by Ellee Hill
Aaron smiled slowly. “Never better.”
As they lay in silence for several minutes, Daniel realized the grunts and groans from downstairs were still going on. Jesus. Those guys were really going for it this time.
Aaron cocked an eyebrow at Daniel and nodded his head toward the floor below. “So, that all seems to be coming from your place. You know those two?”
“Uh huh. Unfortunately.”
“They must have some serious stamina.”
Daniel grinned. “Dude, you have no idea.”
“Let’s keep it that way.” Aaron rolled up onto one elbow and leaned over to smooth Daniel’s dark hair away from his eyes, his hands combing through the long strands. “Why did you come up here? How did you know I would be… er… receptive to your advances?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. I have the best gaydar this side of the Mississippi.”
“Oh you do, do you?”
“And who could resist this?” Daniel stretched out his naked body deliberately, folding his arms beneath his head.
Aaron ran a finger lightly down his chest. “You’re cute, you know that? A pest, but very cute.”
“A pest, huh? Don’t think anyone’s ever called me that before.”
“Maybe not to your face….”
“Hey!” Daniel feigned indignation, slapping Aaron’s hand away.
Aaron winked and resumed his caressing of Daniel’s chest. “I feel like I know you, but I guess I don’t. Not really. I don’t know where you come from, how old you are. I don’t even know what you do. I only know you stay up late. I’ve never even seen you in daylight.”
Daniel hummed with contentment and closed his eyes. “That’s because I’m a vampire.”
Daniel felt Aaron’s hand still for a split second before he grabbed his wrist and kissed his palm. “Oh man, you’re too easy! Of course I’m not. Have you been watching too many teen movies? I’m a goddamned cliché is what I am. A bartender. A gay bartender. In a gay bar. So original.”
Aaron snorted and leaned down to kiss Daniel gently. “A cliché, huh. That figures.”
“Yeah. But I know my drinks, and one day I’ll have my own place. You’ll see. No doubt you do something dull, boring, but very, very important. Financial or legal. Am I right?”
Aaron kissed him again, his lips lingering softly. “Spot on, Sherlock.”
“Ha! I knew it! You’re as much of a cliché as I am, Mr. Hotshot.”
“Mmm, maybe,” Aaron grinned, looking very relaxed.
“A cliché and a bore, that sums us up nicely,” Daniel mused. Aaron’s gentle caressing was starting to work its magic, and he could feel his cock getting interested. Again. How did this guy do it?
“I’ll show you clichéd and boring,” Aaron growled, rolling over until he was on top of Daniel again, the heavy heat and slide of skin making him squirm in pleasure.
“Please do,” he said.
IT was just after 6:00 a.m. when Daniel finally left the apartment. Aaron followed him to the door and gave him a kiss as Daniel reluctantly returned downstairs with promises to meet up again that evening, once he had finished his shift at the bar. Aaron closed the door and leaned his forehead against the heavy wood. Wow. Just wow. Quite the night.
He dragged himself back to his room and eyed the clothes he had left in a pile the night before. He really should be getting dressed and thinking about heading into the office, but he really needed another couple of hours’ sleep. Daniel was a few years younger than him and had the stamina to match. They’d sure given the bed a good pounding last night. Aaron smiled as he figured Daniel might have some questions of his own to answer once his guests woke up.
He stumbled over to the bed and sat down a little too heavily.
DANIEL crept into his apartment as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake anyone for numerous reasons. He wanted to wallow in his blissful state for as long as possible, that blissful state that only came after having really great sex.
He couldn’t wait to see Aaron again. He just had a… feeling that this could be the start of something really good. He tiptoed into the kitchen and ran himself a glass of water, gulping down large mouthfuls. Sex sure made him thirsty. He made his way back to his bedroom in silence, stripped off his crumpled clothes, and slipped between the sheets, trying not to make the bed creak too much.
He really shouldn’t have worried, as moments later a monstrous crash from above must have awakened the entire neighborhood.
“Fuck!”
Daniel heard the familiar, muffled curse even through all the layers of bricks and mortar. Aaron. What the hell had happened?
He jumped up and ran back to the door, taking the stairs two at a time to reach Aaron’s apartment. Once there, he hammered on the door. “Aaron? Are you okay?”
“Daniel?”
He whirled around in surprise when a female voice called from behind. The lady from number four. He could never remember her name.
“Daniel? Is that you?” She stuck her head out of the door, blonde hair sticking up in all directions. “What are you doing…?” She looked him up and down pointedly.
Shit! Daniel realized he had raced out of his apartment without his clothes and was standing there stark naked, hammering on another guy’s door. Shit and fuck. He quickly covered his dick with his hands.
“Uh… hi… Mrs.… um. Sorry. Heard a crash and was just checking he was okay.” He gestured with his head back at Aaron’s apartment.
The man in question suddenly swung open the door. “Daniel?”
“Hi!” He instinctively raised a hand in greeting, then thought better of it and covered his crotch again.
Aaron, fully dressed, waved at the concerned neighbor. “Thanks, Mrs. B, everything is fine.”
She nodded and, giving Daniel one final look over, closed and locked her door.
“You okay?” Daniel asked. “Whatever happened sounded intense.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow. “I’m fine, and it was.” He slid an arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “Want to see?”
“Holy crap!” Daniel exclaimed as Aaron lead him back into the bedroom. The old wooden bed frame had split in two; wooden panels were splintered everywhere, and the mattress was on the floor.
“I think you owe me a new bed,” Aaron murmured.
Daniel laughed and wound and arm around Aaron’s waist. “Dude, I’ve never broken a bed before.”
“Been locked out of your apartment naked before either?” Aaron added.
“Shit! I, uh….” Daniel looked down at himself and felt a blush redden his cheeks. “Maybe once before. Or twice.”
Aaron pulled him into a full body hug. Daniel closed his eyes and held on tight. He never wanted to let go.
“Still, a great story to tell down the pub, huh?” Aaron added, his lips tickling Daniel’s ear.
“One of many.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Stick around, I might fill you in sometime.”
Aaron laughed. “I might just do that. Come on, let’s go get you dressed.”
ANNA BIRMINGHAM is originally from the UK but is currently living in and loving the USA. She has been reading and attempting to write m/m stories for around three years. It’s a not so new guilty pleasure. Anna used to work in finance but is currently a stay at home mom to two young children under the age of four, so free time doesn’t come along that often. When it does, writing about hot guys doing sexy things is the perfect antidote to the “terrible twos!”
BOY NEXT DOOR
Ellee Hill
“DON’T look down, don’t look down, don’t look down.” Instead, Kyle Weaver stared at the side of Mrs. Contin’s house, noting that there was a bit of rot attacking the wooden shutters, and held onto the rails of the ladder so tightly his hands hurt. “What the fuck was I thinking?”
Now that his parents were in Florida and he was living in their house, he’d felt some kind of familial obligation to take over the little things his father
used to do for Mrs. Contin two houses down, who was pushing a million and baked a hell of a peach cobbler.
Kyle had a serious love for peach cobbler.
Serious enough that he’d agreed to climb a fucking ladder to clean her gutters. A ladder. Which raised him up above the ground. People died from falling off a ladder. Or got broken in bad ways, but that was not going to happen to Kyle. Not a chance, because he was never moving again. Ever.
Life wasn’t going to be easy, living on the ladder. The immediate problem was sunburn, though his bladder might have a say pretty soon, and his hands hurt like hell from the death grip he had on the rails, but that was a small price to pay for being whole and, more importantly, staying whole and without injury.
“What are you doing?”
Kyle blinked at the shutter he was currently staring at. “Shutters don’t talk,” he muttered to himself. Okay, heatstroke first, then the sunburn.
“Down here, genius.”
Kyle made the mistake of lowering his gaze and saw his hot new neighbor standing in the shade of the house staring up at him, looking amused and sexy and—
Kyle’s stomach heaved and he gasped, squeezed his eyes shut, and pressed his lips together to keep from throwing up the peach cobbler he’d scarfed down before partaking in this incredibly stupid quest. Operation: Gutter Clean was a complete failure. And now there was a witness.
“I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess you’re afraid of heights.”
Kyle might have made an embarrassing squeak in response, but he wasn’t sure. He really, really hoped not. He’d been lusting over the guy for almost two weeks, since he’d seen him unloading a pickup truck, carrying a few bags and boxes into the old Kinney place next door. The house had changed hands a few times since Mr. Kinney had died when Kyle was in high school, but it had been empty with a For Rent sign out front since Kyle had moved back four months ago.
Kyle’s father had unofficially made the owner after Mr. Kinney—Henry van Natta—his sworn enemy after a disagreement with a rotted tree that straddled both of their properties, resulting in the seven foot hedge that now stood between the houses. Danny van Natta had been just as much of a jerk as his father, so the hedge had worked for Kyle. It didn’t work now, when he wanted to check out his new neighbor more thoroughly.
Tall, dark hair that Kyle always saw falling over his eyes; tanned skin. He had that classically handsome face, like a movie star. The friendly smile Kyle had glimpsed when they’d both been pulling out of their driveways at the same time had made Kyle’s heart thump hard and fast. He’d jerked off that night to the memory of that smile. Hell, every glimpse of the guy had been added to Kyle’s personal spank bank, and now here he was, in the flesh, and Kyle was stuck up a fucking ladder.
“Okay, I’d climb up to help, but I don’t think this old thing can handle the both of us, so this is what we’re going to do. You listening, gorgeous?”
“I—gor—what?” Kyle swallowed. “Listening.”
“I’m going to hold the ladder. It won’t move, not an inch. I need you to trust me, do you?”
“No.”
Hot Neighbor laughed softly, but Kyle felt it travel up his spine like a water rivulet going in reverse. “You’re not so far up that I can’t catch you if you fall, but see, you won’t, because you’re holding on tight, and I’m holding the ladder. Right?”
“Right?”
“Right. So now you need to slide your hands, one at a time, down a little. Then bend your knees and slide your foot out, feel for the next step down. Can you do that?”
“No.” Hot Neighbor was crazy. Kyle gripped the rails even tighter and glared at the shutter.
“Yes, you can, gorgeous.”
Kyle wasn’t sure if he was burning up from the sun, the compliments, or the embarrassment of having to be spoken to like a scared little kid. He needed off the ladder so he could jump into the nearest hole and disappear.
“No rush, I got all day to stand here staring at your perfectly-shaped ass.”
“What?” Kyle’s shock had him looking down again, but Hot Neighbor wasn’t there. Oh, right, he was behind him, staring at his ass. “My fucking life.” His stomach rolled and he gasped, eyes back up and focused intently on a peeling slat of the shutter.
“But I do have to be at work at ten, so…. Come on, you can do this.”
Kyle blanked his mind, sent a prayer up to whatever gods might be listening to terrified gay acrophobes, and began to move, oh so slowly, but he was moving, the sound of Hot Neighbor’s voice washing over him. Kyle wasn’t sure what he was even saying, but it was encouraging, and something inside of Kyle responded to it. Slide, slide, bend, touch. Slide, slide, bend, touch.
“Do I get to claim a reward for rescuing the fair princess?”
Kyle sucked in a breath, his eyes snapping open when arms slid around his waist, holding him close to a big, hard body. “A—a little presumptuous, aren’t you?”
“We have gossipy neighbors. I even know about that time you ran around the backyard waving your diaper around when you were two.”
“Mrs. DeAngelo.” Kyle groaned and slumped into his rescuer’s embrace. “I’m selling the house. I knew it was a bad idea to come back.”
“Did you really pretend your bike was a horse and hold jousting matches in the street with everyone’s mailboxes?”
“Oh my God.”
“I’m Shane, by the way. Shane Owens.”
“Please let me die in peace.”
“Embarrassment can’t kill you.”
“There’s always a first time.” Kyle took a deep breath and stepped away from Shane. “Thank you.” He turned around and held out his hand. And looked up. Shane had to be at least six two, which made Kyle’s five ten seem short in comparison. He wasn’t overly muscled, but he definitely had the look of someone who could take care of himself.
“I hope not.” Shane grinned and held out his hand. “I’ve been hoping to get a chance to finally meet you.”
Kyle briefly enjoyed the feeling of Shane’s hand holding his before he gave the perfunctory two-pump and let go. “A chance to meet me? Why?”
Shane let out a huff of laughter. “You’re serious? Do you own a mirror?”
Kyle hated it when guys told him he was good-looking; he just didn’t see it. Blond hair and blue eyes didn’t mean anything much. He took care of himself, but he could stand to lose a couple of pounds, and instead of dimples in his cheeks he had one in his chin and he hated it. He’d grow a beard to cover it up, but the one time he’d tried all he got were patches of scruff that made him look homeless.
Shane was eyeing him up like he was something special, and Kyle ducked his head, face hot. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, only to yelp when pain shot up his arm. “What?” When he yanked them back out to look, the skin of his right palm was cut straight through, just a thin line, but was beginning to bleed.
“Shit, are you okay?” Shane gently cupped Kyle’s hand. “When was your last tetanus shot?”
“My—I—when I was ten? I don’t freaking know!”
“Your place is closest. Let me take care of this for you.”
THE cold water stung, but Kyle was past caring. How could he with Shane standing behind him at the kitchen sink, pressed together from ass to shoulders, arms around him to hold his hand under the running water?
“Okay, dry off with a paper towel.” Shane stepped back and Kyle didn’t reach back to stop him from moving away, but it was close. He watched Shane rummage around in the first aid kit Kyle’s mother had packed up to deal with anything from a splinter to the apocalypse, while Kyle dabbed at the cut with a paper towel. The bleeding had stopped for the moment.
“This is a bit of overkill, but at least it won’t get infected.” Shane gently smoothed ointment on the cut before wrapping gauze around his palm. Kyle watched their hands; Shane’s were just a little bigger, with scars here and there; working efficiently, as if he’d done it before.
&nb
sp; “What do you—ow!” Kyle had made the mistake of looking up when Shane looked down. His vision swam for a second.
“Fuck, ow, shit.” Shane stumbled back, and Kyle held onto the edge of the counter.
“I’m sorry, oh Christ, this is not my day.” Kyle moaned, injured hand on the top of his head. He stared down at his sneakers and wondered what else he could do to prove to Shane what a lame-ass he was.
“I’m just glad I didn’t bite my tongue.” Shane’s feet moved into Kyle’s line of vision. “Hey.”
“I’m—”
“Sorry, yeah, I heard you the first time. Look at me.”
Kyle sighed and looked up. “What?”
“This.”
The kiss was unexpected. Kyle gasped into Shane’s mouth and moaned when he was gathered close. He had to tilt his head up, and it felt strange, kissing someone so much taller. Kyle liked to date guys his height so he could look into their eyes without getting a crick in his neck, or cuddle close when slow dancing. This was different, not better or worse, just different.
“Gonna open your mouth for me?” Shane whispered, licking the corner of Kyle’s mouth, which was just weird in a very good way. Kyle could only chuckle before parting his lips, letting Shane deepen the kiss. It had been months since he’d kissed anyone, longer since it was a kiss like this; a kiss with intent.
His brain said he should pull away, put space between them, get cooled down and think rationally about what his body wanted him to do. Instead, Kyle pushed his hips against Shane’s thigh; he fit himself into Shane’s body and tightened his hold.
He basked in the heat of Shane’s attention, of how much he wanted Kyle. If it wasn’t the intensity of his kiss, or the firm grip he had on Kyle’s ass, it was the hardness digging into Kyle’s hip. He remembered Shane calling him gorgeous and moaned, breaking the kiss to catch his breath, only to lose it again when Shane began to nibble his way down his neck.
“Oh, that’s….”