"You know The Forbidden Subject can't be trusted," Gus told her, but then he changed his tune. "It didn't turn out so bad. It might be the best decision The Forbidden Subject ever made, other than hiring me," Gus told her.

  She couldn't believe her ears. "I'm not sure what you were talking about just now. Maybe we should stop speaking in code. I know you were not talking about Jack Velarde."

  "Mmm. Say his name again. It's music to my ears," Gus told her.

  She was astonished. "You're into him? Really? He seemed really stiff and jerky to me. I mean, he looks awesome in a boardroom kind of way, but eh." She grimaced and shrugged.

  Now it was Gus who couldn't believe his ears. "Eh? Now you officially have bad taste, Brenda. The man might look like the boardroom, but he is all bedroom. And he has the most gorgeous, sad eyes I've ever seen."

  "His eyes are mean."

  "Woman, you are blind. And if you say his voice doesn't make you melt, I'll declare you deaf too."

  "Fine. Have a go at him," Brenda said, shaking her head.

  "I will."

  "You'll try. Just don't bruise your ego too hard throwing yourself at a brick wall," she told him.

  "Hey! I will get him," Gus told her. She was such a naysayer.

  "Where do you get this confidence?" Brenda asked him. Dismayed, she looked him up and down like she couldn't see any conceivable reason for it.

  "You are just mean," Gus told her and drew back from her critical gaze. Then he shrugged. "It's not really confidence. It's drive. When I wanted Suzanne to have Josh, I didn't have any confidence in myself as a future dad. I just wanted a kid so much. That's kind of like how I feel about Jack. That's what's driving me."

  "Oh, weird," she said then she paused with a glass of wine halfway to her lips. "Wait. Are you saying you want to get serious? With Jack of all people? He is a cold fish, and he doesn't stay in the same town for more than a week. And he comes with all that baggage. The Forbidden Subject must have gossiped to you about that."

  "He did."

  "Gus, you're crazy," she said, appalled.

  "Exactly. That's what I was trying to explain. It was crazy to ask Suzanne to have the baby for me. This is the same kind of crazy."

  Brenda shook her head. "Oh, my God. You are going to get your heart broken into a million fucking pieces," she told him.

  "I think I should have let you talk my ear off about The Forbidden Subject instead," Gus told her.

  "I can still do that."

  A little while after Brenda left, Gus was doing the dinner dishes he had left to get crusty in the sink. That's when he heard music coming from Josh's room. It was the iPod that had been Gus's gift to his grandfather. It was loaded with oldies. When Grandpa Lyle died, the iPod went to Josh, and he played it whenever he got scared. It served a dual purpose of comforting Josh while also letting Gus know that Josh needed him.

  When he went to his room, Gus found Josh sitting on the edge of his bed with his lamp on.

  "There was an earthquake!" he said as soon as Gus came in.

  "In your dream?" Gus said, sitting next to him and putting his arm around the little guy.

  "Yes. But there was a real one too."

  "How do you find out about these things?" Gus wondered. Since disasters scared Josh so much, Gus didn't watch the news with him, but somehow he always found out anyway.

  "I keep my ear to the ground," Josh said and went and laid down on the floor to demonstrate.

  "That's the floor. Get back in bed," Gus told him and tucked him back in under the covers. "So where was this earthquake?"

  "I forgot."

  "I can guarantee you that it wasn't anywhere around here," Gus told him, but Josh wasn't satisfied with that. "I'll look it up." Gus searched on his phone and found the news story and read it over quickly. "It was in Guatemala. It wasn't too big. And yes, that's far away from here."

  "Another continent?"

  "Yes."

  "Which one?" Josh asked, pointing to the globe on his desk.

  Gus brought the globe over to him. "South America. This part here." Gus pointed out where Guatemala was.

  Josh nodded and rested his head back on his pillow. Gus tucked him in more securely and then sat down on the floor next to his bed.

  "I'll sit with you and listen to the oldies," he told Josh.

  As Josh closed his eyes, The Miracles' "I'll Try Something New" was playing. Listening to it, Gus could see his grandfather dancing with Josh. Grandpa Lyle's careful, shuffling movements were in stark contrast to Josh's uncoordinated flailing and jumping. Then if some old lady cut in, Gus would pick up Josh and swing him around.

  When he turned off the music and turned off the lamp in Josh's room, all Gus could hear was Josh's soft, even breathing. But in the background the music was still playing. Josh was laughing. Grandpa Lyle was singing along in his warbling, old man voice, bringing tears to Gus's eyes as he watched his son sleeping.

  Chapter 8

  After the kiss, Jack decided not to spend too much time at the bistro, where he would be within easy reach of Gus. Gus unsettled him, threw him off balance, but for some reason Jack didn't want to stay away from him. He could easily leave town, but he didn't. He was rooted to this place by feelings he didn't understand.

  Jack did go in later in the day when he knew Josh would be there. As Jack went into the back of the bistro, Josh waved at him from his perch in the corner of the kitchen. He was watching the action, craning his neck to catch everything. At least he was out of the way there. Wouldn't do to have an excitable child underfoot.

  Unfortunately, his father wasn't as easy to contain. As soon as Jack walked into his office, Gus came up to him and placed his hands on Jack's waist. His touch sent a jolt down his spine. Jack didn't move. He just waited. Gus was looking deep into his eyes while suppressing a smile.

  Gus leaned in slowly and Jack closed his eyes. He shuddered under the soft feel of Gus's lips. Jack had to force himself to pull away and stop kissing Gus. He breathed hard and looked down. He knew if he raised his eyes to Gus, he would want to kiss him again and never stop.

  "That's my new greeting for you," Gus said.

  "Both of us seem to be forgetting that we're at work," Jack said.

  "You have a solution for that?" Gus asked while he looked at Jack both suggestively and with hope in his eyes.

  "You're obviously trying to start something."

  "You noticed? But it's not something we can continue here."

  "I'll be working from my hotel room tomorrow. You can stop by."

  Gus's eyes widened and Jack could see him struggling to breathe. Then a big grin broke out across his face. He hugged Jack, kissed him hard then looked deep into his eyes with an incredibly happy look on his face.

  "I'll see you tomorrow," Jack said, feeling like his heart was slamming into his ribcage. One step and he could press himself against Gus and let him feel how wildly his heart was beating. Turning away before he could give in to his impulses, Jack picked up a few files and decided to leave. If he stayed, they would be doing it right there on the floor.

  That's why he should have stayed away, but he couldn't trust himself to even do that much. He thought he was strong, but he was weak against his need for Gus. As soon as Gus touched him, arousal blazed through him and his strength evaporated. Jack's resolve was nothing under the touch of Gus's hand and the sweet pressure of his lips. The look in Gus's eyes undid him.

  Jack frowned as he went to his car. He was feeling a little more sober away from Gus. Now he worried that the reason he invited Gus to his hotel room was something Gus said when he first kissed him. Gus said he was sure Jack wouldn't make the first move. Who the hell was he to assume something like that? Without even trying, Gus had dared him once again, and Jack responded by trying to outdo him.

  Realizing this, Jack considered calling the whole thing off, but Gus's reaction made that impossible. He was just too happy to hear Jack's vague invitation. It made Jack worry that Gus was expecting too much of him, but it also touched him to be wanted like that.

  He couldn't remember the last time he felt that way. While he drove, he searched for that feeling somewhere in his past. It wasn't part of any of his sexual relationships. It went further back than that. Maybe it was as far back as the days when he was a small boy and his mother was alive. His mother would smile just because he walked into a room. She would open her arms, and Jack would run to her. How in hell was someone like Gus bringing back a feeling like that? But it was unmistakable. Gus made him feel like he was always opening his arms to him and happy to see him. Fear and excitement made Jack's heart beat hard at the thought of being with someone like that. It would be the end of him.

  Next morning Jack was just as consumed by what was about to happen between him and Gus. He had gotten up early after spending a sleepless night thinking about him. His body and his bed only existed for Gus now. That made his bed unfit for sleeping while his body was restless, vibrating with tension until the touch of Gus's hand could soothe it or ignite it.

  By now Jack had spent too much time with him and felt he knew too much about Gus to claim that he hadn't gotten under his skin. If they just had a quickie, Jack would find it easier to dismiss his feelings for Gus, but this encounter had the wrong quality about it. Jack was already obsessed with it. He and Gus were moving inexorable toward something that seemed more significant than it should be. That was clear from the way Jack waited for Gus to arrive. He was alert for any sound of him and afraid that he might not come.

  *

  For the rest of the day and all night, Jack's invitation was all Gus could think about. He arrived at Parker Springs Hotel all wound up. The place was high end, well suited for executives traveling on business. If Gus got to stay in a place like that in his younger days, he would know he had it made.

  The lobby was built to impress. Copper panels were set into the variegated stone walls across from the reception area. The seating section had some interesting modern curves. In the middle of it, the water feature turned slowly and hypnotically. It was all a blur to Gus as he headed straight for the elevators.

  To gain some perspective on what was about to happen, Gus tried to take Brenda's words to heart and remember who Jack was and the kind of life he lived. Gus was just one of his many hotel room encounters, a casual fuck, nothing more. That's how Gus should look at it, but he was way too nervous for a casual encounter.

  As he went up in the elevator to Jack's hotel room, Gus's heart was pounding harder every second. If he didn't have Jack in his arms in one minute, he was going to explode. The possibility that he might not be there was unthinkable.

  The elevator was too slow, or maybe just too smooth and quiet. On the fifth floor, in the subtly lit, immaculately decorated hotel hallway, Gus couldn't find room 521 right away. He had gone the wrong way and now he was ready to bang on every door until Jack opened up. It wasn't necessary. Jack's room was right there, where any sane human being could have found it with no problem. Sane or human didn't describe Gus as he knocked on Jack's door too many times.

  Jack opened with a questioning look on his face while Gus stood there transfixed. Jack was really there, right in front of him. He looked slightly annoyed but otherwise perfectly fuckable. Gus wanted to do him right there, up against the wall or on the floor. If he had the time, he might kick the door closed.

  While Gus grinned at him like a fool, Jack stood there unfucked, with his clothes in perfect order not ripped to shreds by Gus's clawing hands. Gus's brain had jumped ahead while at the same time his body was paralyzed. He was still grappling with the fact that Jack was really there. Jack sighed and stepped aside to let the crazy man into his hotel suite.

  "Nice," Gus said noticing the suite. It was decorated in sea foam greens and brown-black wood with ultra-modern accent pieces. There was a comfortable looking couch and a desk under the window. It was all a fuzzy backdrop to Gus as his eyes searched for the bedroom and the bed.

  Finding them, Gus backed Jack through the doorway.

  "You seem a little worked up," Jack told him as they stood by his bed, breathing hard, facing each other like two opponents ready for a fight.

  "Who? What? No. This is nothing. A quickie, in and out then back to work," Gus said to reassure Jack and maybe himself too.

  He couldn't look at the depths of his feelings right now without being scared of them himself. But in a moment like this, as he pulled Jack's body close and hard against him, he couldn't hold those feelings back. They ran away with his sanity and he wanted to devour Jack alive.

  On that note, Gus kissed his way down Jack's body until he was on his knees in front of him. Pulling Jack's shirt tails free from his pants, Gus unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt and let Jack do the rest. He unbuckled Jack's belt and undid his fly. Immediately, his hand was on his cock, over his boxers, impatient for the feel of him. Generous thickness and length were revealed to Gus as he freed his cock.

  "Beautiful," Gus breathed and then took it all in his mouth while Jack gasped and shook grabbing hold of Gus's shoulders for support. Gus could feel him sway as he sucked. After only a little while, Jack's whole body stiffened.

  "No, no," he gasped. Too soon, he was coming and cursing both Gus and himself.

  "That wasn't the main course, just something to get out of the way," Gus said with a smirk as he stood up in front of him.

  Jack looked mad and pushed him down on the bed. He freed Gus's cock roughly. He sucked hard while glaring up at Gus. Oh yeah, with that look and that hot mouth on him, Gus was coming in record time like a fucking teenager getting his first taste of something wet and warm wrapped around his cock. Transfixed by the sight, Gus watched Jack swallowing his come hungrily. Done with that, Jack crawled over him then dropped next to him on the bed.

  "Now we're even," he said to Gus.

  "But not done. I know I'm not done with you," he said to Jack and kissed him hard to let him know he wanted a lot more from him.

  They tasted each other for a while until they needed to breathe again. Gus felt like he hadn't gotten enough practice kissing in his whole life to be able to handle kissing Jack.

  "Like a couple of horny teenagers," Jack said, echoing his thoughts.

  "Yeah, but that was a fun time. I don't mind reliving it with you," Gus said then noticed Jack's frown. "Oh, right. You were going with girls when you were younger."

  "Don't tell me you were out even then?" Jack asked in disbelief.

  "Not out. But I sneaked in a handjob here, a blowjob there," Gus said.

  "That's what makes you you I guess. You don't let anything stop you," Jack said. There was no admiration in it though. He sounded kind of irritated.

  "When I know what I want, it's just a matter of getting it naked," Gus said as he started undressing Jack fully. Jack sat up and pulled off his shirt all the way while Gus kissed his chest and shoulder. His hand was on Jack's other shoulder. Gus felt a scar under his fingertips.

  "From the plane crash," Jack told him simply.

  They both stood up to get out of their pants. Gus got in a few strokes before Jack's pants were all the way off because he just couldn't keep his hands off Jack's hardening cock. Once Jack was undressed, Gus could see another reminder that Jack had been in a crash. A scar ran up one side of his leg.

  The scars didn't make Jack look any less amazing in Gus's eyes, and he told him so. "You're unreal," Gus told him as he admired his body.

  "As long as you're not bothered by scars."

  "I'm not," Gus assured him.

  Standing there naked, Gus felt clumsy next to Jack's slim, defined beauty. Gus hoped that he at least made Jack feel short, not that he was that much taller. Setting aside the spirit of competition, Gus ran his hands over Jack's body. His touch was gentle at first but soon he was groping Jack hard. Jack's skin was tight under his fingertips as they dug in, his muscles hard under his cruel hands. Gus wanted to be gentle but he couldn't be. He wanted to merge with him, feel him in every way, get deep inside him.

  Moaning, Jack kissed his neck then bit his shoulder. He kissed Gus's mouth then pulled back and fumbled in the bedside drawer for condoms and lube. With lube in one hand, he came back to kiss Gus before he reached behind him with his other hand and fingered his hole.

  "You want to top," Gus said, only a little surprised.

  "Should we flip a coin?" Jack asked, sounding kind of displeased.

  "No. You go ahead. I'm good either way," Gus said, He could tell it was a bigger deal to Jack than it was to him. He seemed like the kind of guy who might have issues about that, and Gus wasn't going to push him into doing something he didn't absolutely want to. But Jack didn't look happy that Gus backed down for his sake.

  "I think you should top," Jack said decisively.

  Gus was about to disagree but then he saw that Jack was determined. He felt like he had dared him into it, but he had enough confidence to know he would make him love it.

  As Jack got on the bed on his back, Gus stuck a pillow under his hips and got between his legs. Settling himself, Gus watched Jack as he blinked nervously and started to breathe erratically. Gus gripped Jack's cock and gave it a firm stroke. It was still hard and now even harder.

  Jack's whole body was hard all over, too tense for Gus's liking. Gus drew his thumb over the head of Jack's cock to get his attention. He stared into his eyes and watched him focus. Leaning down, Gus kissed and licked his chest, biting his nipples until Jack shuddered. He kissed Jack's mouth next then his neck and said his name.

  "Hurry up," Jack told him.

  "What do you want to bet that you'll love it?" Gus said.

  "You want to bet on...?"

  "...on me and you," Gus told him.

  "Just hurry up and fuck," Jack said, refusing to take his words to heart.

  Gus chuckled. Jack might have been impatient, but he was also more relaxed. Now Gus started prepping him. He sucked his cock lightly while pushing his lubed fingers inside him. Jack was tighter than Gus had imagined. The way Jack's body gripped his fingers while his cock filled his mouth was almost enough to make Gus come.

 

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