by Ariel Tachna
Linc looked out at the love seat on the porch. “Let’s go sit on the deck and you can tell me about them. We may as well take advantage of the nice weather while it lasts. From what the guys told me, it could be over a hundred again tomorrow, given how crazy the weather is here.”
Kit beamed up at him and walked with him onto the deck. Linc had seen other cabins along the lakefront as they drove in, but the forest around them was thick enough that he couldn’t see any of them from their current vantage point. “All right, tell me what you came up with to keep us entertained.”
“We could rent a boat for a few hours to go out on the lake,” Kit said. “Either just to be on the water or to go fishing, if that’s something you like to do. There are tours of the gorge, or we could go canoeing or tubing on the Guadalupe River. That could be fun if it’s hot because we’d be in the water the whole time. Or if you don’t want to be on the water, we could hike through some of the local parks around the lake. Or we could be really fancy and do a Hill Country wine tour.”
Linc laughed. “In other words, you’ve planned the whole weekend.”
Kit shook his head even as he grinned up at Linc mischievously. “I made a list of options, that’s all. I really did mean it when I said we could spend the whole time at the cabin. There’s only one thing I absolutely want to do this weekend.”
“What’s that?” Linc asked. It was probably walking along the lake, but he’d do anything Kit wanted if it meant Kit kept smiling at him like he was now.
Kit wiggled out of Linc’s arms, fiddling with something in his pocket as he did. Linc started to ask again when Kit dropped down to one knee and pulled his hand from his pocket to show Linc a gold-and-silver ring. “Will you marry me?” Kit asked.
Linc opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out through the surprise and joy that made his chest clench and his heart race. He swallowed hard and tried again. “Yes. God, yes, Kit. I was gonna ask you, but I thought it was too soon.” He grabbed Kit’s shoulders and pulled him back onto the love seat so he could rain kisses all over Kit’s face.
When he sat back, he looked down at the ring in Kit’s hand. “Put it on me?”
“I don’t know if it’ll fit,” Kit said. “It was my dad’s, but since I don’t remember him, I don’t have any idea how big his hands were.”
“Put it on my little finger for now, if that’s the only one that fits,” Linc said. “We can get it sized later. And….”
“What?” Kit prompted when Linc didn’t continue.
“I really was gonna ask you too. When I went home to visit my folks, Pop got Gramps’s ring from Uncle Lincoln. He never got married, so the ring was just sitting on his dresser. Pop gave it to me before I came back. I had this whole big thing planned out.” He looked around at the cabin and the lake. “It was gonna go a whole lot like this actually.”
Kit’s smile lit up his entire face as he tried the ring on Linc’s ring finger. It didn’t quite fit, but it slid perfectly onto his little finger. “I want you to know how much it means to me that you’d give me your father’s wedding ring.”
“Phillip gave Mom’s rings to Marisol,” Kit replied. “Uncle Thane said it was only fitting I get Dad’s since Mom’s wouldn’t suit you anyway.”
“Let’s go back inside,” Linc said. “Suddenly the thought of being where people might see us ain’t so appealing.”
Kit’s grin changed to a knowing smirk that bordered on a leer. “I can get behind that.”
Linc took Kit’s hand as they walked toward the bedroom. “How about on top of that? Or on top of me? You told me you were a switch, but we keep falling back into the same pattern.”
KIT’S breath left him in a rush at Linc’s question. He’d thought a few times about bringing up that early conversation about who liked what in bed, but then Linc would kiss him and touch him and all thought would go flying out of his head. Now that Linc had brought it up, though, Kit was going to take the opportunity and run with it. He pulled Linc’s head down for a thorough kiss before letting go long enough to say, “Then we definitely need to be in the bedroom.”
Linc laughed and ran toward the room, pulling Kit along behind him. Kit started laughing too and kept right on laughing as they stripped the patchwork quilt and top sheet off the bed. Linc grabbed their bag and dug out lube—they’d stopped using condoms when their last blood tests came back negative—while Kit bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet. As soon as Linc tossed the lube next to the pillows, Kit pounced and pushed Linc backward onto the bed.
“Let me get my shoes off at least,” Linc said with a laugh.
“Fine, but I get to do the rest,” Kit replied as he toed off his own shoes as well. As soon as Linc’s runners hit the floor, Kit pushed him back to supine and stretched out over and on top of him.
“We getting naked?” Linc asked.
“In a minute. We have all weekend, and I want to take my time.” He’d spent an awful lot of lonely nights over the summer imagining what he’d do if he had the chance, and a few of the nights during the preseason travel planning this weekend in particular. He wasn’t going to rush now.
“You weren’t kidding about spending all weekend in bed.”
“Not unless you have somewhere else you want to be,” Kit replied as he nuzzled Linc’s collarbone. The V-neck of Linc’s shirt gave Kit access to the strong line of his collarbone, and Kit licked along it eagerly before sucking lightly.
“You can leave a mark,” Linc whispered.
Kit looked up sharply. “You have a game in a few days.”
“And I’ll be arriving at that game wearing your ring,” Linc replied. “People are more likely to notice that than a days-old love bite that’ll hardly show with my skin anyway. And if they do notice, who cares? I ain’t planning on hiding. Are you?”
“Of course not,” Kit said.
“Then leave a mark.”
Kit bent back to the spot and sucked harder, loving the way Linc moaned and held Kit’s head in place as he did. He worked his way around the base of Linc’s throat, sucking and biting a necklace of little marks to the surface, but eventually the T-shirt got in the way. He sat up and pulled at the hem. Linc lifted up enough for Kit to strip it over his head. While he was sitting up, Kit got rid of his own shirt as well before stretching back out.
The feeling of skin against skin had grown familiar in the two months they’d lived together, but it hadn’t grown any less exhilarating. Kit reveled in it now, undulating atop Linc to add a little friction to the heat that rose between them at the slightest touch.
“I ain’t gonna last long enough for you to top if you keep that up,” Linc said around a delicious moan. “Why don’t we hurry this round up and take our time for round two?”
Kit licked one brown nipple and winked up at Linc. “Insatiable.”
“Who can blame me?” Linc retorted hoarsely.
“Fine,” Kit huffed playfully. He finished undressing them quickly, pausing only to sneak a taste of Linc’s cock before beginning to prepare Linc. It shouldn’t have felt any different than the other times they’d made love, but his father’s ring glinted at him from Linc’s finger and Linc’s gasped heartfelt yes to Kit’s proposal rang in his ears still, and everything took on an extra dimension—the kisses between them more tender than they’d ever been, the passion deeper, the love stronger, until every cell in Kit’s body sang with it.
Sliding into Linc felt like coming home, the same kind of indisputable belonging he’d known only a few other times in his life, and nothing could take that away.
Epilogue
KIT jumped to his feet as the Rockets won the opening game of the season. Linc had only played for a few minutes toward the end of the last quarter, but it didn’t matter. Kit would be at every home game and as many of the away ones as he could manage with his work schedule.
“This is almost as good as basketball at Rupp,” Phillip shouted over the noise of the crowd.
Kit laughed and elbo
wed his brother as they made their way through the crowd toward the court where the team was celebrating. When they reached the front row, Linc came jogging over to them. He pulled Kit in for a kiss, ignoring the flash of cameras all around them. Linc had said last weekend he wasn’t planning on hiding, and he was certainly proving it now.
When Linc finally let Kit go, he reached over to grab Phillip and pull him into a swift hug as well. “What’d you think of your first NBA game?”
“Well, it’s not Rupp, but it’ll do,” Phillip snarked.
Linc laughed and pulled Kit tight against his side.
“Mr. Joyner? Kurt Harris with ESPN. Do you have a minute? I’d like to ask a couple of questions.”
Kit made an aborted movement to fade back and let Linc talk to the reporter alone, but Linc didn’t let him go. “Sure.”
“How does it feel, playing in your first professional basketball game?” Harris asked.
Linc glanced over his shoulder at Phillip, then turned back to Harris. “I suppose they’d kick me off the team if I said it came in a close second to beating Duke at Rupp Arena, wouldn’t they?”
Harris smiled like he wasn’t quite sure of the joke. Kit didn’t roll his eyes because he wasn’t sure if he was on camera, but it was a close thing. Behind them, Phillip cackled.
“The Rockets have been fantastic about making me feel welcome,” Linc went on. “I’m happy to be here and playing.”
“I noticed earlier you’re wearing a new ring,” Harris commented. “Are congratulations in order?”
“They are,” Linc said. “Kit and I got engaged last weekend. We’ll wait for the season to wrap up before getting married. We gotta have enough time to go back to Kentucky to get married. Our families wouldn’t let us hear the end of it if we didn’t.”
“Damn straight,” Phillip said behind them.
“Well, best of luck to you for the season and with the wedding,” Harris said.
Linc shook his hand, and Kit did as well when Harris reached toward him too.
“That went well,” Kit said after Harris was out of earshot.
Linc bent down and kissed him again, leaving Kit positively walking on air at all the attention. There would be more reporters and more questions, intrusive fans, days and maybe even weeks apart, but those didn’t worry Kit anymore. Linc’s ring on his finger already made the only promise he needed—at the end of it all, Linc would always come home.
When ARIEL TACHNA was twelve years old, she discovered two things: the French language and romance novels. Those two loves have defined her ever since. By the time she finished high school, she’d written four novels, none of which anyone would want to read now, featuring a young woman who was—you guessed it—bilingual. That girl was everything Ariel wanted to be at age twelve and wasn’t.
She now lives on the outskirts of Houston with her husband (who also speaks French), her kids (who understand French even when they’re too lazy to speak it back), and their two dogs (who steadfastly refuse to answer any French commands). The cat pretends they’re all beneath her, no matter what language they’re speaking.
Visit Ariel:
Website: www.arieltachna.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArielTachna
Email: [email protected]
By Ariel Tachna
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
LEXINGTON LOVERS
Unstable Stud
A Matchless Man
Stage Two
Rebuild My Heart
Home and Away
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Now Available
Unstable Stud
By Ariel Tachna
Lexington Lovers
Horses were his passion, until he laid eyes on his boss.
Eighteen months ago, tragedy struck Bywater Farm when a riding accident killed Clay Hunter’s lover and traumatized his prize horse, King of Hearts. Clay and King lingered in limbo, surviving but not really living, until a breath of fresh air in the form of Luke Davis, a new groom in the stud barn, revives them both.
When a fall from King’s back sends Luke to the emergency room, Clay watches the shaky foundation of their budding relationship tumble down. Can Clay really love a jockey again, or will his fear of losing another man he loves keep them apart for good?
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Now Available
A Matchless Man
By Ariel Tachna
Lexington Lovers
None of the matches caught his eye as much as the matchmaker himself.
Growing up poorer than poor didn’t leave Navashen Bhattathiri many options for life outside of school. All of his concentration was on keeping his scholarships. Sixteen years later, he’s fulfilled his dream and become a doctor. Now he’s returning home to Lexington and is ready to prove himself to the world. In doing so, he reconnects with Brent Carpenter—high school classmate, real estate agent, all-around great guy… and closet matchmaker.
Brent makes it his mission to help Navashen develop a social life and meet available, interesting men. Unfortunately Navashen’s schedule is unpredictable, and few of those available, interesting men value his dedication like Brent does. Brent’s unfailing friendship and support convince Navashen he’s the one, but can he capture Brent’s heart when the matchmaker is focused on finding Navashen another man?
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Now Available
Stage Two
By Ariel Tachna
Lexington Lovers
Assistant high school principal Blake Barnes has everything he wants—a chance to help troubled students and an outlet for his passion for theater. Well, almost everything—he still goes home to an empty apartment. Then his high school crush explodes back into his life, the unexpected guardian of two boys in Blake’s care.
Thane Dalton has always been a bad boy through and through. Not much has changed, including his mistrust of authority figures, and no amount of institutional bureaucracy will keep him from protecting his nephews from the bullies terrorizing them. If that means butting heads with Blake, so be it.
Blake and Thane have lessons to learn: that they both have the boys’ best interests at heart, that the tension between them isn’t just confrontational, and that sparks can fly when opposites come together.
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Now Available
Rebuild My Heart
By Ariel Tachna
Lexington Lovers
A love built to last.
When Derek Jackson is hired to renovate the LGBT bookstore that’s also Owen Hensley’s home, opposites attract. Derek is a big burly blue-collar guy, about ten years older than slight, sweet, and bookish Owen. As they spend time together, it becomes clear that each handsome outside leads to a beautiful interior. Far from the shy twink he appears, Owen has a rock-solid foundation that helped him put himself through college and start his own business. Behind Derek’s strong façade waits a tender heart that’s been battered by a rough family past—something Owen understands.
After Owen’s runaway nephew lands on his doorstep, it throws a wrench in their plans. Derek can’t ask Owen to choose, but he doesn’t think he can take second place with his lover the way he always has with his family. Can they find a way to keep their romance standing?
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Coming Soon
Under the Covers by K.C. Wells
Can they find their HEA in Romancelandia?
Chris Tyler loves his job. He photographs some of the hottest guys on the planet, but none stir him like Jase Mitchell. He’ll never let Jase know – he values their friendship too much to spoil it.
Jase is looking forward to the Under The Covers Romance convention. It’s a great opportunity to connect with readers who want to meet their favorite cover model, but more importantly, with agents who could advance his career. Too bad the only person he yearns to connect with is Chris.
What Chris wa
nts is Jase in his life, but he’s afraid that’s sheer fantasy. What Jase desires is a Hollywood dream, but that will mean leaving Chris behind. What both crave is a real-life romance and their own Happily Ever After.
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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.
Home and Away
© 2020 Ariel Tachna