Seth

 

The mattress springs whined, protesting underneath Seth’s restless body as he tossed and turned, trying and failing to find a comfortable position for sleep. He couldn’t reach that delicious edge where merely relaxing a little would allow him to fall into a peaceful dream.

Instead, his thoughts relentlessly drifted toward the man he had met that morning. Each time his eyes slid shut, images of a tall, dark-haired man with wide shoulders, a broad chest, and heavy Eastern European features, salt sprinkled through the hair on his head and on his chest, his thick eyebrows still black as night, jerked him away from sleep.

It had been a very long time since Seth had been attracted to someone outside of a club or party, where the intent was to get laid after a few drinks. Not that he hadn’t had sex, but being interested enough that the few hours they had spent together left him hoping for more? That hadn’t happened since before his aunt died. He and Sacha hadn’t even touched, except when Seth had slipped down the ladder and smacked into his broad chest. Seth was pretty sure, as he ran the replay through his head, that the way Sacha’s gaze focused on him wasn’t because he was disgusted. It seemed quite the opposite.

As cliché as it sounded, even in the privacy of his own head, it was something about Sacha’s eyes. The whole package was pretty fucking incredible, but it was his eyes. When Sacha had realized what he looked like and why strangers were looking at them funny, his laughter had changed his entire face.

It had been automatic for Seth to offer help. He had trained as an EMT, although he’d only worked for a few months in Arizona before quitting. It had been too hard after Marnie died. Everything had been too hard.

Then the guy had laughed. Genuinely laughed, and he’d gone from slightly worrisome-looking to devastatingly handsome. The laughter had awakened something in Seth that had been quiet far too long.

The whole exchange had been a kind of out-of-body experience. Not that Seth was shy in any way, but inviting a stranger to come to his home and take a shower? His common sense had fled.

Rolling onto his other side, he twitched the covers off and punched the pillow before lying back with a groan. He tried shutting his eyes again, only to be flooded with more images. The inner slide show began with the moment Sacha’s expression turned from suspicion and confusion to laughter, and his eyes had changed from a murky green to a clear agate. Seth’s heart had lurched in his chest.

When Sacha had straightened to his full height, looking Seth directly in the eyes, proving he was a few inches taller than Seth—rare enough—he’d looked right into Seth’s soul. Seth felt exposed, like he had left a hidden door to himself open without realizing it, allowing the handsome stranger a peek inside. It unnerved him. Seth stayed in control of his interactions, both social and sexual.

He shifted again. Crud, at this rate he might as well get out of bed and do something productive. Picking up his phone, he checked the time. 02:33 glared from the screen. Seth rolled over onto his stomach, pressing his face into the cool side of the pillow.

After experiencing a bizarre negative space inside himself since his aunt died, he didn’t exactly trust his reaction to Sacha…

Could a person travel from below zero to deep attraction in a few short hours? Seth knew nothing about Sacha, only that he appeared to be a history junkie like himself and had taken on the task of bringing an old building back to life.

Annnd, he was back to thinking about those eyes, laugh lines like starbursts, a smile that took Sacha’s face from being imposing to… something else, something Seth wanted to hold in his hands.

Seth became aware of an answering tingle in his groin. If he wasn’t going to sleep, he might as well rub one out. Flicking back the covers, he reached down and pulled off his sleep shorts—commando, who wanted sweaty balls? The cool night air caressed his skin as he reached down to stroke himself. His half-hard cock felt good against his palm; jerking off was always one of those weird dual experiences because both his cock and his hands liked what they felt.

A few languid tugs, a twist at the top and a thumb along the tip, and Seth was as hard as a rock. Bending and then spreading his knees a little, he reached down with his other hand and began to roll his balls around. Fuck, it felt good. Not as good as if someone else was doing it, but enough. He wasn’t going to feel the remotest bit guilty if a virtual stranger’s face helped him focus.

He wanted to draw the sensation out longer, but once he got started—the iron-hard slide of his erection under his palm, precome oozing from his slit—he couldn’t stop himself from coming and didn’t want to. Thrusting into his hand in earnest, pumping himself harder and faster, he came with a breathless grunt, spilling over his hand and onto his stomach.

He lay there panting for a few minutes before getting up and wiping himself off with toilet paper. Back in his bed, he left the sleep pants off and covered himself with the top sheet. The next thing he knew, it was morning and bright sunshine was trying its hardest to stream into his bedroom.

The sunshine was about the only thing bright. Seth logged on to check his bank account, and it reminded him that, sooner rather than later, he needed to make the rounds again giving out flyers for his budding landscaping business. Perhaps even resort to checking his email.

Of the trades he had tried his hand at, landscaping was his favorite. He and Marnie had gardened together, as much as they could in hot, dry Arizona. Shaking himself out of his reverie, Seth headed out to mow his front lawn. Neighborhood be damned, he would have a yard—garden—to be proud of.

Earlier in the year he’d discovered hellebore. Subtly beautiful and mysterious, its foliage and flower were often close to the same color, and the flower was a perfectly shaped bell, a perfect crown for faery monarchy. It came in a variety of shades from green to cream, purple to pink, one so dark it was almost black.

The plants didn’t like much sun; the home Seth had found for them along the side yard was perfect, and they were thriving there in the near-constant shade. He enjoyed them, picking out the vagaries of color that made them so interesting and complicated.

Several hours later, Seth surveyed his morning’s work. If he was lucky, between the night-blooming nicotiana, bee balm, Russian sage, and buddleia, he would have hummingbirds and honeybees visiting on a regular basis. If he was patient, maybe he would discover their hoard.