“It’s okay,” said Cal, the older, wiser one in this. “Whatever you want. You can have it.”
“I don’t even know.” Zeke’s eyes were such a dark green in the half-limned light, almost shadows in his face.
Cal cupped that face with his palm, and kissed Zeke again, those firm lips opening up to him at last, a flick of his tongue to Zeke’s, a spark of deeper warmth surrounded by Zeke’s utter trust. A thought which made Cal’s heart jackhammer in his chest.
It was Zeke, attentive as always, who said, “Easy now. We’ve got time. Just be patient with me. I’ve never?—”
“Never been with a man before,” said Cal, finishing the statement for him.
“Galen said—” Zeke stopped again, so unlike him, as he usually said what he meant and meant what he said and measured every single word before it was spoken.
“Galen?” asked Cal. He knew who Galen was, sure, and he squashed the sudden flare of jealousy as to the nature of Galen and Zeke’s relationship.
“Later,” said Zeke, whisper low. “Just. Let it be you and me now. Here in this valley, so far from everything.”
In the valley so far from everything, Cal eased on top of Zeke, weaving their legs together in that one-man sleeping bag, his chest pressed to Zeke’s, the warmth between their bodies growing.
And finally, finally, they held hands, their fingers locked together on either side of Zeke’s head as Cal pressed down. And kissed Zeke like he’d wanted to, maybe from the first moment he saw him.
As their tongues met, an energy arced between them, and when Cal pulled his hands away from Zeke’s, Zeke’s arms went around him and held him tight, as though Zeke meant to never, ever let go.
Cal felt the wonderful weight of those arms, the strength of the body beneath him, and inhaled Zeke’s scent, clean and rain-dappled, and perfectly wonderful.
Zeke pulled back, taking a breath, then ran his hands up Cal’s body to clasp his face.
“Thank you,” Zeke said. “I’ve been wondering and wondering. And now I know.”
“Know what?” asked Cal, his mouth moving against Zeke’s.
“I don’t rightly now exactly,” said Zeke with a little laugh. “Kissing another man. Experiencing something new. And maybe that’s you.”
“I reckon it is,” said Cal, joining in the merriment of the moment. “Can I show you something? You can stop me if you want.”
“Okay,” said Zeke.
Cal moved down and down into the hollow of the sleeping bag, unzipping it as he moved into the space between Zeke’s thighs, crouching there as he tugged at the elastic waistband of Zeke’s briefs.
Now it was dark, and every movement Zeke made, shifting to let Cal do what he was doing, which was pulling those briefs down Zeke’s legs, almost made Cal stop.
He didn’t know if Zeke was about to protest or stop him, but Zeke never did and Cal sighed as he bent to inhale Zeke’s scent up close, the sweet salt of the tender thin skin beneath his hip bone.
He absorbed the scratchy feel of his pubic hair, the intensified scent there, the velvet softness of his cock growing to hardness in a heartbeat. Cal held Zeke’s cock with both hands and, with the utmost gentleness, nuzzled it with his mouth until finally he swiped it with a long lick, slow, slow, slow.
He heard Zeke’s gasp, but there was no protest in that sound, just an uptick at the end, as though he was asking Cal if this was how it went.
Later, Cal might tell him that every time was different and special, though in honesty he’d not enjoyed giving a blow job in such a long time, so all of this felt brand new to him, too.
When he took Zeke’s cock in his mouth, he at last knew the taste of Zeke, how it felt to feel the blood pulse on his tongue. The heft of him, the slick roundness of the head of his cock. And the sound Zeke made, arching upwards as if Cal had surprised him beyond all measure.
Cal suckled Zeke’s cock and licked it and loved it, up and down, using his hand at the base, fingers weaving around Zeke’s balls, pulling another sound from Zeke, and when Cal sucked harder, just a little bit, as that was enough, Zeke sounded like he was crying.
Cal looked up and, in the glimmer of the flashlight, he could see that Zeke had thrown his forearms over his eyes, submerging himself in darkness, as if he wanted to bury himself in the sensations Cal was giving him.
Cal brought Zeke’s cock to fullness with his mouth and his hands and his heart, pouring all the love he could into the act, all the affection, to this man who’d carved a place for Cal at his side, building trust, never raising his voice, always gentle and slow and good.
As Cal sucked and licked, hard and then soft, he absorbed the memory into his soul, burying it deep so he could look at it later. Look and remember and wonder how anything so good could have happened to him. Everything had been so awful for so long and now this. Him and Zeke in the valley so far away from everything.
He felt Zeke stiffen, his cock, his whole body, even, and when Zeke’s balls tightened, impossibly tight, Cal eased off, tickling the tip of Zeke’s cock with his tongue, a last, furious tease to send Zeke over the edge.
