“Consider me surprised.”
“Your family is really nice.”
“They seem to like you,” Leonidas whispered, and it was true.
While he’d never brought a boy—a man—home before, he’d never anticipated such a warm reception. He’d never expected to be gone and find his lover welcomed by his blood with such open arms. The words Penelope said to him in the store resonated through him, and he took Andy’s hand, raising it to his mouth and kissing the tops of his knuckles.
“Mama,” he said, looking over his shoulder to her, “I’m going to take Andy for a walk.”
“Of course.” She waved them off. “Go, go. We’ll have plenty of time.”
Leonidas pulled Andy up and through the house, past a grumbling Aeliana in the kitchen and to the street.
“Where are we going?” Andy asked. “Are you looking for an alcove to have your way with me in?”
Leonidas laughed. “I don’t need an alcove for that.”
“You’re not wrong,” Andy mused, following him through the streets.
Leonidas walked the neighborhood he’d known his entire life, every turn and white building a place and a shape he knew by heart.
“How was Morocco?” Andy asked once they turned the corner and headed south.
“As delicious as I hoped.” Leonidas rubbed his belly. “I ate too much.”
“The pictures looked nice.”
“We could go together,” he offered. “I would like to see it with you, if you wanted to go with me sometime.”
Andy smiled, looking relaxed and at ease, more so than Leonidas had ever seen him look before. He didn’t know if it was the traveling, or the family, but he liked the way this version of Andy made him feel.
“Maybe,” Andy agreed.
“What else did you do when I was gone?” Leonidas asked. “Besides driving me to the breaking point with all the videos and text messages.”
Andy laughed to himself, no doubt thinking about the asks he’d made of Leonidas when he was alone at night in his hotel room. After long days of walking and sightseeing and eating, Andy would whisper torturous things into his ear, having him touch himself and fuck himself until Andy had had enough of his sounds.
It had been a dream.
“Well, Greyson told me you’d volunteered me to help him with one of the paint nights,” Andy explained. “So, thank you for that.”
“I forgot,” he lied.
“You didn’t. But I’ll take it out on your later.”
“You’re horrible,” Leonidas groaned, coming to a stop in front of their destination. He looked up at the building in front of him and sighed. “Here we are.”
“What’s this?” Andy asked, gazing up and the tall building. “Is this your family’s place?”
“Yeah.”
“Jesus,” Andy cursed under his breath.
Leonidas tried to look at the hotel with an outsider’s eyes. It was a bit grand, maybe ostentatious, but it was his, eventually maybe theirs. Though it was nothing like the lodge in Cherry Creek that Andy’s brothers owned, which felt like home and reeked of charm.
“This place has always been ours,” Leonidas said, heading through the front doors with Andy at his side. “But it’s never felt like a home, the way your place does.”
“The lodge?” Andy asked.
