Where You Least Expect It (9 page)

“Come on, I’ll drive you.” Matt stepped around Christian, his hand almost reaching out to touch.

“Oh, you don’t have to. I really don’t mind riding.”

Matt didn’t like the idea of Christian riding his bike at night. “Are you sure? It’s dark.”

“I have lights and stuff. I do it all the time.” Christian looked at the dishes on the coffee table. “Do you want help cleaning up?”

“Nah, it’ll give me something to do tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Matt watched as Christian gathered his things and got his bike. “Thanks for the pie.”

“Um. Yeah.” What was he supposed to say? “Thanks for hanging out.” Fuck, that was weak, but, “Thanks for the blow job” didn’t sound any better.

“Bye.” Christian smiled again as he walked into the hallway.

“See you.” Matt closed the door behind him, suppressing the unaccustomed urge to watch as Christian walked away.

***

Matt dropped down on the couch, wondering what in the hell he had just done. He had intentionally made a point of spending time with Christian to get off. Even now, he was having difficulty admitting that Christian was a bigger factor than the easy orgasm. He’d never done anything remotely like that; even when other guys in high school and junior high talked about who had the bigger dick, he had been too shy to get involved.

He could convince himself — if he tried — that the dreams were just frustration and Thanksgiving dinner had been out of pity.

But that was without a doubt the best blow job he’d ever had. Christian had been at least as into it as he had been and hadn’t backed off at all when Matt started to get aggressive. Hell, it hadn’t taken much for Christian to get off, either.

The more Matt thought about it, the closer he was to getting it up again.

The phone rang, distracting him from his fantasy. Matt readily agreed to Sam’s invitation to play pool at Riley’s, glad for the distraction.

Matt’s next week at work seemed like the busiest yet. He was only able to escape one afternoon when Alison needed to vent about their never-ending project. The line at The Coffee Hut was short; Matt watched the two female baristas work the register and bar easily, half-listening to Alison.

Maybe Christian was in the back. Matt placed his order and waited by the pick-up counter, shifting his weight impatiently. He couldn’t stay away from his desk for long.

“Hello?” Alison waved her hand in front of his face. “Where’d you go?”

“What? I’m right here, Al.” Matt hadn’t realized he was so distracted.

“Could’ve fooled me. How’s Christian?”

Matt was completely thrown by the non-sequitur. His pulse sped up. “What?”

Alison looked at him curiously, lips pursed in thought. Finally, she shrugged just as their drinks were ready. “Just curious.”

Matt stepped forward and grabbed their drinks. “We should get back.” He walked quickly to the exit; he missed seeing Christian, but he didn’t want to answer questions from Alison.

Nor did Matt want Christian to think Matt was trying to avoid him, but Matt had no good reason to try to get in touch with him, either. Besides, other than The Coffee Hut, Matt had no way to reach Christian. It was an odd situation, and it reinforced Matt’s reasons for avoiding Sam’s attempts to get him laid; Matt had never quite figured out how to deal with the whole “morning after” issue.

It wasn’t until Matt was dragging himself to his car Friday night that he finally saw Christian.

“Hey!” Matt called out, too tired to try to move any faster.

Christian turned from the bike rack and smiled, waiting for Matt to get closer. “Hey. You look tired.”

“It was a long fucking week. I stopped in on Wednesday but you weren’t there.”

Christian made a face. “I had an exam.”

“Which you don’t look happy about.”

Christian finished unlocking his bike. “I think I did okay, but it was an essay test and those are exhausting. I just want to crash after, you know?”

Matt shrugged. “I never did school, but I can relate to the exhausting part. Sounds pretty much like how I feel after weeks like this.”

“Well, I’d rather do school than the Army.” Christian looked at him, quick to add, “No offense.”

“None taken. It’s definitely not for everyone. I knew guys who went in because they thought it would be cool and glamorous. It was probably toughest on them.”

Christian was still watching him. “But I get the feeling you liked it because it was difficult.”

“Like I said, it’s not for everyone and I’ve learned not to expect people to understand why I went in, but I liked the challenge.”

“Hmm.” Christian tilted his head, looking at Matt thoughtfully. “You can tell me about it over dinner. I assume you haven’t eaten. Unless you have plans, in which case, forget I said anything.”

Matt smiled as Christian bit his lip to stop the flow of words.

“No plans,” Matt answered. “Grab your bike. Where do you want to go?”

They settled on pizza, but found themselves in a very loud and crowded restaurant filled with a bunch of little kids running around celebrating what was obviously a birthday. Christian appeared unfazed, but Matt was definitely out of his element.

“If we get it to go, we can go back to the condo and watch the next episode of Top Chef.” Matt said.

Christian looked at him and Matt could swear he was trying not to laugh.

“Too noisy for you?” Christian asked.

Matt jumped out of the way of a charging little boy brandishing some kind of balloon animal.

This time, Christian did laugh. “I could probably be convinced to come and watch Top Chef,” he responded to Matt’s earlier suggestion.

They stood as out of the way as possible as they waited for their order, watching parents try to keep their rambunctious kids out of the way of servers and other patrons. Their food was ready surprisingly quickly and Matt hurried them out to the truck.

“Sorry, man,” Matt said once they were driving to the condo. “Too many little kids give me a headache.”

“No worries. They were pretty boisterous. Plus, I bet there’s beer at your place.”

It was a short drive between the restaurant and Matt’s condo. Once they were settled with beer and pizza, Matt forced himself to focus on pizza and Top Chef — anything to avoid the vague sense of awkwardness he felt. Convincing himself that he wasn’t attracted to Christian was useless. He found himself thinking about Christian at the most inopportune moments, getting hard and aching in the middle of the day and jerking off almost as soon as he got home. He wondered if he should give in to Sam’s attempts to set him up, but that idea didn’t hold much appeal.

Three beers later, they found themselves flipping channels and sprawling next to each other on the couch. Christian’s sudden laughter made Matt realized he’d been lost in his thoughts again. Matt watched as Christian giggled, but looked away quickly when he was caught.

“Does it really bother you that much?” Christian asked suddenly.

Matt frowned, confused. “Does what bother me?”

“That I’m gay. That we fooled around. That I’m attracted to you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Matt turned resolutely back to the TV.

He thought Christian was going to let it drop, but instead he felt Christian’s hand on his thigh. “You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable.”

Matt tensed, entire body suddenly going hot. “I never said I did.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Christian moved closer. “I know you liked it when I sucked you off.”

“There’s no problem. Move your hand.” He sounded pissed. At least he thought he sounded pissed. He knew he wanted to sound pissed. And he purposefully ignored what Christian said about Matt liking the blow job.

“Where do you want me to move it? Here?” Christian actually moved his hand up Matt’s thigh.

God. “Stop.”

“Matt.” Christian leaned even closer, close enough to brush his lips across Matt’s jaw. “Do you really want me to stop?”

The hot brush of Christian’s breath against his neck made Matt groan. He could have sworn he felt Christian smile.

“It doesn’t sound like you want me to stop.” Another kiss, this time closer to his neck. “It sounds like you want me to keep going.”

Christian’s hand was still on Matt’s thigh, fingers gently rubbing. Matt felt Christian’s tongue on his neck as Christian left wet kisses.

Matt swallowed, managing to suppress the moan that was trying to escape. “I said stop.”

“I really don’t want to.” The words were mumbled against Matt’s skin.

Matt turned to look at Christian and suddenly felt caught. When he saw Christian’s tongue snake out, Matt did moan, remembering what Christian’s tongue felt like on his cock.

Christian leaned up and kissed Matt, gently at first, lips barely brushing his. After a moment the kiss became harder, more insistent as Christian leaned into him.

Matt couldn’t stop himself. He leaned into the kiss, gasping at the sensation of Christian’s lips parting and tongue tracing Matt’s lips.

Matt gave in and pulled Christian more fully against him, wrapping his arms tightly around Christian as he stroked Christian’s tongue with his own. Christian kissed him back just as hard, never once complaining about the pressure or the scrape of stubble on his cheeks.

Christian’s hand was still firmly on Matt’s thigh, but his free hand moved up to tangle in Matt’s hair, not hard enough to hurt but definitely hard enough for Matt to feel it.

Matt dug his fingers into Christian’s side, feeling hard muscles under warm skin. He moved his hands over Christian’s chest and stomach, making Christian moan into their kiss and pull harder on Matt’s hair.

Matt’s cock was hard as stone, pressing against his zipper and pulsing in time with his heartbeat. Matt started to move, trying to get more contact.

The sound of the door buzzer made them jump away from each other. Christian looked at him wide-eyed as Matt ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down and remember how to respond.

The buzzer sounded again.

Matt knew it was Sam, and he knew he could choose to ignore it, tell Sam he was asleep or in the shower or something, but Sam had a key. Which he thankfully hadn’t used. Besides, the spell was broken.

Matt got up and pressed the intercom button. “Yeah?” He was proud of himself for being able to keep his voice steady.

“Hey, it’s me. Let me in.” Matt glanced quickly at Christian, who was still flushed but presentable. He could blame it on the liquor. He pressed the buzzer, triggering the lock mechanism and letting Sam in.

Christian turned away from him and finished the last of his beer. “I should go.”

Part of Matt wanted to tell Christian to stay, that there was no real reason for him to leave, but he didn’t.

Christian was already pulling on his coat when Sam opened the door.

“Hey, man. I’m in search of —” Sam hardly missed a beat when he noticed Christian, “Oh, hey, Christian. I didn’t realize you guys hung out. Anyway, I’m in search of a pool partner. You guys interested?”

Christian’s posture was stiff and he was chewing his bottom lip.

“I was just leaving.” Christian spoke before Matt could think of a response that wasn’t obnoxious.

Sam was looking at them both curiously, which irritated Matt further. He wasn’t sure if Sam’s surprise to find that he was hanging out with Christian said more about Matt’s limited number of friends, or Sam’s nosiness.

Then Sam shrugged. “Okay. What about you, Matt? Want to knock some balls around?”

Not with you was the first response that popped into Matt’s head. “Sure, what the hell.” Christian was already leaving and playing pool would keep him from thinking about Sam’s shitty timing. “Just give me a second.” Matt felt bad leaving Christian and Sam standing awkwardly by the door, but he needed a minute to breathe and splash some cold water on his face. Sam really did have shitty timing.

When he returned from the bathroom, Christian and Sam were talking about some people Matt didn’t know, reminding him that Christian and Sam shared a circle of friends Matt was unfamiliar with. Matt grabbed a jacket out of the closet and opened the front door.

Christian seemed relieved and muttered a “thanks” as he passed Matt into the hallway.

Once they were on the street, Christian bid them both good night and rode off. Matt’s eyes fastened on Christian’s disappearing form until he turned the corner.

“Guy’s not usually that tense,” Sam commented.

Not knowing what to say to that, Matt changed the subject. “Where are we going, anyway?”

Sam shrugged. “Riley’s. I probably won’t make much money there, but you kind of suck anyway.” Sam grinned unrepentantly.

“Thanks, asshole.” Matt rolled his eyes and followed Sam to the bar.

***

As the weather suddenly turned into full-blown fall, windy and rainy and cold, Matt hoped Christian had switched to a more sensible form of transportation. Matt could appreciate Christian’s self-reliance, but bike riding in this kind of weather seemed extreme. Still, Matt wasn’t all that surprised to find Christian unlocking his bike under what felt like buckets of rain one particularly stormy night after work.

Christian laughed as soon as he saw Matt’s disheveled appearance.

“Don’t laugh, I’m soaked.” Matt tried to sound grumpy but Christian’s good mood proved infectious.

Christian placed his hands on his hips. “Do I look dry to you? And, damn it, there goes my bus.”

Matt took a good look and grinned. “You look like a drowned rat. C’mon.” He gestured toward where the truck was parked.

“You are a life saver,” Christian said as he settled in the passenger seat.

Matt pulled into traffic, the rain and glare combining for horrible visibility. “You’re lucky I got out when I did. I almost got stuck for another hour but managed to convince my boss I can handle it from home.”

Christian made a face. “At least when I leave work, I get to actually stop working.”

“I don’t know, it’s kind of like school, right? Homework.”

“Yeah, but you expect it with school, not so much with work.”

“True, but it’s not like I’ve got anything else going on tonight.”