Dex waited because it seemed she wanted to say more. When she didn’t, he plunged ahead. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something. Rowan’s band teacher and I… um, we….” Ugh. It was like talking to a parent even though Gwen was cool and always had been.
“Are you saying you and this band teacher are dating?”
“Kind of. We want to. He’s a… a sweetheart of a guy.”
“Is he? That’s great, Dex.”
Dex looked around Jan’s bedroom. It seemed even more sterile after seeing Ed’s home. “But what about Rowan? I don’t want to do anything that would make her upset. I need to run it by her, but I wanted to talk to you first.”
“I believe Rowan has talked about this teacher. Mr. A., she calls him?”
“That’s the one. Mr. Alcott. Ed.” He clamped his mouth lest he go on babbling variations of Ed’s name.
“She likes him very much. She’s also told me she worries about you. You moved to Eugene for her and she worries that you’re lonely.”
Bingo. Dex swallowed. “I’m okay.”
“You say that, of course, but do you know what? I think Rowan is going to be happy about you and Mr. A., Dex.”
“You do?”
“I do. Would you like me to break it to her?”
Dex wondered if it was cowardly to let Gwen do it, but he really liked that idea. “Um, yeah. If you don’t mind. And then I’ll talk to her.”
“It’s fine. She should be home in a few minutes. I’ll tell her and then we’ll call you back. Watch for a Skype call.”
Dex took a fast shower and got ready for his day. He was starting the coffee pot when his computer screen flickered on, and there were Rowan and Gwen, with the walls of Gwen’s elegant townhouse behind them.
“Hey, Noodle. How’s my girl?”
“Hi, Uncle Dex. Are you really going out with Mr. A.?” She had a wide smile on her face, much to Dex’s relief.
“Um, only if it’s okay with you.”
“Okay? It’s awesome!”
Gwen chuckled and stroked Rowan’s hair. “Well, there’s your answer to whether she’ll have a problem with it.”
Rowan gave an emphatic nod. “No, really. You two… I mean, it’s fate. You looked at each other across a crowded band room and… pow.”
Dex couldn’t get over Rowan’s animation. She was like a whole new person. “It sounds like we’re in a movie. Or fanfic.”
“You know about fanfic?” She put her hands over her face. “Ohmigod.”
“What’s fanfic?” Gwen asked with a small frown.
“Nothing, Gaga.” Rowan uncovered her face and scowled at the screen. “Stop laughing, Uncle Dex.”
“Sorry.” Dex tried to control his giggles.
“So when are you seeing him? Isn’t he the best? I love him!”
“Now that I’ve got the go-ahead, I suspect I’ll see him tonight. I’m going to invite him over for dinner.”
“Do your spaghetti,” Rowan instructed. “It’s delicious.”
“Will do.”
Gwen leaned forward. “Dex, when do you get home today? We have something else to talk to you about, but it can wait.”
Dex didn’t miss the tension in Rowan’s glance at her grandmother. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, Uncle Dex. Stop worrying.” She did her usual eye roll, but it didn’t ease the tightness in Dex’s stomach.
“Okay. I’ll call you around four o’clock.” He hung up with a sense of foreboding. Then he called Ed.
“Hi, Dex. You’re up bright and early, huh?”
“Yep. And I’ve already talked to Rowan.”
“Oh. And?”
“We have her full blessing.” Dex smiled, remembering the fanfic conversation.
“That’s great.”
“So, we should take it slow. Just kidding. Can you come to dinner at my place tonight?”
Ed’s joyous laugh filled him. “I’d love to.”
In the late afternoon, Dex set the spaghetti sauce—his specialty, using fresh herbs and tomatoes—to simmer and went to retrieve his personal laptop from the living room. Ed would be over in an hour, and Dex stopped to take in the tree. Its colored lights shone against the dark branches, Ed’s dorky star at the top. He cheered up every time he saw it. Mrs. Alcott was right: having a tree brightened everything.
He needed the zap of courage the tree gave him for whatever conversation he was about to have with Rowan and Gwen. Setting the laptop up on the dining room table, Dex dialed in the Skype number and waited for the connection, tapping his foot. Whenever he got nervous, he felt like jumping out of his skin, which was probably why he worked out so much. Shut up and concentrate, he told his wandering mind.
Rowan’s face lit up the screen. “Hi. Did you talk to Mr. A.?” she demanded as Gwen appeared and sat next to her.
“Yes, and he’s coming over for dinner. Spaghetti, per your instructions.”
“Excellent.” She twisted a strand of hair around her finger, a nervous tic.
Dex grabbed his laptop. “Look.” He pointed it to the Christmas tree. “Mr. A. helped me trim a tree.”
“That’s so cool. I’m glad, because now you won’t be lonely when—” Rowan cut herself off and glanced at Gwen.
“When?” Dex’s stomach sank at the expressions on their faces. “When what?”
Gwen took over. “Rowan and I have had many talks since she got here. She’s not been happy, which is of course understandable. She brought up this idea to me, else I’d never have suggested it.”
“What idea?” Dex asked, although he knew. He fucking knew.
Rowan bit her lip, then said in a small voice, “I want to stay here with Gaga.”
“Stay.” Dex looked around at the condo. Jan’s home with Rowan. The place he’d never managed to make into a home for him and her.
“The idea is to have Rowan live with me here. I know of an excellent private school with an emphasis on the arts that I think would be perfect for her. She could come visit you as much as she wants, on all the breaks, and during the summer.”
“Don’t think it’s because of you, Uncle Dex,” Rowan put in anxiously. “I love you so much. Th-Thank you for moving back to Eugene and changing your whole life around to take care of me.”
“But Noodle, is this really what you want? You’ve lived here all your life, and with everything that’s happened this last year… is this the right thing to do?” He was going to miss her. He was going to be alone. He….
The Christmas tree twinkled and he stared at Ed’s star.
“Yes. I think so.” Rowan glanced at Gwen, who leaned forward.
“Dex, you’ve been truly wonderful. You know what I think about you being Rowan’s guardian. I totally trust you, which is why I wanted her to stay with you and not Thomas. I would never have brought this up or pressed Rowan in any way, had she not brought up the idea to me. Oh. I guess I already said that.”
“Uncle Dex?”
Dex shook himself out of his self-pitying stupor and pasted on a smile. “Okay, Noodle. If that’s what you want and need right now, and Gaga is okay with having you there, then I say go for it. So let’s talk about details.”
Twenty minutes later, Dex stood from the table. Right, then, he told himself. Spit spot. Time to put the kettle on. Why he was channeling an Englishman, he had no idea, except for that stiff-upper-lip thing. Ed would be there soon, and he needed to get the pasta going. Keeping busy was a good thing (when your heart is breaking). Pish posh, who said anything about broken hearts?
Squaring his shoulders, Dex strode into the kitchen.
Chapter 9
Ed moaned.
It sounded so erotic, Dex felt his eyelids flutter. But it was only his homemade spaghetti and garlic bread that Ed was scarfing down in what looked like the throes of ecstasy. His lips were shiny with butter, and Dex had a hard time looking away.
“How do you make this so good? It’s the best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had. Don’t tell
Mom I said that.” He bit into the bread and moaned again.
“Thanks.” Dex shifted to relieve his hard-on as he took a bite. Mm, not bad. “I enjoy cooking.”
“That’s good, because I enjoy eating.” Ed smacked his lips with relish. God, he was distracting.
“Mm-hm.” Dex drank some wine and tried to think of some light, sparkly conversation as an alternative to leaping across the table at Ed and eating him up. Nothing came to mind except for Rowan’s face when she’d begged him not to be upset with her decision to move. He toyed with his food while Ed cleaned his plate. “Seconds?”
“No, thanks. I’m stuffed.” Eating and drinking seemed to make Ed glow even more. His color was heightened and his eyes were doing that twinkly thing.
Dex stared at him hungrily. “Let’s go sit on the couch. I wanna look at the tree with you.”
“Okay. I brought some more cheesy Christmas CDs. Although Johnny Mathis is a genius. I don’t care what anyone says.”
“Put him on.” Dex cleared the table and stacked plates in the sink. He went to the living room, where Ed was bent over the stereo, and took in the view of Ed’s cute ass. He was wearing tight black jeans and a red sweater. When he straightened and turned, his black hair tumbling over his forehead, Dex gazed at his rosy cheeks and lips, the hipster glasses, and the sweet smile, and felt his chest expand. He held out his arms. “Come here, my Christmas elf.”
Laughing, Ed walked into his arms and they embraced, swaying to Johnny Mathis singing “Winter Wonderland.” “And you’re my Christmas angel,” Ed whispered into his ear.
“Me? An angel?” But Dex’s lips curled up and the glow in his chest got warmer.
“Yes.”
Their swaying turned into a slow dance. Dex laid his head on Ed’s shoulder, breathing him in, feeling his arms close around him. Home. He couldn’t understand how he knew after so little time that Ed was home, but there it was. Home is where the heart is, and Dex had given Ed Alcott his heart.
“Ed.”
“Yes?”
They kept dancing. Dex found it easier to say the next words into Ed’s broad shoulder. “Rowan is leaving.”
Ed stopped and pulled back, peering at Dex with concern. “What do you mean?”
“She’s going to live with her grandmother in DC. She told me that’s what she wants.” Dex rested his forehead on Ed’s chest. His sweater was soft and smelled good. Dex didn’t want to see the expression on Ed’s face.
“Oh, Angel. That’s hard.”
Dex’s throat closed up and he nodded. He felt Ed’s soothing hand stroke his back, and he burrowed in closer, resting, taking refuge. Johnny Mathis crooned in the background.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Ed asked, continuing to inscribe comforting circles over Dex’s back.
“Not yet. Later.” Dex swallowed against the ache. “Right now I want….”
“Yes?” Ed kissed his temple. “What do you want?”
“A Christmas elf in my bed.”
Dex felt Ed smile against his skin. “And that is exactly what you shall have, my angel.”
They stood right where they were in the living room for the longest time, kissing deeply, tongues entwined, as the Christmas lights cast colored patterns on the wall and Christmas carols played softly. Dex hadn’t kissed much in the last ten years since he broke up with his college boyfriend. He preferred to get right to the action with his sex partners and got antsy when they wanted to snuggle. He wondered why he’d been so averse, because kissing Ed was wonderful. He could do it forever.
Ed finally broke their clinch to whisper, “What was that about a Christmas elf in your bed?”
“Oh. Yeah. Come on, Elf.”
Taking Ed’s hand, Dex led him down the hall into the master bedroom. He saw it with new eyes, with Ed there. The walls still showed the spots where Jan’s pictures had hung. Dex hadn’t wanted all the reminders of Jan in the room after she’d died there on hospice, so with Rowan’s permission, he’d removed most of her possessions when he’d moved in. That left a big, empty space, which he’d furnished only minimally. There was nothing that spoke of Dex in the room, other than his exercise equipment and his clothes in the open closet.
He turned and there Ed stood, gazing at him with those twinkly eyes. His sweet elf, lighting up this dreary room with his glow. Dex grabbed him and kissed him, pouring his gratitude into it until he had no breath left.
“Whoa,” Ed said, sounding breathless himself. “You made my knees wobble. We need to get into bed before I fall down.”
“Let’s get naked.”
“Taking the direct approach. I like it.” Ed moved to pull his sweater over his head.
“Wait. May I?” Dex removed Ed’s glasses and set them gently on the dresser. Ed’s eyes were stunning at this vantage point: a deep brown with glints of gold framed by thick black lashes. Dex cupped his hands on Ed’s cheeks. “Your eyes are amazing.”
Ed pinked up. “Er, thanks. I love the color of yours. Gray, but sometimes they look green.” He waited as Dex caressed his cheekbones with his thumbs, then stirred. “Um, getting naked time?”
“Oh. Right.”
They wasted no more time in taking off their clothes, then lay on the bed with their arms around each other. Dex, for all the men he’d been naked with, felt oddly shy as Ed stroked his hands over him, staring, seeming to drink Dex in. Ed’s body was wiry and spare except for his lovely broad shoulders. Curly dark whorls of chest hair adorned his pecs, through which a set of pink nipples peeked. A dark treasure trail ran from his navel down to a lovely full cock nestled in more dark curly hair. Dex liked that Ed wasn’t one of those hairless twinks; he was nicely furry.
He ran his fingers through Ed’s chest hair and moved closer so their bodies aligned and their cocks brushed. Jesus. Cozy graduated to hot as hell in a hurry. Ed’s hand fell on Dex’s hip, and Dex gasped at the electricity flowing from Ed’s fingers. Every touch was like a brand, and Dex burned. “Ed,” he said. “Touch me.”
Trailing his lips along Dex’s jaw, Ed reached down and took hold of Dex’s prick, causing a moan to rip out of Dex.
“God.” Dex noticed he was trembling, and a part of him was trying to stay cool and composed, but he fucking couldn’t. One touch and he was falling apart. “Ed. Eddie. God, I’m so happy you’re here.”
Stroking him, Ed murmured, “Sweetheart. You are such a sweet man.”
Dex gave up keeping it together and buried his face in Ed’s chest, letting the stupid tears flow while Ed brought him to the edge and over. After a few panting moments, Dex grasped Ed’s cock, then added some of his come to slick it up, and with a deep groan, Ed came in two strokes.
They lay facing each other, and Ed opened his eyes, gazing intently at Dex with an expression akin to reverence. He reached out and traced the wetness off Dex’s cheekbone. Dex wanted to laugh off his tears or make some excuse, but he was beyond words. His life felt forever altered. He’d heard of and scoffed at those “love at first sight” stories, and now here it was, happening to him.
“I know you have reasons to be sad,” Ed whispered. “I’m honored you feel safe enough to show me your sadness.” He kissed Dex, and the beauty of the moment was almost too much to bear. Then Ed pulled back, giving him an impish grin, and bam—sparkly elf was back. “I tell you what, though, Angel. I’m going to do everything I can to make you happier than you’ve ever been.”
Dex couldn’t help but smile. “That include a Christmas tree every year—real, none of those fake ones?”
Ed seemed outraged at the very idea. “Fake? Never. Everything real for my angel.” They snuggled. “Besides, my mother would kill me if I ever bought an artificial tree.”
“Your mother! I get to have Mrs. Alcott as a mom-in-law! Or are we getting ahead of ourselves here?”
“I don’t think so. But one step at a time. Christmas Eve at the Alcott home is next. Once you survive that, it’s all smooth sailing.”
Dex rested his head
on Ed’s shoulder, drowsy and content. In a minute he’d get up and get them a washcloth or they’d be stuck together, and not in a good way, come morning. But for now he wanted to lie here, all snug in his bed, as visions of Christmas trees… a vast line of them stretching out into the future… danced in his head.
Epilogue
“Yes, good,” Ed said, his saxophone in one arm. “You’ve got the timing down. Once more, from the top.”
Frowning in concentration, Rowan played a lilting tune on her clarinet. It sounded to Dex like an old English folk song. After a few measures Ed joined in on sax and their duet filled the house.
Dex puttered around the dining room, setting the table. He should go stir the spaghetti sauce—Rowan’s request for dinner—but he liked to watch Ed and Rowan play as much as he liked to listen. It did good things to his heart to see the two people he loved the most making music together. And he couldn’t forget Betty, sitting contentedly on the sofa, knitting as she listened. No one was as thrilled as Mrs. Alcott was when her darling son Eddie and her wonderful physical therapist Dex got together. They saw her often and she filled in the mom-shaped hole in Dex’s heart.
Rowan had returned for the summer to stay with him and Ed in Ed’s house in the Whiteaker—the charming little house that was now their home. She’d grown a few inches. Dex studied her. Not only had she gotten taller, she seemed more grounded and happy. Staying with Gwen had helped her.
“It’s so good to get out of that Washington heat,” Rowan declared at dinner, twirling pasta around her fork.
“Summers in the Willamette Valley are glorious,” Ed said. “When people visit now they end up moving here.”
“And then fall and winter comes,” Betty continued. “I hope they like rain too.”
Rowan laid down her fork. “Um, speaking of moving here….”
“Yes?” Dex asked. “Is it really okay we moved out of the condo?”
Ed laid his hand over Dex’s and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
Dex had moved in with Ed in March and Rowan had said she was fine about it. Gwen offered to cover the mortgage on the condo so Rowan didn’t lose her home, but when Rowan came for spring break she moved most of her stuff over to the room designated as hers at Ed’s place.
Happy and Merry: An M/M Holiday Romance Collection Page 4