Homeruns: Wild Pitch Part 2

I arched my back at the searing heat of his fingers digging into the flesh of my b.u.t.t. "Mason..." I pleaded, although for what I didn't know.

He continued ma.s.saging my a.s.s as his mouth tormented every inch of the skin from my chest up. "I was thinking a tenderloin because you have no fat on your body, but feeling this, I'm thinking maybe you're more of a bottom round roast."

"I've gone from being a steak to being a roast?" I laughed, worried about where he would go if I let him keep rambling.

"Well yeah," he responded, pulling back to look at me with those dark, soulful eyes. "Not only is your bottom nice and round, but you've always been home to me."

"Okay, I think it's time for you to shut up," I warned him. G.o.d help me, but there was no way I could stop what he had started. He opened his mouth to speak, so I pressed my mouth to his, my tongue tracing along his lower lip.

He reached for my hand and I allowed him to lead me down the hall, knowing chances were good we'd both be filled with regret come morning. "One last thing before I let you show me everything I've been missing..." He turned to face me, cupping my jaw in his hand. He pushed me back against the wall, holding me in place with his hand at my neck. Never in a million years would I have imagined Mason to have this domineering side to him, but I liked it. He wasn't pushing hard enough to hurt me, just applying enough pressure that he held my attention. "Don't ever think you're only a phase to me. I've wanted you since the day I met you, but by the time I knew you were gay, I'd gotten so used to hiding my feelings that I didn't dare approach you. I meant it when I said you're the only man I'm interested in doing this with."

I tried convincing myself that it was a huge mistake to get involved with Mason. I didn't want to be someone for him to experiment with, but the thought of him s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with random men churned my stomach. No, if this were something he really wanted to do, I would be the one he turned to, even if it wound up killing our friendship in the long run. I simply had to hope and pray that wasn't going to happen.

"Okay," I conceded. There was entirely too much talking going on and my b.a.l.l.s were aching for release. I didn't care if it was Mason's hand or lips on me, I simply needed. And I wanted more than anything to take Mason's c.o.c.k into my mouth and show him what a b.l.o.w.j.o.b was like from someone who knew what they were doing. I didn't have any sort of proof, but I couldn't imagine there was a woman on Earth who sucked c.o.c.k as well as a man. We had the benefit of knowing what we liked and we used that information to our advantage when giving head.

I slid my hand beneath the elastic of his sweats, groaning when I realized he wasn't wearing any underwear. I squeezed the globes of his rock-hard a.s.s, pulling him closer to me. I allowed the tips of my fingers to inch closer to his crease, teasing him while allowing him time to understand what it was that I wanted. Mason ran his hands along the length of my torso, ma.s.saging and flicking my nipples. Then, he twisted out of my grip, causing my heart to drop into my stomach. "Come on," he urged me, threading his fingers into my belt loops. "We're not doing this out here. I don't want to feel you shoved up against the wall, I want you splayed out beneath me on my bed where I can feel every inch of your body."

That sounded like one h.e.l.l of a plan to me. I allowed Mason to push me backward through the bedroom until I flopped onto the bed. He stood over me, staring down at my bare torso. "See, this is what I'm talking about," he rambled. "Do you have any clue how hard it was for me to hide the hard on I would get whenever you walked around our s.h.i.tty apartment without a shirt on?"

"Mace, would you please shut up and do something," I pleaded. The corner of his mouth turned up in a c.o.c.ky smirk before he fell onto the bed next to me. He propped himself up on an elbow as he stared down into my eyes. The man was a serious c.o.c.ktease, and I was about to flip him onto his back and take control away from him.

"What would you like me to do?" he teased, trailing one finger from my neck, through the valley between my pecs, all the way to the trail of hair leading to my now painfully erect c.o.c.k. He cupped my length and my hips bucked into his touch. I wanted to beg him to move, to undo my b.u.t.tons and wrap his hand around my d.i.c.k, but he seemed content to sit there ma.s.saging me through the denim as he took my nipple into his mouth. My body convulsed at the contrast of his gentle ministrations below my waist and the nearly painful sting of his teeth clamping down around the flesh on my chest.

"Is that what you want? Or do you want me to show you what I used to think about when you'd walk through the locker room with that ratty towel wrapped around your waist?" I was helpless to do anything but lay there as Mason slid along my side, trailing kisses along my collarbone to my neck. Everywhere he touched felt like tiny shocks lighting up my nerves. He continued kissing me, never with enough pressure and never reaching my mouth. "Do you want me to tell you about the times I imagined what it'd be like to give that towel a little tug, leaving you naked and still wet from your shower? How I wanted to drop to my knees and suck you into the back of my throat until I choked?"

"I seriously don't care what you do, as long as you stop chatting like an old woman at tea." Mason draped his leg over mine, grinding his c.o.c.k against my hips as he finally sealed his lips over mine. Good Lord, this man knew how to kiss. His tongue ventured deeper into my mouth and the moan he exhaled sent a shock straight to my d.i.c.k. Pretty soon, I was going to come in my pants and I couldn't have cared less, as long as he kept doing what he was doing.

I slid my hands down the length of his back, pausing for a moment before I took his a.s.s in my hands, pulling him so he was nearly on top of me. He followed my lead and tentatively reached between our bodies to release the b.u.t.tons of my jeans. Never before had I been so grateful to Levis for inventing the b.u.t.ton-fly.

"d.a.m.n, that's s.e.xy," he moaned as he ran his hand up and down the length of my d.i.c.k. The cloth of my boxers was damp with pre-come, which seemed to fascinate him. "I want to taste you."

I lifted my hips off the bed, allowing him to strip me naked. He took his time pulling the denim down my legs then ran his hands from my ankles to my thighs. Part of me still wondered if this was all a dream, but if it was, it was the best dream ever. He repeated the motion with my boxers, lifting them carefully, lowering them slowly, licking his lips as my thick shaft sprang free from its confines. I let out a gasp when his hand dipped between my legs and he rolled my b.a.l.l.s around in his palm.

I reached for him, stilling him when I thought I saw a moment of hesitation. "Mace, we don't have to do this," I a.s.sured him. "I'd be just as happy jacking off while watching you do the same if you're not ready."

"Liar," he countered.

"Okay, so not as happy, but it'd still be really f.u.c.king good." The light from the hall cast shadows over Mason's body that made his deep golden skin glisten. Without thinking, I licked my bottom lip and sighed when I could still taste him there. "The point is, if we're going to do this, it's going to be on your terms."

"And that's admirable, but that also means you have to trust me to know what I want," he reminded me. He started stroking my length, pausing from time to time as if to take in the weight in his hand. He was an explorer and I was his uncharted territory. I folded my hands behind my head, giving him free rein over my body. He sucked on my neck as his rhythm quickened on my shaft. A jolt of pleasure grew in my spine and I tried to push back my impending o.r.g.a.s.m.

I dug my fingers into Mason's shoulders, pushing him away to give myself a chance to calm down. "f.u.c.k, how do you know exactly where to touch me to drive me insane?" I asked. I'd been with men who'd never messed around with anyone but other men who didn't have a quarter of the talent Mason possessed. He kissed his way down my chest once again, allowing my d.i.c.k to slide through the valley of his pecs. His skin was searing hot and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. I threw my head back as I moaned his name, doubting I'd be able to hold out any longer.

Rather than answer me, Mason licked the entire length of my d.i.c.k before swirling his tongue around the crown. I fisted my hands into the sheets, reminding myself that I couldn't push him away. The only thing he wanted from me was my trust. He pulled off my d.i.c.k, staring up at me as he rolled my b.a.l.l.s around in his other hand. "Baby, you can learn anything on the internet," he said with a wink. Before I could challenge him that there was a huge difference between reality and p.o.r.n, Mason sucked my entire length into the back of his throat.

His fingers slid further back and I tensed for a moment. Bottoming wasn't something I typically did, and I worried Mason wouldn't realize that there was more to playing around back there than ramming his fingers into my a.s.s. "Relax," I heard him whisper as a blast of cool air hit my d.i.c.k. "Just lay there and let me have my way tonight. I've been dreaming of this for seven years now."

"Mason, I'm gonna" was all I managed to groan before jets of c.u.m poured down his throat. He looked up at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes before sucking the last drops off the head of my now overly sensitized c.o.c.k.

"d.a.m.n, if I knew it was that good, I'd have thrown you down years ago," he teased before placing a kiss at the very tip of my spent d.i.c.k. When I reached out to reciprocate, Mason pinned my shoulders to the mattress. "Don't worry about me. Tonight was for you."

While I ducked into the master bathroom, complete with a six-jet shower and whirlpool tub, Mason turned down the bed. I walked out to find him lying in the bed with his head propped on the pillows, patting the other side of the mattress. "Come on, tomorrow's going to be a long day. Let's get some sleep."

I should have protested, but I didn't. I slid into the bed next to him, rolling so I faced the wall. It was only a matter of seconds before Mason pressed the length of his body against my back and curled an arm around my stomach. Whatever consequences there were to face in the morning, they would be worth it to have this one night in Mason's arms.

Chapter 4.

Thanks to the night's distractions, I woke up to my cell phone blaring at six in the f.u.c.king morning. I had nowhere to be and nothing to do until the middle of the afternoon, and I was up with the sun. I rolled over, only to find the other side of the bed empty. About the time I started to freak out, realizing that I'd been a Grade-A idiot last night, I heard water running in the master bathroom.

I pushed the door open far enough to catch a glimpse of Sean's naked body, partly obscured in the steamed over mirror. His eyes were closed as he allowed the water to sluice over his gorgeous form. With only a moment of hesitation, I stripped out of the sweatpants I'd put back on last night to keep Sean from thinking he needed to reciprocate and waited until Sean's back was turned to walk into the oversized shower area. I wrapped my arms around his body and had to steady myself when he leaned back against my smooth chest. I ran my hands down his pecs, savoring the answering shiver.

"Mace, we shouldn't do this," he warned me, but the tone of his voice begged me to continue. I wrapped my hand around his d.i.c.k and began stroking his length to keep him from saying anything I didn't want to hear. "G.o.d...Mace..." He thrust himself into my hand faster. "This is a bad idea."

"Then you shouldn't be in my shower," I whispered in his ear, gently nipping at the lobe before resting my chin on his shoulder. No way in h.e.l.l was I going to let him pull away from me now that I'd worked up the courage to admit what I wanted. "I'd almost convinced myself that last night hadn't happened, so I needed to figure out if I need to have my head examined."

"And do you?" The words were strangled as he ground his a.s.s into my erection. Yeah, I probably did, because I couldn't remember a time in my life when I'd been this turned on. I wanted to say f.u.c.k the game and beg him to screw me until I'd remember what his c.o.c.k pounding my a.s.s felt like for the next week. And then, I wanted to return the favor to make sure he wouldn't forget about me after getting on the plane tomorrow.

"Quite possibly," I admitted. "I seem to have quickly developed an addiction to you and I don't want to let go."

I teased the slit of his c.o.c.k, tentatively at first before increasing the speed of my long strokes. "Don't stop, Mace," he begged, allowing his head to fall back on my shoulder. I reached up and turned his mouth to mine, kissing him hard enough to steal his breath.

"I don't plan on it," I promised him. I bit down on the side of his neck and the room was filled with the sound of him shouting my name, begging me to give him more. "I have no clue how this is going to work, but I don't ever want to stop making you feel good."

Sean reached around and dug his fingers into my a.s.s, pulling me closer with every jerk of my hand. Someday, preferably soon, I wanted to know what it felt like to bury my c.o.c.k deep inside his body and vice versa. Until then, I made a silent vow to find a way to make him soar as often as possible.

"Mason, I'm going to come if you keep that up," he warned me; his voice rough and words stilted.

"I sure as f.u.c.k hope so." I laughed as I peppered kisses across his shoulders. "I may not have much experience stroking other guys off, but I'd like to think I'm fairly adept at the task."

"More than... oh, G.o.d... Mason..." Sean turned in my embrace, and my knees buckled from the desire shining in his normally icy blue eyes. Our mouths locked together, our tongues wrestling as he thrust hard and fast into my hand. I cried out when his fingers curled around my c.o.c.k and he began stroking in time with my motions.

I felt my sac tightened as Sean jerked me. Too soon. I didn't want this moment to end. Luckily, Sean seemed to have the same wish. He let go of my c.o.c.k and turned my body so I faced the back wall of the shower before I knew what was happening. "Spread your legs," he growled into my ear as he shoved a foot between mine, kicking my right leg out to the side. "Last night you took care of me. Now, it's my turn."

I pressed my hands against the wet tile, wishing there was a towel bar or something for me to hold onto as I felt Sean's hands traveling over my skin. He kneaded the muscles in my back, kissed every vertebra of my spine. My head thumped against the wall as I tried to look under my arm to see what he was doing. My knees nearly buckled when I saw him drop down so he was kneeling behind me. Until I saw the suds gliding down my legs and toward the drain, my mind hadn't registered that he was actually washing me. He wasn't only taking care of me s.e.xually, but physically as well. I bit my lower lip to keep from telling him how much that gesture meant to me.

"Relax, Mace," Sean urged. That was easier said than done with his hands cupping my a.s.s. I had an idea of what was to come. Things I'd never thought I wanted, but now craved. Pleasure I couldn't even imagine, all because it was being given to me by Sean. His fingers felt as thick as the shaft of a baseball bat as he trailed them over my taint. I'd never been touched there by anyone other than myself, and the sensations didn't even compare. Sean's breath chilled my damp skin as he languorously spread my cheeks. A flush crept up the cheeks on my face as I imagined him staring at a place I still struggled to define as s.e.xual. "Mace, I want to make this good for you, but you have to let me."

"I'm yours," I a.s.sured him. The choice of words embarra.s.sed me and turned me on at the same time. I was his. I knew as long as he wanted me around, I'd take whatever pieces of himself he was willing to offer. I crossed my arms on the wall in front of me to create a cushion for my forehead. One finger gently pressed against the puckered flesh of my a.s.s. "f.u.c.k, don't stop!"

I thought it couldn't get any better than feeling Sean teasing my hole, and then he did the unthinkable. I'd seen it in p.o.r.n, but never understood why a man would want to put his mouth there. My back arched as Sean's pointed tongue licked me from one end to the other, one hand spreading me wide as the other stroked my c.o.c.k. He continued f.u.c.king me with his tongue until he left me unable to do anything other than plead incoherently for him to give me more. "Turn around," he instructed, and I obeyed.

Sean stood and sealed his mouth over mine. The musky taste on his tongue wasn't as unpleasant as I'd expected it to be. I moaned when he fisted my hair in both of his hands, yanking me right to the edge of pain. All it did was drive me higher, aching for release. He dropped to his knees once again and sucked me into his mouth. I held onto his shoulders, more for balance than anything else as he licked and sucked my d.i.c.k while teasing me once again with his fingers. I cried out when one finger breached my hole. "Sean...can't wait...gonna blow..."

"Do it, Mason," he urged me. "Let me taste you." He shoved that finger deep inside of me and pressed against my prostate. That did it. My fingers dug into his shoulders as I screamed my way through my o.r.g.a.s.m.

"G.o.d, you're loud," he teased as I leaned on him for support until my legs quit shaking. "I take it you liked that?"

"Understatement of the year," I deadpanned. The water began to cool, so we quickly washed one another to try to get rid of the smell of s.e.x that permeated our skin. It was such a tender, intimate act, and a part of me was filled with joy that he was the only person I'd ever done this with, male or female. The water turned unbearably cold as I finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. Sean handed me a towel as I stepped out of the shower and I swore I heard voices from the other room.

Sean reached for me as I hurried out to get dressed, pressing his chest to my back as he kissed the hollow behind my ear. "f.u.c.k, that was hot. I'm starting to worry you're going to think I only want you for your body."

"It's fine," I a.s.sured him. "This probably isn't any easier for you than it is for me. We've already done the talking, going out to dinner and the rest of the s.h.i.t people do, might as well jump right to the fun stuff."

As I stepped into the bedroom, I heard a door close. The display on my phone showed that it was almost seven, so I a.s.sumed it was one of my neighbors walking around. I'd never heard them before, but I hadn't exactly spent much time here, other than for sleeping, since moving in. Still, I dressed quickly and threw a change of clothes on the bed for Sean. They'd be too tight, and he'd have to go commando, but at least he wouldn't be doing the walk of shame when I took him back to his hotel.

I seriously hated the fact that we both had to work today. It seemed as though it might be possible to build something more between us. Inside my condo, we were just Sean and Mason, two friends who happened to really enjoy getting naked together. Walking out of my place, back into the real world, would either make or break us. We were safe here, didn't have to worry about anyone seeing us or what they'd think. Out there, we had to hide.

While Sean finished drying off and got dressed, I went into the kitchen to make breakfast. Last night was a nice break from our usual diet, but today I had to watch what I ate. Unlike Sean, who'd spend the majority of his day recovering from yesterday, I had a game to play. I didn't have the luxury of a sports trainer to rub me down or a day spent s.h.a.gging b.a.l.l.s in the outfield during batting practice. I knew he'd still go to the visitor's workout facility to train for a while, but that didn't mean I wouldn't give him a hard time about only having to work a few hours a week.

It wasn't until I went to start a pot of coffee that I realized I wasn't losing my mind. Or maybe I was, because there was a full pot of hot coffee already brewed. I chalked it up to a short night of sleep and moved on to dicing veggies to make us omelets. As I tossed peppers, onions and mushrooms into the pan, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

"f.u.c.king wonderful," I muttered, grasping the situation ahead of me today. My parents' suitcase sat next to the front door, yet they were nowhere to be found. The voices, the closing door, the full pot of coffee, it all made sense now. My parents had come in early for today's game, most likely to avoid traffic, and I'd inadvertently outed both of us to them. Well, not Sean if I could get him out of here and back to the hotel before my parents got back from wherever they'd disappeared to, but there was no way we were quiet enough that they wouldn't realize I was doing something with another man. And as much as I didn't want to think about it, they weren't stupid enough not to have some idea of what that something was.

No matter how I looked at this situation, it all boiled down to the fact that I had, yet again, f.u.c.ked up. I wasn't sure how I was going to broach the whole 'I can't get enough of my best friend's naked body pressed against mine' thing with my dad, but I was pretty sure that wouldn't be too much of a shock after the audio from this morning's activities. And I wouldn't lie to him if he asked me about it. I'd kept this one detail of my life from him, and that was only because I failed to confirm what he already thought. I figured it was pointless to tell him I liked guys unless a scenario like this came up. Okay, so in my head I imagined telling him when I liked a guy, not when he'd walked in on me, but there was nothing I could do about that little embarra.s.sing detail now.

"Hey, you okay?" Sean snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "You're not upset with yourself about what we did, are you?"

I had no f.u.c.king clue how to respond to that. I didn't regret what I did, except for the fact that it exponentially complicated the near future. But I didn't want to push him away, so I had to say something. No one likes being the victim of a bait and switch, and that's precisely what I would be if I put on the brakes now rather than face my parents.

Instead of answering, I turned in his arms so we were facing one another. I pushed away from the counter and wrapped my arms around his neck as I nipped at his lower lip. He opened to me and I seized the opportunity to claim his mouth. Doing this here, outside of the privacy of my bedroom or bathroom made everything that much more real.

Sean broke the kiss sooner than I would have liked and took a step back to hold me at a distance. "Don't get me wrong, kissing you is quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes, but you're not fooling me," he chided. "If there's something running through your head, we need to talk about it."

"Sean, I'm fine," I protested, not wanting to get into another tense conversation. If I admitted to him that I worried we wouldn't be able to survive once we left my place, he could easily take that as a sign I didn't want to do this again. Unfortunately, there was no way I could lie to him, either. "I was just thinking about how much it's going to suck to get on a plane tomorrow. I'll be heading to Arizona and you're off to Boston, and there's no telling when we'll see each other again."

"Stop thinking about it," he said, as if it were as simple as telling my brain to turn off. "We'll sit down and compare schedules and find a way. In between, we'll have to do what other couples do; we'll get by with phone calls and maybe late-night Skype chats while we're locked in the bathroom."

"Is that what we are now?" I asked. I liked the idea of being something more than a talented hand to him, but I hadn't wanted to press the issue. Nothing screamed "needy little b.i.t.c.h" more than wanting to slap a label on what we had after one night together, no matter how wickedly hot that time had been.

Sean balked at my question, but I didn't let him pull away from me. We stared at one another for a moment before he spoke. "Well, I know I don't plan on going out to find someone else to warm my bed. Do you?"

"I've been doing just fine sleeping alone for a while now," I stated bluntly. He winced at the subtle dig, reminding him I knew that he hadn't been sleeping alone. I trusted him implicitly, but that didn't mean I had to like the fact that he'd been with Eric. "And like I said before, I'm addicted to your body next to me. Not anyone else, only you. So yeah, I think I'd be cool with neither of us looking for a casual f.u.c.k."

This was happening so fast my head was spinning. I couldn't bring myself to actually say that we were together or that we were a couple, but I did mean it when I told him I didn't want anyone else. We sealed the deal with another scorching kiss. And then the moment was nearly ruined when I busted out laughing, thinking about how much it was going to hurt when I got hard while wearing a cup later today.

You'd have thought that we were groping on the kitchen counter with how quickly we jumped apart as the front door opened. "Oh, I...uh...sorry to interrupt you, boys."

Embarra.s.sed heat flushed my cheeks. I'd managed to make it almost thirty years of my life without my father catching me in any sort of compromising position, and this had to be the first time. Even when Teresa and I visited my parents, I was always careful to keep any displays of affection brief and respectful. In all honesty, Sean and I weren't actually doing anything, but I figured that didn't much matter to my father, who'd just walked in on his son in an intimate embrace with a man.

"Dad, it's not what it looks like," I spat out without thinking. G.o.d, I was on track to make a royal cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k out of my life before noon at the rate I was going. I tried to pull away from Sean, but he refused to let go of me. I glanced over my shoulder at him and knew this was the first test. If I forced my way out of his embrace, it'd prove to him I couldn't handle being with him. I could. I wanted to do this. And if there was anyone I needed to have in my corner, it was my dad.

"No?" There was humor in my father's voice. "Because it looked an awful lot to me like the two of you were continuing what you started in the bedroom earlier this morning."

I folded my arms on the counter and buried my face so my father couldn't see that I was about as red as a tomato. Sean let go of me then, but started rubbing small circles over my back. Seriously, the only way the scene could have been more embarra.s.sing would have been if he'd walked in on us while Sean was f.u.c.king my hand.

"I'm gonna leave the two of you to talk," Sean said quietly. I lifted my head to glare at him, and the c.o.c.ky smirk on his face had me ready to punch him in the teeth. Then, he gave me a simple peck on the lips and I momentarily forgot that he was leaving me here to face my father alone. "Mace, I'll be watching TV in your room when you're done here if you want to finish that discussion."

"Hey, thanks," I snipped, my words dripping with sarcasm. He reached past me to turn off the stove before telling me I was going to have to take him out to breakfast. He didn't realize that he was going to be the one paying for making me sit down with my dad while he kicked back to relax.

My father sat down at the dining table near the French doors leading to the balcony and kicked out the chair next to him. I sulked over, knowing it wasn't so much an invitation to sit as a silent demand.

"So, anything you'd like to tell me?" he asked as I traced the subtle wood grain of the tabletop.

"Seems pretty self-explanatory," I said a bit too defensively. He tapped his fingers against the table impatiently, and I knew I wasn't going to get off the hook that easily. "Look, I'm not really sure what it is you want me to say. h.e.l.l, I'm not sure I fully understand it myself. I know it's not right, but I just..."

My words fell off because I refused to minimize what I thought was building between Sean and me. Even if this wound up being the event that caused my father's faith in me to falter, I had to be true to myself this time.

"What makes you say it's not right?" Dad prodded when I didn't finish my thought. "I have my own thoughts, but right now, I'd like to hear yours. I let you get away with not talking to me for too d.a.m.ned long now, and it's got to stop."

I wondered about that comment, but figured it'd be unwise to bring it up. One of the few things that truly p.i.s.sed off my dad was trying to change the subject. And right now, the topic on the table was the fact that he'd caught me and Sean making out in the kitchen.

"What isn't wrong about what you saw? Sean's my best friend. He has been since I was drafted and moved in with him."

What I didn't tell my dad is that I was pretty much a cold-hearted s.h.i.t to Sean back then about his s.e.xuality. Sean had every right to question what he knew then versus now when we were talking last night. I used to tell him repeatedly that I was cool with it as long as he didn't come on to me. That was the only way I knew of to protect my secret. The few times I had heard him bring a guy back to the apartment when our other roommate was gone for the night, I'd wanted to punch something. It was torture to listen to another man screaming in ecstasy, wishing it were me.

"I think you're going to have to dig a bit deeper than that, Mason," Dad pressed. I looked up at him and saw that he'd relaxed a bit and now had his arms crossed over his broad chest. "Because if that's the only logic you're using to say that what you were doing is wrong, then I may have failed you as a parent."

"How can you say that?" I demanded, shoving back from the table to pace around the kitchen. "You and Mom have always been awesome. h.e.l.l, even now the guys give me s.h.i.t, telling me they wish their own parents were more like the two of you."

"Well, it seems to me that you're saying it's wrong to fall in love with your best friend, and I would think that's exactly who you're supposed to be with." I shook my head, wondering when I'd fallen into some alternate universe where my father was encouraging me to be with Sean.

"I'm not in love with him," I protested, a little too quickly. "h.e.l.l, what you walked in on was one night. That's all."

I wanted it to be more, and Sean said that's what he wanted as well, but I still couldn't let myself think that'd work out. My divorce wasn't even final, so I had no place starting another relationship, no matter how great it could be. Besides, even if I had all the faith in the world that we'd find a way past the schedules that'd keep us states apart for most of the year, one night couldn't turn l.u.s.t into love.

"Bulls.h.i.t," he countered, staring me down. "Not once did I see you look at Teresa the way you were looking at him, which I do think is quite telling. Son, sit down. It's time for you to cut the bulls.h.i.t and tell me what's going on."

So, I did. For the next hour, I told my father about the crush I'd had on Sean when we first met and how I pushed him away after he came out to me, all because I wanted to play it safe. I told him how unhappy I'd been for a long time. I admitted to him that it didn't crush me when I thought Teresa was cheating, or even once the proof was plastered all over the Internet, and how it was a relief because it gave me a way out. We talked about how my performance this year sucked because I was constantly obsessing over this divorce, which was taking longer than I'd like to be finalized. We didn't talk much about this morning's events, but I figured I'd given him enough to chew on for one morning.

I'd been so caught up in my own tornado of drama that it didn't even dawn on me that my mother was conspicuously absent throughout this humiliating ordeal. "Um, Dad... where's Mom?" I asked, my mind jumping to conclusions up to and including her hearing Sean scream my name and her collapsing on the kitchen floor. Yes, I tended to get a bit melodramatic when I'm stressed out.

"When I realized it was going to be a peculiar day, I did the only thing I could think of in order to shelter her," he told me. I c.o.c.ked an eyebrow, wondering why he felt the need to protect her. Then, I considered how uncomfortable this talk with my dad would have been had she been around. She wouldn't have said anything hateful, that's not her style, but she would have rather been anywhere but here. For all her talk about free love and peace, Ginny Atley wasn't the type of woman who wanted to know about her son's s.e.x life. "She's going to a spa for the day, but she's sitting at the coffeehouse next door until they open. And before you tell me I shouldn't have spent the money, you should know that I didn't. I used your credit card."

I didn't want to think about what that was going to cost, but even without needing some man-to-man time with Dad, I wouldn't question any expense for my mom. She'd done so much for me over the years, I'd never complain about Dad spending my money to treat her occasionally.

"That probably wasn't a bad idea," I conceded. I wrung my hands beneath the table. The conversation hadn't been nearly as bad as I thought it'd be, but it still wasn't a great way to start the day. "Are we done here? We need to get something to eat, and then I have to get Sean back to his hotel."

"Yeah, I think you've been through enough for one morning." I stood, ready to be anywhere but sitting across from him while I tried to make sense of the swinging pendulum that was my morning so far. "Mason, one more thing before you go..."

"Yeah?" I turned to face him and saw the concern on his face. I hated making my parents worry about me, but I was good at it thanks to my tendency to go into everything I did with abandon.