by Alexa Land
He glanced at me and asked, “You really think I’m exceptional?”
“Of course I do.”
“Nobody’s ever said that about me. Just the opposite. The guys I dated in the past thought I was uptight and boring.”
“Well, then they didn’t know you at all.”
Duke grinned a little and said, “It’s nice to feel appreciated.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and said, “You can tell me it’s none of my business, but I’m curious about your love life before I came along.”
“It was a slow-motion train wreck. For the most part, I dated guys I met at this gym I belonged to. I didn’t want to try dating anyone at work or church, and I don’t go out much, so that ended up being my main social outlet. But I guess that gym was basically a meat market. Most of the men I went out with were only interested in sex, and they couldn’t begin to understand why I’d possibly want to wait. I thought the last guy I went out with was different. This was about a year ago. He said he was fine with waiting, but on our third date, he tried to get me drunk and force himself on me. I already started out with trust issues, and that was the last thing I needed. I took a big step back from the singles scene after that. I also stopped going to that gym. Instead, I bought some equipment and started working out at home, and my life became a lot less complicated.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
“It is what it is.” He picked up his pineapple and took a sip from the twisty straw, then said, “By the way, these are nonalcoholic. I wasn’t going to liquor you up on our date.”
“It’d be fine if they were boozy. I know you’d never take advantage of me.”
“Yeah, but still.”
I ate another sushi roll, and then I glanced at Duke and said, “It sounds like you were pretty isolated for most of the last year. Did you get lonely?”
“I wasn’t really alone. I’m usually at work, and Finn has become a good friend. When I was off duty, my roommate Cole kept me company. We’d often have meals together, which was nice. Sometimes we’d invite Xavier to join us.”
“I’m glad they were there for you,” I said. “But I guess what I’m asking is, didn’t you miss the intimacy?” I ran my hand down his arm to show him what I meant.
“You can’t miss what you never had. Even when I was going out with people, it was never like this. Honestly, I felt more alone when I was dating than when I decided to take that year off.” When I straddled his lap and wrapped my arms around him, he murmured, “Please don’t feel sorry for me.”
I hugged him tighter and said, “I’m not, I promise. I’m just filling the well.”
“What does that mean?”
“You didn’t get enough hugs and touches and kisses before. It was like a drought. So now, I’m going to hold, kiss, and caress you so much that it fills you up inside.”
“So I’ll be ready for the next drought?”
I rested my forehead against his and grinned. “No. Totally not what I meant.”
I ran my hands over his short hair and kissed him, and Duke smiled against my lips before whispering, “You’re so good for me.”
“Ditto.”
I leaned back and caught a sushi roll as it motored on by, then fed it to him. On the next lap, I got one for myself. We proceeded like that until all the sushi was gone, and then he asked, “Ready for dessert?”
“Literally always.”
I relocated to one of the patio chairs beside the fire pit, and Duke draped the blanket over my legs before heading to the kitchen. A few moments later, he called, “Close your eyes.” I slapped my hands over my face to keep myself from peeking and could hear Duke moving around close beside me. Finally, he said, “Okay, you can open them.”
I pulled my hands away and whooped with delight at what was waiting for me on the patio table. Duke had turned a batch of his big, fluffy sugar cookies into a bouquet by mounting them on skewers, then arranging them in a vase tied with a wide, rainbow-striped ribbon. Tulip- and daffodil-shaped cookies mingled with cats, a couple of Totoros, dragons, crabs, and a single Santa Claus, who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Each cookie was bright, colorful, and meticulously decorated, fanning out in a dazzling display, and I yelled, “Oh my God, it’s amazing!”
He grinned and said, “I tried to include stuff I knew you liked. The Santa and dragons are a reminder of the first night we baked together.”
“And the crustaceans are from when we played crabs in my pants.”
“Exactly.”
“Where did you get a Totoro cookie cutter?”
“I made my own with a pair of pliers and a snowman shape.”
“Wow.” As I studied all the little details, I said, “You need to sell these. Not to get all capitalistic on you, but seriously. This is absolutely jaw-dropping.”
“I didn’t invent the cookie bouquet. Lots of places sell them.”
“Not like this they don’t! I’ve never seen one so whimsical and totally personalized. Plus, your decorations are perfect and your cookies are the best I’ve ever had!” I carefully framed up a shot of the bouquet with my phone and snapped a photo.
“You really think people would pay for something like that?”
“They’d be lining up and begging you to take their money! I’m posting this on Facebook and Instagram. Just watch, people are going to go crazy over it.” I uploaded the photo and a quick caption, then watched my post for a moment and grinned. “It got a like already. And there’s a love.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Duke, you have to start baking for a living. Not only are you fantastic at it, but it’s what makes you happy! No matter what ends up happening with your job on the police force, you owe it to yourself to give this a shot.”
He studied the cookie arrangement and murmured, “I’d love to, but I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Well, with a commercial kitchen, I suppose. Cole and River rent one for their catering business, and you could do the same thing. Or, you know what? Maybe you could work out a time share with them and split the rental cost! You tend to bake at odd hours anyway, and I bet their kitchen is sitting empty at three a.m.”
“That’s a good idea,” Duke said. But then he shook his head. “There’s just no way, though. I’d never be able to run a business on my own.”
“You won’t be on your own! I can be your delivery boy, baking assistant, salesperson, whatever you need. Hey, you know what you should do? Bake a few big centerpieces and donate them to Nana’s charity auction! That’s a total win-win: delicious treats for her guests and lots of exposure for your new business! We just need a name. Duke’s Delectable Delights? Bangin’ Baked Bouquets? Oh man, I have an alliteration fixation.”
He said, “We can’t start a business.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for one thing, it takes a lot of capital to get a company off the ground. I don’t have very much in savings, and if I end up getting fired, I’m going to need every penny to live on until I find a new job.”
“You know what you do have, though? Me. I believe in you, Duke, and I have plenty in savings to get this business off the ground. We don’t just have to limit it to bouquets, either. What if we packaged individual cookies and sold them at some of the local coffee houses? Lots of bakeries already do that, but no one is out there selling rainbow-colored sparkly dragons! Look how amazing that is!” I pointed at the perfect dragon in the center of the bouquet, which glistened with edible glitter. “These cookies are made for the Instagram generation. Plus, they’re absolutely crave-worthy. Oh hey, Craveable Cookie Creations! Damn it, I need an alliteration intervention. What would we need to get this business off the ground? A license obviously, a kitchen, and a ton of ingredients, but what else?”
Duke thought about it as he sat down beside me, and then he said, “A commercial mixer, I guess, and ways to package the products, including labels. If we were selling locally, we’d need a delivery van, and if we were going to be s
hipping from a website, we’d need to figure out how to package them so they wouldn’t break in transit.” He exhaled slowly, and then he said, “But people don’t just up and decide to start a company. It takes planning, market analysis, a business plan, and a hell of a lot more.”
“That’s not the only way to launch a business. Look at River and Cole. They’re running a successful catering company in an incredibly competitive market, and I know for a fact they didn’t start out with anything but a love of cooking.”
“I’m probably not going to get fired though, and when I go back to working sixty hours a week, I won’t have enough time to devote to a business.”
“So quit! You’d be so much happier if you were baking for a living.”
“I’d never be able to pay my mortgage. Selling cookies wouldn’t turn enough of a profit, especially not at first.”
I took his hands in mine and said, “Right now, this house owns you, not the other way around. Why don’t you sell it and get that weight off your shoulders?”
“And then what? You know how expensive it is to rent just about anything in this city. If I quit my job and started a business, it could be years before it became profitable. What would I do in the meantime?”
“We’d figure something out.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t work for me, Quinn. I’m not like you. I don’t have it in me to take a leap and trust that everything will work out. I don’t have a safety net like you do, either. My parents and I were already on thin ice, and after that fight with my dad, I’m on my own.”
“No, you’re not. Like I said, you have me! That means you also have my family. If you end up selling the house and quitting your job to start a business, they’ll make sure we’re okay. Both of us, you and me.”
“That’s sweet, but I have to be able to take care of myself.”
“Come on, Duke, go after what makes you happy! You’re worried about what might happen if you fail. But what if you succeed? What if you take a leap and soar?”
“It’s so easy to say: quit your job, sell your house, start a business and follow your bliss. But I’m not that guy, Quinn. I can’t live with that kind of uncertainty. I need to know I have a steady paycheck coming in, and a roof over my head, and that I’m going to be okay.”
He paused for a moment, and then he said, “Just so you know, I’ll probably always be like this. I’ll keep doing what’s safe and avoid taking risks. You should think about whether you can see yourself with someone like that. Even if it doesn’t bother you now, will it, somewhere down the road? You have so much freedom. You can act on a whim and go anywhere and do whatever you want. Now imagine us as a couple, one or two or ten years in the future. Imagine me in the same job, still struggling to pay the same bills, and still living the same quiet little life. Would you feel tied down? Would it drive you crazy? Or worse, would you end up resenting me for all the fun you missed out on by settling down with someone like me?”
I met his gaze and said, “God, I hope I’m lucky enough to still be with you ten years from now. You’re talking about these hypothetical things I’d be giving up, but look at all I’d gain!”
“Like what?”
“Like you, Duke! Ending up with you wouldn’t be a burden like you’re trying to make it out to be, not by a long shot. It’d be the most amazing gift imaginable!”
After a pause, he grinned a little and said, “We suck at dating.”
“How so?”
“We both keep talking about the future and making all of this so complicated, instead of just enjoying today. Why is that?”
“It’s because we both feel something real developing between us,” I said, “and we can’t help but wonder how your life and mine are going to fit together.”
He thought about that, and after a few moments he nodded. “You’re right. That’s exactly why we keep doing this.” Duke leaned in and kissed my forehead before plucking a crab-shaped cookie from the bouquet and handing it to me.
It was absolutely adorable with its blue eyes, glossy orange shell, and little smile, and I felt guilty about eating it. But my sweet tooth won out, so I bit off a claw and savored it, and then I murmured, “These really are fucking awesome.”
“I’m glad you like them.” Duke went over to the wading pool and shut off the boat parade, then straightened up and stuck his hand out, palm-up. A moment later he said, “Well, crap. There was only supposed to be a twenty percent chance of rain.”
A few raindrops landed on me, and I exclaimed, “Oh no, save the cookies!” I rushed inside with the bouquet, then returned to the yard to help Duke. The bar was on wheels, so we rolled it to the door and lifted it over the threshold, and then he placed a mesh grate over the fire pit and went around and extinguished the tiki torches. Meanwhile, I brought in the blanket, dishes, and pineapple drinks. By the time we unplugged the palm trees and fit them into the house, we were both pretty soggy.
We stood just inside the kitchen doorway and watched the rainfall for a minute, and Duke said, “It actually rains a lot in Hawaii, so technically, the theme’s not ruined.” He turned to me and added, “I was going to hang up a bedsheet and project movies onto it for the next part of our date, but we can do that indoors, too. Right now though, we need to dry you off. You’re shivering.”
He took my hand and led me to his bedroom. We both hung our leis over a chair in the corner, and he brought me a fluffy, white towel. I scrubbed my hair with it before unbuttoning my romper and stepping out of it. That left me in nothing but a pair of Superman briefs with a short, red cape over the rear. I’d selected them specifically because I was trying not to make the date about sex and had planned to keep my clothes on. But I decided I’d probably swung way too far in the opposite direction, so I plucked off the detachable cape and tossed it aside before running the towel down my arms and legs.
Duke chuckled at that, then came up behind me and kissed my shoulder. When I handed him the towel, he ran it over his face and hair, then stripped down to a pair of wonderfully snug navy blue briefs and finished drying off. He was mind-blowingly sexy, but I tore my gaze from all of that bare skin and tried to think about pretty much anything else besides climbing him like a tree and doing all sorts of nasty things to him.
He began massaging my shoulders, and when I sighed with pleasure and leaned into him, he said, “Why don’t you lie down so I can do this properly?”
“Yes please!” I took a flying leap onto his bed and landed face-down with a bounce. Fortunately, that position hid the growing bulge distorting Superman’s emblem on the front of my briefs.
Duke straddled my thighs and grabbed some lotion from the nightstand, which he squirted into his hand. He rubbed his palms together and went to work on my neck and shoulders, and I told him, “That feels fantastic.”
“Glad you like it.”
In an effort to stop thinking about sex, I began rambling aimlessly. “We built some set pieces before rehearsal today and it was surprisingly strenuous, so this massage is just what I needed.”
“Is there much more to do?”
“Tons. Dare wants the set to keep evolving throughout the performance. Some of that’ll happen with colored lights and panels of fabric, but then there are also the giant plywood canvases.”
Duke kneaded my right shoulder as he said, “I can help if you want. I’m pretty good at building stuff.”
“I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
“I’m planning to contact your friend Darwin to see about helping with the shelter fundraiser, too. I figure I should do something useful with all this free time.”
“That’s great! I’m volunteering, too. This weekend, I’m going around to a bunch of local businesses to see if they’ll donate items for the silent auction.” My eyelids slid shut as he began working his way down my back, and my rambling ran out of steam. I murmured, “You’re so damn good at this,” before making a weird little sound that was just this side of a purr.
He massaged my lo
wer back for a couple of minutes before running both hands all the way up my spine. I’d been doing a decent job of calming the hell down, but when Duke leaned forward, his cock grazed my ass, and it was like flipping a switch from ‘perfectly innocent’ to ‘do me now.’ I had to force myself not to shudder with pleasure, or squirm as his big hands ran over my body and his bare thigh rubbed against mine.
I was less than successful at hiding my reactions though, because Duke said, “You’re shivering again. Want me to turn on the heater?”
I cleared my throat and managed, “No thanks. I’m good.” Then I started doing long division in my head, in a desperate ploy to kill the back-with-a-vengeance hard-on that was pinned against the mattress. It felt like it was about to raise me up from the bed like a jack under a car. I accidentally let a quick burst of laughter slip from me at that mental picture, probably because all the blood had rushed from my brain to my dick, leaving me borderline delirious.
Apparently Duke was growing accustomed to my randomness, and he took the laughter in stride. He slid down a bit and worked on one leg, then the other before rubbing my feet. But then he ran out of things to massage and said, “Why don’t you flip over, so I can keep going?”
“Um….”
“Or we can be done if you want. Feel like watching a movie?”
“Sure, let’s do that.”
When Duke climbed off the bed and started to leave the room, I got up, glanced down at myself, and sighed. My cock was sticking out at a sharp angle and straining against the fabric of my briefs. I looked like a sun dial.
He turned back to me and asked, “Everything alright?”
“Oh yeah. I’m good,” I said as I kept my back to him. “Top notch. A-okay.”
“Except for that huge boner.”
I glanced up and noticed both of us reflected in the window to the left of the bed. Duke was smiling at me with his arms folded across his chest. I colored slightly and murmured, “Except for that.” I turned to him and tried in vain to push it down as I said, “Tonight wasn’t supposed to be about sex, and I know we’re taking it slowly and all that, but you look really fucking sexy in those briefs, and I have the self-control of a hormone addled fourteen-year-old.”