XOXO: A Bundle of Cozy Novellas

Owen

OWEN

Edmund had no game face, none whatsoever. The raised eyebrows and slightly guilty expression in his eyes told Owen everything: he’d completely forgotten he told Pearl they were dating. A deep flush, more than just the heat of the Jacuzzi, crept up Edmund’s face.

Owen rushed to reassure him. “Don’t worry about it! We’ll stage a fake breakup before Christmas. She’ll want to spoil me and make me feel better.”

Edmund opened and shut his mouth. His expression changed, and this time Owen wasn’t sure what it meant.

“What?”

Edmund shrugged. “I don’t mind. It’s not hurting anyone, is it? I liked meeting your Aunt Pearl. I’d like to meet her again when she feels better. Give me a chance, before I turn into an ogre in her eyes?”

Owen frowned. “You really want to go to Christmas with me? In Wenatchee, at the Golden Years Senior Home? The food is truly awful. They try, but it’s just not that good, and there are so many seniors who don’t have any relatives—it can be pretty depressing.”

“Would you be ashamed to have me along? That I can understand.”

Owen stared at the man sitting across from him in the hot tub. Edmund’s color was still high, but that could’ve been from the water. He thought back to their walk to the Mercantile, about Edmund laughing and pulling Owen into the snowbank. He thought about Edmund reassuring him with the caress of a finger that Owen would not lose his job.

Without worrying about what he was about to do—without thinking at all—keeping his gaze locked on Edmund, Owen pushed off from the side of the hot tub, over to where Edmund sat. When he was close enough, he could see Edmund’s individual eyelashes, the hot-summer-sky blue of his eyes, and a bead of sweat sliding from his hairline to his cheek. Owen still didn’t hesitate and didn’t ask permission.

Edmund’s lips were soft under his, damp from the steam coming off the surface of the water. Owen adjusted his angle, and their teeth bumped against each other as he found purchase, one knee on the bench as he leaned into Edmund with his other foot planted on the bottom of the Jacuzzi.

Edmund was still underneath Owen for a moment. Then, finally , his lips parted under Owen’s and his hands rose to grip Owen’s hips and stabilize him, keeping him from sliding backward into the deep part of the tub. Keeping him from falling. Gently and ever so carefully, Owen licked his way into Edmund’s mouth; he didn’t want to do anything to scare the other man off, and now that he’d started kissing him, he didn’t want to stop.

The sensations coursing through him were nothing like he’d felt before, and he wanted more. An errant thought ran through his mind that Edmund was Owen’s missing piece—and he didn’t want to let him go. Owen was no stranger to sex, to the male body, but these sensations were something entirely new to him —he didn’t want to stop. Edmund tasted heavenly, of coffee, cinnamon rolls, and wine. His scent was a little sweaty from their walk in the snow and the heat of the Jacuzzi, he was soft and hard in all the right places, and he was kissing Owen back.

Owen shut his eyes. He needed to focus on Edmund, on kissing and tasting him, on not falling into the water—or more in love with him. A little voice whispered, What the fuck are you doing? You can’t be in love. That voice very nearly derailed him, almost made him stop—but before he did, another voice, louder than the first, shouted, Yes, yes, yes — this is what was missing before.

Edmund’s hands drifted down from his hips, almost but not quite resting on the curve of Owen’s butt. He felt himself respond further, and as much as he didn’t want to, Owen reluctantly pulled away from Edmund’s mouth, resting his forehead against Edmund’s. Edmund’s eyes were open, a beckoning blue Owen wanted to drift off in. Owen couldn’t—and, more importantly, didn’t want to—avoid his gaze.

“Wow,” Owen whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Owen parroted; he knew he had a goofy smile on his face.

“I wouldn’t mind doing that again,” Edmund whispered. “It’s likely the wine making me brave, and your vision is obviously impaired from the snow, but I wouldn’t say no to more.”

Owen chuckled. He leaned in and quickly kissed Edmund again. “You bought me sunglasses, remember?”

“They are probably defective,” Edmund muttered.

“They are fine. Ugly as fuck, but they served their purpose—my eyes are perfectly okay.”

“Maybe a head injury, then.”

Edmund tried to laugh off his comment, but Owen could tell he was nervous, how people over the years had beaten this wonderful person down until he believed what they said about him. Owen was going to work on that. His own erection, not exactly confined by his wet cotton boxers, had not flagged. He pressed himself against Edmund’s body, letting him know it was there, that it was for him.

“That’s all for you—because of you.”

Edmund groaned and pressed back against Owen, his own erection bumping against Owen’s.

“Owen.” Edmund whispered his name. It sounded like a plea.

Owen straddled Edmund’s thighs. Reaching between their bodies with one hand, he slid his fingers under the waistband of Edmund’s boxers and around his hardness, then somehow managed to pull his own boxers down enough that his cock was free and he could hold them together, at the same time pressing even closer to Edmund. Edmund gasped out a moan and writhed against him, pumping into Owen’s fist. Owen heard his own heated panting as it carried out over the snow-covered yard. He didn’t care.

Continuing to press his forehead against Edmund’s, Owen kept pumping them, loving the feel of their silky hardness in his hand after the low-grade erection he’d had all morning—probably since yesterday, never thinking it would be something he would act on. It wasn’t going to take much for him to come; he’d been aroused since waking up smashed against Edmund earlier that day, and all the flirting they’d been engaging in had only made it worse. Edmund pulling Owen down on top of him in the snow—probably the wine too—Owen wasn’t going to last.

As Owen’s balls pulled up tight and hot, Edmund gasped out a quiet “Oh,” grabbing him by the shoulders and grinding upward while Owen ground down. Edmund throbbed and pulsed in his hand, pushing Owen over the edge he’d been teetering on. Awareness turned to orgasm, sparking from the base of his spine up to his nipples. He kept pumping, wishing he could see better, see their erections rubbing together, see the come. Edmund grabbed his cheeks between his palms and sucked Owen’s tongue into his mouth, possessing him completely. Owen almost couldn’t draw air into his lungs, his orgasm so overwhelming him he had spots in his vision. Everything about it was more—deeper—than he’d experienced before.

Edmund let go and dropped his head onto Owen’s shoulder but kept him where he was with a tight embrace. His body shuddered once more.

“Are you okay?” Owen whispered, pulling his hand out from between them before running a hand through Edmund’s short hair, loving how Edmund’s scalp felt under his touch.

“ Mnnn .”

“Is that a yes?” Owen didn’t think he’d gone too far, but he wasn’t certain.

“Yes. My brain is off-line.”

Owen pushed his hips against Edmund’s core again and dared to ask, “Any chance you’d want to do that again? You’re an incredible kisser. I didn’t know I liked kissing as much as I do with you. I could kiss you all day.”

Thinking about kissing Edmund again had his dick twitching, as if he hadn’t just come hard enough to nearly black out.

Edmund lifted his head from Owen’s shoulder to stare at him. Owen couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Are you for real?”

Owen frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, well, first, the answer is yes, I want to do that again. Yes to anything remotely like what we just did. I just…”

“Just what? Tell me.”

“Just can’t believe a sexy man like you would want to be with an old badger like me.”

“A… what?”

“I’m practically a pensioner. In gay years I’ve been put out to pasture,” Edmund clarified.

Owen laughed and bumped his forehead against Edmund’s again. “What does a badger have to do with anything?”

“I made it up, all right?”

“Yes, Edmund Lake, I am for real . I am very real.”

“It wasn’t wine on an empty stomach?”

“No, silly, it wasn’t the wine. Although maybe it helped me fight past my nerves. I have a confession: I’ve had a crush on you for a while now.”

“Me?” Edmund sounded incredulous.

“Yes, you.”

It was time to prove to Edmund Owen was serious. Keeping his gaze locked on Edmund’s, Owen adjusted his position so he could claim Edmund’s mouth again. His lips felt so good against Owen’s. They were soft and pliable, and Edmund was so responsive it made Owen feel like he was at the center of the universe—but he wanted Edmund to feel that way too, to know how Owen felt, so he pushed the thought aside and focused on Edmund.

Honestly, he could just kiss Edmund and be satisfied. There was something so sensual about sliding their lips together, tasting each other, the stubble on their cheeks rasping and catching. It was a layer of arousal Owen was unfamiliar with. A truck or car rumbled by, reminding Owen they weren’t exactly anywhere private.

“We should go inside,” he breathed.

“It’s going to be cold out there,” Edmund pouted. “My important bits are going to shrivel up into my body and never come back.”

“It’s like five feet from here to the door,” Owen pointed out.

Stepping away from Edmund, Owen glanced around for where he’d dropped his towel and found it lying in a heap just out of reach. Heaving himself out of the hot tub, he dashed for the towel and wrapped it around his shoulders. It was intensely cold, even though they were protected by the little shelter. He thought it likely the temperature had dropped another few degrees while they were in the water.

“It’s fucking cold!” he exclaimed before staring out past the porch area to the road beyond. “And it’s started snowing again.”