Page 19 of Paint Our Song (Cloverlily #1)

“ M iles,” Gabby says. There’s a glint in her eyes, and her lips are curled into a smirk. She’s got a hand on her hip, and Miles has seen her several times like this before—like when she admitted she cheated on their math finals. It’s all mischief. “I can sense something new about you.”

“No idea what you’re talking about.” He knows he sounds unconvincing. This isn’t what he wants to deal with during breakfast. She’s ruining waffles for him.

“You tell me.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” A lie.

“C’mon. I already put two and two together.”

“Uh…”

“You’ve been weirdly happy since yesterday, and you’ve been smiling like a dork for no reason. Something happened. Tell me.”

He hooked up with Calvin yesterday. That’s what happened. “Nothing. ”

“You hooked up with Calvin.”

Even if nobody else is near enough to hear her, it still shocks him. “Shhhh!”

“Well?”

“How could you even tell? This is really weird!”

“Well, Chase came asking where you were yesterday; he said you and Calvin went to his room and disappeared.” Gabby shrugs. “Then I saw you come down the elevator right before dinnertime, and you had this lovesick look on your face. And you’ve had that same lovesick look since then.”

“Jesus.” Miles’s face heats up.

Gabby smiles smugly, as if his response was all the confirmation she needed. “Look, if you don’t want to talk about it, then we don’t have to… I’m just happy for you, okay?”

Miles deflates. Sheepishly, he anxiously fiddles with the bottom of his shirt. This is Gabby . She knows everything about him. “I’m not going to tell you details.”

“Ew, I don’t want details.”

“But, yeah.” Miles scratches the back of his neck. “We haven’t really talked since then, so… don’t say anything to anyone?”

“Duh!”

And before he can say anything else, Gabby leans down and hugs him tightly. The oxygen leaves his lungs, and he pats her arm.

“Here’s the band.” She stands up straight and waves toward the door. When Miles turns his head, he sees that Calvin’s arrived with Gil and Chase. The dining room’s not crowded—only half the tables are occupied—but a few people still turn their heads as soon as the band enters.

“Good morning, Gabby,” Chase says, beaming.

“Hello. Take a seat!”

“Don’t you want to join us?”

“Sorry, I’m supposed to be working. Miles is here, though.”

“Miles isn’t exactly my type.”

“Stop bothering her,” Gil mutters, pushing Chase along. Gabby laughs and nods at them, and strides off toward the door. With a sigh, Chase listens and lets himself be led toward the opposite side of where Miles is sitting. The two of them take a seat and grab a menu.

Miles has barely eaten his waffles. He can use that as an excuse to stay.

“Good morning,” Calvin says, voice soft, as he takes the seat beside Miles.

He grins wide. “Hi.”

He hadn’t seen him since the previous afternoon. Miles had left before the dinner service, and Calvin had still been napping, naked and entangled in his sheets.

Okay, he really shouldn’t be thinking of Calvin’s bare chest right now.

“Sorry about him.” Gil points a thumb at Chase, who glares at him. “He’s only messing around and does this every time there’s someone cute. If it bugs you that he’s flirting with your friend, you just need to tell him. He’ll stop.”

“It doesn’t bug me, though I don’t think she’s into it. No offense.”

“Damn.” Chase turns to Calvin. “How’s Cassidy, then? ”

Rolling his eyes, Calvin takes the menu from Gil. “Getting married next year.”

“What? What the hell?”

“She told me yesterday.”

Oh, she must have called him once Miles had left, because this is news to him as well. Miles pokes around his waffle. He saw from the kitchen that Calvin had ordered room service last night, and he wondered if he was avoiding him. It’s kind of odd being next to Calvin like this, as if nothing’s happened between them.

As usual, Calvin’s hard to read.

“Speaking of which, where the hell were you two yesterday?” Chase raises his eyebrows. “Gil and I went downtown without you two. Like we said we would. Remember that? When we talked about going downtown?”

Calvin says, curtly, “Sleeping.”

“You both fell asleep? And couldn’t hear us knocking?”

“Yes.” Ears going pink, Calvin hides behind the menu.

“That’s it? A one-word explanation for ditching us?” Chase raises his hands in the air. “How eloquent. Calvin Lowe, Cloverlily’s lyricist, ladies and gents. Writer of dozens of hit songs, despite his lack of vocabulary.”

“Drop it,” Gil says with a laugh, trying to get the attention of a waiter.

Frowning, Miles notices that the only waiter around, a part-time student, is absently scrolling through his phone. They’re really going to have to get actual staff soon—trained, driven staff.

“What do you all want?” Miles pushes his chair back .

After they tell him their choices, Miles goes to the kitchen himself to punch in the order, giving the part-time student a look as he passes. To be fair, the student gets the hint immediately and puts his phone away.

“We went to a restaurant downtown,” Chase is telling Calvin when Miles heads back to the table.

Gil says, “There weren’t a lot of people, so it was a nice, quiet time.”

Miles almost quips, like a date, but he’s not so sure the two of them are even aware that they act like they’re dating sometimes. He doesn’t think even Calvin notices this about his friends, still.

After telling them all about the restaurant they went to, Chase and Gil both get into a strangely passionate debate about whether they should go to the falls again, or if they should rent a boat. While they’re arguing, a knee gently knocks against Miles’s and he turns his head to see Calvin smiling at him.

“Hey,” Calvin says, his voice soft.

Miles is pretty sure he’s never grinned wider before in his life. “Hey yourself. What are you up to today?”

“Either the falls or boating, apparently, but neither if I get my way,” Calvin says. “Sorry I missed you last night. My sister wouldn’t put the phone down, so I ordered room service.”

“That’s okay. So, she’s getting married?”

“Yes. She spent an hour telling me about wedding planning. It gave me a headache. I told her your inn holds weddings.”

“What did she say?”

“She’s interested. She’ll probably get in touch.” Calvin leans his knee against Miles’s, and this is new. Boldly, Miles puts a hand under the table and rests it against Calvin’s leg, rubbing his thumb against the denim of his pants. It earns him a fond look, and Miles wonders why he ever worried that Calvin would pretend like yesterday didn’t happen.

Chase interrupts the moment, because of course he does. “Am I invited?”

“No,” Calvin says without even turning to him.

Unperturbed, Chase ignores him. “What are we doing today? Let’s put it to a vote.”

“You and Gil can spend the day together. You’re pretty exhausting to be around with.”

Gil bursts out laughing. “True.”

“I’m delightful,” Chase says, earning him a long look from Calvin. “So, what, Cal? You’re going to stay in your room all day?”

“Probably.”

“Boooring.” Rolling his eyes, Chase turns to Gil. “We can rent a boat and hike, then we both win.”

Gil nods. “Sounds good.”

While his friends are preoccupied, Calvin leans in close to Miles and murmurs in a way only he can hear, “I wanted to spend my day in my room with you.”

Oh. Miles restrains himself from jumping up right then and there and dragging Calvin away to get started on that.

“Miles,” Chase says. “What about you? Want to come with us?”

He schools his face as best as he can. “I’m busy today, too, actually. Sorry. I have something to do. ”

“What, all of a sudden?”

“I can ask one of the staff to be your tour guide, if you’d like.”

“Nah. Show us around tomorrow, though.” Chase mumbles something under his breath about spoilsports and leans back in his chair.

Gil doesn’t look as disappointed as Chase. Smirking, he looks between Calvin and Miles. And, just like that, Miles knows that Gil’s definitely figured them out already.

***

It’s official—Miles is obsessed with Calvin’s body.

As soon as they’re able to shake Chase and Gil off, the two of them head to Calvin’s room, and Miles was definitely wrong when he thought things would be awkward between them. Calvin kisses him immediately as soon as the door shuts and Miles melts. He can’t get enough of him—Miles lets his hands roam all over every inch of him.

“Take this off,” Calvin demands, pulling at his shirt.

Miles tugs his shirt off, then helps Calvin out of his. He then trails his palm down Calvin’s chest and rubs it against the front of his jeans, cupping his dick through the material.

His throat dry, Miles croaks, “Can I?”

“Can you what?”

Calvin’s breath hitches when Miles pulls his zipper down. His eyes widen when Miles hooks his thumbs on the waistband of his pants, sliding it down with his boxers and pulling it off him. He leads Calvin backward to the bed, nudging him to sit down, and then falls to his knees and presses his lips against that spot right below Calvin’s navel.

“Can I suck you off?” Miles asks, as if it weren’t glaringly obvious what he’s asking for by now.

“You don’t—you don’t have to,” Calvin murmurs.

“I want to,” Miles confesses. His voice is quiet and hoarse. “I’ve wanted to for a while now, actually.”

Calvin’s chest expands, and he nods, slowly.

What did Miles ever do to deserve Calvin? He presses tight fingers against Calvin’s hips and kisses a trail downward, flicking his tongue against the tip of his cock.

“Fuck.” Calvin covers his face with his hands when Miles puts his mouth around his cock, his thumb rubbing circles on his hip, right on his tattoo. Calvin groans his name behind his hands. It comes out muffled and soft, and Miles’s heart soars.

Miles goes slow at first, dragging his tongue from the base all the way to the tip. He wraps his lips around him and sucks lightly at his head.

“Don’t tease me,” Calvin murmurs.

As much as he wants to take this as slow as possible, Miles wouldn’t have the willpower, anyway. He grips the base of Calvin’s dick and takes him as deep as he can, and Calvin’s hand drops to Miles’s head and grips his hair tight. He whimpers as Miles sucks him, his hips weakly thrusting into his mouth.

“Miles,” Calvin says, voice strained.

Miles peers up at him. Calvin looks wrecked, his eyes dazed and his mouth parted as he breathes heavily. Oh god, he looks so good, and Miles presses down on his own erection, palming himself through the jeans he’s still wearing.

Calvin tracks his movement. He grabs at Miles’s arm, pulling it away. “Don’t.”

A disgruntled noise escapes Miles, muffled by how he’s got his mouth around Calvin. Miles furrows his eyebrows at him. He’s so hard it hurts, and he wants to touch himself while he gets Calvin off.

“Don’t,” Calvin pleads. His voice is a lot weaker this time around. “I’m going to take care of you, too.”

Fuck. Miles’s heart leaps.

Spurred on by his promise, Miles picks up the pace. Miles keeps his eyes on Calvin the entire time. He watches the way his eyes flutter half-lidded and listens to the way he whimpers.

“Miles—”

The hold Calvin has on his hair tightens on the verge of pain, and he throws his head back, his legs trembling as he comes. Miles keeps a steady hand on his hips and swallows every last spurt. He works him through it with a hand and his mouth, only letting go when Calvin pulls him off to kiss him.

“Oh my god,” Calvin exhales, staring at Miles with an intensity that makes his own painfully hard cock twitch.

“Good?”

“Obviously,” he says, out of breath. “Come here.”

Calvin yanks him to the bed, pushing him on his back. Frantically, he helps Miles out of the rest of his clothes. Then he meets Miles’s gaze, smiles, and gets between his knees to return the favor.

** *

Later, when they’re both naked and entangled in Calvin’s sheets, Miles quickly learns that Calvin is a lot more affectionate than he expected. He rests his head on Calvin’s lap while Calvin runs his fingers through his sweaty hair.

Calvin listens intently as Miles talks about how the inn’s preparing for the upcoming wedding.

“It’s nerve-wracking because of how last minute it is, but I think we’ll manage,” Miles says. “They’re bringing their own vendors, so all we need to do is set up the venue and serve food. We’ve done it lots of times before, but not recently, and I’m kind of scared because most of our staff will be part-timers.”

“I’m sure it will go well.”

He looks up at Calvin and beams. “I hope so. This is all thanks to you, by the way. I can’t thank you enough for all the posts you did.”

“Now that Chase and Gil are here, you’ll get even more exposure. They’re a lot better at social media than I am.”

“Speaking of… I think Gil already figured out that we hooked up.”

“Probably. Gil’s very intuitive.”

Miles sits up and Calvin’s hands drop to his lap. “Is that alright with you?”

“That Gil knows? Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be alright?”

“You’re very private,” Miles points out. It’s not like they agreed to sneak around, but it’s only been a day and he doesn’t want to put any pressure on Calvin. “Gabby, uh, she kind of figured it out too. I didn’t know if you’d be cool with people finding out because you mentioned you don’t like rumors surrounding you.”

“This wouldn’t be a rumor,” Calvin chuckles. “We don’t have to outright announce it to anyone, and it’s only been a day, so it’s not like we need to put a label on it, but that doesn’t mean we have to lie that we’re… seeing each other? Is that what we’re doing?”

“I’m good with that,” Miles says, and it’s the truth. For the first time in a long time, he doesn’t already have one foot out the door, thinking of excuses why it can’t be anything more serious than a casual hook-up.

“Is that alright with you?”

“Yes. We’re totally on the same page.” Miles puts his head back down on Calvin’s lap and is way too happy when Calvin resumes stroking his hair.

“What’s with the face?”

“It’s called a smile, Calvin. It’s something people do when they’re happy.”

A flush spreads through Calvin’s cheeks. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You like me, though,” Miles teases. “I wore you down, didn’t I? Couldn’t get that kiss out of your head?”

“If you say so,” he says dryly, smirking.

They both startle when there’s a loud knocking on the door. Chase calls out, “Cal! You done being boring yet? We’re heading out, but wanted to give you one last chance to come along.”

Miles asks, “Are we going to ignore them again?”

“You mind if I open the door and tell him we can hang out tonight instead? I do feel bad for blowing them off after they drove all the way here.”

Oh, Miles didn’t even realize that—his one-track mind had been solely focused on spending time with Calvin.

“Go for it.” Miles gets up to put his pants on.

He’s about to reach for his shirt but sees that Calvin doesn’t bother. Calvin only pulls his pants on and walks over to the door. He yanks the door open, and from where Miles stands behind him, he can see the impatient look on Chase. Beside him, Gil is smiling sheepishly.

The two of them look over Calvin’s shoulder and instantly spot Miles. Their eyes widen and Chase takes a step back.

“So, that’s what Miles meant when he said he had something to do,” Chase quips at Calvin, earning him a smack on the head from Gil.

Calvin ignores that comment. “I want to spend the day with Miles, but we can hang out tonight.”

“Got it.” Chase winks.

When Calvin shuts the door behind him, Chase’s laugh is loud even through the walls.