Free Going Up! by Amy Lane Page B

the kiss, accepted the taste of his come on Sean’s tongue, and all he had to return was that acceptance, that willingness to be himself and only himself for the man who had just made love to him in what had once been a cold and lonely bed.
    The kiss ended, and Sean lay next to him, rubbing the hard muscles in his chest and the planes of his stomach. Zach took the tacit invitation and started to explore Sean’s body with tentative touches as well.
    “That was wonderful,” Zach breathed, and Sean nodded.
    “Your hands are still shaking.”
    Zach’s hand stilled the tentative petting of the soft oblique muscle of Sean’s stomach. He watched curiously and saw that Sean was right.
    “I’ve… it’s uhm….”
    “Zach, you’re the loneliest person I’ve ever met.”
    Zach shrunk in on himself in mortification. “I wasn’t a minute ago,” he muttered, trying to turn his back.
    Sean stopped him with a quiet hand. “Come back here. C’mon, I won’t bite.” Zach rolled back and Sean opened his arms for him. Zach found himself cuddled up to that narrow chest with a few silky chest hairs peeping out, which Zach petted when Sean began to talk.
    “My parents are still stupid sickly in love, you know,” Sean told him, and Zach didn’t even have to make listening noises, because suddenly, oh gift of gifts, Sean’s life story was spilled out before him like treasures for Zach to sort through.
    His parents were still in love and living in Sacramento, and he had two younger sisters and a brother who was still in high school.
    “They’re both retired, right? So Timothy gets dragged everywhere—I think he barely attends school, but his test scores are phenomenal, so he can go almost anywhere he wants. Of course, mom and dad can’t really afford anywhere, so it’s probably going to be state college, but he’ll do amazing, like he always does. And the girls are both getting their degrees in humanities and teaching, because it’s like, the family curse, you know? Some families do business, some are cops, ours are teachers. I picked middle school because I can teach almost anything, and I like being busy. So, every year we meet at home for Christmas, and my parents invite our significant others and we pick on each other and eat way too much and help mom with the dishes and tell her all about our personal lives and try not to let them give us money.”
    “Sounds happy,” Zach whispered.
    “We are. I missed them so bad when I went away to school. I called three times a week and about drove my mom crazy with e-mails and pictures. But eventually I really started to love it here, and I met Chris and Toby, and we all moved in together and then when my student loans ran out, we recruited Wendy, Katie, and Todd. And I dated a few guys for more than a month and partied a lot, and had just about decided I was ready to date like a grown-up when this really nice guy smiled at me on an elevator, and that was pretty much it.”
    “Why?” Zach asked, thinking about the guy with the play tickets in a hurry. “You had other offers.”
    Sean kissed the back of his neck and the edge of his shoulder blade, and Zach’s breath hitched and he pushed backward just to feel Sean’s curly pubic hair and his growing erection.
    “Because I was ready to feel something important,” Sean murmured. “And that’s just how you looked at me.”
    “Yes.” Zach’s hips started to undulate all on their own. “That’s exactly how I felt.”
    Sean’s hands smoothed down his chest, stopping to tweak at his nipples and then centering at ground zero. “So,” he purred in Zach’s ear, “tell me about yourself.”
    “Nungh….” Zach thrust into Sean’s fist, and Sean sighed.
    “It’s a good thing this part of the convo has it going on,” he murmured, and then he proceeded to… well, just proceeded. He stroked Zach until he was crazy again, and then, boldly and without apology, propped Zach’s foot up so his bottom was accessible. His