Hungry For Love

by Louise Lyons

  “It’s fine. Just let me know when. I think it’s great that your mum supports you. I could never take someone—you—to meet my parents. I forced Mark on them once and they said, not in so many words, that I wasn’t welcome to visit if I insisted on bringing my ‘friend’ with me.”

  “I’m sorry.” Luke smiled sympathetically.

  “Don’t be. I’m used to it. But like I said, I’d be happy to meet your mum.”

  “Nick will probably be there too. He’s cool about me being gay. He punched one of the kids in his class one time when they teased him for having a gay brother. He’ll like you.”

  “I doubt a fourteen-year-old boy would see much to like in me.”

  “Offer to let him thrash you at Mortal Kombat and he’ll be a friend for life.”

  “Thrashing me would be easy. I’m rubbish at computer games.” I chuckled and gave the paella another stir. “This is almost ready. Do you want to get some drinks out of the fridge? I’ve only got soft drinks.”

  “That’s fine, I don’t need beer to enjoy a good meal.” Luke opened the fridge and selected two cans of Diet 7-Up. I served the food onto plates and put them on trays.

  “We’ll have to eat on our laps on the sofa. I keep meaning to get a little foldaway table, but it’s been just me for so long, I haven’t bothered.”

  “We do this at home.” Luke carried his tray and the bowl of salad into the living room, and lowered himself onto the sofa. I joined him and we watched old episodes of Star Trek while we ate. After the meal, which Luke said was delicious, we stayed on the sofa and cuddled for a while. He eventually pulled away from me and got to his feet. I was disappointed he had to leave, but when I looked at the clock I was surprised it was already after eight.

  “We should do this again. With the bikes.” I hovered at the door as Luke pushed his bike out onto the landing.

  “Yes, it was fun. I had a great day, Sam.” He propped the bike against the wall and stepped closer. “I’m working ten until eight this week, so I expect I’ll see you at the gym?”

  “I’ll be there every day,” I promised. “I’m going to cycle to work and take my gym gear with me. Might as well get some extra workouts when I can.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  I reached out and slid my hands around his slim waist to pull him closer. My fears had dissipated and although my pulse quickened, it was only due to excitement. When Luke pressed against me and tilted his head to kiss me good-bye, my heart soared. I hugged him tight and kissed him thoroughly until we were both breathless and aroused. I let him go with great reluctance, and watched from the top of the stairs until he’d maneuvered his bike out of the building. I went back inside and closed the door. It was early days, as he’d said, but I was falling for him, hook, line, and sinker.

  I SAW Luke every day at the gym, but on Thursday I missed my session and went straight home from work to take a shower. It was Luke’s day off and I’d been invited to his house for dinner. I hadn’t realized how nervous I’d be about meeting his mum until I left my apartment to walk to Thorpe Road. I’d put on one of my nicest shirts and a pair of smart trousers, and after much deliberating, I’d bought a bunch of flowers to give to Mrs. Walker.

  I’d only ever done the “meet the parents” thing once before, and Mark’s parents had been very casual and non-conformist. We’d run into them in a bar and spent a few hours drinking together. I’d never been officially invited to their home and hadn’t seen them at all in the last six months of our relationship. I desperately wanted Mrs. Walker to like me, and Luke’s brother too. I feared if she didn’t like me she might try to talk Luke out of seeing me.

  When I arrived at the modest house, I rang the bell and held my breath as I waited. Luke opened the door and I heaved a sigh of relief. He beamed at me and indicated the flowers.

  “Are those for me?”

  “Twat,” I teased.

  “Don’t you think I like flowers?” He put on a wounded expression, but his sparkling eyes gave him away.

  “Just wait. Next time you’ll get a dozen roses.” I was only half-joking. I wasn’t sure whether men should buy flowers for each other or not. I’d always seen it as a romantic gesture for women, but maybe it could be the same for men.

  “Mum loves carnations,” Luke added.

  “Is that what these are?” I glanced at the pink and white flowers in my hand. I’d chosen them because they looked and smelled nice. Luke laughed and grasped my free hand to tug me into the house.

  “Come on, don’t stand on ceremony. Mum’s in the kitchen making some fancy chicken dish.” Still gripping my hand, Luke led me down the hall to the back of the house. A delicious smell emanated from the kitchen and my mouth watered. I glanced anxiously at our joined hands as we entered the room, but Luke seemed completely unconcerned.

  “Sam, this is my mum, Angela. Mum, this is Sam.” Finally he let go of my hand so I could offer it to Angela to shake.

  Mrs. Walker was beautiful and it was easy to see where Luke got his looks from. She was almost as tall as him, and strands of her black hair escaped from the untidy pile on top of her head to frame her face. Her blue eyes were the exact shade of Luke’s, and her flushed cheeks indicated some time spent cooking. She flashed me the same glorious smile I’d had from Luke countless times, and she shook my hand with a surprisingly firm grip.

  “Hello, Sam, it’s lovely to meet you. Are these for me?” She released my hand and took the flowers I offered. “Thanks so much, these are my favorites. You shouldn’t have.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Mrs. Walker.”

  “Angela,” she corrected, and placed the flowers on the kitchen counter. “I’ll put these in water in a minute. Luke’s told me a lot about you.”

  “Has he?” I glanced anxiously at Luke and he grinned back.

  “You’re very dedicated at the gym, I hear. And looking after him when he had his phone stolen. Stupid boy shouldn’t have been using it in the street, but still. That was sweet of you.”

  Luke flushed and grimaced.

  “Anyone would have done the same.” I felt embarrassed by the praise.

  “No, they wouldn’t.” Angela opened the fridge and took out three cans of Diet Coke. “Why don’t you have these and take one for Nick? Dinner will be about twenty minutes, okay?”

  “Thanks, Mum.” Luke took the drinks, passed one to me, and led me out of the room. “Now you get to meet my terror of a brother.” He shouted the last few words as we entered the living room. A younger version of Luke turned to glare at his brother, then quickly switched his attention back to the TV as a game character fell to his knees with blood spurting from his mouth. The victor stood over him and punched the air.

  “Shit, Luke, look what you made me do!”

  “Don’t swear, you brat. Mum’ll have your guts. Switch that off and say hello to Sam. Dinner’s nearly ready.”

  “Hello, Sam.” Nick’s gaze switched from his brother to me, swept down my body, and then his eyes widened. I wondered what he thought as he stared at me. He was probably surprised his brother would date someone twice his size.

  “Hi, Nick.” I risked a smile.

  “Luke never shuts up about you.” Nick grinned wickedly, his expression the image of Luke’s when he was amused. “It’s all, ‘Sam went cycling with me today’; ‘Sam had coffee with me at the gym’; ‘Sam cooked me dinner’; ‘Sam, Sam, Sam’. It’s about time we got to meet you.”

  “He’s said a lot about you too.” I suppressed a snort of laughter with difficulty, while Luke snatched a cushion from a nearby armchair and tossed it at Nick’s head. “Apparently you like to thrash people on your X-Box.”

  “You offering?”

  “After dinner, Nick. Don’t bug him,” Luke protested.

  “Okay.” Nick nodded at me. “You, me, Mortal Kombat, best out of three. After dinner. I guarantee you, I will beat you to a pulp.”

  “Nicholas Walker!” Angela scolded from the doorway. “What a
way to speak to a guest!”

  “It’s okay, Angela.” I smiled at her.

  “I’ll show you my room.” Luke retreated into the hall and I followed quickly. We climbed the stairs and Luke pointed out the four doors on the landing, indicating which were the bedrooms and which the bathroom, should I need it. Then he pushed open a door and ushered me into his room.

  The bed was a single bunk on stilts, with a computer desk underneath. The rest of the available space was taken up by a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, and lots of shelving piled high with books, DVDs, CDs, and general clutter. A small flat screen TV was mounted high on the wall opposite the bed.

  “There’s not much room and it’s been the same since I was a teenager, but it’ll do.” Luke pulled out the chair from his desk and invited me to sit on it, while he dropped onto the carpet and sat cross-legged with his back against the wardrobe. “Sorry about my brother.”

  “It’s fine. He’s just like you.”

  Luke opened his mouth as if to protest, but grinned and nodded. “Yeah, I suppose. You know he’s going to hold you to an ass-kicking contest later.”

  “I came prepared.” I clenched my fists and punched an imaginary enemy. “Your mum’s lovely.”

  “Yeah. I’m pretty lucky. Thanks for coming.”

  We stayed chatting in his room until Nick bellowed up the stairs that dinner was ready and that we should get our clothes back on. Luke opened the door just as Angela shouted back at Nick.

  “Will you behave yourself? Stop trying to embarrass your brother!” She looked up as we plodded down the stairs. “I’m sorry, Sam. My youngest has no manners at all.”

  “Blame Luke. I just copy him.” Nick rolled his eyes.

  I was laughing by the time I sat down at the small square dining table in the corner of the living room. I felt relaxed and completely welcome as I joined in with the family’s casual banter. We ate an Italian chicken dish with rice and salad, laughed at Nick’s appalling jokes, and discussed mine and Luke’s work. I even told Angela and Nick how I’d come to meet Luke, by joining the gym to lose excess weight. I felt no shame in telling them I’d lost more than half what I planned, and intended to keep up the good work until I reached my target. Angela praised my perseverance and explained she’d gained forty pounds when she was pregnant with Nick, and that it stuck with her for three years before she found the determination to do something about it.

  After the meal, I accepted the Mortal Kombat challenge from Nick and predictably was beaten to a pulp in the first two games, negating the need for a third.

  “Loser! Loo-ooo-ser!” Nick exclaimed, in an excellent imitation of Jim Carrey.

  “See what I have to put up with?” Luke grinned. He led me back upstairs and selected a CD for us to listen to.

  I sat on the floor and leaned against the wardrobe the same way Luke had done earlier. He sat beside me and eventually straddled my lap so we could kiss and cuddle comfortably. I pushed him away a few inches before things grew too heated.

  “What if your mum or your brother comes in?”

  “They won’t. My room’s been off limits since I turned eighteen. I know I was away at uni for three years then, but when I came back, Mum’s view was that I’m an adult and if I could afford it I’d have my own place. So my room should be treated as my own place. I do what I want up here so long as it doesn’t involve anything illegal or dangerous. I don’t think kissing you, or anything else we might do, is dangerous.”

  “Your mum’s amazing. Mine would never have let me have a boy in my room. Or even a girl if I’d been straight.” I relaxed and slid my arms around Luke. He shuffled closer again, until I felt his restrained erection nudge my stomach. He lowered his head to kiss me and as I tasted his mouth and squeezed his ass through his tight jeans, my cock swelled and pushed against my zipper. Luke groaned and slipped a hand between us to rub me through my pants.

  “Can you be quiet?” he whispered.

  “Oh God. We can’t,” I protested.

  “No one will even come up here. And they certainly won’t hear anything so long as we’re not too loud. The music will cover us and Nick’s making a lot of noise downstairs.”

  I listened for a second and immediately recognized the faint sound of shooting. My cock throbbed under Luke’s palm and I pushed my worry aside. “Okay.”

  Luke slid off my lap and unfastened my trousers. He drew my erection out of my underwear and loosely curled his hand around it. Holding it upright, he bent and swiped his tongue over the tip.

  “Fuck!” I gasped.

  “Is this okay?”

  “Mmm.”

  “It’s been a long time since I did it. It probably won’t be very good.”

  “Luke, anything you do with me is amazing.”

  He hesitated for a moment and carefully took the head of my cock into his mouth. I shuddered under the warm wet swipe of his tongue. Mark had sucked me two or three times at the beginning of our relationship, but then said he didn’t really like doing it and would rather just be fucked. The times he’d done it he hadn’t shown much enthusiasm, which wasn’t the case with Luke.

  I rolled my head back against the wardrobe door and tried to control my breathing as he stroked his hand up and down my shaft, following it with his mouth. Exploring with his tongue, he stroked the thick vein in my cock, and teased and nibbled around the head. He dipped into my slit, then drew me back into his mouth and sucked hard until his cheeks hollowed. Squirming and trembling, I clenched my fists. I moaned and whimpered helplessly, and lifted a hand to bite my thumb in an effort to stay quiet. When Luke dropped his head lower and took almost my whole length into his mouth, his throat tight around the head, I fought not to come. My balls pulled up against my body and my spine tingled.

  “You’d better stop. I’m gonna—” I groaned as he sucked his way up and down my length one more time, then concentrated on the head.

  “Luke…” I smothered a cry behind my hand as my cock jerked in his mouth and shot its load onto his tongue. He swallowed around me, stroking to tease out the last drops. He continued to lick me clean until I was forced to push him up and off me, my cock too sensitive to endure anymore.

  “Was it okay?” He met my eyes, his expression anxious.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “It was awful, wasn’t it? I, um, I just need more practice.”

  “Hey.” Still breathless, I reached for him and pulled him close. “How could you… think that was awful? It was… fucking amazing. You’re amazing. I haven’t come that hard in a long time.”

  “Really? I’m sorry. When I was with… well, he told me I was crap. He said the reason he cheated was he needed someone who knew what they were doing once in a while.”

  “I’m sorry.” I tugged Luke onto my lap and held him tighter. “He was a dickhead. And a liar. You can practice any time you like, and not because you need it—because I loved it. Do you want me to do something for you?”

  “Yeah, um, maybe in a little while.” He slid off me and sat at my side. He was no longer hard. I tucked myself away and we listened to another CD and talked for a while instead, although my mind was partly on what he’d said to me.

  It struck me that Luke had some very similar experiences to those I’d had. Mark and Jim seemed like the same kind of men, having put us down and made us feel small and useless. When Luke had first told me about Jim, I’d found it difficult to believe that someone so sweet and beautiful could have insecurities like my own. Because of that we understood each other and maybe that was what would make us work. Even my size didn’t bother me so much anymore. Luke had made it clear he liked the man I was underneath, and in a few more months I knew I’d be where I wanted to be on the outside too. I had the confidence in myself that I could achieve what I intended, but even if I didn’t, I wasn’t afraid I’d lose Luke because of it.

  “What are you thinking?” Luke leaned closer and ran his hand over my chest. “You’re miles away.”

  “Oh, nothi
ng important.”

  “You looked serious.”

  “It was just… we’ve got so much in common. When I first met you and you smiled, I’d daydream that you might smile at me because you liked me, and not just because I was a customer at the gym. I didn’t believe it would ever be true.”

  “But it is.” Luke frowned and slid his hand up to my neck. “You don’t still worry about that, do you?”

  “No, not really. I was just thinking you have the same kind of fears I do and it makes me feel closer to you.”

  Luke’s frown vanished and his lips curved up at the corners. “Well, I can tell you, you have nothing to worry about. I really like you. You’re exactly what I want.”

  My heart fluttered at his words, and I guided his lips to mine. I lost myself in the kiss, holding him close as I pressed our lips together and teased his tongue with my own. I stroked my hands up and down his back, then slipped one under his shirt to touch his warm skin. He shivered and moaned into my mouth, and when I moved my hand from his back to his hip, he grasped it in his and pushed it down between his legs. He was hard again, his erection trapped against his thigh. I pulled out of the kiss and lowered him onto his back on the carpet. He rose again a few inches, enough to take his shirt off before he lay back with his hands at his sides.

  Bending over him, I placed a light kiss on his lips before I made my way down his body. I kissed and nibbled his neck, then moved to one of his nipples. I sucked it into a firm nub, then gave the other the same attention. When I kissed a path down the center of his chest and over his stomach, the muscles jumped under my touch. I paused in my ministrations and unzipped his impossibly tight jeans. He lifted his ass as I tugged at them and I took the opportunity to pull his briefs down at the same time, removing both items completely along with his socks.

  Luke lay there naked, relaxed apart from his erection which twitched impatiently against his belly. His foreskin had rolled back to expose his flushed and leaking tip. I groaned at the sight of him and bent again to place a kiss on the head of his cock. I slid my tongue out and swirled it around, tasting precome, and carefully sucked him into my mouth. He moaned loudly and quickly smothered the sound with a hand.