‘Why me?’
‘That money from Clarence, and from you, put me back on track. And since then things have been looking good with my finances. Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome. Maybe I can come by sometime and sit on the verandah again.’
‘I’d like that.’ Bruce looked at him, his head lowering close to him. ‘I’d like that a lot.’
The grip returned around Gabriel’s throat with a strength that trapped the air in his lungs. Did that mean …? He didn’t know whether or not to look at Bruce but he could feel his gaze. Should he dare? They were friends, this could be nothing more than Bruce being friendly. But what if …?
He tilted his head just enough and stared straight into Bruce’s pale green eyes. Nope, still couldn’t breathe. The message was clear even if it struggled to get through to Gabriel’s oxygen-deprived brain.
Should he? Could he? Could they?
He only had to lean in a few inches and their lips would touch, but that space, that tiny space, was a border that if crossed would change everything. Oh god, he wanted it, he wanted him.
His lips parted, he wavered, hesitated, but Bruce surged forward, bringing their mouths together, soft lips to soft lips, holding, waiting, not moving, pausing to savour this moment. A fresh start begun with a long-held desire. Gabriel’s mouth moved, rounded out the kiss, their lips separated and Gabriel breathed a breath that electrified his lungs and radiated throughout his body. His breath came out with a shiver built of excitement. How could such a simple kiss undo him so completely?
‘Are you okay?’ Bruce whispered.
But Gabriel couldn’t speak, didn’t want to speak. He only wanted Bruce. He kissed him again, driving his need into Bruce’s welcome, hungry mouth. Bruce’s arms wrapped around him and Gabriel tipped forward, desperate to not break the connection, and once prone, Bruce rolled him onto his back. That mountain of man bore down on him—Yes, oh God, yes!—and kissed him into oblivion.
Chapter Fourteen
Bruce’s skin tingled as Gabe’s finger traced a pattern through the hair on his chest. His breathing had only just returned to normal after they’d made love on the stage, but Gabe’s slow inexorable progress across the hills and valley of his furry torso to orbit the sensitive flesh of his nipple had a lot more rising than goosebumps. He reached for his shirt and covered his hardening erection, while craning his neck to kiss the top of Gabe’s head. Gabe looked up and bruised lips plumped with a smile. All for him. Bruce put his hand on Gabe’s bare arse and forced him up the length of his body so they could kiss. His tongue swiped against Gabe’s. He drew back slowly, keeping the contact until the last possible moment.
Gabe moaned. ‘I’ve wanted that since I was sixteen.’
Bruce’s eyes widened. ‘Great, now you make me feel really old.’
‘Shut up.’ He kissed him again, then Gabe sat upright, arse to covered pelvis. He ground against him, a fog advancing through Bruce’s mind but there was something he wanted to say before he lost the ability to speak.
Again.
He propped himself up on his elbows, still pinioned by this vision of a dark angel ready to ride him.
Again.
‘You should know—if you didn’t already—you were the one I really wanted.’
Gabe stopped the motion of his hips. ‘Then why Jason?’
‘I didn’t think it was appropriate you and I being together. Sure, you were legal at sixteen but you were still young. And I found Jason’s attentions flattering. He was fun, cute, seemed into me. Available.’
Gabe slinked off him and sat beside him on the stage, grabbing a shirt to cover himself. As much as he hated to see Gabe so guarded, the truth had to come out.
‘I’m sorry.’ Bruce put his hand on Gabe’s right shoulder, a kiss on his left. ‘I know that makes me sound like the worst kind of user but Rachel had run off again, and I felt lost. Jason made me feel needed for a time, and then, to make it better—or worse, depending on how you look at it—I got to spend time with you.’
The words rushed out, scouring his throat in their hurry to fix the problems he should have sorted years ago.
‘But you never … I didn’t …’ Gabe looked down at the front row.
‘I kept my feelings hidden. I didn’t want to cheat on Jason and I didn’t want to lose you. I knew you had a crush on me and I thought maybe there’d be a chance for us eventually, but I was also frightened it would pass.’
Gabe turned, looked him straight in the eye and there was something brave about that look, something defiant. ‘It didn’t. It hasn’t. Ever.’
His heart expanded, filling the emptiness he’d always tried to deny. It pumped hard and fast, warming his chest with the comfort of a fire in the middle of winter. He’d spent so many years harbouring a bitterness towards Gabriel, based on Jason’s farewell lies, that it was a relief to feel something better. Something good. Something like love.
‘Those nights when it was just the two of us, I thought about kissing you,’ Bruce said. ‘I thought about telling you how I felt, but I was too afraid of ruining what we had. And then you left and I thought my feelings would change because the Gabriel I’d known had gone.’
‘What about now? Has he gone?’
He shook his head. ‘No. You’re different but you’re still that creative, intense and slightly intimidating guy I fell for. You’ve just lost a bit of that fear, a bit of that shyness. Don’t get me wrong, I found it endearing but now it’s like you’re whole, you’re more Gabriel.’
‘I wish I hadn’t left.’
Bruce stroked the side of Gabe’s face. ‘I think you needed to. When there was no-one else for you to rely on, you found out who you really were.’
‘Is that what happened to you?’
‘Perhaps.’ Only he’d done it by staying and trying
