COLT SAT on the floor of the kitchen and started writing. He did okay in the country music arena and even better with the alt-country guys in Austin.
It paid a chunk of bills, that was for sure. It was easier with a partner, though—someone to bounce ideas off. Maybe Norv and Ryder could come out here for a week. Between the Texan’s speed and the Georgia boy’s way with a hook, they could bang it out.
He stopped, shot off a couple texts, then set back to his own work. He was thinking love song, but a little dirty, a little wicked and wrong. Something you’d dance to in the corners of the sawdust-covered dance floor where the neon lights didn’t reach.
Oh.
Oh.
Where the lights don’t reach.
Fucking A.
Hours went by, and the sun went down while he was sitting there. He didn’t need to move, though. Kyle had the hall light on some kind of timer, and he found himself in the perfect spot to write in the slice of amber light spilling in through the kitchen door.
“You’re in the dark, baby.” That was where he was when Kyle sat down beside him, warm hands sliding up under his shirt. “I guess I needed a nap. You must be starving.”
“Mmm.” His eyes crossed at the heat. “I was having a work. You feel good.”
“What is that?” Kyle hugged him close with one arm and looked down at his scribbling. “Are you writing?”
“I am. I sell them pretty good, as a rule.” He liked writing songs just fine.
“May I?” Kyle picked up his notebook and looked it over, then kind of bopped his head to a silent beat and hummed a few lines. “I like it. Kind of raunchy too.”
“Yeah. It’ll play on the radio, not too bad, but enough kids will want to sing it.” The guys could help him redneck it up some.
“You’re that sure of yourself, huh? I like it.” Kyle kissed him lightly behind the ear. “Confidence is sexy as hell.”
“Well, I mean, it’s a good hook.” And a singable melody that didn’t require a bunch of yodeling.
“It is a good hook. I can’t wait to hear you play it.”
“You want I should?” He let his fingers move, singing the first verse and the melody, letting the bluesy smoky feel loose.
Kyle swayed beside him—his lover never could sit still when there was music playing. “Oh. That’s got a wicked groove. I love listening to you sing.”
Oh, that was sweet to hear. It wasn’t his best thing, but he could carry a tune in a bucket. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome.” Kyle leaned in and kissed his cheek and then stood up. “You keep on, I’ll listen and make some pasta for dinner. We can have a soak after.” Kyle turned on a couple of lights to work by but left the kitchen mostly dim.
Colt kept on keeping on for a bit, but it seemed more fun to help Kyle and touch and caress.
“You know this is a knife I’m holding, right? Don’t distract me. I might chop off a finger.” Kyle tossed a bunch of fresh herbs into a pot with some simmering tomatoes, then put the knife down and turned to face him with a smile. “You want to put a big pot on to boil?”
“Surely can.” He whistled as he wrestled the pan into the sink and filled her up, and then he hauled it to the stove and got heat under it.
“You okay with chicken sausage? It’s pretty good. It’s supposed to be Italian-style, but it’s spicy as hell.” Kyle gave the sauce a stir and then pulled a deli-wrapped package out of the fridge.
“I am. I eat anything. I like food, but spicy’s my favorite.” He grabbed Kyle’s butt and squeezed.
“Yeah? I got something spicy for you right here, my rockin’ Cajun lover.” Kyle pressed back and rocked his hips like they didn’t belong to the rest of his body.
“Uhn.” Tell him he shouldn’t drop to his knees and just lick.
Kyle laughed and slipped away from him, dancing across the kitchen. “You’re so easy, baby.”
“Well, what good is playing hard to get?”
“None. None at all.” Kyle was still giggling as he tossed the sausages into a frying pan on the stove. “I just haven’t ever known anyone like you, Colt. You’re just… wonderful. That’s what you are. Joy and wonder.” Kyle tangled their fingers and smiled at him. “I know, I’m melodramatic, right? I don’t care.”
“Look at them dance in the pan. I love that sound.” Colt leaned and took a quick, hard kiss that Kyle returned, nipping at his lip.
“Water’s boiling,” Kyle sang to him and gave him a mischievous grin.
“You making noodles? You want something to drink?”
“Yes, penne. You want wine? Something else? I’ll have whatever you’re drinking.”
“Is there something that you think will go?” He liked himself a glass of wine; he loved how it felt on his tongue.
“I always like red wine with a red sauce, myself. There’s a pinot noir in the cabinet.” Kyle pulled a plastic package from the fridge, cut it open, and carefully dumped the pasta in the boiling water.
“Pee-no.” He drawled it out, playing with the word, making himself laugh.
“There’s a bottle opener on top of the cabinet, goof. Glasses in the hutch.”
“You got it. You shoulda seen the first time I tried to use a corkscrew. I pushed the cork all the way down in the bottle.”
Kyle laughed. “You can bring it to me, if you’re feeling insecure.” Oh, that lilt was dripping sarcasm.
“Shut up, dork. I done opened me a bunch of bottles since.” He pinched Kyle’s ass on the way by.
“Ow!” Kyle hammed it up, faking injury. “Yeah, that’s pretty obvious. I’m not a lightweight, but I don’t think I’ve even seen you tipsy yet. Hm. Maybe that’s tonight’s goal. Get Colt drunk.”
“I’m a silly drunk. It don’t happen much, though. You got to watch yourself in a bar.” He knew how to pace himself.
“Well, this is not a bar, and I could get into silly. I’m more of an esoteric drunk. Everything becomes very interesting. Deep.” Kyle winked at him. “And then I usually end up making out with like, whoever I’m sitting next to.”
“Well, then, you’d best sit next to me.” Because he wanted that making out done with him.
“Ooh. I like that attitude. I will sit next to you every time, lover.” Kyle hovered close, watching him open the wine, and chuckled. “Or if I forget, you can cut in.”
“Believe me, cher. I will.” He was willing to work for what he wanted.
Kyle leaned in, lips close and offering. “Mm. I love that kind of talk. It’s hot.”
He took that kiss, letting it wash over him.
Dinner somehow made it to the kitchen table despite all the flirting and wandering hands and the heat between them. Kyle served him up a big plate of pasta and covered it with the garlicky pomodoro that had been simmering on the back burner.
“So, you said your songs do pretty well. How come you don’t record them yourself? Or do you?” Kyle slid over the plate of sausages and refilled their wineglasses.
“I ain’t much of a singer, and I’m less of a performer. I like getting lost in the music, you see, and a singer has to know the audience is out there.” He loved the way music spoke to him, but he didn’t need the crowd. He didn’t mind them a bit, but it wasn’t why he played.
He played because his soul needed it.
Kyle nodded and forked up some noodles. “I get that. I know what you mean because I’m like that, though sometimes I can’t completely forget the audience either.”
“Do you have to, like, look at them? The audience, I mean.”
“Depends on the piece. Most of the time, no. I only have to look out over them, and the lights are so bright, I can’t see the mezzanine. But some of the more modern stuff calls for eye contact, or at least breaking the fourth wall.”
“What’s that mean? Breaking the wall?” It was a neat thought, no matter what it meant.
“Oh! Oh, it’s a theater term for stepping out of the show and talking to the audience directly. The three walls are the sides and the back of the stage. The fourth is the invisible one between the audience and the performers. Between the play and reality.”
“That’s cool.” Okay, yeah. That made sense. Sorta like singing right to someone in the crowd when you didn’t mean it.
Kyle traced one of his fingers. “You like the pasta okay? I know it was a quick thrown-together thing.”
“I love it. It’s best all in one bite. This is good sausage.”
“Yeah, the sausage and the pasta I get from this wonderful hole-in-the-wall Italian market. I’m glad you like it.” Kyle looked pleased and smiled at him. “I like cooking with you. I enjoy the way you appreciate the process as much as the result. You make it fun.”
“It ought to be, hmm? It’s a good thing.” It meant family. Home. Good things.
“It should. I didn’t grow up with it, though. How’d you learn to cook?”
“My granny. She was the best cook. She spent all her days behind a stove.”
“Oh, that’s a nice memory. Was she cooking for the family? Or was she making a living?”
“Six of one, half dozen of another. She had a kitchen that did shrimps and all the gumbos and bread pudding. Oo-la!” He’d sit and play with his blocks while she stirred and the girls took out bowls to the shrimpers.
Kyle laughed. “Mmm. Sounds so good! To Granny.” Kyle raised his glass.
“To Granny! God rest her.” She was smiling down at him.
Kyle popped up and started clearing food and plates. “We can take our wine out to the tub if you want.”
“Surely.” Lord have mercy, Kyle was a busy guy. Always moving. Colt got up and started dishwater so he could scrub pots. This he knew how to do.
He scrubbed, and Kyle dried, and everything was put away in no time, and Kyle was all hands after that. Strong arms pulled him into a deep kiss, making him wonder if they’d make it as far as the hot tub.
The wine made the kisses deeper, headier, and he followed Kyle like there was a string tied around his balls.
Kyle pulled away enough to grab the bottle off the counter and his glass. “Come on, beautiful, upstairs with me. I want to get naked. Bring your glass.”
“Got it.” He snatched his glass up and took a sip, the wine sliding on his tongue.
They went upstairs, up the long staircase and down the hall, only instead of turning right to the bedroom, Kyle led him left out a set of double doors and into a square room with a small bar and a large Jacuzzi. The ceiling had several skylights.
Kyle set the bottle down on the edge of the tub and turned on the jets.
“How cha-cha is this?” He laughed, thinking about the Place d’Armes back home and how they’d sneak into the courtyard to swim.
“I know, right? Thank Mom and Dad. This was their place before they bought the big house across the sound, and then they kept it for weekends in the city. Now they have an apartment they stay at on the Upper West Side, and they gave me this place.” Kyle casually stripped off while he was talking, tossing his clothes over the back of a wide white couch. “It’s really way too big for one person, but I can throw one hell of a party.”
“I bet you can.” He didn’t care one way or the other, but it was neat to see all the fancy.
Kyle made his way over, the lean, naked body catching the dim lights in all the right ways, showing off his ink. “You’re too dressed, music man.” His lover reached for him.
He let Kyle work his shirt open, then danced him around for a bit, singing as he enjoyed the feel of Kyle against him.
Kyle laughed softly, following his lead, moving smoothly as they rocked together. Kyle’s kiss, falling lightly on his lips, was just another piece of the dance.
“Mmm. Cher.” He opened his jeans, stripping off so they could dance in the water.
“That’s better.” Kyle stepped in, long legs disappearing into bubbling water, and extended a hand. “Look at you. I can’t believe you don’t get to enjoy this view. Come on, baby. It’s lovely in here.”
“Mmm. I do like to bubble.” He took Kyle’s hand and slipped in, then settled in Kyle’s lap. Colt laughed as the bubbles got trapped between them, the popping making everything tingle.
Kyle was watching him, listening to him laugh and smiling back. He raised an eyebrow, and Kyle just shrugged at him.
“Thanks for coming today. I liked having you there.”
“It was amazing, cher. So many moving parts, so pretty.” Kyle’s talent made his heart damn happy, if he was honest.
“You see it. You get it, I think. I saw how you were watching. A lot of people think ballet has to be so sophisticated all the time, but it’s just dance, you know?”
“It’s beautiful to watch. Like a great band sounds.”
Kyle was running wet hands over his skin as they talked, stroking them down his back, over his shoulders, drawing lines on his chest.
“You know, the day that I met you and I texted Timmy, all I did was tell him you were hot. Which is true, but I never thought for a second you’d be interested. He totally set us up after that. Did you know? He told me all about how he told you I wanted a date and got you to agree.”
“He’s a shit.” Colt owed Timmy a beer. “I am hot, though. Smokin’.” He winked over, waggling his eyebrows madly.
“You are sizzling. On fucking fire. Too damn hot to handle.” But Kyle handled him anyway, sliding fingers around his shaft and squeezing gently. “Good thing we’re in a tub.”
“Uh… uh-huh.” Kyle made him dizzy, made him want to sing.
“I think we’ve got something here, Colt. You know? I think this is more than a maybe. I think I’m falling in pretty deep.” Kyle leaned in and kissed him.
Colt reached up, tracing a line around Kyle’s ear. He got it. There was something about Kyle that was… bigger than either one of them.
Kyle kissed along Colt’s jaw to his ear, sucked in his earlobe and then continued down the line of his neck to his shoulder. Slow and sensual attention, nothing rushed, like they had forever to spend right here. He hummed softly, fireworks firing all under his skin. Oh, he could get used to this—long and slow and easy.
“If you had your guitar right now, tell me about what you’d be playing.” Kyle leaned back and reached for the glass of wine on the edge of the tub.
“Mmm. Something slow and lazy, something that feels like giving thanks.”
Kyle sipped some wine and then offered him the glass. “Hm. I’m not sure I know quite what giving thanks sounds like.”
“You know what it feels like, I know.” He could see that in the lines of Kyle’s joy.
His lover smiled at him. “I do. This is what it feels like.” Kyle went back to tasting him, over his shoulder and across his collarbones, down part of his arm. “Just like this.” The hand on his cock pumped slowly, long strokes from hilt to tip where Kyle’s thumb circled and swept across the head each time.
He arched, his eyes rolling up into his head. “Uh. Uh-huh. Just like….”
His entire body lit up like the Fourth of July.
“Just like that.” Kyle’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I’ve got plenty of gratitude to show you. More than you can handle.” His grip grew firmer and the strokes a little faster.
“Cher—” Jesus help him, he wanted that touch to keep on, over and over.
“Love.” Kyle didn’t let up on the kisses or the contact, and his lover just kept on speaking to him. Soft words, praising words. “You are beautiful, you know that? Everything inside you just shines on the outside. It’s irresistible.”
“Listen to you.” That this fine, fine man thought he was worth a plug nickel made him groan. He was just another picker from the swamp, one of a thousand, but he’d take those sweet, needy words.
Kyle hummed to him, a low appreciative sound, and that hand kept moving, firm and steady like it knew him, knew what he wanted. “Love your sounds. Your moans, that little song you sing to me, the way you call me ‘cher.’ Feel good, baby?”
“Better than. Better than, cher. You got me, all the way around.”
“Good.” Kyle kissed him deep, tongue sweeping through his mouth.
Oh, praise Jesus. Kissing Kyle was the closest to God he’d ever been without his fingers bleeding on the strings. He pushed in, offering himself up, heart and soul. Their tongues tangled, amazing sounds trapped between them.
He felt Kyle’s chest expand as his lover sucked in air. The kiss grew heated and urgent, and Kyle groaned heavily, then shifted and helped him sit up on the edge of the tub. Kyle’s mouth was on him not a second later, drawing him in.
“Cher!” He arched, hands going white-knuckled on the edge. “Please!”
That mouth was heaven on earth.
Kyle’s tongue pushed up and dragged along his length as he slid in and out of that luscious heat. His lover hummed and encouraged him, fingers digging into his thighs.
Colt let himself loose, let all his need out as he arched and drove in deep.
Grunting, Kyle opened for him like it was everything he wanted. Wet, warm hands slid around and cupped his ass, squeezing.
“Need you like air.” It was the truth as he knew it, swear to God.
He felt Kyle’s fingers on his balls, rolling first, then adding pressure, and Kyle swallowed, throat working and rippling over him.
“Gonna,” he warned, even though it was damn near too late, because he was sliding over the edge. Kyle swallowed again, fingers bruising into his asscheeks. Pleasure washed over him as he shot, his balls aching as he spent.
Not missing a beat, Kyle sucked until he was empty, hot tongue painting long strokes all the way up his shaft. “Mmm. Good, love.” At Kyle’s coaxing he slid off the side of the tub and back into Kyle’s lap.
“Make me crazy.” Colt danced against Kyle’s heavy erection, loving on him, pondering whether Kyle would let him ride.
Moaning, Kyle nodded, almost as breathless as he was himself. “Need you, baby. So bad.” Kyle’s hands flailed for a second, and then he took him by the jaw and kissed him.
“Want you to fuck me, cher. You into that? Me?”
“Yeah. Into that. Fuck.”
He nodded, reaching down to stroke that heavy cock, from base to tip. “Gon’ feel so good.”
Kyle gasped. “Fuck. Already does.” He nearly slid off Kyle’s lap as his lover’s long legs unfolded out of the water, but Kyle caught him. “Couch. Stuff in the glass box on the side table.”
“Look at you, bein’ all prepared!” He clapped, tickled as shit.
“I’m a fucking Boy Scout. Pick one.” Kyle’s voice sounded like he’d swallowed gravel.
He grabbed a rubber and a little packet of lube. “I’m drippin’ on your floor.”
His lover laughed at that. “All-weather couch. Tile floor. And your skin looks great wet.” Still, Kyle grabbed a small towel and dried off a little before handing it to Colt while he smoothed on the rubber.
Colt got himself sopped up, then crawled up on the sofa.
Kyle helped him settle on his knees and took his hands, hooking his fingers over the back of the couch. Then his lover leaned over him, opening the lube and whispering in his ear, “Tell me again how good it’s going to be?”
“You’re gonna open me up and turn my soul inside out, cher. I want it. You. Me.”
Cool lube and a slippery finger pressed up against his hole. “Right. Fuck. Just want to disappear in you.”
“Mm-hmm. Want to feel you for days.” He wasn’t averse to a good, hard fuck.
Kyle nodded, and he felt the intrusion of one slippery finger, swirling and stretching him, slicking him up. “I’m going to make you forget your name. Forget yourself. I’m going to make you sing a whole new song, lover.” A second finger joined the first, and Kyle groaned behind him. “You feel good already.”
All Colt could do was nod and sink into it, trusting Kyle to show him what he wanted.
A few more slow, firm strokes of his fingers, and then Kyle’s hand left him and gripped his hip instead. He felt the pressure of Kyle’s cock against him, pushing in, sweet and slow, sinking deeper little by little as they breathed together. “Colt. Tight, my God.”
“Uh-huh.” He groaned, not out of pain, but in desperation. The burn was deep, rich, and he needed.
Kyle reached around and gave his cock a tug, caressed his balls, and then suddenly they were there, his ass pressed up against Kyle’s hips. “Mmm.” Kyle moved behind him, gently at first, fingers holding on to him and keeping things sane. But he could feel Kyle’s desire building. His lover’s cock jerked inside him, and Kyle groaned loudly. “Want you.”
“Cher.” He braced himself, ready to take it and ride. Kyle’s cock was a solid fire, throbbing inside him and making him breathless. Those fingers pulled at him. Kyle’s hips rocked against him a couple of times, then took him suddenly, strong and deep, rhythmic and powerful. “You feel so good, baby.”
A bass beat started pounding in the base of his skull, throbbing in a way that promised to take him right over.
Kyle didn’t tire and with the control of an athlete, urged that hard cock deeper still, shoving against his ass with every thrust, threatening to slice him right in half.
“Cher!” The sound tore out of him, loud and raw and pure need.
“That’s right, baby. Remember me, forget yourself. Sending you right out of your head.” Kyle’s voice was rough and dark but hardly sounded winded at all. That same relentless rhythm rocked him over and over.
His world spun, tightened to his ass and the pressure of that heavy cock.
Kyle grunted and leaned heavily over his back, bracing one knee on the couch. “Fuck, you’re so… oh God.” Kyle panted in his ear as the pace grew faster. “Fuck, baby.”
He sobbed, humping back onto Kyle, taking every inch, every fucking thing Kyle gave him.
The pace nearing frantic, Kyle whimpered and groaned for him, no sign of the composure he had just a few moments ago. “Want… oh fuck. Colt!”
He could feel Kyle start to tremble, a heavy presence at his back, strong hands grasping his hips and bruising into his flesh.
Colt moaned, the ache from Kyle’s fingers enough to shove him over the edge, make him shoot and bear down on Kyle’s cock.
Kyle cried out, long and loud, orgasm rocking them both, hips jerking and then finally going still. “Fuck. Fuck, love, so good.” Kyle dropped dozens of kisses on his back, and words of praise and love across his skin.
“So good.” He sounded broken to his own ears, just cracked.
“Everything.” Kyle slipped away for a second and then quietly coaxed Colt back into the hot tub. “You are everything, love.”
He sank into the water, floating close. He needed to touch, to be there with Kyle, to connect.
Kyle drew him in, tracing fingers over his skin and through his hair and whispering to him in soft tones, “I’m not going anywhere, love. Settle in. Breathe, baby.”
“Sorry. I just….” He needed to be held. Kyle had liked to break him.
“Shh. No. Not sorry. Let me hold you, okay? It’s good. It’s perfect.” Kyle kissed him, gentle and slow. “Let me take care of you.”
He put one hand on the center of Kyle’s chest, feeling the strong, steady heartbeat. Lord have mercy, he loved this beautiful son of a bitch.
Kyle cupped a hand around his and just stayed quiet, the two of them indulging in the water’s warmth and in each other. For a long while the only sound in the room was the music of their breathing and the rhythm of the bubbling water.
He sent a prayer of thanks up, for this moment, for this feeling, for this man.
Finally, Kyle reached over and refilled the wineglass from the bottle on the edge of the tub. After taking a long sip, Kyle offered him the glass. “Have some, love. Share it with me.”
“Mmm. Thank you.” He sipped, his eyes going heavy at the way the wine coated his tongue.
Kyle watched him, taking the glass back when he was done. “Tired? Should I take you to bed?”
Colt had the sneaking suspicion that he’d follow Kyle anywhere he wanted to go. “I’m easy, cher. I jus’ want to be with you.”
“Let’s sit here awhile, then. Finish the wine. See if you get silly.” Kyle winked at him. “And I’ll find the closest guy and make out with him.”