by E. Davies
Cas smiled softly. “I thought guys like you had it all. The confidence, the looks, the body… like it was a package deal.”
“Hell, so did I. I thought I just had to put on twenty pounds of muscle and everything would be perfect.”
“If only it were that easy,” Cas said and shook his head. He squirmed to let Matt get his jeans off, and Matt was instantly distracted by the clingy black satin that hugged his curves.
God, he always had the best underwear.
Matt had to remind himself what Cas had just said. He licked his lips and ran his hand over Cas’s ass, admiring the texture under his fingers. “You know what’s easy?”
“What?”
“Loving you.” Matt smiled at Cas, and when Cas blushed, he grinned even more. “What? It’s true.”
“Even with…” Cas trailed off, but his gaze darted downward very meaningfully.
“Babe,” Matt murmured, “I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again, I don’t care what you wear. I want you to be happy. But I love it when you wear these. They feel good, and they make you confident.”
Cas’s eyes widened. “They do?”
How hadn’t he noticed? Matt nodded firmly. “You’re more… you… when you’re not wearing boring old Fruit of the Loom. I don’t know how to describe it.” Like right now, Cas was straddling him and grinning down at him.
Cas flicked Matt’s chest gently. “Go on, lie down. If you’re my world, I’m on top of the world tonight.”
That bossy streak was adorable. Matt could have flipped him over in a moment, but he’d save that for later. He just grinned and obeyed, squirming up the bed while Cas tugged down on his shorts. Between them, they got him naked with surprising speed.
“Better,” Cas approved and straddled him. Now that he could feel that satin brush and drag against the sensitive skin of his shaft, Matt was quickly getting hard. The anticipation alone of being inside Cas was incredible.
First, though, it looked like Cas was determined to drive him out of his mind. He slowly thrust his hips, rubbing himself back and forth along Matt until their shafts lined up through the thin material.
He was right, though. The smooth glide between their skin made it even better—and through the material, he could feel the tip of Cas’s cock getting wet.
“Fuck, I’m getting so hard,” Matt groaned. He dug his nails into Cas’s back, admiring the soft bedroom light highlighting the angles of his face.
Cas smirked. “Join the club. I was just hoping you didn’t do anything particularly sexy at class today. It would be both painful and obvious.”
“Good thing I was working you too hard to get turned on,” Matt laughed.
“Just a warmup for the exercise I’m about to do,” Cas told him with a grin.
“What exercise is that? Is it approved in the exercise plan?” Matt teased.
Cas grabbed lube from the bedside stand and wiggled the tube. “I’ll give you a hint: I’m gonna make good use of this.”
“I have no idea what you could mean. You should show me, immediately.”
“Now, now,” Cas winked. “I figured I could get a few more minutes of begging out of you by grinding just like this.”
God, Matt loved him. He laughed and covered his face, but his body still ached for more. He wanted Cas and he wanted him now.
Cas finally dragged his waistband down and off, his cock springing free. He was already flushed and hard, and he didn’t waste any time squirting lube onto his fingers.
“I’ve been planning ways to climb you like a tree in the gym,” Cas told him breathlessly.
Matt’s cheeks flushed with heat at Cas’s enthusiasm. He really felt like Cas was into him, in every possible way. Going to the STI clinic to get tested together had only fueled the flames—they’d barely lasted until they got home that day. It was nice to be loved for his personality, but the fact that their sexual chemistry was this raw and impossible to control just blew his mind.
“I need you,” Matt whispered, his gaze fixed on Cas’s face. He loved watching that expression shift with pleasure as he fingered himself. He could watch that all day.
Cas groaned, licking his lips before he managed a response. “As soon as I can, baby.”
Matt ran his nails lightly along Cas’s thighs, and Cas’s dick twitched as he gave a full-body shiver of pleasure. With this discovery, Matt repeated the motion a few more times until Cas gave a hissed moan.
“I didn’t know I liked that.”
Matt smirked. “We each learned something.” He let his nails drag slowly up Cas’s front to his chest, and then scraped his nipples slightly.
The whimpered gasp that Cas gave nearly blew Matt’s mind—or his load. It was a breathless, wordless cry of ecstasy, and he wanted to wring so many more from him.
Cas gripped him by the base of his shaft, and before Matt knew it, he was pressing against and into the tight ring of muscle.
“Fuck,” Matt breathed out, squeezing his eyes shut for a few moments. The heat and intimacy of being inside Cas never, ever got old.
Cas met his gaze as soon as he opened his eyes again, and he cupped Matt’s cheek for a moment with a breathless smile. “You feel incredible.”
Matt’s ego didn’t mind those words at all. “Yeah?” he murmured, grinning. “Hitting the spot?”
“You better believe it.” Cas squeezed tight around him, his fingernails biting into Matt’s thigh. He shifted his weight, finding a better balance, and then he set into a quick, shallow rhythm.
He loved seeing Cas go for what he wanted, and when that was riding Matt, well… everyone won.
Matt ran his nails along Cas’s smooth skin, delighting in the way he clenched around his cock every time he found exactly the right sensitive spots along his body to tease. Cas’s whimpers and moans of need were the hottest part of all.
It was goddamn hard to hold back when Cas was riding him, his muscles flexing with every quick rise and fall of his hips. Every brush of skin on skin excited the sparks between them into an inferno of need.
As Cas started to tire, sweat beading his brow in a sheen along his flushed skin, Matt itched to take over. But when he tried, Cas smacked his hip. “No. I’m doing this.”
Matt grinned. “If you insist. Are you sure?”
“I can do it,” Cas panted. His hand was splayed on Matt’s stomach. “I’m almost there. I’m gonna come, baby.”
Matt grinned and kneaded Cas’s ass, then ran his nails up his spine to scratch his scalp. “Come, Cas. Show me how hot you are when you can’t hold back for a second longer.”
“I—I can’t—yes!” Cas whimpered and squirmed, his movements finally slowing as he alternately thrust forward into his hand and down onto Matt.
The pulsating tightness around him was nearly enough for Matt. He tried again to take over, but again, Cas didn’t let him. He clicked his tongue, tossed his head, and set into a quick motion again.
Matt gasped. “Are you sure—”
“I’m not a quitter.” Cas’s eyes blazed with determination. “I told you I was on top.”
God, that was hot. That as much as anything else pushed Matt toward the edge. “Baby, I’m so close. Watching you come is incredible.”
Cas reached down and ran his fingertip around Matt’s nipple, his other hand cupping his cheek lightly. “Mine,” he murmured.
Matt came hard and fast, his head pushing back into the pillow as his body shivered and pushed up. “Yes! Caspian. Cas… yours,” he panted.
Cas rewarded him by slowing his thrusts, and alternating them with gentle kisses against his lips until Matt finally flopped back on the bed, exhausted and overjoyed.
“That was a great class,” Cas told him with a straight face. “I pushed my limits, but I found something strong inside me…”
Matt couldn’t help the burst of giggles. Cas was one-of-a-kind, and he wouldn’t trade this for the world. “It’s all the curls.”
“Dick curls?” Cas smirked. “Bal
ancing a weight on it?”
“I have seen a guy try that,” Matt admitted, shaking his head.
It was Cas’s turn to dissolve into giggles. “No!”
“Yeah, unfortunately. And I made him sanitize the weights afterward, you better believe it.”
Cas grinned as he curled into Matt’s side, both of them sticky and sweaty but smiling so hard it almost felt surreal. Sometimes, Matt still expected to wake up and pinch himself and find himself alone.
But Cas was here, curled into him, giving him a look like he was…
“Are you happy?” Matt murmured.
Cas chuckled quietly and pressed a few kisses against Matt’s lips. “Like never before.”
“Good,” Matt murmured, closing his eyes. “Me too.”
Before Cas, the future had always been a distant kind of happiness that he hadn’t yet earned. But Cas made him feel like he deserved this right here, right now.
He was the luckiest guy in the whole damn town. With Cas at his side, it felt like there was nothing he couldn’t do. And whatever Cas needed to support him, Matt would gladly give him. There was no more worrying or wondering how they’d do it. There was just a mutual agreement that somehow, they would.
True love would find a way.
Epilogue
Caspian
“My muscles. I’m going to actually lie down and die.” Gabriel was being a little overdramatic, but everyone surrounding him laughed.
“Fine!” Cas exclaimed with a laugh and stood up to let Gabriel take his chair. “If you’re going to literally die without sitting down, I guess you can have my chair.”
They had a bunch of folding tables and chairs set up in the parking lot, but they hadn’t expected so many people to turn up.
Just about their entire circle of friends and acquaintances in the gay Hidden Creek world, plus half the church down the street, had turned out for today’s first Gays and Grannies class. It wasn’t strictly limited to grannies—there were aunts, moms, and even the occasional straight guy—but most importantly, all the LGBT+ people were free to be themselves.
Even those who hadn’t shown up to the class, like Pete—who was recovering from a busted rib—had come for the barbecue in the parking lot.
His boyfriend, Ethan, was sticking close by and making him laugh with comments on how different American barbecue food was compared to British barbecues.
“And how do you think I feel?” Andre groaned. “I wasn’t ready for that.” He’d dragged his best friend, Zach, along to get him out of the newspaper offices. His goofy sense of humor had brightened up their class already.
“I think he’s trying to kill all of us at once,” Channing said, shaking his head. Remi had recruited him to the class as a fellow firefighter.
“It gets easier the more you do it,” Axel told them all. Given the size of his muscles, Cas was willing to assume he knew what he was talking about.
Chase had stuck close to Cas for the whole session, but he’d gotten through it remarkably well.
The new teacher, Ben, had stuck to a low-impact yoga format, but the routine had been tailored to different ability levels. Those who could do more advanced exercises were pushed to do them, while those who were starting from scratch didn’t. Ben had also adapted several moves to make it easier on those like Cora, with injuries and stiffness to work through.
“This is gonna be a good term of classes,” Cas said with a little smile around at everyone. He smoothed down his t-shirt and smiled down at the slogan again—he’d chosen the one that said “Lift: for one and all.”
Kris clapped his hands, the picture of excitement. “I can’t wait!”
The whole community had turned out for the barbecue to celebrate the new class schedule. This was probably one of the best chances for a good outdoor gathering before Halloween. The weather was starting to cool off to reasonable temperatures, which was a welcome relief after the heat of summer.
“When does the childcare open?” That was Orion, who was nodding pointedly toward Chase, whose little girl, Lyla, was bouncing around the parking lot. She wore a pint-sized “Lift your eyes, lift your goals, lift your best” shirt which matched Hunter’s.
“Any time now,” Kelly told him. “We’re working on it.” As it turned out, she ran a daycare nearby.
For now, kids were welcome in the gym as long as they stayed in certain designated areas. Gabriel had told Matt how hard it was to find childcare while working, let alone working out, and Matt had immediately understood and changed the gym’s policies. Now he was working on partnering with Kelly’s daycare to figure out if they could get on-site childcare if they kept growing.
God, he loved that man.
Best of all, he had no more ab definition than the day he’d started working out at Lift, but it didn’t matter. He felt better, and Matt loved every inch of him. Best impulse decision of his life.
Pastor Robinson stood up. “If everyone’s satisfied their hunger with some of those delicious burgers, I’d like to say a few words.” Even he was in a Lift t-shirt, which said “Lift your dreams.”
“Of course,” Matt welcomed him to do so while Cas turned toward him attentively and folded his hands.
“In Hidden Creek, everyone is free to be and love whoever they want, so long as they harm nobody and they’re their happiest self. Whether or not you go to church—or even believe in God—the world will be a better place if we love our neighbors. Here’s to many years of sharing the neighborhood with Lift.”
After the cheering and toasts, Matt turned to Cas. “I sure love my neighbor,” Matt murmured with a smirk.
Cas’s heart skipped a beat. Was now the right time to ask? Hell, he wasn’t sure any time was the perfect time. “You know, you could be an even closer neighbor.” When Matt looked blankly at him, he sighed and clarified, “Your mattress is shitty and we could be spending more time together. Just move in.”
Matt’s jaw dropped. “That would mean…”
Cas knew exactly what it would mean. If Matt’s cost of living was lower, together with his steadily increasing membership lately, he could afford an employee.
That meant more time off and at home to enjoy his company. Cas was just about done with peak production season, and now he was working on the last Christmas preorders. He’d find plenty of ways to fill that free time together.
“You’ve already thought this through,” Matt whispered.
Cas grinned. “Of course I have. I wouldn’t be me if I weren’t overthinking it.”
“I love you, Swishy. I’d love to live with you.”
Cas grinned as he wrapped his arms around his Unicorn’s waist and kissed him hard. “Let’s do it.”
He never would have dreamed that he could end up this happy, and now that he had, the world seemed brighter every day.
“I love you, my perfect Unicorn.”
Also in Hidden Creek
Welcome to Hidden Creek, Texas, where the heart knows what it wants, and where true love lives happily ever after. Every Men of Hidden Creek novel can be read on its own, but keep an eye out for familiar faces around town!
Don’t miss a new season of Hidden Creek! To keep up to date with new releases, make sure you join us in our Facebook group here: www.facebook.com/groups/MenOfHiddenCreek/
SEASON TWO
ASHES by HJ Welch
ALLURE by Blake Roland
ACHE by Alison Hendricks
ALWAYS by Dillon Hunter
ALLIED by Max Hawthorn
ADORE by E. Davies
SEASON ONE
SHELTER by E. Davies
SHIELD by Max Hawthorn
STORM by HJ Welch
STAY by Avery Ford
SERVE by Ian O. Lewis
SCORE by A. E. Wasp
About the Author
Gay romance author E. Davies grew up moving constantly, which taught him what people have in common, the ways relationships are formed, and the dangers of “miscellaneous” boxes. As a young gay author
whose role models were characters punished for their sexuality, Ed prefers his stories lightly dramatic, full of optimism and hope.
Now out and proud, Ed writes full-time, goes on long nature walks, tries to fill his passport, drinks piña coladas on the beach, flees from cute guys, coos over fuzzy animals (especially bees), and is liable to tilt his head and click his tongue if you don't use your turn signal.
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Also by E. Davies
Shelter
“It's time to stop running away.”
Private security contractor Orion Miele is only back in Hidden Creek long enough to help his Gramma get better. Orion never expected to fall for the only brown-eyed beauty he turned down in high school... one who needs his protection now. Juggling his responsibilities might get messy.
Gabriel Spicer can't wait to get out of this town and his cousin's fixed-up shed, far away from his clingy ex. He works at the Mieles' farm produce stall to save up for the big move to Houston, where his life will get better. But meeting his high school crush all over again throws his careful plans awry.
The walled garden designs Gabriel loves to sketch have nothing on the walls around his heart. While Orion comes to terms with being bi, Gabriel realizes that leaving isn't all it's cracked up to be. What he needs is shelter... here, in Orion's arms.
Welcome to Hidden Creek, Texas, where the heart knows what it wants, and where true love lives happily ever after. Every Men of Hidden Creek novel can be read on its own, but keep an eye out for familiar faces around town! This book contains a sweetly scheming grandma, a guy who thinks he’s straight, and a sketchbook full of hopes and dreams.