Page 31

Chapter 31

Brodie

“We’re going to be late,” I heard Liam call from the patio.

“I was just making sure he went to the bathroom first.” Fall had given way to winter and then spring, and as summer approached, Liam and I were still together. We still lived in the sunset house and we’d recently added to our family. Shady was a small, wriggly mutt of some sort. A terrier mix, by the look of him. Liam, with the help of Shane, got him for me a month ago for my birthday and it was love at first sight.

“There’s grass where we’re going,” Liam said, still patient as ever.

“Okay, fine. Come here, Shady.”

He bounded over to me and flopped down on my feet, belly up, still wriggling. I bent down and clipped the leash to his collar and whistled for him to follow.

Liam waited for us at the patio door and stole a kiss from me as I passed him.

“Do we have everything?” I asked him one more time on the way to the car. I still only drove when absolutely necessary. Liam spoiled me.

“The suitcase and garment bags are in the back.”

The drive out to the lake took three hours and I glanced nervously at the time. “Are we going to be late? We should have stayed over last night.”

“We have plenty of time. I might have fudged about when it starts.”

“You’re a bad man.” I buckled in and let Shady get comfortable on my lap and keeping him away from Liam as he drove. Though every once in a while, Liam would reach over and scratch him behind the ears.

Ever since the trip to Boston, Liam had come alive in ways I’d never imagined. Every day that went by he said he felt more like himself. The app he’d been developing with Clay had sparked his drive and Liam had thrown his money and expertise into other similar endeavors. Some of the apps he’d funded were already up and running. Some earned him a tidy profit, others were passion projects not expected to earn anything.

I was still trying to find my way. Writing a book had seemed like a great idea at the beginning, but six months in I wasn’t sure I’d written anything worth reading. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue to pursue it with the idea of it becoming my purpose in life.

Saying any of that out loud felt a lot like giving up, and I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. But I was almost certain I didn’t want to do anything with my life that required me to need a home office.

Liam worked wherever he wanted. Sometimes he lounged on the couch and fired off emails on his phone. Other times he went down to Bennett’s and sat next to Nash, a local writer who was dating the cook at the diner. He and Liam had struck up a nice friendship. The two of us had gone for drinks with the three of them—Taylor and Nash were two parts of a triad—something we hadn’t done for a while.

Liam and Nash weren’t Liam-and-Oren-level close, but it was nice to see him make friends and put down roots.

We stopped once to let Shady mark his territory and Liam tried to look impatient, but I just gave him a look and reminded him that I’d been trying to get him to go before we left.

It didn’t matter if we were late. It wasn’t like they could start the ceremony without us.

Maybe one day it would be the two of us getting married, but for now I was happy to be one of the few guests in attendance at Kieran and Clay’s wedding. Kieran had popped the question over Christmas, a swoony romantic gesture that had earned him big points with Clay, who’d sobbed into Kieran’s arms in a way that might have been concerning if he hadn’t been repeating yes over and over again through his torrent of tears. I thought maybe Shane and Archer would make things official, but they seemed happy with their status quo.

Kieran and Clay spent the next few months taking short road trips. Partly because Kieran had always wanted to go on road trips, and partly to scout the perfect wedding venue.

It was only going to be family. Mom had driven up the night before. Her house was currently under the watchful eye of Josie, a waitress at Bennett’s who’d at one time stayed with my mother.

The place Kieran and Clay had chosen was situated at the end of a long and winding road, flanked by tall trees. Liam drove carefully, navigating the switchbacks with ease.

Then the trees ended and the view opened up, revealing a sprawling log structure on the edge of a lake.

I let out a low whistle. “This place has been three hours from me for years. I can’t believe I’ve never been here.” There was definitely something to be said for staying close to home. But if we had, Liam and I never would have met.

We were the last to arrive, and we might have been in hot water had it not been for the fact that we brought Shady with us. He’d quickly become everyone’s favorite family member, and he knew it. He milked the attention for all it was worth. Kieran grabbed our garment bags out of the back, leaving me to get the suitcase.

Archer was the first to my side and he plucked the leash out of my grip. “I’ll take the little guy for a walk while you two get settled.”

Liam slid his arm around me and brushed a kiss against my cheek.

“I think he just stole our dog.” I watched them go, Archer’s voice fading as he chatted away to Shady.

“He’ll give him back. Don’t worry.”

“They could get their own dog, you know,” I groused as Liam steered me toward the entrance of the building.

“Sharing is caring.” Liam grinned as my scowl deepened. “If you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll reward you when we get up to the room.”

That shut me up. I loved Shady with my whole heart, but sex with a dog in the house could be a challenge. If we locked him out of the bedroom, he whined. If we let him in the bedroom, he tried to be on the bed to be near us.

Liam and I still managed—somehow—to have almost as much sex as usual, but my dick was suddenly eager for a few minutes alone with Liam. No whining dog. No set of eyeballs staring at us as though he was judging our technique.

By the time we got to our room on the second floor, I was vibrating. Liam hung our bags in the closet and I dropped the suitcase on the floor. Then I was on him, pinning him to the wall, tearing at his clothes.

Liam laughed against my mouth, and then kissed me back. He raised his arms and let me tug his shirt off over his head.

“How much time do we have?” I asked.

“The rest of our lives.” Liam flicked my pants open and shoved his hand inside, curling his fingers around my cock.

“You smooth bastard.” My words tumbled out on a groan. We stumbled deeper into the room. I hadn’t expected to go straight to the room and fuck Liam’s brains out, and I found myself woefully unprepared. The lube was packed in the suitcase and I doubted we had time for a proper fuck at any rate.

Liam solved the dilemma by scooping me up and dropping me onto the bed. He yanked my pants down to my knees. The predatory look he gave me sent shivers through my body. I wriggled my underwear down as he shoved his pants off.

Sitting up, I stole a kiss. Truthfully, I’d have been content to do nothing but kiss him. Forever and ever, but my body wanted more than his mouth on mine. Liam pulled away, then with all the grace he could muster, he moved around so that we were both lying on our sides, face to cock.

Sixty-nine was always a challenge for me in that I’d always found it hard not to blow my load in under two minutes. There was something extra erotic about becoming a complete circle. His cock in my mouth, his mouth on my cock. No room for words or breath or anything else. The world was obliterated as he sucked me down without preamble.

He pulled back right away, laughing at the way I cursed and twitched. The only truly bad thing about sixty-nining was that we couldn’t kiss while we sucked each other off.

The rest of it, however, was amazing. I loved the feel of Liam on my tongue. The way his scent invaded my senses when I was between his legs. Mostly, I loved how easily we were lost in each other and how he made me feel like the only person left in the universe.

Liam teased me with his tongue, toying with the head of my cock in a way that he knew drove me crazy. I tried to focus on what my mouth was doing, but Liam had taken over, his hips thrusting, pressing his cock in deeper, a fraction at a time.

He buried my cock down his throat, taking me to the root. Whatever sound I’d tried to make was muffled by his cock. Liam reached for me, his fingers brushing through my hair and when he took a handful and gave a gentle tug, it was all over for me.

I didn’t have time to warn him, but Liam knew what he was doing and he was prepared when I shot my load down his throat. I desperately wanted air, but more than that, I wanted Liam to come too. Liam’s hand tightened in my hair and I relaxed, letting him use my mouth. It wasn’t a porn-star-face-fuck; Liam was never rough with me like that. It wasn’t our style.

Liam always fucked me like he was astonished that he got to touch me at all. Even now when my mouth was but a sex toy, every touch was reverent. I felt his love in the way he never went too deep or too hard. In how he stroked my scalp and pulled my hair and said my name. Over and over again like it held all the answers he’d ever need.

“I’m close,” Liam rasped and I went from passive bystander, willing cock-sleeve, to active participant, sucking him deeper, using my tongue to tease him and torment him until he came with a shout, flooding my mouth. I managed to swallow and I kept sucking and teasing him, licking him clean until he shivered and pulled away.

“We have to stop. And get cleaned up,” he said, but neither of us moved a muscle. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against his leg.

“I have no bones.”

Liam traced a finger down my half-hard cock. “You have at least one.”

“Doesn’t count.”

“Mmm, I don’t know about that. I think it counts.” Liam kissed the tip of my dick, then rolled away and got out of bed, the fucking tease.

I flopped onto my back and stared at him. “Do we have to get dressed?”

“Come on. Lunch, then a nice afternoon break, then a wedding and dinner. Dancing. Drinks.”

“They can FaceTime us in,” I groused, but I was already rolling over and climbing out of bed. When I got to my feet, Liam pulled me into his arms and kissed me, dick breath and all. One day, maybe it would be our turn. But I was content to go with the flow. So long as I had Liam, nothing else mattered.