Page 17 of Finding Basil (Foggy Basin Season Two)

Basil laughed at a glorious sound that could make the world happy, and he struggled to get turned around as he laughed. Kneeling on the rug by the bed, Herb started with deep, wet kisses to Basil’s ass, getting deeper with his tongue with each kiss.

He tasted like heaven, clean, beautiful, and he was so tight, he squeezed Herb’s tongue almost painfully.

That was an ass of a man who didn’t fuck around or take sex lightly. Not that Herb would have held it against him if he had. It just wasn’t Basil, though. Sex, like everything else he did, had to mean something.

Herb hadn’t felt that way ever in his life. Sex wasn’t a big deal, it was more for a pleasurable moment than anything beyond that, but not with Basil. Each second of their lovemaking would mean a lot, to both of them.

It would be the deepening of a connection that had begun the first time they’d met. It would be as big as each smile one cast to the other. It was the pounding of Herb’s heart and the fluttering of his stomach at the mere thought of Basil.

Fucking Basil’s ass deeper with his tongue, he was lost in the act, lost in the noises Basil made, the heat from their bodies and the softness of his skin.

When Basil screamed out for mercy, Herb pulled away, breathless. “You are so goddamn sexy.”

Basil spun around and pulled him up, kissing him deeply. “Please make love to me, Herb. Please, now.”

“I’d love to.”

After getting on a condom and lubing it heavily, he moved Basil up on the bed and crawled over him, kissing him while he inserted his cock into Basil’s sweet hole.

Tenderly, moving slowly, Herb took every second to appreciate how wonderful the entire time with him had been.

To culminate in this, their bodies entwined, mouths slowly tasting one another while he pushed deep inside him…

Nothing in his life had ever felt so meaningful. Sex. Of all things, to mean something so huge. It surprised and delighted him, the brand-new feeling of making love with someone instead of just fucking a guy and having some fun.

The wonderful surprise of it all kept him reeling, making him fly into the world that he’d never known.

Basil’s arms around him, the little grunts and groans in his ear, those hairy legs that Basil had rubbing up along his own, all of it felt like something he’d never experienced, and nothing about it was foreign to him except for the feelings it made inside him.

“God, baby, this is…the best I’ve ever felt,” he whispered into Basil’s ear, and Basil said, “it is. It is the best.”

To have that, knowing Basil wasn’t lying just to make him feel good, it was everything.

Then, right as he sped his thrusts, right as their mouths clashed more passionately, and he felt waves of the orgasm build inside him, the smoke alarm went off, making them both jump.

They disconnected quickly, and Herb ran into the hall only to see a thick layer of smoke hanging in the air a couple of feet from the ceiling. “Basil, call 911!”

After grabbing his pants, he got them back on fast before running down the stairs, covering his mouth with the crook of his arm, his eyes burning as he ran to the kitchen to throw open the door.

The smoke was billowing from the oven, and the wall behind the stove was in flames as well.

He ran to the laundry room to grab the fire extinguisher, only to find it not there.

He was sure it was there earlier that day, as he’d bumped into it with his shoulder as he stood from taking out a load from the dryer.

He got under the sink to find the large box of baking soda he used to clean and started throwing it over the back wall and top of the stove. The smoke kept coming and he was coughing hard, dizziness beginning to overwhelm him.

Basil was suddenly there, arm around his waist. “We have to get out of here! The volunteer fire department is on the way!”

He would not argue, and Basil took him out the back door and away from the house to sit on the grass near the greenhouse. Within fifteen minutes, which seemed like hours, the fire department came and put out the fire.

It broke him, seeing his home that way, the home he’d already struggled with and tried to fit in despite the problems.

But what was worse was that it interrupted their lovemaking. The first time was important, even Basil had said that, and it ended in a fire that could have killed them. “Baby, I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything.”

“This night was supposed to be so special.”

Basil turned his face. Looking into Basil’s gleaming eyes, Herb felt overwhelmed with love. “It was. It was honey. I’ve never felt like that.”

“Still…”

He wanted to say so much, but he couldn’t muster the courage. Basil, however, had no such qualms. “As far as I’m concerned, it was the first in a long line of nights that will be more beautiful than the last.”

“A long line?”

“Yeah. A very long line.”

Herb grabbed his face and kissed him hard, bruisingly hard. “You’re fucking perfect, you know that?”

“I don’t mind hearing it at all.”

When the fire chief came to speak to him, Basil held his hand tightly. “Well, the oven was left on, causing the contents to catch fire, and it didn’t help that the stovetop and the backsplash were coated in oil.”

Herb was speechless, but Basil certainly wasn’t. “That’s not right, Kent. At all. He turned off the oven before…I mean, it was off. I saw him turn it off, and he made a meal that wasn’t greasy at all. The kitchen was spotless.”

With disbelief all over his face, the fire chief reasoned, “Now, sometimes, you think you turned it off, and really, you set it to broil, and that’s where it was when we came into the kitchen. And the grease, well, it's hard to see. Today’s meal wasn’t greasy, but the last one?”

Herb finally found his words. “I’m sorry, but I cleaned all day for the date we had tonight. There was no grease on the stove or the backsplash. I generally don’t eat greasy food, anyway. And I would have had to push a button for broil, not overshoot a knob turn. My stove isn’t like that.”

“Well, then, what do you think happened? Someone broke in to rob you and turned the stove back on? That sound reasonable to you?”

“Actually, yes, with the issues I’ve had since moving in. It seems very reasonable.”

“Do you have police reports to confirm these…strange occurrences, or did you hire a ghost hunter?” he said snarkily.

“Kent, stop. He’s not making it up. Not long ago, the house flooded because someone broke a pipe. He’s had a lot of issues, and sure, some were there already, but not all, like this one.”

Herb told Basil, “Never mind. No one’s going to believe this wasn’t some mistake I made. It’s fine.”

“I’ll mark it down as accidental for your insurance, but the house is heavy with smoke, and you won’t have a kitchen to use until it gets fixed. You might want to find a place to stay for a few nights.”

“My sister has an extra room. They haven’t worked on the nursery yet. I’d invite you to stay with me, but my parents…”

Herb nodded and said, “That’s…fine.”

The next morning, however, as they were cleaning out some of the mess in the kitchen, Lila stopped over and insisted he stay with her. “I got plenty of room, and you need to be close to the greenhouse.”

Herb was grateful. “Thank you, Lila. I’ll take you up on it.”

Basil walked him over when they were finished with checking the greenhouse and bagging up some of the mess from the kitchen. “I’m sorry about all this, Herb. We’ll have a redo on the date, if you still want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. Just, with everything falling apart at the seams since you came here, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking we might do the same.”

“That’s the one thing that I think will last, Basil. I’m falling in love with you, or…well, I am already there, if I’m honest.”

Basil smiled at him and said, “Well, I am too. In love with you, that is.”

“Good. That’s one thing out of the way, so now I just need to see all my seedlings come in.”

Basil laughed and grabbed his hand to walk the rest of the way. “I predict they’ll come in even faster.”

“I trust you.”