32
Sam
Sam felt like the worst kind of asshole. Hearing about Ben’s ex had been painful, not because Ben had an ex, but because he had been treated so badly by him. He deserved so much better than that. He deserved someone who would cherish him and adore him for who he was—not lie to his family about his financial state.
Of course, at the time, it had seemed so different. Sam hadn’t manipulated Ben’s financial state; he had invented it, just like he had invented the rest of his boyfriend. That boyfriend had just happened to be based on Ben.
Somehow, Sam didn’t think he would see it that way.
He walked down the stairs, guilt heavy like lead in his stomach. The kids ran in first, Karrigan and their older cousin, Xavier, in the lead.
“Sammy, Sammy guess what?” Karrigan bounded over, and Sam scooped her up.
At least he wouldn’t be allowed to wallow in self-pity very long. “What’s up, buttercup?”
“I saw a snake today!”
Panic surged through Sam, and he twisted Karrigan in his arms to make sure she wasn’t hurt. “Where? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
A hand on his back stilled him, and he looked over to see Ben smiling at Karrigan. “Clearly she didn’t, or else she wouldn’t be so excited, now would she? Honestly, how did you ever go camping?”
Sam scowled, or tried to anyway. He found it nearly impossible around Ben. “It’s different with me. I’m an adult who’s grew up in the Boy Scouts and goes camping with Matías every now and again. She’s a five-year-old girl who has no wilderness training at all.”
“She’s okay,” Ben said, drawing out the word.
He pressed a kiss to Sam’s temple, and Sam found himself relaxing against the touch. Ben knew how to make him feel better.
“We ordered pizza on the way home,” Aunt Louise said. “Figured that would be better than having to cook something after a day out.”
That was a good point, and Sam was glad they’d thought of that. His stomach grumbled, even though he’d had popcorn not too long ago. When it came to pizza, he was always down for it, especially when it was Grana’s. That was one of his favorite parts of coming in for the reunions, even if it was a small one.
“How are you feeling, Ben?” his mom asked. “We heard you didn’t have a great experience with the horses.”
“Oh. Yeah, I had never been close to one before, and now I know why. Turns out, my body really doesn’t like them. Luckily, Matías was able to help, and I’ve been hanging out in bed with Sam all day. I mean—”
The older family members laughed, while the younger ones just looked confused.
“We watched Grease,” Sam said quickly. “Ben had never seen it, and I thought I would introduce him to one of the best musicals ever made.”
Ben’s hand was still on his back, resting just above his ass, he was acutely aware of how close they were to one another. His cheeks were hot, and Sam was sure the rest of his family would be able to see that he was blushing. Suddenly, he felt himself yearning for a bit of privacy with Ben, away from everyone. He set Karrigan back down on the ground and cleared his throat.
“I’m going to go grab some wine to have with the pizza. Ben, want to come with me?” His voice sounded tight to his own ears, but he didn’t care. The sooner they got out of there, the better.
Ben glanced over at him, his expression quizzical, but he nodded and took Sam’s hand. “Yeah, sure. Lead the way.”
Sam did, practically tugging Ben down the entry hall, through the kitchen and down the stairs into the wine cellar. He had no idea what it was about the conversation that made him need Ben right then and there, but whatever it was, he wasn’t going to fight it.
He pulled the door closed behind them and started down the stairs, but Ben stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“What’s going on? Why couldn’t the wine have waited?”
That was actually kind of adorable. Ben had no idea what effect he had on Sam.
“I brought you down here because your hand was practically on my ass, and the thought of bed and our close proximity meant that being around my family was no longer comfortable. And instead of saying ‘sorry guys, we’ll be back in a bit but we’re going to have sex now,’ I decided the best thing to do would be to bring us down to the wine cellar.”
Ben blinked. “And you don’t think they’ll notice that we stayed down here a lot longer than it takes to get wine?”
A slow smile spread its way across Sam’s lips. “Who said it’s going to take very long?”
He pulled Ben forward by his shirt and captured his lips in a deep, possessive kiss. It was more than just how close they had been standing, he realized. He wanted to show Ben that he adored everything about him. There wasn’t a part of him that he didn’t love.
Love.
The word had come up several times over the past few days, when he thought about Ben. At first, he didn’t think it was possible that he could love him after knowing him for such a short time, but that wasn’t the case at all. He had known Ben for a year. No, they hadn’t been together for that long, and no, he didn’t know everything there was to know about him, but Sam knew the important things about Ben. He knew enough to know that he loved him.
Now if Ben loved him, too, they were really in business.
He guided Ben to one of the few bare patches of wall that wasn’t lined with wine bottles and hastily unbuttoned his pants. He didn’t even bother unzipping before pushing them, along with his underwear, down past his hips. The sight of Ben’s cock was mouthwatering. Sam wondered if that feeling would ever go away, or if he would always have the Pavlovian response of wanting to drop to his knees when he saw it. As much as he wanted to, it would take far too long for both of them to go down on the other. Instead, he pushed his own jeans down and pulled out his hard length.
Ben’s gaze slid up and down his body, and he licked his lips, then pulled Sam forward by his hips. Bracing one hand on the wall behind Ben, Sam wrapped the other around both their cocks and stroked. They both groaned.
“Fuck, that’s good,” Ben breathed.
Sam kissed him again, Ben’s beard raspy against his chin, but the prickly sensation only added to his pleasure. He stroked in long, firm motions, rolling his hips as he did to get the most out of what they were doing. It wasn’t as good as a blow job, but it would do in a pinch.
Ben was hardly idle as Sam moved. He slid his hands up underneath Sam’s tee shirt and lightly raked his fingernails down his back, all the way to his ass. Sam shivered, breaking the kiss to suck a mark onto the tender spot beneath his ear as Ben gripped his ass.
“Loved your ass from the first time I saw you.”
That shocked Sam. He had never thought of it as remarkable. It was always just kind of there.
“Did you, now?” he asked with a smirk.
Ben nodded. “I used to think about all the things I wanted to do to it. And wondered if it would feel as nice in my hands as I thought it would.”
“Did it live up to your expectations?”
Cupping the cheeks in his hands, Ben kissed him soundly, then dropped another kiss on his nose. “Easily surp-assed.”
Sam groaned. How did he manage to make a pun while they were literally having sex? “I thought I was supposed to be the one with the dad jokes,” he grumbled.
“I saw the opportunity and I took it. The student has become the master.”
Something about the word sent a jolt of lust straight through his groin. “I’ll show you master,” he growled.
Nipping at Ben’s neck, he redoubled his efforts to bring them both pleasure. He ran the fingers of his free hand through Ben’s hair, tugging just hard enough to elicit a moan that was quickly swallowed by a kiss. Sam slid his tongue inside Ben’s mouth, stroking and teasing and tasting. He flicked the tip along Ben’s tongue, encouraging him to reciprocate.
The hands that had been roaming up and down his back were now bunched in his shirt, clinging as though Sam was the only thing tethering Ben to the earth. Sam’s breath came quicker now as he thrust faster, his muscles clenching with each roll of his hips.
Nothing existed but the two of them. It didn’t matter that anyone could open the door and walk down the stairs at any time. In fact, that only made the tryst that much more thrilling. The option of not getting caught was equally as enticing. They would put themselves to rights, grab a couple of bottles of wine, and head upstairs, knowing full well that everyone over the age of twelve would know exactly what they had done downstairs.
His hips stuttered, and Sam knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold off much longer. The least he could do was give Ben a mind-blowing orgasm. Pulling his fingers free from Ben’s hair, he stuck one in his mouth and laved his tongue around it, getting it as wet as possible. Then he parted Ben’s cheeks and pushed the tip of his finger inside, slowly easing it the rest of the way in.
“Oh shit,” Ben groaned.
It wasn’t entirely a groan of pleasure, so Sam stopped moving. “You okay?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah. Burns a bit, but I want to feel it.”
He pushed back against the finger as though to prove his point, so Sam kept going, working it inside Ben while stroking their cocks at the same time. Neither one of them was going to last. Sam could feel the orgasm building in his balls, and judging from the way Ben was moving underneath him, he was equally as close. Belatedly, Sam realized they had nothing to clean up with. His mind scrambled, trying to think of some solution, but Ben got there first. He pulled a wad of tissues out of his front pocket.
“How do you have those?” Sam asked breathlessly.
Ben’s voice was just as shaky. “Horse allergy. Runny nose. These are clean.”
At this point, Sam wasn’t entirely sure that would have been a deal breaker, but all the same, he was grateful they were unused. Ben covered their cocks while Sam continued to move, but he didn’t have to wait very long. His balls tightened and he bit down on Ben’s shoulder to keep from shouting as he came. A moment later, Ben’s release joined his. Slowly, Sam pulled his finger free from Ben’s ass and wiped it on the tissue as well, then leaned heavily on Ben’s shoulder.
“I can’t believe we just did that,” he said, with a near-hysterical laugh.
Ben laughed as well, sending tremors through Sam’s body. “You’re insane, you know that, right? Absolutely insane. How are we going to explain this to your family?”
Sam thought for just a moment. “We’ll say we got lost.”
“And you honestly think they’ll buy that?”
He shrugged. “It’s a big wine cellar. Like I said: a thousand bottles.”
They looked at each other and both burst into laughter. Tears formed in the corners of Sam’s eyes as he giggled. It didn’t matter what they told his family; more than likely, they would see right through the lie. But that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was standing right in front of him.