Chapter Eight
After all thedrama of earlier in the evening, I had prayed I could salvage this date with Ladd, and as we left his aunt’s gallery, both laughing and joking about the reactions we’d seen to her collection, I knew I had succeeded. I was nowhere ready to end the evening, so once we made it back to my truck, I asked, “What should we do now? The night’s still young.” I turned to Ladd, and he was staring at me now with a look I couldn’t place.
“No, actually, can we just head back to my place now?”
I didn’t make eye contact with him because I was so surprised but smiled to hide my disappointment. “Sure, hop in, and I’ll take you home.” I guess I’d read him completely wrong and somehow blown my chance. I was so hoping to make something work with this beautiful man, but maybe all the drama had been too overwhelming.Or maybe you’re not enough for him just like you weren’t enough for Troy.
I did my best not to listen to that voice, but it was so damn hard when all I felt was depression starting to take over again. Ladd tried to talk a few times, but I was stuck in my head with self-doubt and just shut him down each time. If he was ending the date early, I didn’t want to be any more invested than I already was. Ladd was unusually fidgety. When we got to his place, he gave me the code to enter the driveway, then pointed out where I should turn to take him to his carriage house.
I pulled up and didn’t turn off the truck thinking he would make a quick getaway now that he was home, but he surprised me. “Do you want to come in for a drink or something? I know you said you don’t like dessert, but I could make some hot chocolate, and we can sit on the back porch and talk or whatever.” I was speechless for a moment because I hadn’t seen this as a possibility. I wasn’t going to say no though.
“Um, sure, I’d love that. I do love hot chocolate, and the weather tonight is perfect for it, too.” I turned off the truck, and we both made our way up the steps to his front door. I took a chance and put my arm around his shoulders when I saw him shiver in the cooling breeze. I wasn’t sure he’d welcome it, but he snuggled in and gave me a brief thank you. I grinned like a fool. I seemed to do that a lot around Ladd tonight.
Ladd got the door open, and I was amazed by the room before me. Like the main house, this smaller cottage was decorated like it was about to be featured in a national magazine. All of the furniture was done in neutrals and off-white fabrics and leathers. The walls were painted a soothing dove gray with deep moldings painted antique white gloss. The only color in the room was from the gigantic Persian rug anchoring the seating arrangement, various pillows on the chairs and sofa and a gorgeous landscape painting hanging above the fireplace. The whole mood of the room was soothing, comfortable and elegant. I was absolutely sure Ladd had decorated every square inch of this space with loving care and attention to detail.
“Wow, this place is amazing. I’m assuming you did all of this yourself.” I glanced in Ladd’s direction, and he gave a shy nod of his head. “Well, it’s beautiful. Now I see why you’ve won awards for your interior designs. You’re not just an architect, you’re an artist, too.” I looked at the landscape and asked, “Who did this? It’s beautiful. It reminds me of the view I saw earlier from the back porch of the main house.” The style of the painting was more impressionistic than realistic, but the effect with the water and the sunset in the distance was mesmerizing.
“Oh, that actually is the view from the back porch. Rhett painted it for me when I graduated and moved in here. All of us have some sort of artistic talent. It’s just in different mediums. Even Uncle James has a hobby of jewelry making believe it or not. He sells his silver and gold pieces at Gwen’s jewelry store in town. He tells us it’s just a hobby, but he’s got a huge following and people have started collecting his pieces. He even has thousands of followers on Instagram, believe it or not. He could retire now and live very comfortably on what he makes with his local sales and his online and custom orders. He has a big demand for matching custom rings for weddings, both gay and straight. His clients say they can feel the love and care he puts into each piece he creates. He loves making them, so I guess it’s true.”
Ladd held up his hand and showed me the ring I had noticed he wore every day on his right ring finger. “This is the ring he made for me for Christmas a few years ago. He made an identical one for Remy, Rhett, and for himself. When he gave them to us, he said they were our family rings. They symbolize our love and commitment to each other and the family. None of us have ever taken them off. I wear it to remind myself that no matter what people like Parker say, we’re family and this is home.”
“I like that idea. I’d love to talk to him about his work. Maybe I could get something for my mom, brother and sister for Christmas like that.”
Ladd nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, we can go by Gwen’s sometime this week and look around. I know it’s only September, but he’ll get slammed with orders starting in October. If you don’t see something you like, he could take a custom order for something. You’ve got an in since you’re dating his favorite nephew.” Ladd gave me a cheeky smirk and then turned with a sweeping motion of his hand. “Well, you’ve seen the living room. Would you like the full tour? There’s not much more than the kitchen and bedrooms, but I’d love to show you my favorite room.” His smile was in his eyes again, and there was no way I could say no.
“Absolutely, lead the way.”
Ladd came toward me still standing by the front door, motioned me to step aside and reached for the pocket doors I hadn’t seen to my left. He slid them open, flipped on the lights and I was transported to another world. I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast all of a sudden because this was the most magnificent library I had ever seen in person. Every wall all the way to the ceiling was covered in bookshelves. There were two big overstuffed chairs on one side of the fireplace and a large leather sofa on the other. Between them on the faux fur rug was a delicate glass top coffee table mirroring the glass end tables. Again, the colors on the furniture fabrics were light, and the color in the room was left to the hundreds and hundreds of hardback books carefully encased behind the huge glass doors enclosing the shelves. I wondered how you would ever reach the ones on the uppermost shelves when I noticed the rails and the sliding ladder that could be picked up and moved from one wall to another. The whole room was stunning.
“So, what do you think?”
“It’s, wow, all I can think to say is wow.” I laughed, still taking everything in. “This room is incredible, truly. It feels so comfortable in here and even with all of these shelves looming over you, it still feels light and airy. I feel like I could sit in here for days and never want to leave.” I finally looked back over to Ladd who was still hovering in the doorway, letting me take it all in.
When I turned around, he launched himself at me for the second time tonight. He threw his arms around my neck and jumped, making me automatically grab his waist so he wouldn’t fall. I held him flush against me once again, but this time it was neither for comfort or protection. This time I was looking for something else, and it felt like Ladd was thinking the same thing.
When Ladd pulled back from the tight hug, we just stared into each other’s eyes, soaking in the moment. Finally, I leaned in and stroked my bearded cheek against his smooth one whispering, “I’ve wanted to do this again all night, but I don’t think I can wait another minute. Can I please kiss you, Ladd?”
Before I could get his name out, Ladd had his lips on mine in silent answer. At first, he kept it sweet and slow, chaste. His dry lips moved across mine, just feeling the different texture of my whiskers against his smooth lips. Then, he tentatively licked out along my lower lip and pressed, silently asking for more. I was more than willing to give it to him.
I tightened my hold around his waist, hauled him up off his feet and kissed him like I had been dreaming. It went from sweet to hot in less than a second. My tongue slid in and over his own, tangling and playing for dominance until I finally nipped his tongue causing him to moan back into my mouth. Ladd started writhing against me, and I noticed he was hard as a rock and rubbing himself against my abs to increase the friction. I reached down without thought with one of my hands, grabbed his little ass and pulled him into me with a jerk to increase the friction on both of our cocks. It felt fucking amazing and damn was it hot, but I didn’t want to move too fast for either of us. We stood there for several long minutes enjoying the feel of our lips, teeth, and tongues gliding over each other and enjoying the pressure of our cocks grinding out their own private rhythm. Finally, when Ladd took the initiative and nipped my lower lip, then licked the sting away, I knew I wouldn’t last much longer just kissing him. He was way too much of a temptation.
I reluctantly pulled back from the kiss and slowly slid his sweet body down to set him on his feet again. I made sure we both enjoyed every inch of the journey. Then with my hand going through my hair and taking a deep breath, I stepped back, “Now, I think you said something about hot chocolate and a porch?” Ladd stared up at me with lust filled eyes, pupils wide, for just a moment before he processed what I’d said.
“Uh, yeah, but are you sure you want it now? We could have some later.” He stepped into me and placed a kiss on my neck exposed by my unbuttoned shirt. “Maybe much later.” Then he added another kiss lower down on the hollow between my collar bones. “Or maybe we could have it in the morning.” This was followed by a gentle nip on the collarbone itself, and I was almost lost.
I growled at the temptation this man was to me, then hardened my resolve. “Ladd, I want nothing more than to do all of that and more, but this is our first date, and I really want to do this right by you. Didn’t you want to go slow?”
That seemed to snap Ladd out of his lust filled haze, and he stepped back suddenly, “Oh, God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” He dropped his head and blushed in embarrassment, and that would never do.
“No, it’s not a problem, I loved everything you were doing believe me, but I don’t want to sleep with you on the first date and then have you decide it was a mistake. I just want us to explore this between us to the fullest. We have time, and I want to enjoy this, every moment. I’m not just here to get with you and then ghost as soon as I’ve gotten what I want.” That seemed to be the right thing to say because he looked back up at me then and nodded his head.
“Okay then, hot chocolate it is. But I have something to ask you. When can we have our second date?”
I thought about it and decided, “How about Wednesday after the inspectors come by?”
Ladd seemed to think about it for a second, then snapped his fingers, “I forgot, Wednesday is family dinner this week.” He thought for a second, then asked, “Why don’t you come? It’ll be like a date, sort of. You’ve already met most of my family anyway except for Rhett and whether he shows will be based on his caseload this week.” I must have looked as apprehensive as I felt because Ladd added, “Afterwards, we can come back here and get to know each other even better than we did tonight.” He leaned up with his arms around my neck, and I leaned down to meet his decadent lips. He tasted sweet like his jelly beans and something I could only define as Ladd. Ending the kiss this time, I gave the only answer I could give.
“I’d love to have dinner with your family on Wednesday.” I just hoped to God our second date was more drama free than our first.
