hard. Travis’s tongue dipped into his mouth, licking and tasting, and Rod caught it and sucked hard.

  Travis bucked against him and pulled back. “Jesus, Rod,” he whispered, wonder and lust warring in his bright blue eyes.

  “Take your clothes off.”

  Travis started to say something.

  Rod cut him off. “Now.” Damn, he couldn’t wait until he was fully healed. He stripped his own shirt off, dropping it on the floor, then twisted around to pull off his cotton sweat-shorts, as well as his soft cast. The ripping Velcro sound stopped Travis in his tracks.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Dude, there is a piece of metal in there keeping the whole shebang in place. The stitches are healed; I am practically the Six Million Dollar Man. As long as we are careful, like no handstands, I’ll be fine.”

  “What if I did a handstand?” Travis asked as he slid his jeans down, revealing what Rod had suspected: he was commando.

  Rod stopped arguing, the sight of Travis naked and aroused almost too much. Instead he contemplated the image of himself on his back while Travis lowered himself down from a handstand to kiss him. “Yes, please, but can we just… get on with it?” He flopped back onto the bed.

  “Who’s all bossy now? You think this is how this is going to work?” Travis teased. He tumbled onto the bed, naked and glorious. It seemed like he’d shed whatever reservations he’d harbored along with his clothes.

  “I’m not bossy, I’m horny. I want you to make me come, and then I want to do it again, because I’m not going to last long enough the first time.”

  “Oh yeah?” Instead of grabbing him, Travis stilled, his expression changing to one Rod had never seen on him before. He looked… predatory.

  Shit.

  “You just lie there sexy as fuck, and I’ll make you forget everything—including coming before I tell you to.”

  Shit. Shit. Shit. Rod trembled.

  “Put your hands over your head.”

  “I want to touch you.”

  “Yeah.” Travis’s slow smile was as wicked as anything Rod had ever seen. “I want that too, but if you do I’m gonna forget what else I want to do, so put your hands over your head.”

  He put his hands over his head.

  Travis reached out to run a hand down Rod’s face, chest, and abs, stopping before he reached Rod’s dick. Rod let out a soft sigh. He knew it was going to happen, but the anticipation was driving him to the edge of too much. Travis followed the path of his hand with his mouth, kissing Rod quickly on the lips, the chin, his collarbone. He licked a nipple and drew a wet path with his tongue. Rod felt himself pulse, and even though he couldn’t see it, he knew he was leaking precome onto his belly.

  “You are so sexy.”

  “Yeah, so sexy with a gimp leg covered with scars.”

  “Yes,” was all Travis said before he continued exploring, and Rod had to close his eyes. He lost himself in the sensation of Travis’s hands and tongue learning his body. The juxtaposition of his rough, callused palms and his mouth—soft lips, sharp
teeth—it was all too good. Rod didn’t need much. It had been so long since anything other than his own hand had pleasured him.

  “I can’t…” Whatever he was going to say died away as Travis moved back up and licked Rod from his heavy sac to the tip of his shaft. He pulsed again, and Travis licked again.

  “You’re gonna to make me come.” Rod opened his eyes to watch him; he couldn’t help it.

  Travis gripped him tightly around the base of his cock. “Don’t.”

  “Fuck, me,” he ground out.

  “Yeah, that’s what I want. I want to fuck you. I want to feel you around me and I want to come so deep inside you…”

  “Please.” Rod had never begged for anything in his life, but he was willing to beg for this. “I’m not going to break. It’s my leg, not my ass, and all we need are a ton of pillows—amazingly, we have like seventy here on the bed—and me on my side.”

  “Let me suck you a little while first. I want to taste you too.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ.”

  Travis moved downward, taking him as far into his throat as he could in one move. Rod had to force himself to listen to the terrible dialogue coming from the TV in order to not shoot into his mouth. Travis’s blond head bobbed up and down as he licked, sucked, and nibbled up and down Rod’s shaft. It was only sheer force of will that kept Rod from releasing. He was letting out involuntary grunts and groans as he tried to control himself. Trav let go of the base of Rod’s cock, instead holding his sac in an almost painful grip. The need to come receded just enough, and Rod still held his arms above his pillow.

  Trav raised his head. “You are very, very good. I can’t believe we waited this long.”

  “It wasn’t because I wanted to, believe me,” Rod muttered.

  “Yeah, I know. I’m gonna make up for it.”

  “Not if you kill me through lack of orgasm.” He broke form, grabbing the back of Travis’s head and a handful of blond hair and dragging him up for a kiss. “I can’t believe I get to do this,” Rod said when they came up for air.

  “Yeah.” Trav stroked his face again. Rod felt Trav’s erection bump against his thigh. Without any further hesitation, Trav tucked pillows under Rod’s leg and plastered himself against his back.

  “Tell me we have lube.”

  Rod felt Travis’s smile and knew the answer.

  Soon those callused fingers slipped between his thighs and made their way to his hole, stopping to caress his balls again before massaging his entrance. Rod liked ass play as much as the next guy, but he was done with foreplay. Until Trav pushed his finger all the way inside, making him take a breath. He loved the feel of the stretch around another man’s—Travis’s—fingers. He added another one, and Rod bore down to take them in.

  “Fuck, Rod, you are incredible,” Travis breathed into his ear. “I don’t want to stop.”

  “Please don’t.”

  Travis found his prostate about then and rendered Rod speechless, pinned against Travis and unable to do anything but reel in the sensations, in the ever-growing reality that he was going to come and Travis wouldn’t be able to stop it this time.

  Travis pulled his fingers out.

  There was a snick, and then Travis was back, his fingers slick and chilly, pushing lube inside and coating his own cock. Finally Rod felt it, the head of Travis’s cock against him, and he almost came from that except for the initial discomfort as his body remembered what it was like to have over half a foot of cock up inside him.

  Trav pulled Rod’s thigh so he was half lying on Travis, half on his side, forcing Trav’s cock even further in, way up and against his prostate. Rod let Travis take the lead, helping their bodies move together. Travis wrapped a hand around Rod’s dripping erection. Rod watched as Travis gripped him tightly, feeling the way the soft outer skin of his cock slid over his hardness.

  This time he wouldn’t be able to stop. Precome was oozing out; his balls were so full and tight… Travis muttered something in his ear, then bit the sensitive lobe. Rod moaned and grabbed the hand Travis had on his cock, helping him push down harder and tighter as he clenched around Travis and came, the fluid dripping over their joined hands. He felt it as Travis orgasmed too, the heat of it flooding him and making his body try to come a little more. Travis collapsed half under him, his arm still wrapped around Rod’s waist, hand on his slowly shrinking erection.

  Rod wanted to stay in that cocoon forever. It was perfect. He and Travis together was perfect; it was more than perfect.

  Travis muttered, “That was fucking incredible.”

  “Yeah, that.”

  Travis eased away, and Rod pouted because he missed him already.

  “I’m grabbing a washcloth.”

  Rod rolled onto his back. When Travis returned from the bathroom, he gently wiped Rod down and crawled onto the bed next to him, pulling the cover around them.

  “Those pillowcases are going to need a wash.”

  “Not this minute. Besides, we might need them again.”

  Rod’s dick twitched at the thought, but then his stomach growled in protest. He debated for a minute: food or sex? Travis tucked up against Rod, his skin cool from being out of bed, and Rod forgot about his stomach. Who needed food anyway?

  18

  Travis woke in stages. Slowly he became aware that he wasn’t sleeping on the couch and that the weight of Rod’s body was pressing him into the mattress they were sharing. He smiled as the memory of what they had done the night before came flooding back. Having sex with Rod was much, much better than he had imagined. And he’d thought he was very creative.

  “What’re you smiling about?”

  He opened his eyes and met Rod’s sleepy gaze. He still hadn’t gotten a haircut. Curls were starting to form, and a few strands were sticking straight up, sexy as fuck. “I’m pretty sure you know exactly what I’m smiling about.”

  “Yeah? Hmm, maybe I need a reminder?” Rod rolled on top of Travis, grinding his morning erection into Travis’s answering one.

  “Don’t you have a date with Gloria?”

  “I’ll catch up. I’m faster than her now.” Rod stuck his tongue out and licked along Travis’s lips, then gently nipped at his bottom lip before moving to his ear. “Besides, I think we have a lot of make-up sex to take care of.”

  “We were never fighting.” Travis was perplexed.

  “No, but it took us way too long to get here, in this bed. We have a lot of sexy-time to make up for.”

  “Hmm. I don’t really have an argument against that.” Travis carefully rolled Rod off him and onto his side, their erections bumping against each other. “But I’m not doing anything that will push back your recovery.” Without waiting for an answer, Travis pulled Rod’s thigh up so it was supported by Travis’s body, “I’ll drive. You hold on.”

  He grasped their cocks in one fist, glad for his big hands. Rod held Travis’s face between his palms, devouring his mouth. Between the sensation of their cocks rubbing against each other, slick and hard, and Rod’s tongue either halfway down his throat in an attempt to swallow Travis whole or licking and sucking along the top of his mouth and lips, Travis knew he wasn’t going to last. Funny how even though he controlled the stick it felt like Rod was at the wheel.

  He changed his grip a little, letting the tip of his thumb rub up against the soft underside of their cocks. Rod moaned. Travis did it again, and once more, both of them thrusting now. Rod broke off the kiss, dropping his head against Travis’s shoulder. Seconds later, Travis felt Rod shudder, and warm come pulsed across his hand, pushing him all the way to orgasm.

  “Fuck me.” Rod rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

  “I will, baby, I will.”

  A few days later, Travis dropped Rod off at the mall ten minutes late because they’d lost track of time. Travis was still on a high from the blow job Rod had given him—and of course he’d had to reciprocate. The soft cast on Rod’s leg was coming off soon, but the walks with Gloria were a welcome ha
bit and gave Travis time to keep exploring his options in Skagit. They’d talked a little about the future, but Travis still sensed a kernel of doubt from his lover. He had a couple hours and an idea he wanted to investigate before picking Rod up, and then they were going to visit Jasper that evening. Not enough time to figure everything out, but enough for an outline.

  Rod turned and waved. As he made his way inside, Travis could see several other figures inside already and figured Rod was about to get a talking-to from his friend.

  He hadn’t told Rod, but after more than a month of silence he’d gotten a series of disturbing texts from his mother hinting that the long-threatened trip to Skagit to “talk some sense into” him was now imminent. He hadn’t talked to her since he left, as his dad had insisted he had everything under control. Travis didn’t have a clear idea of what was happening between his parents, but his dad had asked him please not to worry about that, to take care of Rod and keep researching options in Skagit. He was doing that. Taking care of Rod was second nature.

  Travis worried anyway: about his dad, about the farm, about everyone’s future… about people he felt he’d let down. He couldn’t figure out how to fix things. He’d said as much to his dad only the night before.

  “Son, you are not the problem. You are working on finding a solution that works for you and Rod. We will figure out the farm; who knows, maybe Abigail will want to be a part of it. Or maybe when the time comes for me to retire, we’ll sell. Don’t worry. We’ll get through this, one way or another. As far as the business right now goes, I’ve got all the help I need. All those people we pay actually do work, you know.” His dad chuckled, and he was right; they had a lot of help, seasonal and otherwise, who loved working for Walker Enterprises.

  “Fine, fine.”

  Travis had to be satisfied with that for now. He could only move forward, not back, and besides, he wanted to be where he was now, not miserable and stupid like he’d been before.