“Stop all the appreciation. You work hard and deserve the job. Also, lose the, sir. My name’s Paulie.”
The only real sounds Paulie heard were the crunching of dried grass underneath four distinct steps. He studied the ground while heading for his front door, marveling at the redirection of his life after such a simple prayer. He’d help this kid get back on his feet and go from there. He glanced up at the heavens and smirked before rolling his eyes. He sure worked in mysterious way.
The Adams Family
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1960
Kane Dalton stood in Avery Adams’s bedroom, staring at himself in the mirror. He forced out a calming breath before again inhaling deeply as he tried hard to settle his frayed nerves. The whirlwind of the last few days now culminated in meeting Avery’s mother for the first time. For some reason, meeting Mrs. Adams made Avery’s rushed marriage proposal a little more real. Actually, too real, and that was before Kane ever considered the fact he’d never met any love interest’s parents before. This seemed like a monumental relationship step, one he wasn’t all that certain he was prepared for. The doorbell rang, interrupting his downward spiraling thoughts, but not the steady drumming of his heartbeat.
“I’ve got it,” Avery called from the living room of his posh downtown condominium. Kane didn’t respond, not stopping in his mechanical motions of tying his necktie.
“These are some fancy duds,” Paulie’s booming voice echoed all the way back to the bedroom. Thank God for Paulie had agreed to drinks and dinner with Avery’s mom tonight. He was the closest thing Kane had to a father…to family. Which made this even a kind of a one side of the family meets the other side of the family deal.
“Come in. Do you need help?” he heard Avery ask.
“Nah, I got it, just show me the way.”
“The kitchen’s straight through here. Use whatever you need. My mom should be here shortly. Let me see if Kane’s ready,” Avery said, his voice growing louder the closer he came to the bedroom.
A second later, Avery’s head popped around the doorframe.
“You ready? My mom should be here any minute…” Avery stopped, his brow furrowing. Whatever he saw on Kane’s face had Avery stepping inside the room, coming closer. “Why do you have that look on your face?”
“What look?” Kane asked, standing in front of the mirror, making sure his collar lay properly. Avery stepped up beside Kane. He didn’t touch him, but hovered right in his personal space. Avery looked worried as he lifted a hand to Kane’s face, gently pushing at his cheek with his fingertip.
“How do you do that? Your face is so expressive, but you can just wipe it emotionless. It’s very interesting how well you hide behind your walls,” Avery said.
“I’m not hiding. I’m nervous. She has to think all this is way too fast. What if she doesn’t like me?” Kane asked, dodging Avery’s second attempt to touch his face. Man, he was stressed. Kane bypassed Avery, going to the nightstand on what Avery now referred to as Kane’s side of the bed, and fastened his watch on to his left wrist.
“Please stop worrying. I promise she’s going to love you,” Avery said from directly behind him. He was saved from answering as the doorbell rang for a second time. “Come on and trust me.”
“Paulie, what a delicious meal,” Kennedy Adams exclaimed, dabbing the linen napkin to the side of her lips. The group of them sat in Avery’s dining room at the cozy small round dinner table he’d never once used since moving in. Kane sat to his right, his mom to his left, and Paulie directly across the table. His mother hadn’t lied. The meal might beat anything Avery had ever eaten at Kane and Paulie’s restaurant, La Bella Luna.
“Thank you, but that’s a Kane Dalton original recipe. He created it in his last year of culinary school, earned him high marks if I remember correctly,” Paulie said, beaming proudly at Kane. As close as those two were, Avery knew without question that Paulie could recite Kane’s exact grades while he’d attended school in Italy.
“That’s not completely true,” Kane said, turning his genuine warm smile toward Paulie—a smile Avery hadn’t seen all evening. “Paulie and I wrote about a hundred letters to each other that year, trying to get this recipe just right. Paulie spent as much time in his kitchen as I did in mine, testing blends. This a joint creation.” Kane sat back in his chair, a wine glass in his hand, and crossed one leg over the other. He finally looked at ease. Avery was proud of his mother for recognizing Kane’s anxiety and working hard to relax him. She’d been outstanding this evening.
“Well, it’s an extraordinary dish,” she said, placing her napkin to the side of her plate. Kennedy took her dish and started to stand, but Avery stopped her, instantly coming to his feet to take the plate from her hands.
“No, Mom, let me.” His mother couldn’t have been more stunned. She actually faltered, hanging on to the plate with her mouth gaping open, and he got her confusion. His life had been easy. He’d never, not one single time, cleared the dinner dishes from the table. With a tease on the tip of his tongue, Avery caught Kane standing out of the corner of his eye, forcing him to look away from his shocked, always composed, but not right now, mother.
“Kane, sit. You too, Mom. This is my night. I’ll take these and bring out the dessert.” Avery was already reaching over to take Kane’s plate then Paulie’s. The same uncertainty that played across his mom’s face, showed on Kane’s. Not Paulie’s though—he sat back and chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest, giving a nod Avery interpreted to mean he was doing just fine. Since the moment became awkward, Avery threw caution in the wind and broke Kane’s no public display of affection rule he had established for the evening. Avery leaned over to kiss Kane’s lips before he turned away. “I’ll be right back.”
The stunned silence at the table held as he walked the few feet to his kitchen.
“I believe that might be a first,” Kennedy stated. He envisioned her shaking her head in disbelief. Avery quickly dumped the dishes in the sink and grabbed the Paulie-prepared dessert tray from the refrigerator. Each small plate had a fresh spoon added on the side—Paulie was the man that way. Avery wasn’t sure he would have remembered to bring new utensils.
“What’s that?” Paulie asked.
“Taking the dinner dishes to the kitchen,” Kennedy added.
“He’s always jumping in to help at the restaurant. Cleans up all the time,” Paulie explained, and Avery did help, only because he spent just about every evening at La Bella Luna. That was where Kane was, so Avery was helpless to be anywhere else.
“He does?” Kennedy sounded incredulous, even more shocked than before. When Avery rounded the corner from the kitchen, he chuckled at their exchange and the bewilderment on his mother’s face as he hurried back across the room to the table.
“I have to earn my keep. You two won’t let me pay for my meals anymore. And, Mom, don’t act so shocked. I’ve cleaned your dish before,” Avery said.
“Oh really?” Kennedy asked, and after only a moment’s pause, she shot back, “I’m sorry, son, but I think you’re going to have to remind me of exactly when this dish cleaning event happened. Something so miraculous surely hasn’t been forgotten.”
“I think you may have had more surprises happen that day,” Avery said as he placed a dessert plate in front of each person, swatting Kane’s hands as he tried to help. “My mother made a surprise visit to our Cape Code home. She was early, not due to arrive for another couple of days. It was my freshman year in college, and I had a guy there with me. She was sitting at the kitchen bar, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper when we came out of my bedroom that morning—the coffee cup was the dish I cleaned.”
“Son, I believe it was more midday than morning,” Kennedy added drily, clearly remembering the day. “And he acts like that’s the first time I realized he was gay.”
“Perhaps, but it was definitely the first I had been involved in your revelations,” Avery explained, placing the empty tray on the butler’s cabinet. A joyou
sness overtook his mother’s face.
“You should have seen the look on his face when he came through the living room, young man in tow. Ah, it was worth every pain he had caused me as a mother to see that moment of stark fear cross Avery’s face.” Kennedy laughed, the first at the table to take a bite of the Tiramisu.
“There was no look of fear, mother. I just thought you didn’t know,” Avery explained to his mother who had a very clear twinkle in her eye and dove in for a second bite, already breaking her hard rule of sweets being the devil to her waistline therefore they should be avoided at all costs. It spoke volumes about the deliciousness of the dessert.
“Aren’t these kids something?” Paulie slapped a hand down on the table in good-natured authority. “Think we haven’t already lived a complete life. Like we don’t know what’s going on!”
“Exactly, Paulie. Like a mother doesn’t know her own child. Still to this day, I wonder why you even thought I would care. If your father had followed all those cookie cutter social norms, he would have never married me. I was on scholarship at college when we met,” Kennedy told the table before readying her third bite. “Kane, this is delicious.”
“This one is all Paulie. He hand makes this. It’s one of his specialties,” Kane added.
Avery took the moment to watch Kane closely. He seemed more relaxed as he nibbled at the dessert. His guy even had that sexy grin on his face as he added to the banter at the table. This would be another first, and Avery again broke Kane’s rule as he reached over, took Kane’s hand, and linked their fingers together on top of the table. There was only a small hesitation before Kane submitted to and returned the hold. A solid blush sprang across his cheeks, and Kane avoided looking Avery in the eyes.
“I always liked President Adams. I was a boy when he was president, but he led us through some tough times and we came out better for it,” Paulie said, changing the subject, ignoring the compliment on the dessert. “I can see how he’d raise a grandson to do the right thing.”
The compliment surprised Avery, but Paulie hadn’t missed their handhold. Instead, he stared down at their entwined fingers as he made the random comment.
“He was a good man,” Kennedy agreed. Avery looked over at his mom, and she beamed as her gaze stayed glued to their joined hands, understanding the significance of his and Kane’s relationship.
“Tell me how you two came to own a restaurant in Minnesota, Kane,” Kennedy asked, pushing her dessert plate away. As Kane began to answer, Avery instinctively knew his mother approved, and there would be a lifetime of dinners between the four of them.
Avery sat on the sofa listening to Paulie and his mother reminisce about the good old days. Kane sat across from him in a wingback chair even though Avery would have preferred to have them sitting together on the love seat. The longer the night lingered, the more opportunity Avery had to sit back and just observe Kane. He was such an extraordinary man, a true gentleman through and through. He had no idea what Kane truly thought about the banter his mother and Paulie were volleying back and forth to one another. Kane stayed focused on the conversation, adding nods and smiles when they looked his way. One thing Kane hadn’t done too much of was look Avery’s way. He knew that for certain because he hadn’t taken his eyes off Kane for the last twenty minutes.
Kane was an attractive guy, too handsome for his own good, and they were nineteen minutes into their first Valentine’s Day. Decorum stated his mother and Paulie should have hit the road hours ago—at least by Avery’s Book of Etiquette. He wanted Kane. He wanted him bad.
Not allowing himself too much time to think, which had been his whole strategy in wooing Kane from the beginning, Avery rose, extending a hand toward his handsome Kane.
“Can you help me in the kitchen?”
Kane glanced up at him, confusion marring his brow, but he didn’t say a word as he took the offered hand and stood.
“Excuse us for a minute. We’ll be right back.” Avery guided Kane toward the kitchen. He didn’t stop until they reached the large pantry door, which he opened and quickly propelled Kane inside before closing the door behind them, then he blocked the exit with his body just in case Kane tried to escape. There wasn’t much room and darkness filled the small space.
“What’re you doing?”
Avery lifted his hands, taking Kane’s face as Kane shook his head no.
“I’m so proud of you, babe, you’re doing great. I think my mom’s fallen in love with you.” He stepped closer to Kane then slid his hand around Kane’s waist, pulling at him until they were chest to chest. Kane made a little sound of protest, but Avery didn’t let it dissuade him. “Falling in love with you isn’t hard; you’re very irresistible. I needed a minute of alone time with you. Happy Valentine’s Day, Kane.” Avery bent forward and took Kane’s mouth with his.
“But what about your mom and Paulie?” Kane protested, rearing back before the kiss could get started.
“We’ll be fast and back before they even realize we’re gone. Nobody will be the wiser.” Avery pressed his lips to Kane’s again. Kane slightly opened for him, kissing him back this time. Avery pushed his tongue through Kane’s parted lips, instantly probing. Mmm…tiramisu and wine. The sweetness melted across his tongue, teasing his senses to the limit. Their tongues twisted and tangled in a dance of dominance, one he wanted to win. He groaned at the hardness of Kane’s cock pressing so temptingly against his through the thin material of their trousers.
Yes, Kane wanted him as much as he wanted Kane—he always wanted Kane. This man was his perfect match in every way. Avery snaked his hand down between their bodies and gripped Kane’s cock as he backed him against the pantry shelves.
“They’re gonna know.” Kane tilted his head, allowing Avery to suckle and nip the skin along his lover’s jaw. Avery’s hands continued roaming and stroking his lover as he nibbled a path down Kane’s long neck and sank his teeth in to Kane’s collarbone. It drove Kane crazy and that was precisely why he did it.
“Shh. No, they won’t. Besides, I’m not taking no for an answer. We both need this. You were too tense.” He worked frantically, managing to free Kane from his slacks as he pushed them down his hips. Avery made the mistake of looking down at Kane’s erection straining against his flat stomach. The sight made his mouth water, and that was all it took to snap his waning control.
“Oh yeah.” He gasped as need drove him to his knees, and he reached for Kane’s perfectly cut cock. A bead of come glistened on the tip of the thick head. He couldn’t resist so he slid his lips across it, following the bitter wet trail with his tongue before taking Kane fully in his mouth and sucking him down. The spicy musk that was all Kane shot straight to his balls as he inhaled his lover’s scent. This was what he’d been waiting for all night. Avery would never have his fill of Kane, but he was willing to spend a lifetime trying.
“Ahh, Avery.” Kane’s fingers slid into his hair and pressed his head down farther. Kane’s breath hitched above him when he hollowed his cheeks and sucked his lover to the root, hard and fast. Avery bobbed his head up and down, moaning around the warm flesh, savoring how it dragged against his tongue.
Avery managed to use his other hand and push his bothersome pants down just enough to grip and stroke his own aching cock to the sound of Kane’s soft moans. Yes…almost there. The familiar fire built in his spine and the heat settled in his groin as the orgasm churned rapidly in his balls.
Kane’s warm cock plumped against his lips, jerking and twitching as the potent essence burst across his tongue, hitting the back of his throat and filling his mouth with hot thick cream. He swallowed around Kane’s head, taking as much as the man gave, but he still wanted more. His own release hit him hard, and he swore he almost blacked out as his seed spilled onto the pantry floor.
He recovered faster than Kane who held on to the shelves, eyes closed, breath panting from those sexy lips as he recovered. He licked Kane clean, letting his tongue delve into the slit to savor his fiancés rema
ining essence, before kissing the broad head and putting him back in his pants, zipping him up. He adjusted himself and stood, giving Kane a tender kiss. “You taste delectable.”
“Delectable?” Kane smiled as he teased him. God, that smile made him melt every time.
“Yes, you do.” He returned the smile as he shifted his attention to search for some napkins. He spotted a package on the shelf next to the canned corn and wiped the floor clean before tossing the used paper in the trash. After straightening his clothes, making sure everything was in place, he turned back to Kane, who leaned against the shelf with a big grin still plastered across his face.
“I love you, Kane Dalton. Happy Valentine’s Day.” He leaned in and gave Kane a playful kiss. Kane’s lips were pliant against his. “I told you it was what we both needed. Look at how relaxed you are.”
Kane nodded and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “I’m glad I listened, and I love you.”
“Good. Now that that’s settled, we need to get back out there. Grab some new wine glasses, and I’ll grab another bottle. Let’s go see what those two are reminiscing about now.”
Silver Bells
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975
The Christmas lights twinkled as Kane stepped inside the front door of Avery’s downtown apartment. He worked at loosening the knot in his tie before sliding out of his suit jacket. Avery had beat him inside, moving much faster than the exhausted man he’d claimed to be on their ride home from midnight mass. In the less than the minute he’d been inside the apartment, Avery had left a trail of clothes leading down the hallway and he could hear him in the bedroom singing “Silver Bells.” His voice drowned out the soft tunes coming from the radio.
Kane shook his head at Avery’s silliness and made his way into the living room, dropping down on a plush living room chair to just stare at the sparkling Christmas tree. The lights were beautiful. The twinkle called to his soul as he worked open the small buttons at his neck. He couldn’t find it in him to look away.
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