Hard Sell (5 page)
Authors: Kendall Morgan
Chapter Eleven
One year later
Wes was feeling pretty good. His 50th birthday was today, and Jesse, now his boyfriend, was throwing him a party at the gastropub. Wes had had an interesting year. He had come out to everyone. Lucy was now a full partner in his office and was doing great. She had a real boyfriend. The real estate business was good. If anyone had a problem with him being gay, they weren’t saying it to his face, and they weren’t taking away business. No one had managed to connect him to Wes Western, and, if they did, they weren’t saying anything.
His good enough life was now great. That still scared him sometimes, but that was okay.
His weekly YouTube web series,
Hard Sell
starring Wes Mitchell and shot by Jesse Ekstrom, had an average of 100,000 viewers a week. A couple of the videos hit a million views. His show drew viewers—gay, straight and anywhere in between—who wanted to know how to buy and sell hard-to-buy-and-sell properties. He still spent as much time as he could perfecting the various barbecue sauce recipes he had developed. He loved giving away jars of his sauces as gifts. He’d even gotten in better physical shape. He still had a bit of a gut. Jesse liked it, but Wes had been working out. He was getting some good definition in his biceps and calves.
Wes loved Jesse, and the U.S. had just gotten marriage equality. Jesse had tried bringing up the idea of marriage, but Wes had fobbed him off. He’d had enough changes in the past year to last him for the next decade. Wes wasn’t sure he wanted to get married. He always thought of marriage as something that straight people did.
“Maybe I’m just old-fashioned that way,” Wes would say when Jesse brought it up. “Remember you’re dating an old gay guy. Not only do we not get married, we don’t even think of marriage as an option.”
Wes arrived at the gastropub. They had really gone all out with balloons, streamers and glitter. Everyone was there, even Bobby Hawkes. Wes had to remember to call him Robert. The reverend was there with his wife and kids. They all ate and drank, but Jesse seemed antsy.
“What’s bugging you?” Wes said.
“I love you,” said Jesse.
“I love you, too.”
They returned to mingling and eating, and, as the waitstaff was about to bring out the cake, Jesse stood up and said he had an announcement.
“You know, I love this man,” said Jesse. “I love this fifty-year-old beautiful man, and I want to be with him forever. I want you all to know I want to be with him forever.”
Tears started to form in Wes’ eyes. Truly, he loved him, too. He never thought a love like this was possible, not for him anyway. And then Jesse got down on one knee.
No,
thought Wes,
this couldn’t be happening
.
“I know you’re an old guy who doesn’t think of marriage as an option, but will you marry me?” Jesse pulled a ring box out of his pocket. It was covered in blue velvet. He popped it open. Inside was a silver band decorated with an array of multicolored stones in the shape of the rainbow flag.
Wes was speechless. Jesse took the ring out of the box and grabbed Wes’ left hand. “Will you be my lawfully-wedded husband? Can I be your lawfully-wedded husband?” Jesse held the ring in front of Wes’ ring finger.
“I don’t know what to say.” Wes paused because he didn’t trust his voice just now. He was afraid it would sound like a cross between a croak and a sob. “I love you,” he said once he had swallowed a couple of times.
“Say yes,” Jesse said. “Please say yes.”
“Yes,” said Wes. “I say yes.”
###
Thank you for reading
Hard Sell
. If you enjoyed it, I hope you will consider leaving a review with your favorite retailer.
About the author:
Kendall Morgan started writing gay male erotic romance stories in the early ’90s, but only gay male porn magazines would publish them. She’s so glad things have gotten more respectable and the readership more broad. She is a lesbian in an interracial same-sex marriage and loves writing interracial romance stories. She loves flipping stereotypes and challenging herself to write characters that are ever further from who she is. She hopes you enjoy her stories. She certainly loved writing them.
Other titles by Kendall Morgan:
Twinks in Bearland (Bearland Tales #1)
The friends of pretty blue-eyed Dustin Garber are about to find out that he has a secret. He loves bears, big hairy gay men. None of them know it, but he’s just booked them all into the annual Gay Bear Ski week.
Craig, beautiful, black and Jewish, is initially indifferent to the fact that he is spending a week with big hairy men. He already has a hook up planned of his own, although that man turns out to have a bizarre secret.
Patrick and Ethan, two bear-hating twinks who have been secretly in love with each other for years, take much longer to come around to the idea that bears can be good guys too. Dustin isn’t so sure his friendship with them will survive the trip.
And then Dustin meets Nate, a big blond bear who is forever single but ready for something a little different. Nate’s friends, Casey and Ryland, are fighting about Ryland’s porn career. Nate’s friend Gil is busy with a Canadian couple, but together Dustin and Nate get lost on a backcountry trail. Deep in the snow away from everyone they may just find the love they’ve been seeking and the understanding they didn’t know they needed.
Chris Hodak, a former college football defensive lineman, never came out. He didn't think big, burly football players were ever really gay, but he also never got over his crush on Rohan Moore, a hunky teammate with whom he had a fumbling make out session one night after a game.
Twenty years after that fateful night, Chris, who is now in his 40s, again meets Rohan, an out and proud big, gay hairy bear who owns a barber shop catering to bears. Rohan is still beautiful but isn't interested in Chris because he hates closet cases. For Chris that spark is still there, and it gets even stronger when he sits in Rohan’s chair for a shave and a haircut. But in order to get Rohan back, Chris must be braver and tougher than he ever was on any football field.
Keith Norwood, a handsome African-American gay bear, came to Camp You-Mee's Bears Haunted Halloween Boo-Nanza Extravaganza for some cheesy holiday thrills and a little ass. A fan of the one-night stand, he thought all he wanted was to get laid. The camp’s cute assistant manager with a fantastic butt was Keith’s first choice.
Instead, he loses his way in the haunted woods. He finds his way and himself with the help of Ronnie Gans, a big, friendly, hairy redhead, who is unlike any one-night stand Keith has ever had.
Decades ago, a young man ran away from his family’s rural estate to the big city to find love and come out as gay. He returns years later to older relatives who are scared of him and one young nephew who wants to hear his story of love, lust, grief and loss and what it means to be a sole survivor in a land that has eradicated HIV and AIDS.
Connect with Kendall Morgan:
Amazon Author Page:
Author.to/KendallMorgan
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/KendallAuthor