by Ari McKay
“First things first,” he told himself firmly, as he checked his appearance one last time. This date was definitely going to be casual, but Jason didn’t think it would hurt to do everything he could to make sure Tomy noticed him. So he had donned his favorite pair of jeans, faded by washing but hugging his hips in a way he knew would be noticed, and a white polo shirt that showed off his tan. He drew in a deep breath, picked up the hamper, and left the house.
Tomy lived in a condo in a nice area not too far from the Peralta studio. Jason parked his SUV and went to the door, ringing the bell and hoping the wide smile on his face didn’t make him look weird.
It wasn’t long before Tomy opened the door, smiling a welcome up at Jason. He was wearing khaki shorts and a navy blue shirt with sneakers. “I hope I’m dressed okay. You mentioned a picnic, so I didn’t know how much walking would be involved.”
“You look great,” Jason said. He was glad Tomy was smiling rather than looking nervous, and he reached out to take Tomy’s hand, giving it a squeeze. He would have preferred to pull Tomy into his arms and kiss him, but that would have to wait. “Are you ready?”
“Do I need to bring anything?” Tomy asked, hovering with his hand on the doorknob. “Blanket, ice chest, bug spray?”
“No, I’ve got it all covered,” Jason replied. “All I need is you.”
Tomy’s smile turned bashful, and a hint of pink bloomed in his cheeks as he closed his front door and locked the deadbolt. “Well, here I am, so I guess we’re ready.”
“Then let’s go.”
Soon they were on their way, heading south down I-85. “I hope you don’t mind a picnic,” Jason said, glancing at Tomy. “I figured we might as well take advantage of the nice weather, especially since neither of us get to spend too much time outside, given our jobs.”
“You’re right about that.” Tomy paused, gazing out the window contemplatively. “My parents have been bugging me to get out more, but work has been a good outlet since December, and it’s not like I have much else to do.”
“Don’t you have any hobbies you enjoy?” Jason asked. “You get plenty of exercise, given your job, so I imagine you don’t need to work out, but there are movies and museums.” He grinned. “And knitting, of course.”
“I don’t really enjoy going to movies or museums alone,” Tomy admitted. “Knitting has grown on me, but I’m getting a little tired of dish towels. I think I’m ready to try something more challenging.”
“Good, that’s the spirit!” Jason nodded enthusiastically. “Maybe it’s time you tried some lace? That’s a lot more challenging. There are shawl patterns that you could make as gifts for your mother and sister, if you were interested in doing that.”
Tomy nodded slowly. “Maybe if I found a pattern I think they’d like. What about socks? Or maybe a hat knitted in the round? I haven’t tried that yet.”
Jason considered for a moment. “I think you’ve advanced enough to try out something on double-pointed needles. Of course, it might lead to some frustration at first, so be prepared. Juggling four needles is quite a bit more difficult than two.”
“I can just imagine.” Tomy chuckled. “I’ve heard Lola cussing like a sailor because something she was knitting in the round got twisted. I never understood what she meant before, but I think I get it now.”
“Oh, yes.” Jason laughed, thinking of his own mishaps when learning to knit in the round. “How about starting with a hat? Then you can move on to socks, if you’re feeling feisty. The hat would be on larger needles with thicker yarn, so it’s easier to get the hang of it and see the stitches.”
“That sounds perfect.” Tomy’s dark eyes lit up with anticipation. “You’ll have to help me pick out a pattern.”
It was great to see Tomy looking so excited about knitting, and Jason hoped he could do other things to put the sparkle back in Tomy’s eyes. “We can do that after the picnic, if you’d like,” he replied, then nodded at the oncoming exit. “We’re almost to our destination. I hope you’re hungry!”
“I am. What did you bring?” Tomy asked, watching him curiously.
“Fried chicken, potato salad, rolls… and a few surprises.” Jason winked at him. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Jason had carefully chosen the picnic site. Lullwater Park was near Emory University, and it was a beautiful, quiet haven of nature for a place so close to the city. He parked the SUV in a tree-shaded space. “I’ll lug the picnic basket and cooler, if you can get the bag with the blanket and pillows in it,” he said to Tomy. “We aren’t going far.”
Loaded down with supplies, Jason led Tomy along a dirt trail through the trees. Ahead, he could hear the gurgle of water, and as they stepped into a clearing, a small creek lay before them, chuckling merrily along its stone-lined bed. There was also a double-tiered waterfall and the ruins of a watermill tower on the opposite bank.
“So what do you think?” he asked, turning to look at Tomy, hoping the charm of the spot was something Tomy would enjoy. “We can picnic right here if you’d like.”
“This looks great.” Tomy opened up the bag and pulled out the blanket and pillows to set up their picnic area.
Jason lowered the basket and cooler to the ground, and between them, they quickly had a nice little area set up. A few people wandered by, taking the trail past them down to the creek, but for the most part, it was quiet. Pleased, Jason settled himself back against a pillow and opened the cooler.
“I brought iced tea and wine,” he said, raising one eyebrow as he looked at Tomy. “What’s your pleasure, sir?”
“I say if we’re going to indulge, we should go all the way.” Tomy stretched out on his side, relaxing with the innate grace of a dancer. “Let’s have the wine.”
Jason couldn’t help that his eyes strayed down the length of Tomy’s body, the sight making him ache with longing. But he pulled his gaze away and nodded, retrieving the wineglasses he’d brought—real ones, because he wasn’t about to give Tomy wine in plastic—then opening the bottle of Chardonnay Ana Lucia had told him was Tomy’s favorite. He handed one glass to Tomy, then leaned toward him, touching their glasses together. “Shall we drink to first dates?” he asked softly.
“To first dates.” Tomy smiled and took a sip of his wine. “Although I feel like we’ve already had a first date with the wedding. This one is just more official.”
Jason nodded as he took his own sip. “Well, the wedding involved a lot of other people, so I think it only counts as half a date. This one, I get you all to myself. So maybe call this our first date and a half?”
Not that it mattered, he supposed, except Jason liked to remember little things like birthdays and anniversaries. This was an anniversary he hoped to get to celebrate with Tomy in the future, at least until they had the possibility of a more official one to call their own.
“You get me all to yourself during your lessons,” Tomy pointed out. “Although I guess that doesn’t count since I’m busy running your ass ragged around the dance floor and correcting your frame,” he added playfully. “So no lessons and no other people this time. What do you want to do with all this undivided attention?”
Jason had an answer for that. “Spend time with you, which I enjoy. Get to know you better,” he said. “I know we’ve talked a lot already, but I want to know what else you like to do. Where you see yourself in ten years, find out whether you prefer the beach or the mountains, if you like to travel, where you’d like to go… that sort of thing.”
Tomy didn’t reply right away, focusing on toeing off his shoes instead, but he appeared to be thinking about the implied questions. “In ten years, I’d like to be in charge of the studio, not still answering to my parents when it comes to making decisions. I’d rather go to the beach than to the mountains because those curvy roads make me nervous. I love to travel, and there are a lot of places I’d like to visit, including Argentina. I’d like to get in touch with my roots.” He glanced at Jason, one eyebrow quirked. “What about y
ou?”
“I prefer the beach too,” Jason replied. He couldn’t help smiling, pleased that Tomy seemed interested. “I love to travel, but I haven’t done any since I opened the shop. Argentina would be cool—and Peru. I’d love to go to Egypt one day and see the pyramids in person.” He took a sip of his wine. “Did your grandparents talk about Argentina much? It must have been a huge change for them, moving to America.”
“It was, and I used to love listening to their stories.” Tomy snorted and shook his head. “My grandmother never got tired of telling how she stopped traffic on the streets of Buenos Aires one day while dancing with Granddad. She claimed it was her legs. He claimed it was her cleavage.”
Jason laughed. “Oh, that’s wonderful!” he said. “Maybe it was both? I’m sure she was even lovelier in person than in those posters in the studio. And your grandfather… wow. Even in the photograph, I can almost feel his presence, his charisma. You seem to take after him quite a bit too.”
Tomy preened a little, obviously pleased by that. “That’s what everyone in my family says. I look a lot like him, and I have presence on the dance floor like him. You’ve never seen me compete, so you haven’t seen that side of me yet.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Maybe a little when we danced the tango the first time. But it’s different when I’m teaching versus when I’m competing.”
A little shiver went down Jason’s spine when he remembered the power he’d sensed in Tomy during that tango. “If it’s stronger when you’re competing than teaching, I guess I’m going to have to try really hard to get good enough to experience that for myself.”
Tomy laughed, watching Jason with eyes sparkling with mischief. “Are you sure? I dial it way back when I’m teaching. We all do, because we need to be encouraging with our students. They don’t have the experience, and in some cases, they don’t have the talent that other professionals do. We have to be patient and work with them on their level. When I compete, I’m dancing with someone who’s trained as long and as intensely as I have. We expect more from each other, and we go all out because we can. Because we have to if we want to win.”
“I’m sure,” Jason said firmly. He wanted Tomy in every way possible, and if that meant he had to work his ass off, then so be it. He’d done it before, he could do it again—and he wanted Tomy far more than he’d ever wanted any bowl win or trophy. “You can push me as hard as you want. I can take it.”
“Why would you want to?” Tomy shot a puzzled frown at him. “The wedding is over. I thought you’d be done with dancing.”
Telling the complete truth was out of the question at the moment, so Jason had to improvise. “I really, really enjoyed it. I guess I’m still a competitor at heart too. It felt good to push myself again, to challenge my body to do what I wanted it to do.” He raised one eyebrow. “What do you think, Teach? Think you could turn me into a real dancer? Do I have what it takes?”
“To do what, exactly?” Tomy still looked puzzled. “Keep learning new dances, improve the old ones until you’re as good as a professional? To compete? What exactly is your goal?”
To be a part of your life. One you can’t imagine living without. Jason smiled at his own wishful thinking. “To be as good as you are,” he replied instead. “Or at least as good as I can be. I know you have years and years of practice on top of natural ability, but I figure I might as well dream big, if I’m going to dream at all.”
Tomy’s eyebrows climbed to his hairline as he studied Jason in silence, and at long last, he held out his glass. “Then here’s to new goals. If you want to learn how to dance like a pro, I’ll teach you.” His smile turned evil. “Just remember you asked for it.”
Jason was relieved Tomy hadn’t turned him down. He wasn’t necessarily looking to compete as a dancer, but he’d never forget the experience of dancing the tango with Tomy. He wanted to be good enough that Tomy wanted to dance with him. He wanted to banish the ghost of Sean from every facet of Tomy’s life. He wanted to be Tomy’s partner in every sense of the word, and since dance was a central part of Tomy’s life, Jason would make it a central part of his as well—just not the most important part. Sean was an idiot for losing sight of what really mattered: it wasn’t the dance, but who you danced with.
He touched his glass to Tomy’s. “I did ask for it. I don’t know if I’ll succeed with my knee being what it is, but it’ll be fun to try. I’ve needed a new goal for a while, and now I have one. One I think will be even better than football.” He didn’t bother to elaborate. Let Tomy think he was talking about dancing for now. “So, Teach—or should I call you Coach? Do I get one last meal before you begin your reign of terror?”
“Oh, yes, eat up. You’ll need it.” Tomy smirked at him.
This was a new side of Tomy, but Jason liked it. He seemed more confident, and Jason could see more of the inner fire he’d noticed when they’d first met. He’d let Tomy work him to death if it helped Tomy get over Sean.
“Then let’s dig in,” he said, giving Tomy a heated smile. “I hope you’re not above me buttering up the teacher, so to speak. I brought a triple-chocolate cake with fudge icing for dessert. I’m angling for a position as teacher’s pet.”
“The fudge cake will definitely get your teacher’s interest,” Tomy replied. “But it’s your footwork that’ll get you to the head of the class.”
“I promise to be a very motivated pupil.” Jason would probably be the most devoted student Tomy had ever seen. If he was very lucky, he’d win the grand prize—not any trophy, but something even more precious—Tomy’s heart.
Chapter Nine
“I’VE MESSED it up.” Tomy put the charcoal-gray cabled hat on the counter and gazed mournfully at Jason. “There’s a big hole in it, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
According to his mother, he’d dropped a stitch, but she’d hedged on helping him repair the damage. “You should go to the expert,” she said, meaning Jason.
It was, Tomy knew, her “subtle” way of throwing the two of them together despite the fact that they already saw quite a bit of each other these days. Jason had two formal lessons every week now, and sometimes their dates turned into informal lessons as well, although Jason was getting good enough that Tomy was starting to think of him as a partner rather than a student.
He’d wanted to knit the hat—his first cable project as well as his first in-the-round project—as a present for Jason. With as much help as he’d needed with it, however, the only surprise about it would be that it was intended as a gift.
“Will I have to start over?”
Jason picked up the hat, looking at the problem area, then smiled warmly at him and shook his head. “No, this should be easy enough to fix. It’s something you should learn anyway.” He reached under the counter and came up with a crochet hook. “Basically what happens when you drop a stitch is that the column of stitches down the fabric slips apart. All you have to do is weave them back together again. Come around here, and watch over my shoulder. It’ll be easier for you to see.”
Tomy skirted around the counter and stood beside Jason, looking at the hat but acutely aware of Jason’s warm, solid presence and spicy scent. Even though they’d been dating for a few weeks now, they hadn’t even kissed yet, which was due to Tomy’s reticence about rushing into anything physical. Oh, his cock was all in favor of jumping into bed with Jason, but the rest of him had reservations. He didn’t want to make the same mistake he’d made with Sean by moving things along too quickly.
With Sean, he’d been the aggressor, the one who planned and initiated and took the lead. He’d worked hard to keep Sean happy, but with Jason, it was different. He felt like he was being wooed, and he liked it.
“So I don’t need to frog it?” he asked hopefully. Jason had explained that knitters called unraveling their unfinished projects “frogging” because they had to “rip it” back. Cabling was so slow, especially for someone who wasn’t used to working with that many needles, and he hated to think about ripping out
all the progress he’d made, or worse, starting over completely.
“Oh, no, not at all.” Jason slipped the crochet hook into where the stitch had unraveled all the way back to the first row. “Now watch. You catch the yarn directly above, and pull it through the loop, like that. Then you pull the next strand up through, and the next.” Jason went slowly, demonstrating a few times. “See? Are you ready to try doing the others?”
“Sure.” Tomy took the project and the crochet hook, poking his tongue out as he slowly and painstakingly wove the strands into place, closing up the hole. It took a while, but he sighed in relief to see the hat all in one piece. “Thanks! I was afraid I’d have to start over, and I really didn’t want to. I’m trying to get ahead for Christmas.”
“Now’s the time to do it,” Jason said. “Starting over sucks when you’ve put a lot of work into something, but there are ways to fix most things or to at least sort of cheat in a way that isn’t terribly noticeable.”
“I’m glad I have an expert on hand to show me all the dark and dirty knitting tricks,” Tomy teased as he carefully tucked the hat back into his project bag.
A slow smile curved Jason’s lips. “Oh, there are all kinds of tricks I could show you,” he replied silkily, sliding off his stool and rising to his feet. “You’re not quite ready for them yet, I think. But when you are, I’m sure you’ll let me know.”
The interesting thing about being courted, Tomy thought, was that it was doing good things for his confidence. He had no doubt that Jason liked him and found him attractive, and while he still wasn’t ready to make any big, bold moves, he found himself growing comfortable doing little things. So when he felt the impulse to slide his arms around Jason’s waist, he did, tipping his head back so he could smile up at Jason.