by Ana Newfolk
“Fuuck, Isaac!”
“Still want to talk about how my gay cat is in love with the neighbor’s dog?”
“Nope, I hate pets. Carry on.”
He chuckled but obliged, tormenting my rock-hard dick with his licks and pulls.
I leaned up on my elbows to see how he looked with his soft lips around me. Fucking gorgeous.
When he saw me he stopped. “What are you staring at?”
I pulled him up to me. “You. What you do to me has no words I can use to describe.”
He kissed me softly, biting my lower lip as he withdrew.
“I need you, Max. If all we have are the next few days then let it be about us. No misunderstandings, no barriers, obligations, or expectations. Just… us.”
I’d be damned if I couldn’t give him just that.
Isaac was grinding against me, trying to get some friction and relief, but I held his hips up and turned him so I could take his cock in my mouth. If he was seeking relief, I was going to need to taste him first.
I hadn’t lied on the beach. Isaac really was the best thing I’d tasted in my life.
“Oh yes, fuck, like that. Oh fuck, Max, stop, or I’m going to come.”
“Come for me, baby. I want to taste you.” I crawled up to kiss him and loved how he sucked on my tongue to taste himself. “I promise the night won’t end until we’re done.”
I crawled back down and made good on my promise.
It was a shame I couldn’t keep the same promise for the rest of our lives, because if it was my choice there was no way I’d ever be done with Isaac.
Chapter Ten
Isaac
Knowing Max would have to go back to New York hadn’t made an ounce of difference when it came to falling in love. I wasn’t doing a particularly good job hiding it either.
It was especially easy to ignore his upcoming departure when he was lying naked in my bed, his body so close to mine we could be mistaken for one person.
“Isaac,” he said in his sleep as he held me tighter. I thought he was about to wake up but his breath evened out against my neck, his soft sleepy purr teasing my ear.
Over the last week we’d spent every single minute together. Max had taken an interest in the Foundation so while I was working he’d been happy to talk to the young guys and girls that used it socially. He’d even done a few safe sex sessions.
He had a great way with kids; he gave them the information they needed to be safe without sounding like a patronizing adult, and when they’d behaved like teens and defaulted to crude jokes he’d joined right in.
At some point I’d leaned on the doorframe of the room they were in to listen in on the session, and they were laughing so hard I’d gone almost unnoticed.
“I got one,” João had said. “Don’t make a mistake, cover your snake.”
“Plug the funnel, and then enter the tunnel,” Diana had said.
“No shirt, no flirt.”
“Lame.” The kids had all shouted at Max’s attempt.
“Isaac,” Rui had called, making everyone turn to the door where I’d been standing, “we’re making up condom slogans. Can you do better than Max?”
“No glove, no love,” I’d said, sitting down next to Max.
“Ugh, please tell us we won’t stop being funny as soon as we turn thirty,” João had said.
Both Max and I had thrown cushions at him.
In a few short days Max had built relationships with the volunteers and had joined forces with Tiago against me.
I hadn’t had a decent coffee at work all week because they’d hidden everything, including the sugar bowl. They knew I wouldn’t have coffee without sugar.
I would have planned some kind of revenge but between the shortage of caffeine and the lack of sleep because Max was keeping me up all night, I didn’t have the energy to plot.
It was good to see Max and Tiago getting along but it was also another reminder that he’d be missed once he was gone, and I wasn’t sure how I would handle that.
The other place Max had left his mark was with my family. We’d had dinner with Alex, Joana, and Sofia again, except this time they’d come to my apartment. Max had become a surrogate uncle to Sofia, teaching her the difference between him and Max, the cat.
He was convinced that when she said Ma she was really saying Max. I didn’t have the heart to tell him Ma was the only word she knew, and it meant Mom, Dad, I’m hungry, and the least favorite, I’ve done a smelly poop.
Throughout dinner Alex had kept looking at me in a way I couldn’t quite decipher. It was like he was happy, settled, like everything was right for him, but there was also an undercurrent of sadness.
Even the cat hadn’t fussed over having to spend more time with the neighbor—since he got to cuddle up to her dog more often. I was wondering if at some point he was going to decide he no longer wanted to live with me.
He’d stopped attacking Max every time he turned his back, but then again he’d also taken to ignoring us a lot more. Well, not unless he wanted food, in that case he was all over us like a rash, especially when he realized that Max was also a trained cat-food-pouch opener.
In less than a week Max and I had developed a kind of domesticity and closeness. After we’d cleared everything up there had been no hiding from our feelings, even though we hadn’t voiced them out loud.
Maybe it was because we knew this would be temporary so any time thinking or talking about what was to come was just time we weren’t enjoying ourselves, time we weren’t buried in each other’s bodies, drinking in our combined essence.
And fuck if the time we’d spent in bed hadn’t been earth-shaking, life-altering good. There was no doubt that I would never enjoy sex with another person in the same way as I had with Max, I didn’t even want to.
Last night he’d edged me to the point of insanity. I’d come so close to orgasm so many times, and each time he’d stopped just short of finishing me off. I’d thought I was going to self-combust the moment I finally came to the best, most toe-curling, skin-flaming orgasm of my life with Max deep inside me. While he’d been busy edging me he’d done nothing to relieve his own hard cock so when we’d followed my orgasm with his I swear I’d heard him sob against my neck.
Having this chance with Max made me so happy. We’d become closer not just as lovers but also friends. Somehow I knew that whatever happened in the future we would always have a special bond, something unique that went beyond the physical connection.
I was also heartbroken that life had given us this amazing gift, but had also put that enormous ocean between us.
Traveling to New York again was a possibility, and Max would no doubt come to visit, but it wouldn’t be the same as having him all the time.
And what would happen when he found someone else? How would I feel seeing him with another guy when I felt down to my core that he was my guy?
“If you don’t stop thinking so loud I’m going to do a repeat of last night.” The threat came accompanied by a very hard cock nudging against my naked ass.
“I’m sorry, you’re right. I’ll stop thinking.” I turned around to face him and let out a small moan when our morning erections touched as he moved his body to accommodate mine.
“We were in this exact same position ten months ago. It’s more painful now,” Max said as he moved his hand from brushing the curls from my face to resting on my neck.
“But it also feels different, less final. I know we can’t be together, Max, but I’m not going to stop caring about you. I just hope we’ll have plenty of reasons to see each other in the future.”
“I’m sure we will. Joel and David are three custard tarts away from getting married, anyway.”
I gasped. “You think so? That would be great. I didn’t see much of them before they left for New York but I know they are insanely happy.”
“We were always destined to meet,” Max said as he weaved his fingers around my curls.
“Do you think?”
&n
bsp; “If we hadn’t met in New York last Christmas we would have met at the club that night.”
He was right. I wondered how different things would have been. Would we have got together in the summer?
“I guess with David and Joel being together it was only a matter of time until you got your hands on this piece of ass,” I said.
“What, this one?”
He squeezed my butt and pulled me even closer.
“I bet we’ll end up as best men at their wedding,” he added.
“You know best men are meant to get it on at the wedding. It’s a rule, right?”
Max laughed. “This is probably the most mature conversation we’ve ever had,” he said as his hand slid down toward my chest where he teased one of my nipples. “How about we bring the tone down a few notches?”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked, grinding my hips against his, and feeling his breath catch when our cocks rubbed deliciously against each other. There was already wetness against my belly where one of us, or possibly both, was leaking precum.
“Oh fuck, Isaac. I need to feel you inside me. One last time. Please, baby.”
I took hold of his cock and pulled, applying a tiny bit of pressure. “What if I want you inside me?” I teased.
“Keep doing that and there will be no one inside anyone.”
As much as I wanted to play this cat-and-mouse game I also didn’t want to waste any precious time I could be inside Max for what was likely the last time.
I turned Max so he was lying on his back with me flat on top of him. My heart was beating out of my chest as I looked into the dark pools of his eyes.
I kissed him like our very existence depended on it. It was easier than looking at him and blurting out that he should stay here with me forever. Besides, with him grinding his hips against mine, there wasn’t much blood left in my thinking head.
When I could tell he was close to coming, I eased our grinding, and moved slowly down his body, placing soft butterfly kisses on his chest and belly, his abdominal muscles contracting at my touch.
I loved the contrast between Max’s hard, defined muscles, and how ticklish he was.
He rested his hand on my head in warning and I chuckled, and then moved back up and bit his nipple. He let out a throaty sound I knew meant I needed to get on with it or he’d flip us over and fuck me instead.
I contemplated that for a moment. I’d love nothing more than to feel Max inside me, but my ass was suitably sore from last night, and I was more than willing to give him the same. I knew why he wanted it.
We were both hoping this feeling would carry us over until we were on our respective sides of the ocean, and by the time it subsided, there would be no other option but to carry on with our regular lives.
That thought made me snap into action. Max had already put a condom and the small bottle of lube on the bed so it didn’t take long for me to suit up and start preparing his inviting hole for my cock.
He made it easy for me by grabbing hold of his legs and pulling them up to his chest. The sight alone was nearly enough to make me come, so I found myself thinking about anything but Max so I wouldn’t be tempted to get inside him before he was ready.
“Isaac,” he cried, “please, baby, I’m ready.”
I made one last pass of my fingers on his prostate.
“Fuck, fuck. Isaac!”
That was it; I’d taken it too far. In three-seconds flat I found myself lying on my back and it was my turn to gasp in pleasure as Max straddled me and guided my hard cock into his hole.
I held my breath and rolled my eyes under my closed lids. He was so tight and warm.
“Look at me, baby.”
Max grabbed my hands and held them above my head.
“Max, I need all of you. Please.”
He leaned down and covered the rest of my body with his, wrapping his arms around my neck. I was pinned under him, his weight grounding me. I released my hands from his and placed them on his hips to keep him in place while he wrapped his arms around me.
“Baby, I’m close,” he whispered in my ear.
I was getting there too, so I kept my pace slow and steady before placing my feet flat on the bed, which changed the angle I was coming at him with.
The first time my cock touched his prostate he shouted. When I kept doing it over and over while increasing my pace, Max’s mutterings were nothing but unintelligible words.
We were both hanging by a fine thread. When my mouth ran away from me, and I whispered in his ear, “I love you, Max,” that was it. We both came simultaneously.
The explosion in my chest was like nothing I’d ever felt before. There were specs of light dancing in my eyes, my ears were ringing, and my chest pounding, but it was the undeniable feeling of love that was overriding everything.
“I love you too, Isaac.”
I should have panicked that I’d confessed my feelings for Max just as he was about to go back to Manhattan, but I didn’t. I’d expected some kind of moment, or revelation, but it didn’t come. All I felt was relief, because despite everything, loving Max was as natural to me as breathing.
Max’s eyes were locked with mine. His smile lit up my heart like a bonfire and I knew then what I should have guessed all along. He felt exactly the same way.
We didn’t need to be at the airport until later so we stayed in bed a little longer. Lying in each other’s arms, hoping time would freeze. When that didn’t happen we got up to take a shower and get ready.
During our late breakfast the weight of missing Max was already taking over. Even the cat seemed more subdued, which was very unlike him.
Fuck, this was going to be hard.
We arrived at Lisbon airport too early. Part of me wanted to draw out the time I had with Max, and the other part wanted him gone so I could hide away in my apartment feeling sorry for myself.
“Do you have any regrets?” Max asked.
“None at all. I would do this all over again given half a chance.”
“Me too. Anytime.”
We stood there in the area between Departures and Arrivals locked into an embrace neither of us wanted to break.
Around us people were moving with purpose, eager to start their holiday or meet their loved ones, go away for work, or maybe come home.
“What are you thinking about?” Max asked.
“If all these people here had their hearts floating like a balloon above their heads, how many do you think would be full, deflated, or burst?”
“You are an amazing person. I never stood a chance, did I?”
“Of what?” I asked.
“Not falling in love with you.”
My breath caught in my throat and it took me a while to recover. I knew my reply didn’t carry the lightness I wanted to convey.
“Well, I am pretty awesome.”
“You sure are.”
Max kissed me tenderly. It was a kiss that made me want to rip my chest open just to check there was still a heart beating inside.
I didn’t think there would be; after all, I’d given it all to Max so it would be traveling on that airplane back to Manhattan. I just hoped one day I could be reunited with it again.
Diogo arrived with his family shortly after. I watched as Max turned into the caring nurse, reassuring Diogo’s family that he’d be safe in Manhattan and that he had a family in the Liberty Center.
His uncle was in the process of working out a transfer to his company’s Manhattan offices. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long.
I drove from the airport on automatic pilot. I couldn’t remember if the traffic was light or heavy, if I had the radio on as usual, or not.
The image I had permanently etched on my mind was of Max’s face as he’d gone through the departures gates with Diogo.
The look in his eyes had told me everything he was feeling.
I knew we would see each other again but it wouldn’t be the same.
We would just be friends whose best friends were a cou
ple. Friends that had a shared history. But that was that.
When I opened the door to my apartment Max jumped into my arms, and that was when I allowed myself to finally break apart.
I fell to the ground on my knees, holding my cat to my chest, letting the tears run free.
I jumped when a pair of arms pulled me into an embrace. I hadn’t even realized I’d left the door open.
The embrace was familiar; but while the arms, the aftershave, and the feeling of comfort were right in so many ways, it wasn’t what I wanted in that moment.
“Alex.” My voice was strangled and muffled against his shirt. “What am I going to do now?”
“Shh, let’s go sit on the sofa.”
Alex helped me up and guided me toward the living room.
The view from the balcony no longer had the same appeal.
I used to sit on the sofa looking out but now all I could see was Max and I making love on the rug right in front of the balcony after seeing the sun setting in the distance.
Alex put a glass of cold chocolate milk in front of me.
“I haven’t had chocolate milk since forever.”
“Chocolate milk makes everything better. Remember when you studied really hard for that test and then when you got to class you realized you’d studied for the wrong subject?”
I remembered it. Days and days of studying my most hated subject, chemistry. I’d still done well in the test since it was history and I’d been obsessed with ancient Greece and Rome but I’d come home furious with myself.
Alex had brought me our favorite drink, saying that now we could play with the games console all day because I’d already studied for the next test.
“I’m not sure it can make this better.” I drank it anyway, enjoying the cool milk as it went down my throat and settled in my stomach.
“Can I be the big brother for a moment?” Alex asked.
“You’ve been my little big brother for a long time now.”
“No. I want to be the big, big brother.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Go on.”