“Don’t hurt my body,” he said. “And don’t hurt me here.”
“Same.”
“It’ll come,” he promised. “Everything you’re looking for but scared to ask for. It’ll come, okay?”
Leonidas knew his words to be true because he was looking for the same things as Andy, but somehow the opposite. He wanted Andy to be a place like his mama’s house, that he could be with and then be gone, but come back to when he was longing for memories of his past. He didn’t know if Andy would want or accept that distance, and he needed to know.
“I need to ask you, Andy,” he said softly, a whisper against Andy’s wine flavored lips. “If you can be okay with having me, but maybe not in the ways you want.”
“I want you every way.”
“I think that can be arranged, but maybe not physically. Not all the time.”
Leonidas would learn this man and give him his heart, because he saw so much of the person he would have become if he’d allowed himself to become stifled by the expectations of his family. They were kindred spirits, and Leonidas had felt that in his soul from the first time they’d kissed in that rain soaked alley.
“I get it,” Andy whispered, and the moisture in his eyes convinced Leonidas he was telling the truth.
“I told you before no penetration,” he said.
“I remember.”
“That’s not a limit now.”
Andy made a quiet choking sound in the back of his throat, then nodded.
“What’s your favorite color?” Leonidas asked.
Andy laughed, sort of, more of a pained grunt, but he answered, “Blue.”
“Like the ocean?” Leonidas smiled against Andy’s mouth.
“Like the sky, just before the sun comes up.”
“See?” he asked. “The sky and the ocean are always together. Kissing at that point on the horizon we can always watch.”
“Is that so?” Andy rasped.
“Kiss me and see,” he whispered, and Andy did.
25
Andy
Andy staredup at the wood beams in the ceiling of his room, absentmindedly dragging the tips of his fingers across his bottom lip. If he closed his eyes, he could still taste Leonidas there.
He’d managed to control himself last night. He’d kissed Leonidas until his cock leaked in his pants, then he’d washed the sugary sweet taste of Leonidas down his throat with a swig of wine and ordered Leonidas to his knees. He fed him cupcakes and asked him questions, his cock not softening until he’d been home for hours and the sun crept toward the top of the sky.
It was after lunch, and Andy had eaten and showered, now lying on his bed naked to dry. With one final touch of his fingers against his mouth, he sat up and paced to the dresser, grabbing a pair of boxer briefs from the drawer and pulling them on. He dressed, leaving his beanie on the table near the door because it was far too hot for the knit cap.
Andy felt weird, a little tense, as he stepped out of his room. He ran his fingers through his damp hair, letting it fall against the sides of his face. He figured he would go into town, grab some lunch from Levi’s truck if he was out, and then see who was around. He didn’t want to see Spencer again, he knew that. While there was nothing wrong with the small, peppy man and his two brooding husbands, Andy didn’t want to deal with the cats.
He thought about lots of nothing on the long walk into town. It was less than a few miles, and he wondered how Leonidas managed over three-hundred miles straight. Surely there had to be some sort of spiritual awakening or clarity that came with being in nature that long, but all it had done for Leonidas was to send him straight to the middle of nowhere America, after a man he barely knew.
But, fuck, Leonidas wanted to know him, and he wanted that too. That’s what he’d been after last night with the cupcakes and the questions. He was hungry to know everything about Leonidas, as if knowing his birthday and his favorite movie would somehow make it acceptable for Andy’s heart to skitter around his chest when Leonidas kneeled at his feet. Here he was, trying to justify his feelings and desires, when he’d never done that before.
He knew the way his body felt when Leonidas touched him. Couldn’t that be enough for now?
In town, he grabbed coffee from the coffee shop and took a seat at one of the benches outside. It was in the shade, and he kicked his legs up, stretching out and enjoying the bustling tourists. He took a long swallow of iced coffee and closed his eyes, dropping his head back against the wall of the building.
