Fallout (27 page)

“How could it have been his problem?” Sambit asked.

“I don’t know,” Derek was, “but I’m sure it was. I think you’re fascinating, so there was obviously something wrong with him.”

Sambit laughed. “You’re just saying that because you want to get me in bed.”

Derek made a show of looking around the room, even pushing up on his elbow and lifting the covers so he could see their nude bodies pressed together. “Baby, I already did that. Now if you’d said that I wanted to keep you in bed, you’d be right.”

Sambit laughed. “Incorrigible.”

“Irresistible,” Derek said with a smile. “Kind of pointless to deny it.”

Sambit shook his head and kissed Derek again. “So, um, I mentioned the couple I met at the picnic today.”

“The ones you came out to,” Derek said. “Yes, and I don’t think I told you how proud of you I am.”

“Well, I sort of told them I had a boyfriend,” Sambit said. “That was about the time I realized I wanted you, whatever it took. I told them you weren’t there because you had to work today. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind,” Derek said. “I’m glad you think of me that way, even if you didn’t tell me first. We should do something with them sometime. Dinner or a movie or something.”

“Really? You’d want to do things like that with me?”

“It’s what couples do, Sam.”

“I know, but I’ve never really had that before. We’ll have to work out the details, but maybe you and Fido could come spend the weekend at my place sometimes, and we could have them over for dinner or something.”

Derek yawned. “We’ll work out the details, but can we do it tomorrow? It’s time to sleep now, and I can’t think of anything better than having you sleep in my arms.”

How was he supposed to resist that? He wasn’t, he decided, curling deeper into Derek’s arms and closing his eyes. He was asleep within seconds.

Chapter 18

“
N
EXT
time we’re totally inviting people to my house,” Derek said. “Your whole living area is smaller than my kitchen.”

“Don’t rub it in,” Sambit said. “We aren’t all rich industry engineers.”

“You could be,” Derek said. “One job was filled, but they posted another one as I was leaving work yesterday. You’re a shoo-in if you want it.”

“We’ll see.” Sambit didn’t really think of it as hedging his bets. He and Derek had managed to see each other every weekend since the memorable faculty picnic and its aftermath, and they talked on the phone every night they weren’t together. Sambit’s doubts were fading in the light of Derek’s obvious and continuing interest and determination to make things work between them. Leaving a job he loved, though, was a huge step, one he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to take. Working at the power plant had reminded him of the pleasures of hands-on work, but he had two juniors who had approached him soon after the start of school about mentoring them through their senior projects. Their enthusiasm reminded him why he had started teaching in the first place, and it felt wrong to agree to help them only to leave at the end of their first year. He would find someone to help them if he did, but he hated not following through on his commitments.

“When we know them better, we’ll think about asking them to drive two hours instead of ten minutes,” Sambit said instead of discussing the job opportunity. “How’s the sambar coming?”

“This recipe is fucked up. Who puts ‘cook until it smells right’ in a recipe?”

“My mother,” Sambit deadpanned.

Derek flushed so adorably Sambit had to kiss him.

The doorbell rang, forestalling any further discussion. Sambit went to answer it, grinning still at Derek’s sheepish look as he yelled at Fido in the bedroom to be quiet. Sambit chose not to tell Derek that he found his mother’s recipes as frustrating at times as Derek did, but he had yet to find a recipe in a cookbook anywhere that tasted as good as hers, however inexact, not to mention that he couldn’t find a lot of her signature dishes in cookbooks anywhere. They were too local to have a broader appeal. That hadn’t stopped Derek from devouring every dish Sambit had ever put in front of him.

“Hello,” Sambit said, opening the door for Brad and Paul. “Come in. Derek is in the kitchen.”

“Oh, he cooks, does he?” Brad said. “Lucky you.”

“He’s trying out a new recipe tonight,” Sambit said, “so we have to hope it’ll be good.”

“Oh, what are we having?” Paul asked.

“His mother’s sambar if I can figure out this recipe,” Derek grumbled, coming in from the kitchen. “Derek Marshall. Nice to meet you.”

“Paul Smith-Wallace,” Paul said, shaking Derek’s hand. “Sambit mentioned you at the picnic. We were sorry not to get to meet you then.”

“I had to work,” Derek replied smoothly, “but I’m looking forward to more faculty functions. It’s always fun to rile up the natives.”

Paul laughed. “I suppose Texas isn’t known for its tolerance, although we’ve been well received at the university so far.”

“University campuses tend to be a little more open-minded than the average Podunk town,” Brad said. “Brad Smith-Wallace.”

“Welcome, both of you,” Derek said. “I do have to keep an eye on dinner so it doesn’t burn. Sam told me when we first met that I had to learn to make sambar if I wanted to keep him.”

Sambit had said no such thing, but he didn’t bother correcting Derek. It made a good story if nothing else, and Derek had proven to be a phenomenal cook, often reconstructing recipes from restaurants and improving on them. He couldn’t wait to tell his mother what suggestions Derek had for her sambar.

D
INNER
passed amid much joviality. Derek found Paul and Brad to be men after his own heart, open and playful where their sexuality was concerned, not above a practical joke or two, and all-around enjoyable, friendly people. He was jealous as hell. Not that he doubted Sambit’s dedication to their relationship, but Paul and Brad got to go home together every night. They got to share a bed at night and a breakfast table in the morning. They were the threads in each other’s lives.

“How attached are you to this place?” Derek asked when Paul and Brad had left.

“It’s faculty housing,” Sambit said. “I’m not attached to it at all, but there’s never been a reason to move anywhere else. Why?”

“Because I don’t want to go home tomorrow night, but two hours is too much of a commute for every day,” Derek said. “I think we should look for a place somewhere around Cypress. We’d each have an hour’s drive that way, which would suck, but it would mean we’d be able to live together instead of only seeing each other on weekends.”

“What about your house?” Sambit said. “You’ve put all that work into it.”

Derek shrugged. “If you decide to take a job in industry, either at NASA or elsewhere, it might put you in town enough that we could move back into it together. With all the remodeling and rebuilding after the storm, I’m sure I’d have no trouble leasing it out in the meantime. And if you decide to continue teaching here, I’ll sell it and we’ll put the work into a new house together. It’s a building. It’s not irreplaceable.”

“So, you want to move in together?”

“Don’t you?” Derek asked. “We spend every weekend together. We talk all the time. I would’ve thought that was the next logical step.”

“No, I mean, yes, it is,” Sambit said quickly. “You just told me at one point that you had a really hard time sharing space with anyone. I thought that was a nice way of telling me we’d keep separate residences and keep going like we have been.”

“I do have a hard time,” Derek admitted. “I’m probably borderline OCD where things like that are concerned, but you’re different. Having you at my house doesn’t grate. Being here with you doesn’t make me want to run back to my own safe place. We’ll have to find someplace big enough for both of us and that will accept Fido if we rent or lease instead of buying.”

“So does this mean you love me?” Sambit asked.

Derek froze. The words had come to mind more than once, but Sambit had been very clear on the matter. “I thought you didn’t believe in love.”

“I never said that,” Sambit protested. “I said I didn’t believe in love at first sight. I believe in a lasting affection based on common ground and mutual respect. I believe in choosing to spend your life with a person who makes you happy and whom you want to make happy. I just don’t think you can know who that person is at first glance. We moved past first glance several months ago.”

“So are you saying you love me?” Derek asked, not quite willing to put himself out there first, not in words anyway. He’d show how he felt in actions all day—and all night—long. He’d make love to Sambit until he screamed, fix him anything he wanted to eat, give him a backrub when he had a headache, and generally do anything he could to take care of his lover. Saying “I love you” was an entirely different matter.

“I’m saying that despite the obvious differences, we have enough common ground, mutual respect, and sheer stubbornness to make me want to give this a try.”

“So you
do
love me!” Derek crowed. “It’s fine. You don’t have to say the words. It’ll be our little secret.”

“What about you?” Sambit pressed.

“Say you’ll help me find a place in Cy-Fair where we can live together and I’ll tell you.”

“That’s bribery.”

“So?”

“So I don’t believe in bribery.”

“The same way you don’t believe in love, huh? Move in with me, Sam?”

“Fine,” Sambit huffed.

Derek tackled him, knocking him sideways onto the couch so he could cover Sambit’s body with his own. “Yes, I love you. Don’t make me say it again.”

Sambit didn’t reply, simply lifting his head and kissing Derek with such power and passion that Derek didn’t need to hear the words. If Sambit kept kissing him that way, Derek might never need to hear them. He wormed his hands between them, pulling Sambit’s shirt free from his pants so he could find skin. Sambit raked his hands down Derek’s back, his fingernails biting even through the cloth. Derek hissed softly, rearing up to pull the polo over his head. Sambit leaned up and latched onto Derek’s nipple. “Fuck,” Derek said, his voice breaking on a groan. “Keep doing that.”

Sambit didn’t reply in words, but words during sex were overrated. Derek liked actions much better, especially when Sambit sucked harder and nipped at Derek’s chest just the way he liked. Derek shifted on the couch, urging Sambit to spread his legs so Derek could rut against the juncture of his thighs. As hard as they both were, Derek figured this wouldn’t take long. He wasn’t quite willing to let it happen that fast, though, so he pulled away from Sambit’s tempting mouth. “Too many clothes,” he said, tugging at Sambit’s belt.

“Pot, kettle,” Sambit replied, popping the button on Derek’s jeans.

It would be easy to strip and return to the same position and rub against Sambit until they came, but Derek wanted more than that tonight. He pulled Sambit’s pants down, pushing them off his feet. “Turn over,” he said, nudging Sambit’s side and guiding him onto his hands and knees.

“What are you doing?” Sambit asked, his voice betraying a bit of concern.

“Not fucking you,” Derek said. “We don’t have lube or condoms, so stop worrying. I’ll fuck you another time.”

Sambit didn’t relax, but Derek didn’t wait. He figured he had one chance at this or else they’d be back to frottage on the couch. While he had nothing against frottage, tonight he wanted something a little more. Hoping to encourage a little more ease on Sambit’s part, Derek slid his hands up his lover’s back, stroking the supple skin and strong muscles. While his own skin was tanner than usual from the summer sun, he still looked starkly pale next to Sambit’s dark complexion, a contrast that fascinated Derek. Bending so his body was draped over Sambit’s, he pressed a kiss on Sambit’s spine as high as he could reach, then slowly worked his way down Sambit’s back, lingering over each vertebra. Sambit gasped and mewled softly, the sounds all Derek needed to know Sambit was enjoying his attentions. The tension seeped slowly from Sambit’s body as Derek ministered to him. When Derek reached the base of Sambit’s spine, he lingered, his hands massaging Sambit’s cheeks, parting them every so often, preparing Sambit for the rest of what Derek had in mind. Finally Sambit’s edginess faded, and he moved with Derek’s caresses rather than remaining frozen in place. Taking that as his cue, Derek nudged Sambit forward onto his elbows as he licked his way down Sambit’s crease to the dark hole nestled inside.

Sambit cried out so sharply that Derek lifted his head. “Don’t tell me no one’s ever rimmed you before.”

“No one’s ever rimmed me before.”

“Then you’re in for a treat,” Derek promised. He took his time, lingering over the preliminaries, giving Sambit time to get used to the idea of Derek’s tongue
on
his ass before he asked Sambit to get used to the idea of Derek’s tongue
in
his ass. One step at a time, and all that.

Sambit tasted vaguely of sweat, but underneath that, Derek could smell his desire and just a whiff of Sambit’s cologne, something that hinted of sandalwood and hot sultry nights in an Indian boudoir surrounded by silks and gold. Sambit would probably laugh at the image, but Derek found it incredibly arousing, with Sambit cast as the rajah and Derek as the supplicant come to beg the prince’s favor. He wondered how Sambit felt about role playing, because Derek was thinking that sounded like a mighty fine idea. Like tomorrow.