by Jay Hogan
We had our share of arguments, and with Crohn’s factored into the mix, I was never gonna be the easy option, right? But we kept talking and got through it, and my times with Cass were teaching me to open up more and accept help.
Evan and Caleb had become close friends, and I was pleased Caleb had a sounding board when I was being particularly dickish, as was wont to happen on occasion. Shocker, right? Though the surfing was still on hold till Caleb’s head had fully recovered, Evan hiked and cycled, and the two of them disappeared every other weekend for a few hours if they could make it.
I tried not to encroach too much on their relationship, seeing it as something Caleb needed for himself, separate from our shared group of friends. Why I ever thought my man was a lightweight, I’ll never know.
“Jesus, Caleb, you can’t say shit like that just before we have to get up,” I groaned. “I’m not gonna be able to think about anything else all day.”
“I have an easy solution for that.” A hand drifted south.
I batted it away. “Nope. Not. Happening. Carmen and Aaron will be here in thirty minutes with breakfast, and Lord knows we both need showers.”
He rolled to his back. “Ugh. Did you have to mention her name?”
I punched his arm playfully. “Hey, we would never have finished yesterday without both their help.”
The two friends had turned up unannounced to help shift all my stuff from my old townhouse to Caleb’s. Choosing his place as our new home was a no-brainer. He had the extra bedroom for guests, but more importantly two bathrooms and a spare guest toilet. And hey, a bathroom all to myself? Heaven.
Carmen, or Daniel as he’d turned up yesterday, had arrived with a trailer in tow, which, when added to my father’s, meant we got everything shifted in just a few trips. But that was as far as we’d got. Today was the designated “sort and dump” day, deciding what we actually had room for and what needed to go. Our friends had volunteered to do the furniture-for-charity runs and provide breakfast.
After nuzzling into Caleb’s neck, I put my lips to his ear. “Race you to the bathroom, hotshot.” I shoved him into the mattress, threw the covers off, and sprang to my feet.
Competitive as he was, Caleb flew off the bed and sprinted for the en suite exactly as I knew he would. And damn. I held my ground and let my eyes roam all over that taut muscle, naked flesh, and bobbing cock. At the bathroom door, he came to a sliding stop and turned.
“Shit. You did that deliberately, didn’t you?” he said, his gaze raking down my body and lingering a little before returning north.
I nibbled my lower lip and eyed him coyly. “Of course I did. Now get in that shower, mister.”
He turned ever so slowly and sauntered that sweet butt into the bathroom, stopping beside the vanity to bend and retrieve a dropped towel from the floor, exposing his bare-naked arse in all its breathtaking glory.
My breath caught in my chest and a deep growl rumbled in my throat.
He reached into the vanity and reappeared seconds later to fire something my way.
I cocked a sceptical brow. “Twenty-five minutes to be done and dressed? I doubt you could manage it.”
In answer, he wiggled that sexy arse and I damn near had a coronary.
Ugh. I never could resist a dare, and he damn well knew it. Bastard. I whipped the open tube of lubricant off the floor and slicked myself as I went.
BY THE time the doorbell went, at least one of us was dressed. Leaving Caleb to finish, I got the door, and Carmen and Aaron staggered in with enough breakfast to feed an army. Aaron looked tired, dressed in sweats and a loose tee. He was still hurting over his ex and had sworn off dating men for the foreseeable future. Not that he was having any better luck with women.
Carmen, on the other hand, looked positively radiant, sporting a pair of tight red capris and a white sleeveless blouse tied in a knot under her bra. It was topped off by a red-and-white polka-dot scarf wrapped under her hair. Our two best friends got on like a house on fire, which I usually found not a little… disconcerting.
Aaron threw me an apologetic smile. “Carmen wanted to cover all the bases so there was sure to be something everyone could eat,” he explained, waving his arm at the mountain of bags. “Muffins, Asian, pastries, bagels, and a whole pile of crap from that organic gut-friendly ‘Mana from Heaven’ place you love so much. We burned through enough petrol to deplete a year’s worth of ozone just driving to them all.”
I took in the mound of food and groaned. “Sorry. It must have cost you a fortune. I’ll get the money to you later.”
“Don’t you dare,” Aaron said gruffly. “You both deserve this. Does he have any idea?”
“Not a one,” I said, grinning like a loon. But then neither do any of you, I added silently to myself.
Carmen stood in the kitchen doorway and studied me.
“Something wrong?” I smiled batting my lashes her way.
She scowled in reply. “Don’t try that shit with me, Drake Park.” Then she made a big show of looking behind my back and checking under my tee. “So, where is he?” She leaned back and scrutinised me further. “You’re… sparkling.”
Oh God. Was I that obvious? If she pushed, I wasn’t sure I could hold out.
Then her mouth dropped open. “Oooooh. I see how it is. You’ve been a naughty boy this morning.” She waggled her finger at me.
Thank Christ. Relief washed through me. I steeled myself and eyeballed her. “Repeatedly, if you must know. Now what’s for breakfast?”
She barked out a laugh and pushed a paper bag into my hands. “One of your everything-free-including-any-good-taste breakfast muffins. You clearly need to keep your energy up.”
Caleb appeared from the bedroom, and with a sinful groan of delight, he dove straight for the lattes lined up on the breakfast bar. “Thank Christ,” he said, downing half of one in a couple of swallows.
Carmen sidled over and gave him the same attention she had given me, adding a sniff and a surprised snort for good measure.
“What?” he said, eyeing her with a frown. “I just had a shower.”
She ran her eyes over him top to toe. “You’ve got that well-fucked, blissed-out air about you, my friend. Awww. My little boy’s gone and got himself all versatile.” She sent me a knowing wink, and I may have preened, just a little.
Then she turned back to Caleb. “It’s a good look on you.” She pressed a kiss to his flaming cheek and headed for the kitchen.
I laughed and held up my muffin to Caleb in a mock toast. Carmen had become a very important addition to my chosen family, and I loved her to bits, especially her never-ending capacity to reduce my man to an embarrassed muddle in under five seconds flat.
Caleb glared, but I simply shrugged. “I never said a word.”
Aaron chuckled. “Does that mean…?”
“Don’t,” Caleb shut him down then strode over and muscled me back against the wall. “I think you and I need to have a looong discussion later, understand?”
He kissed my nose, and I wriggled my hips against his. “Looking forward to it… little boy.” His nostrils flared, and I grinned. Caleb had a not-so-secret weakness for a little discipline play on occasion. Oh yeah. This was gonna be fun.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, give it up, you two,” Aaron complained, stuffing another bite of egg roll into his mouth. “Any more and I’m gonna need a shower myself. I’m living the life of a monk as it is.”
The doorbell rang for the second time and Caleb’s brows dipped. “Who else did you invite?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied, pushing him off and heading down the hall to welcome in Dana, Carly, and Leanne.
Between the surgery and recovery time, I hadn’t yet returned full-time to the clinic and was continuing with the services of the locum midwife to cover all my home visits and deliveries. In turn I picked up all the clinic consultations and relieved Dana of her administrative role so she could take on more clients. So far it was working w
ell, and I hoped to be back fully on board in a month or so. Our overall client numbers were up, so I wasn’t hurting as badly financially as I expected and sharing living costs with Caleb wasn’t gonna hurt either.
Upon seeing his partner, Caleb enveloped Leanne in a bear hug, which she returned with gusto. They hadn’t seen as much of each other in recent months, since although Caleb was back at work, with the headaches still interfering, he remained confined to desk duty.
Meanwhile the department had temporarily handed him the LGBT and Diversity Liaison Officer role, something he’d initially baulked at, but had now quietly grown to enjoy. So much so, he was considering taking it on full-time, an announcement that had shocked me to the core. I knew he’d been worried about the risk, in his old role, of injury to his one remaining kidney, but I hadn’t realised how serious he was. That and his insistence that with both of our health issues, one of us needed to have regular hours, and although he liked his job, he thought he could like other roles just as much. Yeah, did I mention how much I loved him?
The volume of conversation in the lounge rose as everyone reacquainted, and over the sea of heads, Caleb’s gaze caught mine and his brows hit his hairline.
“Every housewarming needs a few guests, right, babe?” I explained innocently.
He scowled. “I thought we weren’t having a housewarming, babe.”
Carmen appeared from the kitchen, chuckling.
Caleb’s scowl deepened. “Especially not at 9.00 a.m. on the first Saturday in our own home… alone together… as a couple. And did I mention… alone?”
I waved a hand in the air. “Pffft. Minor detail. Share the love and all that.”
His eyebrows twitched. “You are in so much….”
I was saved finding out exactly how much trouble I was in by the sound of the front door flying back on its hinges once again and Caleb’s mother’s voice. “Woo-hoo. Boys, we’re here.”
Caleb’s eyes popped in horrified disbelief. “Drake…?”
“Sorry. Gotta run….” I took off into the hall, leaving him shaking his head, and threw my arms around both sets of parents in a group hug before leading them into the crowded lounge so Carmen and Aaron could throw coffee and tea their direction.
Caleb recovered enough to be polite and suitably welcoming before heading my direction wearing a stern expression. “Is that the last?” he whispered in my ear.
“Hellooo?” Voices rang down the hall, and I might have squeaked.
Caleb tipped up my chin, so I had to look him in the eye. “Drake?”
I winced. “They’re the last. Promise.”
He sighed affectionately and kissed my nose. “Go on, then. But before you go….” He rubbed his thumb across my lower lip. “I love you.”
I’m sure my grin broke ear to ear. “I love you too.” I brushed my lips across his and turned to find Jason, Thomas, Mina, Pete, Vicki, Neil, Evan, and Carolyn already entering the lounge. The final pieces in the breakfast puzzle were here. The kids were with babysitters till when they’d join us for a barbecue. I’d wanted everyone here to toast the official start of our new life together, even though we’d been pretty much living in each other’s pockets for months. It just felt… right.
This time Caleb said nothing about the new arrivals, just sighed in that fond exasperated manner he had when I’d got my way over something. I knew that look of surrender intimately, something I really didn’t need in my head right now nor the surge of lust that accompanied it. I disappeared to the kitchen to adjust myself while everyone caught up.
Caleb joined me moments later, sliding up against my back and wrapping his arms around my waist. He kissed my neck and up into my hair, burying his nose there with a contented sigh. God, I loved when he did that.
“So, Mr Park. A housewarming breakfast, is it?”
I spun in his arms. “And, um, a barbecue…?”
His eyebrows did that twitchy thing again.
“But much later… with the kids… after the sorting is done. Everyone wanted to help and I wanted to celebrate this… us… everything.” I ducked my head, nestling into his chest. “You don’t really mind, do you?”
He tilted my chin up and owned my mouth for longer than was entirely respectable considering our parents were only an open door away. “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” he said when he was finally done.
Relief barrelled through my chest. “Good, because there might be… ah… one more thing, actually.”
He arched a brow.
“Come with me.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the centre of the lounge, where all the conversation ground to a shocked halt the minute I got down on one knee.
“Holy shit.” Carmen’s hand flew up to her mouth.
“Yes!” That was my mother, of course.
Everyone else remained in a stunned silence. I would have found it funny was I not equal parts terrified and panicked. What seemed such a great idea last week had morphed into having the potential for a freaking disaster in the making. Fuck. Too late now.
Caleb stared down at me open-mouthed, barely breathing, a soft sheen to his eyes.
That was good, right? The soft sheen part? Oh God, why had I ever thought this was a good idea?
Aaron stepped alongside Caleb and placed a hand at his back in unspoken support, and I could have kissed him.
Now or never. I reached up and took both Caleb’s hands in mine and kissed each one with a reverence I felt to my core. Then I took a deep breath and opened my heart.
“Caleb Ashton, you are that one in a fucking million—”
Caleb snorted, and I shot a sideways glance at my mother but she just smiled softly.
“—seemingly made just for me. You fit me in ways I’d only ever dreamed about. You’re honest, funny, loving, strong, and prepared to call me on my shit when needed, pun fully intended.”
Caleb’s mouth quirked up and a chuckle circled the small lounge.
“I know I’m a work in progress,” I continued. “I’m a fixer-upper with fickle health who loves Spam in sushi, for God’s sake. And Lord knows I have issues. But I want nothing more than to spend my life with you, and all I ask in return is my own bathroom.”
Another laugh.
I paused and tried to convey every bone-deep scrap of love I felt for him through a single gaze into those autumn eyes that held mine, unwavering in their intensity. “It would be a privilege and an honour if you’d agree to marry me so we can work on this new ‘us’ together.”
Enough. I drew a shaky breath and waited.
He stared at me for a long moment, and I felt the panic slide back into place as my heart stuttered in my chest. Did he think it was too soon? Had I screwed up? I should have asked him on our own. Fuck. I’d been an idiot.
I was about to open my mouth and let him off the hook when he suddenly hauled me to my feet and all the way up into his arms. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I held on as he slammed me against the wall and proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of me.
Coming up for air I grabbed his cheeks in both my hands and eyeballed him. “So, is that a yes, Mr Ashton?”
He grinned hugely. “Yes, Mr Park. That’s a big, fat, fully loaded yes.” And then, while Carmen screamed at her husband for a tissue so she didn’t smudge her eyeliner, and my mother demanded my father make an appointment with the Korean fortune teller, Caleb kissed me again, wrapped me tight in his arms, and welcomed me home.
More from Jay Hogan
An Auckland Med. Story
What if you’ve worked your whole life for a dream, to play rugby for the most successful sports team on the planet, the New Zealand All Blacks?
What if that dream is so close you can smell it?
What if you meet someone?
What if you fall in love?
What if your dream will cost the man who’s stolen your heart?
And what if the dream changes?
Reuben Taylor has a choice to make.
Cameron Wano is t
hat choice.
JAY HOGAN is a New Zealand author writing in m/m romance, romantic suspense and fantasy. She has travelled extensively and has lived in the US, Canada, France, Australia and South Korea. She has a BA degree in Nursing and in Theology, and in another life, she was an Intensive Care Nurse, Counselor, and a Lecturer.
She is a cat aficionado especially of Maine Coons, and an avid dog lover (but don’t tell the cat). She loves to cook- pretty damn good, loves to sing—pretty damn average, and as for loving full-time writing—absolutely… depending of course on the day, the word count, the deadline, how obliging her characters are, the ambient temperature in the Western Sahara, whether Jupiter is rising, the size of the ozone hole over New Zealand and how much coffee she’s had.
Her characters and stories are rarely straightforward, and even surprise Jay. She does her best to plot things out ahead of time but those guys often have a mind of their own. Go figure.
You can find Jay at:
www.facebook.com/JayHoganAuthor
twitter.com/jayhoganauthor
[email protected]
By Jay Hogan
AUCKLAND MED.
First Impressions (Coming Soon)
Crossing the Touchline
DIGGING DEEP
Digging Deep
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.