Jesse's Christmas (8 page)

Gabriel widened his stance a little so they were the same height, enough so the next kiss was deeper, sexier, and promised so much more. Jesse slid his hands from where they sat to cup Gabriel’s ass and sighed into the kiss when the motion had Gabriel pressing his hard cock against Jesse’s. His jeans were too tight and his poor cock was strangled until a quick shimmy had the material moving enough to take the pressure off. The move had the added benefit of leaving him pressed hard against Gabriel, and this time it was Gabriel’s turn to let out a strangled groan. They stood kissing this way forever. At least it seemed like forever. Gabriel’s fingers were buried deep in Jesse’s hair, and he couldn’t move, trapped between Gabriel and the counter and held so still. Perfect, the weight of Gabriel, the feel of him, the taste of him. So different from Jonah, not hard and fast and over before you could say
I’m coming
.

This was more like the kind of kissing he’d experienced at college where there was no purpose to it except to kiss.

When they separated, Jesse chased for the kiss—he wanted more.

“Come on,” Gabriel said softly. “Let’s get you back to your hotel before this goes further than we want it to.”

“I…want…” Jesse stopped talking. He wanted more. He had to have Gabriel taking him up to his bedroom, and he had to have it now.

“Let’s take this slowly,” Gabriel said gently.

Jesse wanted to shout no and demand Gabriel finish him off here and now. Instead he found himself agreeing. Maybe this was the way to build things, start off slow and hot then take it further when both were ready.

Gabriel walked him up the hill, and they held hands the entire way, which was perfect in itself.

They parted at the hotel door with more kisses edged with the frosty cold of the night air.

When Jesse was lying in bed later that night, he couldn’t help but wrap his hand around his aching dick, and with sense memory of Gabriel in his thoughts, he was coming with Gabriel’s name on his lips.

He’d never wanted anything as much as he wanted Gabriel.
I’m so screwed.

Chapter 9

They didn’t talk much at the tree trimming—it seemed that everyone in Eden Vale turned out to decorate the tree, then count down to the lights being switched on. After that Jesse didn’t see much of Gabriel the next few days, nothing more than brief chance meetings at the grocery store near the hotel and the small library, but the memory of the kisses was enough to keep him sane. Finally tonight they were settled in at Gabriel’s place, and Jesse was happy and content.

That night they hadn’t done any more than a lot of necking on the sofa in front of
Elf
, but jeez, it was one of the hottest things he had ever experienced. He had limited experience with just kissing. He was so used to clubs and one-night stands, not much in the way of hot and heavy petting there. Jonah had been his first serious relationship, but it seemed to fall into place so easily. They would have been together three years the very day the FBI showed up at Jesse’s door. But looking back on it with some distance, he couldn’t help but recall that Jonah was all about the quick release, the end result, never about the getting there.

He and Jonah hadn’t kissed an awful lot, but Jesse loved kissing while Jonah hadn’t been that interested in a whole lot of foreplay. Unfortunately, he hadn’t always been with partners who enjoyed what came before as much as the hot and heavy fucking. The sex with Jonah had always been incendiary and quick, but in hindsight, Jesse could see their lovemaking had lacked any kind of intimacy. It left him wondering why he’d ever thought of forever with Jonah. What the hell had he been thinking?

“No one has ever kissed me like you kiss me,” he whispered before he even realized what he was admitting. Wasn’t telling Gabriel that just leaving himself open to ridicule?

“No one?” Gabriel sounded incredulous.

All Jesse felt was shame at the tone in Gabriel’s voice. He should have demanded more from Jonah, from other men, but he never had. He turned his face away from Gabriel so the man wouldn’t see the disappointment that Jesse felt in himself.

“Look at me, Jesse.” Gabriel’s voice was insistence wrapped in a plea, and Jesse reluctantly locked gazes with him. Gabriel was so serious, intensely focused on Jesse’s eyes. “I don’t know who he was, but I’m not him.”

In that short sentence, Gabriel was acknowledging there had been someone who’d hurt Jesse. Jesse thought he might even tell Gabriel about Jonah before he left for his city home.

“I’m trying to remember that,” Jesse said instead with no small amount of regret in his voice. Before another word was spoken, Jesse leaned in for more. There was something to be said for openmouthed kisses that were little more than an exchange of breath. Hot kissing with your eyes open and looking into the soul of the man you were with offered a high similar to when Jesse captured the perfect image.

Gabriel called an end to the evening, citing the early start for school, and this time he drove Jesse the short way to the top of the hill and the hotel because some of the snow had become a more compacted and treacherous ice on the pathways. When the Jeep came to a full stop and Gabriel put it into park, it was all Jesse could do not to clamber onto Gabriel’s lap for more kissing. He stopped himself, as there was no way he was going to be the needy one or the desperate one or the one who pushed this along. He was going to be mature and sensible and—

“Mmmphhh” was all he managed to sneak past Gabriel’s searching tongue as the other man pulled him close for more kisses. Sighing with regret, Gabriel pulled away.

“I’ll see you at the cookie competition? And at school?”

Images of Gabriel looking at all of the cookies greedily filled Jesse with expectation. In his head, he heard carols from speakers, tasted eggnog, and saw snow falling outside the window. At the center of it would be Gabriel waiting his chance to taste the cookies, a boyish grin on his face. Christmas-based images seemed to be sneaking up on Jesse damn fast, and he wasn’t sure how it was happening. Everything that involved Gabriel seemed to make him smile.

“Uh huh.” Okay, so the twinge of Christmas spirit was a little unexpected and speaking was a bit difficult at this moment in time.

“You are one hot guy, Jesse Connor,” Gabriel whispered into the darkness of the car.

Jesse heard those simple words, and he was suddenly braver than he had ever been. He leaned in to steal just one more kiss.

“Good night,” he whispered against Gabriel’s soft lips. Then before he could change his mind, Jesse left the car. He didn’t look back, more out of not wanting to fall on his ass than anything else, but the car didn’t move until he was inside the hotel.

* * * * *

Gabriel couldn’t help laughing at Jesse’s gingerbread house. For a man who was meant to be artistic, he wasn’t that good at decorating with icing.

“Don’t laugh at me.” Jesse pouted, then smiled. “I’m better at photography.”

“I did like this morning’s photo,” Gabriel admitted. “I have to say, given that against your gingerbread mess, you are probably right.”

Jesse tilted his head thoughtfully, then ran his finger along Gabriel’s lower lip. Gabriel stopped himself from snapping away when Jesse wiped icing from where it had clearly decorated his lips.

“At least I don’t eat the icing,” Jesse teased.

They worked in companionable silence for a few minutes. The quiet gave Gabriel time to consider what the hell he was doing. He was being all noble and shit, deciding that Jesse had obviously been hurt in the past and the last thing he needed was for Gabriel to be all up in his face demanding sex.

Still, that is mostly what Gabriel wanted, alongside more kisses and hugs and falling asleep on his sofa with Christmas films playing in the background. He’d taken it as a personal challenge to get Jesse to watch as many Christmas films as he could find, but they’d not managed to get to the end of a single one without falling asleep or succumbing to what could only be described as heavy petting. He wanted to taste Jesse. Tonight they could go back to his place, and if Jesse was interested then maybe they could move this up to a blow job or two.

Gabriel had wanted slow, but it had been over a week now and Jesse would be gone before they did anything if he wasn’t careful. Jesse probably wasn’t interested. He’d been up for everything at the start but now appeared satisfied with the kissing.

Jesse leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“I’d like to eat icing off your cock,” he said so low that only Gabriel would hear.

So much for Jesse not being interested.

Luckily for Gabriel, he wasn’t in charge of clean up after this session of crafts, and he strode very quickly from the hall with Jesse in tow. They were at his house as quickly as he could manage it. As soon as the door shut, he was on his knees and unzipping Jesse. They were both still wearing coats, but Gabriel stripped his gloves and had Jesse’s hard cock out and into his hands as soon as he could. They’d not even lost it together from frotting before, this literally was the first time Jesse would come apart in his hands. And God, the sounds falling from Jesse’s mouth as Gabriel took the tip of his cock into his mouth. The litany of curses and pleas was a soundtrack to Gabriel’s movements, and when Jesse buried his hands, devoid of gloves, into Gabriel’s hair, it was Gabriel that nearly lost it there and then. He wasn’t forcing Gabriel, just clinging on for dear life as he slumped a little, and Gabriel tried his best to hold him up. He cupped Jesse’s balls, his fingers tracing a line from taint to ass and back, and he deepened his sucking until Jesse was near incoherent.

“Close…fuck…Gabriel…”

 Gabriel released the sucking, keeping his hand with a long drawn-out press and release on Jesse’s cock, and kneeled back as best as he could. He wanted to see Jesse’s face when he came, when he fell apart because of what Gabriel was doing.

Jesse arched into the tunnel of Gabriel’s fingers, and with a shout he was coming over Gabriel’s coat and his hand and slumping bonelessly to the floor. Gabriel was so close himself, but it seemed Jesse wasn’t going to allow him to bring himself off. In a smooth move, Jesse had Gabriel pushed to the floor and his hands and tongue inside Gabriel’s pants until he could bring Gabriel off with that alone. It took no more than a minute, if that, and when Jesse lifted off, Gabriel was coming so hard he thumped his head on the floor.  

Jesse laughed and slid to one side of Gabriel. “Next time, we should take our coats off,” he said in a serious tone.

“Guh” was all Gabriel could say in return.

Jesse rolled up on his side and kissed Gabriel. “Seems our job here is done,” he smirked, his eyes sparkling with humor.

“Why did we wait again?”

“That was all you,” Jesse said. He kissed Gabriel again, then pulled back. “Worth the wait though.”

Chapter 10

Time appeared to pass so quickly and every day Jesse posted a new photo. Images of proud cookie makers and of faces with glitter flecks on their cheeks made a popular set of articles, and in amongst it all was Gabriel. And now Jesse was here at the school for the final dress rehearsal of
A Toy Box Horror on Christmas 2076
. The play, for want of a better word, had been written by the juniors at the upper school, and it was up to the group of younger kids to act out the scenes set in a futuristic time when toys came to life. It was an interesting concept and he had his camera ready.

It was never an easy assignment when children were involved. Gabriel’s kids were all on some kind of excitement high, and when Gabriel had said something about them having to sit still and wait for him to don his own costume, it was left to Jesse and the principal to keep an eye on them.

A boy named Cameron, in a cowboy outfit covered in aluminum foil, was laughing hysterically at something on Jenny’s costume. Jenny, with pigtails and dressed as a luminous green fluffy rabbit, was crying. Great, not to mention at least two children he couldn’t name were standing uncertainly to one side. One of them was dressed as a Christmas tree, and Jesse was sure he remembered the girl standing next to the tree-person was the one who had said ten minutes before that she felt sick.

“Guys,” he said, trying to settle the entire student body, all thirty-seven of them, “can you all stand together and smile for me?”

“He laughed at me,” Jenny hiccupped, and just as she said that, there was a discernable gender split in the group. Cameron and a feisty redhead dressed as an alien were facing up against each other.

“Stop laughing at her,” the redhead demanded with her hands on her hips. She had a good five inches on the space cowboy.

“I wasn’t laughing at her,” Cameron protested, but gave himself away when uncontrollable giggling had him bending at the waist. “But she’s… The Easter bunny…is like from Easter. Duh.”

“And space cowboys are lame,” the alien replied and stamped her foot.

Jesse was so out of his depth, and he noticed the principal was looking the other way and talking to the other full-time teacher. He was never more relieved when Gabriel returned and called the motley group to order.

“That’s enough chaos, kids,” Gabriel said, wading in.

Jesse got a full-on look at his lover’s outfit and couldn’t help himself. He snorted a laugh, which had everyone looking at him. Gabriel was dressed from head to toe as some kind of futuristic elf with bright red leggings and a green top covered in silver discs. He had two spots of red blusher high on his cheeks, and a floppy gold hat hid his dark hair. The kids squealed and laughed and clambered over each other to get into position next to their beloved teacher, who, it appeared, was playing the part of an evil elf who’d come to steal Christmas from the toy-box toys. Finally, with Jenny and Cameron on putting-up-with-each-other terms, the children, with Gabriel in the middle, were posed. Jesse hesitated for a minute, then took a whole line of shots from the group to individual faces. He took them because the kids sat so nicely. Maybe the parents would like them.