CHRISTMAS MORNING, and I was awake at seven and thinking of Vaughn, who was slightly up the hallway. We’d swum naked, and I had taken him back inside to some privacy before I helped him find his own maids-a-milking moment. And now within a couple of hours, we were going to have to part from each other’s company and toddle off to our respective family gatherings.
I felt a pang in my chest. I didn’t want to have to part from him. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to tell myself it wasn’t true love despite the maids a-milking and pipers definitely piping. It was only infatuation.
I dressed and emerged from the room. Vaughn was in the kitchen, dressed in only boxer shorts and eating cereal.
“Merry Christmas,” I croaked. I didn’t know if it was because it was the first time I’d spoken that morning or because of the lump in my throat.
He looked up, grinned, and immediately came forward. “Merry Christmas.” I stood still and waited to see what he’d do. He didn’t hesitate. He placed one hand on my shoulder and kissed me hello. It was the best Christmas present I’d had in a long while. I put my hand on his cheek and deepened the kiss.
When we pulled back, Vaughn looked sad. “What?” I asked, immediately worried.
“I’m going to miss you today. What time did you say you’d be home?”
Warmth spread through my body. What did it mean if we were both going to miss each other? “I’m going for lunch, so I’ll probably leave around eleven thirty and get home about four, maybe five. We usually sit around all afternoon and complain we overate.”
Vaughn’s family catered more for the kids and were meeting at his parents’ house as soon as they had finished breakfasts at home. He’d told me lunch was an early affair, and everyone left before two—supposedly to put the babies to bed in their own house, but Vaughn said his mum needed her nap too. He would therefore be leaving before me and be home for some hours before I returned.
“I’ll be waiting for you, then,” Vaughn said, squeezing my shoulder. “You’ll come straight over, won’t you?”
My hand was still on his cheek, and I drew him in just to taste him again. Santa had been generous to me this year, bringing Vaughn to me. I kissed his eyelids closed, feathered kisses along his cheeks, and then sipped at his lips. I whispered, “I’ll be over promptly, but I won’t be straight. I want to be as gay as heck with you tonight. Will you be waiting?”
“Yes. With bells on.”
MY HOUSE was hotter than the hells of Hades and Mount Doom combined. I opened the windows and let in some fresh air, then found some clothes to wear to Christmas Day lunch and packed the presents in the car. Vaughn had given me a key to his house so I could hang out there for a bit longer after he left, but the house felt empty without his presence. I watered my melting, shriveled plants and wondered what the hell to do.
Not how to spend two hours on my own before I had to leave. What the hell was I going to do about Vaughn? Take a chance?
Over the past year, I had healed from the insults Ben threw my way. There was the hurt of a relationship ending that meant so much, but there was also the licking of the wounds from the words Ben had hurled. Old. Stodgy. Boring. Unadventurous. Pathetic. Impotent.
Another man may’ve gone out and done everything he could to prove to himself and Ben that those words didn’t apply. But for me, I dwelled on them for a year and had come to the realization some of the words were true. But that I was okay with that. In fact, I wore them with pride.
Old and stodgy? Well, yes. I was over forty now. Okay, I was now forty-four years old, and I didn’t need to be ashamed. I wasn’t old old. I was mature. I had more wisdom. I was proud to be forty-four and counting.
Boring and unadventurous? Maybe. And maybe it was also my genes that helped the caveman tribe survive when people like Ben were out trying to suck the dick of a brontosaurus. Boring and unadventurous were more than fine with me.
Pathetic and impotent? Vaughn knew the truth of that one. And that’s all the people who really needed to know, right? I no longer cared what Ben or anyone else thought about my sex life. I no longer cared about Ben’s sex life.
I was going to go and have fun at Christmas with my family, and then I was going to come home and enjoy myself by having fun with Vaughn.
I showered, dressed, and drove to my aunt and uncle’s house. I smiled and adored the noises and messes the kids made when opening their presents. I blushed and shrugged modestly when Aunty Linda raved about the present I’d found for her. I genuinely gasped with delight at the miniature barbecue—called a Baby Q—I received and eagerly checked out all the functions and knobs.
And then I laughed with happiness when my brother, George, stood up and made the big announcement—they were pregnant again. The tradition of each person having exactly two children was broken and smashed.
My grandmother pulled me aside as the afternoon wore on. “You’re happy again, Geoffrey. I haven’t seen you happy for a while. You’re making all of us happy too. We all love you, and we were sad when you were sad because we couldn’t make things right for you.”
I hugged her—not too tightly, because she was shrinking with each year—and confessed, “I’ve met someone new, Grandma. I really like him.”
“Ah.” Grandma beamed her approval. “That’s it, then. Why didn’t you bring him today?”
I put my arm around her. “It’s still new. We’re not at the meet-the-family stage yet. But if you promise to have a big party for your birthday next month, then I’ll see what I can do.”
Grandma slapped me lightly on the shoulder. “Of course I’m having a big party. When you get to my age, every year is worth another celebration.” Grandma had turned ninety, so she was probably right.
But she hadn’t lost her marbles. When I looked at my watch for the third time and it still wasn’t four o’clock, she said, “Are you meeting him?”
“Yes.”
“Then go. And Merry Christmas, Geoffrey.”
I PULLED into the carport and looked next door. Vaughn had a garage that was closed, and I therefore couldn’t see if his car was there or not. I retrieved my things from the car and went inside. It was still hot, and no miracle had occurred to cool my house. I was looking forward to seeing Vaughn… and enjoying his air-conditioning.
I was putting my share of the leftovers in the fridge—cold meats and salad, because it’s what you have when Christmas occurs during summertime—when some sudden knocking at the back door of my house made me jump. A burglar who knocked before he broke in? I quickly pulled back the heavy curtain and was shocked to see Vaughn beaming at me through the glass. He was dressed in only his swimming trunks—the purple Hawaiian pair this time.
Aloha!
I unlocked the door.
“What are you doing in my backyard?” I asked with amusement. “Have you been climbing fences again?”
He made a move to come into the house, so I politely stepped back against the wall to give him room. To my astonishment, he crowded me against the wall instead, leaning on me and giving me a quick hello kiss.
“Yes. I’ve been climbing fences because it worked out really well for me last time. I also did a bit of amateur sleuthing. Would you like to know what I found out?”
Vaughn was half-naked, leaning against me and kissing me, when we hadn’t seen each other for over six hours, and he wanted to know if I cared what he’d sleuthed out? I didn’t give a fuck about his sleuthing. I brought my hands up to caress his sides.
“Not really, but I guess you’re going to tell me anyway?”
He undid the first two buttons of my shirt so he could touch the skin on my chest.
“I was following a blood trail.”
“What blood trail?”
My own blood was trailing into my cock and leaving my brain only functioning at half power.
“Your blood trail. That first night. You cut your foot, and my sister, who’s a nurse, said I should check what you cut it on because you may need a tetanus shot. So I came over the fence and followed the trail. And guess what I found, Geoffrey?”
Oh fuck. He would’ve found a broken lattice. I prayed he didn’t put together the pieces of the puzzle. He went on without my input.
“I found this piece of wooden lattice broken at the exact place where you cut your foot. But I couldn’t work out how you would cut the bottom of your foot on a piece of wood that was thirty centimeters off the ground….”
My hands slipped from his body, and guilt overwhelmed me.
“Unless,” he went on, “you were standing on that lattice. But why would you need to stand on that lattice, Geoffrey?”
I closed my eyes and didn’t answer. What did they say about karma coming back to bite you in the arse? Another two buttons of my shirt slipped open. I had no idea why Vaughn was still kissing and touching me. He should’ve been furious.
“Why, Geoffrey? It wouldn’t have been to peek over your fence to spy on your neighbor, would it?” I detected a note of amusement in Vaughn’s tone. Perhaps he wasn’t angry.
I swallowed loudly. “My hot, sexy neighbor who’s too young for me,” I confessed quietly.
“Hmm,” Vaughn said in a slightly disapproving tone. “This hot, sexy young neighbor wouldn’t happen to be that same guy who invited you numerous times to come over to his house, would it?”
I opened my eyes. Vaughn was definitely laughing at me. His hands had reached my waistband and he was teasing the button on my shorts. I frowned. “I didn’t think he really meant it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m old—” I cut off and abruptly altered my statement. “—er than him.”
Vaughn purred in his throat and swept a hand over my chest. “Oh yes. I know that.”
“And I’m not really adventurous, so he scared me a bit with his open invite.”
He moved his hands south and reached again for the button on my shorts. Vaughn made a tsking sound in his throat. “I’m sure he knows better now.”
I swallowed again. Saliva was pooling rapidly in my mouth. “And he heard my awful ex call me a limp dick. I knew he wouldn’t be interested in me after that.”
I felt him decisively cup my erection in those wonderful hands. “I think there’s a way to dispel any thoughts he had of limp dicks.”
My heart was hopeful. I placed my hand on his waist again. “You’re not angry?”
Vaughn shook his head. “No. I’m actually laughing because I remember what I was wearing that night. And I also remember I was doing laps and trying to think of a way to get your attention. I’d tried talking to you, tried inviting you over, and even tried to work out if you had another boyfriend already. I was getting desperate. And all along I had your attention anyway.”
“It’s the first time I’d seen you naked,” I said, wanting to clear the air.
He kissed me firmly. “That’s a pity. I swim naked quite often.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Images were bombarding my brain and making me harder than ever.
“Geoffrey?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you take me home now and make love to me? Your bed is closer, but your house is too hot for my liking.”
Vaughn’s cool house sounded delicious. Taking Vaughn to bed sounded even more so.
“I’m sorry about spying on you,” I apologized. “Really, I shouldn’t have done it.”
Vaughn kissed my jaw again. “I’m truly sorry I didn’t catch you at it earlier. It would’ve saved us some time.”
“I probably would’ve had to sell my house because I was so embarrassed if you did.” We both laughed. “Vaughn?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m old—” I stumbled on that again. “—er than you. I’m not looking for a brief tumble. I want someone to be with and love and care for. I’m looking for a relationship. A monogamous one. Just you and me. Is that what you’re looking for?”
He pulled back and looked me seriously in the eye. “My house felt funny without you. I didn’t like coming home and you weren’t there. I would really like to try for something more than just a tumble too. I’m thinking of… well, a forever-type thing? Can we think in those terms?”
I nodded hesitantly, hardly believing he’d voice that this soon into it. “I think so.”
“And can you take me home now and show me what I have to look forward to?”
I relaxed. “That one’s rather easy. There’s only one question I have.”
“Yeah? Because if it’s a top or bottom question, I’m going to say it doesn’t matter.”
I chuckled. “No. It’s even easier than that. I want to know….” I sighed dramatically. “Can we use the front door of your house instead of going over the fence this time? I have a key.”
He rolled his eyes. “If you insist. I just thought the fence was fun.”
And it was… to a certain point. “Maybe once I get my air-conditioning back we can reenact the whole scene, but this time I don’t hurt my foot, and maybe you climb over my side naked?”
He grinned and nodded enthusiastically. “Okay. And then the following time, you have to climb my fence naked and join me. That’s one fantasy I’ve had for a long time. Me swimming naked, only to look up and see you standing on the edge of my pool, naked as well.”
My desire rocketed, and I found myself agreeing. It seemed I could be adventurous with the right inducement.
Then I reached over, pulled the back door closed again, and locked it. Vaughn waited patiently as I grabbed a few things from my bedroom—and a packet of condoms, just in case he didn’t have any—and then led the way to his cool house.
In the bedroom, he stripped off those trunks, lay on the bed, and gestured to me. “Come on over, Geoffrey. We have some slow lovemaking to attend to.”
And I swear I heard twelve drummers drumming while eleven pipers piped and ten lords leaped. But there was one thing I knew—there were only ever going to be two turtledoves in this bed. Just the way I liked.