Friends and Lovers Read online

  Jack climbed on the bed beside him. He used a couple of fingertips to scoop up the warm chocolate, and he painted Tom’s nipples with them, going back for more when he realized he hadn’t taken enough to do the job the way he wanted it done. Then he licked the chocolate off his fingers.

  “Jack?” Tom’s eyes were on the way each finger entered Jack’s mouth and slowly withdrew.

  “Hush. I’m concentrating.” He took the bowl that held the whipped cream and drew two lines from Tom’s nipples to the center of his torso and then down.

  “Jack!”

  “I’m not done.” He put a dab of it on the tip of Tom’s cock, set the bowl aside, and sat back on his heels to admire his handiwork. “That’ll do for a start.”

  “Ja…” The rest of his name was lost in a groan as Jack swallowed Tom’s cock.

  Once he’d licked it clean, he went to work on the twin lines of white, alternating until he reached the chocolate-covered nipples. The bittersweet chocolate melted in his mouth, and he hummed in pleasure.

  “Please! Jack, please!”

  “Please what?” Jack sported his own smear of chocolate on his mouth now, and Tom’s eyes seemed to spark blue fire.

  He growled and flipped Jack onto his back, and suddenly Jack was the one who found himself with chocolate on his nipples and whipped cream on his cock.

  Jack writhed under Tom’s lips, under the two slick fingers that penetrated him, under the intrusion of a thick, hard cock into his ass.

  Tom wrapped his fingers around Jack’s cock and stroked it in time with his thrusts, drawing sounds from Jack that once would have embarrassed him. Now he reveled in the fact that his lover… his best friend, could make him howl and whine and whimper.

  Tom knew how to make it last, and Jack was flushed and shaking and sweating by the time Tom nailed his prostate one final time, gave his cock one final jerk, and bit the side of his neck. Jack exploded over his abdomen and Tom’s.

  That was all Tom seemed to need. He shivered, groaned, and then went still. Jack opened his eyes and looked up into that beloved face. Tom sank down onto him.

  “Tom,” he whispered and stroked his lover’s hair.

  “I… I think we really… really need a… a shower now,” Tom panted, his breath warm in Jack’s ear.

  “Do we… do we have to… get up now?”

  “Not … not right now.” Tom nuzzled Jack’s ear. “I’m sorry, buddy.”

  “For what?

  “This was supposed to be your weekend to top.”

  “Did you hear me complaining?”

  “No, but… I just took control.”

  “That you did, buddy. I didn’t even realize you had a condom on until you started knocking at my back door.”

  Tom didn’t laugh. “I didn’t even ask you…” He sounded upset.

  Jack angled his head around so he could look Tom in the eye. “You think too much sometimes.” Tom was upset. “I love whatever we do together, Tommy.” He kissed him. “And when you get all leather daddy on my ass…”

  Tom looked shocked. “Babe, I never…”

  “You know what I mean.” Jack leaned closer and nipped Tom’s lower lip. “Frankly, I was wondering when you were going to. Now, what do you say we take that shower before we mess up these pretty sheets? We don’t want Clinch House Inn to put us on their ‘very weird, do not ever let them cross our doorway again under any circumstances, ever!’ list, do we?”

  “Okay.” Tom eased out of Jack and tied off the condom.

  “And when we’re done, want to dip a banana in the chocolate?” Jack leered at him.

  Tom burst out laughing. “Yeah, buddy. That sounds like a good idea.”

  It was midmorning the next morning when they left the warm Florida sun. It was mid-afternoon when they arrived back in Savannah in time for an unexpected storm coming in off the Atlantic.

  Jack pulled up in front of Tom’s little house and put the pickup into park, listening to the windshield wipers whump, whump, whump back and forth. “Tom…”

  “Jack…” Tom unbuckled his seatbelt.

  In spite of the possibility that Mrs. Wiggins, Tom’s nosy neighbor, could be peeking through the curtains on her front windows, Tom kissed him, and Jack felt his heart do back flips. It just kept getting better.

  “Thank you, Jack. This weekend, spending it with you… It meant so much to me…”

  “Me too.” Jack kissed him back. “I love the ocean. Sam took me to the beach once when he first got his driver’s license. We had the best day…”

  “You never talk about Sam, Jack.”

  He shrugged. “What’s there to talk about? He just took off.”

  “It’s been a lot of years. Did you ever think of trying to find him?”

  “No. If he never cared enough to get in touch with us…”

  “Ah, shit, Jack, that’s your father talking.”

  “Stay out of it, Tom. It happened before I even met you. You don’t know anything about it!” Jack’s mouth tightened.

  “Don’t I? I know what bastards fathers can be.” Tom rarely spoke about his own father, only enough for Jack to know that the man drank a lot and wasn’t a good husband or father.

  His own father wasn’t like that. He didn’t drink, and Jack had never heard his mother complain about him. Oh, he’d taken his belt to Jack a time or two when he was young...

  Jack went very still. That was one of the reasons he had made Reba agree that only the two of them were ever to punish their children.

  Abruptly Jack realized Tom was right. Those were Daddy’s words, every time Sarah or I ever asked about Sam. And Momma would just get that pinched look around her mouth…

  “I’m sorry, buddy.”

  Tom stroked his cheek, and Jack knew he forgave him.

  “The thing is, I don’t have clue one as to where to start looking for him. It’s a big country.”

  “Think about it, okay?”

  Jack nodded. He wasn’t going to tell Tom that he never would look for his brother. He was afraid to learn that Sam was dead, and not knowing for sure… well, it was better than knowing for sure. He cleared his throat. Change of subject time.

  “Loueller’s on Wednesday, babe?” Usually they’d meet on Friday, but Jack didn’t want to wait that long.

  For a second he thought Tom was going to object, tell him it would be better if they saw each other just once a week, but then Tom grinned and kissed him. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” Another kiss.

  “Cool!” And another.

  Tom ran his thumb back and forth over Jack’s cheekbone and gave a contented sigh. “I’d better get going before I drown.”

  Jack handed him the umbrella he kept under the seat.

  “I’ll get this back to you on Wednesday.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He waited until Tom ran down his front walk, unlocked the door, and turned to send him a little salute before he disappeared inside.

  Jack put the pickup into drive and started toward home. He had laundry to do, and it was his day for the kids to visit with him. Did he have anything in the fridge for dinner?

  Teddy and Cath were going to love the gifts Tom got for them. He wished Tom would have agreed to give them to his kids himself, but he’d insisted that Jack take them, since Tom wasn’t sure when he would see them.

  ‘Wasn’t sure’ hah! Jack knew that for the excuse it was. Tom liked his kids, but…

  Jack hadn’t been kidding when he’d teased his friend. Tom really did seem to expect them to bite him.

  He wondered how he could arrange for his friend to spend some time with them.

  He pulled into his driveway, still giving it some thought.

  It really would be a lot easier if … No, make that when he and Tom moved in together.

  Chapter 6

  Coming Together

  1. Kira and Josh –

  Tom Hansom was putting away the last of the invoices on his desk. Origina
lly a chemistry professor at Pulaski and Jasper, he’d given up his tenured position to become office manager for his lover’s construction company. And they were doing pretty damn good since he’d taken over. Schmoozing was something he’d done as a matter of course at the college, but he found he enjoyed it more when it resulted in the coffers going ting-a-ling.

  There was a tap on his doorframe, since his door was always open, and he looked up at the two young people who walked into his office.

  Josh Harden stood straight, his expression concerned. Always so serious and more than conscientious, it was as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

  Kira Valentine, her usual sassy grin in place, propped herself on the corner of the desk, her legs crossed and an amount of bare thigh exposed.

  She knows I’m gay. Is she doing that for Josh? I wonder if she realizes he’s gay too. Or if he realizes that himself. Tom’s gaydar had never failed him.

  “You wanted to see us, DT?” Kira had adopted the nickname Catherine, Jack’s daughter, had called him since Jack had taken his children in to live with them. Short for ‘DaddyTom,’ he’d gotten all misty the first time Catherine had called him that.

  “Yes, I did. Thank you for taking the time to see me before you left for the day.”

  “Did… did I do something wrong, BT?” And Josh had adopted Theodore’s nickname for him, which stood for BigTom. It had nothing to do with his stature, or lack of it, but referred back to the first time Tom had wandered into the kitchen naked, having forgotten Jack’s kids had arrived the previous evening.

  “No, Josh.” Tom smiled at him. Josh and Kira had been working for Sweet Construction for the past three months, and they’d proved to be even better than Tom had hoped. “Both Jack and I are very pleased with your work. But classes are over for the summer, and I was wondering what your plans are.”

  “Oh, just the usual stuff, DT,” Kira said. “The beach, the mall.” Her face lost some of its sunny expression. “I’ll have to move out of the dorm and go back home.”

  “You don’t seem too thrilled.”

  “Are you kiddin’? Momma’ll be on my case about why Nicky and I aren’t married yet, and Daddy…” She shrugged and forced a smile. “He’ll want to know why I’m wastin’ time in college when I could be workin’ a decent job and bringin’ some money home. Not that this isn’t a decent job!” she rushed to assure him.

  Some parents didn’t appreciate what they had in their children, Tom mused. Kira was very bright, but her mother and father expected her to see things their way and do things the way they’d been raised to do them. Even at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the girls were expected to marry and have babies, and the boys to marry and support their wives and the babies they’d pop out every year.

  What he was about to suggest would be good for her, and for Josh as well, if he agreed to it.

  “And you, Josh? I know you have family in Atlanta.” That wasn’t all that Tom knew; he’d talked to Josh’s major advisor, but he hadn’t said anything. Josh didn’t mention his family at all, and Tom wasn’t the sort to pry.

  “I won’t be going back to Atlanta, BT. Professor Borders is looking for a place for me to stay over the summer.”

  “Borders? Oh, he’s your major professor.”

  “Yes. If… if it’s all right, I’d like to continue working for you.”

  “You’re both welcome to continue. As a matter of fact, I was hoping you’d want to. I have a proposition for both of you. I know how difficult it is to keep up your GPA and work. I talked it over with Jack, and we’d like the two of you to move in here, rent-free. You’re here most of the time anyway, and it will save you money. You know this house has plenty of room.” He grinned at them. “Sometimes I think Jack tries out a new design on this place first.”

  The sprawling house they all referred to as ‘the ranch’ had started as a modest four bedroom, three bath house on an acre and a half of land. Now there were two more guest rooms with ensuite baths, an office, a gym with connecting changing and shower rooms, and a pool bath, as well as a guest house out back, all courtesy of Jack Sweet Construction.

  “Yes,” Josh said, looking relieved.

  Tom held up his hand. “Don’t be so quick to agree. This offer comes with strings.”

  Josh smiled at him. “I’ll still say yes.”

  “Wait until you hear me out. There are two conditions to this.”

  “I can’t date Teddy?” Kira asked cheekily.

  “I don’t think your boyfriend would appreciate it too much, Kira…” Tom’s brows furrowed as Kira’s smile again dimmed, and he began to wonder if all was not well with her and Nick. He was a real jock, captain of the football team, and the few times Tom had seen them together, he’d seemed very enamored of Kira, but now that he thought of it, it had been some time since Kira had brought him to the ranch for one of their Friday afternoon barbecues. Were they going through a rough patch? He’d have to ask Catherine. She hadn’t mentioned anything, but she was a loyal friend, and if Kira had asked her to keep mum on the subject, then she would. Absently, he continued, “… and I think Theodore is going through his ‘boy phase’ again.”

  He had suspected since Theodore was fifteen that he was at the least, bisexual, although he hadn’t come out to Tom and his father until the following year. Since Tom had been gay all his life, while Jack had only succumbed to his gay side a few years before, Jack had delegated ‘the talk’ to him. ‘You’re more comfortable with this than I am, babe.’

  Tom had scowled at him. ‘You’ll pay for this, Jack.’

  In return, Jack had given him a grin that went straight to his cock. ‘I look forward to it.’

  Both Tom and Theodore had survived, and Theodore knew that as long as he was careful and practiced safe sex with whomever he was dating, whichever sex, his two dads would have no objection to him experimenting and playing the field.

  “Shoot!” Kira pretended to pout. “Well, color me depressed. Why is it all the cuties are either gay or taken?”

  “What are the conditions, BT?” Josh asked, his smile gone and as serious as ever.

  The boy needs to lighten up, Tom thought ruefully. Or get laid. I wonder if he’s seeing anyone. He’s friends with Theodore. I’ll ask Theodore to find out. “One is you have to keep up your grades, and two is you have to set aside what you would have paid for your off-campus housing into a savings account.”

  “Is that all? Sounds good to me.”

  “So you’re in, Josh?”

  “You bet!” Josh’s face lit up, and Tom was once more taken by the sweetness of his smile.

  “Now, how about you, Kira?”

  “Well, I could really use that money for clothes, but… count me in too.”

  “Great. I’ll show you which of the rooms are available, and you can choose the one you want. Then you can go back to the dorms and start packing. If you need any help with the move, you know we’re all here.” He’d noticed Theodore watching Josh with interest from time to time. Maybe he’d ask him if he’d mind lending Josh a hand.

  “Thanks, BT. I don’t have much, though.”

  And that’s just sad, Tom thought.

  “Oh, I can use all the help I can get.” Kira fluttered her lashes and smiled winsomely.

  “All right then, let’s get cracking!”

  By the time the next Friday barbecue rolled around, they’d use it as a Welcome to the Ranch party.

  2. The Breakup – (scared you, didn’t I?)

  Jack had an early job, unusual only in that it was Sunday morning, which he preferred to spend with his family – his two children and his lover. He’d pissed and moaned about it, but Miz Dinwiddie was a member of his Daddy’s congregation and an old friend of his Momma’s, and he didn’t feel he could say no.

  Tom noticed that while Caleb Sweet’s congregation might hate the fact that Jack was living with a big, honkin’ homo – they’d never admit that Jack was queer; hellfire, the boy had been mar
ried twice and had two children! – that didn’t stop them from asking for favors when their roofs needed mending or their windows needed boarding when a hurricane was blowing in off the Atlantic.

  He’d wakened Tom with coffee-flavored kisses and a blow job, then had bounced out the door, leaving Tom to fall back to sleep with a bemused smile on his face.

  It was quiet in the kitchen when Tom finally managed to get himself out of bed.

  “Morning, BT.”

  “Morning, Theodore,” he mumbled.

  “Good morning, BT.”

  “Morning, Joshboy. There any coffee?” A mug was pressed into his hand, and he raised it to his nose, inhaling deeply, and then taking a grateful swallow. “Ah! Thank you!” More awake, he smiled at the two young men. “So, what’s on the menu?”

  “I thought I’d make French toast?”

  “Sounds good.” Tom chuckled as Theodore went to the freezer and took out a box of Aunt Jemima French toast. The boy did wield a mean toaster.

  “With strawberries and whipped cream?”

  “Sounds even better.”

  “And I’m going to nuke some turkey bacon,” Josh informed him. “Why don’t you sit down and read the paper while we get breakfast ready?”

  “All right, I think I will.” Tom watched as they worked around each other, noticing the occasional touches to a shoulder or a waist. “Will Catherine and Kira be joining us, or are they already out and about on this lovely morning?”

  “Both their cars are in the driveway, so they probably decided to sleep in today.” Josh turned from the fridge with the turkey bacon in his hand, not realizing Theodore was directly behind him. “Oh!”

  “Sorry.” There was something lazy and sensual about Theodore’s smile. He wrapped his hand around Josh’s neck, pulled him forward, and captured his lips.

  Tom looked down, smiling. He’d known Theodore was interested in Josh, and he’d seen the way Josh looked at him when he’d thought he was unobserved. He’d just wondered how long it would be before Theodore acted on it. Because it would have to be the son of his heart who would need to make the first move. Josh was too unsure of himself to do that. And whenever Tom thought of that, he wanted to hurt the boy’s family.