The trip to Boston from Hartford was normally a fairly boring two hours, but this time I rode shotgun while Will drove.
I sat with my hand on his thigh and smiled pretty much the whole way there.
Actually, I don’t think I’d stopped smiling for eight days.
It turns out I was one of those types of people most other miserable single people hated. Like one of those in-love people who I used to make fun of. Yep, one of those. I was all over Will, I had to touch him, kiss him, all the time. Even looking at him would make me smile.
My past-me really would’ve hated present-me.
But I loved it.
I wondered how I’d gone twenty-seven years without it.
We’d spent the last eight days talking and taking things slow like we said we would. We made out a lot, and every day after work as soon as he was through my front door, I was all over him. And after we’d spend the better part of an hour making out—in the kitchen, on the couch, on the floor—we’d have dinner and spend hours talking.
It was kind of perfect.
I didn’t even mind the no-sex rule. I understood his reasoning for not wanting to jump into bed so soon, and I really did agree with it. We needed to be on solid ground first, even if it made for some uncomfortable dinners and long solitary showers.
It was making us stronger. And I was all for that.
I was used to seeing him at work every day, so it was weird going to work and not having Will there. Hubbard had replaced him with someone who just didn’t even come close. I’d told Will that I’d met his replacement, and he still laughed when he thought of it. Two days ago, Hubbard had found me threatening the photocopier and stood in the doorway with a woman who smiled cheerfully at me. I could tell he was hesitant in even introducing us. “Here you are, Gattison,” he said. “I was going to show Rebecca the photocopy room.”
So, me being me, I waved my hand in front of myself and said, “These are not the droids you’re looking for.”
Will had laughed. “How did he take that?”
“You know those cartoons when steam comes out of the little short, bald guy’s ears?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he looked just like that.”
Will cracked up laughing. “What did the new girl do?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t get the reference to the droids and I told Hubbard I couldn’t work with anyone who didn’t get Star Wars references.”
“I bet he would have loved that.”
“He told me I was the reason he needed blood pressure medication,” I said.
Yep, Will still chuckled to himself when he remembered it. Hubbard had also told me to use this four weeks’ vacation time to decide if I wanted to be a part of his team or not. I figured I’d save him some blood pressure meds and tell him I planned to do exactly that.
The truth was, I didn’t know what I wanted.
All I knew was that it would involve Will.
A few months ago, I was obliviously happy in my little bubble. Then it fell to shit but now it was better than it had ever been.
I gave Will directions to Carter and Isaac’s and I couldn’t help but smile as we pulled into their street. And when we pulled up in the drive, Will stared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“You haven’t stopped smiling yet.”
“I know. It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s very cute,” Will said with a smile.
I leaned over the console and kissed him quickly. “I’m really looking forward to this,” I told him.
“The wedding or the month house-sitting?”
“Both. Come on, let’s get in there. Isaac probably has Carter stressed over wedding plans,” I said, getting out of the car. I grabbed the two tailored suit bags that were hanging up in the backseat. Will grabbed the two suitcases.
Will looked back at the house, and I could tell he was a little surprised at just how nice it was. “Nice, huh?”
Will nodded. “And we’re staying here for a month?”
I pressed the doorbell. “Yep.”
The door swung open and Carter grinned when he saw us. “Hey!” He quickly threw his arms open and hugged me tight. “Well, you look better than the last time I saw you,” he said.
I pulled back and gave a pointed nod to Will. “He might have something to do with that.”
Before Will could blush properly, Carter hugged him too. It sounded like he whispered, “Thank you,” but I couldn’t be sure.
Isaac appeared in the door. He was smiling. “There sounds like an awful lot of happy out here.”
“Hey you,” I said. I touched his arm first, then hugged him. And for good measure, I kissed his cheek. “I owe you and Carter a very big thank you.”
“No you don’t,” Isaac said kindly. “You were there for Carter when he needed someone, and it was only right that we returned the favor. But please tell me you’re not here alone.”
I laughed. He knew damn well I wasn’t. “Will’s being mauled by Carter.”
“Mark overexaggerates,” Will said.
Isaac turned his face to the sound of Will’s voice. “I’m really glad you’re here, Will,” he said. “Please come in.”
We walked inside and Carter, who was now carrying one of the suitcases, said, “I’ll put you guys in the second bedroom.”
I was going to tell him that we’d prefer separate rooms, but before I could answer, Will said, “No problem.”
I wasn’t adverse to this, hell the fuck no, but it was going to make the no-sex-yet rule all the more difficult. But we dropped our stuff onto the queen-sized bed and quickly made our way out to the kitchen.
We were greeted by Brady and Missy and promptly ignored by the cat. Isaac poured us an iced tea, and we told them about the last eight days. We told them about my job dilemmas, how Will was considering going back to college.
“Really?” Carter asked. “University?”
Will smiled. “Yep. I want to further my engineering degree, and perhaps major in civil engineering rather than just tension cables.”
“You know,” Isaac said. “Boston has some great colleges.”
I laughed. “Be careful what you wish for,” I told them. “We’re not sure where we want to go.” I rubbed my thumb on Will’s arm, letting him know I was serious when I said the word ‘we’.
“What about you?” Carter asked me. “If Will’s going back to college, would you consider going back?”
“Pfft,” I scoffed. “Good Lord, no.” Then I said, “I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t want to stay where I am. I can’t stand working for anyone, especially someone like Hubbard. I want something that’s mine but something that’s new…” I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Carter smiled, looking between the two of us. “I’m really glad you two got everything sorted out.”
I slid my arm around Will and gave him a squeeze. “So am I,” I told Carter. “And I really need to thank both you and Isaac for coming to Hartford and making me see what was right in front of me.”
Will ducked his head, embarrassed, but I leaned in and kissed his temple. Carter smiled warmly at us, and when I looked to Isaac he had his head tilted slightly.
“Isaac?”
“Um,” he said. “Can I ask something?”
I was a little hesitant, never really knowing what could come out of his mouth. “Sure.”
“We do have another bedroom,” he said simply. “You don’t need to feel pressured into sharing the same room.”
“Huh?”
“When Carter said he’d put your bags into the same bedroom, you both paused before answering,” he explained. “It’s no big deal. You don’t have to share a bedroom.”
Carter looked at me, clearly surprised. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize, I just assumed…”
Now it was my turn to blush. “The same room is fine. I’m sure we’ll manage,” I said. I cleared my throat. “Thanks, Isaac, for bringing that up.”
He opened his mouth, obviously going to say something, but then he smiled instead. “I wasn’t judging, I was just saying we have another spare room.”
Will leaned into me and said, “Um, that was my stipulation. I thought it would be best to… abstain for a while.” Will looked at me, obviously embarrassed.
I smiled and kissed him. “And it’s a good thing,” I told them.
Carter was grinning and clearly trying not to laugh. “You think it’s a good idea?” He shook his head. “Jesus, you do have it bad.”
“Hey!” I said. “I’ll have you know it’s been a long time for me, and I’m more than happy to do this for us.”
“How long is a ‘long time’ for you?” Isaac asked.
I was used to Isaac’s no-boundaries personality, but I think Will was a little uncomfortable. I ran my hand up his back and leaned into him, letting him know it was okay. “It’s been over six months for me,” I said, smiling back at Will who was smiling at me.
Carter almost spat his drink out. “Six months!” he cried.
“It’s not that long, and yes, it was Will’s idea, but I happen to agree with it,” I said. “I want to prove to him that I’m serious.”
Carter walked over to Isaac and slid his arm around his shoulder. He sniffled and wiped his eye, pretending to be emotional. “Oh honey, our little boy’s all grown up.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I told him, but I was smiling.
Will laughed and put his arms around me, kind of shielding me from Carter and Isaac. Even though they were not a threat in the slightest, it was like Will was protecting me, and I liked it. I liked it a lot.
I peeked over his shoulder and stuck my tongue out at Carter. “Are you finished talking about my sex life?”
Carter snorted. “Mark, I am in shock,” he said. “You, of all people, with your fuck-anything-that-moves attitude has done a full one-eighty. I’m impressed.” Then he clapped Will’s shoulder. “I always thought it’d take someone special to tame him.”
“Yeah, well,” I said, stepping around Will but tucking myself into his side. “You can stop picking on me anytime now. I get enough of that from my mother.”
“Oh my God,” Carter said. “What did she say when you told her you were, you know, together?”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Don’t ask.”
Will chuckled and explained the story. “We’d been to see my parents first. I’d told them I’d quit my job and was spending the next four weeks here with Mark. Then I told them Mark and I were together, and well, that didn’t exactly make my mother’s day.”
“She hates me,” I told them. “I swear she thinks I turned Will into some sinning sex fiend.”
“Which, as any sane person would know, is a load of crap,” Will said.
“What about your dad?” Isaac asked.
“He does whatever my mother tells him to do,” Will said. “Always has. I don’t actually remember a time in my life when he said more than ten words at a time, so it was no great surprise he said nothing.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Isaac said softly.
Will shrugged. The indifference from his parents was nothing new to him. “Anyway, we left my parents’ house,” he went on to say, “and we thought we may as well get it over with with Mark’s mom too.”
I sighed dramatically, and Will started to smile. “Well,” he said, “we walked in and Mark took my hand. He didn’t even have to say a word! She just squealed and launched herself at me.”
“Yeah,” I added flatly. “Then she proceeded to cry about getting the son she always wanted.”
Will laughed again. “She did correct herself and said she meant to say son-in-law.”
“Oh please,” I said. “She meant what she said all right.”
Carter burst out laughing. “So I take it she’s happy?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh yes. She has the son she’s always wanted now,” I said sarcastically. “She hugged him for dear life and slapped me up the back of the head and told me it took me long enough.”
“Well, it took you a year,” Will said with an exasperated sigh.
“Right,” I said, changing the subject. I pulled on his hand and led him out of the kitchen. “Come on,” I said, looking back to Carter and Isaac, “enough about me. How about we show Will the house, introduce him to Missy and that evil cat of yours, then you two can tell us what we need to do for this wedding in two days.”
I was nervous about getting into bed with Will, and by the way he was talking nonstop while we got ready, I assumed he was nervous too.
Stripped to just my briefs, I slid into the bed, pulled back the covers on his side, and patted the mattress. He bit his lip, climbed in, and I pulled the covers back over him.
I leaned in and sweetly kissed him. “Good night.”
Then Will leaned up on his elbow, bent over me, and kissed me. His lips lingered on mine, his tongue tempted my own, but I pulled back. Dazed at the intensity of just a kiss from this man, I shook my head. “If we start…”
Will groaned. “I know.”
Keeping my hand on his face, I slid my hips back, away from him. “Ugh. You’re killing me.”
“Do you really mind?” he asked. “You say it doesn’t bother you, but it obviously does.”
“If you mean ‘obviously does’ because of the perma-hard-on I’ve had since last week, then yes, it’s obvious. But no, I don’t mind.”
“The perma-hard-on?” he asked. I could see his smile, even in the darkened room.
I nodded. “Yes. I jerk off a lot. I should consider shares in Kleenex.”
Will chuckled, turning his face into the pillow to muffle the sound. “For what it’s worth, it’s killing me too.”
I leaned in and quickly pecked my lips to his. “Good.”
We talked until we fell asleep, but the second night ended a little differently. We’d spent the day doing last-minute errands for the wedding. We’d had dinner with Hannah and Carlos and the cutest kid on the planet, little Ada, and Isaac went home with them. He wanted to keep the tradition that he and Carter don’t see each other before the ceremony.
Isaac had even joked that he really needn’t worry about him seeing anyone before the wedding—or after that matter—but he wanted to do this right. Isaac made me swear that we’d help Carter in the morning if needed and calm him down if he looked like panicking.
We’d tidied up after dinner and crawled into bed, only this time when I kissed him goodnight, he took my face in his hands and really kissed me.
I mean, he really fucking kissed me.
He pulled us together and then rolled on top of me. I kissed him back with equal fervor and widened my legs for him, needing him as close as possible. I found myself bucking my hips, reveling at his weight on mine.
We were both hard. I could feel his cock pressed between us as we were grinding against each other. I rolled us onto our sides and slid my hand over his ass and then beneath the elastic at the front of his briefs.
I wrapped my hand around his cock, and he soon did the same to me. No, it wasn’t intercourse, but it was intimate and wonderful. To be with him like that, to hold him, to feel him.
I came first, as his hand squeezed me and his tongue invaded my mouth. Soon after, Will pulsed in my hand, shooting hot cum onto my hand and stomach.
“Fuck, Will,” I murmured against his lips. “That was so hot.”
He gave me a lazy grin. “Mmm.”
I kissed his smiling lips, then his half-closed eyelids. “Stay here. I’ll get something to clean us up.”
When I’d taken care of the mess, I climbed back into bed and slid my arm around him. He wrapped himself around me, sleepy-kissed the side of my head, and mumbled that he loved me. It still made my heart stutter when he said those words to me.
I kissed his chest, just over his heart, and smiled. My last thought before I fell asleep was it couldn’t get better than that.
Carter was eerily calm before the wedding. When Will and I got out of bed, Carter was doing laps in the pool. I made coffee, Will toasted bagels, and the three of us sat on the back patio chatting. I petted Missy’s forehead and snuck her bits of my bagel, and even though Carter hated when I did that, he didn’t say anything.
He was just… calm. Like he’d found zen or something.
I was more nervous than him, and when the three of us walked out into the living room all suited up, I had to take a few deep breaths.
“You okay?” Carter asked.
“How can you not be nervous?” I asked.
“I’m just not,” he answered with a smile. “I’m very sure about this.”
I fixed his tie—not that it needed fixing, but I had to have something to do with my hands. “Well, you look very handsome. Isaac’s a very lucky man.”
“He is,” Carter said simply. “But I’m lucky to have him too.”
I hugged him. “I’m happy for you, Carter.”
Carter looked at Will. “Look at the both of you,” he said. “You both look great.”
I walked over to Will, brushed down his jacket, and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Well, Will does.”
He smiled, the eye-crinkling kind of smile, and leaned in and kissed me softly. “You look beautiful.”
Carter groaned from across the room. “Okay, enough. You’re making me miss Isaac.” He exhaled loudly. “Can we leave now? I’d like to get there a bit early.”
I grinned at him. “I’ll just grab Missy.”
“What for?”
“Because she’s coming with us, yes?”
“Well, no, I didn’t think she would.”
I stared at him. “But Brady gets to go.”
“That’s a bit different, Mark.”
“No, it’s not,” I replied. “She should be there, Carter.”
I don’t know if he argued any further, because I was already out in the sunroom grabbing her leash. I came back with her hooked up, not sure which one of us was smiling the biggest. Will grinned at me, and Carter just sighed. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love me,” I said.
Two minutes later, we were in Will’s car, Carter was in the front, giving directions and Missy and me sat in the back, on our way to Wompatuck State Park.
It was only right that they got married in the Park they went to all the time. It was a beautiful spring day; there were flowers by the pond, the birds were chirping, and a small crowd was already gathered by some rows of chairs.
I didn’t know many people. I recognized a few faces from Carter’s work so while Carter went off to the see the celebrant, we headed toward Rani, Kate, and Luke.
I made introductions, telling them Will was my boyfriend. It was something I didn’t think I’d ever tire of saying, and while we made small talk, the crowd grew and it wasn’t long before Hannah, Carlos, and Ada arrived with a very dashing-looking Isaac and a recently groomed Brady.
We took our places, and in the warm sunshine down by the pond, we watched Carter and Isaac say ‘I do’.
It was a short ceremony, but no less emotional. The vows were traditional, which surprised me, but the way Isaac’s voice cracked put a lump in my throat. He held onto Carter like his life depended on it, and I was only just beginning to understand how much it did.
When you loved someone—or in my case, when you finally admit that you loved someone—and they held your heart in their hands, it is your very life you’re giving them.
Will squeezed my hand, and I realized people were clapping and Hannah was crying. Carter and Isaac were facing us with their hands joined. They were finally married.
I never thought I’d be the type to cry at a wedding. And I didn’t cry, per se. It must have been allergies or something. Who the hell has a wedding in the outdoors in Spring? I mean, come on.
“You okay?” Will asked quietly.
I nodded and blinked back my tears. “I’m fine. Damn allergies or something.”
He nodded knowingly and rubbed my back.
People were congratulating the happy couple, so I handed Missy’s lead over to Will and hugged Carter. “I’m so proud of you,” I told him, whispering the words in his ear. I put my hands to his face and kissed his cheek.
Then I hugged Isaac and kissed his cheek. “Look after him.”
“I will,” he said. “I promise.”
They had some photos taken with both dogs and then some by themselves, and after we’d taken Missy home, we met them at the reception venue.
It was a formal lunch, and the venue looked a million dollars. Carter and Isaac hadn’t stopped grinning yet. They were always touching, always leaning into each other and whispering only-for-them-to-hear kinds of things.
It was adorable.
Carter stood up and, making a short speech, thanked everyone for joining them on this special day, especially those who traveled. He said he wouldn’t bore us all with long speeches and wanted us to enjoy this day with them.
But then Isaac stood up. “Excuse me, husband. I have something I’d like to say.”
Carter smiled but it was pretty obvious he was surprised. “Sure.”
Isaac exhaled loudly. “Today’s an amazing day. And if any of you doubt that, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” Isaac stood still for a moment and took another deep breath, obviously trying to rein in his emotions. “Because today’s the day I married an angel.”
There was a collective ‘awww’ from the small crowd, and Isaac shook his head. “I’m being serious. This man, my husband, saved my life. In more ways than one. He saved me. He showed me love and faith, and he believed in me.”
Then Isaac did something I’d only seen him do a few times. He took off his glasses. He wiped his eyes and took another shaky breath. “I can’t see. But I’ll tell you this. I can see him. It took me a long time to realize, but I can see him. I can see him, what he does for me, how much he loves me, how lucky I am. I might be blind, but I can see the gift that is Carter. I am blessed, and—” He wiped his face of his tears. “—and if anyone ever tells you there’s no such things as angels, you can tell them they’re wrong. Because I married one.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Except for Carter. He was smiling at Isaac as though this was no surprise to him at all.
Isaac smiled through his tears. “I promise I will value this gift for the rest of my life.”
Carter stepped up to Isaac then and took his face in both his hands. He whispered, “I love you,” before kissing him softly. Then he turned to the captive audience. “Would anyone mind if I danced with my husband?”
The music started as Carter and Isaac walked to the center of the dance floor and they danced. Apart from the music, there wasn’t another sound. Everyone just watched.
When the second song started, Hannah and Carlos joined them on the dance floor and Will stood up, holding out his hand.
He led me out to where others were dancing, and he pulled me against him. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
“Just very happy,” I answered. Emotional wreck would have been a better way to describe it. “I don’t know why it took me so long—” I shrugged. “—but I get it now.”
Will stopped moving and held my face. He kissed me softly and stared straight into my eyes.
He didn’t have to say anything. Not a word. But I knew this would be the day we made love.