Page 9 of Finding Tane (Foggy Basin Season Two)

Dillon

I didn’t overthink it. I leaned in and kissed those beautiful lips.

He put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer and I moaned into his mouth. His lips were pillowy soft, and his tongue quick when I opened my mouth to it.

All we were doing was kissing but it felt like the single most romantic, and erotic moment of my life. Everything in me was shouting “Yes! More please!” so I went ahead and murmured that into the miss.

Tane chuckled and pulled me fully onto his lap. I settled there like I was born to it, my knees squeezing against his hips. I cupped his cheek with one hand and kissed him deep.

My blood roared in my veins, wanting more and more. He bucked his hips up and I felt his hardness through his jeans and groaned.

Before we went any further we had to talk about some guidelines though...

With extreme reluctance, I pulled back. “Uh, so I really like you and that was awesome, but I uh, well we should talk.”

“Talk about what?” Tane smirked, and rubbed his hand up and down my thigh. It was highly distracting.

“No uh, full sex on the first date, especially after a meal like that one,” I said, blushing hard but not caring. Sex stuff was important to me and we had to talk it out so there wasn’t confusion.

“Okay, fair enough,” Tane said. “How do you feel about hand stuff on the first date? Although we could argue this is the second...”

I ignored his second statement and took a deep breath. I was hard against my pants and it was beginning to be a problem. “Hands and mouths are all good.”

Tane grinned wide. “Really?”

“Yes, and I don’t know if you’re a top or a bottom or a side, or whatever?”

Tane shrugged one shoulder. “I’m easy, I’ll do whatever, I like it all ways.”

I grinned, blushing even harder. “Okay. I like to bottom most of the time but sometimes I want to switch.”

“Perfect. You’re perfect.” Tane pulled me down for another kiss and I groaned into it.

“Maybe we should move to the bedroom?”

Tane stood up, one hand slipping under my ass and the other tight around my waist, lifting me like I weighed nothing. I flushed all over again.

“That’s... very hot.”

“Thank you. Which one’s your room?”

I twisted to point it out, wrapping my legs around his waist and thrilling at the warmth of him, how much I wanted to see him naked, to feel him pinning me down.

But I’d also basically asked to go slow. Not entirely slow, but... slow-ish. He’d said he couldn’t stop thinking about me and now he was carrying me to bed. I was almost dizzy with excitement.

I flicked the light on as he carried me into my own bedroom. It was tidy, thankfully I’m anal enough about tidiness that I didn’t need to panic about an unexpected guest, but I hoped he didn’t judge the room for its blandness.

Tane sat on the bed and kissed me again.

I moved my hands to undo the buttons of his shirt, I needed to touch his skin. Needed to feel him.

He helped me to remove his shirt, and then went to work on mine.

He had a spattering of tattoos over his chest, the warm brown of his skin offset by blue-black ink depicting stars in a constellation I didn’t recognise. I ran my fingers over them. “This is pretty.”

“It’s the southern cross,” he said. “It’s a constellation you only see from the Southern Hemisphere. My stage name, Whetu, means star, so I got this tattoo when I first charted, in honour of home.”

I leaned in and kissed the stars, making him giggle.

“I’d like to see it someday.” Dillon straightened up to kiss Tane’s jaw, enjoying the graze of the stubble against his lips. “I guess I never thought about there being different stars.”

“It’s a trip.” Tane’s hands trailed slowly over Dillon’s chest, then down to grip his waist, pulling him closer. “Not seeing it at night, can feel kind of lonely.”

“I can imagine.” Dillon pushed gently at Tane’s shoulders, encouraging him to lay back. He did so, his hands trailing over me, refusing to let go entirely. I shuffled back to undo his jeans, one hand stroking him through the denim. He was hard, and large.

It had been some time since I had hooked up with anyone, but some things you don’t forget how to do. I leaned in to kiss and lick at his nipples. I slipped my hand inside his jeans to grip his hardness in my hand, stroking as much as I could in the confined space.

He moaned, a deliciously deep sound that resonated in his chest.

Tane’s hand moved up to stroke my hair, fingers carding through and then gently pushing my head further down. I chuckled, getting the hint.

Shoving his jeans down but leaving his boxer briefs in place, I mouthed over the end of him. He smelled like hot sweat and I wanted to lick him all over. But we were going slow. Slow.

I teased him a while longer, licking until his underwear was wet and he was panting hard.

“Tease...” he growled.

His fingers tightened in my hair and pulled. I let myself be moved, more turned on than I’d ever been, that I could remember.

One hand in my hair and the other on my hip, he flipped us so I landed on my back with a grunt. He let go long enough to strip me of my pants and underwear.

“You’re so hard, baby...” Tane said, taking me in.

Exposed, I wanted to hide my face, but I didn’t want to stop looking at him. My cheeks were on fire, and I regretted telling him no full sex. Looking at this man in front of me with a little pot belly and strong arms, I wanted to feel every bit of him.

But this was enough, enough for tonight at least.

“Want you so bad,” I murmured, hardly audible.

“Yeah?” He stroked me with one hand and leaned in to lick over the tip of me, his tongue teasing at my foreskin and making me writhe. “God you’re beautiful, Dillon. Want to tie you down and tease you for hours, see you really come apart.

I slapped one of my hands over my eyes. His words set fire through me and I could feel myself pulsing under his ministrations.

“Please, it’s been ... I can’t hold back,” I gasped.

“Don’t hold back.” Tane chuckled, that low, warm sound and wrapped his full lips around me, bobbing his head down.

I bucked my hips and he slipped his hand down to tease at my taint, pressing and stroking in just the right places until I was coming into his mouth.

I whimpered, embarrassed at how quickly I’d come, like a teenager with a crush. But Tane licked me clean, slow and affectionate and then he took me in his arms and kissed me hard. I tasted a trace of salt on his tongue, it sent me into overdrive.

Slipping my hand between us, I wrapped my hand around him and pumped. He was throbbing almost instantly, and I was overwhelmed with how pleased I was, that he was as into me as I was into him.

He broke the kiss to gasp for air and I nipped his jaw and mouthed up to his earlobe. He came quietly, the softest moan and a jerk of the hips before the heat of his come hit my hand.

“So gorgeous,” I breathed.

“You’re so good.” He pulled me tight against his chest and I relaxed there, gently stroking him until he was all spent. Content as a kitten, practically purring, I nuzzled under his chin.

After a moment more, I let go and he eased his grip, I grabbed some tissues to clean him up.

“That was...” I tried to describe how perfect it had been, how much I wanted more, how much I wanted him. The words didn’t come.

“Everything.” He said. “That was everything.”

I tossed the tissues in the bin and grabbed a water bottle, swigging from it before offering it to Tane. “Yes, it was.”

“Thanks.” He downed the rest of the water. “Need anything else?”

I traced the tattoos on his chest with one finger. He shook his head. “I can get going if you want?”

“No.” My fingers tightened, as if I could grip his shoulder and hold him in place. “I mean, uh. Please stay?”

Tane nodded. “I’d love to.”

“I even have pjs you can borrow, if you want?”

“I usually sleep naked,” he said. I almost swooned.

“Okay. I’m going to brush my teeth, I have a spare toothbrush you can use.”

“Perfect, you’re perfect.”

Tane

I wasn’t usually much of a cuddler. I wasn’t much of a relationship guy, really.

I’d dated men, women, a non-binary person, but.

.. dated probably wasn’t even the right word.

These were one-night stands, or party hookups that I’d see once every few months and fuck, and then we’d be done until the next industry gig.

I’d never had anyone I wanted to stay overnight with and snuggle.

What was Dillon doing to me?

I slept so well, wrapped in Dillon’s strong farm-boy arms. (I knew he wasn’t a farm boy, not by a long shot, but I can have my fantasies), and his soft bedding, his patchwork quilt clearly made by a loving family member and I was safe. Safe, content and more than anything, like I’d come home.

When I woke in the early morning light, Dillon stirred as well, yawning softly. He hummed when I met his eyes, his own crinkling with pleasure.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

“Want me to make you breakfast?”

I shook my head. “I’m not a breakfast person, thanks though.”

“Ah well, some other time.” Dillon tensed the moment after he’d said it, as if he’d realised the implication.

“Next time.” I said it firmly, and sealed it with a kiss of promise.

I didn’t know for sure what the future held, but more and more I wanted it to hold Dillon.

I wanted this. This room, this bed, this man.

I wanted to feel safe and at home. I’d never felt that way in L.A.

In fact, anywhere in the United States until now, and I hadn’t even realised I was missing that security.

Not until I was shown it, with gentle kindness by a sweet and straightforward man.

Dillon sat up slowly, so I sat up too. “You’re missing out, breakfast isn’t just the most important meal of the day, it’s often the most delicious.”

I chuckled, sitting up, swinging my legs off the bed so I could hide a little of the bliss I was feeling.

I didn’t want him to see the future I was planning in my head and freak out.

I had too many things to sort out — I wondered if my manager would ship my clothes and things from L.A. ? Or if he’d take me to court...

We got ready together in companionable silence. Dillon went out of his way to touch me or give me a little kiss on the cheek as we passed. It was sweet, and comfortable, and almost dangerous in how addictive it could become. Could I allow myself to have something like this?

I walked Dillon to the grocery shop, and when we got there he slipped his arm around me and gave me the kind of kiss that made me weak in the knees. I pulled back with a reluctant hum. “You need to open up the place.”

“I’m the owner, I can be a couple of minutes late. How about I walk you back to the motel?”

I giggled, a kid again, and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

He held my hand as we walked. I looked around, unsure if this little town would be welcoming to open displays of affection between two men, but no one gave us a second glance. I was walking on air, high, jubilant. I bit my lip, because I felt something else, too.

Something familiar, but that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

I was inspired. Like I could write a song about this.

How very cliché of me. One fun-filled night with a handsome man and I was back in the writing game?

I shook my head, laughing at myself.

“What is it?” Dillon asked.

I looked at him sideways, the gentle crease of his forehead and knew without a doubt I could love this man. I could spend the rest of my days with him, make a happy life, write new songs... and I wasn’t even afraid?

We reached the edge of town and my little U-shaped motel. It didn’t even look sad in the morning light, it looked like an important milestone on my road to happiness. Cliché, cliché, cliché but whatever, clichés exist for a reason, sometimes they explain something universal, right?

Well, that’s what I told myself.

We were crossing the parking lot when the door in the tiny reception office banged open. I turned to look at the noise just as an all-too-familiar voice shouted my name.

“Tane! There you are! Where have you been all night?”

Andrew Lane stomped across the asphalt towards me like a horror movie villain.

I let go of Dillon’s hand. “Andrew, why are you here?”

He was livid, his cheeks red, and he’d obviously slept in his designer casual suit.

“Since you haven’t bothered to turn on your phone in days, I’ve been reduced to scouring the gossip columns and social media.

Someone thought they saw you in this God-forsaken town, so I drove down here.

Turns out it was true. You’ve been hiding here, then?

” Andrew gave Dillon the scornful up-and-down look that I was used to seeing from him before a public appearance. “With this?”

“I...” I shook my head. “Andrew, listen, I just needed a break.”

“What about your commitments? What about your tour schedule? What about the album?” Andrew was practically spitting.

The guy who ran the desk during the day at the motel was watching from the doorway.

Thankfully he wasn’t filming on his phone, but surely it was a matter of time.

Someone walking his dog had stopped on the road, and was holding his phone up. We had to get out of the public eye.

“You can’t talk to him like that.” Dillon had puffed himself up, was standing taller, and his chest and shoulders looked huge.

Andrew narrowed his eyes. “Who do you think you are? Some hayseed from nowhere? You slept with him did you? Good for you, now leave us alone.”

I could see how this would go. Good, honest Dillon versus my asshole Hollywood agent? I had to get Dillon out of there.

“Dillon, thanks, but I think you should go. I can handle this.”

Dillon frowned. “But he’s treating you like garbage.”

I sighed. “Yeah, he does sometimes, but I know what I’m doing. He’s right, I do have commitments, I’ll call you later, okay?”

I could see how much Dillon didn’t want to go. He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Call if you need me,” he murmured.

“I will.”

Dillon gave Andrew the stink eye and then stalked off.

“What am I going to do with you?” Andrew said.

I sighed. “What am I going to do? That’s the big question.”

“First of all we’ll get you out of this dump.” Andrew gestured at the motel. “Straight back to Los Angeles.”

“No.” I folded my arms. “I’m staying in Foggy Basin while we figure this out.”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not staying in this motor inn, I’ll find us a Bed and Breakfast or something more palatable.”

“Fine.” I looked back towards where Dillon had walked and pulled out my room key. “I’ll pack up my stuff.”