CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Thorne woke to Dash licking his ear. He tried to push him off, but Dash had a firm grip on his shoulder. “Get up. Get dressed. I’m taking you to breakfast.”
Thorne turned over and scowled at him, blinking in the bright morning light. “What time is it?”
“Time to be up and awake.”
As Thorne stretched, he felt every overused muscle in his body. His ass was still sore as hell from being spanked—fucking spanked—by a sassy little shit who was trying to make him wake up far too early after fucking him two—or was it three?—times, including once in the middle of the night.
“I’m not getting up.”
“I have ways of making you get out of this bed that you won’t like.”
Thorne snarled. “Don’t even think about it.”
“It’s nine thirty, and I’m starving.”
“Nine thirty?” Thorne couldn’t remember when he’d last slept that late. “Fuck.”
“Not before breakfast. You would’ve had to wake up earlier for that.”
Thorne sighed. “It would’ve killed me, anyway.”
Dash patted his leg. “See, it’s in your best interest to go out with me and recover a bit.”
Thorne looked at Dash, his impish grin, his ruffled hair, the T-shirt that was too tight or rather just perfect to show off his body. “I’m willing to risk it.”
Dash shook his head. “Get in the shower. We’re going to breakfast and then I’m going to show you my favorite animals at the aquarium.”
Surprisingly, Thorne wanted Dash to show him around the aquarium even more than he wanted to drag Dash back to bed.
***
An hour later Thorne and Dash were seated in a vinyl booth with duct tape placed over several cracks in the seat. “Are you sure about this place?” Thorne sure as hell wasn’t.
“Relax.”
He scowled at Dash. “You say that a lot.”
“You’re tense a lot.”
Thorne looked around. The diner might look decrepit, but it was packed with a wide-range of clientele: men in business suits, women in tennis skirts, families, people of all skin colors, and only a few patrons whose appearance was as ragged as the surroundings. He and Dash had waited twenty minutes for a table.
A thin, dark-haired waitress who looked about Thorne’s age approached their table a few minutes after they were seated. “Riley,” she said, her face lighting up. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you.”
“I’ve had a busy few weeks,” Dash/Riley said. “Sally, this is my friend Thorne.”
Sally gave Thorne an appreciative glance. “Good morning, Thorne. What can I get you?”
“Coffee, please, a lot of it.”
“Can do. Same for you, Riley?”
“Yes, and go ahead and bring us some biscuits and gravy while we decide what else we want.”
Sally grinned. “Good choice. And may I say you are looking particularly fine this morning.”
Dash blushed, actually blushed. “Thank you.”
Thorne grinned at him after she walked away. “If you ask me, you look damn fine every morning.”
“You’ve only seen me in the morning twice.”
“And both times I wanted to drag you right back to bed.”
Sally returned swiftly with coffee and biscuits. The coffee was good, much better than Thorne expected, and the biscuits were absolutely divine.
“Good, huh?” Dash asked after they’d each eaten a few bites.
Thorne nodded. “Very.”
“I’ll never get tired of you agreeing with me.”
Thorne kicked his ankle under the table. “Cheeky bastard.”
“You love it.”
“Yeah, I do.” That was the problem.
Dash perused the menu. “Hmmm. What to order next?”
“Next? Isn’t this enough?” Considering Thorne usually had nothing but coffee for breakfast—maybe a muffin or croissant from a street cart if he was feeling extravagant—he’d already eaten three times his usual amount.
“Of course it’s not enough. I’d order one of everything, but they’d have to roll us out of here and we’d never manage to walk around the aquarium.”
“I’m not sure—”
“How spicy do you like things?” Dash asked, completely ignoring his attempt to be sensible.
Thorne narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you already know?”
“Ha. Just for that I’ll order the habanero grits, and you can fucking deal.”
“I’d love those,” Thorne said, voice overly sweet.
Sally returned, and Dash made sure Thorne had no chance to interrupt. “Thorne will have blackberry-glazed bacon, two eggs over easy, and the habanero grits. I’ll take the Midtown Benedict.”
“You got it.” Sally winked at Thorne. “Those grits are my favorite. You’ve got a keeper here.” She jerked her thumb toward Dash.
“Oh, we’re not—”
She gave him a look that made him feel like an unruly schoolboy and sauntered away.
He looked back at Dash expecting to see more mocking laughter, but Dash looked worried. “I’m not trying to out you.”
Thorne should’ve cared, but he didn’t. “It’s fine. I’m not at work, and… Anyway, it’s fine.” Was he ready to give in, to let everyone know that he was gay? He’d been hiding for so long. Could he make that kind of change? For Dash, maybe he could. But that was stupid because Dash wasn’t his, not really. He had no hold on him beyond the time he paid for. “Just don’t ask me to bend over the table or anything.”
Dash laughed. “I think I can control myself.”
***
By the time they’d seen whale sharks, belugas, sea otters, and a host of other underwater creatures, Thorne felt like they’d walked for miles, and maybe they had. But throbbing feet was a price worth paying for Dash’s companionship.
“Can we see the whale sharks one more time?” Dash asked.
The exhibit had been packed when they’d first arrived, but now the crowds were thinning. Thorne was more than ready to head home, but Dash looked so eager, he couldn’t say no. “Come on.”
He pulled Dash in the direction of the Ocean Voyager exhibit. They spent at least fifteen minutes watching the whale sharks, sawfish, rays, and other animals in the enormous tank. Or at least Dash did. As intriguing as the exhibit was, Thorne spent a lot of that time watching Dash.
“You ready?” Dash asked, finally turning away from the tank.
“Yes. Shall we head home?”
Dash nodded, and they made their way through the gift store to the exit.
When they came out into the adjacent park, Dash pointed at the small cafe located between the aquarium and the World of Coke. “Let’s get ice cream.” He was bouncing like a five-year-old.
“After that breakfast I don’t think I should ever eat again.”
“If that was breakfast, then we’ll call this lunch.”
“Says your twenty-year-old metabolism.”
Dash turned to face him, but kept moving backward toward the cafe. “We’ve been walking for hours, plus we’ll need energy tonight.”
“Fine. I may as well give in now, or you’ll pester me until I do.” Thorne couldn’t wait to use up Dash’s energy in bed, but this had been, by far, the best day Thorne could remember having had in years. “I’m ordering this time.”
Dash grinned. “Go for it.”
The cafe sold soft-serve ice cream in vanilla, chocolate, or a twist of both. “I’d like a cone of the combo with sprinkles and a cone of chocolate.”
The little boy in Dash bounced again when Thorne handed him his ice cream.
“Did I guess right?” Thorne asked.
“Perfect.” Dash radiated joy. He must really like ice cream and maybe also the fact that Thorne knew him so well. If only every day could be like this one. But it couldn’t. Thorne was living inside a fantasy, secluded from the real world, despite being in a crowded public place. Monday would come, and his fantasy would dissolve.
Dash licked the curled top off his ice cream and gave an exaggerated moan of pleasure.
Thorne’s cock liked that a little too much. “Let’s find a shady place so we can eat these before they melt.”
They found a nearby bench and sank down onto it. Without warning Dash leaned over and licked Thorne’s ice cream.
“Hey! You’ve got your own.”
“Stolen ice cream tastes better. Don’t you know that?”
Thorne raised his brows. “My sister used to say the same thing.”
“She’s wise.” Dash held out his cone. “Here, taste mine.”
Thorne frowned. “It has sprinkles on it.”
“Yeah. You asked for them.”
“For you.”
Dash rolled his eyes. “Just taste it.”
Thorne did; the sugar punch of the sprinkles wasn’t as unpleasant as he’d expected.
“See, sweet things aren’t the enemy,” Dash said.
“No, they’re not.” Somehow Thorne didn’t think they were talking about ice cream.
***
Back at his apartment a few hours later, Thorne sank gratefully onto the couch, thrilled to be off his feet. “Movie now?” Dash asked.
“Sure.” Thorne closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the couch.
“Are you going to fall asleep on me?”
“No, old men like me don’t fall asleep when we sit down, we rest our eyes.”
“Ha!” Dash slapped his thigh and encouraged him to scoot over. “I bet I can find a way to keep you awake.”
Thorne scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “Where do you get this stamina?”
“It’s a job requirement.”
The silence that followed was suffocating. Thorne didn’t know how to respond. From the look on Dash’s face, his words had startled him back to reality like they had Thorne. Had they really forgotten that Dash was there because Thorne had hired him?
Dash grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. “You do have a Netflix subscription, right?”
Thorne nodded. “I don’t know why. I hardly ever use it.”
“Let’s put it to good use now.”
Thorne lay back against the arm of the couch, and Dash stretched half on top of him, using his chest as a pillow. Thorne let his eyes drift shut again as Dash scrolled through movie choices.
“Oooh, Footloose. What about that one? I’ve been wanting to see it again ever since watching Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“What? Why?”
Dash sighed and shook his head. “Does this mean you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy?”
“Um…I don’t even know what it is.”
“Where have you been? Groot? Rocket? Beefed-up Chris Pratt? Seriously?”
“Is it on Netflix?”
“No.”
“We’ll rent it then.” Thorne grabbed the remote. He exited Netflix and clicked on iTunes. He could feel Dash’s impatience as he painstakingly typed in the letters to search for the title.
“You can do that on your phone, you know.”
“Whatever.” The movie popped up on the screen. “See, there it is. Back in the olden days, we had to drive to a video store to get a movie. You kids have it easy.”
“Quit with the old jokes. Anyone that can do what you did last night is nowhere near old.”
Suddenly Thorne didn’t feel quite so tired. “Maybe when this is over, I’ll do it again.”
“Mmm. I like that plan.”
They started the movie. Dash gave a brief explanation, most of which Thorne failed to understand, but eventually he started to get into it. And yeah, Chris Pratt was surely looking fine. But Thorne was more entertained by Dash’s ability to quote the lines and his emotive reactions to everything whether it was sad, funny, or worthy of whoops and cheers.
After an intense scene, Dash caught Thorne staring. “What?”
“You. You’re so…fun to watch.”
“Are you laughing at me?” Dash pouted.
“No, I’m enjoying you.”
“Good. But what about the movie?”
“It’s fine. You’re better.” Thorne slid his hand into Dash’s hair and pulled him down for a kiss.
BY THE TIME Dash pulled back for air, his breath was ragged. “Whoa.” He grabbed the remote and clicked off the movie.
“We didn’t see the end,” Thorne teased.
“We’ll see it later. I don’t care about movies now.” He tugged at the hem of Thorne’s T-shirt. “Off.”
Thorne grinned as he sat up and yanked the garment over his head. Before he could say or do anything else, Dash shoved him back down, hands skimming over his chest.
“You’re so fucking hot,” Dash murmured. He replaced his hands with lips and tongue. He teased Thorne’s nipples and then nibbled at his collarbone. “Bed?”
“Not sure I can move,” Thorne answered.
Dash stood, pulled off his own shirt and then shucked the rest of his clothing. He wrapped a hand around his cock and stroked himself. “Would you move for this?”
Thorne smiled up at him. “I’m starting to feel a little inspired.”
Dash kept going, his hand moving faster, his grip tightening. Thorne sat up and reached for him, but Dash backed away. “Come with me.”
Thorne did, and the next few hours passed in a tangle of rough thrusting and sweaty flesh.
“What next?” Dash asked as he lay on his back, recovering from his second orgasm.
“A nap,” Thorne suggested.
Dash started to protest, but he could tell Thorne was already drifting off. So he rolled over and spooned him. “This has been a great day.”
“The best.”
“Any withdrawal symptoms from not working?”
Thorne laughed. “Not a fucking one.”
“Surprised?”
“I would be if I wasn’t with you.”
Dash’s heart skipped a beat, the words sinking into his skin, warming him. He was tired, too tired to fight what he was feeling. “Earlier when I said that about my job, I—”
“Don’t.” Thorne’s tone was firm.
Dash didn’t say any more. Had he read things wrong?
Thorne put a hand on top of Dash’s. “It’s enough that you’re here.”
Okay, maybe he’d read Thorne right after all.
Thinking the best response was simply to hold Thorne tight against him, he did just that and fell asleep to thoughts of a day spent like this one, except Thorne wasn’t paying him; they were on a date.
Don’t get your hopes up, his conscience tried to scold him.
He told it to shut the fuck up.