Chapter Eleven
“Are you sure about this?” Adrian’s brother-in-law eyed Noah’s RV as though it were one of his court cases, waiting to implode with evidence of wrongdoing. “You can always crash with us tonight. It’d be a tight squeeze, but we’d be happy to have you.”
Ha. Adrian’s older sister had a four-thousand-square-foot home in Cherry Hills Village. The only “squeezing” that would happen would be Evan trying to suppress his discomfort with him. He’d been the first one to volunteer to take Adrian back to the RV park under the guise of “testing out the snow” in his new Land Rover. More like he’d be tired of listening to his wife and mother-in-law lecture Adrian. Thank God Emily was involved with super-secret wedding-eve stuff and couldn’t get in on the Gottlieb attack front. But now that they were actually at the RV park, Evan seemed to be having an attack of big brother-in-law guilt over leaving Adrian with Noah.
The snow had already been coming down hard when Adrian and Noah hit Denver, and by the time they reached Greenwood Village, the streets had been slick with fresh snow on top of the slush of the past two days. He’d had Noah drop him off at his mother’s, so that Noah could get safely to the RV park, which was closer to the wedding venue, before the weather worsened. Also, he’d wanted to spare Noah the confrontation with his family. He knew his family. Tonight had been full of recriminations, but by tomorrow their public faces would be firmly on, Adrian’s sins momentarily forgiven.
“I’ll be fine,” Adrian told Evan, who was tapping his black leather gloves against his heated steering wheel. The heater in the Rover was set to Sahara, and Adrian missed the motor home’s drafty interior. And its owner. Mainly the owner.
“Are you really going to bring this guy tomorrow?”
“He rescued me,” Adrian explained for the twenty-sixth time. “He’s a great guy. Way better than my first date. And this way Mom and Emily’s seating chart isn’t screwed up—”
“Yeah, because that’s why you wanted me to bring you back here at ten at night. Adrian, don’t you think Mother and Rachel have a point? You do tend to be a bit...impulsive.”
“Good night, Evan.” Adrian reached for the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Still in parental mode, Evan didn’t drive away as Adrian climbed the steps to the RV. Adrian tapped at the door, the welcoming barks of the dogs lifting his tired shoulders.
“You came back!” Noah opened the door, smiling wider than Adrian had seen before. He wore a fluffy blue cardigan over his plaid shirt, and his reading glasses were perched on his nose. He looked every inch the professor and Adrian was definitely hot for teacher.
“Of course I came back. You have my dog. And my computer.” Adrian gave Evan one last wave before shutting the door. He pulled Noah to him as soon as it shut.
“That all?” Noah’s grin hadn’t drooped.
“No. Not all.” Cupping Noah’s face, he kissed him. Noah met him eagerly, opening for his lips and tongue. More than a greeting, it was a promise that what they shared wasn’t simply convenience. Adrian tried to tell Noah with his kiss that he chose him. He’d stood up to his family. He’d turned down Trent. He’d spent all day choosing Noah, over and over, and now he wanted to curl inside him, climb into the beautiful space they made when they came together.
Noah seemed to be on the same page, kissing him frantically while he worked the zipper on Adrian’s jacket. Their glasses collided, making Adrian laugh. He plucked Noah’s off his face and set both pairs on the counter before resuming his attack of Noah’s mouth. They stumbled their way onto the couch, displacing indignant doggies. Adrian’s jacket hit the floor along with Noah’s cardigan. Adrian worked the buttons on Noah’s shirt, determined to get his hands—and mouth—on Noah’s glorious chest. He’d always had a thing for guys hairier than him, and he loved the thick fuzz coating Noah’s pecs and stomach.
He kissed his way down Noah’s front, reveling in his little gasps and moans. He tweaked Noah’s nipples before licking them. Noah moaned, but he didn’t seem to go as nuts for nipple play as Adrian did, so he continued on south, letting his knees hit the carpet next to the couch. His body knew the destination even before his mind.
“I want to suck you.” It wasn’t an offer he made very often—oral wasn’t his particular favorite, but at that moment, he wanted to give Noah another first, wanted to be the first. He wanted to know Noah’s scent and his taste and the sounds he made.
Noah inhaled sharply but didn’t say anything.
Adrian traced the hair above Noah’s belt. “It’s okay to say no. We can do what we’ve been doing or even nothing at all.”
“You’d be okay with going straight to bed and sleeping?” Noah sounded skeptical, but Adrian was serious.
“Yeah. I didn’t come back for sex, Noah. I came back for you. I want one more night with you, but I’d be happy as long as you let me hold you again.” He knew he sounded beyond corny, but it was the truth. It was going to be hard enough letting Noah go. He could get sex elsewhere, but this connection he shared with Noah didn’t come along every day. Sad truth of LA living was that it was far harder to find someone to snuggle with than to find a quick fuck. And it had only been three days, but he craved Noah’s embrace even more than his cock.
“Adrian?” Noah’s voice was strained.
“Yeah?” Adrian blew softly on Noah’s belly, ruffling the trail of hair around his belly button.
“I’m not sleepy.”
“Thank God.”
“Your mouth is two inches from my fly. I reckon I may never sleep again.” Noah’s usual carefully modulated voice got a lot more Southern when he was turned on, more slang creeping in. It was kind of adorable.
“And you’d like me to do something about that?”
Noah nodded sharply, eyes dark puddles of need.
Carefully, Adrian unzipped Noah’s fly and rained kisses over the briefs covering his bulge. He waited until Noah was panting before withdrawing his cock. For such a slim guy, his dick was surprisingly thick with an oval-shaped head that Adrian couldn’t wait to feel. Following the impulse, he traced the crown with his tongue.
“Oh.” Noah was a pretty quiet guy in bed, so Adrian took that small sound as high praise. Adrian felt blessedly free of expectations—Noah being a virgin was strangely freeing. Other guys had liked to speed him up, grab his hair, try to haul him up and down their meat. More than one guy had complained that he liked teasing far more than the actual sucking off, which was totally true—licking and teasing and rimming were far more fun than trying in vain to deep throat. But Noah wasn’t demanding like those other guys. Noah was all soft moans and breathy sighs from the play of lips and tongue, and Adrian felt free to explore as much as he wanted.
“That.” Noah’s cock leaped against his tongue when Adrian discovered the sensitive spot on the underside of the head. He worked Noah’s frenulum with a variety of little licks and sucking kisses.
“Oh. Dre. The things you do...” Noah, Professor Taciturn, was reduced to babble by no more than the flicker of his tongue. This was some heady stuff.
“Yeah. That’s it, baby, let go.” He sucked, not sliding down the shaft, instead making out with the head of Noah’s dick. He didn’t have to try to cram all of Noah’s dick in his mouth to get an appreciative gasp. This was the sort of oral sex he adored—he could show off his tongue dexterity without triggering his cranky gag reflex.
“Do...do that swirly thing again. Please.” Noah’s eyes were scrunched shut and he bit on his fist between words.
Adrian fucking loved that that was about as bossy as Noah got in bed. A whimpered request he was only too happy to grant.
“Close.” Noah reached down, but instead of pressing on Adrian’s head like Adrian expected, he grabbed Adrian’s hand, squeezed tight. Adrian’s heart tripled in size in a single beat. His pulse sped up, muscles tensed like he was the one approaching orgasm.
He wanted to make Noah come in his mouth, and considering that he finished most blow jobs with his hand, the urge was unexpected. But knowing that he could get Noah off with nothing more than his favorite kind of teasing and licking made his dick throb.
Noah squeezed hard on Adrian’s hand as Adrian sucked the head back into his mouth, added a little bob partway down the shaft. He tried to find a rhythm that would finish Noah.
“Oooh. That’s...Dre. Do the tongue thing again?”
“Will that get you off?” Adrian asked between licks to Noah’s frenulum. “This?”
“Yesss.”
“Tell me when. I want to swallow it.”
“You do? Oh God.” Noah’s whole body tensed, straining toward Adrian but not pushing. Adrian rewarded his restraint with frantic flicks of his tongue all along the underside of Noah’s cock.
The thick vein throbbed against his tongue. “Tell me.”
“Now. Oh God. Now. Right now.”
Adrian sucked him in as far he could, swallowing hard as Noah unraveled. He tasted like salt and bleach, but also something far sweeter. Triumph galloped through his veins. His own body gave a hard shudder, like he too was spent.
He wrapped his arms around Noah’s waist, rested his head against Noah’s warm belly. Noah’s hands tangled in his hair.
“I missed you while you were gone. I don’t want to miss you.” Noah’s voice was a soft slash of a knife to Adrian’s soul. He knew exactly what Noah meant. He’d missed Noah while he was hanging out with his family, missed the quiet companionship they had together. It felt weird, longing for the smile of a man he’d met mere days ago, but even a few hours apart from Noah had him hungry for the reunion.
“I don’t want to miss you either.” He nuzzled Noah’s stomach. This is everything I need.
* * *
The church where Adrian’s sister was getting married was a frigid fifteen-minute walk from the urban RV park. Noah’s hands felt weirdly empty without Ulysses’s leash to hold. He glanced over at Adrian. They were on a side road, walking in tire ruts to avoid the slushy sidewalk. In another life, Noah would be braver. He’d grab Adrian’s hand, no matter who was looking, but today, all his courage was used up in anticipation of being Adrian’s date. Standing next to Adrian and not freaking out might be all he could manage. PDA was beyond his limited coping skills.
They arrived minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. Noah stamped the snow off his feet in the vestibule.
“Thank goodness they’re doing a small ceremony and didn’t need me to be in the wedding. No monkey suit for me.” Adrian hung up their coats on the long metal coat rack.
“I bet you’d hate a classic tux,” Noah whispered. “You look good like this.” Adrian’s outfit was total hipster dress-up: vintage maroon-and-black jacket, black shirt, bow tie, slim-fitting dress pants, and chunky shoes.
“So do you, Prof.” Adrian had to be bluffing. Noah’s faculty-reception standard uniform of blue shirt, tie and the same gray suit he’d owned since graduate school weren’t anywhere near as snazzy as Adrian’s outfit. Being back in his hipster clothes, all cleaned up, made Adrian seem even more out of Noah’s league.
Not that Noah even had a league. Or at least he hadn’t before.
Everything’s about to change. The dry crackle of energy that often preceded a panic attack hit him with a fast, pointless thrum of his pulse. In a moment, for the first time, he’d be out.
Giddy up. His chest joined in on the fun, tightening with each overcharged beat of his heart.
When he’d impulsively agreed to attending the wedding, all he’d been thinking about had been getting more time with Adrian. He’d been so damn proud of Adrian standing up to Trent. He hadn’t thought about what it would mean when—
“Addie! You made it!” A very pregnant, small dark-haired woman in a strapless wedding dress came barreling out of a little room off the vestibule. This had to be Emily. She threw herself into Adrian’s arms with such force that Noah worried that she might do herself some harm.
When Adrian had said she was pregnant, Noah had assumed the vague sort of pregnant, like the flat-waisted brides back home who married to a rumble of rumors. This? Noah was pretty sure Adrian was going to be an uncle before Christmas, and Noah wouldn’t bet against today.
She released Adrian, and when Noah got a good look at her face, his heart got all tangled up in his ribs. She glowed. The same sort of radiance Ruth had had on her wedding day and the same sort of proud mother-to-be secret smile Ruth had worn for months with her pregnancies. And Emily shook her head at Adrian with the same sort of big-sister indulgence Ruth often used. Noah missed Ruth so much he ached.
You should call her. Tell her about...About what precisely? The non-progress on his book? The fears about tenure? Or how all of that had been shoved aside by the six-foot force of nature currently beaming at his sister and patting her stomach. Tell Ruth about Adrian? Never. And now his heart hurt for an entirely different reason.
“Why didn’t you come by the house this morning?” Emily asked. “I wanted to see you before we left for the salon!”
Please lie. Noah tried to beam the request at Adrian’s shoulder. Book deadline or no, they’d spent most of the morning in bed, tangled up in each other.
“Oh we had a lazy morning. Played with the dogs.” Adrian’s grin put a lot of innuendo in lazy. He pulled Noah close, wrapped an arm around him. And okay, they were doing this PDA thing. Right now. “This is Noah by the way. My...date.”
“Noah, huh?” She offered him a well-manicured hand with a giant solitaire engagement ring. “I should ask you all sorts of questions, since I’ve been hearing all morning about Adrian’s mysterious rescuer, but I think I’ll leave that to—”
“Emily! We’re about to start!” An older, taller version of Emily emerged from the double doors to the sanctuary.
“My mother,” Emily finished lamely.
“Good grief. Adrian. What are you wearing? And why are you late?”
“Nice to see you too, Mom.” Adrian bussed the woman’s cheek, but she barely registered the gesture. “And you said to wear my nicest clothes. That would be this.”
“I love it.” Emily patted his arm.
“Adrian. I would have happily sent you money for a real suit. And tell me you didn’t walk in this weather. Evan offered to come get you—”
“We’ll ride with him to the reception,” Adrian said smoothly. “And the walk was fun. Mom, this is Noah.” Adrian gave Noah a good squeeze. Noah felt stiffer than a two-thousand-year-old mummy and about as welcome.
“Welcome,” she said, but her tone was colder than the air outside the church. Clearly not everyone in Adrian’s family was enthusiastic about his “rescuer.” Which was a bit understandable as Noah wouldn’t exactly be welcoming to a strange dude who gave his sister a ride and seemed ready to be an insta-boyfriend. Heck, he’d been skeptical enough over the guys she cautiously dated through the church youth group. “Adrian. Do go find a seat. For you and your...friend. I need to give your sister away. Assuming your father can be troubled to make it at all—”
The church doors flew open and a man with Adrian’s nose and wide mouth rushed in with a much younger blonde woman in tow.
“Em. Baby. So sorry! Traffic is insane with this storm!” The man, who had to be Adrian’s father, swept the bride up into a big hug.
“This is our signal to go find a pew before the drama really heats up here,” Adrian whispered in Noah’s ear. “Come on. You don’t need to see my mom light into him for being late.”
No, no, he certainly didn’t need to see that. He had horrible memories of his dad ruining Ruth’s wedding for his mother with a loud to-do over the bill—while the reception was still going on.
But whatever the kerfuffle Adrian’s divorced parents had, it must not have lasted long because he and Adrian had barely found their way into a pew on the bride’s side before the wedding march started. A young man in a gold tuxedo waited at the front of the chapel. He wiped sweat off his mahogany head with an embroidered handkerchief.
“That’s your ex?” Noah whispered. The guy was built like a professional athlete and as good-looking as a Hollywood movie lawyer.
“Shh. Don’t remind me. Or him.” Adrian’s whisper was strained. “Ancient history. Those are his parents standing with him. They’ve been friends with my mom for decades. I’m surprised Elaine’s managing to stay upright from the excitement of joining the families.”
Noah narrowly avoided squealing as a small head popped up between their legs.
“Uncle Addie!” That was not, as Ruth would say to her kids, an inside voice. No, that was a whole-church-swiveling-to-look-at-them sort of voice.
“Shh.” A couple sitting four rows ahead of them made frantic gestures, mouthing something to Adrian that Noah couldn’t make out. The guy gave a stony-faced shrug. Noah recognized him as the Land Rover driver who had dropped Noah off. Two older boys sat together to the left of the mother.
“Quiet, Ben-sprout. Looks like you’re stuck with us.” Adrian pulled the small boy up and plunked him on his other side. “This is Noah. Be nice to him. I don’t think he knows a lot of little boys.”
“I have a nephew. Two actually. And a niece.” And I miss them so much right now it hurts.
“Do they play Minion Rush?” Ben asked.
“I’m...I’m not sure.”
“I bet they do. Hey! Here comes Aunt Em! And Grandpa! And Grandma! Hey! Hey!” Ben managed to stand on the pew despite Adrian yanking on him. “Grandma! Uncle Adrian brought a Noah! He likes little boys just like Uncle Adrian!”
Not even remotely an indoor voice.