Love Lessons (32 page)

“Whoa,” Lisa said from behind him.

Kelly couldn’t speak, too busy riding a cascade of emotions and thinking very quickly on his feet. Shaking just a little, he turned to Lisa, keeping one eye on the door of the garage. “Okay, I’m going to prep them. Can you keep him occupied, maybe help him bring this in but be a little slow so I can lay groundwork? Act impressed, by the way.”

“I’m not going to have to act. Holy shit, there’s a Le Creuset casserole dish in there. Are you dating a sheik?”

“I know. Play it cool, okay? Don’t freak.”

“
Dad
is going to freak.”

“I
know
. Which is why I need a minute.”

Lisa gave him the thumbs-up sign. “All over it.”

Kelly disengaged his parents from Walter by claiming to need to talk to them desperately about
something
, and they followed him into Dick’s office. Kelly shut the door and spoke as quickly as he could.

“Okay. So you mostly have to trust me on this, but you need to know that Walter brought a lot of presents. I mean, a lot of presents. It’s my fault because I told him about the job thing, and he worries, and when Walter worries he goes a little nuts trying to take care of things. But the other part is I know it’s been driving him crazy that he can’t save his family, and I think he’s trying to save ours or something, and the gift basket is crazy over the top but
please, please,
don’t take it badly because I think all he wants is to save somebody and make them happy, and his grandmother was a shit this morning with that picture thing like I already told you about, and I just want him to be happy, so please, please let him give this to you.”

He had to stop talking then because he ran out of air, but it kind of covered everything, so he simply pleaded with his eyes after that.

In the end, he wondered if he would have had to even go through that kind of prompting, because when they came into the kitchen, the basket of insanity was exploded all over the table, overflowing and gaudy and so beyond over the top it needed a new zip code to get the job done. There were six kinds of pasta, all of them high-end label and promising the kind of crazy health benefits things Whole Foods loved to do. There was more produce than could fit in their fridge. Lisa was busy unpacking enough chocolate coconut ice cream for Kelly to eat his weight in it from a cooler they could have stored a small body in. It looked like they were survivalists and Walter had come to replenish their stock for the winter and part of the summer too.

Walter stood behind a chair at the table, lit by the overhanging light, looking down at his offering as if he were horribly embarrassed by it and as if it were paltry all at the same time. Walter, who never let a damn thing bother him and rarely even let Kelly know if he was upset, stood there more naked and raw than Kelly had known he could be. Kelly wanted to hug him, to haul him downstairs to his bed and wrap him up tight in a down-alternative blanket and make everything better.

He didn’t have to soothe Walter because his family did it for him.

Sue pressed her hands over her face and approached the basket as if it were the baby Jesus’s cradle. She touched each item in awe and wonder, murmuring Midwestern silliness like “for goodness’ sake” and “my word,” all until she found the Le Creuset, and then she burst into tears and hugged Walter so hard she nearly knocked him over, thanking him and asking him how did he know, how had he known that was what she wanted most for Christmas, because she hadn’t even told Dick, let alone Kelly? It was so genuine and tearful that it had to be true.

This seemed to be the cue for them all to start pawing over the food, holding up their favorite things and grinning, and in the case of a rather phallic butternut squash, laughing. All but Dick, who stood at the end of the table with a quiet, reverent look on his face. Walter watched him, Kelly noticed, and as soon as he did he kept the pair of them in his sights, holding his breath.

Eventually Dick turned to Walter, as if he’d known he’d been watched all along. Countenance soft but serious, Dick held out his hand to Walter, gave him a small jerk of a Minnesota nod and said, “Well done, son.”

He shook Walter’s hand when he put it there, then pulled him in close for a steady, man-pat hug. Walter stayed stiff for a second, then when Dick let the embrace linger, giving Walter space, Walter let himself sag for a moment and closed his eyes in relief.

At that point Kelly had to look away, or
he’d
start crying.

“I think we fixed his Christmas,” Lisa whispered in his ear.

Kelly started to say he agreed, but he ended up howling in mock rage instead because Lisa poked him with the phallic squash, laughed and ran away, begging him with a grin to give chase.

He did.

It didn’t take but three hours for Walter to figure out that the Davidsons weren’t as good as he’d thought they’d be: they were better.

Seriously, if he didn’t love them so much, they’d make him sick. Their happiness made him feel happy simply by watching them. That part surprised him. He’d braced himself against their camaraderie, thinking it would make him feel lonely and left out, but it didn’t, and not just because they included him as if he were one of them. Their goodness was like one of those candles in the window in the old Christmas stories. It eased him and gave him hope.

Dinner was amazing, and after three bowls of soup, and more cornbread than he should have tried to stuff into his belly, he played a few rounds of Scrabble with Lisa, Sue and Kelly while Dick did the washing up. After, he curled up on the couch in the basement next to Kelly to watch some mindless TV by the light of a small, beautifully kitsch Christmas tree. He texted Tibby to make sure she was still doing okay, then leaned back into Kelly’s hands as he gave him a slow and more than slightly arousing massage.

He tipped his face back, stroked Kelly’s cheek and pulled him down for a kiss.

They made out languidly, not taking things too far because they could still hear everyone moving around upstairs. It was almost better that way, tension building, knowing they’d make love later in Kelly’s bed but still able to touch and fondle each other now. Walter drew on Kelly’s lips, tongue stealing inside, winding him up but never taking him anywhere.

“We could go to bed,” Kelly whispered huskily against Walter’s lips, sliding his hand down Walter’s thigh.

“I’m not going to scandalize your mother just because you’re horny.” He nipped at Kelly’s bottom lip. “Besides. I still have to give you your presents.” He’d given everyone else theirs upstairs, but he’d brought Kelly’s down to his room.

“You’re my present.” Kelly slid his hand around to the waistband of Walter’s jeans.

They teased each other until Sue called down good night and shut off the upstairs lights. Kelly dragged Walter back to his room, which made Walter laugh until Kelly pushed him backward onto the bed and started peeling off his own clothes.

They came quickly, no more foreplay, no teasing, just quick getting off against one another before collapsing in a sweaty heap together on the bed.

Kelly traced weary circles in the center of Walter’s chest. “It’s too bad we have this big bed we both fit in and can’t share it all night long.”

“Or use the ample space for extracurricular activities.” God, but he longed to prop Kelly backward against a headboard and rim him good and proper, making him scream. The fact that Kelly would be facing an exceptionally girly
Tangled
poster while he did so made Walter want to enact that scenario
right now
.

He didn’t, though, contenting himself with running his hand down Kelly’s naked back. “What if we went to Minneapolis for New Year’s? Stayed in a hotel, saw the sights? I showed you my city, now you show me yours?”

“Minneapolis isn’t my city. I’ve been there a bit, but not as much as I’d like.” He sighed and ran his fingers down to Walter’s abdomen. “The theater district is nice. But I certainly don’t have money enough to get a hotel there. Not even half.”

Walter nudged him in the ribs. “Hey. What did I tell you about letting your boyfriend pay for things?”

Kelly propped himself up on an elbow and frowned at Walter. “It makes me uncomfortable that you do it all the time. I don’t want you thinking I take advantage of you like other people do.”

Walter had opened his mouth to argue, then stopped, frowning back. “Who else takes advantage of me?”

“Who? Everyone. Your family, for starters. Cara calls you for advice but isn’t around when you need her. And don’t give me the wedding excuse. She can do better. I don’t want to be one of them.”

Kissing Kelly’s chin, Walter pulled him back down onto his chest. “You’re not taking advantage if it’s something I want.”

“It is if it’s always a one-way street, you paying for everything all the time, me never doing anything for you.”

Walter closed his eyes and kissed Kelly’s hair. “If you think that’s true after today, you haven’t been paying very close attention.”

Kelly nuzzled him back, burrowing into his neck. “I’ll ask my parents.”

“You do that.” Walter teased his backside. “I’ll reserve a soundproof room so you can really howl.”

Kelly arced into his touch and nipped at his neck. “Maybe…maybe if we go, maybe we can…” He nuzzled again, ducking his head a little. “Have sex.”

Walter went very still. “I believe we’ve already done that, young Padawan.”

Kelly licked Walter’s neck. “Not all of it.”

“It’s still sex even if a cock doesn’t go into an opening.” Despite his words, however, his aforementioned organ swelled at the idea, and his voice grew rough. “Did you have a particular cock and opening in mind?”
Go on, Red. Talk dirty for me.

Kelly slid his naked leg against Walter’s hairy thigh. “Your cock, my ass.”

Groaning, Walter flipped him over and kissed him hard, his dick telling him it’d be happy to go another round if this kind of talk kept up. Walter drew back from the kiss. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Kelly looked wanton and hungry. A little guilty too, though, as he added, “Is that okay? I mean, I know you like to bottom too…”

Walter laughed and ran his finger down Kelly’s nose. “Sweetheart, I knew you were a nellie bottom a long, long time before tonight.”

Kelly frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”

“It means you love to bottom and vocally show your enthusiasm while doing it.”

“But I haven’t even
been
a bottom yet.”

Walter pressed his fingers against Kelly’s hole, making him gasp and bite his bottom lip to keep from crying out. “I know, baby. I know.” He teased him a few minutes until they were both good and riled, then kissed him slowly to take them back down. “I swing, sweetheart. I don’t mind either way.”

“But you like to be fucked too.”

“Regrettably, only one of us can get fucked at a time.” He drew Kelly’s earlobe into his mouth and nibbled on it before responding. “I want to fuck you, baby. I want to fuck you until you come apart.”

Kelly whimpered and drew his knees up to give Walter better access.

Their second go-round was rougher, and inspired by the conversation they’d just had, Walter turned Kelly face-down, spread his legs wide and thrust up against Kelly’s cock from behind. It wasn’t enough to make either of them come, but it drove them both crazy and gave them a foretaste of the feast to come. When they finally met face-to-face again, they gripped at each other hard enough to leave marks, and Walter had to seal his mouth over Kelly’s to swallow his cries when he came.

He vowed, as he drifted off to sleep beside his boyfriend, to make damn sure they got to Minneapolis and a proper hotel room for New Year’s Eve.

In the middle of the night he woke and dragged himself out to the couch—they’d never blown up the mattress, but he wanted to respect Sue and her fussing and not have her find him tangled in her baby’s sheets if she didn’t have to. Even though it was short for him, he slept like a log. When he woke, he smelled coffee and breakfast food. Curious as to what food, exactly, eager for coffee and drawn by the murmur of voices drifting down the stairs, Walter rose, hit the bathroom and headed up the stairs.

That’s when it happened.

All he did was pad around the corner to the hall outside the dining room, hanging back because he could hear Kelly and his dad talking intensely at the breakfast bar, and he didn’t want to interrupt. Kelly was in his line of sight, bed-rumpled, wearing a pair of sweats and nothing else, morning sun filtering through the window over the sink and streaming through the whole of the dining room. It lit up Kelly’s hair, his bare skin, his face, his eyes. Something Dick said made Kelly smile, that shy, head-ducking one that usually came with a blush, and it caught at the corner of Walter’s heart.

It held him and turned something in his gut, like a key that opened a door to a subbasement, a door Walter hadn’t even known was there. The lock clicked, the door opened, and longing, soul-deep longing poured out.

He tried to slam it shut, but it wouldn’t go—Walter wanted to hold on to the wall, but he leaned into it instead, trying to control his breathing as he desperately fought the emotions inside him. It was futile. The longing burned at him, making his arms ache, but that wasn’t even the worst.
Wanting.
Behind the longing was wanting, craving—like a parched plant facing a lake. Yearning that burned in his blood, that made him heavy.