Loving Graham Page 31

  Stunned, I raise my eyes to his. “You’d be willing to uproot your life, so soon after getting it back, to move to Washington, D.C. with me?”

  “Yes, absolutely, without a doubt or a second thought,” he says without a second thought as if to prove his point.

  Relief floods my veins. I stand up pulling him with me and wrap one at the back of his head guiding his face into my neck and the other around his waist to hold him tight. Even if he isn’t able to do it, the fact that he has offered melts my heart. I hold him until he squirms to put some separation between us.

  “I mean it, I’ll come with you,” he says, piercing me with his golden-flecked eyes.

  “We will figure something out, but knowing that you’re willing to make such a sacrifice is enough for now.” I curl my fingers around the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss that would make a porn star blush.

  I hope his neighbor’s daughter, Allie, isn’t outside watering the flowers right now. If we don’t get into the pool or take this make-out session inside, we will be lounging around the pool with a couple of pitched tents.

  He moans into my mouth, and I’m about to scoop him up and take him in the house when I hear the garage door go up. Lord, that woman has bad timing, or maybe it’s us, either way, we have to act fast.

  “Come on, we have to get in the pool or your aunt is going to have a shock when she finds a lumber yard full of wood on her patio.”

  He covers his mouth and laughs. I grab his hand, and we run to the edge of the pool and jump in feet first. The water is the perfect temperature but just this once, I wish it were colder.

  “Hey, boys, how about we barbeque some hot dogs or brats on the grill for dinner?” Kitty calls coming through the glass doors from the kitchen.

  What are the odds she would suggest wieners for dinner at this exact moment? I look at Noah across the pool. He smiles like a maniac and cracks up laughing right before he disappears under the water to hide in typical Noah Benjamin Miller style.

  He used to do this when we were kids. One of us would make a loud noise in the library, and when the librarian came to scold us, he would be gone. Once he knocked over a giant display of chips at the grocery store, and before I could figure out what was happening, he was gone, and I was being led into the manager’s office to call my parents.

  I gave him that one without any crap, though. I’d rather have them call my understanding parents than his jerk of a father any day.

  “That sounds delicious, Kitty, do you want us to come inside and help?”

  “Oh no, you stay in the pool and enjoy yourselves. I’m going to change out of my work clothes and start making a pasta salad to go with the dogs. How was your day?”

  “Great, we used your gym and hung out by the pool most of the day.”

  “Good, good, I’m happy you’re enjoying your vacation.” Noah emerges from the water and bids his aunt hello. “Oh, my sweet Noah, look how tan you’re getting. I swear you look like a completely different person than you did a few weeks ago.” Her dreamy eyes drift to me and back to Noah. “You two are good together, better than good. You’re perfect.”

  Before either of us can respond, she sighs deeply and returns to the house.

  “I love your aunt, but she can be a little…” I’m not sure what word to use, dramatic, over the top, theatrical?

  “Out there?” Noah says trying to help me out.

  “Yes, that works as well as anything. Kitty’s one of a kind that’s for sure.”

  “Yep, the best.” He swims up behind me and presses his rock-hard erection against my ass, and my mind switches from sweet Aunt Kitty to how fast I can get Noah naked, in a heartbeat.

  “You’re treading in dangerous waters, my friend,” I warn.

  “Goodie,” he whispers in my ear and hops onto my back wrapping his arms and legs around me.

  “I’m telling you, Noah, I only have so much self-control. If you don’t back off, I’m going to toss you over my shoulder and strut right through your aunt’s kitchen sporting a massive erection on my way to my bedroom where I will throw you down and fuck you so hard you won’t sit for a week.”

  My words came out in a growl. I didn’t mean to go off like that, but he has to know when to stop. He has no idea how irresistible he is to me, and he is about to find out the hard way, pun intended.

  His legs slide down, and I feel him float away from me. When I turn, he is treading water in the deep end biting his lip in the most adorable way. “Biting your lip like that isn’t helping, you know.” He releases it and presses his lips together.

  “I didn’t mean to snap.”

  “Yes, you did, I felt that red hot uncontrolled aura of yours boiling in the water around us. It’s okay, though. I get it.” No, I don’t think he does. In fact, he has no idea.

  “Noah, I want, no, I need to have you, all of you. All this messing around is making me lose my mind, and if we don’t…”

  “Tonight, I want all of you, too. We can go to a hotel and spend the night, so we don’t have to keep quiet or worry about Kitty.”

  A cloud that has been covering the sun moves, and I am momentarily blinded. I take advantage of the extra few seconds I have to respond to his offer to get ahold of my active imagination. A night spent in a hotel with Noah. Guaranteed privacy and no one to interrupt us, my God that sounds like pure heaven.

  When my eyes adjust to the light, I shade them with my hand and answer him. “Are you sure, Noah? I don’t want to rush you into anything you’re not ready for. I may be frustrated right now, but I’ll get over it.”

  “I have never been surer of anything in my life. I want you, too, Liam. I’m ready.”

  If he hadn’t sounded sincere and unafraid, I would have refused him. It would have been miserable, but I would have done it for him.

  “Come here.”

  “Is it safe? I don’t want to scare Kitty with a gay pride parade through her kitchen, and I like sitting without pain.”

  I cup my hands together and push a wave of water in his direction splashing him in the face. “Yes, it’s safe, you’re always safe with me, get over here.” He swims the few feet to me, and I reach up and place my hand on his head to dunk him underwater, and when he’s under, he grabs my legs and pulls me down with him.

  Looking through the crystal clear water, I see him smiling, and I shake my head. We break the surface at the same time laughing like we just heard a hilarious joke.

  “You could have drowned me, you know,” he sputters.

  “I was captain of the swim team. I would never let you drown.”

  “I almost forgot about that. Hey, let’s swim four laps, and the loser has to tell Kitty we are staying in a hotel tonight.”

  “You are so on. You should be the one to tell her anyway. It was your idea, and she’s your aunt.”

  “You’ve already got yourself winning this race, don’t you? Always so confident.”

  “I think you may have forgotten how fast I used to be in high school. No offense, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got this one in the bag.”

  “Okay, Mr. Confidant, let’s go. How many laps?”

  “Four, and we get out and dive in to start.”

  “You okay to get out?” His eyes drop to the water that was hiding my erection a few minutes ago. Kitty’s dinner menu squashed that for me so there’s nothing to worry about anymore.

  “Yes, I’m fine as long as you keep your hands off me and don’t whisper shit into my ear.” I turn and swim to the stairs to exit the pool with Noah on my heels.

  We round the pool and stand on either side of the diving board. I crouch down, and he counts backward from five. When he says one, we dive into the pool, and I swim hard like a mermaid until I break the surface. I concentrate hard on the race and ignore Noah swimming next to me.

  When we reach the end of the pool, I duck down, twist and push off the wall before pulling my body through the water as fast as I can to the other side. At lap number three, I don’t sen
se him next to me anymore, but I continue at top speed.

  I reach the end of the pool, and when I grab the tile edge and bring my head above water, I find him sitting cross-legged on the concrete smiling down at me. “What are you doing? We were racing, you can’t get out of the pool like that.”

  “I knew you’d win. I got out after two laps to watch you like old times. I’m no swimmer, that’s your thing, and you are awesome at it.”

  “So you planned on losing, and you just wanted to watch me swim?”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “Why didn’t you just ask me to swim a couple of laps?”

  “I wanted it to feel like it did in high school. You wouldn’t swim that fast if it were for fun, you needed proper motivation.”

  “Proper motivation? I’ll give you proper motivation,” I say surging forward and pulling him into the water. He screeches loud enough for the whole block to hear him—I laugh, and we kiss.

  That’s when I open one eye and watch Kitty step out onto the patio to start the grill. She catches us kissing and yells, “Get a room!” and smiles while she opens the grill with one hand balancing the brats in the other.

  I pull my lips from Noah’s to encourage him to take advantage of this perfect opportunity. “Tell her, okay?”

  “What?” he asks still dazed from the kiss.

  “She said to get a room, telling her can’t get any easier than this.”

  “We have reservations at the Hyatt Regency!” he yells. Kitty isn’t even fazed as she continues to work at the grill smiling without responding.

  “I don’t think she heard me,” he says, scrunching his eyebrows together.

  “I heard you, dear boy, and I think it’s an excellent idea. You’ve been out and about several times this week, and now you can see how spending the night away from home feels.”

  “I’ll tell you how it’s going to feel. It’s going to feel fabulous,” I whisper so that she won’t hear me. The look of wanton passion in his eyes tells me I’m correct. This night alone is going to seal the deal for me. I cannot lose this man, and after I’m done with him tonight, the feeling will be one hundred percent mutual.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Noah – We Have Forever

  Spending the night with Liam in a hotel seemed like a good idea this afternoon, but now I’m not so sure. All through dinner, my stomach flip-flopped thinking about losing my virginity to the only man who has ever mattered to me.

  Liam has a lot of experience with sex, and I have none, other than what I’ve seen in movies and on the Internet. What if my inexperience is a turn-off? What if I can’t concentrate in an unfamiliar hotel room?

  A knock at my door pulls me from my thoughts. “Noah?”

  “Come in. I’m almost ready.” That’s a total lie. I haven’t put one thing in my duffle bag, and I’ve been sitting here for thirty minutes staring at the wall worrying. He opens the door and looks around my tidy, sparsely furnished room.

  The room, like all the rooms in Kitty’s house, is large. It’s furnished with a queen-sized platform bed on one end and an enormous computer desk on the other. I also have a good-sized light table to look at photographs with, but until recently, I hadn’t used it.

  It’s hard to believe I lived in this room exclusively for years. Work, socialize online, sleep, and repeat, that’s it, that’s all I did. Aunt Kitty tried to coax me out at least once a day, and about two years ago, I felt comfortable enough to join her for meals and an occasional TV show.

  Liam crosses the room and sits next to me on the bed lifting up the edge of my bag and finding it empty. “I’ve heard of packing light, but you may as well leave the bag here if this is all you’re taking.”

  “Sorry, I got distracted.”

  “Distracted by what?” he says looking around for something, anything, that might be holding my attention.

  “I was just thinking about tonight.” I’m looking down at my feet, my elbows are resting on my knees, and my hands clasped in front of me. I feel his eyes on me, but I’m afraid if I look back, he will see the apprehension in mine.

  He is quiet for a time, and when I don’t turn my head, he does it for me with his finger on my chin. “What is it, Noah? We don’t have to go to a hotel tonight. We can stay here, it’s completely up to you. I apologize if I led you to believe I couldn’t wait this afternoon. I was overwhelmed, but I’ve had time to cool off and reflect.”

  I blink slowly and stare at his flawless tan skin, his wavy hair still damp from his shower, and his lush, slightly-parted lips. What is wrong with me? He is the perfect male specimen. He has been my friend since kindergarten. I love him. He loves me. I trust him more than anyone on earth. I have no reason not to want this, yet I am still holding back.

  I hike my leg up on the bed and turn to face him. “You have nothing to apologize for. I was flirting, and you suggested a solution. I accepted it, and now for whatever reason, I’m getting cold feet.” With that last sentence, I tear my eyes from his and stare over his shoulder at a purple pencil on my desk.

  I watch as he stands and moves the duffle bag off of my bed, toes off his shoes, and pulls back the covers. Then without saying a word, he crouches down and removes my shoes and slides his hands under my arms to scoot me up the bed.

  “Lie down,” he commands gently, and I do as he says. Then he rounds the bed, switches off the light, and slips in between the sheets pulling me into the curve of his body to spoon with me.

  “Liam, we can still…” I begin to say, but he shushes me in my ear and covers my mouth with one finger.

  “Lay with me tonight. We don’t have to do anything. I just want to be close to you.”

  “Okay,” I whisper, and right away the tension that was gripping my chest releases. The anxiety I was feeling about losing my virginity vanishes, and I am left in the arms of this glorious man who has once again put my needs before his own.

  “Liam?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Thank you for waiting.”

  His arms tighten around me. “It’s okay, we have forever, there’s no hurry.” He kisses the side of my neck, and I am limp with love, saturated with satisfaction, and most of all, content with his confirmation that we will never be apart again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Liam – The Magic Bullet

  At three o’clock in the morning, I roll away from Noah in bed and make my way through the dark across the hall to my room. I use the bathroom, brush my teeth, and take off my jeans and the pink button-down oxford shirt I was going to wear to the hotel earlier tonight.

  I plug my phone into the charger on the bedside table and return to Noah’s room only to find him gone. He was in bed when I left less than five minutes ago. He can’t be far.

  The glow of his computer screens and his giant LED clock that shines the time on the ceiling light my way to his bathroom. I crack the door even though the light isn’t on and find the room empty. At the risk of Kitty finding me wandering around her house in the middle of the night in my boxers, I make my way quietly down the hall into the kitchen. No Noah. I check everywhere but Kitty’s bedroom with no luck.

  I’m about to knock on her door when I hear Noah talking. I follow his voice, and a trail of his clothes out to the pool where he is sitting on the end of a lounge chair naked rocking back and forth repeating something over and over.

  When I’m almost to his chair, I realize what he’s saying.

  “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go.”

  I’m not sure if you’re supposed to talk to people who are asleep or not, but I have to get his attention and get him back inside.

  “Noah,” I say, softly standing behind him. He stops chanting and rocking and turns his head to the side. I approach with caution and crouch down in front of him. “Noah, we should go inside and go back to bed.”

  He closes his eyes and shakes his head back and forth violently. “No, I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go!” he yells over and ove
r. I reach out and rest my hand on his shoulder, and this seems to calm him, but he is still chanting the same words. I need Kitty, but I’m afraid to leave him alone for fear he will wander into the pool.

  I could yell her name. Her bedroom is next to mine and faces the backyard, but that might disturb the neighbors, and I don’t want anyone seeing Noah naked acting odd. My phone is in the house, and Noah’s is probably in his shorts that are on the kitchen floor.

  Five minutes later with no end in sight, I decide to try to wake him up. With my hand still on his shoulder, I say his name, “Noah, I need you to wake up, baby. Come on, wake up,” I say patting his cheek. He turns his face into my hand, and with his eyes closed, he speaks to me as if I were his mother and what he says breaks my heart.

  “Mama, please don’t make me go away. Dad’s wrong. I’m not sick, you know I’m not. Don’t make me leave my friends and my school. Please, Mama, don’t make me leave Liam. Help me, please.”

  In his mind, it is nine years ago, and his parents are forcing him out of the only home he’s ever known. I can’t imagine how devastating that must have been and clearly, he hasn’t gotten over it at all.

  “Noah, it’s me, Liam. Your parents aren’t here. You’re safe at your Aunt Kitty’s house. Wake up so we can go inside, okay? Come on, baby, open your eyes.”

  At the sound of my name, he opens his eyes half way. I’m still not sure he recognizes me until he blinks away the glazed look and says my name. “Liam, what’s, what’s going on?” he says looking down at his bare legs.

  “What’s going on is that you are a sleepwalker, a naked sleepwalker who takes his walks outside, I guess.” He looks down at himself and up to me.

  “Shit, where are my clothes?”

  “Well, they start in the kitchen and end right here,” I say picking up a sock next to my foot. “Have you done this before?”

  He rubs his face with his hands taking a deep breath and blowing it out. “Yeah, when I first moved here, I did it a lot. I’ve never taken off all my clothes, though.”