Guarding January (13 page)

“I am, though. I’m going to order some stuff, okay?”

“Sure.” Jeff nodded and settled on the bed, searching through a guide book.

Rye perused the room service menu and called down, getting the veggie platter and a plate of fries. He’d never offered Jeff fries before. Fried potatoes—what was not to like?

“We can look at whales.” Jeff sounded excited about the prospect.

“Oh yeah? Like out on the ocean?”

“That’s what it says here. There’s all sorts of things to see.”

“I want to swim in one of the hot springs too. I think that would be really neat.”

Jeff nodded and curled up around the pillows. “Are you glad we came?”

“I am. It’s going to be fun, don’t you think?” Hell, simply being here with Jeff—only the two of them, no entourage, no groupies, no business, absolutely no January—just that was wonderful.

The rest was icing on the cake.

“It’s weird, to travel like this, without the drama.”

“Good weird, though, yeah?” Rye climbed onto the bed, spooning up behind Jeff.

“Yeah, it’s like… I went to rehab and everything shifted. Everything is different now.”

“What was important changed,” he suggested. Before it had been all about the money, all about playing January for everyone—everyone but Jeff himself.

“Something did. I was supposed to want to die, you know? That’s like, the end game, to kill yourself, but when my heart stopped, I wanted to live.”

Rye hugged Jeff tight. “I’m glad. And I really think you need to pass the baton. January isn’t good for you.”

“That’s all I am, though. That’s the money.”

“First of all, I don’t believe that. Second of all, I bet you have a ton saved up.”

“Probably. Donna handles that.”

“And there’s your house, and I haven’t spent a dime of my salary. So you’ve got a lot of time to figure out what would work for you.”

“Maybe. I’ll have to worry about it after the tour.”

“I think you should tell Donna that it’s the last tour you’re doing. So it doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”

“But what if…. What if I can’t? What if I…. Just shh.”

Rye chuckled and leaned in to whisper in Jeff’s ear. “You can. You are amazing just as you are. And I’ll hush now, but you need to think about that.”

“I’m just a shell. Something to be on stage.”

“I’ve heard you, baby. It’s like magic when it’s just you, your guitar, and your own songs.”

Jeff was really good, and Rye had to believe that with Donna’s contacts, he could get heard by someone who put out that kind of music.

“Shh. No talking.” Jeff’s fingers were trembling against his lips.

Rye licked at them, then pulled them into his mouth, sucking gently.

Jeff’s eyes went wide, then slowly closed.

Ah, distraction. Rye ran his tongue across the tips, then bit gently.

“Toothy man.” Jeff chuckled for him.

“Do you like it?” he asked around Jeff’s fingers before nibbling them some more.

“Uh-huh.”

“Good.” He turned Jeff in his arms, still sucking on the slender fingers, and pulled the lovely body up against his.

“Hungry man.” Jeff fit against him, curled in with a happy moan.

“Hungry for you,” Rye agreed, dropping his hand down to cup Jeff’s ass. He didn’t know how long he had until room service came, but Jeff seemed to be happy to pet and play.

Foreplay, food, more foreplay, and possibly more. It sounded like a great way to stave off jetlag. Then tomorrow they would play tourists together.

He rubbed against Jeff, pleased to feel Jeff was responding. Sometimes his touches got nothing but happy sighs, but more and more, Jeff’s body was healing, learning to be eager for pleasure.

And Rye could be patient. He hadn’t pushed for them to do more like this since that first time. Now, though, this week was for them.

There was a discreet knock at the door, and he bit back his groan.

“Your food, my giant.”

“Yep.” He gave Jeff one last kiss, then called out, “Coming,” and headed to the door for their food. At least he hoped he was going to get some of the veggies and fries into his far-too-skinny lover.

His lover.

Yeah, that’s what Jeff was. Even if they’d had one orgasm each together—what they had was way deeper than just sex. There wasn’t any other man he could say that about.

Rye answered the door and signed for the food, pulling the table into the room himself. Jeff was on the bed, watching him. He loved how Jeff looked at him, stared at him.

Smiling, he wheeled the table right over to the bed. “I bought fries for us to share. They’ve got a couple neat dipping sauces with them.” Lifting the lids off the two plates—one veggies, one steaming french-fried potatoes—he made a “tada!” motion.

“You didn’t get you a steak?”

He was pleased to see Jeff reach out and steal a fry. “Nope. I figure I’m going to wait until we stop at a restaurant where they’ll do it right.” He hadn’t found hotel steak to be terribly exciting.

“I bet you’ll find lots of fish here. Do you like fish?”

“I do. What about you? I know you don’t eat meat—are you a vegetarian, a full-out vegan?” Rye had always been happy to get anything into Jeff. He supposed he’d been feeding Jeff stuff that vegans wouldn’t eat.

“I like cheese. I just… after all the blood from work… there’s no way I can eat meat.”

“Ah.” He nodded and dipped a fry in something mayonnaisey, handing it over. “I get that.”

Jeff touched his tongue to the sauce, then nodded. “That’s okay.”

“Then eat. I love french fries, though a nice baked potato is even better.” Rye dipped a fry into something ketchupy and popped it in his mouth. Oh, salty and hot and yum.

“I like those okay, sometimes.”

“So it’s a sometime, have a few.”

Jeff chuckled but took another fry, then a bite of cauliflower.

They ate, and Rye was pleased, because Jeff did a lot better than he could have hoped, having a bunch of fries and even more vegetables.

He finished up when Jeff begged off, his lover curled around a huge pillow. “You never did say if you ate fish or not.” Rye took the table back to the door and set it out in the hall.

“I haven’t in a long time.”

Well, that wasn’t a no.

“Shrimp? Lobster? Crabs? You like the crawly-in-the-water things?”

“No. No. Those are bugs.”

“Delicious bugs.”

“Uh-uh.” Okay, the nose-wrinkling was adorable.

He kissed Jeff’s nose. “We’ll agree to disagree.” He liked seafood a lot.

“I would pay for you to eat anything.”

“But will you watch me eat bugs?”

“I would. I wouldn’t eat them, but I would sit with you. Roach ate a testicle once.”

Rye nearly spat out the carrot he’d been munching on. “What?”

“Raw. It was gross, and he chewed a lot.”

“Raw? Did he, like, rip it off someone and eat it in front of them?” He knew logically that wasn’t what had happened, but it was what popped into his head.

“Not when I was watching. I think it belonged to a cow.”

“That’s gross. I mean, even cooked it would have been gross.”

“It was gross. Really gross.”

“Yeah, can we talk about something else?”

Jeff cracked up, curled into himself, and cackled like a big bird.

“Nut job.” Rye rolled his eyes.

“We’re evil, remember? Vampire lords.”

“January might be evil, but Jeff isn’t.”

“You don’t think so? We’re the same person.”

“Bullshit.” He knew very well that January and Jeff were polar opposites.

“No? You’re not scared of me even a little? My mom was, a little.”

“I’m not scared of you or January.” He didn’t like January, but that didn’t mean he was scared of the persona. “Is your mom still around?” Jeff never talked about family.

Jeff nodded. “She hates me a little bit. I send money.”

“Hates you?” Frowning, Rye moved to sit up against the headboard and tugged Jeff up into his arms.

“Yeah. She’s religious. A lot. She says I’m going to hell.”

“Ah. Is that because of January or because of being gay?”

“I left home as soon as I graduated high school. I had long hair, I listened to loud music, I got tattoos.”

“Yeah, I like all those things about you.”

“Thank you. There aren’t many people that like me for just me. Some.”

Rye imagined that was true of everyone. He hugged Jeff tight. “Do you have any other family?”

“No. No, my father ran off when Mother was pregnant, and I was her only little bastard.” Jeff smiled at him. “How about you?”

“I have a mother and a sister. They’re both a little out there, but I guess you could say we’re close. I only see them a couple times a year, usually.”

“Do…. Do you want to…. I mean, you know you can go see them anytime. That would be good.”

“They know I’m working.”

“Still, if they love you—”

“If you want to meet them, I’d be happy to take you to visit them.” His mother would love to mother Jeff, he’d bet.

“They won’t like me. They won’t.”

“Of course they will.
I
like you.”

Jeff nodded but didn’t say anything else.

“You’re a great guy, Jeff.”

“I’m okay. I try.”

“You just don’t have a lot of people in your life who are there for you as your own person.”
Just him and Jim
, Rye thought. They hadn’t been able to get in touch with Jim yet, though. Rye could think of a bunch of reasons why, and most of them were not good. Jeff had stopped asking, even.

Rye hugged Jeff hard. He would protect this man from everything, anything. And not because he was paid to anymore. He needed Jeff—he needed the smile, the secret looks, the gentle touches. “So whales or hot springs tomorrow?”

“Hot springs, I think. Something easy. We’ll be tired.”

“Sounds good.” He reached over for the hotel’s brochure, figuring they’d have information in there. “Private ones if I can find them, yeah?”

“Please. Not too many people.”

“I’ll see if there isn’t someplace meant for couples on their own.”

Jeff nodded, kissed his chest. “Sounds good.”

“Cool. You nap, I’ll get us booked.”

“You sure?” Jeff’s eyelids were so heavy.

“Yep. I’m sure.”

His lover didn’t answer, just trusted him enough to doze right off. Rye went through the brochure, anticipating a great vacation.

W
HALES
.

They’d seen whales.

They bathed in springs and walked for hours, stopping on the wash street to see the little shops. Jeff felt young; he felt like he couldn’t stop smiling. Rye made him happy, and no one saw him. No one. He was a guy.

Rye had ordered them some room service supper and then run a shower, those big hands washing Jeff thoroughly. Rye had been washing January off him for ages, but this was different. This wasn’t getting rid of January, this was… cleaning him, learning him. Jeff felt relaxed and happy, comfortable in his skin.

Something soft landed on his lips, warmer than the water that fell around them.

Rye kissed him again. It was the most natural thing ever, to reach up, wrap his arms around the broad shoulders, and kiss Rye back. Rye’s kiss deepened, tongue pressing into his mouth. Jeff moaned, his cock filling, the pressure where they rubbed together delightful.

“I’ve wanted to do this again since the first time.”

“Me too. I’m sorry. My body is slow.”

“No, we were busy.” Rye pressed him up against the shower wall, rubbing against him.

It should be worrisome, all that weight on him, but it wasn’t. It was arousing, comforting, right. Rye dragged a hand along his side, wrapped it around his hip. Jeff nodded, fingers sliding down to tangle in the hair on Rye’s chest, tug it gently.

Groaning, Rye pushed their cocks together, the bump and slide delicious. The water made everything slick, made everything better.

Rye’s kisses were like a drug that swam through him and made his insides ache in the best way. “Want you. You make me ache.”

“I like that. Works both ways, you know.”

“I do.” Rye never let him think he was unwanted.

“Good.” Rye kissed him again, hand wrapping around their cocks together. The big fingers dragged over his piercings.

Jeff’s eyes crossed, his entire body tensing.

“Love the way your piercings feel. So sexy.”

Jeff smiled at the words. He loved the tugs and pulls, the pressure perfect.

Rye bit at his lower lip, nipping lightly. Jeff gasped and stepped forward with a cry. “I’ve got you,” Rye promised.

“Rye.” He pushed into the kisses again.

Rye’s arms wrapped around him, picking him up and holding him against all those muscles, the big body. It was the easiest thing ever, to roll, to rock against his lover. “Want you so much.”

Jeff nodded. He knew. He got it.

Rye lifted him again, and he slipped his legs around Rye’s waist. He held on tight, his cock squeezed tight against Rye’s belly. Rye’s prick rubbed against his ass cheeks. He burned, his body aching in an entirely new way.

After turning them, Rye leaned against the tile, letting the water warm him as they rubbed together.

“I need….” Jeff shook his head. He didn’t know what he needed.

“I have lube in my bag.” Rye looked him in the eye. “And condoms.”

“Do you think you’ll fit, giant man?” He was 99.9 percent teasing.

Rye snickered for him, but quickly grew serious. “I would never hurt you.”

“I know.” That was the easy part.

Kissing him again, Rye slowly put him back down onto his feet.

When their lips parted, Rye rubbed their noses together, eyes on his. Then he bent over and turned off the shower. “The first time should be in bed.”

Rye had so many very definite ideas. They made him smile.

Grabbing a towel, Rye dried him, just like the man had a hundred times before. Only this time… the touches felt more personal, more intimate.

Jeff helped, taking up a huge bath sheet to dry Rye’s body. They got a little tangled together, Rye chuckling softly as he caught hold of Jeff and kept him from tripping over one end of the towel.