by Willa Okati
There was no answer for that but for Tuck to kiss him.
And when one kiss led to another and another still, well. Tuck wasn’t complaining.
Epilogue
Cade tapped the folded newspaper against his leg. He bit his lip and looked up, through trees long since overgrown and at ivy curtaining brick walls. Tuck sat behind him on the edge of an old fountain fallen into disuse ages ago but still good. All it needed was some TLC and, failing that, a jackhammer.
“I’m not going to ask what you think is funny now,” Cade said. He traced the bright red circle Tuck had drawn around the real estate ad that’d led them here. “You really think this is the one?”
Tuck propped his chin on his hand. Rosebushes prickled around them, plenty of thorns and still some late-autumn blooms showing. A fence bordered the property, old-fashioned pickets set sturdily enough in the ground to keep Suzie-Q safe. She sniffed at them, barking every now and then in approval in case her two men missed the point. Good thing dogs were color-blind, because the paint job? Well…interesting was the best that could be said of soft orange mixed with a few whites. Creamsicle.
Tuck was in love.
“This is it,” he said. “Speak now, or forever—”
Cade laughed. “Or forever wish I had? I know.” He treated the property to a good hard once-over. “Calling it a fixer-upper is casting shame on real fixer-uppers,” he teased.
“You see a disaster, I see a few weekends of DIY.” Tuck waved that aside. “It’s all in the eye of the beholder.”
“So say you?”
“So say I. The one who’s going to be doing all the work.”
“Not all of it.” Cade had his stubborn face on. “I taught you how to dance. You never got to finish teaching me how to hammer a nail without taking my thumb off.” His lips quirked up at one corner. “Oh wait. That was your thumb.”
“Barely a scratch, and everybody’s still making a fuss.” Tuck said. He rolled his eyes in pretended offense that he knew fooled absolutely no one, and why should it? He loved Cade in a jokey mood.
“Hey.” Cade held himself easier these days. Tuck loved that too. “It doesn’t mean you won’t do it right this time.”
Tuck eyed his lover. The devil, or maybe an angel with an odd sense of humor, made him ask a question unplanned. “You trust me?”
Cade’s return glance was sharp—before it softened. “Yes,” he said.
And Tuck believed him now. Again. Like before. Better.
“So we’re decided? This is the one?” Cade tucked the newspaper under his arm and held the other one out, an open space for Tuck to fill if he liked.
Bet your life Tuck did. He leaned his head on Cade’s shoulder. “This is it,” he said. “The end of the road.” Halfway between Albany and New York, with roses and ivy and neighbors just close enough to annoy, a backyard more than big enough for Suzie-Q, and an extra room for Hannah and Megan if they wanted to visit.
Cade jostled him gently. “That’s some kind of a thing for a driver to say.”
“Eh.” Tuck shrugged. “What’s the point in a road if you can’t find your way home?”
Cade wrinkled his nose. “Cheese.”
“You love it, and you know it.” Tuck craned his neck to look up at Cade. “So? Agreed, disagreed?”
“I think…” Cade took his time about it, tapping that paper, biting his lip. Making sure he was sure, thinking it through.
Tuck could wait. They were better, both of them. That didn’t mean perfect, but hey. They were imperfect together and making it work.
“Yes,” Cade said finally. “It’s home.”
“Damn right.”
Cade laughed quietly. “You would put it that way.” He kissed the top of Tuck’s head, then bent to pick up his knapsack and slung it over his shoulder. “Grab that ‘for sale’ sign on your way to the car,” he called to Tuck. “No one else gets a chance at this one.”
That thing people always said? They had it backward and sideways. If a guy was lucky—lucky twice over—then two wrongs could make a right. Man, of anybody else out there, Tuck figured he’d be the one to know.
Tuck closed his eyes and breathed deeply, tasting the peace and the smell of good honest soil, roses and sun-warmed stone, and let the rustle of leaves fill his ears. He let his eyelids drift open and looked up at the sun.
You know, he thought, I didn’t even ask for one this time, but I think it’s going to be a good day today.
Dedication
For the one I’ll love with all my heart, to be kept in trust for you until the day we find each other.
Loose Id Titles by Willa Okati
A-Muse-Ing
And Call Me in the Morning
Because It's True
By Your Side
Enough to Let You Go
Georgina's Dragon
Helpmeet
Lovers, Dreamers & Me
Make a Right
Temptations, Inc.
Wild Hunt
THE BROTHERHOOD Series:
Amour Magique
Bite Me
The Dragon's Tongue
Good Luck Piece
The Out-of-Towner
Tezcatli's Game
Single White Fang
Under Hill and Over the Bar
Tunnel of Love
Salt of the…Earth?
Nothing Like Experience
Believe It or Not
Incubus Call
Once Upon a Liam
THE TOMCAT JONES Stories:
Tomcat Jones
Buddy Holiday
Karma Chameleon
Willa Okati
A multi-published author of GLBT fiction since 2004, my passion is for writing hot love stories with quirky humor and a sensual eroticism.
I exist primarily on caffeine and pixels, take “camera shy” to a whole new level, and persist in trying to learn the pennywhistle despite being woefully tone-deaf. During the summer, I’m a wild woman with henna.
Find Willa on the Web at https://www.willaokati.com, or email her at [email protected].
Join her Yahoogroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/got_ink_willaokati, and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/willaokati.