Art of Love (Valley Boys Book 1)

by Vicki Tharp

  Demetri sucked Roman’s finger clean, giving him a wink, then rolled out of bed. “Come on. We could both use a shower.”

  They showered together. A perfunctory, utilitarian task and not the least bit sexy. Roman washed Demetri’s back, but when he got to the good bits, Demetri stepped away spewing some bullshit about having had a long day and being tired and blah, blah, blah.

  Something was wrong.

  That knowledge burned into Roman’s bones. Melted into his marrow. As they climbed into bed, he wanted to press Demetri for more, but the sadness and melancholy in Demetri’s eyes had Roman swallowing down the words. Whatever Demetri was hiding gnawed at him, too.

  He had mercy on Demetri and let the matter drop. At least for now.

  “Roll over,” Demetri said.

  Roman rolled to his other side. Demetri lay behind him and curled up against Roman’s body. With Roman’s size, he usually played the big spoon. But something about having Demetri’s arms around him holding him tight, his lips pressing into the space between Roman’s shoulder blades, soothed the unease that had begun brewing in his belly.

  Maybe he’d read Demetri wrong. The fright of almost losing his job had to have hit Demetri hard. He couldn’t imagine how he’d react if the roles were reversed and it was his life and career that had narrowly avoided disaster.

  Reaching over, Roman clicked off the lamp and snuggled back against Demetri.

  If anything, Demetri’s hold only got tighter as if he feared Roman would disappear.

  Little did Demetri know, Roman had no plans to go anywhere.

  They woke in the same position that they’d fallen asleep, though sometime in the night, they’d kicked the covers away. Two men in one bed produced a hell of a lot of body heat, and Roman welcomed the cool air when the air conditioning clicked on.

  “What time do you have class,” they both said at the same time.

  Demetri laughed and pulled Roman in tighter, his morning wood lining up with the crack of Roman’s ass. “I don’t have to be anywhere until ten.” He stroked a lazy hand down the length of Roman’s thigh. “What about you?”

  “I have an eight o’clock class.” Roman wiped the sleep from his eyes and glanced around the room. “What the hell time is it anyway?”

  Demetri rolled to the other side of the bed and checked his phone. “Almost seven.”

  Roman groaned and flopped onto his belly, trapping the cold bottle of lube beneath him. He left it. He could sleep for another ten hours, easy.

  Demetri bit him playfully on the ass and climbed out of bed. “I’ve got to piss.”

  Roman sat up as Demetri padded into the bathroom.

  Palming the bottle of lube, he opened the nightstand drawer and tossed it in. Something caught his eye, and he opened the drawer wider. There. In the back. He picked up the unopened box of condoms. The bottom dropped out of his stomach. All those old insecurities slipped free of their bonds and thumbed their noses at him.

  Demetri could have forgotten they were in there.

  Maybe.

  Maybe not.

  The toilet flushed, and Roman tossed the box of condoms to the back of the drawer.

  “I’ll make you some coffee for the road,” Demetri said as he walked into the room naked, his hair sleep tussled.

  With his thigh, Roman quietly slid the nightstand drawer closed.

  Demetri drew up short. “Everything okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?” Roman retrieved his clothes from the floor and quickly dressed. “I need to go. I’ll take a rain check on that coffee, yeah?”

  13

  Demetri didn’t know what happened. One minute everything seemed fine, and then he’d flushed, and it seemed like everything positive that had happened the night before had flushed down the pipes as well.

  Roman was... off.

  Demetri padded after Roman, down the hall and into the den wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs he’d thrown on as Joss walked through the front door with his toolbox.

  “Hey.” Joss bobbed his chin as Roman passed by.

  Roman did the head-bob thing as well, catching the front door before it closed.

  “Wait up.” Demetri hurried through the den and stopped Roman before he could leave. “I’ll call you later?”

  Roman’s sour expression softened. “That would be great.”

  Demetri pulled him in for a lingering kiss but broke it before he got a full-blown hard-on. He lowered his voice so Joss wouldn’t overhear. “Thank you for staying.”

  Roman gave him a quick peck in answer and headed for his car. Demetri stood there in the open doorway and watched him leave.

  “If you’re trying to keep this thing with Roman on the down low, you might not want to make out with him in full view of the neighbors while you’re half-naked. Just a thought.”

  Demetri closed the door, shaking some sense into himself. “Am I thinking with the wrong head?”

  Joss buckled his tool belt around his waist. “I don’t know if you can blame all of this on your dick. Maybe your heart is partially responsible.”

  Joss had a bathroom to finish. He didn’t wait around for a reply. With the Santa Anas expected to come to an end soon, he’d be up flying again and have much less time for his side job.

  Demetri prepared a pot of coffee and left Joss to his work. Despite his colleague getting caught having an affair, Demetri felt optimistic about him and Roman for reasons he couldn’t quite explain. But Joss was right: he couldn’t spend the next months until the semester ended sending Roman off in the morning standing at his front door in his underwear. They’d have to be more discreet than that.

  While the coffee brewed, Demetri put on a pair of shorts and took the kitchen garbage into his single-car garage. A garage that had never seen a car, at least not in the time Demetri had owned it. He had too much junk strewn about. Art supplies, mainly, that he’d meant to organize a year ago.

  He dumped the garbage into the bigger can, opened his garage door, and took the can to the curb. On his way back, he glanced up and down his quiet street. Mostly working families. Out early. Back late. But Demetri didn’t think for a moment that if Roman’s car were at his place every night that someone wouldn’t notice.

  And if they noticed, they might ask questions.

  But if he showed up at Roman’s apartment, the consequences could be worse. Roman’s apartment complex was only a few blocks from the college. Demetri couldn’t expect to go there often and not see another one of his students.

  He returned through the garage, tripping over the leg of an old easel laying on the floor. He hit the button for the garage door opener. Slowly, the door came down, closing him off from the rest of the world.

  And potentially nosy neighbors.

  Then again, if Roman parked in his garage...

  Demetri pulled his phone out of the pocket of his shorts. He still had a couple of hours before he had to leave for campus. He put on some tunes and went to work organizing his garage and making room for Roman’s car.

  Later that morning, he walked onto campus with a spring in his step and an optimism he hadn’t felt for a long time. Maybe it was the garage remote in his pocket he’d brought to give to a certain someone who made his heart giddy and his dick hard that would account for his optimism.

  He didn’t have a class with Roman that day, but he knew Roman hung out at the coffee shop near the student center between classes the same way half of the student body did.

  The student center wasn’t on Demetri’s way to the art building, but he veered off and headed for it. He’d stop for a coffee even though he’d drunk a pot all by himself as he’d cleaned and organized. He hadn’t had enough time to make the garage perfect, but it was enough to squeeze in a small car.

  Demetri paid for a coffee at the counter and glanced around while he waited for his order. He immediately spotted Roman in the corner by the front window, his laptop open as he typed away.

  “Demetri,” the barista called o
ut as she set his cup on the counter.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roman’s head pop up and a smile slide across his beautiful face. Demetri wound his way through the tables, some occupied, some empty. None of the students paid him any attention except the man who’d warmed his bed the night before.

  “Mr. Reed,” Demetri said as he stood by Roman’s table.

  “Fancy meeting you here, Professor Stavros.”

  “I have class coming up, but...” Demetri set the garage door opener on the table, his body blocking the view from the other students.

  He put a finger on it and slid it over to Roman, dropping his voice when he said, “I figured you could use this.”

  Roman palmed the clicker, and Demetri wanted to kiss that mischievous smile off Roman’s face. Roman must have seen it in his eyes because he gave a little shake of his head and said, “Later.”

  Demetri set his coffee on the table. “Promise?”

  Roman nodded and commandeered Demetri’s coffee.

  He left Roman with coffee in his hand and a promise in his eyes. Night couldn’t come fast enough.

  Demetri pushed through Exeter’s front door Friday evening, fifteen minutes early. And if Niko’s shoot ran late, Demetri could be waiting a while.

  He bellied up to the bar, nodded to acquaintances, and casually eyed a few of the scantily clad men as he waited for his rum and coke. Not that the men particularly interested him. Not when Roman had warmed his bed most nights that week.

  “What’s up with you?” Phil, the bartender, said as he handed Demetri his drink. “You look mighty pleased with yourself.”

  “It’s been a good week.”

  Hard for it not to be when he thought he had the answer to his dating a student problem. And add to that, a few nights of cooking dinner with Roman, of chilling out and snuggling on the couch.

  And the sex.

  World-tilting, star-exploding, all-consuming sex.

  Even if it was getting harder and harder to come up with ways to have sex that didn’t cross the personal lines Demetri had set.

  A few more men came through the front door, the pop music coming through the speakers set a booming beat in Demetri’s blood. Phil waved at the guys who came in. “Looks like it’s going to be a decent night, too.”

  As small as Sneaky Pete’s was, it didn’t take many people before bar stools and tables filled, and people had to stand elbow to elbow. He kept his spot at the end of the bar, with a clear view down the back hall to the dark backroom. A place where men liked to go to grope and suck and fuck.

  With the popularity of the apps, not many of the gay bars had a back room anymore, and he appreciated that Sneaky Pete’s and its patrons protected theirs. Even as he thought that, two guys he didn’t know hurried down the hall and disappeared behind the curtain.

  A hand landed on Demetri’s shoulder. “You wishing that was you back there?”

  Demetri turned around, making room for Niko to take the open seat beside him. “Makes me nostalgic more than anything.” He glanced behind Niko, but no one had come with him. “Where’s Vin? You leave him tied up at the house?”

  “Not in the way he’d like. He’s editing the shoot from this morning. We have a quick turn around on that one, and he wanted to get started.”

  “You know it’s the weekend, right?”

  “That was his decision. I tried to get him to come.”

  “You need to try harder. Vin will work himself to death trying to please you, and you know it.”

  “You’re right.” Niko pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit Vin’s number. Vin must have answered because Niko said, “Stop what you’re doing and get your ass down here.” Then Niko chuckled. “They’ve got a backroom. Why don’t you come down here and show me who’s boss?”

  He hit end. Demetri couldn’t tell for sure because of the dim lighting, but it looked like a blush rose to Niko’s cheeks. Niko refused to meet Demetri’s gaze and instead raised a hand and caught Phil’s attention.

  When his whiskey arrived, Niko took a sip. “You figure out your little problem?”

  “I think.” Demetri swirled his glass, and the ice cubes clinked together. Without a good way to ease into it, Demetri spit out his plan. “I’m going to resign at the college and work for Abe Franklin at Premier.”

  “The art gallery?” Niko sputtered and wiped his chin with the cocktail napkin. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Did Roman suck so hard that your brains came out of your dick?”

  “Don’t be an asshole.” Demetri didn’t put much heat behind the words because now that he’d voiced the plan, it did sound kind of crazy, not to mention a rash solution to a temporary problem.

  Niko leaned in, even though between the din of voices and the music, the people standing near had little likelihood of overhearing. Not that anyone at the bar would give a flying fig who Demetri fucked, student or not. “What’s gotten into you, besides Roman’s dick?”

  Demetri shot Niko a look, but it bounced off Niko’s Teflon shield without leaving a scratch. “It’s not like that.”

  “You haven’t told him yet.” It wasn’t a question, and Niko wasn’t referring to the job offer.

  Demetri shook his head, feeling like the kid who’d hidden his bad grades from his parents. It’s one of those things that you couldn’t keep secret, not from the people who mattered.

  “You have to tell him.”

  Demetri sat back, his mouth gaping open before he caught it. “You’re the one who told me not to disclose.”

  “This is different. You’re about to make a huge mistake. You’re so close to getting tenure, and you’re about to throw all that away for a man who is operating under false assumptions and partial truths. And you would fucking hate the gallery. You’re a teacher, Dem. That’s what you do. You’d wilt under the hot, stifling lights of a gallery, discussing someone else’s work instead of making your own and showing others how to make theirs.”

  “You think I’m being hasty.”

  “I think you’re being stupid.”

  Demetri drained his rum and coke and asked for another while he stewed. Niko stayed beside him, giving him the space to think. He hadn’t realized how long they’d both sat there in silence until Vin squeezed in between them.

  “If I’d known this was a funeral, I would have stayed at home.”

  “Sorry, babe,” Niko said. He gave up his seat and called Phil over to get Vin a drink.

  Demetri shoved his half-finished drink across the bar and stood. “Hey, Vin. Glad you could come, but I need to go.”

  He headed for the door. Neither the raised voices nor the music could drown out Niko’s parting words. “You know I’m right.”

  Demetri flipped Niko off over his shoulder without looking back.

  Whoever said you shouldn’t drink alone didn’t have an opinionated cousin who thought he knew best.

  14

  “You’re quiet,” Roman said. He’d driven over that morning having left his car in Demetri’s garage so they could carpool to the community lot. Today would be the first day that kids came to help, and it was going to be a long, exhausting, fun day.

  “Didn’t sleep well last night.” Demetri turned past the community lot and pulled into the parking space.

  “I would have thought without me there, you would’ve been able to get a lot more sleep.”

  “You would think.”

  After the great week they’d had, sliding into Demetri’s car that morning to find him in some kind of mood, smudged a little bit of light off Roman’s. That feeling that Demetri was holding out on him refused to go away.

  As a kid, he’d had the same buzz in his brain, like someone tapping his shoulder trying to tell him to look, to pay attention, that something wasn’t right with his father. That he should have asked more questions when his father started losing weight, and his energy had declined until he could hardly get out of bed.

  Though Demetri looked as good as he always did, Roman co
uldn’t deny Demetri’s issue felt as world crushing. Roman had hoped that the more time he and Demetri spent together that that feeling would ease, but it had only intensified.

  And every time he pressed Demetri, asking him if he were okay or if he wanted to talk, Demetri brushed him off. As bad as the push and pull had been with Demetri trying to decide if they were going to see each other or not, this was worse.

  At the city parking lot, Demetri shifted into park, leaving the car running. For a second, Roman feared he’d drop him off instead of staying for the day to work.

  Demetri stared out the windshield. “We need to talk.”

  Roman settled back into his seat. “It’s about time.”

  Locking eyes with Roman, Demetri said, “Tonight. Promise.”

  He wanted to shake Demetri and maybe make those words spill out unguarded. Working all day knowing he had this thing hanging over his head would make the hours long and his temper short. Just when he needed patience the most working with the kids. But Roman saw Demetri’s resolution flaring as strongly. If Roman pushed now, he’d be unlikely to get any answers.

  So he’d agree.

  And he’d wait.

  As difficult as that would be.

  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  “I hope that you do.” Demetri leaned in, threading his hand behind Roman’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss. “I missed those lips last night.”

  “I missed a lot more than your lips.”

  Demetri chuckled, some of the tension easing. “We can make it up to each other tonight.”

  Roman and Demetri spent most of the day apart, working on different aspects of the project. Except for lunch. And the demonstration Demetri gave the kids showing them the best way to hold the brush and showing some of the older kids basic painting techniques such as blending and shadows.

  The kids had the adults outnumbered, even with Grant’s fiancé tagging along and closing the Center so Vondra could help. Tavi and Remy took a couple of the older kids to work on the superhero wall, outlining the superheroes and the buildings so the younger kids could paint between the lines.