Briefcase Booty (5 page)

This was getting ridiculous. He was
not
going to hide behind his son because he was scared of a man touching him.

Should he tell Luka he’d gotten hard watching the show? No, it would just make things weird. On the other hand, they were already weird.

When had he become so shy? He faced down money-grabbing sharks who tried to steal other people’s money and companies and ideas in fine print all the time. Peter had never been a coward, and he wasn’t going to start now.

“Don’t let this make it weird between us, but it was the first time I was ever attracted to a guy,” he said before he could over think it again.

“Why would it get weird—Because I’m gay?” Luka’s face went from wide-eyed to narrow and guarded in a split second.

“What? No! Weird for me because I’m sure I’m straight. …I think.” The last bit slid out, betraying his doubt about his own mind, before he could swallow the traitorous words down.

Luka cocked his head and gave him a look Peter could only call heated, and he had the distinct impression he had just become prey. “So you aren’t attracted to me now you know who I am?”

What was he supposed to say to that?

Peter was still trying to come up with an answer when he noticed the little twitch of muscle at the corner of Luka’s mouth. “You brat! Stop messing with me,” he chided in outrage.

“Peter, chill. I was just teasing. It won’t get weird. I’m still gay and you’re still straight, so stop panicking,” Luka soothed with a shrug as if it didn’t matter. “Though if you
do
want to see what my side of the fence looks like, I’d be happy to oblige.”

Luka reached out a hand and walked the tips of his fingers up Peter’s chest, while giving him eyes that could melt a snowman.

“Stop, or I’ll tell your mom,” Peter threatened, trying to keep a straight face.

“You’re bluffing,” Luka puffed out, narrowing his eyes.

“Wanna bet?” he asked, falling back into their old habit.

Luka sighed dramatically then stepped away, smiling broadly. “I haven’t had fun like this with anyone in a long time. I’m glad we found each other last night. Thank you, Peter.”

“Me too,” Peter agreed, smiling back at his friend.

* * * *

The day had gone fairly quickly while they’d hung out, eaten junk food, drunk beer and talked about all the years they’d missed of each other’s lives.

Finally Luka had given in about borrowing the phone and jeep, but only on the condition that he was allowed to help out with his
little pirate in training
. It was fine by Peter; his son loved Luka. Loukas had even tried to say his name.

Granted, what actually came out was “Looa”, but it was close and Peter was sure his son was going to grow up and be a genius, maybe even president.

The day after tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and now that they had a house guest and Loukas was starting to get old enough to notice things like the tree and lights, Peter was resigned to having a real Christmas.

It was something he should have thought about earlier than now, but on the positive side, it meant that Luka could go with him to the mall and help him navigate through the aisles by taking the cart while he pushed Loukas in the pushchair. His son thought it was a day out to Disneyland by the way his little blue eyes lit up when they went through the decoration section. They picked up anything that got a squeal of approval.

So far, they had a pink and blue light-up tree, with rainbow lights, buckets of tinsel and a Tigger ornament wearing a Santa hat for the tree-topper.

“Let’s get this, Peter,” Luka called, getting his attention.

The man held up a dancing reindeer, but before Peter could shield his son’s eyes from the horror, the thing stood up on two legs and waddled along the floor singing Jingle Bells. And the worst thing was that Loukas squealed happily and clapped like it was a Broadway show.

“You are evil,” he groaned, but dutifully nodded to add the monstrosity to the cart.

Luka smiled at him and then raised an eyebrow in challenge, before rubbing those muscles that the red cotton top did nothing to hide. “You love me really, all for my sexy body.”

They were in the middle of a department store, and Loukas was in the pushchair, but none of that stopped Peter from getting yet another inappropriate semi. Maybe he needed to look into getting some help before this turned into a habit.

“Close your mouth, dear,” Luka said teasingly before comically sashaying off with the cart to another aisle. There wasn’t another word for it. The man literally oozed sex-appeal, but that sense of humor was definitely an acquired taste.

“That’s so messed up, Luka,” he called.

He heard Luka laugh in the distance, and all Peter could do was shake his head and follow.

The drive home had been different, to say the least, with Luka singing along to every song that played on the radio and Loukas babbling along too from the backseat. By the third song, Peter was joining in as well and actually having fun for the first time in a long time.

After they’d gotten home and he’d put Loukas down for his nap, Luka called his parents and simply handed the phone to Peter. They'd sat down on the couch close together so they could both hear the conversation on the other end of the phone. Within a minute he had promised to go there to spend Christmas with them.

As it turned out, Luka’s parents only lived two hours away, and they’d been thrilled to hear he and Luka had met up again. Luka’s mom had broached the sore subject of his parents, and he told her everything. He told her how he’d left at sixteen and lived a few nights on the streets and then in a hostel when there was a spare bed, until he’d been able to take the pre-law test his high school paid for and been able to score himself a full ride. He’d been too embarrassed to ask a friend for help.

She’d cried, he’d cried, and even Luka looked close to tears.

Luka’s mom had insisted he come for Christmas Eve and stay until Christmas day. Peter had argued that he couldn’t possibly impose at this late date.

Eventually Luka’s dad came on the line, and told him to get his butt and his son down there for Christmas dinner so they could spoil Loukas rotten. “Son, we’ve waited years for you to come home, and family needs to be together on the holidays. And Pam wants to meet our first grandchild.”

He’d just ended the call, misty-eyed again with more tears, when Luka’s arms came around him. It was a little awkward with them being side on but it comforted him no less. “I’m so proud of you, Peter. So are my parents. Mom’s right, you’re part of our family, and I’m so happy you’re finally home with us.”

“I missed you all so much,” Peter choked, trying to hold back the pain of being alone and scared that he’d buried for so long.

“We missed you too,” Luka whispered in his ear, hugging him tight.

Peter didn’t know who moved first, but one minute they were sitting side by side on the couch—and the next, they were kissing. The first touch of lips sent shocks along his spine.

Luka’s hands swept down his arms and settled on his waist. The stronger man wasn’t letting him push aside the newness of kissing a man in the heat of lust. The strong hands that had manipulated the fabric ropes were strong holding him, forcing him to feel the difference between being in a woman’s arms and a man’s.

Just thinking about the way Luka could move and twist made his breath catch, and he pulled out of the kiss to calm himself before it was all over. His trousers became uncomfortably tight, and he reached down to adjust himself before he had an imprint of a zipper forever imprinted on his cock. Even the slightest touch as he eased the pressure made him tense and grasp for some kind of self-control, so he didn’t simply unzip and beat away while he gazed at Luka.

Then it sank in that he’d just kissed a man. He’d just kissed his best friend. Luka seemed just as shocked as he was. Peter touched his lips and smiled a little as they still tingled.

“I’m sorry.” Luka was off the couch before Peter could stop him.

Peter caught his hand as he passed. “No. Please, don’t go,” he said.

Luka smiled, but it wasn’t the one that made Peter shiver. “You’re fucking straight, Peter!”

Good point. But a straight man wouldn’t be having the thoughts he was about another man, or enjoy kissing a man like that either. The thought of going beyond kissing, however, scared him enough that his erection faded.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he said looking up at Luka—but he didn’t let go of his hand.

“Then let go of me so I can go have a cold shower,” Luka begged.

With Luka standing up the obvious tenting bulge in the loose sweats was pointing right at him, and as he watched a little wet spot formed under his gaze.

Peter honestly didn’t know what to say to that. His distraction let Luka slip away, and suddenly his friend was gone. He heard the guestroom door close, and he was left alone wishing he knew what they hell he wanted.

What did he want?

Yesterday he’d wanted nothing to do with relationships or sex. And now…now
what
?

Peter watched the door Luka had gone through and bit his lip. He wanted Luka in his life, and that kiss had lit him up like the fourth of July. But did he have the courage to go any further with it?

Luka hadn’t been in his life for twenty years, so if he looked at it that way he didn’t have anything to lose—since he was pretty sure their renewed friendship meant enough to them both for them to get past any awkwardness, no matter what.

But what if they could have something more than friendship?

The doorbell chimed in the hall, echoing through to the living room. Shit! He’d forgotten to unplug the damn thing. Again! After he got rid of whoever was at the door, he was going to rip the stupid thing off the wall.

It had been on his to-do list for a few weeks, but no one ever came to his house anymore other than Harry and Maggie, and they never used it in case it woke up Loukas. That left either a salesperson cold-calling or a religious fanatic looking for acolytes, neither of which he wanted to deal with right now.

But he had to answer before the noise woke Loukas. Getting his ass in gear, he ran to the door and unlocked it.

Peter pulled it open—to find an excited-looking Kelly standing on his porch. His still half-hard cock, that was wishing he’d gone after Luka, wilted.

“Kelly, what are you doing here?” was all he could think to say.

She seemed taller than usual, and he realized she was wearing ridiculously high heels. How she got over the gravel drive alive he’d never know. But what she was wearing was even stranger. Kelly had on a skin-tight black dress that looked like bandages and was barely long enough to cover her… assets.

“I thought about what you said,” she burst out, “And I’ve decided to hand in my notice so that we can be together. I love you, Peter, and I’ll even put up with your brat until he’s old enough to send to boarding school.”

He was too stunned to anything but catch her as she flung herself at him.

Stumbling, Peter slammed back against the wall and tried to fend Kelly off when she planted a wet kiss on his lips and shoved her breasts into his chest. “Kelly, wait,” he gulped.

His secretary didn’t even stop to listen to him; she just shut the door, got down on her knees before him, and attacked his pants zipper.

This was getting way out of hand.

Kelly was an attractive woman, and before he’d been married he would have jumped at the chance to sleep with her, but he’d grown up a lot since then, and her aggressive forcefulness and disregard of his refusals only turned him off.

“Get up!” he yelped. “Dammit, are you drunk?”

The fly of his pants gave way, and he literally had to shove her to stop the clawed hand grabbing at him. Jesus Christ, this was messed up.

She was nuts. His shoving her only seemed to make her more determined to molest him. “Come on baby,” she panted, “Give it up to me. You know you want me to be a bad girl.”

“Oh my god,” he exclaimed when he saw she really wasn’t playing around. There was something wild and crazy in her eyes that actually scared him a little.

Thank god he was soft because otherwise those talons of hers would have been gouging into his sensitive parts right now. Luckily, she only got a handful of boxers because he’d grabbed the ones that were a few sizes too big by accident.

“Hey, Peter, I wanted to apo—” Luka stomped down the stairs in nothing but a towel, and stopped dead when he saw them.

A cold mask slid into place over Luka’s usually relaxed features.

“Luka, this isn’t what it looks like,” Peter said, trying to plead with his eyes to believe him. But he didn’t exactly blame his old friend for just turning around and going back upstairs without a word.

Kelly, on the other hand had plenty to say now. “Who the hell is he, Peter?”

He tried to be firm but calm when he answered. “An old friend. Now get up and go home before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.”

“A
friend
!” she screeched back, in a pitch just below a banshee’s, ignoring the rest of what he said.

Angry now, Peter pushed her away completely—not caring now whether she hurt herself when she fell back onto her ass, flashing him the bright pink thong she wore. He supposed he should be grateful she was wearing underwear at all.

“Don’t give me that shit, Peter! Are you some kind of fag? Is that why you’re not man enough to get hard when a woman as hot as me touches you?”

Fag?

Peter barely heard anything else she was spitting at him. That one little word spiraled around in his head until he snapped.

“Get the hell out of my house!” he shouted at her, pulling her up and pushing her towards the door.

She stumbled in those ridiculous heels, and he stupidly tried to catch her. It was a trap, of course, because she snatched his hands and shoved them down the top of her dress. “Feel me. I’m a woman. If you’re fucking him, if you’re a fag, I can cure you. Feel what God intended you to feel,” she moaned, rubbing up against him.

Peter couldn’t let go fast enough. “Feel what, the plastic footballs you paid for? Get out, or I’m calling the police,” he snarled, dodging her attempts to thrust at him.