Waking up next to Isaac was the perfect way to start a day, and in particular a Monday. He was still sleeping, so with a kiss to the back of his head, I got up, let the dogs out, set the coffee machine going, showered and got ready for work.
I sipped my coffee, thinking about last night. How we ate nothing but fruit, licking mango juice from places mango juice strictly should not go, sliding rings of pineapple on Isaac's engorged dick then eating them off and finally ending up in the shower, both of us sticky messes. And then what we did in the shower…
"You're up early," Isaac's croaky morning voice came from behind me as he walked into the kitchen.
"Hey you." I smiled at him, carefully placed his coffee in his hand and kissed his cheek. "Good morning."
"I woke up and you weren't there."
"Gee, I've only officially lived here for two days and you missed me already?"
"Don't get used to it," he mumbled, sipping his coffee. "I'll be obnoxious soon enough and you'll wonder why on earth you wanted to live with me."
I shook my head at him. "Oh, please. I already know how obnoxious you are."
"You know, you're probably not supposed to agree with me," he said. "On the obnoxious thing, you know, being my boyfriend and all."
I laughed. "I believe the correct term is live-in boyfriend, and I adore your obnoxicity."
"That's not a word."
"Is too."
"Since when?"
"Since I just made it up."
Isaac shook his head at me, took another sip of coffee and put his cup down on the counter. "I'm going to have a shower." He turned and walked back through the living room to the hall. "Maybe, by the time I get back, you'll have had enough caffeine to actually fuel that sense of humor."
"Isaac?"
He stopped, and waited. "Yeah?"
"I love your obnoxicity, with or without caffeine."
"You're absurd."
"Go and have a shower, or we'll be late," I told him. "I'm organizing what we'll be having for dinner tonight."
He turned to face me. "Do I want to know what we're having?"
"That second can of sliced pineapple."
I pulled the Jeep into the parking lot of Isaac's work. Hawkins School for the Blind was an amazing facility. A school to vision-impaired kids from ages six to adults. Isaac taught Braille English, reading and writing, and he loved it.
I'd been to his work a few times. Most of his colleagues knew we were together, and none of them seemed too bothered by it. They accepted Isaac for who he is, not that he paraded his sexuality by any means, but they seemed more tolerant to things considered outside the norm. Certainly when it came to being judgmental.
I got out of the Jeep and unharnessed Brady as Isaac got out on his side. I walked around to his side as he clicked Brady into his guiding harness, and I noticed a man standing near the entrance doors watching us. I spoke low, so only Isaac could hear me. "That Joshua guy's waiting for you."
Isaac stood up straighter. "Is he?"
"Yeah, he's near the front door," I told him. "I'll walk you to the path, and you can find your way from there."
As we crossed the lot and made our way to the path leading to the front door, Joshua walked up to meet us. I wondered if my first impression of him was off, whether he was a concerned colleague, wondering if he thought I could be implicated in Isaac's home robbery.
Joshua said good morning to Isaac, then to me, and he smiled. It was amicable. Pleasant, even. And I wondered if my first impression of this guy was wrong. I didn't know him. Isaac seemed to like him, and Isaac could tell the sincerity of people by their tone and the cadence of their voice. He was the most perceptive person I knew. So, I decided to try and play nice.
"Good to see you again," I said to Joshua. Then I turned to Isaac, and said, "Isaac, I'll meet you here just after five."
But then as I got to the Jeep, I turned around to look at them, and they were just walking through the door. Joshua held the door open, put his hand on Isaac's arm and looked back at me with that smug smile before walking inside.
So the guy was a douche.
I shook my head incredulously, and put it out of my mind and made my way to work. I was met by my assistant, Rani and our receptionist, Kate, as they had their pre-customer coffee. "Good morning, ladies."
"You're awfully smiley for a Monday," Rani said. "Good weekend?"
"Yes, it was. It was very busy," I answered automatically, thinking of me moving in to Isaac's. And then I remembered the reason, the catalyst for the move. "Well, it didn't start out too great, but it ended well."
They both stared at me, waiting for me to elaborate.
"Hannah had a little baby girl, seven-pound Ada Brannigan-Peroni. Isaac had an uninvited guest in his house. He was a bit shaken up, had a few things stolen, and then I moved in with him."
Both women blinked. "Whoa, hold up," Rani said. "Isaac had an intruder? In his house?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Is he okay?" Kate asked, rather alarmed. "Was he there when it happened? Oh, my God. Was he hurt?"
"Yes, he was there," I told them. "But he's okay. A bit shaken up at first, but you know what he's like. He's tough. The guy who broke in didn't hurt him, just took some stuff for resale."
"God, that must have been terrifying for him," Kate said with her hand over heart. "Is that why you moved in?"
I smiled. "No, not really. It was just what got us talking about the reasons he originally didn't want me to move in." I knew that didn't make much sense, so I explained. "I've wanted to move in with him for a while, but he was always hesitant. He didn't want me to see how much his blindness affected his everyday living. But he knew stuff like that's never bothered me."
"Oh, of course it wouldn't bother you," Rani said. "Isaac's such a sweetheart."
I smiled at her. "Yes, he is rather." Both women grinned at me, with a collective 'awww.' I glanced at my watch. "Come on, first appointment will be here any minute. We'd better get organized." Then I thought of something. "Rani, don't let me forget. I need to call my realtor at lunch time."
"Sure."
"I'll need to cancel the lease on my house."
She smiled at me, probably because I was still smiling. I turned to the receptionist behind the front counter, trying to at least act like the boss. "Kate, which lucky customer is seeing me first today?"
I'd never really spent many Monday nights at Isaac's. It was typically a night we spent at our own places after the weekend together. I was cutting up some salads to go with the grilled chicken, and decided to ask, "So, what do you normally do on Monday nights?"
Isaac sat at the kitchen counter. "Usually some prep work for class, then hit the treadmill or cross trainer." One of the spare rooms was set up with gym equipment. Isaac liked to stay fit and in shape, but didn't want to go to a gym, so he set up his own.
"Did you speak to Hannah today?" I asked him.
"Yeah, she was good. Little Ada was fussing when I called at lunch time, so we didn't speak for long."
"Are you sure she’s doing okay?" I asked. "She was really worried about you."
Isaac nodded. "She's an organizer and a worrier by nature."
I tipped all the chopped salad ingredients from the board into a bowl. "What does that Joshua do at your work?"
Isaac tilted his head. "He does technology integration, like an occupational therapist type of job. He helps students become more tech savvy, using normal technology and vision impaired technology together."
I hummed. "That's pretty cool."
Isaac smiled and shook his head. "You're a terrible liar. Why did you really ask?"
I didn't want to come out and say the guy was an ass. I needed to word it more carefully. I sighed. "I just don't know how to take him, that's all."
"He's a nice guy," Isaac said.
"But he's only been there for a few weeks?"
Isaac paused for a moment. "He's not employed by us. He contracts out for the company that makes the screen readers and the software that makes it work. We buy the product, they send out someone to help us integrate it into everyday use. He has a three month contract with us, then he's off to the west coast, I think he said."
Well, I felt better knowing he wasn't a permanent fixture at the school. But it reminded me of something. Isaac was going to arrange a new screen reader to replace his stolen one. "Did you get a new screen reader today?"
"Yeah," he said with a nod. "Josh told me to bring my new laptop in tomorrow and he'll set it all up for me."
Josh.
He'd now gone from Joshua to Josh.
"That's nice of him."
Isaac laughed. "Carter, you need to work on your ability to lie with conviction."
I smiled, knowing he'd see through me. "Isn't it a good thing that I can't lie?"
"Tell me why you don't like him."
I shrugged, figuring I had nothing to hide from him. "He looks at me like I'm…" I searched for the right analogy "…like I'm gum on his expensive shoes."
Isaac nodded thoughtfully. "It is really awful to step in gum."
I gasped, and walked around to his side of the counter. I took his face in my hands and kissed his smiling lips. "Not funny, Isaac."
He opened his legs and pulled me into him. "How can he not like you?"
I brushed my nose along his. "Maybe he doesn't like gum."
Isaac chuckled. "It doesn't matter if you're not his flavor. You're my flavor."
I kissed him, tracing my tongue along his before pulling his bottom lip between mine. "I like it when you call me yours."
"And you have the scratches down your back to prove it."
I pecked his lips. "Those scratches are faded. We might need to work on some more."
He rubbed my calf with his foot and ran his hands over my face. He traced along my eyebrows, my cheekbones, my jaw. "Are you beautiful? You feel beautiful to me."
I looked into his blue, unseeing eyes. "Me? Beautiful? No, not compared to you."
He ran his thumb over my lip. "I bet you're beautiful."
"You'd be disappointed if you ever saw me."
Isaac's breath hitched, and he whispered. "Never." His eyes closed and his face fell. He shook his head. "Never."
This conversation took a downward spiral, his mood along with it. I lifted his face and kissed him sweetly. "You see me just fine."
He tried to smile, but settled on a shrug instead. "Dinner almost ready?"
"Yeah. Come out the back with me while I grill the chicken?" I asked. "It's still pretty warm outside, maybe we could take a swim after dinner?"
"I normally hit the gym on Mondays," he said again. "And I'll need you to help me with some labels."
Labels? "Sure. What labels are those?"
"On the groceries we bought yesterday," he said quietly. "Hannah usually labels everything for me."
Shit. I should have remembered that. "Of course."
He shrugged one shoulder. "It's little things like that'll remind you you're living with a blind man."
I kissed him, then whispered low in his ear. "I love this blind man."
"I know you do," he said with a sad smile. "I love you, too." He stood up from the stool, and pecked my lips. "I'm going to get changed."
"Okay," I said as cheerfully as I could. "I'll go fire up the grill."
I stood on the back patio, grilling chicken, wondering how our conversation had gone from light and funny, to Isaac being withdrawn and sullen. I knew he struggled some days, with his blindness, with his misconceived notion that he was a burden to those around him.
So with dinner had, work-outs done, we made labels.
Isaac's Braille label maker was easy to use. The keypad had the standard alphabet with Braille on each button so an able-sighted person or a blind person could type in words using the standard alphabet and it would print out Braille, or he could type in Braille to print out labels.
It made identifying tins and jars of food in the pantry much easier for him, and in particular, differentiating between strawberry and raspberry jelly, apple juice from orange juice, or a tin of sliced peaches from baked beans. It was also ideal for labeling bathroom stuff, like shaving cream, shampoo and boxes of toothpaste. He was familiar with most shapes and sizes, and of course the smell, but to differentiate between a small tube of cold-sore cream from superglue was the difference between living comfortably or a trip to Emergency.
The everyday stuff able-sighted people took for granted.
This was what Isaac didn't want to subject me to. Me having to watch him make his house safe for the everyday stuff. He thought it would somehow make me see how disabled he was.
Which was ridiculous. There wasn't anything he did that would make me think that. Just the opposite, in fact. In seeing the everyday adversity he took on, just made me love him even more.
"Can I have a go?" I asked, and took the label maker from him, just to get a feel for it. I wanted to practice.
Because after we'd gone to bed and Isaac had fallen asleep, I got back up and added some labels of my own. Adding an 'I love you' to a tin of beans, or 'Good morning, sexy' to his morning jelly jar would be a nice surprise and make him smile.
I woke up the next morning to gentle kisses down my back as Isaac crawled over me to go start his morning routine. Knowing he shaved first, I gave him a few minutes before joining him, and when I heard the shower start, I followed him into the shower. I took over soaping him up, which of course led to soapy hand jobs.
Isaac was still light-headed and he swayed, before resting his forehead on my chest. "I think we should start every day like this," he said with a blissed-out chuckle.
"Yes, please. I'm all for that." I kissed the side of his head. "You better get out and let me get showered and shaved, or we'll both be late for work."
"Coffee?"
I smiled and kissed his lips. "So, all I have to do every morning, is make you come, and you'll make me coffee?"
"Seems a fair trade to me." He took my spent cock in his hand. "Though you weren't left out at all."
I groaned at his touch. "Go. Make me coffee or we'll both be calling in sick for work."
He pouted, but left me to finish my shower and when I walked out into the kitchen, he was there, dressed in his well-fitted gray suit, making breakfast.
My coffee cup was full and waiting, and he handed me a piece of toast. The jar of strawberry jelly was on the counter, and I wondered if he'd read my messages I'd stuck on pretty much everything.
Then he picked up the jar and ran his fingers over the Braille label, again and again. "I don't know if it's the most romantic notion, or the cheesiest."
"Oh," I said with a smile. "No, the cheese has a different message."
He smiled shyly. "Did you put love notes on everything?"
"Yep."
"It was very sweet of you."
"So, am I romantic, cheesy or sweet?"
Isaac smiled. "I think you could be all three."
I stepped in close, but instead of kissing him, I reached around and stole his piece of toast. "If that's a compliment from you, I'll take it."
His mouth fell open. "You stole my toast."
"I did," I said while I bit into his breakfast.
"Romantic, cheesy, sweet and stealer of toast."
This time I kissed him. "And you love me."
He sighed dramatically, and a smile played at his lips. "Should I go through the entire pantry to find what else you wrote?"
"Nope, we don't have time," I told him. "Plus, it'll make for a nice surprise when you find them." I took a mouthful of my coffee. "We'd better get going. Oh," I added as an afterthought, "don't forget your laptop so what's-his-name can take a look at it."
Isaac put his empty cup and plate in the sink. "If I didn't know any better Carter, I'd think you might be jealous."
"Pfft. What's to be jealous of?" I asked. "He's a douche, and I'm awesome."
Isaac laughed. "I'm so glad you're not conceited or anything."
I drained my coffee cup. "Come on, grab Brady. Your awesome, romantic, cheesy, conceited live-in boyfriend needs to drop you off at work."
He grabbed Brady's harness off the hook and called Brady to come. I grabbed his laptop and as we walked outside, locking the door behind us, he said, "You forgot sweet."
I grinned at him. "You do think I'm sweet!"
"And amazing and wonderful, though I'd never tell you that," he deadpanned. "God forbid you get an ego."
I grinned all the way to work, until I pulled into the parking lot at his school. Because Joshua was there, waiting for him.
Just like he was every day that week. And every afternoon when I picked him up, except for Thursday when I had house-calls and Isaac took a cab, but he was there. Always there, always waiting with a smile.
A snide smile. A fake smile, and insincere conversation. He was polite enough, and to Isaac it would seem he was being pleasant. But the looks he gave me were of pure disdain. I'd just smile at him and pretend I didn't see the glances.
But on Friday afternoon when I arrived to pick Isaac up after work, Joshua wasn't there. As always, Isaac and Brady stood outside on the path near the lot, and my mood brightened when I realized Joshua wasn't with them.
"Hey," I greeted Isaac and Brady warmly. "Ready to go home?"
"Hi," Isaac answered with a smile. "Sounds good."
And then I saw him. Joshua. "Isaac!" he called out from the door.
I groaned, and Isaac grinned. "Be nice."
He ran over to where we were standing and ignoring me completely, he touched Isaac's forearm. "Isaac, I was hoping I'd catch you."
"What is it, Josh?"
"Well," he started. He looked at me, then back to Isaac. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out, for dinner or drinks."
My mouth fell open. I couldn't believe the audacity of this guy! He seriously just pissed me off. He just asked my boyfriend out. While I was standing there!
"Um," Isaac stalled. "Thanks for the offer, but we have plans."
"Oh," Joshua mumbled. He looked between me and Isaac again, and he obviously just figured out we were together. His mouth formed a small 'o' shape. "Oh."
I still hadn't closed my mouth. "Yeah. Oh."
Isaac took a small step closer beside me, either to show Joshua he was with me, or to pacify me. Possibly both.
"Oh, my God," Joshua said. "I'm really embarrassed." He even had the decency to look it. He ran his hand through his hair. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to... oh, shit."
Isaac laughed. "It's fine, Josh. You weren't to know."
Well, I didn't exactly think it was fine. And of course he knew. He wasn't… well, he wasn't blind. I put my hand on Isaac's arm, looked at Joshua and said, "I thought you knew."
"No, actually," Joshua answered, looking at me. "I wasn't sure. I thought you might have been a friend, or someone who drove for him." He tilted his head and almost smiled. "Isaac never mentions you."
I stared at Joshua. There were a dozen things I could have said, and wanted to say, to shut this asshole up, but I figured that was what he wanted. He was goading me, trying to get a reaction. So instead I just smiled and spoke as sweetly as I could, though it could have been through clenched teeth. "Of course he doesn't." I turned to Isaac, with my hand still on his arm and said, "You ready, babe?"
Isaac was smiling. "Sure."
We said goodbye, well, Isaac said goodbye, I might have sneered, and when we got Brady harnessed in the back seat of the Jeep and pulled out of the parking lot, Isaac laughed.
"Something funny?"
"He asked me out!"
"I know!"
"No one's ever asked me out before!"
I looked from the car in front of me to Isaac. "What? What the hell am I?"
Isaac laughed. "You know what I mean."
"No," I scoffed. "No, I don't. Don't you remember, I asked you out?"
He chuckled. "Of course I remember, I just meant no one else has asked me out."
I almost growled. "Do you want someone else to ask you out? Like Joshua."
Isaac laughed again. "You're jealous."
"He asked you out!" I cried. "In front of me!"
"I know!"
"It's not funny, Isaac."
"Oh, please. Yes, it is."
"No, it really fucking isn't."
He grinned hugely, looking rather pleased with himself. He continued to smile like that while we walked the dogs, swam in the pool, and ate dinner. After we'd cleaned up the kitchen, I stood against the kitchen counter and kissed him lightly. "You know," I told him, "if you weren't so cute when you're smug, I'd be really pissed off. That guy is an ass."
Isaac ran his hand up my chest and fisted my shirt at the collar, pulling our faces closer. "You're cute when you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous," I offered weakly.
"Yes, you are," he stated. He pressed his nose against mine so I could feel his breath on my lips. "I'll admit, it's nice to have an admirer, but I don't like him like that. Just remember, I'm with you, not anyone else. I live with you. Sleep next to, wake up next to. Share my bed," he whispered with a soft kiss to my lips, "with you."
I pulled him against me. "I might be a little bit jealous."
"Just a little?"
"Maybe a lot."
"I don't want him."
"No?"
"No," he murmured, trailing his nose along my jaw. "You, no one smells like you."
I knew he loved my smell. I told him it was my deodorant and aftershave, but he said it was just me. "I think I need reminding," I said breathily, as his lips found the skin under my ear.
I lifted my chin to give him access, and he gently bit my neck. "Reminding of what?"
"That you want me." I said with a groan as he kissed my neck with his lips, his tongue, his teeth. Fuck.
Then his hands were on my sides and he turned me around, so I faced the kitchen counter, and he pushed himself against me. I could feel his hardening dick against my ass. His nose pressed into the back of my head and his lips were on the nape of my neck. "Can you feel how much I want you?"
I groaned shamefully and leaned back into him. "Yes."
"Do you want me to show you how much I want you?"
Oh, fuck. Isaac would only get all dominating every once in a while, usually preferring me to take the lead in the bedroom. Sometimes he'd take charge, and it drove me fucking wild. "Yes," I gasped. I could barely speak. "Please."
Isaac pushed me into the counter, grinding his cock against my ass and with a handful of my hair, pulled my head back. He whispered low in my ear. "Then lead us to the bedroom. Unless you want me to fuck you here."
Jesus.
I have no recollection of moving, of taking his hand and leading us to our room, but before I knew what the hell I'd done, I was stripping off and Isaac's hands were on my back. He pushed me toward the bed, where I knelt, naked. Waiting.
I loved the way he kept a hand on me, feeling where I was, which way I was facing. When he needed his hands to undress, he kissed my shoulder, the back of my neck, always a part of his body touching mine.
For a man who couldn't see, he knew my body like he knew his own.
He stood behind me with his feet on the floor, while I knelt on the bed. When the last of his clothes were off, his hands held my hips while he kissed between my shoulder blades. His voice made me shiver. "Lie down for me."
I crawled forward, laid down on my stomach and spread my legs wide. When I heard the bedside drawer open and the familiar rustle of foil, my stomach clenched and shivers ran down my spine.
The bed dipped when he knelt between my legs and I gripped the bed covers in anticipation. I might have groaned.
"So keen for it." Isaac chuckled. Then slickened fingers ran down the crack of my ass and pressed against my hole. "Is this what you want?"
I lifted my hips for him. "God, yes."
I wanted him, I wanted him inside me. I wanted him to have me, mark me, claim me. Fuck me.
When he sank his cock into my ass, he sank his teeth into my shoulder. He made me his, with every thrust, every scrape of his nails, and nip of his teeth and his lips. And when he pulled out of me and flipped me over, he pulled my legs up to our chests and pushed back inside me, only this time he kissed me, softly, deeply.
He sucked on my neck, my collar bones, and kissed every inch of skin he could reach, and when he rasped out dirty words of love and lust in my ear, I came. Untouched, my cock spilled between us, and he followed soon after.
As he wrapped me up in his arms to sleep, there was no doubt in my mind.
I was his.