“If you get dressed, I’ll even let you have one of my croissants,” Lance said, nodding to a pile of clean clothes on the chair on the opposite side of the table. There was no way to get to the clothes without crossing the room in his birthday suit.
“You’re baiting me? That desperate to check out the goods?” Tanner snorted in amused disbelief.
“Well, it was at the top of my list of things to do today . . .” he admitted with a shrug and smirk. “Besides, I was kind of afraid you’d decided never to leave the bed again.”
Tanner laughed, slowly rolled out of bed and stretched from side to side. Lance ogled him and wolf whistled.
“You get one hand job and now you expect me to put on a show?”
“Honestly? I was mostly curious about whether I’d get a hard on from seeing you walk around naked.”
“And?”
“Rock. Hard.” Lance relaxed back in the chair, took a swig of coffee, and waggled his eyebrows.
Tanner was surprised to find his own erection stirring, not because he wasn’t sure he was attracted to Lance, but because ever since his time in—well—away, his erections had been non-existent. In fact, until he’d met Lance, he hadn’t had an orgasm in over three years. He knew just how abnormal that was for a guy in his 20s.
He dressed quickly, pulling underwear and pants on first, moving his left leg carefully to avoid falling on his ass. After he put on his shirt, he turned to find Lance looking at him with an unreadable expression. Taking a deep breath, Tanner walkedover and smiled as he placed a hand on his shoulder. He ran a finger over a faint love bite on his neck and chuckled.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said, as obnoxious as possible while echoing Lance’s earlier statement in his best sultry tone. Then he leaned down to deliver a tender kiss.
This was it, he thought. In the light of day, there was a fair chance that Lance would pull away in disgust and that would be the end of that. But Tanner should have known Lance wouldn’t be like that. Lance did the opposite. He thrust his fingers into Tanner’s hair and tilted his head slightly for a more thorough kiss, humming happily. When they parted, both were flushed and breathing hard.
“You promised coffee,” Tanner said playfully as he stepped back. With a chuckle, Lance picked up Tanner’s cup and held it out to him. Tanner plopped down in the other chair and snatched up the coffee with one hand and a croissant with the other.
“What’s the plan for today?” Tanner asked, looking around the room for his phone. He didn’t know what time it was but figured it was probably around 7:00 a.m., his usual wake-up time even when he didn’t set his alarm.
“I called the hospital around 8:00, and the nurse confirmed that Parker’s discharge should be done by 11:00. So, we have about 45 minutes to eat breakfast before heading out to pick him up. After that, we can take him to his dorm and pack up for him. What do you think?”
“Hold up!” Tanner jolted upright, nearly spilling his coffee before he’d even taken a sip. “What time is it?”
“Eh—” Lance looked down at his phone. “10:12.”
“That’s impossible! I never sleep this late!” he declared, to which Lance only shrugged.
“Guess I tired you out,” he said with a cocky grin.
Tanner kicked him under the table just as he started to take a sip of coffee, almost causing it to spill onto the laptop.
“Quit yer bitchin’ and eat your breakfast,” Lance ordered while checking his laptop for possible coffee damage. Tanner grabbed another pastry and then he took a sip of his coffee. He normally liked it with just a splash of milk, but the added espresso gave it a pleasant depth that made the latte just right. He hummed in appreciation.
Guess liking dick wasn’t the only gay thing about him anymore. Apparently, he’d also acquired a taste for lattes. Who knew?
“We’re driving Parker to your parents’ house after getting his stuff out of the dorm, right?” Tanner asked, between bites of croissant.
“Yeah. I talked to my mother this morning. It was already planned for him to spend the summer there with my younger brother. He’ll just be a few days early.”
“She didn’t drive up to see him yesterday?”
Lance shook his head and frowned. Tanner raised an eyebrow in inquiry, wondering what was up with her.
“My mother doesn’t do well in stressful situations. I didn’t want to tell her anything until I knew for sure how he was doing. And since he’s perfectly fine, there was no need for her to drive down today.” His expression and tone were carefully neutral.
Tanner supposed it made sense. But his family didn’t quite work that way. It was increasingly obvious that they had experienced very different upbringings. Tanner’s mother had practically lived in his back pocket for most of his teen years, right up until the day he’d shipped out for basic training in the Army. From what Cameron had said recently, their mother had been so crushed by his presumed death in the sandbox that she’d moved out of state to get some time and space to grieve. Aftera few years absence, she’d moved back to help Cameron look after Clara and Lucy. His mother had always cared deeply for her children and grandchildren. When Tanner had been shot down in the stolen helo, his mother had been the first one on a plane to the German hospital he’d been transferred to. She’d stayed there for weeks as he’d drifted in and out of consciousness. Most of the time he was heavily sedated and didn’t even know she was there, still she’d waited by his bedside. When he’d finally returned to the US, he’d healed enough that she returned to her house, giving him some much-needed space. She still called or texted frequently, and he made it a point to visit her at least once a month. But he realized that he hadn’t been by to see her since the day he’d met Lance. He needed to fix that pronto, or she might show up at his door one of these days with a packed suitcase and move in. Regardless of anything else going on her life, his mother would never sit around waiting for a phone call. She’d have dropped everything, rushed straight to the hospital, and stayed parked at his bedside until he was discharged. Apparently, Lance’s family operated under vastly different rules.
“I’ll grab a shower, so we can go,” Tanner said, and finished his coffee. Lance placed a hand on Tanner’s and smiled into his eyes.
“Mind if I join you?”
