Teddy Bear Christmas (3 page)

“Nice.” Tyler tapped one of the bobbleheads of Gandalf, which jiggled and nodded at his touch. “
Lord of the Rings
fan?”

Aaron grimaced. “Guess I’m a bit of a geek.”

“And that’s a problem because? The imagery in those movies was gorgeous. Brilliant color and cinematography.” Tyler held his hands out wide.

Tyler might be something of a geek himself. “Ooh, tell me more about cinematography.”

Tyler laughed. He had such a lovely laugh, deep and infectious. Aaron wanted to make him laugh all the time. Laugh, and maybe moan. What would he sound like with Aaron’s hands caught in those tangled curls, their bodies pressed together, cock to cock?

To get his head back on straight, Aaron slipped off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack by the door. Tyler followed suit with his own winter coat. Aaron started unbuttoning his work shirt absently. “There are some sheets in the closet, I can….”

Tyler interrupted by placing his hands on Aaron’s shoulders, like he had in the airport, and Aaron’s breath hitched. “Let me,” he said, sliding his fingers down Aaron’s shirt to slowly undo the buttons.

“You don’t have to, I didn’t….” Aaron had apparently lost the capacity for speech.

“Maybe I want to.” Tyler leaned forward and kissed him, a quick and gentle peck, leaving him wanting for more. “You’re adorable.”

“Thanks?”

“Okay, how about sexy? With that messy hair….” Tyler ran his fingers through Aaron’s hair, the touch sending sparks all down his back. Apparently he wasn’t the only one with a hair fetish. “Those sleepy bedroom eyes….” He leaned forward for another kiss, and there was nothing tentative about this one.

Aaron found himself slammed up against his wall, the force of it enough to set all his action figures rattling. He opened his mouth, meeting Tyler for every inch of the kiss, tasting salt and something else, Tyler’s unique taste. Aaron wanted more, enough to identify Tyler from nothing more than a lick. He felt flushed from the tips of his ears to the bottom of his toes. Any sense of weariness from a long day at work faded away.

Tyler’s body pressed against his, so hot where he’d been cold before. Warm fingers untucked his shirt, and Aaron gave a little shimmy to help Tyler relieve him of the annoying fabric. He wanted to touch skin to skin, chest to chest, feel nothing but Tyler against him.

When Tyler pulled back, removing his gorgeous plump lips, Aaron pouted and let out a little moan. But it was okay. Tyler only stepped away long enough to tug off his Henley, revealing a honey-smooth chest dotted with freckles. Aaron wanted to trace each one with his tongue.

Before he could voice that thought, Tyler started to undo Aaron’s fly. “This okay?”

“What? Yeah, sure, I, um.” Aaron should just give up on attempting to talk anymore tonight. Tyler had reduced him to nothing more than one-syllable words and grunts. His brain had apparently leaked out to his dick, and you know, Aaron didn’t really mind that much. Especially with the way Tyler started working him with skilled fingers. Aaron dropped his head against the wall and let out a great gasp. Fuck, that felt so good.

Tyler dropped to his knees, moving in one smooth motion like a dancer. He had his own cock out, and Aaron tried to get a good look, seeing it was long and flushed a deep red. “Let me,” Tyler said, like he needed to beg to suck Aaron’s prick.

That thought had Aaron throbbing. It got worse as Tyler leaned forward, first taking in a deep breath before placing nibbling kisses along Aaron’s length. The sensation was too heavy to tickle, merely a tease.

“You.” Aaron found himself gripping Tyler’s hair, glad there was a full handful of it. He tried not to pull too hard, but damn if he didn’t like having the handhold.

Tyler chuckled, the sound warm against Aaron’s cock. Then he stopped screwing around and started to suck, his hot, wet mouth sliding down Aaron’s length. He tugged at Aaron’s balls, rolling them between his fingers.

Aaron couldn’t move, he couldn’t even squirm, pressed up against the wall like this. He felt almost helpless, trapped between Tyler and the wall. All he could do was feel, and it was glorious. “Please,” he begged, unable to do more than that.

Tyler obliged, sucking harder. Aaron felt his orgasm in his belly, and he shouted a warning. Tyler pulled off, finishing Aaron with his hand and letting stripes of come streak across his chest and belly.

At that sight, Aaron’s dick gave another halfhearted little twitch.

“Watch me.” Tyler leaned back to reveal the flushed length between his thighs. He licked his palm and stroked himself, going from root to crown in a smooth motion.

Aaron pressed his hands against the wall and held his breath, unable to move.

Tyler arched his back and groaned, tugging at his own balls as he came into his hand. Then he looked up at Aaron under heavy lidded eyes and licked his fingers.

“You sure you’re not a porn star, too?”

Tyler laughed.

Much later, after a quick cleanup in the bathroom and some giggling kisses, they fell into Aaron’s bed. The adrenaline rush finally crashed, and he found himself asleep before even hitting the pillow.

It seemed like no more than ten minutes had passed before sunlight came streaming through the still-open curtains in his bedroom. Aaron swiped at his eyes, as if that could make the light go away. He sat up and realized the other side of the bed was empty. “Tyler?” he called, his heart sinking.

Tyler appeared in the doorway, fully dressed and his carry-on in hand. “Hey! I was about to wake you. I got an alert on my phone at like 5:00 a.m. I made it on the morning flight to Jersey.”

“Oh.” Aaron shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs out of it.

“I hope you don’t mind, I took a shower. Didn’t really want to get on the plane smelling of sex.” Tyler ducked his head and shrugged.

“Hey, the offer came with the shower included.” Aaron didn’t know if he was making sense. He looked around for his pants but realized they were probably still out in the living room. “Give me ten minutes to wake up and I’ll take you in.”

“Don’t worry about it. I called a cab. I figured you probably have the night shift again, and you need your sleep.” Tyler sat on the edge of the bed and placed his hand on top of Aaron’s. “This meant a lot to me.”

“I really wish I had some coffee for this conversation.” Aaron couldn’t quite clear the fuzz out of his head.

“There’s some brewed in the kitchen. I helped myself to that too. I have to go, but I’ll call you? When I get back in town?”

“Yes, definitely do that.”

Tyler smiled, leaned in for a kiss, tasting of bitter coffee, and then was gone before Aaron could even think of reciprocating.

He fell back onto the bed and wondered if he hadn’t imagined the entire night.

“T
ELL
ME
where you are, because clearly it is not here.”

Tyler grinned at his mom, who’d joined him on the couch. He’d been swiping through the pictures of Oliver and his airport adventures. Every so often he had turned to say something to Aaron, only to find, of course, that Aaron wasn’t there. How had the guy made such an impression on him so quickly? “What, you mean you’re paying rapt attention to Uncle Nick and his Santa routine?”

The kids in the family were eagerly gathered around said uncle, dressed in a red velvet Santa suit that was at least thirty years old. Tyler was pretty sure it was the same one from when he was little, and it was only now that Uncle Nick’s beard finally matched the wig.

“No, but I was chatting with your Aunt Lisa. You’re sitting here alone.”

It had been a whirlwind of a trip, making it to the airport in time for his flight. Then his dad had picked him up, only to drive straight to his aunt’s for the Christmas Eve dinner. From the moment he stepped through the door, the smells of the holiday washed over him—the rich tang of the food, the pine of the live tree, and the cinnamon from the pies. He’d chatted happily with his family during the meal and dessert, but once the gifts had started being given out, Tyler found he really needed a second to himself.

Mostly he’d been debating on whether or not he should e-mail Aaron. At least he’d had that info. Stupidly, he’d forgotten to get a phone number or ask if Aaron was okay with texting. Maybe that would be less formal. But committing to an e-mail seemed like he was trying too hard. Now, granted, that was the only info Tyler had, but….

“Did you ever have an immediate connection with a person?” he found himself asking before he could take back the words.

“Met a hot guy on the plane?”

“Airport, actually.” Tyler could feel his cheeks heat. There was no reason to go into details, to talk about how he knew how Aaron flushed when he came, how he tasted, and the incoherent sounds he made when he was turned on. But he kinda wanted to talk about Oliver. “There was this teddy bear that a little girl left behind.” He grinned at the confused expression on his mother’s face. “I’d brought it to Lost and Found. He was working the desk, and to make a long story very short, we ended up taking the bear on some adventures.”

He flipped through the pictures on his phone, sorry that he didn’t actually manage to capture any photos of Aaron. It made the entire night seem surreal, like he’d dreamed it all. Flipping through the album now, he could almost taste the mint that would forever remind him of kissing Aaron in the airport.

Mom giggled at the pictures. “Well, sometimes love is finding someone to be silly with.”

“Mom, I just met the guy.”

“Believe me, I’m not trying to get you married. I have enough to worry about with managing Gloria’s wedding next year, but this is the first time you’ve talked about a guy since….”

“Since ‘he who shall not be named,’” Tyler said darkly. The less said about his ex, the better. The guy had kept him from his family last year. If he hadn’t gotten a clue then, it had become very obvious that Steve was only interested in his own desires—and none of Tyler’s.

And Aaron had seemed to pick up on that quickly. He wanted to help Tyler get back to his family. They were still mostly strangers, but he somehow understood Tyler better than Steve ever did.

“Right. Him.” She patted his knee. “So, are you going to call him?”

“I didn’t get his number,” Tyler admitted. “I do have his e-mail, but I don’t want to seem too eager.”

“Tyler, a piece of advice from an old lady. Don’t worry about how you’ll seem. Be you.”

As he tried to chew on that, one of his little cousins ran up to them. “Tyler, come play with me.” She grabbed his hand.

He tucked his phone safely away. “Thanks, Mom.” He managed to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before being dragged away to see the newest toy opened. Soon there would be tiny plastic pieces everywhere and no one would know what belonged to whom, and there would be laughter and tears as they tried to sort it all out.

Tyler wouldn’t change it for the world.

He’d e-mail Aaron. Not right now. But he would, because he was not going to miss the chance to get to know someone who made him laugh.

A
ARON
WENT
to work with a bounce in his step. Not only did he have a few days off after New Year’s, he’d gotten two e-mails from Tyler. The first had been hesitant, asking for Aaron’s phone number and including a selfie of Tyler buried in snow. It seemed Tyler had a sense of humor that extended beyond posing teddy bears in airports. Aaron had laughed and responded right away, not playing games like making him wait. He wanted something with Tyler, and he was determined to see this through.

He hadn’t liked waking to a cold, empty bed. Tyler’s warmth had soothed him to sleep, and even now, he still reached out, expecting someone to be there. So he eagerly awaited Tyler’s arrival, hoping to see if that magical chemistry still flowed between them.

“You’re a popular person, today,” his supervisor, Linda, greeted him as he went to clock in. She grinned and had a twinkle in her eye as she spoke, so it couldn’t be bad news.

“Really? Why?”

“Hurry up and put your stuff away. The press is waiting to meet you.”

He wasn’t sure he heard her correctly. “What?”

“Remember that little book you made for the kid who lost her teddy bear?”

Aaron had taken the printouts from Tyler’s e-mails, laminated them, and then used the office’s ancient binding machine to put it all together like a storybook. He thought it would be cute. It went with Oliver in the bin, with the family’s name and contact information on it. “I didn’t tell anyone I did that.”

“Right, but you were the one who logged it in the system. Anyway, the kid’s parents were so grateful, they called the local news, and now they want to do one of those ‘feel good’ stories about it.”

“You know Christmas is over, right? They even stopped playing the music over the loudspeakers.”

“All the more reason people need to hear about something happy. Come on. I have Yvonne covering your shift at the concierge desk.”

Events moved quickly after that. Aaron dropped off his stuff and allowed his supervisor to slick some gel in his hair in an attempt to make it look less unkempt. He bit his lips instead of complaining.
This is ridiculous
, he wanted to shout. The news crews were going to take one look at him and laugh. He was a grunt worker, not some movie-star-hot celebrity.

Aaron kept thinking how stupid it was right up until Linda led him to the main lobby, where several people with news cameras surrounded a little girl clutching Oliver. The bear looked right in her arms.

“Um, hi,” he said, and then kept his mouth shut while Linda introduced him and gave a speech about the level of service expected of airport employees.

The girl’s mother hugged him. “Thank you for what you did. Shay has not stopped talking about the adventures Oliver had while we were visiting my sister in Florida.”

The girl—Shay, he presumed—wouldn’t quite look at him, but she buried her face in Oliver’s fur and smiled.

Aaron knelt so they were eye level. “I’m glad to help. But it was my friend Tyler who found him for you. I just made sure he stayed safe.”