30
RYAN
TWO MONTHS LATER
The air outside is just cold enough to indicate a kiss of winter as it blows its way in, which is pretty typical of southern Texas in December. I hope we at least get some jacket weather in time for Christmas, which will be here before we know it.
Just after I gather up my things and lock up my office for the fall semester, I run into Dana in the hall on my way out. “Have a great winter break!” she sings cheerily at me. “Don’t forget about my New Year’s party! You and Stefan are both invited.”
“Thanks, Dana. I’m pretty sure we’ll be there. Stefan’s kinda curious to meet this new guy you’re dating, too.”
“I may need to break him in a bit more before we decide if it’s a serious thing,” she confesses. “He is a bit … vanilla ice cream with nothing on top … when it comes to the bedroom. Oh, you should have seen the look on his face when I introduced him to my particular brand of …” She scrunches up her face. “Sorry. That’s an overshare, I know. But let’s just say it involved my knee-high black leather hooker boots and a cat o’ nine tails. He’ll warm up to it.”
I snort. “Poor guy. He’s so lucky. And also incredibly brave.”
“Brave,” she agrees. “Anyone who dares to date me is brave. Ugh, if only all of us could have what you and Stefan have.” She gives my cheek a sudden pinch. “Thanks for being my friend and not being scared off by my intensity.”
“A pinch on the cheek? What am I, your grandson?” I pull her in for a hug, dressing myself unintentionally in her perfume while she laughs. “And likewise. Thanks for being a friend. Keep in touch and I’ll be sure to see you New Year’s Eve … plus or minus your totally lucky guy.”
“Brave,” she corrects me with half a laugh, then waves at me with her long-nailed fingers as I make my way for the door.
The drive home is quick, and I’m feeling fifty pounds lighter. Today was a great one. I was told by the principal himself (in a rather random, unexpected drop-by) that my performance this fall was really impressive, that I kept up with all of my work, and that the students and other staff are responding positively to me. I sat there for a solid ten minutes after he left wondering when the hell (and why the hell) anyone would have taken the time to note positive things about me.
I guess I’ll be left wondering for the rest of the winter break. Either way, it made me smile and straightened my back right up.
As if my day couldn’t get any better, I got another random visit from my favorite too-cool-for-school student—Frederick—who wanted to let me know that he was passing his classes, that he was tired of feeling sorry for himself, and that he appreciated my patience and attention with him. I told him congratulations and that I did notice he picked up his grades. Then he dropped a paper invite on my desk to a holiday piano recital he was doing over the winter break and told me he’d appreciate it if I could make it, then gave me a meek little wave and headed on his way.
Morris High apparently had quite a surprising way to deliver its Christmas presents to me early. I’m leaving the office, driving home with a smile on my face.
When I pull into my driveway, I get a whole new surprise. My house was dark and boring this morning. Now, it’s decked out in flashing, vibrant lights of every color. After getting out of my car, I stand there in the yard and stare, dazzled by my own house.
Of course this is Stefan’s doing. He’s clearly been busy today.
The moment I open the front door, Stefan appears in a tight red sweater and jeans, his light brown hair a mess and his blue eyes alight with mischief. Out of nowhere, he produces something from behind his back and dangles it over our heads.
He descends on my mouth before I can get a look at it. I’m hastily silenced as the kiss intensifies. A firm hand slips around my back, pulling me into the house as the front door slams behind me. When our lips pull apart, I glance up.
“Mistletoe.”
He tosses it into the wicker chair by the door and brings both of his arms around me, holding my body against his with the force of a hundred giants. I was a bit cool outside; now I’m downright sweating against his body.
“Jeez, Stefan! You’re acting like I left you caged up in this house without any food and you’re starving!” I laugh. “What the hell’s up with you?”
He grabs my ass suddenly, pulling me against him. “I got an early Christmas present for you, that’s what.”
I lift an eyebrow. “A new sexy outfit you’re gonna model for me tonight?”
Stefan grins. “That’s for later.”
“What? You do have a new sexy outfit? I was kidding.”
“I’m not. But that’s not the early Christmas present you’re getting. The one I’m talking about is behind me.”
“Oh?” I bend to look around him.
Stefan blocks my view. “Nope, nope. Not yet.” He unties my tie, peels it right off my neck, then wiggles his finger at me. “Turn around.”
Already, my stomach is dancing with excitement. I fucking love when Stefan gets all evil-playful on me. I do as instructed, turning my back to him and facing the front door. Gently, my own tie comes around to blindfold me. I feel Stefan’s fingers work at the back of my head to secure it tightly.
There’s something about being blindfolded with your own tie that is immeasurably erotic, like your own clothes are turning against you.
He takes my hand. “Ready?”
“Guess I gotta be!”
Stefan guides me blindly through the living room and toward what I perceive is the sliding glass door to the backyard. When I step through the doorway, however, my feet touch a hard wooden surface instead of grass.
Holy crap. Did he already finish his pet project?
“How much do you love me?” he asks into my ear, tickling the hairs there and sending a wave of thrill through me.
“Just take off the damned blindfold already,” I tell him through my excited smile.
He does, slipping it off my face in one deft movement.
Before my eyes is the completed deck he’s spent the last few weeks building. It’s a beautiful mahogany-colored deck that runs along the back of my house with a small section that dips into the yard. A handcrafted table that looks more like a piece of art rests under a pretty chandelier and fan, adorned with sparkling white lights. Along the perimeter of the whole deck is a smooth, wooden banister that is dressed in Christmas lights that chase each other, twinkle, and blink in random sequences, appearing so much like glittering golden diamonds. I’m overwhelmed by the sight.
“This is fucking gorgeous, Stefan.”
“See those steps there?” he asks, pointing toward the part of the deck that dips deeper into the lawn. “They’ll lead to a hot tub, which I plan to put right next to the sister trees there. I’ll get a few decorative stones, too. Big ones.”
“It’s a damned paradise back here.”
I can’t peel my eyes away from it all. Everywhere I look, I feel like I notice something new. A pretty, ornate birdhouse hanging near the edge. A glass table on which he’s set out some of my small collectible dragons, including a wooden one that Rudy made for me as a mid-semester project in his shop class. (It looks more like a water moccasin with wings, but maybe that’s just me and Stefan and our subconscious fears, thanks to a certain day we spent at Terry Park.) There’s even a centerpiece on the table in which five lit candles create a soft, natural warm glow amidst the twinkling Christmas lights.
“It’s a work in progress,” Stefan insists. “There will be a lot more things I want to add out here. Like a TV. And that hot tub in the back. Remember those tiles that you liked that we didn’t end up using at Parker’s? I’m gonna renovate our bathroom, next.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “You really have some seriously impressive skills here, Stefan. I can’t believe you did all of this on your own.”
“Well, I had a tiny bit of help here and there.”
“You’re a fucking natural.” I can’t stop staring in awe.
“Another mistletoe.”
I blink and turn to him. “What?”
He kisses me again, pulling me against his body. When our hips press together, I feel something else throbbing in his pants with need.
We’re going to have to move on to his next early present very soon.
“I want to see this sexy outfit,” I tell him when the kiss ends. “You’ve decked out my backyard. Literally. Now I want you to deck … you out.”
“Oh, it’ll come later tonight. Rest assured. But first: getting you out of these clothes … and filling your belly with a tasty, long-awaited dinner … followed by a nice, warm, relaxing shower.”
I grin. “It’s a good day at Resort Del Baker.”
His fingers trace their way up my shirt, then mischievously pull each of its buttons open—pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop—and then my shirt is on the floor. Next, he hooks his fingers into the waistband of my slacks.
That’s where he makes a pleasant discovery. “My habit has really rubbed off on you,” he notes.
“All the cool peeps free-ball it.”
With his finger still hooked on the waistband of my slacks, he pulls me back into the house toward our bedroom where a more comfortable change of clothes awaits before dinner and a shower.
We take a whole half hour “changing” my clothes.
Our lips seem addicted to one another’s.
Forgetting that anything else exists in the world other than our lips and our passion is a daily habit I don’t mind never kicking.
The whole time we’re eating, he won’t stop staring at me.
“Really, if you wanted me to be the dinner, you could’ve just asked,” I tell him after a bite of my ridiculously perfectly cooked pasta in a wine-and-basil sauce.
He smirks as he tears a piece of Italian bread in half. “My mom wanted me to ask you about that minced meat pie you said you’d make for the party.”
“Oh, yeah. Christmas dinner at the Baker’s.” I shake my head. “I hope everyone likes it. It’s a totally new recipe I found that I’ve been wanting to try. Oh, and you’ll finally get to meet my sister all grown up! I’m so excited she’s finally coming down. Can you believe it’s been over six months since I last saw her?”
“We have a lot of things to look forward to.”
“We do,” I agree, smiling at him across the table as I fork up my last tasty bite. “Kinda like my next early Christmas gift.”
“Wow. I spoil the fuck out of you, don’t I? Where the hell’s my early Christmas presents?”
“Guess you’ll have to wait,” I tell him, “until my mouth … and your cock … figure it out.”
Stefan abandons the rest of his dinner and grabs me right out of my chair, slinging me over a shoulder and swatting my butt as I laugh and fight him for all of two seconds.
When he’s horny and has me over his shoulder, it’s futile to try and resist.
He always gets his way.
The next moment, I’m tossed onto the bed like a used sock. I flip onto my back to face him. Stefan looms over me like a giant, and his eyes are full of hungry intent.
“Strip,” he orders me. “I’m going to change. I want you on this bed, naked, and waiting for me when I return.”
“You got it, coach,” I tease him.
Stefan smirks. “I’d hardly call what I do coaching. It’s more like organized chaos on a field with a bunch of lonely gay kids.”
“So what you’re saying is: ‘Thank you for that one Saturday when you took me to the monthly LGBTQIA-plus youth meeting to speak to a bunch of kids about myself and meet other gay men and women who care about helping the world’s lost youth’? You’re welcome, Stefan.”
“We were once lost youth,” mutters Stefan at my doorway.
“Now I’m a school counselor, and you’re a man of many, many skills. You unite all the lonely gay youth of Newmont, Texas—and other surrounding towns like Fairview, Spruce, and the outskirts of our mother city of Houston—every month through the love of sports. You generously and thoroughly renovate people’s homes and thereby save their lives one room or lavishly decked-out deck at a time …”
“You speak way too highly of me. I’m just yesterday’s washed-up athlete and a glorified handyman.”
I sit up on the bed. “You’re so much more than that, Stefan, and you know it.”
He scoffs and smirks, but I see the twinkle of appreciation in his eyes. He may not take compliments well, but he’ll have to suffer getting them from me every damned day until I’m certain he believes them.
“Get naked,” he tells me. “Unless you don’t want your final early Christmas present.”
“Oh, I want. I very much want.”
“Good. Now strip and stay right where you are, Caulfield.” He chuckles, winks at me, then departs the room.
I peel off my clothes in seconds, then lie on the bed perfectly naked and ready for whatever it is I’m about to enjoy. I am so damned excited that my whole body trembles with anticipation. Or maybe it’s the slight chill in the air of impending winter.
When I hear the click of the door, I steel myself for whatever glorious sight I’m about to behold. I lie on my back, just as Stefan ordered me to, and watch with unblinking eyes as the door opens.
Stefan appears—and he’s completely geared up from head to toe in a blue and white baseball uniform.
I could die right now.
His uniform clings to every single contour of muscle you can imagine. With just the small movement of strutting into my room like he owns it, I see the bulge of his biceps through the fabric and the pop of both of his pecs in his shirt, tucked into the tightest, sexiest baseball knickers complete with blue belt and blue piping down the sides. His socks hug two thick, muscular calves, and he’s got on the blue and white cleats. He even put on his blue cap and dabbed eye black across the tops of his cheeks.
And then here’s my naked ass sprawled out on a bed wearing nothing at all.
“Remember the day I walked in on you getting your rocks off in your old uniform?” Stefan asks me.
I clench shut my eyes, my face flushing at once. “I thought we said we’d forget that day ever happened.”
“Open those eyes, Caulfield.”
Begrudgingly, I open them back up, gifted all over again with the breathtaking sight of Stefan in his baseball gear.
“You’re the one who taught me not to fear what I’m into,” he reminds me. “So here’s a lesson right back to you. I know you were jerking to this that day I walked in on you.” He grips his crotch and grins that cocky, lopsided grin of his. The fact that I’m naked and totally exposed to him has made me rock hard in seconds and sent my heart into a raging gallop. “So I thought, why not turn your fantasy real? I know you want this. I know you’re into this, you kinky bitch.”
“Call me a bitch again and I’ll make you mine,” I warn him with a challenging smirk.
Stefan seems to find that amusing. He takes two steps toward the bed, his godly thighs flexing through the material of his tight baseball pants with each step. “That’s funny, hearing a threat like that coming from a naked guy.”
I bite my lip as my eyes trail down his body. I want him so bad right now that I’m having a hard time seeing straight.
“You ever feel up a professional baseball player?” he asks, his voice bleeding with that dominant tone of his he gets whenever he’s getting horny.
I love that his reaction to getting horny is turning into a sexy, arrogant piece of meat.
I’m not fooled; he’s getting off on this baseball power trip, too.
“Go ahead,” he coaxes me. “Touch me.”
I bring myself to the edge of the bed right in front of him. My hands land on his thighs, then slowly run up to the dimples of his ass in those tight pants. I’m so hard that my throbbing, veiny cock is already leaking between my legs.
It’s not lost on me that his crotch is bulging dramatically. He might bust a hole through those pants at any second, judging from how hot all of this is getting him, clearly.
“Like how my ass feels?” he asks.
“It’s perfect,” I choke out.
“Look at me.”
My eyes trail up his sexy body and meet his stone hard gaze. His arms are crossed and he looks nine feet tall from down here on the bed, all his muscles towering over me with strength.
He smirks, knowing the power he’s got over me. “You want me out of this uniform? You want my hard dick inside you?”
“I want your dick inside me,” I admit, “but let’s not be so fast with taking all of this gear off. After all, you took such time and care in … putting it all on.”
He unfolds his arms and reaches a hand around the back of my head. Clinging to my hair, he pulls my face against his crotch, holding it there tightly.
“Take a whiff.”
Fuck me, he is dripping with power right now. My eyes drunkenly close as I take a deep, long inhale, filling my lungs and my nostrils with the thick, clean, rich aroma of Stefan’s cock.
“Unbuckle me.”
“I love you so damned much, Stefan.”
“You too,” he throws down at me, sweet and completely out of character, then his voice is right back to being demanding and deep. “Unbuckle me.”
My fingers fumble for his blue belt, which I open with shaking excitement. Next comes the button of his pants and then the zipper, which slowly parts the white sea of fabric to reveal his thick, hard cock.
Commando, as usual. Not even wearing a jock.
He flexes his cock once, and it smacks against my lips, as if knowing exactly where it belongs. Even his cock has an attitude.
I don’t need any further instruction. Parting my mouth, I take the head of his thick cock inside, tonguing him with greed while stroking the base with a tight fist.
Stefan’s moans of approval rain down over my head. Every time I open my eyes, I’m flashed with the sight of a professional baseball player I’ve fantasized about ravishing a thousand and one times in my head.
And now it’s happening.
If I ever doubted that Stefan Baker understands me …
With his hand still tangled in my hair, I start to feel him push and pull me off his cock, guiding my tempo as I start sucking him harder and faster. I’ve learned over the months that he likes it rougher than I’m used to, and the more aggressive he gets, the more aggressive I get.
What I’m trying to say is, I’ve replaced my headboard, he had to screw the new one to the wall to prevent loud noises during our wild nights, and I’ve been sent to work with more than my fair share of claw marks down my back and limp legs from how powerfully he rides me.
Yes, I’ve broken him in on that department as well.
Damn it, I’m so fucking lucky.
Stefan pulls me off of his cock at once, then shoves me back onto the bed. Sprawled out, I’m gifted with a front row seat as he takes off his hat, slowly peels off his baseball shirt to reveal his ripple of smooth muscles and tatted skin, then replaces his cap right back on his head, except turned backwards.
Oh, fuck yeah.
Shirtless with his hard cock poking out of his peeled-open tight baseball pants, he reaches for the lotion at the side of my bed, then gives one of his hands a generous squirt. His face darkens with yearning as he brings his hand right to my ass, wasting no time in lubing up my hole with his forceful, strong fingers. My whole body shivers the second his fingertips invade me, and I grip the sheets in preparation, knowing what’s coming.
And I can’t fucking wait a second longer.
He crawls up onto the bed and lifts my legs, his cock lining up eagerly with my ass. When he slowly enters me, my eyes rock back and I moan loudly and involuntarily. Yeah, he’s even got control of what sounds I make; I have no say in when or how I groan and holler and whimper. I am totally and completely at his whim when he takes charge in the bedroom.
He bends me in half while he crawls over me, his cock slowly pumping its way deeper and deeper into my body. The position brings his face right over mine, shadowed slightly by his ball cap with his eyes made all the more intense by the stripes of eye black beneath them. The look in his face is fierce and unrelenting as he fucks me hard, baring his teeth.
Then, unexpectedly, he bends his head farther down to plant a kiss on my lips. Our mouths stay locked as he pumps his cock into me over and over, hammering me with mounting strength.
Desperate breath hisses past our cheeks—from whose nostrils, I can’t tell.
I groan underneath him, a victim to his might and his sex.
When he pulls away from my face, he hooks an arm under each of my legs to get a better angle at my ass. That succeeds in putting me in the perfect position to get drilled even deeper by his tireless, steel-hard cock.
He’s starting to hit my prostate with every thrust.
Oh, God. I can’t take it a second longer.
I grip my cock and, slick from the pre-cum that’s been oozing out without my being able to stop it, begin stroking it. I need release so fucking badly.
This might be the shortest I’ve ever lasted, for the record. We have had nights where I took his ceaseless plowing for hours.
But tonight with Stefan in that sexy-as-fuck baseball uniform and my whole body racked with tension and pent up from all of my stresses, I urgently need to feel the sweet release of cum all over my body.
Now he’s knocking on my prostate with every single thrust. Stefan is so deep inside of me now that he is a part of me.
My eyes meet his in this moment, so close to the edge as we are together. Through all of the dominant force he’s exuding on me, I see a flicker of sweetness in his eyes that betrays all of that tough-guy act he’s putting on.
Yeah, underneath all the growling and manliness, Stefan is a big ol’ softie.
I knew it all along.
And his eyes pour with adoration. And mine pour with all that love right back at him. I can’t get enough of this man who plunged right into my life and, in more ways than one, never let me go all these years.
I’m seconds away.
He’s right there with me.
Together, we come so hard that now we’re both out of control of our lungs. Hollering out, he empties into me as I empty all over my chest. Shouts are replaced with grunts, then moans, then the desperate rush and pull of breath as he collapses over me, uniform and all. We hold each other tightly after that as we bask together in the rippling, glorious afterglow.
It must be ten whole minutes later before either of us speaks. “I think you made the team,” he mumbles.
“Come again?”
“Yeah. Your performance is stellar,” he informs me. “You’ve made the team.”
I chuckle underneath him, hugging him tighter. “The only team I want to be on is yours. Just you and me.”
He lifts his head up to look down at me—his eye black slightly smeared and his backwards hat cockeyed. “Just you and me,” he agrees with a lopsided smile.
I kiss him softly. “I love you, Stefan.”
“Right back at you.” Then he tilts his head thoughtfully. “Y’know, I think I might go back to college. Finish my degree.”
I smile up at him. “Wearing that uniform’s taken you back to college, huh?”
“Maybe I’ll even open up a renovation business.” He eyes me. “You’ll have to help me come up with a name.”
I kiss him again, unable to get enough of his lips. Naked and covered in sweat underneath Stefan’s muscles and tight baseball pants and breath, I still shiver from the aftershocks of orgasm.
“Whatever you name it, it’ll be a homerun,” I assure him.
“Hey, that’s a good start,” he teases. “Homerun Houses.”
“Call it whatever you want,” I say back, “as long as I get to come home to you drenched in sweat every day from work.”
“Now that, I can guarantee.” Then he seals the promise with another deep kiss. I close my eyes and let his lips take me away.