Loving Noah Read online

  “Open your eyes.”

  I shake my head ever so slightly and continue to bask in the glory of my first kiss. It feels too good to let go and open my eyes. I want to stay here like this forever.

  “Noah, you’re beautiful, and I’m telling you, that was the simplest yet most fulfilling kiss I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of, but, I think we should swim before it gets much later.”

  Swim, yes, that’s right. We were about to swim. “Swimming, yes, okay,” I say opening my eyes a slit. Liam rests his forehead on mine, and now I can see the smile I heard before.

  “Are you going to be all right?” he asks.

  “It’s taking me a minute, but I think I’ll recover,” I admit. He squeezes the back of my neck and pushes off of my forehead.

  “So?”

  I blink and step back away from his heat, and I regret it instantly. His woodsy masculine scent is intoxicating, and I’m not ready to give it up just yet.

  “So what?” I ask.

  “So, are you all right?”

  “Yes, that was, it was…”

  “Amazing? Long overdue? The first of many? Yes, I agree.”

  His hand slides out of my hair, and his other hand turns me toward the door. I turn the handle and walk out into the cool night air. The fog in my mind lifts, and I can think straight again, which is a good thing because had it not, I might have walked right into the pool and sunk straight to the bottom.

  I don’t even think about the fact that we are outside in the dark getting into the pool, something I have never done. All I can think about is that kiss. Maybe tomorrow we will go to the aquarium after all. I’ll ask Liam to kiss me again like that, and then I’ll float all the way there.

  “Noah, earth to Noah…” he says snapping his fingers in front of my face. I’m standing on the edge of the pool staring out at the dark water. I don’t remember walking from the house to the pool.

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Maybe we should turn on the light in the pool. It’s pretty dark out here.”

  “Of course, sure.” I make my way around the pool to the pool house and flip the switch that turns on the lights at either end of the pool. When I step out, Liam is diving in with the perfect form of a long-time swimmer and champion diver. I loved going to his swim meats when we were kids. He was the fastest swimmer Crossroads High ever had on their team, and he set records I bet no one has broken.

  He surfaces at my feet with water sluicing over his shoulders and slicking his hair away from his impossibly handsome face. He smiles up at me and crosses his arms over the edge of the pool. “You getting in?”

  “Yeah, just enjoying the view for a minute, if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all, come in when you’re ready, the water’s nice.”

  He turns and pushes off the end of the pool gliding through the water for a few feet until his powerful arms emerge, and he begins a series of laps. I watch while he slices through the water for at least ten laps when I decide to join him.

  Never being one to jump right into anything, I walk to the shallow end of the pool and walk down the steps wading in until the water covers my waist. Liam stops in front of me and smoothes his hair back off of his face with both hands when he breaks the surface.

  “You’ve never been in this pool, have you?” he asks.

  I shake my head. “No, until last week I had never been in this backyard.”

  “Not even when you first got here?”

  I lay my palms on the water and move them back and forth while I speak. “When I first got here, I couldn’t get out of bed for a month. Aunt Kitty home schooled me the best she could, but I wouldn’t get out of bed for more than an hour at a time.”

  “I can’t imagine how you were feeling. I wish you would have called me. I would have come to visit. Bianca would have, too.”

  “I was in a bad place. The only thing I thought about was being abandoned by my parents. I was embarrassed after what happened in the parking lot and then to be orphaned on top of that… it was too much.”

  He takes my hand and pulls me toward the side of the pool. With his back pressed against the wall, I float toward him until we are chest to chest. Never breaking eye contact, he slides his hands around to my ass and lifts me off the ground, and I have no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. “I want you close to me when we talk about things like this, so you know you will never be alone again, Noah. Do you understand?” His words are kind, but his tone is full of authority.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me what happened after that.”

  It’s hard to think with my cock growing between us, and his already stiff against my belly, but I do my best to put my desires aside and tell him what he wants to know.

  “She took me to a psychiatrist in the group she works with, and he put me on depression meds. After another two weeks, I started school. I made a few friends, but I didn’t tell anyone I was gay after being shamed so hard by my parents. It was pretty much school, home, sleep, repeat until graduation.”

  “You didn’t run track or take pictures?”

  “No, I quit doing everything for a while. I haven’t run for years until last week. I took photography my senior year, but when I graduated, I stopped leaving the house and then there was nothing left to take pictures of.”

  He looks over my shoulder into the dark yard and sighs. I feel his muscular, chiseled chest heave against my less muscular and completely unchiseled chest. He looks sad, but it’s a sad story, and I know he needs to hear it. We may as well get this out of the way so we can relax and enjoy each other the rest of the week.

  “I wish I could have been here for you.”

  “Me, too. I didn’t know what I was doing when I cut you and Bianca out of my life. I felt like a burden. I didn’t want to bring you guys down.”

  He blinks, and then his eyes are back on mine. “The past is the past, let’s focus on the present and the future.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Noah, if I kiss you again, you won’t slip under and drown, will you?”

  “Only if you let me go.”

  “No way, I’m never letting you go again.” And with that, his mouth is on mine, more demanding this time, less soft and careful. When his tongue slips into my mouth, I moan, and he presses his rock-hard erection against mine. With my hands sifting through his hair and his exploring my back, we kiss until I can’t catch my breath.

  Liam walks us across the pool with me wrapped around him like a monkey to the steps and climbs out. I never thought about Aunt Kitty watching us, or the fact that we don’t have a privacy fence, and Allie or her parents could stroll out into the yard at any moment.

  I didn’t think about anything except Liam’s hands on my ass, his tongue in my mouth, and our cocks straining against our shorts. He kisses and walks until he reaches the glass door where he manages to open it, get us inside, and set me on the kitchen island without making a sound.

  “I’ve wanted to fucking do this since the eighth grade, Noah,” he said with his lips still on mine between kisses. Not having to hold onto him anymore, my hands are free to roam his body, and I take full advantage of the opportunity.

  “Me, too. God, Liam, how did we deny ourselves each other for so long?” I say kissing a trail along his jaw and down his neck to his shoulder.

  “I didn’t want to scare you off.”

  “You never have to worry about that again,” I say bending to kiss his nipple.

  “Good. Do you think your aunt is asleep?”

  “No way, she’s probably got her ear against her bedroom door trying to hear what we’re doing.”

  His hands stop on my thighs, and he rears back an inch or two, “Seriously?”

  I chuckle. “Yeah, seriously. There’s a slim possibility she is more excited about you visiting than I am.”

  “So getting you naked and giving you a blow job here on the kitchen island is out?” I�
��m pretty sure my mouth is hanging open, and I am sure I’m not able to form words with said mouth. Did he just say he wanted to get me naked and suck my dick right here in the kitchen?

  After I don’t know how long, he ducks his head down and to the side narrowing his eyes as if to check and see if I’m awake, and I find my voice.

  “Um, I, uh, yeah, I think so.”

  “Well, that’s unfortunate.”

  “She will be at work all day tomorrow,” I say with a hopeful smile.

  He groans and pulls me to the edge until our cocks are touching through our sopping wet shorts. “Okay, we wait until she’s gone. What time does she leave?”

  I open my eyes wide and sit up straight, “Eight o’clock sharp.”

  “Then I will knock on your door at one minute after eight sharp.”

  I shake my head, “You don’t have to knock.”

  “Even better. See you in the morning, then?”

  “Yes, in the morning.”

  He takes a step back and helps me slide off the counter. When my feet hit the floor with a splat, he places a chaste kiss on my lips and turns to leave.

  “See you at eight,” he says, looking back at me over his shoulder with a wink. Oh my God, I’m in for a long night of no sleep while I watch the clock. If I didn’t think Aunt Kitty would hear us, I would have sneaked into his room before then. Unfortunately, that’s never going to work. Our rooms are in a cluster with hers right across the hall from the guest room and mine next to hers.

  With an erection so hard it hurts, I follow his wet footprints down the hall. When they stop at his door, I imagine following them inside until I hear Kitty moving around in her room. That sends me into my bedroom where I make a beeline for the shower to jack off before I try to do the impossible—sleep.

  12

  Liam – Hanky Panky

  Being with Noah makes me feel like a teenager again. Maybe it’s because we were denied the chance to have a relationship back then or maybe it’s sneaking around in his aunt’s house—I don’t know.

  What I do know is that I have a huge problem to take care of before I even consider going to sleep. I peel off my swim trunks and dry off with one of the towels Aunt Kitty left in a stack on the dresser. She is the best hostess ever. She thought of absolutely everything including a mini fridge with water, soda, tiny bottles of alcohol, snacks, towels, and toiletries, including condoms, if you can believe that. She even left a bowl of chocolates on the night table and a thick white bath robe in the en-suite bathroom.

  Staying with Aunt Kitty is better than a five-star hotel, but that has more to do with Noah being across the hall than any amenity she could ever provide.

  When I’m dry except for my damp hair, I crawl into bed naked and turn out the light. One side of the room has floor-to-ceiling windows like the rest of the rooms facing the back of the house. A streak of moonlight streams across the room from the small space where the curtains are open a crack, but I don’t worry about being seen sleeping in the buff in Noah’s dark, sleepy neighborhood.

  I sit with my back against the headboard and my heels together legs spread open in a Frog position. I grab a travel-sized bottle of lotion from the bedside table next to the chocolates and squeeze out a good amount before rubbing my hands together to warm the lotion. With the base of my cock held tight in one hand, I stroke it up and down and over the sensitive tip with the other thinking about Noah’s mouth on mine with his fingers wound tight in my hair and his cock against my belly in the pool. I have never wanted a man’s cock in my mouth as bad as I wanted his in the kitchen just now. With that vision in my mind, it only takes a few minutes of stroking myself before I thrust my hips up and cum violently into my hand.

  Staying quiet during that orgasm was utterly unbearable. I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning around eight-thirty when everyone in this quiet, retired neighborhood hears me yell his name again and again.

  After a long day of surprises, I take a quick shower and slip in between the sheets to dream about the man I never thought I would get to spend my life with. I can’t believe how fate has brought us back together again after all these years. If I ever doubted it before, and I don’t think I have, I am sure Noah and I are meant to be.

  When I open my eyes, I have the distinct feeling that it is much later than eight o’clock in the morning. Shit. When I went to bed last night, I forgot to set the alarm. I roll over and grab my phone off the night table and squint at the blurry numbers that read eleven-thirty. Fucking hell, I’ve wasted hours of our alone time sleeping the morning away.

  I fling the soft white duvet to the side and jump out of bed to grab a pair of jeans. As I pull them on, I open the bedroom door with the top button still unfastened and hear voices coming from the kitchen. It’s Kitty and Noah, but I can’t make out what they are saying.

  I’m not wandering out there with no shirt on with Kitty home. I turn around to grab a t-shirt from my suitcase that is open on the dresser. I yank it over my head, run my fingers through my unruly dark hair, and make my way down the hall.

  “There you are sleepyhead,” Kitty says clapping her hands together.

  “I’m so sorry. I must have been so tired last night, I forgot to set my alarm.” I look at Noah with pleading eyes hoping he will forgive me for such a lame move and an even lamer excuse.

  “You must have needed the sleep. It’s cool. Aunt Kitty wants to go to the aquarium with us today since it’s Saturday, and she doesn’t have to work,” Noah says, emphasizing Saturday. How did we both forget it’s the weekend?

  “Sounds great, you’re sure about this? I don’t want you to feel pressured into going out just because I’m visiting. Take your time, go at your own pace.”

  Kitty fans herself dramatically which reminds me of Theo, the drama king, and says, “Oh dear Lord, I love this man already.”

  Noah appears mortified at Kitty’s declaration of love for me, but I move to stand next to him and slide my arm around his shoulders. “She loves me,” I say to no one in particular.

  “Yeah well, she loves everyone,” Noah says. His tone is sarcastic, but he leans into me, and I give him a squeeze.

  “That’s not true. There are lots of people I don’t care about. Lucky for you I don’t invite those people into our lives, so you’ll never be subjected to their ick.”

  “Their ick?” Noah asks.

  “Yes, the ick that is them, their ick, people I don’t like are… ick.”

  “I guess I should thank you then, Aunt Kitty.”

  “You’re welcome. Now, how about I run down to the deli and pick up things for lunch, and we can eat outside on the patio?”

  “That sounds amazing, thank you, Kitty,” I say.

  “You are most welcome, my sweet boy. I’ll be right back, no hanky panky while I’m gone,” she says, wagging her finger and rounding the island to kiss Noah on the cheek.

  I purse my lips together to keep from laughing. I haven’t heard someone say hanky panky since my grandfather passed away five years ago.

  “What’s hanky panky?” Noah asks. Clearly, no one in his house ever used the old-fashioned term.

  “I’ll tell you later.” I smile at Kitty and remove my arm from Noah’s shoulders, taking a step away to assure her there will be no hanky panky. She nods in approval and grabs her purse off the counter leaving us alone. She’s teasing, why would she leave me condoms and then tell us no hanky panky?

  I sit on a bar stool next to Noah listening to Kitty’s car start in the garage.

  “Hanky panky?” he asks again with the cutest wrinkle between his eyebrows.

  “Fooling around.” I wiggle my eyebrows up and down.

  “Ah, got it. Must be a saying old people use, huh?”

  “Yeah, we could try to bring it back, though. Wanna go have some hanky panky?”

  “Um, I’m pretty sure we just agreed not to do that.”

  “Kidding, well not really, but you know what I mean. I’m going to go brush my teeth. Are w
e really going to the aquarium today?”

  “Yes. We are going.” He sounds like he is trying to convince himself, but I let it go. He needs to get out of this house, and if he’s willing to try, who am I to question that?

  “Okay, I’ll change my clothes, too, then.”

  His eyes do a head-to-toe scan of me. “You look fine, better than fine. You look fabulous.”

  I push my hand through my messy hair. “You’re biased.”

  He narrows his eyes and bites his lip checking my appearance again. “True, yeah, you better change. You probably look terrible.”

  I smile and shake my head when I slide off of the seat and make my way to my room. When I reach my door, I glance down the hall and catch him looking at my ass, but before I can say anything, he calls out, “Just enjoying the view.” And then he smiles a brilliant white smile that makes me dizzy.

  No man has ever affected me the way Noah does. He is beautiful inside and out. I don’t know why he’s so uptight about his appearance. He looks almost exactly like he did in high school. He’s lost a few pounds, but other than that, he still has the track star, preppy, photographer look that I love.

  And inside, oh my God, on the inside, he is even better. He is honest and open and sweet. It’s impossible to believe his parents treated him the way they did—disowning their only son. It’s such an extreme reaction, and for what? For not loving who they thought he should love, for being different? For being him?

  I knew I was lucky in the eighth grade when I came out to my parents. They were loving and accepting, and being innocent and a little ignorant, I encouraged Noah to do the same. I couldn’t imagine parents reacting any differently than mine did. He didn’t listen. He wouldn’t even say the words “I’m gay” out loud, but we both knew. We also knew there was something more than friendship between us even if nothing became of it.

  Being young and inexperienced, we didn’t grab that golden ring and hold onto it for dear life as we should have. So many things would have been different. So many things would have been better.

  No more looking back, it’s time to move forward. I have a week with Noah, one week to open his eyes and help him live his life instead of simply existing within the walls of his aunt’s house.