by Haley Walsh
“What?” said Keith. He glanced at Skyler for a moment and smiled.
“Nothing.” Embarrassed to be caught staring, Skyler looked out the window instead. They soon came into a town they had passed earlier. Lone Pine was bigger than Independence, but not by much. It was more touristy, with lots of gift shops with Indian motifs, but it also had fly fishing outfitters, hunting gear shops, and lots of restaurants, mostly of the café and diner variety. Keith pulled up to another kitschy dream of a café and parked in front. They walked in together and the waitress seated them. Pictures of old time movie actors lined the walls, and all of them were signed.
Skyler looked around at the quaint décor, the pictures on the walls, the plastic gingham tablecloths. “Why do they have all this old movie paraphernalia?”
“Don’t you know? I’m surprised, Mr. Old Movie Buff. Lone Pine is the place that loads of old movies were shot. In the Alabama Hills just outside of town. Gunga Din, The Charge of the Light Brigade, tons of westerns. The movie stars stayed here, too. That’s why every place in town has these signed pictures.”
“Wait. You mean the 1939 Gunga Din with Cary Grant? That Gunga Din?”
“Yes. And every October they have a movie festival, with old stars featured as guest speakers.”
“What? And I didn’t know about this?”
“Living your sheltered life in Redlands.”
“Well…we have to come!”
“I’ll probably have a game that weekend.”
“Oh shoot!” He dug his hand into his chin and stared at the photos above their table.
“But we can do the tour in the Alabama Hills tomorrow,” said Keith. “If you’re up for it. I saw a guide book back at the hotel. It shows all the places they shot what movie.”
“Yes! That’s sounds cool.”
They ordered. Keith had the chicken fried steak and Skyler partook of the local trout almandine. And afterward they each had a slice of pie.
Sated and relaxed, they returned to their room just as the sun was setting. They sat outside on their porch holding hands and watched the sun move along the rugged peaks.
When the light finally dropped away, so did the temperature and back inside the room they went. They sat on the bed in their underwear watching old movies on the flat screen and as Rita Hayworth began dancing and singing, Keith bent over Skyler and started kissing his face. Skyler turned his head and took the man’s lips, pouring all his emotions into the kiss. Skyler’s arms trailed upward and clutched Keith’s neck, and soon Skyler slid down the bed. Keith rolled on top of him, bracing himself on either side.
The kiss intensified. His mouth opened wide to take in Keith’s tongue and to do his own exploration. They both moved their mouths, lips burnishing lips. When he tore away to take a deep inhale, Keith gave him a steady, heated gaze. The man didn’t have to say anything. Skyler knew what he wanted. Skyler wanted it, too.
He kept his own gaze fastened to Keith’s as he wriggled out of his underwear and tossed it aside. Slowly sliding his hands behind his knees, he pulled his legs high and wide, baring himself to Keith.
Panting, Keith scrambled to get rid of his own underwear and searched around for the lube. He pounced on it, squeezed some on his fingers and gently fingered Skyler, opening him.
Skyler closed his eyes and laid his head back on the pillow, breathing deeply. “That’s okay,” he said softly. “I’m ready for you.”
Keith lubed himself and knelt before him, grabbing the back of Skyler’s thighs to steady himself. He slid inside with a deep groan, waiting for Skyler to wriggle and get comfortable, and then began to thrust.
Skyler moaned at the deep sensations, feeling both an abundance of lust and love for this man above him. And then the sensations quadrupled when Keith reached down and clutched Skyler’s cock in his lubed hand. He stroked and Skyler let out a harsh breath. He wanted to throw back his head but he also wanted to keep his gaze on Keith’s face and forced his eyes open.
Keith’s hair fell over his eyes as he pounded away but his steady gaze with those sexy blue eyes fastened to Skyler’s and wouldn’t yield. “God, Skyler,” he grunted, biting his lip. The muscles of his chest and arms bunched and flexed. It was all so intense, from the sensations deep in his ass reaching up to his balls, to the intimacy of Keith’s gaze that went straight to his madly beating heart.
It was all so much, so much coming at him from all directions. And suddenly Skyler’s cock gave a lurch in Keith’s tight grip. He shouted out his orgasm, spilling over Keith’s hand, just as Keith jammed his cock in once, twice, and then came hard, grunting, bucking his hips until Skyler’s ass was sore.
Keith slowed to a stop and breathed, head hanging below his shoulders. Skyler’s legs went around him and his arms reached up, smoothing up his chest to his shoulders and pulled. He lifted his face to receive Keith’s kiss and then the man dug his face into Skyler’s shoulder, breathing in hard rasping breaths, until they slowed enough for him to plant his lips there, and he kissed the skin of Skyler’s neck and jaw before rolling to his side, facing Skyler.
The movie played on behind them.
Keith’s gaze had softened from its earlier intensity but he was still looking at Skyler’s eyes and face. “How did I get so lucky?”
Skyler blinked languidly. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
They kissed, soft pecks, tender licks, touching with fingertips on chins and eyebrows while the television flickered its gentle light over their sated faces.
§ § §
It wasn’t a bad few days. They had brought their swim suits, thinking they’d use them in the lake up in Onion Valley, but made use of the pool instead during the hottest part of the day.
Later, Skyler went to the office and found some books patrons had left behind. Most were racy romance novels, but one or two were hardcover oldies from a bygone era and he would read the cheesier parts aloud to Keith when they were by the pool or on their porch.
They made friends with other hikers who had just come down from their backpacking trip to stay on a reasonably soft bed, and Skyler made them laugh by telling the exciting tale of his brush with spider death.
Keith spent a couple of days fishing in the local creek and taught Skyler about catch and release. Skyler caught his first fish—a trout about four inches long from nose to tail—but Keith took a picture of the proud fisherman anyway and posted it to his Facebook page. Skyler was happy to let the poor little guy go to grow up and be caught another day.
They did their self-guided tour of the Alabama Hills, and took a hike around Whitney Portal, the trailhead to the climb up Mount Whitney. It was a far more relaxed climb with no altitude problems.
But all good things must come to an end, and after the week was over, it was time to head home. Skyler had his job to start at the museum and Keith had football kids to deal with. On Sunday, they waved good-bye to their little kitschy motel room, packed up the truck, and headed out.
“That turned out all right,” said Keith cheerfully as he drove back down the highway.
Skyler sighed. “I’m still sorry about it.”
“Don’t be. Maybe we’ll do some car camping. You know, drive to the mountains, get a spot in a campground, have our campfire. There are also flush toilets in some of them. And showers.”
“Sleep on the ground,” groaned Skyler.
“Ah, but with car camping you can bring an air mattress.”
“What’s that you say? Air mattress?”
“Doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?”
“Well…maybe. Next year.” He hunkered down in the seat as they approached civilization. San Bernardino spread out before them as thousands of tiny lights on a dark plain. It was funny to already be thinking about next year with Keith. And the next year after that.
Skyler wondered at the person he was becoming. He’d always thought he liked the man he was, but he realized he was becoming more. And he liked that, too. Maybe he wasn’t the manliest of men, but Ke
ith thought he was. Keith liked the man he was inside—and that made him chuckle a little—but Skyler was getting to accept that man, too. No more hiding. No more denial. He was proud of that man. He was what he was, and no one was gonna stop him.
He hummed “I’m Coming Out” and though he had finally come out just last year, he felt for maybe the first time, this time, that he’d done it for keeps.
THE END
AUTHOR’S AFTERWORD
Sometimes I inject some autobiographical details into the books that I don’t (and in some cases won’t) tell you about. But this time was different. In the case of the “Backpacking Trip”, that is absolutely autobiographical, and I think you can guess that I wasn’t “Keith.” Yup, it all happened, every bit of it…from the hikers with the frying pan, to the marmot, to the spider bite. Except for the wonderful motel stay. Being poor students at the time, my husband (boyfriend then) and I had to stick with the backpacking part. This is just how I wished it would have ended.
Something else you might have noticed is a strange timeline developing in the Skyler Foxe series. I started writing these books waaay back in 2007, put the first book aside for a while, and didn’t start publishing till 2010. The first four books (and I’m including the first novella) take place one after the other in a span of about three months in the timeline. Then with FOXE FIRE, we skip ahead another month, and with DESERT FOXE, we have now a total of seven months passing throughout the books. All the while, each book is only published one a year. As you can imagine, a lot of technological changes as well as LGBT community changes and laws have happened since that first book. Actually, in FOXE TAIL, the most technologically advanced phone (that Jamie owned) was a Blackberry. And in FOXE HUNT, while I was writing it, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed. By the time this book was written, the Supreme Court‘s marriage equality ruling was already old news.
I decided early on that I would keep to the timeline in terms of actual months that the story moves, but move all the laws and technology forward in time. That is to say, that in FOXE TAIL, Jamie might have a Blackberry, but by DESERT FOXE it’s the top of the line iPhone. And the thing that Mrs. Foxe lamented in FOXE DEN 1 about Skyler not being allowed to marry even if he had wanted to, just disappears by FOXE DEN 2. Poof! Like magic.
If you never noticed all that, then fine. Ignore these notes. If you did, well, this is how we are proceeding. Magic!
I hope you enjoyed this little slice of life between mysteries. But it’s time to get back to murder, mayhem, and men when the summer break continues. Keith is busy with football practice and an interesting new player, while Skyler is in for a few homegrown surprises, not the least of which is one of Keith’s old flames coming to Redlands, a rethink of his future plans, and a murder in plain sight at an outdoor concert. This is all in the next Skyler Foxe Mystery, CRAZY LIKE A FOXE.
Happy reading!