Happy Endings [Cedar Falls 20] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Shea Balik

  At the same time, he wasn’t even sure why he was attracted to Lakyn. He wasn’t Gabriel’s usual type. Then again, Gabriel didn’t exactly have a type. Gabriel kept to one-night stands at gay bars that were usually dark enough that he couldn’t remember what his hook-ups looked like.

  A knock at the door scattered his thoughts of how miserable and alone he’d been his whole life. “Come in,” he said.

  Lakyn peeked around the door and smiled when he saw that Gabriel was on the table. “Ready?” Lakyn asked.

  “As ready as I can be,” he answered honestly.

  Soft lips tilted upward into a smile. “Just relax and enjoy,” Lakyn said.

  Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one already half hard with no way to hide his reaction. Then Lakyn’s hands touched him and Gabriel knew there was a hell on earth as he struggled to control his rising erection.

  Chapter Six

  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  The moment Gabriel told him he was taking Jesse’s appointment, Lakyn should have said no. He’d never been a masochist before, so he wasn’t sure what prompted him to willingly torture himself by spending an hour touching Gabriel. He just wished it didn’t feel even better than he’d imagined. Or that his cock wasn’t so hard that the teeth of his zipper were permanently etched into his rigid flesh.

  It didn’t help that his frustration level after dealing with that pompous windbag, Mayor Murphy, was so low. Maybe that was why he’d allowed Gabriel to strip down and climb up on his table.

  He was going to end up regretting this. There was no other outcome that could possibly come of an hour touching the man he’d been trying to forget existed. Sure Gabriel was gorgeous in a GQ kind of way, but it didn’t negate the fact that he was clearly an overachieving, narcissistic, entitled prick, who probably didn’t know what a real emotion was if it slapped him upside the head.

  Just to prove he was correct about Gabriel, Lakyn made sure to mess his hair up as much as possible during the scalp massage. He was betting himself an extra ten mile run the following day that after their session, Gabriel would come out with every hair back in place. He’d even put in a little lotion, which he normally would never have done, to make sure his hair stayed in the messy array he’d created.

  “Is the pressure okay?” he asked as he moved from Gabriel’s scalp to his neck.

  “Umm, yeah,” Gabriel said with a sigh.

  Lakyn smiled. He also couldn’t deny being pleased that Gabriel was responding to his touch. It made it even more thrilling that Gabriel didn’t like others to touch him, yet was melting into the table under Lakyn’s hands.

  The sadist that lived within him waited until he was sure Gabriel was completely relaxed before saying, “You seem to like this massage.”

  “That’s because your hands feel good,” Gabriel admitted.

  Lakyn grinned. Gabriel most likely had no idea what he’d just said. “Yeah? What do you like about them?” Lakyn was playing a dangerous game, one that would most likely end up with him getting burned, but he just couldn’t stop himself from taking this as far as it would go.

  “They’re so soft, yet strong. I would be happy to lie here forever if it meant having your hands on my body,” Gabriel murmured.

  Lakyn had counted to five when he felt Gabriel stiffen after realizing what he’d just admitted. He knew it was wrong to smile knowingly down at Gabriel when his eyes popped open. He just couldn’t help himself. If he wasn’t careful, riling Gabriel could easily become his favorite pastime.

  “I mean…” Gabriel started, but clearly wasn’t sure how to finish.

  “Oh, I know exactly what you meant,” Lakyn said as he moved to the side to massage his right arm.

  He couldn’t explain the exact reason he was pushing this conversation. There was a voice in his head that was urging him to switch to a safer topic, but the voice that promised him fun and pleasure if he kept going was the only one he paid any attention to. It was completely opposite of Lakyn’s typical behavior, but he liked the way Gabriel was reacting too much to stop now.

  The slight pink that spread across Gabriel’s chest, up his neck, and into his face was all Lakyn needed to see to continue teasing. “If I had any doubt about whether you liked my touch, I’d just need to look at the sheet.”

  That pink across Gabriel’s face turned bright red as he bolted into a sitting position. The move had Lakyn’s cock throbbing as he could now see the top half of Gabriel’s very bare ass.

  Damn. Lakyn really should have stopped. Now all he could think about was flipping Gabriel over and sinking as deep as he could into those firm globes. His mouth watered for a chance to take a bite.

  So enthralled with the sight, he actually started to move his hand toward those taut muscles. If Gabriel hadn’t jumped from the table at that moment, Lakyn wouldn’t have stopped himself. As it was, Lakyn’s gaze immediately went to Gabriel’s groin, which was regrettably covered by the sheet Gabriel had wrapped around his hips.

  But it was the fear in Gabriel’s honey-brown eyes as his gaze darted from Lakyn to the door and back to Lakyn, as if judging if he’d be able to bolt from the room before Lakyn attacked that had Lakyn finally realizing just how far he’d taken things.

  “Gabriel,” he said softly, with his hands held out in front of him in a placating manner. “I’m sorry. I took the teasing too far.” The tension in Gabriel’s body remained tight, but his gaze no longer had that wild-eyed look of someone who was trapped. “I shouldn’t have done that. Come lie back on the table and I’ll finish the massage,” he coaxed.

  Gabriel stared at the table with a bit of longing before his gaze returned to Lakyn. “Are you crazy? Do you honestly think I’m going to let you touch me after that?”

  Man had a point. Lakyn should kick his own ass for being so stupid. Then again, whenever he was around Gabriel, he found himself unable to think clearly. “I admit the joke wasn’t appropriate, but I promise I would never actually touch you inappropriately.”

  Gabriel didn’t say anything, which Lakyn took as a good sign. “If you remember, I was just giving you a massage and you seemed to be enjoying it.”

  “I was,” Gabriel admitted. “But I don’t think I would enjoy it any longer.” His voice had turned harder, more in control. It reminded Lakyn of their first meeting in the diner when he’d wanted to just get away from Gabriel.

  He should have stuck with that first impression and stayed away from Gabriel. But it was too late to do that now. He couldn’t help but be intrigued. The man had said he hated people touching him, yet with Lakyn, he’d seemed to not only love his hands on him, all the tension had melted away.

  Lakyn wanted to see if, even after what had just occurred, he could get Gabriel to respond to him in the same way. “The session is already paid for,” he lied. “There’s no point in wasting it by leaving.”

  Gabriel gazed longingly at the table. “I don’t know.”

  “I promise,” Lakyn said again. “Give me five minutes. If you aren’t relaxing, we’ll stop.”

  Gabriel took a step toward the table. “Okay. Five minutes.”

  Just to prove he wasn’t a total pervert, Lakyn turned his back to Gabriel while he got back on the table and once more had the sheet covering him. Since he didn’t have an appointment scheduled after Gabriel, Lakyn decided to start on his neck and shoulders again, since it had been his fault they were once more tense.

  Hoping to correct his stupidity, Lakyn asked, “So I understand Jesse hired you to be his campaign manager.”

  Gabriel made a non-committal sound but at least he was starting to relax. Sort of.

  Since that didn’t elicit much of response, Lakyn tried a different question. “How long have you been in politics?”

  “I graduated from Harvard Law last spring. I was hired by Campaign Inc. right after graduation,” Gabriel replied with as much enthusiasm as a DMV worker reciting the responsibilities of driving.

  No wonder the guy was so uptight. Gabriel didn�
��t like his job. “If you don’t like your job, why did you get into it?”

  The tension that had been slowly ebbing returned with a vengeance. “Who said I don’t like my job?” Gabriel spat out as he tried to sit up once more.

  Lakyn pressed down on his shoulders, stopping him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. It’s just you sounded miserable when talking about your job. We can talk about something else if you want.”

  “I’m not miserable,” Gabriel tried to insist, but Lakyn was pretty sure he was trying to convince himself more than Lakyn. “And if it’s all right with you, I’d rather just not talk.”

  Lakyn did mind. The desire to know about Gabriel was too much for him to just ignore, but Gabriel was the client and Lakyn already had done the unthinkable, so he remained quiet. He just hoped he didn’t blow it completely. Gabriel may be the exact opposite of what Lakyn preferred in a boyfriend but, as the saying went, opposites attract. He couldn’t deny to being completely taken with the too stiff man who responded beautifully to Lakyn’s touch.

  Chapter Seven

  “We have to finish the list for your goals if you are elected,” Gabriel told Jesse as he once more tried to bolt out the door without actually talking about anything more than coffee, gossip, or the barbecue at Lakota and Vail’s that night.

  Jesse gave a very put-upon sigh. “Isn’t that why I hired you?”

  Gabriel was used to dealing with people who were always on the go, but even he had to admit he’d never come across anyone with the kind of energy Jesse had. The only time he’d ever seen Jesse quiet and able to stand still was in the morning before he had his macchiato. But when Gabriel tried to corner him then, the man practically bit him for getting between him and his coffee.

  No way was Gabriel going to make that mistake again. At the same time, he needed Jesse to actually sit still and pay attention if they were going to get any work done. He’d never met anyone with so many innovative ideas about bringing a nearly bankrupt, into the modern age, without losing its small town charm.

  But those ideas had to be hammered out to ensure they would work before they were talked about in front of the public. Nothing would kill a politician faster than putting forth an idea that the opposition could prove impossible.

  “You did, but this is still your campaign,” Gabriel emphasized. “I can research your ideas and help you come up with a plan to implement them but you are the one who has to sell them to the constituents.”

  With an eye roll Gabriel thought he should teach to Hollywood stars, Jesse walked back over to the chair he’d been sitting in a few minutes ago and dropped onto it. “Fine,” Jesse grumbled. “But you have ten minutes and then I have to go meet Cooper to talk about restarting the Farmer’s Market.”

  Gabriel shook his head, unsure what in the world Jesse was talking about. “I’m sorry. You’re going to do what?”

  Jesse gave a very put-upon sigh. “Cooper just took over his father’s farm and has been having a hard time keeping it from going under. He was hoping I could help him with some ideas.”

  “See?” Gabriel winced when he realized he’d shouted at Jesse. “Sorry, but this is exactly what I’m talking about. I should be involved in these meetings.”

  Jesse cocked his head to the side. “I don’t get it. Why would you come along?”

  “Because everything you do from now to the election will affect your chances of winning.” Gabriel’s voice had risen again and he had to force himself to lower it. “Helping local farmers can only help and we need to capitalize on it.”

  Jesse scowled at him. “Look, I appreciate what you are saying, but I’m not about to use the hard times of individuals to win.”

  “But you already are,” Gabriel argued. “This town is struggling, which is one of the reasons you decided to run. Sure the mayor is an ass, but if he were doing his job and helping this town to thrive would you necessarily have thought to run for mayor?”

  Dark eyes narrowed as Jesse stared at him. Then he sighed. “Okay. You might have a point. But I don’t feel comfortable using Cooper like that.”

  Gabriel actually commended Jesse for having morals. There weren’t many in politics that had them. “Okay, but whatever you come up with may have an impact on more than just Cooper, and that we could use.” Jesse didn’t look convinced. “I promise,” Gabriel said. “We will only use what happens if it helps more than just Cooper.”

  Relieved when Jesse agreed, they headed out. Gabriel made sure to bring files of what they still needed to work on so they could get some work done on the drive.

  “Where are you parked?” he asked Jesse.

  The way Jesse avoided answering, along with the fact that he refused to look at Gabriel should have sent up a red flag, but an SUV pulled up next to them in the parking lot behind Nice ’n’ Rosy and distracted him.

  “Hey, Jesse, Gabriel. You ready to go?” Griffith, a local children’s writer, called out from the driver’s seat.

  Jesse opened the back door and got in. Not sure why Griffith was driving them, Gabriel got in the front. “Hi, Griffith. I didn’t know you were coming along. Do you know Cooper, too?”

  “Yeah,” Griffith said as he pulled out of the parking lot. “But I’m only here to give Jesse a ride.”

  Huh? “Why are you giving Jesse a ride?” The warning bells that had tried to go off earlier, were now clanging loudly, making them impossible to ignore.

  “Griffith,” Jesse said in a tight voice. “Ixnay on the drivingay.”

  Even though Jesse’s pig latin was atrocious, Gabriel clearly understood him. “What about your driving?” he pointedly asked, turning in his seat to look right at Jesse.

  Jesse, in turn, glared at Griffith, who was grinning like the cat who ate the canary. “Might as well tell him, Jesse,” Griffith said. “It’s not like you can keep that secret from him when the whole town knows.”

  “The whole town doesn’t know,” Jesse insisted. “And no one would know anything if you all would learn to keep your mouths shut.”

  Griffith laughed loud and hit his steering wheel several times. “Oh, that’s rich. Mr. Gossip is telling us not to.” As Griffith stopped at a red light, he twisted to look back at Jesse. “And you only have yourself to blame since you tell anyone and everyone who will listen how you’ve been treated unfairly by the police and the DMV.”

  Gabriel was getting a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, especially when the police were mentioned. It never occurred to him to ask if Jesse was a felon. God, he hoped that wasn’t the case.

  “I was treated unfairly,” Jesse yelled. “That DMV lady acted like it was a crime to put on lip gloss.”

  “You were taking a driving test,” Griffith said incredulously.

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t like I was going very fast. I mean I had just finished a stop,” Jesse said, as if that made everything all right. “And I wouldn’t have had to reapply the lip gloss if she wouldn’t have wiped it off by freaking out.”

  “She only freaked out because you didn’t stop and almost got hit by a car,” Griffith argued.

  Jesse gave a snort. “Oh please. That car saw me and stopped before hitting me. She was overreacting.”

  “And I suppose she was overreacting to you driving into a ditch or her having to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance?” With each word Griffith said, the knot in Gabriel’s stomach got bigger and more entwined.

  “Oh please,” Jesse said with a wave of his hand. “She didn’t have a scratch on her. And that whiplash was exaggerated. It wasn’t like she really needed to wear that ugly neck brace. Nor did she need to tell everyone it was my fault that she was injured.”

  Griffith’s eye’s widened as he once more turned to look back at Jesse at the next stoplight. “But it was your fault.”

  Jesse lifted one eyebrow at Griffith haughtily. “I maintain none of that would have happened if she hadn’t of overreacted in the first place, and I would have my driver’s license right now and not have to be driven ar
ound like a child.”

  Before Gabriel had a heart attack from this conversation, he had to find out one thing. “Why were you taking a driving test with the DMV to begin with?”

  Jesse scowled at him, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared diligently out the window. Griffith, on the other hand, only laughed harder. “That was an even better story than the DMV test.”

  “Shut up, Griffith,” Jesse spat out.

  “What?” Griffith countered. “It’s not like he’s not going to find out anyway.” With way too much glee in his voice, Griffith said, “It all started with a bitch named Trudy, a pond, and Jesse running her down.”

  “I didn’t run her down,” Jesse huffed. “She was in the way and I just clipped her.”

  “From what Ethan said, she was in her yard,” Griffith argued. “And you had to drive through a pond to get to her.”

  “It was her parking lot,” Jesse said. “And it was more like a big puddle.”

  “That was a pond with fish in it,” Griffith shot back.

  Jesse rolled his eyes. “You weren’t there. How would you know?”

  “Do you want me to call Ethan?” Griffith said with his fingers hovering over the hands-free device in his car. “I’m sure he’d be more than happy to tell Gabriel what happened.”

  Gabriel was pretty sure he didn’t want to hear what Ethan had to say. He already didn’t want to hear what Griffith had told him. “Please tell me you weren’t arrested,” Gabriel pleaded.

  “Of course not.” Jesse actually sounded insulted. “None of it had been my fault.”

  Griffith clearly didn’t agree. “Yeah, because hitting Kit’s aunt after she treated Kit so horribly is something you wouldn’t do,” Griffith said sarcastically.

  “Well, she did deserve it.” Jesse’s smile had Gabriel wondering what in the hell he’d gotten himself into by working for this man. “But it wasn’t on purpose. Mostly,” he added.