Against the Rules (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

For the second week in a row Kelly was walking up the steps of his Aunt Carly’s house for family dinner. He was pretty sure the seas were boiling.

He tugged nervously at the cuffs to his shirt. If it was going to be the apocalypse, then at least he’d dressed well in a pin-striped button-down over his best jeans. Ian had gone for the genial professor look in a pair of black slacks and a tweed jacket over his hunter green T-shirt. The jacket had elbow patches, but it did nice things for his ass.

Kelly sucked in a deep breath. “We don’t have to do this. We can get back in the car and drive to Bermuda.”

“Pretty sure there’s an ocean in the way.”

“Then we can drive to Pittsburgh.” Anywhere would be better than sitting down with his aunts. Kelly was getting ready to turn around when the door opened.

“You were thinking about running away,” Uncle Matt said.

“Of course not,” Kelly lied.

“Carly’s making lamb shanks.”

“Guess I’ll stay.”

His uncle extended a hand to Ian. “Matt McCormick.”

“Nora’s father. She’s a charming young woman.” Ian shook it quickly. “I’m Ian Larkin.”

“You watch football?”

“I’m a baseball man.”

There was a short pause. “Not everyone’s perfect. Treat Kelly right and it won’t matter.”

“I’ll do my best.” Ian put a hand on Kelly’s waist as they walked inside.

Carly’s house wasn’t as big as the one Kelly had grown up in. It was a low-slung ranch on the outskirts of town that she’d purchased with her ex-husband twenty years earlier. The bedrooms were on the left side of the house, the communal space on the right.

The furniture was overstuffed and comfortable. The carpet was beige Berber. There were framed pictures of family members on the walls and a collection of plants arranged on the pass-through between the dining room and the kitchen.

Growing up, Kelly had always preferred the easy comfort of Carly’s living room with its crowd of cousins to his own house, but now the familiar sight of his parents’ wedding photo on the living room wall made his hands itch.

There was still a good twenty minutes before dinner, so Kelly decided to face the dragon. He led Ian into the ranch house’s cramped kitchen, where pots and pans covered the stove. “Hope you’ve got room for two more, Aunt Carly.”

“Always room for family. Did you bring your new boyfriend?” Carly glanced up from where she was stirring a pot of mashed potatoes and blinked in surprise when she saw Ian. “You’re not a boy.”

“Ian Larkin, I’d like you to meet Carly Weldon.” Kelly made the introductions quickly. “Ian’s only twenty-nine. He’s a professor at the university.”

“Ha.” Carly snorted. “Bunch of layabouts. Never did an honest day’s work in their life.” Her silver-and-blond hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. Her dress was plain red cotton, covered by a white-and-blue-striped apron that had undoubtedly been a present from one of her kids. “Never mind. I’m sure you’re the respectable sort, Mr. Larkin?”

“Call me Ian.”

“Humph. And how long have you been dating my nephew?”

“Not long enough.” Ian beamed charmingly, obviously trying to make some kind of an effort.

It didn’t work.

Carly didn’t even look at him. She was too focused on the food on the stove. “I hope you can convince him to come to his senses. He doesn’t need to be stuck here in Halston. He could go anywhere.” She frowned. “Where did you go to graduate school?”

“UCLA.”

“Exactly. Los Angeles, it’s nice and warm there. You like the warm, Kelly. It would be a nice change of scenery for you after the past year. You don’t need to stay here. You could get a real job—”

Kelly’s teeth ground together. “I’ve already got a job offer for after graduation.” The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop himself. He didn’t want to tell anyone about the offer at the university—not Ian and definitely not his aunt—because if he told them then he might actually have to take it.

Aldridge had sent him an email a few days before, asking if Kelly had made a decision, and he’d sent back that he was still thinking about it. The president would only wait so long. He might have made the offer out of some mistaken sense of pity, but he actually needed a new assistant.

For a moment Kelly actually considered taking the job. It would mean committing to a life working with overeager students and prima-donna faculty at the university, but it would also solve his money problems and he could eat lunch with Ian in the cafeteria.

“What kind of job?” Carly asked.

“Executive assistant,” he managed to answer without saying where.

Ian cleared his throat. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do? Shouldn’t you get something that leaves more room for your writing?”

“Exactly,” Carly cheered, clearly happy to have someone in her corner for once.

Un-freaking-believable.

In a perfect world, yes. In a perfect world he’d be the next Neil Gaiman, making a living writing popular science fiction and fantasy, but the real world? There weren’t a lot of jobs that would give him a lot of time to write. At least if he took the job at Halston he’d be able to work on the adventures of Kane Beekman—intrepid space reporter—at night.

And he wouldn’t have to turn his home into a boarding house to do it.

“I’ll think about it.” Kelly pulled his hand away from Ian’s and crossed his arms, preparing for a fight.

Ian cleared his throat. “Do you need help with dinner?”

Carly blinked in surprise. “You cook?”

“Breakfast’s my specialty, waffles and pancakes, but my mother brought me up right. I can do most things in the kitchen, especially if I’ve got a master chef to tell me what to do.”

The compliment was too much. Carly huffed and shooed them out of the kitchen. Kelly took Ian out into the backyard and introduced him to the cousins. Aunt Emma was lying in a hammock working on her preseason tan. She gave them a wave but didn’t bother getting up to say hello.

Uncle Matt and Colin were shooting balls at the rusty hoop nailed to the garage. Matt waved Ian and Kelly over and they started a pickup game. Colin got in a few good shots, but none of them were going to the NBA anytime soon. Kelly was lucky not to fall on his ass. He’d played baseball growing up, not basketball.

That was one thing he had in common with Ian.

Kelly did a quick layup, grinning when the ball finally went into the basket. “Woo-hoo!” He gave Ian a high five.

“Don’t celebrate too soon.” Matt laughed. “We’re still up five-two.”

“You mean I’m up five-two,” his son said. “You haven’t made a single shot, old man.”

“You all suck,” Nora interrupted, stepping onto the makeshift basketball court and stealing the ball. She took two quick steps forward and sank a neat shot from twelve feet away. If there’d been a net, it would have swished. “Luckily, I got here just in time to put you out of your misery. The food’s on the table and Aunt Carly wants to say grace.”

They trooped inside and sat down. The long table was full with asparagus, mashed potatoes, and lamb shanks braised in wine. There were homemade rolls and two different types of salad.

Ten heads bowed down. Kelly was squeezed in between Ian and Nora. Each of them had one of his hands, and neither one of them was going to let him run away.

No matter what Carly said in her prayer.

“Be good and I’ll give you a reward later,” Ian said.

“Uh-huh.” Kelly took a deep breath. Right now he’d rather have a punishment than a reward.

The grip on his hand tightened. When he looked up, Ian was smiling like he knew exactly what was going through his mind. Damn. He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Whatever else happened he’d still be going home with Ian at the end of the night.

He could live with that.

“We give thanks to the Lord for he is good,” Carly said from the head of the table. “And his love endures forever. We thank you for this dinner and for the fine company around us. We thank you for our family and for the new friend you’ve brought into our midst. We trust in your wisdom and hope you watch over every one of us.”

“Amen,” the entire table said as one voice.

Bowls moved around the table, but Ian didn’t let go of Kelly’s hand, not while they were ladling out food and not when they finally began to eat.

The food was hot and delicious. Kelly’s family was boisterous, and with Ian at his side he felt like he belonged for the first time in almost a year. It wasn’t like attending family dinner with his mother while she was sick—sitting next to her so he could hold any dishes that were too heavy and make sure she ate more than a few bites—or all those years earlier when his parents had brought him, back when his mother had still laughed and his father had looked at her with love in his eyes.

Memories consumed him, making him feel light-headed, but every time he felt like he might tumble down into the dark pit inside him...Ian leaned into the conversation, taking attention away from Kelly and giving him time to recover.

Kelly wasn’t a blushing virgin. He’d had relationships before. Hell, he’d dated Nick for over a year, but it had never felt like this...like they were more than boyfriends...like they might just be partners.

Ian was someone he could rely on, someone he could build a life with, maybe even someone he could love...

And by the end of the night it seemed the rest of his family loved Ian too. Aunt Carly and Aunt Emma both kissed him on the cheek on the way out the door.

“Come again sometime,” Carly said. “I’ll send you my biscuit recipe. It’s just a simple beer bread, really. I don’t know why everyone gets so excited. But they’re even better if you cook them in a muffin tin. It helps distributes the heat.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ian promised. Then he wrapped his arms around Kelly’s waist and they went home together. It felt like turning over a new leaf. A fresh start. That night they made love without any bells and whistles, taking the time to explore each other’s bodies in earnest, and when Kelly slept there were no dreams...and no nightmares.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ian’s Economic Theory class was having a lively debate on New Deal economic policy when the door to the lecture hall opened. Two men slipped inside, a giant and a familiar blond. He checked his watch. Class had run over by five minutes.

“I’m sorry to say that’s all the discussion we have time for today.” He raised a hand to forestall any objections. “I want you all to go home and think about what you would have done if you were in Roosevelt’s place. And, remember, annotated bibliographies for your final papers are due on Tuesday.”

More than a few students groaned at that declaration, but most of them seemed to take it in good humor.

Ian was still packing up his bag when Kelly loped down the lecture hall stairs. It had been just over three weeks since eighties night at Ale Mary’s. Three weeks of mind-blowing kinky sex.

Kelly was definitely into bondage, whether that meant leather, rope or steel. He was also breathtakingly responsive when it came to sensory play—feathers, ice and even hot wax all made him writhe with delight.

Ian’s personal favorites were still biting and spanking. He loved knowing that Kelly was carrying his marks the next day.

In fact he suspected that the only reason Kelly wasn’t moving faster was because of a certain less than delicate bite he’d made to the tender skin where his ass connected to his upper thigh. He probably shouldn’t have done it, but Kelly had squealed so prettily.

Of course, it had also been three weeks of dates, dog walking and snuggling together in bed. Whether he deserved a relationship or not, he was definitely in one.

The only nights he was alone were the ones when Kelly was scheduled to work, and even then he’d taken to smuggling Lola into his apartment for company while he read Kelly’s texts.

This afternoon Kelly had a bounce in his step, a twinkle in his eye, and a suspicious bulge in the tote bag slung over his shoulder.

Ian laughed. “Is that a puppy in your bag or are you just happy to see me?”

“I’m always happy to see you.”

The bulge wiggled. It was definitely a puppy. Ian raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to get in trouble for having her on campus?”

“As long as she’s not in the dorms, she’s fine,” Kelly said. “I triple-checked. Besides,
professors
are specifically allowed to have pets on campus—it’s in the employee handbook—so if anyone asks, she’s yours.”

“No way.” Ian wanted a real dog—one he could take running—not a house pet. “Get back to me when she gains thirty pounds and starts chasing squirrels.”

“Tell that to the pink collar she was wearing when I picked her up. I know you bought it. Nora hates pink, she says it clashes with her hair.”

Fine. Ian had bought the collar...and the matching leash...and the raw beef to supplement her diet...and two—no, three—stuffed animals. Lola still wasn’t his dog.

“Where are the two of you going this afternoon?”

“The
three
of us are going to the lake,” Kelly announced cheerfully.

“Lake Ontario?”

“Lake Halston.”

Ian blinked in surprise. “Halston has a lake?” He’d lived here for two years. “How did I not know Halston has a lake?”

“Well...” Kelly’s blue eyes sparkled. “It’s complicated.”

“Is it walking distance?”

“You’re driving.”

“Right.” Ian finished shoving notes into his bag and they walked over to the faculty parking lot.

The weather had taken a turn for the decidedly warm over the past few days, and Kelly was dressed in a pair of lightweight khaki shorts and a slim-cut T-shirt that skimmed his shoulders and revealed a strip of pale skin in the back every time he adjusted Lola’s bag.

Ian’s throat went dry. He wanted to trace that gentle line with his whip, leaving a single stroke right where he’d be able to feel it if he splayed his hand across the small of Kelly’s back. Just a taste. Just a kiss.

The whip was one of the things they hadn’t done yet. It was something Ian hadn’t thought he’d want to do after leaving the hardcore clubs in LA, but suddenly his fingers ached to wrap around the handle.

Blood raced downward into his cock and he reached out to take Kelly’s hand. It was a dangerous move on campus. While there wasn’t a specific rule against dating a student, it probably wasn’t approved of and they still had three weeks to go until graduation.

Still, given that Ian really wanted to rip Kelly’s clothes to shreds as he brought him to gasping completion over and over again, he considered handholding pretty discreet.

“Tell me about Lake Halston,” he asked as they got in the car. His hand left Kelly’s just long enough to get into his seat, turn the key in the ignition and throw the car into gear. “What makes it complicated?”

“As I’m sure you know, the town and university were settled by James Halston in the early 1800s.”

“I did not know that at all.”

“You and everyone else in town.” Kelly settled the tote bag on his lap, allowing the small puppy to dig her way out of the canvas interior. “Anyway, good old James—he’s a third cousin eight times removed—decided that what Halston really needed to put itself on the map was a lake. The biggest lake in the region.”

“Isn’t Lake Ontario over seven thousand square miles?”

“Yes, well—take a right—James was in his dotage at the time, and he may have gone a little batty. So, he decided to hire a team of excavators to dig Lake Halston.”

“Uh huh.” Ian followed Kelly’s easy directions until they were almost out of town. Finally stopping in front of a...lake with a boat launch, a pier and a refreshment stand.

Kelly put a leash on Lola and they got out of the car. It was
nice
. There was a shaded path around the shore and a playground on the far side. It wasn’t huge—it definitely wasn’t any competition for one of the Great Lakes—but it was certainly picturesque.

“So, why did he stop?” Ian asked. “Your third cousin a fuckload removed? If it was supposed to be as big as Lake Ontario then shouldn’t he have kept going?”

“According to the story, back when James was alive, the town had only one bar—” Kelly pointed at the playground “—right about there, and the workers figured if they kept going they’d have to go all the way to Albany to get their booze. So they stopped digging and James died unfulfilled.”

Ian laughed. “Is any of that true?”

“More than you’d think.”

Lola danced happily on her pink leash as they walked over to the refreshment stand where a slightly built man in a brown-and-green uniform was cleaning out the soft-serve machine. “We’re not supposed to offer ice cream until the middle of June,” he announced as they approached. “June. It’s still May and these kids are over here like ‘
Ay
,
papi
, give me the good stuff.’”

“Worried you’re going to chip a nail?” Kelly asked.

“Tearing some soccer mom’s face off? You betcha.” The stand attendant had deep hazel eyes, golden skin and heaven-sent cheekbones. His raspberry lips pulled back in a familiar impish grin.

“Molly Ringwald,” Ian said in amazement. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“No one ever does.” Chi-Chi laughed. “It’s my superpower.” He leaned across the counter. “What do you want?”

“We want to rent a paddleboat,” Kelly said.

Some Spanish came flying in their direction too fast for Ian to make out the words, but he didn’t need to understand what was being said to recognize the drag queen’s displeasure.

“You know how long those boats take to dry?” Chi-Chi had switched over to English. “Look at the freaking sign. June.” He stretched the word out so it had multiple syllables. “Juuuuuuune. That’s when we offer ice cream and paddleboat rentals.”

Ian looked at the sign. It said June. “Can you make an exception?”

“Because you’re a friend of Dorothy? Not a chance.” Chi-Chi’s head cocked to the side. “But if you put in a good word with Nick, I won’t even charge you. If I don’t start pulling in more shifts at Ale Mary’s I’m going to lose my apartment. This lakeside shit pays
nada
, you understand? Yesterday, some wannabe juvenile offender stole my freaking tip jar.”

He came out from behind the counter, twirling a heavy key chain on one finger.

The paddleboats were locked up behind the concession stand. Chi-Chi undid the chains and Kelly took a few minutes looking over their options. When he finally chose the most seaworthy vessel—a two-man paddleboat painted an electric shade of red—they dragged it down into the lake.

The three men watched the boat for a long moment as it bobbed on the water. “No holes.” Chi-Chi gave them a thumbs-up. “That’s a good sign.”

With that enthusiastic endorsement Kelly climbed nimbly into the boat. The thing barely moved under his weight and he moved into the farthest seat. Lola chased after him, taking flight as she leaped from the ground into the boat and settled comfortably among the cup holders between the two seats.

Now, it was Ian’s turn. He moved over to the edge of the lake and placed one foot tentatively on the paddleboat. It wobbled. “You sure about this?”

“It’s fine,” Kelly said.

Ian’s wasn’t going to let the paddleboat win, and he wasn’t going to look like a wimp in front of Kelly. He climbed into the boat, moving a little faster than was prudent and earning a chilly splash as he settled into position.

Fuck it.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” Kelly started to paddle.

After this journey their destination was going to be straight back to Ian’s apartment so he could warm his hand on Kelly’s ass. His teeth ground together and he started moving his feet on the pedals. It was like riding a bike...sideways. It took him a few minutes to find the rhythm, but then they started moving across the lake at a steady clip.

“I used to do this with my parents,” Kelly explained. “My mom would pack a picnic, and we’d eat in the middle of the lake. My dad would always warn me about sharks.”

“In a manmade lake?”

“It was scary when I was six.”

“I’m sure.” With the sun warming their backs, the boat ride was actually pleasant. “I’m from the city. Where I grew up, we played baseball in empty lots and used hubcaps for bases.”

“Halston’s got a municipal league that uses the town fields.”

Of course they did. The town was positively idyllic. When Ian had made the move from Los Angeles to New York, he’d been looking for a change of pace and a lower standard of living. He’d never expected to find a home or a man who fit him as well as Kelly.

He even liked the dog.

Reaching out, he scratched Lola behind the ears, feeling her sleek muscles bunch and tense in response to his ministrations before she finally collapsed into a puddle of bliss. “Have you thought about enrolling her in obedience lessons?”

“You want her to sit up and bark on command, you’re going to have to do it yourself. As long as she comes when she’s called and doesn’t pee in the house, I’m good.”

“Maybe you’re the one I want to have bark on command.”

Kelly’s laughter was warm and even. The sunlight turned his pale hair into a halo around his handsome face. The storybook hero returned, Prince Charming in the flesh. What the hell was he doing with Ian?

It didn’t matter. Not when they were sitting so close together. Ian reached out, threading his fingers through those blond locks and tugging him forward into a warm kiss. The clean scent of lemons surrounded them. Kelly tasted like sunlight and strawberries, like everything Ian had ever dreamed about. And when he tightened his grip and Kelly let out that little for-his-ears-only moan? The one that said “please, take me harder”?

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Ian leaned in for another kiss and—

Splash
. Cool water sprayed against his back. He bit back a laugh, but the noises kept coming, the splashing becoming more urgent. He glanced over, expecting to see a particularly clumsy duck.

“Shit.” Lola—tiny Lola who never seemed to grow no matter how much she ate—had escaped the confines of the boat and thrown herself into the damn lake. Ian reached out, grabbing for the little dog, but he couldn’t get the angle right. The boat bounced awkwardly back and forth. Lola whimpered. Her small paws scrabbled as she tried to move herself across the water.

Damn. This was going to be cold. He pushed himself up into a standing position.

“No—” Kelly said.

Too late. Ian jumped into the lake, his elegant dive turning into a belly flop as the water came up faster than he’d expected. He wheeled his arms, trying to remember summer camp swimming lessons from years earlier and...his legs hit the bottom.

He stood up slowly, water dripping down his body and pooling around his knees.

The damn lake couldn’t be much deeper than two and a half feet. He picked Lola up and put her back on the paddleboat where Kelly was doubled over laughing. The brat.

“You could have told me,” Ian said.

“I tried.” Kelly gasped around riotous laughter. “I swear—and I told you it was a hand-dug lake.”

Right. The eccentric town founder with his dreams of grandeur. Ian frowned as he tried to decide whether or not to climb back in the paddleboat or just walk to shore. Kelly was still giggling. Someone had definitely earned his spanking.

Of course, that wouldn’t stop them from coming back to Lake Halston in June when the ducklings would be cutting their way through the water and they could rent a paddleboat without being yelled at. They could bring a picnic and eat in the middle of the lake. He’d teach Lola how to swim.

It actually sounded like a lot of fun.