Home Again (Finding You Book 1)

by Ana Ashley

  By around five in the afternoon, I was setting the last few trays of custard tarts in the freezer, and Joel was tidying up. I could almost taste freedom when my aunt came into the kitchen looking worried.

  “What’s up, Tia?” I asked, the concern showing in my tone.

  “We have a customer that is asking for a big favor. I said we couldn’t do it, but he is desperate. I told him I couldn’t make any promises but that I would ask you.”

  “They want a cake for today,” I said, already predicting that would be the urgent request.

  “It’s his niece’s birthday party tomorrow. He was meant to get a cake, but he forgot. He looks so apologetic I’m almost tempted to bake the cake myself—”

  “No!” I interrupted, and my aunt laughed. “I have five hundred custard tarts in the freezer. I’m not risking a fire in this kitchen. Tell him we’ll do it, but it’s one tier only, and the decoration is up to me. He only gets to choose the flavor and theme color. He can pick it up tomorrow morning.”

  And with that, I started preparing the baking tins, but not before I looked at Joel, who witnessed the exchange and was staring at me like I’d grown an extra head.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Wow, you look hot when you’re bossy,” he said, and immediately his cheeks went red as though he hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

  “Oh, yeah?” I walked over to him and got as close as I could get without touching him. I looked up at him with my lips so close to his I could feel his erratic breath. “Boss says you’re staying. I want this baking tin greased and floured. You’re not leaving this kitchen until we’re done.” Then I turned toward the pantry to get the ingredients. I only heard Joel whisper “Yes, Sir.”

  It was closer to midnight when I finished the cake. Joel and I looked like the walking dead. I couldn’t even be bothered to do a deep clean of the kitchen like most days. It wasn’t dirty; it would have to do. Even my uncle, displeased as he was about Joel being in the kitchen with me, thanked me for all the work and told me not to worry about the cleaning. He’d do it in the morning. So I took the olive branch and left the café with Joel, my legs aching as we walked home through the quiet streets.

  We were nearly there when I asked Joel if he could stay with me tonight.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Yes, I sleep better with you here. I need sleep. Please, Joel.” I was so tired my speech was slurring; I didn’t care if I had to beg.

  “Okay. I’ll just grab a few things from home and will be up in a few minutes. Leave the door open for me,” he said and crossed the road toward his apartment.

  I went up to my apartment, making sure to leave the door unlocked. I had a quick shower, brushed my teeth, put on a pair of boxer shorts, and got into bed. Joel still hadn’t come up by the time exhaustion overtook me, and I fell asleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Joel

  I loved dreaming. Dreaming was awesome, and I never wanted to wake up from this particular dream, ever. I was lying on David’s hard chest, feeling his soft chest hair against my cheek. My arm was wrapped all around his chest with my hand trapped under his torso as though it didn’t want to let him go. Our legs were entwined, with my right leg spread over both of his. I could feel my morning wood pressing against his thigh, and all I wanted was to rub against him, particularly when I felt his hard cock twitching under my inner thigh.

  Like I said, best dream ever. And because I was the boss of my dream, I did what I wanted and pressed closer to David, needing the friction and damning the boxer shorts we were both wearing because I wanted to feel the heat of his skin.

  I heard a moan, and my dream David moved. What?! Fuck. I stilled and slowly opened my eyes, ready for the mortification of being caught dry-humping my friend in my sleep. Maybe I could remove myself from him slowly? Maybe he wasn’t awake yet?

  I started to move carefully, hoping he wouldn’t wake up when I felt his arm tightening around me. I tilted my head up to finally meet his gaze.

  “Morning,” he said, a slow smile on his lips.

  “Er...Hi.” I smiled back with a feeling of déjà vu.

  “I could get used to this, you know,” he said, raising his free hand to push my hair from my face. “Waking up with you wrapped around me.”

  My groan was silenced when David’s mouth came down on mine. This time there were no soft, tentative kisses. David claimed my mouth as though he was a starved man.

  “I've wanted to do this ever since I woke up yesterday with you trying to climb me like a tree in your sleep,” David said, his voice raspy with lust.

  Right, so that explains my “déjà vu.” I could feel David's cock straining against his boxer shorts, still pressing against my body, which was lying half across his.

  “I fell asleep last night before you came back.” His hand caressed my arm, sending little shocks of electricity down my spine.

  “You were out when I got in. I wasn’t sure I should stay, but you asked, so...”

  “Joel, fuck... I need you. I need more. Can we?” And that was all the permission I needed to move. I kneeled down between his legs and pulled his boxers off, his hard cock springing back against the tight abdominal muscles.

  “Fuck, David. You are so beautiful.” His cock wasn’t as long as mine, but it was much thicker with dark veins that I was sure would feel like heaven inside me, gliding against all the right places. I went straight for it, finesse be damned, and stroked his shaft with one hand while my mouth zoned in on his perfect full balls, and I inhaled his unique scent.

  I licked him from his perineum up, sucking his balls into my mouth, one at a time. I could have stayed there forever, but David’s breathy moans were sure to make me come before I wanted to. I licked his shaft, only taking a moment to suck the purple head before taking it all in, all the way down until his crown reached my throat.

  David’s hips bucked up as he lost control over his movements. I was desperately trying to get some friction against the bedsheets, but the boxer shorts I was still wearing were making it impossible to get any relief.

  “Joel!” he shouted, his voice strained. “Please, stop...ugh...I don’t want to come so soon.”

  Happy that I was driving him insane with the need to come, I stopped, and after removing my boxer shorts, I lay on top of him, kissing him, my tongue exploring his.

  One moment I was lost in his mouth not even caring that at some point I’d need oxygen, and the next I was under him, his firm, heavier body pressing down on mine, our hard cocks stuck between us, the friction firing all sorts of sensations up my body.

  “You are very good at that,” David whispered in my ear, biting it, sucking and kissing his way down my neck.

  He continued his assault on my skin, every touch lighting my skin on fire and making me writhe with need. “Huh... David, please.” I wasn’t sure what I was begging for. I just needed more of it. Whatever he could give me.

  David’s kisses were slowly getting closer and closer to my aching cock. I needed his mouth on me, desperately. When I thought I would surely die from anticipation and need, David suddenly stopped. His face showed a mix of lust and uncertainty, and his body was tense. His hesitance made me wonder how much experience he had. With his uncle breathing down his neck, I could understand his reluctance to have a sexually active life, but his face was telling me it was more than that.

  “David,” I whispered, “come up here, baby.” I put my hand on his cheek to coax him up to lie beside me. I aligned my body with his, showing him that his hesitation had done nothing to temper my arousal.

  “I want to touch you so much, but—” he tried to explain, but I interrupted with a kiss.

  “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t need to say it. I get it.” I felt his body relax, so I continued caressing his back while I peppered his face with little kisses.

  “It’s not that I don’t know what to do. I just haven’t done it to anyone, and I want it to be good for you,” he confessed.


  “David, there is nothing you can do that won’t feel right. You know why?” I said, and he shook his head. “Because this is you and me. Let me show you.” It was a statement more than a question, but he nodded his consent.

  I climbed on top of David, our still hard cocks perfectly aligned as I kissed his perfect lips, now plump from my ministrations. As we rubbed against each other, the earlier need to climax returned, and very soon we were both breathless and holding on by a thread.

  I put my hand between us and held both our cocks together, stroking them simultaneously with the movement of my hips. “Let go, baby. I’ve got you,” I said as I increased the speed of my movements.

  David came loud and fast, his cock releasing into my hand as he called out my name.

  His cry and the additional lubrication from his release was all it took for me to go over as I felt my balls draw up tight and pressure build in my lower back until I could no longer hold back.

  I collapsed on top of him, my arms giving up on me. We were both a breathless, tangled mess of limbs, but that didn’t stop David from keeping his arms around me and seeking my mouth for more kissing.

  God, I loved kissing this man. One thing was certain. We needed to talk, and this time I wouldn’t be walking out with no answers because I wasn’t sure I could spend the rest of this holiday not touching him.

  “David, I don’t want to stop this.” Was all I said.

  He let out a sigh—of relief or dread, I couldn’t say because I was too worried about my reaction to his answer to be able to read him accurately.

  “I don’t want to stop it, either. I know you’re going back to America in a few weeks, but can we just see where this leads?”

  His brown eyes looked at me with some raw emotion, and for a moment, I feared the only possible outcome from this was heartbreak. It wouldn’t matter, anyway, because I knew I was already in too deep. David wasn’t just someone I was attracted to. He was the other half of my soul. Without him, I would be forever lonely, regardless of how many people I had around me.

  I still had weeks to consider the ramifications of our actions and my feelings, so I decided that there was only one thing I could do right now.

  “Guess what,” I said with over-the-top enthusiasm.

  “What,” he asked, one eyebrow arched.

  “You’re on vacation! You know what that means, right?” I said, using my elbows to prop myself up.

  “Um...what does it mean?” I could hear a hint of apprehension.

  “You get American pancakes for breakfast,” I said, jumping out of bed and holding out my hand to help him up.

  “This is already the best holiday ever,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. “But first, we need a shower because you stink of sex.”

  I pretended to be offended as I turned around to give him a view of my ass as I sashayed toward the bathroom.

  David’s shower was small, barely big enough for one person, but that didn’t stop us from going in together. It was tricky to move around, and we had to take turns to go under the water spray, which meant we also had to touch... a lot. No complaints from me there.

  When we finished showering, I got dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and went to the kitchen to make breakfast while David started loading the car for our trip. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and other than traveling to Évora, we were planning on taking it easy. After all, it was the first day of our vacation together, and while I’d been off work for a couple of weeks, David deserved a chilled start to his time off.

  I got the coffee maker going and started making my grandma’s pancakes. I used strawberries and honey instead of blueberries and maple syrup. I wondered if one day I would have a chance to make the original version for David, but for now, I had to use what was available in David’s kitchen.

  My thoughts of David, blueberries, and maple syrup were distracting me from the actual task at hand, and I’d been close to burning a couple of the pancakes already. Of course, it didn’t help when David came into the kitchen, put his hands around me from behind, and kissed the back of my neck.

  “I hope you like your breakfast tasting like charcoal.” Because that was a sure thing if he didn’t stop rubbing his groin against my ass.

  “Why is that?” He chuckled but didn’t stop kissing my neck, slowly coming around to steal my lips.

  “Because if you don’t stop doing that, I’m going to forget what I’m doing and burn the pancakes.”

  “Or maybe I’ll just have you instead.” He moved his hands under my T-shirt and rubbed circles on my abs, and went up toward my nipples.

  “David.” I swallowed hard, getting myself under control and grabbing his hands to stop him,

  “Food, we need food. Can you set the table? The coffee is ready.”

  With a groan, David grabbed two mugs from the kitchen cabinet and filled them with coffee. I could still feel his hungry eyes on me as he grabbed cutlery and plates.

  “I got an email from the hotel we’re staying at tonight,” David said as he laid the plates on the table.

  “Oh, yeah? Everything okay with our reservation?” We were lucky to find a room for each night we were away. We were still taking the sleeping bags just in case. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to use them.

  “Our room is confirmed, but they had to move us to a sister hotel. Some problems with the plumbing in the bathroom or something. The other location is just outside town. They texted the address.”

  We sat down to eat, and I served David a tall stack of pancakes with a drizzle of honey on top. I was quite proud of how they looked, fluffy, with streaks of pink from the strawberry chunks I added to the batter.

  “Mmm, wow, these are amazing.” David was visibly enjoying his breakfast, and I had to admit they did taste good. While I was more used to the taste of the maple syrup, I couldn’t deny the richness of the honey proved to be an excellent choice.

  We made light conversation about the lack of pancake options available in Portuguese cafés while we finished our breakfast and drank our coffee.

  I was chewing my last bite of pancake when my eyes met David’s. He was looking at me, his eyes half-lidded with lust as though he wanted to be that final piece of pancake. He ran a finger on his plate, picking up a smudge of honey and a bit of strawberry. His hand came toward my mouth, his thumb on my chin, coaxing me to open up so he could put his honey-coated finger in.

  I sucked, my tongue swirling around the tip of his finger, reminding him of what I could do with that same tongue and a different part of his anatomy. His eyes went dark, and in a swift movement with his other hand, he pulled me onto his lap and replaced his finger with his mouth. My cock was already showing interest before. Now, it was all the way hard and pressing against him. I was starting to begrudge clothing.

  I rolled my hips against David’s, trying to get more pressure to relieve my need. Our mouths were making love to each other as though they couldn’t bear to be apart.

  “David?” I heard the voice and a jingle of keys coming from the door, and I felt David freeze under me.

  “Merda,” he said, pushing me away so forcefully I nearly fell on the floor. Fortunately, my chair was close enough that I was able to land on it and avoid an embarrassing fall.

  “David?” I heard Teresa sing as she came into the kitchen looking down at the two heavy carrier bags in her arms. “Oh, there you are. Didn’t you hear me ringing the bell?” she asked distractedly.

  “Oh, um…the doorbell is broken. I haven’t had the time to fix it.”

  Teresa unpacked a few items onto the counter and finally looked at both of us.

  “Good morning, Joel. I’m so sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” she said, looking at our empty plates and coffee cups. “I wanted to catch you before you left. I brought you some sandwiches for the trip and some pastries and drinks.”

  Teresa gave me a quick hug and kissed David before she left us. “Have fun, boys. I’ll want to know all about it when you get back. Be careful on the road.
”

  And in the same whirlwind she arrived, Teresa left the apartment.

  Chapter Fifteen

  David

  Two things happened when I heard the sound of keys and the voice of my aunt already inside the apartment. I froze and then shoved Joel off me like he was cursed. One moment I was sucking his sweet lips, feeling more content than I ever remember, and the next it was like a bucket of freezing water was emptied on my head, drenching me head to toe.

  I don’t think I moved an inch in the three minutes my aunt was in the apartment. Not that she noticed. She’d come in full of happiness and love, intent on giving us a packed lunch for the trip, unknowingly leaving behind tension and uncertainty.

  I’d only given Aunt Teresa the emergency key with strict instructions to never use them except for emergencies. In the last nine years after changing the locks, she’d only ever let herself in when I was sick. I didn’t even realize she carried the key with her.

  My reaction had been involuntary, the result of a lifetime of hiding who I am. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and I hadn’t even begun to make sense of what it would mean to me, let alone how it would affect the chain of actions that could potentially result in me coming out to my family.

  Fuck, I hadn’t even had the chance to ask myself why the thought of coming out to my family was starting to wiggle its way into my mind. Nothing had changed. My uncle still hated me because he suspected I was gay, and my aunt didn’t have a clue. And Joel?

  Joel was going to be here for five minutes, and then he would return to America, leaving me behind once again.

  Joel’s movement as he got up and grabbed the dishes from the table woke me from my whirring thoughts.

  “Joel, I... I’m sorry.” I reached for him, but he moved out of the way toward the sink.