Chapter Seven

JEFF STUMBLED in from a brutal dinner service. Two reviewers, one of the flattops was down, and he’d had a sous chef walk out. Christ. Thank God he had the next two days off.

He locked the back door, grabbed a beer, and leaned against the counter, staring into the dark. The baby monitor started squawking, Kimberley beginning to wail. Before he had a chance to react, he heard Donny cooing at her.

“Hey, sweet baby girl, what happened? Do you need a change already? No. And I know you’re not hungry. Maybe you just need a hug, huh? We all need that now and then.” Then Donny started to sing softly, a gentle lullaby, and Kimberley’s cries faded away.

Jeff stood there, listening. Maybe smiling a little bit. “Oh, Bethy, she’s so pretty. She looks just like Robin.”

The singing turned into humming, getting softer and softer.

He stood up, pulled some milk and eggs from the fridge, and got the waffle iron out, along with some sausage. Maybe Don would come down and share. He was about halfway done when he heard indistinct whispers from the monitor, and then everything went quiet.

A few moments later, Don joined him in the kitchen. “Hey, you’re home.”

“Hey, Don. You hungry?”

“I would have said no until I smelled the food.” Don laughed and parked his hip against the counter.

“Waffles, eggs, and sausage.” He finished his beer and tossed the empty into recycling.

“I could definitely eat.” Don started setting the table. “Reminds me of my college days, when we’d eat at all hours. Well, except it usually wasn’t good food like you do.”

“How was your evening?”

“Not bad. Robin was a little cranky tonight—with all the rain he’s not getting out as much as he was, and I think he was missing the physical activity in his day.”

“There’s this bouncy castle inside thing. I bought tickets from Groupon.” It had looked fun, like somewhere Robin could goof off.

“Oh yeah? That sounds like fun. I don’t suppose they let the adults bounce too?”

“You know they do.” He grinned and started making waffle batter.

Don’s eyes lit up. “Oh man, really? This must be bigger than the birthday party backyard version I’ve seen.”

“It’s like a store thing at the mall.”

“Sounds like a hoot. When are you taking him?”

“I was thinking Monday. I know it’s your day off….” He sighed at himself. “You know, no. That’s not fair to you. I know you’ve got to be dying to get away from us.” He turned the sausages.

“If you have a ticket for me, I’m so there. Dude, it’s a bouncy castle.” Don really did sound excited.

“I bought enough for the whole family, yeah.”

Don gave him this smile, beaming and warm. “Thank you.”

He pulled one waffle out, poured another. Don was somehow—family. And he was still smiling goofily at Jeff.

“You want eggs too?”

“Nah, waffles and sausages sound perfect.”

“Good deal.” He put the eggs back into the fridge and plopped sausages on the plate.

Don rubbed his hands together and grabbed a knife and fork. “This is great.”

“Late-night breakfast is the best.” He used to have it all the time with Mitch. They’d drag themselves in from partying a little before dawn, and he’d cook up eggs and bacon or sausage and waffles, and they’d wolf it down before hitting the sack.

“We used to do dawn breakfast after study sessions back in school. It always tasted better than regular breakfast.” Don’s words broke Jeff out of his reverie.

“I get that.” He pulled out the last waffle and grinned. That life was over, Mitch was a bastard, and Jeff had his family to feed now.

Don grinned right back at him. He thought maybe he could see something in Don’s eyes.

“Come on, let’s sit on the back porch. It’s not too chilly.”

“Sounds good.” Don snatched the syrup on their way out.

They settled at the table, next to each other, leaving the door open so they could still hear the kids if they woke up.

Don made happy noises as he ate—he always let Jeff know his cooking was appreciated, even if it was just something simple like a bacon sandwich.

Jeff found himself watching, enjoying Don, who sucked on one of his fingers, licking it clean. Jeff moaned, then buried his face in his sausage.

Don frowned at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” He took a big bite.

Don shrugged and went back to eating, including some more finger licking when he was done demolishing the food and ran his fingers through the leftover syrup on his plate.

Jeff was going to fucking die. He had to go find someone and get laid.

Don looked over and smiled. “Thanks—this was awesome.”

He tried to answer, but his mouth was dry, so he cleared his throat. “You’re welcome.”

Don’s gaze lingered, his smile slowly fading as he stared.

“I….” Oh fuck. Oh fuck, he wanted.

“Yeah.” Don licked his lips. “You’re… you’re fucking gorgeous, man.”

“I want to kiss you.” The ache in his belly wasn’t getting better. “It’s a bad fucking idea, but I do.”

Don bit his lower lip. “Oh God. That’s what I want too.”

“We shouldn’t.” He reached out, tugged Don’s lip from his teeth.

“No, we shouldn’t.” Don’s lips surrounded Jeff’s fingertip.

Jeff’s knees got weak. Oh fuck….

Don’s eyelids dropped to half-closed, his teeth scraping along Jeff’s finger before letting go. “Wrong, huh?”

“Uh-huh.” He leaned forward, brought their faces closer together.

“So we shouldn’t do this?” Don’s lips touched his, the gentle kiss sparking brightly.

“No.” He wrapped one hand around Don’s nape and tugged them together. This kiss was less gentle, more about learning if that chemistry was real or merely late-night maple syrup.

Don’s lips parted beneath his, the electricity between them sudden and undeniable. Jeff slipped his tongue into Don’s mouth, the tip touching Don’s before he drew it out and used it to trace the curve of that soft bottom lip.

Don’s groan filled his mouth as a soft hand landed on his shoulder and Don’s fingers curled on his skin. Jeff scooted forward, deepening the kiss, letting his tongue press deeper. Don’s other hand landed on Jeff’s head, gripping his hair as Don opened right up to him.

Fuck. He’d never once have imagined sweet, gentle Don as this… needy, forward man. It was hot as hell, and he met that passion head-on.

Don moved out of his chair, kneeled in front of Jeff, and pressed close as the kisses deepened even further. Oh thank God. Those chairs weren’t going to hold both of them. Jeff wrapped his arms around Don, gathering the slim body close.

He could feel Don’s cock pressing against his belly through their clothes, the heat and hardness confirming what the kisses were telling him. His body was equally as hard, as interested, as desirous.

Don fed him a needy, hungry little noise, body humping against his.

“Want you.” Jeff groaned the word against those soft lips as he reached down, cupped that lovely cock.

“Oh damn.” Don bucked into his touch, the words hardly more than needful whimpers.

Jeff pushed his fingers into the loose sweats Don wore, wrapped his fingers around Don’s erection, and started tugging, yanking in steady, sure pulls.

“Oh God.” Don’s breath stuttered, his whole body going tight for a moment. Then he moaned softly and began to move, pushing into Jeff’s hand.

That was it. Like that. Jeff wanted to feel that.

One hand still wrapped in his hair, the other clinging to his shoulder, Don kept moving, undulating, and filling Jeff’s mouth with gasps and excited moans. Jeff watched every second, drank in the need and hunger on Don’s face. He could…. Damn.

“Oh please. Oh. Soon. Jeff….” The words were breathless.

“You’re okay. Come on. So hot, Don.”

“Fuck!” Don’s eyes went wide, and hot spunk poured over Jeff’s hand.

He mashed their lips together again, this kiss long and slow; the only thing keeping it from being lazy was his need. Don’s hands fumbled at his waist, finding and undoing the ties to his chefs’ whites.

“Oh damn.” He spread, nodded. “Yes, please.”

Don pushed Jeff’s pants down, went for his cock, and got a hand around it. “Oh wow. Can I taste?”

All Jeff could do was groan as his ass lifted from the chair in a restless little thrust. “Uh-huh.”

Don bent over him, tongue flicking out to lick across the tip of his prick.

“Don!” The chair arms squeaked as his hands clenched.

Don’s answer was to wrap hot lips around the head, the suction sudden and oh so good. Jeff’s head fell back, his throat working as he pushed up, fucked Don’s lips. Don took him in, hand at the base of his cock to jack it as Don’s tongue licked and slapped. Jesus, Don was good at that. Too good. Brutally good.

Don kept sucking, kept pulling, making Jeff feel like a million bucks, like he was fucking going to explode. His balls drew up tight, his heart skipping a beat. Don hummed, letting go of Jeff’s cock so he could push all the way into Don’s throat.

That was all it took. Jeff shot hard, thrusting into Don’s mouth. Don swallowed him down, tongue busy making sure Jeff got as much out of this orgasm as humanly possible.

By the time Don’s lips left his cock, he was panting, sweating, boneless in the chair. Don stayed kneeling in front of him, head on his thigh.

“I. Wow. Damn.” His world was spinning.

“Uh-huh.” He could feel Don’s smile against his thigh. “Even your spunk tastes good. Gourmet.”

He blinked, then cracked up, laughing hard, tickled deep down. Don grinned at him and slipped back into his own chair, adjusting himself.

“I… I should make waffles more often.”

Donny’s gaze met his, held it. “I’d like that.”

“Yeah.” Damn. Just… damn.

Donny bit his lower lip, looked like he was going to say something for a moment, but in the end, didn’t.

Jeff reached out, touched Don’s leg. “You okay? I mean, you can talk to me.”

“I, uh….” Don cleared his throat. “I don’t want you to think this is why I took the job.”

“Don, when you took the job, I hadn’t slept in two weeks, and I was insane. No one’s that masochistic.”

That had Don chuckling, clearly relaxing. “It’s not going to make it weird between us, is it? I don’t want things to be weird.”

“We’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t. I like you too much to fuck this up.”

Don nodded. “Ditto.” Then Don leaned in again, lips pressing softly against Jeff’s. When Don pulled back, he was smiling, eyes soft, happy.

“You want to”—He blushed, heat rising in his cheeks—“come talk to me while I do dishes?”

“I’d like that. I could even dry.”

Jeff nodded, stood, not able to stop a smile from spreading over his face. “It’s a deal.”