by Clare London
“You already are,” Garry blurted out. It was damned hard to keep his eyes from settling on Will’s mouth.
“Yeah?” Will looked half-shocked, half-relieved. “So do you remember what I said in reply?”
Garry stared. Shock in his eyes, gotta go, will call you…. “What?”
“I said yes, Garry. Yes, I said, let’s talk about it. Maybe you didn’t hear me over the noise in the bar. I said I felt the same.”
Garry opened his mouth, then closed it again. He waited for the kids to come back and interrupt this conversation—possibly one of the most important of his life—but there was still no sign of them. He kept on staring at Will and his weary, searching, twinkling eyes.
No, I’m just not that lucky.
“Or maybe you didn’t hear my words because you chose that supremely awkward time to grab me and thrust your tongue in my mouth.”
Garry felt the heat rush to his face.
“Yes, I can tell you, it was a shock for me too,” Will continued. “I usually move a little more slowly with my dates, you know.” And then he laughed. Laughed! “Mind you, I suppose we’ve been going out with each other for years, even if we didn’t admit it. But I’d never been completely sure you were interested in me. You know, romantically.”
Just the sweet, beery taste….
“I’m homey special,” Garry said. It was like his mouth opened by remote control and someone else’s words sprang out.
Will looked puzzled. “Whatever.”
“You tried to talk to me… to say….”
“Yes. I mean, to say yes. Yes, I wanted more with you. I think I always have! I would have found you later on in the evening, to talk it through more clearly, but you shot off like a scalded cat. Before I could follow, the guys had lined up shots for me. I thought, I’ll call him later. But then you were sick—”
“Wasn’t,” Garry said glumly.
“Of course you fucking weren’t!” Will said with spirit. “I know what a bloody wuss you can be. But I had to fly out within the next couple of days, and there was so much else to do. I never got to see you.” Now he looked flushed. “It was good, Garry.”
“The shots? Me being fake sick?”
Will rolled his eyes. “The kiss, stupid. I just didn’t know whether you’d been… I don’t know. Messing about. Teasing. Drunk.”
“No,” Garry said very, very quickly. “No way.” He could feel the grin tugging at the sides of his mouth.
Will’s gaze darted between Garry’s mouth and eyes now. “So that’s good too. Right?”
“Right.”
“I just wanted to clear the air between us. You acted honestly that night—I’m not sure how long it would have been before I did the same, without your prompt.” He laughed, a little self-consciously. “So do I get another?”
“Prompt?”
“Chance, you berk!” Will rolled his eyes again but there was an added flicker of excitement in them this time. “Another chance for a kiss.”
“Yeah.” Garry could feel the words backing up behind his tongue, desperate to get out and be spoken, desperate to make Will understand. “Yeah, yeah! As many as you want. And when you go back to New York—”
“Not going to happen.”
“Huh?” Garry’s words backed up again, suddenly unsure. “You didn’t get the job? No way!”
Will bit his lip. “No. They let me know early on, it’s mine if I want it.”
“So, okay.” What does all this mean? “So we can work something out. To visit, you know. I’ve got my own contacts—”
“I turned it down.”
Sudden silence.
“But it’s a great experience. You said so yourself.”
“So’s this,” Will said quietly. He put his hand on Garry’s arm. Then he leaned over and pressed his lips to Garry’s cheek.
Oh my good God. Garry’s whole body flushed with heat. If they hadn’t been in the middle of a major airport lounge, he’d have grabbed Will again and planted a decent smooch on him, travel-stale breath or not. Instead, his mouth did the goldfish impression yet again.
“But—!”
Will chuckled. “But what?”
“You really wanted that job.”
“Not on those terms. Not if it’s taking me away so much.”
“You deserve it.”
“Not on those terms,” Will repeated, but more like a whisper. “I’m happy with the decision, Garry. Believe me.”
Garry just stared at him. He knew the way Will’s jaw jutted out like that when he’d made a decision and wasn’t going to move on it. “You stupid arse.”
Will gave a shaky laugh. “Love you too.”
And then Garry watched with amazement as Will blushed violently scarlet.
“We’d better call Allen.” Garry wasn’t really concentrating, of course, because Will still had his hand on his arm and he was well into Garry’s personal space, and it was definitely okay by Garry. “Though his mobile doesn’t seem to work.”
“He’s changed phones. I’ve got the new number.” Will’s gaze was locked on Garry’s, his face bright with anticipation. Garry thought that was a bloody fine look on him.
Couple of silly arses, we are.
“So that’s good.” Garry knew he was grinning like an idiot. Couldn’t remember exactly what he was talking about either, but it was all good, regardless.
“I can’t really believe this, you know?” Will shook his head, still red. “I’ve had a lot of long, boring hours to think and rethink what I was going to say to you. Then I get here and it all just spills out.”
“Like ketchup,” Garry said instinctively.
“Sure. Maybe.” Will laughed. “I’m sorry, it’s not been fair to you, camped out here for all these hours. I didn’t bring you anything from the States as a souvenir.”
“Like sweets?”
Will blinked hard. “Well, yes, perhaps something like that. But, anyway, I shouldn’t have asked you to wait around.”
Garry smiled back with pure happiness he didn’t think he’d felt for years. “It’s cool. No problem. Worth every minute. You brought yourself. That’s boil—I mean, spoiling me enough.”
Will stood, shaking his head and smiling. His expression was a little confused, as if he suspected Garry was still half-asleep and slightly delirious. But the smile was undiminished. “We’ll find the car hire place now, shall we?”
“In a minute.” Garry stood as well, letting his shoulder nudge against Will. Felt good. Felt damned good. “I just want to enjoy this moment. Is that stupid?”
“Not at all.” Will leaned in again, his breath ghosting against Garry’s neck. “I wish we didn’t still have hours of travel ahead of us. We could….”
“Talk about this some more? Enjoy this moment even longer?”
Will’s voice roughened. “I want to kiss you again, Garry. To hell with the talking. We’ve wasted enough time.”
Oh. Oh fuck. Garry’s heartbeat started racing again. If only they’d invented time travel, and he could be unpacking his case in the holiday hotel room already, a room he could share with Will…. He cleared his very tight throat. “Before we get going, I ought to wipe off some of this mess on my bag and my boots.”
“And your jeans,” Will said. His gaze slid immediately to Garry’s lap area.
“Yeah. And my jeans.” He caught Will’s eye; they were both a bit breathless. “You wanna help me?”
Will didn’t answer, just took Garry’s hand and started to pull him towards the gents’ toilet. He stopped when Garry tugged back. “Sorry?”
“No, it’s okay.” Garry lifted his bag onto his shoulder. “I’m ready.”
“Why were you looking around?” Will asked curiously.
“Just wanted to say goodbye to some friends.” It’d be a pity if he never saw the kids again. He sort of missed them. He didn’t want to examine too closely just how bizarre that thought was.
Because for now, he had better things to concentrate on.
THE FIRST toilet they approached had a big Out of Order sign on the door, but when Garry started to turn away, Will hissed in his ear and dragged him inside. A couple of the sinks and hand driers were still working, and there was a convenient pile of paper towels on the counter.
“Maintenance could arrive at any time,” Garry said in a stage whisper.
“Hush. We’ll make the best of the privacy for a while.” Will shoved a handful of towels at him.
The mess on Garry’s jeans soon morphed from a splatter of assorted foodstuffs to a large damp patch that looked suspiciously like he’d pissed himself. While Garry had been rubbing at the stains on his lap and thighs with the sodden towels, he’d updated Will on his time spent with the kids. Within seconds, Garry’s bizarre day—and their equally bizarre toilet mission—had him and Will sniggering like schoolboys.
“You’re just leaving flecks of paper all over it now,” Will chided. His hand followed Garry’s movements as if he wanted to grab hold of the towels and take charge. Or grab hold of something in that area, anyway.
“It’ll dry out in the car.” Garry couldn’t stop grinning. “If you take the first shift driving, I can balance the map on my lap. Don’t want to offend you with my wet crotch.”
“Your crotch couldn’t offend me, whatever state it was in,” Will murmured into Garry’s ear.
Garry snorted a laugh. How had he gone so quickly from embarrassed groping to blissful boyfriend banter? Because that’s what it felt like; he and Will as boyfriends. Oh joy! It had been worth every splodge of ketchup, every sticky shower of sugar.
Will swiped a finger over Garry’s fly, then examined the white grains on his fingertip. “What’s this?”
“That’s sugar. From Emily’s sweets,” Garry offered. His voice was hoarse. Will’s finger had brushed the whole length of Garry’s cock, and Garry didn’t think it was by accident.
His gaze on Garry, Will licked at the sugar crystals. Garry’s crotch—despite being damp, clammy, and chilly after several doses of cold water—responded very happily.
“Delicious,” Will murmured.
“Yeah, it’s just—”
“I don’t mean the sugar.” Will very deliberately put his hand right back on Garry’s cock, now a much firmer shape under the wet denim.
Startled, Garry checked quickly that they were still alone, then pressed himself forwards into Will’s palm. So, so good! “I never knew you were so….”
“So what?”
“So bloody bold.”
Will’s expression was pure wickedness. “Try me.”
Garry wasn’t going to pass up on that. He pushed Will into the nearest cubicle and up against the wall. His kiss was wet too, but Will accepted it very eagerly, their tongues thrusting against each other.
“You need to get out of those jeans,” Will gasped. “Dry them on the machine.”
“Can’t,” Garry gasped back.
“Huh?” Will slid his hands up under Garry’s shirt, touching his bare skin. It made the fabric strain across his chest. The buttons would be hanging on by a mere thread.
“No boxers,” Garry moaned.
“I didn’t think you went commando.” Will raised his eyebrows. His mouth still reached for Garry’s.
“Get too hot when I travel. Like to keep things free.” Garry knew how ridiculous it sounded. And if he’d known by the end of this journey he’d be hard as a proverbial rock and pressing painfully against the zip of his jeans, he’d have had second thoughts. “Got some in my bag.”
“Forget them,” Will said, zipping down Garry’s fly.
“No, but wait—”
“Forget them!” Will’s eyes widened. “Unless you don’t want—?”
“Forget that!” Garry snapped back with a grin. He grabbed Will’s hand by the wrist and slipped it inside the denim. “Does that feel like I don’t want?”
Will started laughing. He helped Garry wriggle the jeans down to the floor, and kick them away. His laughter faded into heavy breathing. Then gasps of excitement as he slid his palm up and down Garry’s hot, aching dick.
“Wow.”
Garry was inordinately flattered. “Yours too,” he huffed, fumbling for Will’s zip in return. It peeled apart like it was glad of the relief. Will was hard too. Hard, and thick, and hot, with just a tiny bead of damp at the tip. Oh God. Wow, indeed.
“Mad,” Garry whispered. “This is mad.”
“Hot, though.” Will arched against him as Garry ran his fingers over the top of his cock.
An announcement twanged in the background of the lounge, and passengers rattled their cases past the open entrance to the abandoned toilet. The cubicle wall squeaked as he rocked against it; there was a faint smell of floral air freshener in the room, overlying the usual detergent of public washrooms.
“Yes. Yes.” Garry’s head was spinning. How bloody embarrassing, he was going to come like a schoolboy, in seconds, fast and all-consuming and hard, so bloody hard—
He gave an outrageously loud and unattractive grunt, his cock jerked in Will’s fist, and he spilled over the top of Will’s fingers.
“Oh! Shit!” came Will’s voice, strangled and soft. “So good. So good.” And then he throbbed in Garry’s fist and came as well.
They sagged against each other, limp and panting. The echo of Will’s moan was in his ears. The edge of the urinal was stabbing his kidney, but he didn’t give a shit.
“Mad,” Will whispered. “You’re right.”
Garry leaned against the wall, needing it to stay upright, waiting for his heartbeat to slow. He couldn’t speak yet. Instead he nestled his head into the crook of Will’s neck, feeling Will’s pulse in his throat, Will’s strong hand at the base of Garry’s spine.
“But so bloody good.” Will sighed. “At last.”
And Garry sighed as well, in perfect agreement.
When they stumbled out of the toilet, no one seemed to notice their tousled look, or the weird way that Garry had tied a sweater around his waist, with the knitwear hanging down his front rather than the back. Perhaps people would think it was a new pseudo-kilt fashion.
“We really should get going.” Will didn’t seem to be able to let go of him; he held Garry’s elbow, slid an arm around his shoulder, touched his palm to the small of Garry’s back.
Garry had never been keen on public displays of affection, or so he thought. With Will, he couldn’t think of anything better. This was not only going to be the best holiday of Garry’s life, but the start of something really special.
Mum says men like you are happy.
The words echoed in his mind, in Emily’s little sing-song voice.
And he smiled as he strode beside Will towards the car hire counter.
A SLIM blond man stood on the upper level of the airport lounge and scoured the crowds below. “So where the hell is Lizzie now? She’s being such an idiot.”
A rather stockier young man stood beside him, the ends of soft chestnut hair brushing his smooth forehead, his wide jaw framed by a well-clipped beard. His gaze also searched the lounge, but they returned more frequently to his companion. “She’s your sister, Allen. You know she can be a very volatile woman. But she’ll turn up in time for the flight, don’t worry.”
Allen frowned. “And where’s Duke? One minute they were the happily married couple, hugging us goodbye on their way home to Hollywood, and next minute she and Duke were arguing in public like one of those obnoxiously melodramatic soap operas he stars in.”
“Duke is pacing the floor of the Duty Free, I believe,” his husband Leonard murmured. “Lizzie said something about how he couldn’t hold on to a decent role unless it were stapled to his dick. Then he said something rather inflammatory about her weight—pregnant gorillas were mentioned. There was a loud altercation and the pair of them split off in different directions. I think she’s still in the ladies’ room.” He grimaced. “There’d been some question of the coffee shop staff calling security. People were complaining
about the noise, and the threatening use of a Camembert and cranberry baguette.”
Allen groaned. “I know she’s family, but am I meant to be marriage counsellor as well as brother? She can’t keep her temper under wraps, and Duke’s no better. All he’s learned in movies is aggressive voice projection and a diva’s moods. I reckon I’ll have to leave them to sort it out between themselves.”
Leonard kept silent. From the carefully neutral look on his face, he’d come to a similar conclusion some time ago.
Allen turned to him, eyebrows raised. “You told me so, eh? And what’s worse, while I’ve been chasing after them both, our whole holiday schedule has suffered. All I wanted was to check the family in to their connecting flight, then go on to the Loch Lomond hotel to prepare for us all.” He peered out over the lounge again. “Do you think the guys have already arrived and gone? Don is bound to try and get the room with the view over the loch. Beth will inevitably get lost if someone doesn’t help her set the satnav. And I still need to confirm the numbers for tonight’s dinner, in case they all want the haggis. And Garry….” He paused, his face twisted with worry.
“Don’t worry about Garry.”
“But with Will overseas… with the miserable way Garry sounded when I last spoke to him….”
Leonard made a small but obviously significant gesture. He moved a step closer and for a moment his hand brushed against the small of the blond man’s back.
Allen seemed to tense up, then relax. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer. “Thanks.”
Leonard shook his head. “I just want you to know I’m here for you. Everything will be fine.”
Allen grimaced. “You know, I can’t remember if I told them all I changed my mobile number. I don’t suppose they’d have called you…?”
“Hell, no. Everyone knows I turn everything off as soon as I leave the office. My phone’s somewhere in the bottom of the case.”