by Wendy Qualls
“Leering works too.”
Dave had stopped bothering to keep the lube anywhere except right next to the bed anymore. Between his frequent morning wood and Lito’s visits, it was getting a lot of use. Lito poured himself a dollop, dumped the bottle back in its current place of pride, and turned sideways so he could get one foot up on the edge of the nightstand. The look he shot Dave over his shoulder was pure sin. “No moving,” he commanded. “Don’t think I won’t be able to tell.”
And then he let one slick finger trace gentle circles around his hole. The viewing angle was different than Dave was used to, but that just made it all the more mesmerizing. Lito teased himself with one fingertip, then two, then back to one as he finally sank it in to his first knuckle.
“Gotta get myself ready to take your thick cock,” he declared. “Two fingers, you think? Or three?”
Oh, no question there. Dave groaned. “Three. Do three. Let me see.”
“Leer away.” Lito refreshed the lube, bent over a bit more so Dave could see better, then worked his hole so thoroughly Dave was practically drooling by the end of it. If it weren’t for Lito’s bossy demand that he stay still, he’d have already launched himself across the mattress and planted his lips around Lito’s hole. Lito always made the most amazing noises when he was being rimmed…
“You can sit on my face if you want,” Dave volunteered. “God, you look so sexy like that.”
Lito twisted around to grin at him. “I will always want, but rain check on that. Right now all I want is to make sure—ooh, yes. You’re so hard for me now, aren’t you? God, I can see your dick twitching. You want this.”
Dave was aching, but he kept his hips still through sheer force of will.
“Three fingers, now. Watch.” Lito eased three fingers inside himself, dropping his head and hauling in a deep breath as he processed the change. His ass was gorgeous, of course, but the way the muscles in his back moved as he worked his middle three fingers in and out was pure art. Dave half-expected that if he could see Lito’s face, he’d see him beaming like some renaissance Madonna.
“You’re cruel,” Dave grumbled. “Flaunting that sexy ass and not letting me touch you. Or lick you. I still have the taste of your cock in my mouth. Fuck.”
“You like me cruel,” Lito countered. He did stand back up and wipe his fingers off with a tissue, though. Then reconsidered, added a bit more lube to his palm, and crawled back onto the bed so he could roll a condom onto Dave’s cock and slick it up a bit.
There may have been whimpering involved.
“Don’t move until I tell you,” Lito commanded. He swung a leg over Dave’s hips so he was kneeling over him like some sort of wrathful deity. A dead sexy one—his own cock was glistening with precome already, even though it had been several minutes since he’d fucked Dave’s mouth. “Your job right now is to lie there being jealous of how I’m able to do this.” He trailed his hand over his stomach, his chest, his peaked nipples, and finished the gesture off with a jaunty squeeze. One that had both of them sucking in a strangled breath. “I love this look on you, by the way,” he said quietly. “Naked from the waist down, shirt unbuttoned so I can do my own leering. The only downside is I can’t see your biceps. I have a bit of a thing for them.”
“You can take my shirt off the rest of the way,” Dave said. Or tried to—he didn’t make it much past “You can take—” before Lito had himself lined up over Dave’s cock and was sinking back down in one long, slow movement. His head was thrown back, eyes closed, and the deep groan he let out as he bottomed out at the base of Dave’s erection had Dave mentally reviewing memories of cadavers to keep from coming right there and then. When Lito opened his eyes again, his gaze was disturbingly sharp. It was then followed by that slow smirk that never failed to precede a toe-curlingly good orgasm for both of them.
“Love this thick cock of yours,” he murmured. “Feels so good inside me. I’m going to ride you until you can’t hold yourself back anymore, then I’ll keep riding you until you’re begging me to stop and I come all over those beautifully toned pecs. I’m not going to keep you from coming, you are. Because you know it will hurt like a bitch if you come before me and I don’t let you go.”
Oh fuck. Dave gaped up at him, words not even attempting to form into coherent noises. Because damn if that that little speech just made holding back worse. Lito was like a bronze statue come to life—the nearly bare chest gleaming with the effort he was putting in, the heavy swoop of his bangs falling into his eyes, the steady up-and-down as he reduced Dave to the role of a mere willing erection. Well, that and desperation. Lito saw it all on his face, surely. Saw it and didn’t give in.
Lito only sped up a fraction, but he did touch himself again. Pinched and rolled his nipples, splayed a hand over his belly, traced one lucky finger up and down his own cock as he took and took and took what he wanted. They’d had good sex before, but this time was transcendental. Dave was a hair’s breadth from coming, threat or no, when Lito finally stiffened and came in four warm bursts on Dave’s chest. He was in the middle of the third when Dave couldn’t hold back anymore and let the cresting orgasm sweep over him.
* * * *
Lito’s legs felt like they had turned to jelly, but he hauled himself off Dave anyway and stumbled to the bathroom to clean up. He brought back a damp washcloth for Dave too, who looked just as boneless. The dog noises from the living room had quieted, so presumably the three of them were all sacked out and dozing. It sounded like an excellent idea for him and Dave to emulate.
“Been looking forward to this so much,” Dave mumbled, not moving even when Lito took care of the condom and cleaned him up the best he could. “Get back down here.”
“One sec.” Lito shoved and pulled at Dave’s totally limp form until he got Dave’s shirt the rest of the way off, then he pulled the covers up and over them and nestled into the man’s side. The skin-to-skin contact was warm, comforting, and possibly even more wonderful than the sex had been, hard as that was to contemplate. “I missed you too,” he whispered against Dave’s neck.
The next thing Lito knew, daylight was streaming through the curtains and there was a wet tongue licking his bare foot. It took a moment to decouple the sensation from the dream he’d been having about how creative Dave could be in bed, but eventually it registered and he looked down to see Spot wagging her tail and nosing at the foot he’d left dangling off the edge of the mattress. She licked one final time and then, seeing he was awake, came farther up to snuffle at his face as well.
“Urgh.” He jerked back on instinct. The movement startled Dave, who had been curled around him and snoring gently into his hair.
“What—oh, it’s morning already. Hmmm.” Dave ducked back down to give Lito a short, morning-breath-friendly kiss, then sat up and stretched. “Yeah, the bedroom door doesn’t quite latch all the way, and Woozy figured out how to nudge it open a few days ago. I see Spot got elected greeter.”
“You could have mentioned that,” Lito said dryly. “Gave me a hell of a wake-up surprise.”
“I suppose they want to go out. I’ll be right back.”
Spot—no stranger to this new morning routine—followed him eagerly out of the bedroom. Lito was seriously tempted to curl back up where Dave had been lying. The sheets were still warm and smelled like him and it was probably early yet, but he forced himself to sit up anyway. They hadn’t gotten to the point where he was leaving clothes at Dave’s house, unfortunately, which meant putting back on yesterday’s travel-worn outfit. Crap. He did remember to bring a change of clothes along, but it was still in the car. Maybe Dave would be really, really swee…
“I put on coffee,” Dave announced, coming back sans dogs. Still naked. “The pups are tearing around their run like they’ve never seen daylight before—even Woozy, who’s usually more creaky in the mornings. I think they’re showing off for Spot.”
�
��You wouldn’t do the same?”
“Show off for Spot? Mmm, no.” Dave stretched casually, showing off the way his muscles moved and twisted. Damn. “For you, I might. Theoretically.”
He was practically preening, but Lito wasn’t about to call him on it and inadvertently cause him to go put on clothes. “You’ve got a lot to show off,” Lito said instead.
“So do you.” Dave looked Lito up and down, not even making a token attempt to be subtle. “Want to show off some more?”
“Not really up for a repeat so soon after last night, but—”
Dave laughed. “No, I get that. What I meant was, it’s karaoke day at the VFW tonight. Come flaunt that amazing voice of yours and I’ll sit there feeling like the luckiest bastard on earth while I listen.”
“I don’t have an amazing voice,” Lito said immediately. “I’m not terrible, but—”
“You forget, I’ve heard you. In the car, every time a pop diva comes on the radio.” Dave smirked. “And you do have a fantastic voice. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”
“It’s not every time,” he protested.
“Yes it is.”
“Only if you’ll sing too.”
“I’ll stick to country, but you’re on.” Dave wandered over to his walk-in closet and pulled out a bathrobe, which he tossed to Lito. “Let me guess—you’ve got clean clothes in your suitcase from your trip but you left them in the car, am I right? Give me a sec to shower and get dressed and I’ll go retrieve them for you.”
Chapter 15
Lito left Spot with her best canine friends and went back to his own house to shower and take care of everything he’d let slide while he was in Atlanta. Dave came by to pick him up just as he was finishing.
“You’re okay with eating seafood, right?” he asked once Lito was settled. “The VFW’s once-a-month fish fry is tonight too. It would be worth the trip all on its own.”
Lito sounded skeptical that the guys at the VFW made “the best fried catfish you’d ever taste anywhere,” but Dave managed to talk him into giving it a try. It ought to be entertaining—Lito could be so expressive, and Dave was looking forward to seeing how close his O-face compared to his “God this food is good” face. He’d seen both often enough to compare the two, but never in the same evening. Hopefully tonight was going to change that.
“I’m ready to be humiliated in public,” Lito announced as they pulled out of his driveway. “I doubt there’s anyone with less military potential than me, and I’m gonna be surrounded by guys all built like you.”
“That’s not true. A lot of them are really old now,” Dave teased. “Quite a few have walkers and canes.”
“Jackass.”
“You love it.”
Lito laughed reluctantly. “Yeah, I do. But it does still feel weird to be going to this place I don’t belong.”
“Trust me,” Dave assured him. “You’re social, you’re friendly, and you’re good-looking. You’ll be fine.”
Lito was silent for a few minutes. Then… “I just realized this is our first time going out in public public together. The first we’ll be around people you know, other than the team. Is this…is it a date, or am I just your totally platonic friend for the evening?”
Okay, so they were going to be a bit later than he’d planned. This conversation was starting to sound like it needed his full attention, though. Dave pulled into the closest parking lot and turned the engine off, the better to talk face-to-face. “What brings this about?”
“Oh, you know.” Lito gave a seriously unconvincing shrug. “I’m not exactly subtle about my orientation. It would be pointless to try to pass for straight—I’d never come across as all that masculine even if I tried. Plus that’s really not me. I’m used to the stares and the comments and the micro-aggressions, but I’m guessing you’re probably not. So if you want me to play the part of your totally straight ‘friend’ who just happens to look and sound a bit ‘gentle-if-you-know-what-I-mean,’ tell me ahead of time. It takes me some time to get all the way into the right mindset and I don’t want to embarrass you.”
Dave was surging forward to kiss the idiot before he even realized he was doing it. When he pulled back, Lito was smiling but still had a wary look in his eyes. “I told you I’m not in the closet,” Dave said.
“Not to the team, but I didn’t want to presume—”
“Not to anyone.” God, it was important to get this right between them. For Lito to understand that they did have this in common. “I don’t go around volunteering information about my sex life, but I’m not trying to hide anything either. Some of the other vets know I’m gay and some don’t, but that’s just because it’s never come up.”
“Have you ever brought a date with you to something like this, though?”
It had been ages since Dave had last gone on an actual “date”—including, he realized, ever having gone on a real one with Lito—so it wasn’t an easy question to answer. “I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “But that’s more about my lack of dating anyone than about trying to stay in some metaphorical closet.”
The wary look in Lito’s eyes gave way to a sad one. “Is that by choice, or the lack of local options?”
“Bit of both, I suppose.” There were occasional token efforts to have some sort of inclusive social justice event, but “lesbian/gay” was usually lumped in as an afterthought behind the black/white thing, the “there are other minorities too!” thing, calls for awareness of various disabilities or diseases… Black Lake wasn’t going to be hosting a Pride parade anytime soon. “There are other gay men in town, I’m sure you’ve found out by now, but not enough of us to really have a community.”
Lito sighed. “I’d hoped I was missing something, but I guess not. That sucks.”
There’s always Nashville. Maybe he could take Lito up there sometime, show him off a bit. Spend the night grinding on each other until finally holing up in their hotel room and fucking like rabbits for the rest of the weekend. The idea had definite appeal, but he didn’t want to jinx it.
Lito looked out the window and stayed silent for the rest of the drive.
The small parking lot was half full when Dave pulled in, suggesting they were going to have a decent turn-out. Fish fry nights always brought more people to karaoke, although not all of them stayed for the singing. If the first two or three karaoke hopefuls were all terrible the hall would clear back out to its usual dozen or so regulars pretty darn quickly.
Dave did note the absence of Rick and Sharon’s van. Since he only decided to go out tonight after he woke up and enjoyed some lazy morning sex with Lito, though, he and Rick hadn’t discussed going together this time. While Dave knew most all the vets and many of their spouses by sight and about half by name, it would have been nice to have at least one other actual friend there besides Lito.
Lito was oddly subdued as they made their way past the bar and into the main hall. The designer side of him must have been cringing, Dave realized—the VFW was practically a memorial to the mediocre-est the sixties had to offer. Renovating had never been a priority and the old-timers liked what felt familiar, so wood-paneled walls and vinyl floors it was. The bar itself was a thing of tacky beauty, a giant block of oak paneling with beer signs all over the side. It also had Janine, one of the few female Vietnam vets Dave had ever met, behind it. She gave them a nod and a smile as they passed.
“What do you think?” Dave asked Lito quietly.
Lito snorted. “About like I expected,” he murmured back. “Although it feels like the flags should all have forty-eight stars instead of fifty, with the time warp y’all have going on in here.”
“You’d do better?”
Lito gave him a look that said you damn well know it loud and clear.
The main hall was just as bad, Dave realized as they made their way in. It looked like every summer camp dining room ever, inclu
ding the uncomfortable folding chairs and the rows of rectangular tables. It also smelled heavenly. If heaven had fried catfish, at least. Dave steered Lito to the end of the short line of people with Styrofoam plates and plastic forks, waiting for the next batch to come out of the fryer.
“Dave! Good to see you!” A bald man whose name Dave could never remember came up and gave him a hearty clap on the back. “Been a while since we’ve seen you at a karaoke night, but I’m glad you’re here! And you’ve brought a friend?”
He was clearly expecting an introduction, but it was about to be hella awkward when it ended up entirely one-sided. Dave could have told Lito about the guy’s two kids, his Harley, the fact that the only beverage he’d drink was Diet Coke and he got hell for it regularly…but not his name.
Lito, as usual, was perceptive. He took in Dave’s expression at a glance and clearly just understood. Instead of waiting for Dave to do the formal so-and-so here’s so-and-so thing, he offered a handshake and a bright smile.
“I’m Lito Apaza,” he said brightly. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too—I’m Jake Finnegan. You here for the karaoke, the fish fry, or both?”
Lito shot a sideways glance up at Dave’s face. “Both, apparently. I’m told I’ve been deprived of experiencing the best fried catfish I’d ever taste. And I’m curious to hear whether Dave can sing.”
Jake—Dave knew that, had reminded himself of the guy’s name a hundred times in the past—laughed and faux-slugged Dave on the arm. “You’re in for a surprise, then,” he teased. “You wouldn’t expect a big guy like him to have such an impressive falsetto, but he’s a killer at karaoke death matches. Speaking of which.” He turned to Dave. “Chad is here tonight too—you up for a rematch from last time? We haven’t all been to the same karaoke night in ages.”
“I’m probably going to wish I hadn’t asked,” said Lito, “but what on earth is a karaoke death match?”
Jake grinned. “One person sings, but the previous person picks their song. Anything in the book. The goal is to make less of an ass of yourself than the other guys. You want in? There’s not a formal winner, per se, but often it ends with us buying the winner’s beers.”