TAKE ME HOME (35 page)

He didn’t make it one foot into the room before he froze at the sight before him. The overhead lights were off, and every student desk in the room was covered in lit candles. In the middle of them all was a red blanket spread out on the floor with two fluted glasses and a bottle of champagne at one corner, as well as a two-foot-tall fake Christmas tree with round ornaments too large for the tiny tree and a string of twinkling lights that must have been battery powered for all the illumination they gave off. The room smelled of peppermint. And Kyle’s cologne.

Which made sense. Because waiting there next to the tree was Kyle.

He didn’t look like the casual, take-it-or-leave-it guy Evan had first seen in that room. He had his hands awkwardly at his sides, his body held perfectly still like he wasn’t breathing, and his eyes… Those serious brown eyes were watching Evan with a new expression. Hope? Or something more.

Evan stood in the doorway, unable to speak.

“Hey,” Kyle finally said. He smiled, and his entire body relaxed.

Evan couldn’t move. He looked again at the candles, the blanket, the tree, then at Kyle.

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He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this. Never this. Kyle took a step forward, and Evan shook his head. He didn’t want him to say anything he’d regret later—anything he wasn’t ready to say.

“I have a confession to make.” Kyle took another step forward. “I never had any plans to go to college in LA like I told you I did. I was going to go to Ohio State or someplace closer to home.” Another step. “I went because of you.”

Oh God. Evan shook his head again. “Don’t.”

Kyle stopped moving forward. “What?”

This could hurt worse than anything he’d been through yet. No matter how over-the-top romantic Kyle made the moment. “Don’t do this if you aren’t ready.”

“Ev, I may not have been ready ten years ago in that motel room, but I am now.” Kyle moved again, bringing them closer. So close. “I want us to be together. Really together.” Evan tried not to think too much about those words. He nodded and kept staring at the candles, the blankets, the glasses, and the bottle of champagne. “I know you do.”

“No. You don’t.” Kyle shifted forward, their bodies almost touching now. “I want to live with you. Make a life together.”

The words sounded like a dream. Like something Evan had read once. Or maybe something he’d written.

“Unless…” Kyle paused. “If you want him back—”

“No!”

A second passed, maybe two. Then Kyle reached out and yanked Evan to him. The force of his body slamming against Kyle’s pushed the air from Evan’s lungs. Kyle clung to him, holding the back of his head so he was flattened against his shoulder.

“Uh, Kyle, I can’t breathe.”

Kyle pulled back and gripped Evan by the biceps like he couldn’t let go.

Every touch on the train, in the cabin, every whispered word, every moment of finally feeling like he was awake and alive came rushing back to Evan, and he knew…this was it. “This is what you want?” He had to ask. Had to hear Kyle say it again.

“For the past six months, I thought what I was feeling was lust, about having you in a way I never was able to before. Well, I guess it’s that too, but it’s more. Bigger. Something. You know?”

“For a writer, you suck with words.”

A laugh surged out of Kyle, and he dropped his arms to his sides. “Yeah.” It didn’t matter. “It’s just…” Evan looked to the little tree by the blanket. The lights were fading like the batteries were running out. He met Kyle’s stare. “We do this, and that’s it. No one else but me.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Kyle stared at the floor before him like he was considering something. The likelihood he could keep his dick in his pants? Probably not a good sign it was taking him so long to do the calculations. He met Evan’s gaze. “It’s been no one but you for a while now. I can do this, Ev.” He stepped close again. “I can do this.” He wasn’t sure who moved first, but the space between them shrank in an instant, and they were in each other’s arms again, their lips and tongues and bodies coming together as easily as if 186

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they’d been sharing that touch for years. Kyle wandered his hand up and down Evan’s back, the contact soft and so like the way he’d touched him in the cabin.

Evan sank into the sensations of Kyle’s hands on his body, his mouth pressed to his, the slow, gentle sweeps of hand and tongue that had nothing to do with getting off, that had everything to do with—

In a flash Kyle broke the kiss and slid his lips along Evan’s skin to his earlobe.

“I love you, Ev.” He leaned back and held Evan’s face in his hands. “I love you.” No matter how long he’d waited to be in this moment with Kyle, Evan’s own reaction surprised him. He bounded forward and wrapped his arms around Kyle’s neck. The action of a boy with a crush. Exactly what he would have done at the age of eighteen.

He didn’t care because Kyle held on just as tightly and said, “I’m sorry I made us wait.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I can do this now. I can.”

Evan pulled back but didn’t let go. “Stop talking. Just…stop.” He brought Kyle down to him, kissed his forehead, then his nose, caressing Kyle’s cheeks with his thumbs. “I trust you.” He kissed him deep and long, pouring all the passion he felt into it. He tugged on Kyle until they were lying on the blanket, then straddled him, lifting the scratchy red sweater and kissing everywhere he could reach, not wanting this moment to end.

Kyle sat up on his elbows. “I want you inside me again.”

“Here?” Evan looked around the room. Sex on the floor surrounded by dozens of burning candles had to break some sort of fire code.

“Fuck me,” Kyle said. “Right here. Right now.”

They’d just have to be careful because they were doing this. “I take it back.” Kyle cocked his head to the side, looking younger and more innocent than he had at eighteen. “Take what back?”

“You are perfect with words.” Evan pressed forward until their lips met, until Kyle was on his back, their limbs tangled together.

It wasn’t the lust-filled moments of their initial gropes in that motel room in Iowa. It wasn’t the heated rush of their first touches ten years later. It wasn’t the intense desire of the train or the deliberate, passionate way they’d made love on the cabin floor. This was all of it, everything at once, and when Kyle raised his legs and Evan worked his way into him, it felt like coming home after years of traveling alone.

When Kyle finally caught his breath, he said, “Damn. That was…something else.” Guess acting like a jealous asshole wasn’t the only part of being a boyfriend he was good at. Apparently he could do romance with the best of them. “Yeah, it was.” Evan dropped onto the blanket beside him. “I can’t believe we just had sex in our high school.” He laughed, and the sound filled the room, bouncing off the block-concrete walls.

An alarm sounded from inside Kyle’s bag. He reached over and got out his phone. “It’s midnight.” He rolled on top of Evan and tugged the little Christmas tree closer. “Merry Christmas.”

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The tree teetered from the weight of the four oversized ornaments, and Evan laughed again. “Charlie Brown’s tree has nothing on this one.”

“Hey, I had less than an hour to find something in my mom’s stuff that would fit in my bag. I can put it away if it’s offending your delicate holiday sensibilities.”

“No.” Evan rolled them over. He kissed Kyle on the mouth, his jaw, his cheek. “It’s perfect.” He lowered his hand, grazing his fingertips down Kyle’s body, then gripped his cock, stroking it with a squeeze at the top. “Best present ever.” No matter how great that touch felt, there was no way he was getting it up again. Not yet.

Not after the intensity of that orgasm. He squirmed and poked Evan in the side. “You’re a dork.” Evan rolled around, releasing Kyle’s cock as the touches turned playful. “Never said I wasn’t.” He pinned Kyle to the floor with his entire body. “I was president of the dork club in high school.”

He’d never heard Evan laugh so much. Never seen him this happy. Hell, he’d never been this damn happy. He flipped them again, straddled Evan’s legs, and clasped his wrists, pressing them to the floor above Evan’s head. “Why wasn’t I invited to this club?” Evan wriggled, trying to get free. “Popular jocks weren’t allowed to join.”

“Who said I was popular?”

Evan stopped his struggling and stared up at him, then rolled his eyes. “They voted you captain of the football team your first week here. It took me twelve years to get the treasurer slot in drama club.”

Kyle released Evan’s wrists and lay beside him, his palm on Evan’s chest. “I never asked you to be anything but who you are.”

“I know.” Evan rolled to his side and propped his head on his hand. “What now?” His naked body was on display before Kyle, the candlelight accentuating the taut muscles and smooth lines.

“I’m thinking we rest up, and then I bend you over the teacher’s desk.” Evan’s mouth dropped. “We can’t do that. Can we?” He looked to the desk in the front of the room. “I think I had a dream about that once.”

How long had Evan been waiting for this? From day one? “You want to know what we do now?” Kyle waited until Evan turned his way. “For starters, when we get home you stop sleeping in the spare room.”

“We could stay here.”

Kyle glanced around the room. “Might not work out so great when the kids show up for class. Besides, I only gave the janitor fifty bucks, and he didn’t seem too excited to come out on Christmas Eve to begin with. He might not cover for us staying here.”

“Now who’s the dork?” Evan smacked his arm. “I meant move back to Ohio. Get our own place here.”

“Not an option. You have a career in LA.”

“Yeah, waiting tables. Some career.” In a more earnest tone, he said, “It’s okay. You want to live in Liberty Falls, and I think maybe I do too.” Kyle shook his head. This was not up for discussion. “No, we’re heading back home. You have a pitch session next week.”

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“I’m fine with moving, really. You’ve been thinking about it for a while and—wait.” Evan shot up to a sitting position. “I have a what?”

This was fun. “It’s for a cable network that does some wicked cool shit.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I spoke with Sue Ann, and she contacted the studio that bought the film rights for my first book. They called in a favor for me. You have an appointment next week.”

“But…”

“But what?”

“I wanted to do this on my own.”

“You’re going to. I got you a foot in the door. That’s all. You and your ideas have to do the rest.” He tugged Evan back to the blanket and leaned over him. “You’re going to pitch one of your original ideas and land a deal. Then you’ll have a show to produce, and I’ve got a book to finish. We’ll take the train back on New Year’s Day like we planned.” Slowly, a smile turned up the corners of Evan’s mouth. “Okay.” Now or never. In for a penny…

“Then…” Kyle took a deep breath. “We should wait awhile, a few years probably. Hell, maybe longer. Let me get this whole…partner thing down, but then I want to adopt a girl first.” He shrugged. “I liked having a big sister. That’s assuming you want to adopt over the surrogate thing.”

Evan studied him, all the seriousness in the world pouring out of those blue eyes.

He tried not to laugh at that look. This was even more fun. He lay back, tucked his arms behind his head, and waited.

Evan lifted up and stared down at him. “But…”

“But what? I like kids, Ev.”

“Yeah, I can tell. But…you want to be a father?”

“It’s not that weird. A lot of men do.”

“Yeah. I just thought—”

“I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I avoided everything that could’ve meant something in my life.”

Evan gripped the back of Kyle’s neck and jerked him forward, crushing their lips together in a kiss that proved how right it had been to mention this now. Kyle didn’t want to leave anything unsaid, leave anything for Evan to worry about when it came to the two of them and their future together.

Then, just as abruptly, Evan pulled back. “Wait.”

“What?”

“I have an idea.”

Better than the bending-him-over-the-desk thing? “What’s your idea?”

“For my new screenplay. I’ve got to write it down.” He scrambled over Kyle, landing half on him, and reached for the backpack. “Do you have paper in here?” Kyle got out a pad of paper and a pen and handed them over. Evan wrote like mad for five minutes while Kyle lay on his back, staring at the classroom’s ceiling. No perfect white swirls

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here. There was a water stain above them and flaking paint in the corners. Real life wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t mean he had to avoid living. “It’s going to suck being married to a writer, isn’t it?”

Evan stopped writing and carefully set aside the pen and notebook. With one swift movement, he lunged for Kyle. “Yeah, it is, but it’ll be better than ending up with Candace Grey.” Evan kissed Kyle’s bare chest, one kiss after another as he worked his way lower to his abs, then lower still.

Candace Grey? Kyle lay back, enjoying the slow way Evan was wetting his balls with tongue and lips. He nearly forgot what they were talking about. Then the name came back to him. “Who is Candace Grey?”

Evan lifted his head. “Captain of the cheerleading squad.”

“From high school? I don’t remember her.”

“She was at every pep rally and game.”

“I have no memory of any cheerleaders. I do remember this good-looking blond guy who was into watching old movies and came to all my games. One look at him and I spent the entire season jerking off in the last stall of the locker room.”

“You did? Thinking about me?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh man. We were so stupid.” Evan laughed. The sound surged through the empty room.

Kyle thought about his grandpa’s life and roads not traveled. He stared at Evan’s ridiculously wide grin. He’d almost lost this. Almost let it get away for the second time.

“What?” Evan asked.

“I like visiting with our families”—he stroked his thumb over one of Evan’s dimples—