Christmas at Bennett’s (Breakfast at Bennett’s #4.5)

12. Ethan

CHAPTER 12

ETHAN

Inviting Mickey’s mom had been a calculated risk, but he seemed more at ease when she sat down and the boys immediately accepted the presence of a new person like it was no big deal. Milo poured her a coffee and Mickey made sure she got enough to eat and, just like that, Christmas morning settled into a cozy scene, fit for any Christmas card.

Everyone was wearing holiday headbands, courtesy of Taylor, who sat between Damon and Nash. Ethan couldn’t think of anyone better suited for his youngest than those two and the way they doted on him, protected him, and gave him the support he needed to be himself.

All his boys had chosen well for themselves. Jonah had Spencer, who was solid and stable, and always put Jonah first. Colby had Milo, who often stopped Colby from leaping before he looked. It wasn’t so much that Milo tamed Colby, but he directed Colby’s drive and his protective streak and helped him focus on different things.

Under the table, Ethan put his hand on Mickey’s thigh. His boys had their men, their happiness, and had rejoiced when Ethan found his own. They’d accepted Mickey into the fold like he’d always been a member of the family. They seemed to be genuinely happy that Ethan had found someone he wanted to be with.

It might seem like an unlikely match from the outside looking in. Mickey was the same age as his sons and Ethan was pushing fifty. They had decades between them, but Mickey was cut from the same cloth as Ethan. He was a quiet man who was content with a quiet life, a job to pay the bills, and someone to curl up next to at night. He liked the little things in life. Guitar lessons by the fireplace in the winter and bonfires in the back yard in the summer.

Mickey had expanded his circle of friends in the past year. It now included the cook at The Anchor, Cyrus, who treated Mickey like a kid brother. Shane Taggart, Mickey’s boss, and tentatively he’d bridged the broken relationship between him and his mom.

Mickey leaned over while his mom was distracted, deep in conversation with Spencer and Jonah.

“Thanks for inviting her,” he whispered.

“It was a risk, but I took a guess that you’d want her here.”

“It’s nice. It’s… different, but we’ve done a lot of healing this year, so it feels right. Thank you.”

Mickey leaned closer and Ethan indulged him with a kiss. Mickey’s lips were soft and sweet from the pancake syrup. When he pulled away, Mickey looked at him with stars in his eyes, his affection for Ethan big enough to build an entire universe inside him.

“I love you.” Mickey couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

For weeks now, Ethan had been carrying a ring in his pocket on and off. He’d thought about proposing a half a dozen times a day, but no moment ever seemed right. Seemed perfect enough. Ethan wanted to be married to Mickey because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. He wanted to protect him in every way possible.

Ethan reached into his pocket and closed his hand around the ring box. His heart battered against his ribs. Ethan turned to face his sons and their partners. Everyone in this room was family now. Everyone had found their happy ending, and now it was time for Ethan to reach for his own.

“I want to thank everyone for coming this morning. You’ve made this old man very happy,” Ethan said, catching everyone’s attention. Ethan wasn’t one for grand speeches. He often said more with his actions than he did with his words, but some things needed to be spoken into existence.

“This year has been one of the happiest years I’ve had in a long, long time. It’s no secret that my heart dried up when Sarah passed. I had my boys to take care of. A business to run. For so many years, I kept myself too busy to think about it. And soon it had been so long that I wasn’t even sure how to date. Or who to date.”

Ethan reached for Mickey’s hand and held it in his. With his other, he pulled the ring box from his pocket and took a deep breath.

“Mickey is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, and I want to keep him around for as long as I can.” Ethan dropped Mickey’s hand so he could open it. “Mickey Underwood, will you marry me?”

Mickey’s eyes shone with emotion. Happiness mostly. A little disbelief perhaps. But not surprise.

Mickey nodded and everyone cheered. Mickey held his hand out while Ethan plucked the silver band from the box and slid it onto his finger. Then Mickey reached for him, cradled Ethan’s cheeks in his hands, and pressed their lips together, eliciting even more cheers and applause from everyone.

Mickey threw his arms around Ethan and pulled him into a fierce hug. “Are we going to tell them you really asked me last night?”

“Nah. That’s our secret.”

Ethan had asked Mickey the night before in front of the fireplace, just the two of them. Mickey had been strumming away on the guitar and Ethan had been waiting for the perfect opening to pop the question.

He got up and made them hot chocolate and when he carried it back out, that’s when he asked. He set the cups down on the coffee table and dropped to one knee right there in front of the fire. Mickey’s fingers stilled on the strings and Ethan poured his heart out to him.

After which, Mickey of course said yes, and somewhere between the acceptance and the next morning, Mickey asked him if he’d be willing to propose again in front of the family.

“I just think they’d like to be a part of that,” Mickey said, and when Ethan looked around, he realized that Mickey had been right. His boys were practically vibrating with excitement.

Ethan smiled at his boys.

“When’s the wedding?” Taylor asked. “Is Mickey going to wear white?”

“You could do one of those tropical destination weddings,” Colby added with a grin. “Just watch out for sand crabs.” He made pinching motions until Milo elbowed him to stop.

“The wedding isn’t for months yet. We were thinking of spring or summer. And Mickey and I don’t want anything fancy. That’s not us.”

Mickey squeezed Ethan’s hand. And then Mickey’s mom spoke.

“Mickey, dear, I want you to know that I’m happy for you,” she said, dabbing at tears with a napkin. “For both of you. Ethan has been such a blessing for you, and I couldn’t think of a better man for you.”

Mickey let go of Ethan’s hand, turned, and wrapped his arms around his mom. Of course, they both burst into tears, and everyone made a point to ignore them, focusing on getting up and pulling Ethan into hug after hug. And when Mickey and his mom were done, Mickey was also hugged by everyone in turn.

Eventually the celebration settled down and everything went back to normal. When the meal had been eaten, Ethan left his boys to clean up and took Mickey home under the guise of needing to get the turkey in the oven for their dinner later that day.

In reality, Ethan had done much of the prep work the day before when he’d been working through his nervous energy. But it paid off now because he had time to get Mickey alone.

They barely made it through the door before Ethan pulled Mickey against him and crushed his lips against Mickey’s. He licked his way into Mickey’s mouth, shivering when Mickey moaned. Mickey unzipped Ethan’s coat and slid it off his shoulders, shoving it onto the floor before working on his own.

Mickey grabbed at Ethan’s shirt, then slid his hands under it. Ethan yelped when Mickey’s ice-cold fingers touched his skin.

“Holy shit, love. Your hands are like ice.” Ethan grabbed them and took them in his, folding his larger hands over Mickey’s smaller ones to warm them up.

“Sorry.” Mickey didn’t look or sound sorry at all.

Ethan kissed him again anyway. They kicked their boots off and Ethan took Mickey over to the fireplace. The room was still in a bit of disarray from the night before. The coffee table was pushed away, making room for two men to fit comfortably on the floor in front of a roaring fire.

Instead of stretching out on the floor again—Ethan might not get back up this time—he sat on the couch and tugged Mickey down on top of him. Mickey straddled him and pressed his lips against Ethan’s in a kiss, his fingers gently raking through Ethan’s hair. He had the strangest urge to grab Mickey’s left hand and look at it just so he could see the ring on Mickey’s finger.

“Thank you for today,” Mickey said.

“Thank you for last night. For saying yes. I’m glad you’re not upset that I asked your mother to come to breakfast. I know you’d been agonizing over it for the past couple of weeks.”

“It was nice to have her there for proposal number two. I’m glad we did it again.”

“I think I was far more eloquent the second time.”

“Because all the pressure was off. You already had your answer.” Mickey leaned in and kissed him softly, sweetly. Ethan opened himself up to Mickey and they kissed until Ethan’s face ached. Until he was so hard his dick hurt. Until Mickey was so desperate for him his hands shook when he yanked his shirt off over his head.

“Ethan,” Mickey said.

Ethan loved the way Mickey said his name and the way he looked at him. He loved everything about Mickey.

“Yes, Mickey?” he asked as Mickey climbed off him and popped the button of his pants.

“Please.”

Ethan reached for Mickey and finished undoing the fly of his pants before taking his cock out. Mickey’s dick was impossibly hard, the tip flushed red. Precum leaked, tempting Ethan. He leaned forward and took Mickey’s cock into his mouth. Mickey groaned, throwing his head back as Ethan devoured him, taking all of him in.

One thing that love couldn’t do was make Ethan twenty-five again, but they’d found a way around the fact that Mickey could have three orgasms a day to Ethan’s one. And that was Ethan ravishing his boyfriend—fiancé—as often as he wanted.

Mickey trembled as Ethan took him deeper, sucked him harder, swirled his tongue around the head of Mickey’s cock, coaxing more precum to leak. Mickey never stopped touching him. Combing his fingers through Ethan’s hair almost like he was being petted. Ethan loved it. He especially loved it when Mickey lost his head a bit and tightened his grip or when his hips started to buck and he chased Ethan’s mouth.

Mickey was gentle and it took a lot for him to lose control, even a little, but Ethan made it his mission to make it happen as often as possible. To encourage him, Ethan cupped Mickey’s ass and hauled him closer, taking Mickey’s cock deeper, right into his throat.

Mickey was helpless to do anything else but buck and clutch at Ethan and unravel, spilling into his mouth as he panted and pleaded above him.

When Ethan finally released him, Mickey bent forward and slammed his mouth down on Ethan’s. His tongue slipped into Ethan’s mouth and he groaned before pulling away to let Ethan take a proper breath.

Ethan leaned back and wiped the corner of his mouth with his fingers. Mickey dropped into Ethan’s lap, boneless and unbothered by the fact that his dick was still hanging out of his pants.

Later in the day, when everyone had been there and gone, and the holiday was done for another year, Ethan would take Mickey to bed and take him apart properly. Inch by inch. One kiss at a time until he was nothing but a quivering mess begging for more. But for now, Ethan tucked Mickey’s cock back into his pants and they spent the next half hour making out in front of the fire.

“I really do have to get things going now or we’ll never eat later.”

“I’ll help.” Mickey kissed him one more time then got to his feet. He held his hand out for Ethan. “Come on, future husband. Let’s make this the best Christmas ever.”

Ethan took Mickey’s hand and got to his feet, stealing a kiss. “It already is.”