In the Distance (27 page)

Tyler tried to make the comment seem casual, but he couldn’t stop his voice from catching at the end.

I tightened my hand around his, trying to savor what little time we had left together. We didn’t talk much after that, but there was a heaviness between us that hadn’t been there earlier.

We’d barely made it into my apartment when Tyler grabbed my hand and lead me to my bedroom. He didn’t say a word the entire time he undressed me, but he didn’t need to. As he removed each piece of clothing, he brushed his lips over the newly exposed skin, kissing each part with a tenderness I’d never seen in him before.

Once he’d gotten both of us naked, he pulled me to the bed and straddled my hips. My eyes rolled back the moment our dicks touched.

“I don’t think I’ll ever tire of touching you like this,” Tyler said, as he ran his hands over my chest, stopping every so often to roll one of my nipples between his fingers. “I love the way you shiver when I kiss you.” He flicked one of my nipples with his tongue. “Or how your breath catches when I do something you like.”

My breath did catch, and I struggled to keep my eyes open when he flicked it again, this time grazing it with his teeth. Then, Tyler kissed over to the other nipple, exquisitely torturing it until all I could do was writhe under him as he explored my body. It was torturously slow, but I let Tyler take control of what was happening. I watched as his eyes shifted from lust to something more determined, catching my breath as he leaned down to place a tender kiss on my lips.

Hovered an inch away from me, he spoke three words that I’d been longing to hear. “I love you.”

“Tyler.”

He placed his finger over my lips and shushed me. “I didn’t tell you so I could hear you say it back. I’m telling you because I can’t leave you tomorrow without you knowing how I feel. And the truth is, I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been for a while now, and even though all of this—you, us, living so far apart—scares the shit out of me, I’m glad I fell in love with you.”

My heart beat so loudly in my chest, Tyler had to hear it. Three words. Just three tiny words that split me open and laid me raw beneath him. Without thinking, I flipped him over, straddling his hips this time. Tyler’s surprised
oomph
was smothered when I crashed my lips to his, pouring everything I felt into the one searing kiss.

His lips were red and swollen when I finally pulled away, the surprised expression still on his face. Unable to hold it back any longer, I found his hands and linked them with mine. “I love you, too.”

His surprise slowly morphed to relief, then pure need. I pressed my hips against his and said it again, “I love you. God, I’ve been waiting to say that for weeks now. I love you, Tyler Joseph Mitchell.”

Laughter erupted from his lips. “I don’t remember telling you my middle name was Joseph.”

I leaned down and kissed him again. “I might have asked Jamie.”

Tyler laughed again and the sound resonated through my whole body. Never, not even when I’d thought I was in love with Jamie, had I felt like this. With Tyler, I didn’t have to impress him or buy his affection with fancy gifts and restaurants. I didn’t have to pretend to be something I wasn’t or run away from the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me. Letting someone have this much control over me and my heart scared the hell out of me, but I trusted Tyler. I was in love with him, and it was the most real and intense thing I’d ever felt in my life.

We had one last night together, and I refused to allow one second of it to go to waste. I pulled away and rolled Tyler onto his stomach, grabbing a pillow to place under his hips. I almost came right then and there when Tyler turned his head to look at me over his shoulder, a sly grin on his face as he wiggled his hips at me.

“God, the things I want to do to you.”

Another wiggle. “What are you waiting for, then?”

I leaned forward and nipped one of his ass cheeks and was rewarded by a deep moan. Tyler’s head dropped down in front of him again, his ass pushing back against me.

“Do you trust me?”

Without turning around, Tyler’s low, sexy voice wrapped around me. “Completely.”

Completely.
That single word pierced me deeper than anything else he could have said. I dug my fingers into the firm muscles of his ass, massaging them as I kissed along the base of his spine, letting my lips trail lower and lower. When I finally reached the cleft of his ass, I spread his cheeks and brushed my lips over his tight, puckered hole.

Tyler’s skin broke into goose bumps as he shivered under me. “Trevor.”

“I want to taste you.”

Pushing his ass closer to me, Tyler moaned, “Fuck.”

Spreading him even more, I traced his hole using gentle sweeps of my tongue. Tyler spread his legs wider. “Please. Oh, fuck, Trev. You’re killing me.”

I blew a warm puff of air over his hole, then leaned forward and pressed my tongue to his hole, moaning when I felt his muscles spasm around the tip. I usually wasn’t a fan of rimming. It was too intimate, too close. But with Tyler, I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to crawl inside his skin and worship every inch of him. With slow jabs, I pressed deeper into him, spurred when Tyler started rocking his hips to fuck himself on my tongue.

Before long, Tyler was begging and pleading, “Fuck, Trev. I need you inside me. Now.”

That single word
now
took me from aching to be inside him to ‘If I don’t get inside Tyler right now, I swear I will fucking die.’

I quickly pulled a condom and lube out of my nightstand, rolling it down and coating my sheathed cock with lube in record time. Needing to see his face when I entered him, I tugged the pillow out from under his hips and rolled him onto his back. His eyes were barely open, his chest heaving with the same need that was coursing through me. I cataloged every sigh, moan and gasp as I slid in and out of his body. Tyler struggled to keep his eyes open, but lost the battle when he pressed his thighs up closer to his chest, taking me deeper than he ever had. Each thrust brought me closer to the edge, but this time I didn’t want to go over. This time, I wanted the moment to last, so I wouldn’t have to feel the loss of not being immersed in him.

Tyler’s breath became more labored, his back arching higher to take more of me. When I knew he couldn’t take much more, I released my tight grasp on one of his hands and wrapped my fist around his hard length. He opened his eyes, locked them on me and cried out my name as he fell over the edge, surging and spasming onto his stomach.

In the height of his climax, he tightened his muscles around my cock, pulling me over the edge with him. When the last wave of my orgasm rolled over me, I collapsed on top of him, both of us panting and out of breath.

The rapid rise and fall of his chest brought me out of my stupor. Still connected, I leaned up to see he was laughing.

“I think you shorted out my brain. That was fucking amazing. I’m definitely doing that to you next time.”

I brushed my nose along his. “Yeah? Which part?”

There was a hint of shyness in his eyes when he answered. “Both?”

I didn’t normally bottom. Not because I’d had a bad experience or the initial discomfort. The few times I’d bottomed, it had felt fucking fantastic. The truth was, I didn’t want to give someone that much control over me. Just the thought of someone being that close to me, literally inside my body, had been enough to make me want to avoid being in that position. Tyler, though, was already inside me. He might not know it, but he fucking owned my heart. The thought of him owning my body, too, made me wish he wasn’t fucking leaving town in the morning.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Tyler closed his eyes and nodded with a huge grin on his face as he lay back down on the bed. “Fucking hell. That image alone is going in my spank bank.”

“You and me both.”

Reluctantly, I slid my spent cock out of his body, tied up the condom and tossed it in the trash can by my bed, and wrapped Tyler up in my arms. It could have been seconds, minutes or even hours later, when I felt a gentle caress on the back of my neck and soft lips under my jaw. Pulling back only enough to see his face, I was once again stunned by how gorgeous he was.

“I love you.”

He rolled me over to face him and pressed his lips to mine, his expression way too serious not to send warning bells ringing in my ears, “I love you, too. But...”

A tiny sliver of fear crept into what had been complete perfection just moments ago. “But?”

“But I won’t do the casual long-distance thing, Trevor. Not after this weekend. This weekend showed me how much I want this to work, and I want it more than I’ve ever wanted something in my life. I can’t lie and tell you the whole East Coast-West Coast living situation doesn’t scare me. Because it does. Don’t get me wrong. I want this.” He placed his hand over my chest, my heart beating so loudly I knew he could feel it pounding through my skin. “I want you. But, if we’re going to do this, we have to have more than a few weekends together spread out over the course of a year. We both deserve more than that.”

Unable to stop my hand from shaking, I picked his hand up and brought it to my lips. “I promise we’ll figure something out.”

Tyler nodded, then laid his head on my chest where our hands had just been. We stayed like that for what felt like hours, neither of us letting the other go as I counted down the hours until the morning. Tyler’s life was in Seattle. Mine was in New York. It had always been in New York, and it was where I thought I’d live until I was old and gray. But as I held Tyler in my arms, I knew we couldn’t ignore it anymore. The weekends we spent together were incredible, but the distance would eventually tear us apart if something didn’t change.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Tyler
Following Weekend

I walked through Bistro 30’s staff door smiling. I’d just gotten off the phone with Trevor, whose soft “I love you” as we’d hung up made the prospect of spending my birthday at work okay. After all, being busy and doing what I loved while surrounded by the people who were important to me was better than sitting at home alone. Trevor was out of town, anyhow, and everyone else was at work or the restaurant.

I stopped short when I discovered an empty kitchen, except for Enrique, who was in street clothes, busily working on inventory.

“Where is everyone?”

Enrique just shrugged. “VIP in the private room.”

I groaned. “It’s Saturday night. If the kitchen is dead and we have a private room booked, we’re screwed.”

“Relax, kiddo. Ethan and Jamie will get it all sorted out. They’re probably both in the VIP room bitching over what kind of animal the napkins should be folded into.”

I snorted with laughter as I followed Enrique to the dining room. During the early months when the restaurant had just opened, watching our two bosses trying to figure out their style of management had been entertaining and terrifying. “Ten bucks it’s a swan—”

“Surprise!”

At the shouts and cheering, I froze in the doorway. The private room was packed. Ethan and Jamie grinned at me. Claire was right beside them, a huge smile on her face. The room was full of my friends from school and the shelter, all them clapping and cheering as I stood there in disbelief.

“Happy birthday, New Guy.” Ethan was beaming as he pulled me in for hug.

I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat, just barely managing to croak out, “Thanks, Ethan.”

As soon as he released me, Jamie was there with a soft, “Happy birthday, Tyler.”

Claire smiled at me over his shoulder. “Happy birthday, kiddo.”

Overwhelmed, I murmured my thanks as the people who cared about me the most all gave hugs and congratulations.

Chef B patted me on the back. “Happy birthday, Monsieur Mitchell.”

“Thanks, Chef,” I managed to sputter.

Tamara, the shelter director, smiled and set down her glass, then pulled me into a hug. “Happy birthday, Tyler.”

I made the rounds, hugging and smiling so much that my face hurt as people I recognized from the food bank, the community garden, the shelter and the rest of the staff congratulated me.

It was at least a couple of hours later when I finally had caught up with everyone and sat down for a moment. Someone had turned up the music on the sound system and in a makeshift cleared space, I watched Claire and Ethan do a rather amusing Uma Thurman and John Travolta impression. I pushed up my sleeves and sipped on a bottle of water Tamara had handed me as I looked around the room filled with the people who cared and loved me enough to spend my birthday with me. With a full stomach and a buzz from the drinks I’d been handed all night I felt grateful for the people around me. Even more, I was happy.

The only person missing was Trevor.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and when I pulled it out and glanced at the screen, I smiled.

Happy birthday, Tyler. Looking forward to helping you unwrap your present later. Love you.—T

Content, I chatted with my friends and made family until Claire brought out a huge cake from the bakery down the street, covered in burning candles. Ethan clapped me on the shoulder and smiled as he sang “Happy Birthday” slightly off-key.

“Make a wish, Tyler.” Surprised, I glanced up and stared as Trevor smiled at me from where he stood in the dining room door. My breath caught at how handsome he looked. He wore a simple black button-up and jeans, but I especially loved the look on his face. It wasn’t the same smile he gave everyone else, or his clients. This look was intimate. And mine. I knew the smile that spread across my face was goofy but I didn’t care.

“You’re back.”

“I am. You better blow out the candles before Martin sings again.”

The group laughed and Ethan grumbled good-naturedly as I blew out the candles.

As Claire set the cake down on the table to cut, I smiled at Trevor, who wrapped his arms around me and gave me a kiss that earned us a whole chorus of catcalls.

“Hey, you. I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until next weekend.”

“All part of the plan. I told you I was looking forward to unwrapping your present.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and I couldn’t hold back my laugh.

“Eww, no more of that now. I want to be able to eat my fucking cake,” Ethan grumbled. Jamie just swatted his arm.

Chef Boulanger held out his hand and Trevor shook it. “Monsieur Pratt. Good to see you again.”

“You, too, Chef.”

Chef B smiled and glanced around the room. “Messieurs Pratt, Martin and Lassiter organized this party, but I have an announcement that I’d like to make. If you could join me.” He gestured for Trevor to join him at the front of the group and I wondered what was going on.

Trevor squeezed my hand, then joined him.

Chef B cleared his throat and spoke again, “If anyone deserves to have their birthday celebrated in such a special way, it is Monsieur Mitchell. This news might sound unrelated to this celebration but there is no better time than the present, as it is something that we all know Tyler is very passionate about.” He paused and removed his glasses, letting them dangle from the chain around his neck. “Monsieur Pratt approached me about helping out with expanding fundraising and donating his time for the school. After sorting out the details, I’m pleased to announce that in addition to Monsieur Pratt’s time and services, we have been able to expand the outreach program. With the monetary help from local businesses, we are creating a new program where students and teachers alike will be providing basic cooking, finance, math and restaurant management courses to homeless youth in the community.”

At Chef Boulanger’s words, my gaze landed on Trevor. Had he done this for me?

Chef B continued, “The shelter, managed by Madame Gibbs, will be a common facility for the lecture and math classes. The Institute will be donating classroom space, materials and equipment. Monsieur Pratt?”

Trevor stepped forward and cleared his throat, his intense gaze focused on me as he spoke to the group. “I asked Chef Boulanger for help, but this wasn’t my idea. Tyler’s passion for volunteering and his desire to make a difference in the community was the inception for this project. I just ran with it and used the resources available to help make it a reality.”

Hearing Trevor’s words put a lump in my throat. He had done this for me. Trevor had organized this whole thing because it was important to me.

Trevor looked down at his feet, trying to steel himself to say something else. Trevor was always outgoing, the life of the party and could talk to everyone and anyone. He looked almost shy. Needing to be closer to him, I made my way through the crowded room until only a few feet separated us.

“I have one more announcement. I’m basing part of this new venture in Seattle and from now on will be splitting my time between New York and Seattle.”

For a moment, I blinked in confusion

“You’re moving to Seattle?”

Trevor closed the distance between us and reached down to take my hand in his. “I am. I’m in desperate need of getting some help with my culinary skills. Think you might have time in your schedule for a new student?”

I tapped my chin, pretending to think about his offer. “That depends. Will you be leaving your big-ass flat screen TV in New York? Or bringing it and that gaming system you just bought to Seattle?”

The look of shock on Trevor’s face was priceless. I was afraid I’d gone too far with my joking when he threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll bring both, plus I’ll throw in my surround sound to sweeten the deal.”

I wrapped my arms around him, my voice low enough so only he could hear. “Just be sure to bring you. That’s all I need.”