“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” he said after a few long seconds, seconds in which I didn’t know what to say.
I just nodded and looked away but I could feel his eyes on me.

“Mark… I’m not asking you to say it,” he said, softly. “I just ask that you understand that I am ready to say it. That’s how I feel.”

“How do you know?” I asked, softly.

“I just do.”
It sounded so simple.

“I’m not ready to say it,” I said, softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Like I said; I’m not asking you to,” Ross said, smiling; if he was disappointed or anything, he didn’t show it. “Just… don’t freak out when I say it, that’s all I ask. I don’t wanna pressure you but I also don’t want to feel that I can’t say it.”

“It’s a free country,” I replied, grinning.
His head lowered and he kissed me warmly. Then he threw an arm loosely around me and we continued walking back to the main house.

“But do you think it will be sometime soon?” he asked, half jokingly.
When I shook my head, he stayed silent for a minute.
“How about now?”
I gave him a soft stump.

“Don’t make fun of it, okay?” I requested.

“I don’t see why not. You made the apartment joke,” he laughed softly.

“I’ll take it back, then.”

“You can’t, sorry.”

“Can too! Consider it unsaid.”

“Nope. Because if I do that, then I can’t have told you that I loved you.”

“Damn,” I said, “busted.”

“I’m not one of your pals, dude,” he quipped, making me gasp. “You can’t fool me that easily.

“You said dude. I can’t believe you said that! Take that back! When you say it, it becomes a whole different word!”
We continued bickering, all the way back to the house.

**********

We were still bickering back and forth when we came back inside, to join my mom and Sofia for a last drink. When ma asked what was going on, Ross beat me to the punch.

‘Oh, nothing; I just told him that I loved him, but he didn’t say it back yet,” he said, evading a jab of mine. Mom made a dismissive gesture.

“Uch, you can wait until hell freezes over; he’ll never say that. He never told me.”
Ross turned to look at me.

“Is that so,” he asked slowly, to no one in particular.
I sent ma a half-meant angry glance, which she shrugged off.

“Yeah, he’s emotionally retarded. You picked the wrong guy, if you like hearing it every day.”

“Thanks ma,” I said, sarcastically. “It’s her fault, you know. She never told me that she loved me.”

“Oh, put a sock in it, you,” Ma said, slapping me over the head, much to both Ross and Sofia’s amusement.

“Right, and that’s coming from the woman who said ‘I like you too’ when a certain cop told her that he loved her.”

“Oh dear,” Sofia said, hiding a smile with her hand. “Gloria, is that true? You must tell me all about it.”
Ma sent me a killer stare.

“Oh yeah, ma here has an on-and-off affair with a cop who follows her around like a puppy. It’s really cute. Been going on for what… ten years now?”

“Would you shut up?” Ma said, blushing.
But Sofia pressed on and she gave in.
“His name is Jack O’Connor and he’s a detective, not a cop.”

“Same thing; they’re all on the take,” I quipped, scoring a few laughs.

“It’s just a casual friendship,” she continued, putting a hand over my mouth when I gasped. “Okay, alright, a little more than that. Then he decided to ruin it by announcing that he loved me.”
When the hand left my mouth, I spoke up again.

“She leaves out the proposal he made right after he told her that.”

“I told you to shut up!” ma hissed, this time giving me a hard slap.
Damn, that one really connected, right behind the ear.
Ross didn’t even try to hide his amusement.
‘Yeah, he kinda proposed.”

“Kinda? He was on his knees in the middle of the diner!”
I ducked out of the way successfully this time and Sofia was the one gasping this time.

“What did you say? Did you accept?”

“What was I supposed to say? I had people screaming at me to say yes and three orders of fries on my arm. So… I told him I’d think about it.”

“You denied us a perfect opportunity for a party, ma.”

“If you want a party, go marry him,” she quipped back, nodding to Ross.

“You know I don’t believe in that crap,” I said. “That’s for breeders.”

“Breeders?” Sofia asked, confused.

“He means straight people,” Ma clarified.
She looked at Ross.
“You feel that way too?”
He shook his head, sending me an apologetic smile.

“No. I think we should be allowed to live the life we please, with whomever we please. If I want to marry Mark, and have kids with him, I think that should be possible. And it is possible, just not in this state.”
My mom began to laugh and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Looks like you’re also headed for the altar, kid.”

“We’ll see about that,” I grinned back sweetly.

The conversation continued for a bit longer on the subject, until Ma stifled a yawn. Sofia rose from her fauteuil.

“I think it’s time we left you two gentlemen alone, don’t you, Gloria? I’ll show you the way to your room.”
We wished the both of them good night, and I gave Sofia a, be it somewhat unaccustomed, good night kiss on her cheek.
We stared at the fire for a while, after they left, until I got up and then kneeled down in front of Ross, and he sent me a slow smile.
He spread his legs a bit so I could nestle between them, and leaned forward.

“I’m glad that you came,” he said softly, letting a hand slide into my neck.

I also leaned forward and brushed my mouth over his. He opened his lips slightly and I kissed him. He tried to pull me closer but I resisted and sat back on my knees.
When he raised an eyebrow, I kept looking at him as I shrugged off my jacket, throwing it onto the floor.
When I moved my hands over his legs, he sat back and closed his eyes when I reached the belt. I didn’t open it yet, instead opting for a pressure-massage and he bit his lower lip as I felt him harden underneath. He liked it this way, as I had found out over the past few months. He softly whispered, asking me to do it and I opened the buckle, then the zipper en button. I let my hand slide inside, finding him still rising, and I took it out. Then I bent down and took him between my lips.
He put his hand on my head and sighed deeply when he hit the back of my throat, softly gasping when I worked him deeper inside.

“Mmmm…” he moaned, “that feels wonderful.”
The heat coming from the fireplace was in my back while I pleased him deliberately slow.

I knew that he preferred it this way, slow and steady; he didn’t like to rush. Sometimes that was hard, because usually we didn’t get together until the weekend. By then, I was always ready to rip off his clothes; not a Friday night went by without some action in the bedroom. But he always slowed me down, telling me to enjoy it, not to rush it.
Now, though, it was me doing it deliberately slow and he whispered to me to go faster.
Instead, I let him slip out of my mouth and whispered back that I wanted him to release in my mouth; that I wanted to do this for hours.
At first, I had been a bit hesitant to talk like that, thinking it to be silly, but he actually encouraged me to do it, saying that it turned him on too.
The taste of him made me horny and he simply wanted me to be vocal about it.

“Mmm,” he whispered back, licking his lips when I took him in my mouth again.

The tip seemed to grow as I concentrated on it, rubbing my tongue against it constantly. He lifted his hips a little, and his moans switched to deep, throaty growls. Then his hand pushed gently and I went down on him, taking him all the way in.
His sperm hit the back of my throat and I started to swallow as fast as I could, continuing to please him. I loved the taste of him on my tongue and I started to make satisfied hums while the hand in my hair softly stroked, and he stopped pushing.
When I sat up, he opened his eyes and came forward, pulling me closer, and captured my lips. He joined in with my humming, turning the kiss to a hot, tasting, and slow dance. When he broke the kiss, he rose up, pulling me up with him.

“Let’s go to bed,” he whispered.

CHAPTER *24*

I woke up around ten in the morning. I let myself fall back into the pillows and slumbered for a bit until the door opened.
I worked myself up onto my elbows and grinned when Ross came in.

“Morning,” he said, setting down a plastic bag by the door.
He came over and sat beside me, leaning over for a kiss.

“What time did you get up?” I asked, eying the plastic bag.
It was a bag from a store I frequented and when I glanced back at him, he gave me a guilty look.

“I ehm… I brought Gloria to the diner and she gave me a key. I had a copy made and went to your house, to get some clothes. I hope you don’t mind,” he said.
Actually, it was the most considerate thing someone had ever done for me.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
He visibly relaxed.

“You’re welcome. I just thought that you wouldn’t like to wear the clothes from last night. They were all wrinkled. You’re not mad I had a copy made from your key?”

“And whose fault is it that my clothes were wrinkled?” I asked, grinning.
He leaned in for another kiss.
“Why would I be mad?”

“I didn’t ask, just went ahead and did it, without thinking about the consequences? I know you don’t like it when I ‘intrude’ like that.”

“It’s alright. I wanted to give you a key sometime soon, anyway. What consequences?”

“Well… you can be pretty feisty when it comes to your personal life and me butting into it. Now that I have a key, I can come and go as I please.”

“As long as you call before you come over, I’m fine with it,” I answered.

“Why do I have to call?” he asked, frowning. “So I can send the other guys that I keep on the side away before you catch us,” I quipped.
As soon as I said it, I felt sorry.
“Crap… I’m sorry, that wasn’t funny.”

“It’s okay,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifting upward. “Just know that if I catch you two, I’ll break your legs and shove him down the elevator shaft.”

“Who said it was only one?” I quipped again. “Like you said last night; I’m insatiable.”
I pulled him over me to make my point.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sending me a sexy smile.

“I’m horny,” I mumbled, letting my hand slide onto his shirt. I found a hard nipple and his eyes darkened. He came forward, resting on his hands and his lips grazed mine.

“Mmm…”
I licked his lower lip, and he caught my tongue between his teeth, rubbing his against it for a quick kiss. Then he lifted his head and caught the hand in his shirt, shaking his head decisively.

“Get your lazy butt out of bed.”
He stood and yanked the sheets away.

“Lazy? That was hard work, last night,” I grinned, stretching.

I was completely naked but it didn’t bother me that he watched me. When he had first done it, watch me blatantly as he was doing now, I’d been shy about it. But then he just told me to get real; we’d been at it five minutes earlier and after I was shy?
He had a point.
Also, it was fun to see his reaction, especially because I was a bit turned on right now.
But he stood his ground, even when I got out of bed and walked over, wrapping my arms around his waist. He just grinned and lowered his head for another fast kiss. A hand of his traveled down to my bare behind while the other snuck around to my back and he pulled me close for a few seconds, the fast kiss turning into a slow, hot one.
It was then that Sofia Forester chose to give a fast knock on the door and immediately opened it.
As Ross lifted up his head, he frowned disturbed, and I looked over my shoulder, feeling the blood shoot to my face.

“Ross, I’m going out for a… oh dear, I am so sorry,” she said.
Luckily, I was standing with my back turned to her, or it would’ve been even more embarrassing. She did manage to do what Ross hadn’t though; I went flaccid within seconds.

“Mother, could you please wait for an answer before you barge in?” Ross asked, his voice sounding sharp and annoyed.
She left as fast as she could. I groaned, letting my forehead fall against Ross’s chest and I felt that he rested his chin on my head.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “She’s not used to someone else being here. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s okay,” I mumbled against his shirt. “I’ll just have to get used to wearing underwear in bed again.”
He snickered and softly slapped my behind.

“Go take a shower. I’ll be in the kitchen.”