Gratefully His Read online

  Still holding onto Sebastian, Pablo peeked his head around the door. “How soon until dinner?”

  Mama, who stood at the sink, looked over her shoulder at him. “An hour.”

  “Good. Um, Sebastian and I will be talking in my room.”

  Hector smirked. “Yeah, talking.”

  “Shut up, brat.”

  Pablo didn’t give his brother any chance to make further comments and tugged Sebastian down the hall to his room. When they got inside, he twisted the lock. He pointed at two chairs. One in front of his computer desk and another a few feet away next to his dresser.

  “I think if we talk on the bed, we won’t get far,” Pablo explained, sitting in the chair by the computer.

  Sebastian looked wary. “Okay. So, what do you want to say?”

  “Closer.” Pablo crooked his finger and Sebastian scooted his chair until he was a few feet away from Pablo. “Closer.”

  Sighing, Sebastian scooted until he was just an inch or so away.

  “No. Come here.” Pablo pulled Sebastian onto his lap. He smiled. “Much better.”

  “Do you really need me to sit here?” Sebastian asked.

  “Yep.” Pablo slipped his hand underneath Sebastian’s T-shirt. He splayed his hand across his abs.

  Sebastian inhaled sharply at the touch and adjusted his bottom on Pablo’s lap until it was pressing against Pablo’s growing erection. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

  Pablo palmed Sebastian’s cock through his jeans. “Uh-huh. Okay, well, I want to fuck you. How’s that for talk?”

  “You’re an amazing conversationalist,” Sebastian whispered just before he fused his lips to Pablo’s.

  He pulled Sebastian’s T-shirt up over his head and then moved his mouth to latch onto a nipple. Sebastian gasped and wrapped his arms around Pablo’s neck.

  “Jesus,” Pablo murmured. Grabbing Sebastian’s head in both hands, he brought their mouths together in a devouring kiss. “I want to fuck you right here in this chair. Now.”

  His cheeks pink, Sebastian stood. He toed off his shoes and unfastened his jeans, lowering them along with his boxer briefs without any hesitation. His fully erect cock jutted out between his long lean legs.

  Pablo felt behind him for the desk drawer. He slid it open and grabbed the lube and condoms his fingers had trailed over inside. “Hold these for a second.” He handed them to Sebastian as he reached to unzip his slacks. Unfastening his pants just enough, he pulled out his already erect cock.

  Meeting Sebastian’s half-lidded gaze, Pablo crooked his finger. “Come here and straddle me.”

  Sebastian moved quickly to seat himself over Pablo’s lap, his legs straddling either side of Pablo. Pablo snatched the lube out of Sebastian’s hand and squeezed out a generous amount, slipping his hand beneath the other man’s cock and to the spot between the two perfect globes of his ass. Pablo inserted two slicked fingers into Sebastian.

  Sebastian bit his bottom lip. “I’ve never done it in a chair before.”

  “I don’t think I have either,” Pablo ground out. His dick was impossibly hard and it was becoming difficult to concentrate on anything other than Sebastian’s ass moving in his lap or the way the man’s ass clenched around his fingers.

  Rather than add a third, Pablo withdrew his fingers, skating over Sebastian’s erection as he moved back to sheath his cock in latex. His clumsy hands couldn’t seem to get the rubber on his dick fast enough and when it was finally encased, he slicked it with more lube.

  Sebastian whispered, “Ready?”

  With his nod, Sebastian gripped the arms of the chair and slowly lowered himself down on Pablo’s straining cock. His thighs quivered and his arms quaked as his ass swallowed Pablo’s shaft.

  “Oh. My. God. Fuck me.”

  As if he needed any further urging than the powerful muscles gripping his dick. His fingers digging into Sebastian’s prominent hip bones, Pablo drove himself all the way into the tight ass. Again and again he pushed up as Sebastian pushed down, riding him so hard and fast, Pablo wondered if the flimsy chair could handle it.

  He slid one hand off Sebastian’s hip and to his neglected cock. Curving his fingers around the tip, Pablo started jerking Sebastian’s shaft.

  “Pablo.” Sebastian moaned, closed his eyes, and threw his head back.

  He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anyone more beautiful. And damn hot. He increased the pace of his thrusts, matching the rhythm of the beauty riding him rough and thoroughly. When Sebastian whimpered and covered his fingers with his cum, Pablo felt his own release rushing too fast to hold back.

  Pablo held him just like that, his cock still inside Sebastian’s ass, for a long time after their breathing returned to semi-normal. It wasn’t the most comfortable position. And while it had been exciting to fuck in the chair at the time, Pablo decided for the most part there was a reason people had sex in beds.

  After Pablo rubbed his back for a few minutes, Sebastian finally stirred and moved back a little to look at Pablo. “Still just about us having sex?” he asked, but he was smiling.

  Pablo smiled back and rubbed his thumb over Sebastian’s kissable lips. “Definitely about us having sex.” With their bodies still locked together, he lifted Sebastian from the chair and managed to get them over to the bed just a few steps away without changing their positions. He lay Sebastian underneath him and kissed him.

  “It’s about wanting to have sex with you all the time,” he said against Sebastian’s lips.

  “Mmm. All the time?”

  “Constantly. Twenty-four/seven.”

  Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “That sounds dangerously close to some sort of relationship.”

  He framed Sebastian’s face. “Could be. Is that so terrible?”

  Sebastian shook his head. “You were the one denying it to your mama, not me.”

  “She caught me off guard with all her questions. She was badgering me.”

  “Poor Pablo. Aren’t you supposed to be some tough guy cop?” Sebastian laughed. “You fall under the pressure of a few questions by your mama.”

  Pablo nibbled his lip. “Squirt. Stop being a brat. I can’t help it if Mama is scary.”

  Sebastian squirmed underneath him. “She is a bit. Um, Pablo. This is nice and all but do you think we can change positions or something? My ass took kind of a beating on that chair.”

  Pablo burst out laughing. “Okay, okay.” He pulled out of Sebastian and moved off him. “We should clean up a bit before dinner anyway.”

  * * * *

  Sebastian knew as soon he heard the back door open and close who had joined him in the Rivera backyard. Dinner had ended a little while ago and Pablo and Hector had cleaned up. Sebastian had slipped outside, needing some air.

  Strong arms wrapped around him and drew him close. “Isn’t it a little cold out here?” Pablo asked, close to his ear.

  He leaned back against Pablo, staring up at the stars. “A little. It feels kind of good. Getting stuffy inside.”

  “You making a wish?”

  Sebastian laughed. “I don’t believe in such things.”

  “No? When I was a little boy I remember my father showing me a shooting star and saying I should wish on it.”

  “And what did you wish for?”

  Pablo shrugged. “Someone who would love me for who I was.”

  “How old were you? Did you know then you were gay?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe eight? I know I didn’t think or feel the same way the other boys did. I think more than anything, I wished I was like everyone else.”

  He turned in Pablo’s arms, leaning in close so their faces were within inches of each other. “I wish for the same thing.”

  Pablo smiled. “I thought you didn’t believe in that.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “No one wants to be different.”

  “You’re not that different, cariño.” Pablo’s hand came up to cup his jaw. “We’re all human. We all want love and acceptance. We all want happ
iness. Your sexual orientation is just part of you. It doesn’t make you abnormal.”

  He sighed. “Do you think we’ll ever be fully accepted? Ever have the same rights as everyone else?”

  “It’s hard to say. I hope so. But we’ve already made things better than what it was before us. Maybe the next generation will have it better still.”

  “You’re so wise. Like Yoda,” Sebastian teased, standing on his toes to kiss the corner of Pablo’s mouth.

  “Yoda? You have to pick a Muppet?” He shook his head. “What are you doing out here, squirt? Talk to me.”

  “Just needed some air.”

  “And?”

  “Wondering about us,” Sebastian admitted. “If there is an us.”

  “There’s an us. What exactly are you wondering?”

  Sebastian couldn’t meet his gaze, the dark eyes were too intense. Like they could see into his very soul. Maybe they could. But Sebastian felt too raw for that.

  “At the end of the week I’m going back to Stanford. You’ll still be in LA.”

  Pablo nodded and, holding onto Sebastian’s jaw, he pressed their lips together, hard, but brief. Sebastian wanted more. “Are you wondering if this is just a fling, a one week thing, and then everything will go back to the way it was?”

  He winced at the bluntness, but nodded.

  “It can be that way, if that’s what you want.”

  “And if I want more?”

  “Then that’s what you’ll get.”

  Sebastian studied Pablo for a long time, trying to read those fathomless dark eyes. “What do you want, Pablo? Really.”

  “You don’t know? You can’t guess?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  Pablo sighed, his smile a little wistful. “Who kissed you when you were sixteen? Who kissed you last night? And on the sidewalk outside? And in the chair? Me. It’s always me kissing you. And you don’t know what I want?”

  “Why don’t you just say so then?”

  “I am saying so, cariño. You just need you to pay attention.” He pulled Sebastian close and moved his hands down to Sebastian’s ass, squeezing the cheeks. “Mama’s right. Long distance relationships are hard. I’ve never had one, but I know people who have. It rarely works.”

  “So what does that mean for us? We try and hope it does?” Sebastian asked, holding his breath for the answer.

  Pablo slowly nodded. “I don’t like the alternative. Do you?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Now, can we go inside? My balls are about to freeze off.”

  Sebastian laughed and leaned up to kiss Pablo. “Yeah, let’s go inside.”

  Chapter 6

  The week was over before either of them was ready. Although honestly, Pablo didn’t know if he ever would have been ready to let it end. The last few days he’d had to work a lot of the time and so his time with Sebastian had been limited, but they’d still managed to squeeze in a few hours here and there.

  But now, he and Hector were going to be driving back up to Stanford. This would be the true test of where they would take this relationship.

  He wrapped his arms around Sebastian and pulled him as close as he could as they stood on the sidewalk outside their house. Hector stood nearby speaking in a low voice to Mama.

  “I can’t believe it’s over already,” Sebastian said, hugging Pablo tight.

  He shook his head. “It’s not over, squirt. It’s just begun for us.”

  “Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. This week. Now we’ll be so far away.”

  “True.” Pablo nodded. “But we’ll Skype and talk on the phone and email. The semester will be over before you know it and it’ll be summer.”

  Sebastian smiled. “You make it all sound so easy.”

  “It will be. You’ll see. I say so.” He leaned down and kissed Sebastian. Then when Hector and Mama came over to where they stood, he hugged Hector, too. “Drive safe. And call when you guys get there.”

  “We will,” Hector promised. He glanced at Sebastian. “You ready?”

  Pablo thought he saw Sebastian’s bottom lip tremble a little, but Sebastian squeezed him one last time, then opened the passenger door.

  “Yeah, I’m ready,” Sebastian said, slipping inside the car.

  Pablo went to his mama and put his arm around her shoulders.

  Hector waved as he went around to the driver seat. “See you guys. Love you.”

  “We love you, too,” Mama said. “Both of you.”

  They stood there watching as the car pulled away from the curb and drove off down the street. Pablo hoped the tightness in his chest would ease a little with time. He missed the little squirt already.

  “So,” Mama said, turning to look at him. “How are you?”

  “Happy.”

  An eyebrow rose. “Oh?”

  Pablo shrugged. “Yeah, Sebastian is going back to Stanford, but I haven’t felt this hopeful in a long time. Maybe ever.”

  “Not with Peter?”

  He sighed. “Peter was a mistake. I tried to make things work when I knew they never would. I think we both tried to feel something we never really felt.”

  “Listen to you, you sound so wise.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, like Yoda.”

  She gave him a perplexed look. “I don’t know about Yoda.”

  Pablo grinned and hugged her. “I had a very wise woman who taught me. You and Papa. I want what you had.”

  “I want you to have that, too. Now come on, let’s stop moping. I want you to take me shopping before you have to go on duty.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  * * * *

  Pablo sat in front of his computer and clicked a few spots to start the video conferencing. After a few seconds Sebastian appeared, moving in a sort of distorted slow motion.

  “Hey,” Pablo called out, smiling.

  Sebastian grinned. “Hey yourself, handsome.”

  “You look tired. You studying too hard?”

  “Nah, just a long day. Spent a lot of time bored in the library doing a research paper.” Sebastian stared hard at him. “How about you? How was your day?”

  “Got off duty a little bit ago. Traffic tickets, a couple robberies, and a domestic dispute.”

  Sebastian frowned. “Are you being careful?”

  “Always, cariño.”

  “I hate what you do. It freaks me out. What if you get shot or something?”

  Pablo sighed. “I love what I do. Just as you will love being a doctor.”

  “Being a doctor isn’t dangerous.”

  “No. But you will have long hours, bad schedules. A lot of the time you’ll be dead on your feet, especially when you do your residency. But I wouldn’t want you to do anything else because it’s what you love.”

  “I know.” Sebastian looked at his fidgeting hands. “I still worry.”

  “It will be all right, Sebastian.”

  “Okay. I can’t wait to see you again.”

  “Same here. I think about you all the time.”

  Sebastian laughed. “I hope not all the time. I don’t want you getting distracted.”

  “Well, all right, not every minute, but a lot. And I think about what I want to do to you next time we’re together.”

  “That sounds good, but since Hector’s home and just in the other room. I won’t encourage you to give me too many details.”

  He smiled. “Probably a good idea. You can use your imagination.”

  “I’ve been thinking about something,” Sebastian said.

  “Yeah?”

  Sebastian began to fidget, twisting his hands together in his lap. “In the summer, maybe I should go to Phoenix and see my parents.”

  “Are you going to tell them you’re gay?” Pablo asked gently.

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “You don’t have to until you’re ready you know.”

  “I know, but I think maybe I am. I have to do it at some point.”

  Pablo shook his head. “You don’t
have to do anything. Just do what feels right.”

  “I think this is right,” Sebastian said.

  “Okay. I’ll go with you.”

  Sebastian’s face lit up like a kid at Christmas. “You will?”

  “If you want me to.”

  “I do.”

  “Then I will,” Pablo said simply. “No matter what they say, Sebastian, you are not alone. You have me and my family. You can rely on us.”

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “Now, get some rest, cariño. You look too tired and I’m starving so I have to go find something to eat.”

  Sebastian puckered up and blew him a kiss. “Good night.”

  “Good night.”

  * * * *

  The rest of the semester passed quickly and it was the last week before the end of it that Sebastian got the news he had been waiting for. He hadn’t said anything to Pablo or even Hector because he hadn’t been sure if what he wanted had been possible. But after a lot of soul searching, begging, and finagling with university administrators, he’d gotten his acceptance at USC, Keck School of Medicine.

  Instead of medical school up north, he would be attending it in Southern California. The only problem being he would have to wait until the spring semester so he wouldn’t be going to school for the fall. He’d have to get a job or something while he waited. He’d work that out.

  But now he had something to share with Pablo when he got to Los Angeles that he hoped his lover would be happy about. He wasn’t sure what he would do if Pablo did not act positively. Fortunately, he really didn’t think there was much of a chance of that.

  He and Hector packed up the car and got ready to make the trip back to Southern California. So far he’d managed to keep quiet about his news to Hector, mostly in fear his best friend would tell his brother.

  “You want me to drive?” he asked Hector as they put the last of their stuff in the trunk.

  Hector raised an eyebrow at him. “You? I’d like to make it in one piece, thank you.”

  Sebastian pouted. “I’m not that bad.”

  “Yes, you are. I don’t think that old lady you almost hit at the grocery store two months ago has recovered from the fright.”

  “I didn’t almost hit an old lady.”