A Younger Man (35 page)

In the aftermath, Zane continued to cover Noah for long minutes, his shaft still hard and throbbing inside Noah’s body. Noah stroked Zane’s sleek, muscular back, treasuring every moment alone with Zane. Eventually Zane went soft, and his cock slowly slid out of Noah’s entrance. They both grunted when Zane’s cockhead popped from Noah’s hole. When Zane rolled from Noah and fell to his side, they continued to breathe heavily in tandem.

Pressing his lips to Noah’s bicep, Zane shook his head and let out a little chuckle. “Wow.” His chin came to rest on Noah’s shoulder. He flung his arm across Noah’s belly, his gaze competing with the light from the stars starting to emerge outside. “That was all kinds of different from what it feels like when you fuck me. Damn it if I’m not sure which one I love more, but it’s at least an equal wow.”

Noah attempted to shift to his side too, but hissed as his tender entrance finally contracted into place—as if he needed anything to remind him of what had just happened. Ignoring the sensation, he slid his arm alongside Zane’s and twined their fingers together. “Jesus, honey.” Noah expelled another breath heavily. “You have some staying power.” Noah’s sore ass would remind him of that truth more than once over the next day or so.

Right there against Noah’s shoulder, Zane quirked a brow. “Probably helped that I jerked off earlier when I went to the bathroom.” At Noah’s scowl, Zane made a face right back. “Hey, I might not have attacked you in the shower like I wanted to earlier, but I didn’t say the sight of you all naked and hot, with all that water running down your skin, was something I was able to ignore.” With a grin, Zane rolled onto his back, but craned his neck to look up at Noah, a cheeky grin now showing. “If I hadn’t come just an hour ago I probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a minute once I got my dick in your ass.”

As the shadows deepened across their bodies, Noah chuckled too. “I’m not complaining, believe me.” He shook his head and whistled. “With what you did to me, I’m sure I’ll start having nearly as many wet dreams about you fucking me as I already have about me fucking you.”

“Yeah, me too.” Zane suddenly shot upright and shifted to straddle Noah. Wiggling on top of Noah in a way that made Noah groan, Zane looked down at him with a twinkling light in his eyes. “Heck, I still have to finish making our dinner. During that time who knows how many more fun things you’ll think up for us to do with all that food.” Zane’s glance slid to the carrot that had rolled halfway under the couch, and when he came back to Noah he made a fucking motion with his hands. “I have cucumbers and celery and all kinds of other things to inspire you.”

His jaw dropping, Noah surged. “You little fucker.” In one shot he rolled Zane under him and attacked his ribs with gentle pokes and light tickling. “You know you got off on sticking that carrot inside me as much as I did having you do it. I could see it in your eyes.” Noah’s smile suddenly slipped away, and new fear tickled up his spine. “Didn’t you?”

Sobering too, Zane reached up and rubbed his thumb gently across Noah’s lips and jaw. “I did. I was just teasing you. Other than my brother and sister, one of the very few things I like more than food is being with you.” Zane threw the information out casually, but good God, the sentiment sank right into Noah’s heart and latched on with a clamping vise. “When you and food are combined together, forget about it.” Zane pinched his fingers together, pressed a kiss against them, and sent it out into the universe. “I’m halfway to heaven already.”

Noah’s focus slid upward. A new kind of ache, something deeper, filled his being. “You know what else would be heaven for me?” he asked, his voice soft.

“What?”

“After we eat that delicious meal you prepare, I want to take you upstairs and spend one whole night in a comfortable bed with you. Even if we’re both too tired and we don’t do anything more than sleep,” new gruffness revealed the depth of Noah’s desire, “I want to hold you all night and see you in my bed the first thing when I wake up in the morning.”

“I want that too. Gosh,” his arms sliding above his head in a stretch, Zane rolled his entire frame under Noah, and Noah swore he purred, “I like the thought of rising early and waking you up for work in the morning with the smells of breakfast wafting up to your bedroom to tempt you away from sleep.”

A deep, satisfying warmth filled Noah’s belly. “Christ, I like that too.” He then processed the completion of Zane’s comment and narrowed his stare. “Does that mean you’re finally gonna let me get back to work tomorrow?”

Zane’s smile came slow and easy, starting in his gaze. “With the way you took that fucking I just gave you, I’d say you’re back to one hundred percent.”

His chest filling with masculine pride, Noah sat up on Zane’s stomach and cocked his head to the side. “You approve of my renewed stamina, huh?”

Sweet softness filled Zane’s stare. “I approve of everything about you, Noah,” he said, his tone just as gentle as his stare.

Good heavens.
Noah sank into a puddle right back down on top of Zane. “Before you switch food back to the top of your list tonight,” he slid his hands up Zane’s outstretched arms and linked their fingers into a tight hold, “I want to give you this.” He dipped down into a searching, easy kiss, moaning when Zane parted his lips and with a little lick welcomed Noah inside.

Hours later Zane’s fancy dinner turned into a delicious midnight snack in bed.

Chapter 17

Zane frantically drew little amoeba shapes on the whiteboard, putting tiny lines in each one, then jammed the tip of his marker around them and pointed between it and Duncan and Hailey.

Sharing one half of Noah’s couch, Zane’s brother and sister shouted out words like, “bugs,” and “popcorn,” and “candy.” Shaking his head, Zane jammed the marker against the big board again and tried to will the proper word into Duncan’s and Hailey’s heads.

“I don’t know what that this!” Duncan shouted, coming up from his seat. “Do something else.”

Just as fast, knowing time was ticking away, Zane went back to his picture of eyeglasses. This time he made a face around the glasses, added a graduation cap, drew a giant brain, and then circled them all together, to hopefully indicate one concept. Hailey said “school,” and Duncan said “smart,” and Zane made gestures with his hands, encouraging them down that line.

Right then, though, Seth held up his hand and yelled, “Time!” He sat in an overstuffed chair. Noah and Matt sat on the opposite side of the couch.

“Shoot.” Zane flung the marker up in the air, catching it on the way back down. Looking to his brother and sister, he shrugged. “Sorry, guys.”

Still studying the board, Hailey scrunched up her face. “What was it?”

“Look.” Zane went back to his work, circling his little dotted amoeba shapes. “These are peanuts, nuts …
nuuttty.
” He drew the word out. “And this guy is wearing glasses and has a big brain and so he’s smart; he’s wearing a graduation cap, which is supposed to make you think of college.” Zane made a waving gesture with his arm, as if the conclusion was obvious. When nobody said a word, he added, “He’s a professor.
The Nutty Professor
was the answer.”

With a nod, Hailey widened her eyes. “Ohhhh, okay.” She crinkled her face again while watching Zane wipe the whiteboard clean. “I didn’t see that with what you drew.”

Noah leaned across the open space in the middle of the couch and bumped shoulders with Hailey. “I’m with you.” Pinching his nose, Noah waved his hand in front of his face as if a stink had filled the air. “With what Zane drew, I wasn’t thinking anything like that either.”

Hiding a giggle with her hand—as if Zane couldn’t still hear the soft sound—Hailey said, “You’re terrible at drawing, Zane.”

“She’s right,” Noah added in a deadpan tone, his face totally serious. “You kinda are.”

Zane flung the dry erase marker at Noah. “Shut up, you.” He rounded the coffee table, flopped down between Noah and Hailey, and glared at his man gloating so distastefully—not to mention without merit. “You didn’t turn your interpretation of Alice in Wonderland into the Mona Lisa either, da Vinci.”

“Burn!” Matt shot up and made flame signals with his hands. “Dang, Dad. He burned you hard.” The gangly blond kid held up his hand in front of Zane. “Nice one.”

Buoyant once again, Zane accepted the high five with a resounding smack of hands. “Thank you.”

Noah dragged Matt down across his lap. “Where is your loyalty, boy?” He feigned spanking his son with exaggerated sweeps of his arm and then pushed him off his lap back to his place on the couch. “My own son betrays me.” Grabbing the marker, Noah stabbed it against his chest like a dagger. “Right through the heart.”

Hailey giggled even harder, falling onto her side, and the sight and sound lifted Zane up into the clouds with as much lightness as he’d experienced in years. Beyond her, though, Duncan had practically wedged himself into the arm of the couch. The sight of his pulled brows and tight mouth popped Zane’s balloon and sent him crashing back to earth.

Crap.
Whispering, “Let’s switch,” to Hailey, Zane lifted her over him, placed her next to Noah, and then scooted in next to Duncan. Noah immediately zeroed in on Zane from over Hailey’s head. His focus flashed to Duncan for just a heartbeat and then he came back to Zane with a nearly imperceptible nod.

“Seth,” Noah gestured to his eldest with a snap, “you’re up to draw. Let’s go one more round.”

Seth clearly, quickly took in the scene. “Yeah, sure.” After jumping to his feet, he reached out and grabbed Hailey’s hand. “Here, Hailey. You can be on our team for this round.” He set her in the seat he’d just vacated and handed her the watch as well. “You can be in control of the stopwatch. I’ll set it for you.” Once he’d pushed a few buttons, he handed it into her care. “When I tell you, you just press that button on the top.”

Hailey only nodded, but she held the watch as if it were the Hope Diamond. With such responsibility, Zane was certain she felt very important right now. Seth thought up a movie title, scribbled it down on a piece of paper for proof if questioned, stuffed it in his pocket, and said, “Now, Hailey! Go.”

Drawing and shouting from the group ensued, and Zane took the moment to tuck closer to his brother’s side. “You okay, Dunc?” He kept his voice to a whisper, even though Noah had ticked the volume up on shouting out his answers. “You look kind of funny,” Zane added, “and you’ve become very quiet.”

Duncan leaned in a bit too. “You’re laughing, and you’re face isn’t all bunched up like you’re worried about something. Usually you always look worried.” The boy’s attention slid to Noah, who’d busted out of his seat to shout his answers. “But lately,” his voice went even softer, “not as much.”

A stabbing sensation pricked Zane in the chest.
Holy mother, Dunc.
“You and Hailey are more important to me than anything, but I like Noah a lot too. Are you still okay with that?” When Noah had been sick a few weeks back, Zane had taken the time to share with Duncan and Hailey some of the basics about his evolving feelings for the older man. Nothing explicit or even sexual or romantic was said, but rather just that he liked Noah more than just about anyone except the two of them, and that even after Noah got better, Zane still wanted to spend lots of time with him, even beyond working together. Zane had explained that being around Noah made him happy.

Looking up at Noah again, Duncan shrugged. “I always thought you would have a girlfriend one day,” he reminded Zane. “I always thought one day we’d have a lady with us wherever we were living.”

Zane squeezed his brother’s clenched hand. “I know.”

“It’s weird,” Duncan blurted.

Another stab pierced Zane, this time in the stomach. “I prefer the word different … or unexpected.”

“It’s not how I always thought things would be someday.” The boy shrugged again. “But Noah is nice. I like him.”

Relief flooded the holes punctured in Zane’s heart and belly. “Good. You know I hope you can talk to me about anything, but if you really feel like you need to talk to a woman, you know Aunt Patty would always want to listen to you.” Heck, the woman had even sent Zane a birthday card a week ago. She was trying. “I know I say the cell phone is only for emergencies, but you can always use it to talk to her. You just have to ask.”

“Okay.” His eyes suddenly widening, Duncan grabbed Zane’s arm, and whispered, “I like Noah, though; I promise I do. He’s cool.”

“I believe you, and I’m glad. He’s a nice man, a good man.”

His stare a bit bright, Duncan shared, “I like him because he makes you laugh and smile. I know I’m only twelve, but I can still look around and notice it’s hard for you to keep us all together, and that you don’t sleep a lot and are always thinking about money. Noah makes it less hard for you, so I like him for that.”

“You let the worrying be on me, okay?” Trying like heck not to tear up, Zane pressed a fast kiss to the top of Duncan’s head. “Just like Burt kept the worry on him when he was alive.”

“I’ll try.”

Patting his brother on the hand one last time, Zane got to his feet. “I’m gonna get a soda. You want something?”

“No thanks.”

“Be right back.”

Zane made a beeline for the fridge. Once he got there, and he had the door open, he had to hold there for a moment and pull himself together. He didn’t want Duncan to know how much the boy’s words had gotten to him. Not so much the kid’s feelings about Zane and Noah; Zane had expected a period of adjustment, particularly from Duncan. More than once in the last few years Duncan had wondered aloud about a girlfriend for Zane. With Zane’s life scheduled to the gills, Zane had said not to worry about a girlfriend and that it would happen when it was meant to. At the time, Zane had not had a clue that his desires would have been awakened so ferociously by another man.

Good God, though. Duncan’s insight into Zane’s worries and fears about money and holding them together as a unit—something Zane had believed he’d hidden pretty well from both kids—turned the barbecue sandwich he’d eaten for lunch rancid in his stomach. The kid was twelve years old—and on summer vacation at that—so he shouldn’t spend a minute of his time fretting over Zane’s problems. One of which was that Zane owed Clint another payment very soon.