Chapter 6
John finished making the rest of the preparations for the little gathering while Dean rearranged the pair of wooden picnic tables in the back yard until they met his ‘husband’s’ approval. John was fussing again, which amused Dean greatly. The man was just like some kind of bird, the kind that had to have the twigs just so in his nest. He was amiable enough himself that it didn’t bother him for the most part. And besides, John didn’t nag or anything, which is something that would have driven him crazy. He just bustled around himself, busy and fulfilled. Dean supposed that this was probably one of the things that had made him a good teacher – which he considered one of the hardest jobs on the planet, and one which he’d only attempt to do himself AFTER he’d had that full lobotomy.
Finally John showered and changed clothes, and before he could start pacing the front doorbell rang. Dean went to go answer it with Misty at his heels. Outside stood the relentlessly cheerful Cindy and a dark-haired woman who must be her wife Carol. Three kids were at their heels, two girls and a boy. ‘Poor kid,’ Dean thought when he saw the boy. “Surrounded by all girls.’
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi, Dean! This is my wife, Carol. Carol honey, this is Dean Milford.” Cindy said.
“Hello, Dean. Nice to meet you,” Carol said as she held out her free hand. The other one had a plastic Tupperware dish in it. “I hope you don’t mind us inviting ourselves over here,” she said pleasantly.
“No, its fine. Come in; we have a barbeque ready to go in the backyard.”
He stepped back so that the little family could come into the house. “These are our kids, Ginny, Patty, and Doug,” Cindy said, touching each child’s shoulder as she spoke. “Kids, this is Dean.”
“Hey,” he lifted a hand slightly.
The boy gaped at him. “You look like a gangbanger,” he said bluntly.
Cindy protested: “Doug!” But Dean waved a hand at her.
“It’s fine,” he said. “I know I’m not the most conventional looking guy in the world. But I’m not a gangbanger,” he added to the boy. “I swear.”
He looked disappointed by this news, which made Dean’s lips twitch. John came into the living room just then, so he surpassed his amusement to make introductions. Cindy gushed: “It’s so good to meet you at last, John! I’ve seen you driving to work and coming home, of course,” she went on. “But it’s not the same.”
“Uh, yes,” he replied, eyeing her warily. She reminded him of some of the scarier of the parents he’d had to deal with at parent-teacher conferences.
“Don’t mind Cindy,” Carol said, putting an arm around her wife’s shoulders. “She’s kind of energetic, but harmless I swear.”
“Hey!” her spouse dug an elbow into her ribs. “You make me sound like a potential serial killer, Carol! Geez!”
Dean had to look away to conceal his grin, while John utilized the much-practiced straight face that he’d learned to employ with some of the parents. “Why don’t we all go in the back?” he said pleasantly.
Everyone was happy with this suggestion, but as the little family streamed by him Dean looked at John over their heads and slowly, deliberately winked at him. John had to struggle not to laugh, and he gave Dean a dirty look as they followed after their guests into the backyard. \
“Oh, what a nice barbeque!” Cindy exclaimed. “You must really like to cook,” she added to Dean.
He hunched his broad shoulders a bit. “Err…not really. The truth is, we just bought this when we moved here. I’ve never barbequed before, so I thought I’d give it a try. We bought top-of-the-line because I wanted the best, but I’m not sure how well these steaks will turn out,” he went on as he carefully turned the meat sizzling of grill in front of him over with a pair of steel tongs.
Cindy giggled, a sound which scraped along his nerve endings. He cursed John, who was standing nearby having a pleasant talk with the dark-haired Carol. The former teacher had deliberately stuck him with the annoying blonde, he was sure of it. Dean intended to get his revenge…and oh, how sweet it would be…Visions of some of the things he could do to get said revenge ran through his head, but they disappeared when Cindy commented: “I LOVE to cook, but Carol doesn’t. When it’s her turn she always gets this kind of pinched expression on her face, like she’s smelling something nasty. It’s funny. Anyway, what did you say you do for a living?”
He gritted his teeth a little as the three kids ran by shrieking happily. They were playing with some toys that John had bought for the little get-together, including a foam Frisbee and one of those electronic ‘tag’ games that came with guns that emitted a high-pitched sound when they ‘got’ one of the other players. Dean could feel a headache coming on already. “I’m a bouncer,” he replied as politely as he could. “At a night club.”
“A bouncer? Wow. That’s the most unusual job anyone in this neighborhood has ever had.” She looked at him a bit doubtfully, clearly wondering what a tattooed, pierced, and long-haired bouncer was doing living in Stepford town.
“Mm. Well, I was going to be a doctor, but that was before I realized that one of the requirements for that job was an actual college education,” he replied sardonically.
She stared, then giggled again. He tried not to roll his eyes heavenward as he applied himself to the steaks, hot dogs, and hamburgers currently cooking on the grill. Then she surprised him by leaning forward a little and whispering: “Admit it. It was John who talked you into moving into this neighborhood, wasn’t it? You’re probably already bored with suburbia, but you love him so you agreed to move here,” she smiled at him.
Dean lifted his brows slightly. “How do you know that?” he asked, letting her think what she’d said was the truth.
Her smile turned lopsided. “Because I’m in a similar situation. I was the one who wanted the big house and the two-car garage in the suburbs, not Carol. I’ve always sort of been Little Miss Suzie Homemaker, you see. And since Carol loves me, she agreed to move here even though I know it drives her crazy sometimes. And I’m going to make her stay here at least until the kids are grown, because this is a safe neighborhood with a good school nearby. Then we can move where she wants to go instead, no matter where that is. Every marriage needs a little give and take,” she added shrewdly.
Dean was startled that the silly blonde was so perceptive. It just went to show that you never knew, and that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…or by first appearances either. “Uhh…yeah, we moved here even though I didn’t want to,” he said truthfully. “But as long as John is happy(and safe, he added in his own head), I’m okay with it.”
She smiled. “It's really nice to see another same-sex couple who love each other so much. Especially…” she trailed off, then decided to be blunt. “You don’t really look the type to settle down and get married, if you don’t mind my saying so.”
Dean shrugged. “I wasn’t,” he replied. “Not so long ago. Before I met John.” Another truth that was a bit of a lie as well. Adding a bit of truth to a lie made the whole thing seem true.
“That’s sweet!” she cried, clapping her hands together. “Are you two thinking of having any kids to fill up this big house?”
“Not right now,” he said. “The new kitten is enough for us both at the moment.”
“Yes, she’s SO cute!” Cindy said, looking over at the kitten currently sitting in John’s arms. “I just love kittens…and babies too. Like I said, I’m Suzie Homemaker,” she went on rather self-deprecatingly.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” he replied. “There are a lot worse things you could be – and at least your kids will have a good mom. That’s important, as I know. I grew up in a broken home, I would have killed for a good mom.”
She threw him a startled, compassionate look. “I’m sorry, Dean,” she said softly.
“It’s all right. Lots of kids grow up that way in this country. You can only do the best you can with the hand life deals you. I’m not going to stand around feeling bitter or sorry for myself. But if John and I ever do have kids, I’ll be a better parent to them than mine were to me.”
Cindy touched his arm. “That’s the best attitude to have,” she remarked softly. “Wanting to give your children a better life than you had. Just don’t go too far the other way and spoil them rotten. That’s no better for them than being abused is. Worse, I think, in some ways. They’re not prepared for life, and no one wants to have anything to do with them if they’re a selfish, spoiled person. At least an abused child can come back from the abuse, can be like you and vow to be a good parent in spite of their own childhood. It’s harder for a child to overcome being spoiled, because they generally like being that way. It’s hard for them not to, since they’re kids and who wouldn’t want to be pampered and petted? Few people ever see the trap inherent in it. It’s like that monkey in the experiment. They hooked it up to a device that gave it a jolt of sexual pleasure every time it hit a button. So the monkey started hitting the button over and over again, and finally died of starvation. Too much of anything is not good for us.”
Dean looked at his seemingly silly blonde neighbor in a new light. Seeing his expression, Cindy’s lips twitched. “I know,” she said softly. “Everybody thinks I’m a ditzy blonde. And I come off that way a lot, it’s true. Fortunately for me, however, Carol saw past that and fell in love with me anyway. I’m really grateful for that. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” She looked over at her wife, her eyes softened and full of emotion.
He felt a small lance of envy go through him. No guy had ever looked at him like that. But almost in spite of himself, his eyes went to John. The former teacher happened to glance his way, and the other man smiled at him. Dean felt the muscles in his abdomen tighten sharply. He suddenly wanted to stride over there and drag his ‘husband’ into the house. He wanted to take John to his bedroom and make love to him over and over until they were both exhausted. But unfortunately for him, they still had these guests. He took a deep breath and turned back to the barbeque, although it was hard for him to do so. Oh, so very hard, at the moment.
Carol laughed as her offspring raced by ‘shooting’ each other with the laser tag guns. “Little hooligans,” she said fondly.
“They’re kids,” John replied.
She nodded. “Yep. Little monsters. I couldn’t believe it when Cindy told me she wanted three of them. I thought she was crazy. Still, she carried all of them so I can’t complain too much.”
Startled, he looked at the boy. The kid was the spitting image of Carol. Seeing his expression, she chucked. “Yes, he’s mine. We had one of my eggs fertilized and stuck into Cindy. She wanted to have a baby that was mine. I thought that was kind of weird at first, but now I wouldn’t trade him for the world. Nor the girls, since they came from Cindy. Turns out having kids was a great experience after all. I’m glad I didn’t say no back when Cindy first started talking about having a baby.”
“I like kids,” John agreed wistfully, his eyes tracking the two sisters and brother as they ran over the back lawn.
“And Dean doesn’t?” Carol asked softly.
“What? Oh, no. Well, I’m not sure, actually. We haven’t really discussed it yet. We’re still getting used to the move, and having new jobs, and this whole marriage thing…One day I’d like to discuss kids with him, but not right now.”
She nodded. “It’s always good to wait until you’re ready,” she agreed. “Cindy and I were together for a couple of years before we started talking about having kids. Gave us time to ourselves, which is something we won’t have again until the last of them,” she inclined her head toward her children, “Leaves for college. Then I think I’ll take Cindy on a world cruise, a second honeymoon, and we’ll sail around the globe together. Although we’ll probably spend most of our time in our cabin,” she added with a twinkle in her eyes.
He laughed. “Sounds like a good plan,” he remarked. His eyes went to Dean, who was standing beside the barbeque. They traced over the muscular chest confined only in a t-shirt that stretched delightfully over that broad expanse; and made their way over those strong arms that held him so easily.
Suddenly Dean’s head turned, and their eyes met. Something in that gaze made him feel breathless all of a sudden. It was a hot, smoldering thing that promised a raging fire that would burn him to ashes. He felt rather faint. Was it hot out here all of a sudden? Did he have a fever?
“Are you all right, John?” he heard Carol ask in concern, and he dragged his eyes away from Dean’s with a huge effort.
“Uh, yeah. I’m all right. Just a touch of heat stroke there for a second, I think,” he said ruefully, rubbing at his forehead.
She laughed. “Is that what they’re calling it now?” she teased.
When he glanced at her, startled, she winked slowly and deliberately. “Ahh, the honeymoon phase,” she mused reminiscently.
He felt his cheeks turn rather red. But he reminded himself that he and Dean were supposed to be a married couple…and that meant that they were doing the horizontal rumba every chance that they got. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
“Don’t be. I can still remember when Cin and I were like that. Making eyes at each other all the time, finding excuses to leave so we could sneak off for some nookie…ah, those were the days.”
“Err…yes.” He agreed, thinking ruefully that he only WISHED that he and Dean were doing all of that.
“That’s the only reason that I wouldn’t recommend having kids. You have to become so much more discreet and scheduled. They can’t come home from school to find their mothers romping naked in a wading pool full of Jell-o in the backyard. We don’t want to traumatize them for life,” she added with a wicked grin.
John had a sudden vision of a naked Dean standing in a wading pool full of Jell-o waiting for him to get home, and felt his knees go weak. His mouth felt dry, so he gulped at his soda rather desperately. “Given you ideas, have I?” Carol murmured in amusement as she looked at his face.
“Umm, maybe,” he replied a bit hoarsely.
She grinned. “Cool. I always wanted to do that, but never got the chance before the kids were born. And afterward…it’ll be nice to think that SOMEBODY’S getting something out of my idea.”
The former teacher gulped more of his soda and tried to banish further thoughts of Dean sliding
around in cherry flavored Jell-o(his favorite flavor) with him. But wasn’t easy. Not at all. He started when Dean suddenly called out: “Hey, the food’s done! Come and get it, and let’s hope I didn’t burn anything too much!”
The kids abandoned their laser tag match in favor of hamburgers, swarming around the barbeque. Carol and John moved in that direction as well, although John found that he’d lost most of his appetite. For food, that was…
The afternoon dwindled away. Dean enjoyed himself more than he ever thought he might have, even getting into a water spraying contest with the screaming hooligans. John mostly stayed on the sidelines for that, although he laughed uproariously at their antics(and didn’t even mind when he got soaked after Dean formed an evil alliance with the kids and they attacked him unanimously). Finally the two women herded their offspring together and left, with many thanks to the two men for the great afternoon. Wearily John and Dean began to clean up the backyard, the former teacher putting paper plates in a garbage bag while Dean scrubbed down the barbeque. They worked in companionable silence, while Misty pottered around at their feet and played with the grass.
John rolled his shoulders as he straightened up from wiping down the picnic table. “Geez,” he groaned, putting a hand to his back. “You’d think I’d be used to dealing with kids, but those three wore me out waayyy more than my little pre-school kids used to do.”
Dean chuckled, closing the barbeque as he wiped his hands clean on a towel. “They did have a lot of energy,” he conceded. “Much like their Mom,” he added drolly, making John laugh as he thought of Cindy.
“She seems kind of ditzy, but not as bad as I’d imagine from your description of her,” he told Dean.
A nod. “Yeah. And she was pretty nice, too. Also a great mom. Brains aren’t everything.”
“Too true. Let’s haul the garbage in and put it in the can, then we can rest.” The former teacher picked up a bag, while Dean grabbed the other one. They went inside, putting the garbage in the big trash can in the garage before proceeding to the living room.
Dean sat down on the couch and turned on the t.v., while John scooped up Misty and began to make much of her. The kitten purred for him, butting her little head against his hand. The sight was so cute that Dean forgot to watch the t.v. screen, and watched his ‘husband’ instead. The way those longs fingers stroked the kitten’s fur…he was mesmerized.
John, unaware that he’d caught Dean’s attention, ran a finger along Misty’s spine. “You like that, huh?” he crooned to her, hearing a sharply indrawn breath. He glanced up, right into Dean’s grey eyes. Which had turned the color of a heavy rainstorm, they’d darkened so much…his own breath left him in a rush, and he just stood there gazing into Dean’s hungry eyes, his tiredness completely forgotten.
The biker stood up slowly from the couch. John’s mouth went dry, as his still damp pants became tight at the crotch. Helplessly he stood there and waited, as Dean prowled slowly toward him like a big cat. “I know,” the other man purred much like that cat, “That we wanted to wait. But damn it, John…I want to fuck you so bad it hurts.”
The former teacher shuddered, his fingers tightening on the kitten’s silky soft fur. “Jesus,” he breathed. “Do it, Dean. Fuck me. I’m going to go crazy if you don’t.”
“Can’t have that, can we?” Dean said in amusement as he gently scooped the kitten from John’s fingers and set her on the floor. She meowed a little, but neither man was paying any attention to her right now. So she padded away into the kitchen to get some food, as her two slaves mashed faces behind her.
Go to Next Chapter
John finished making the rest of the preparations for the little gathering while Dean rearranged the pair of wooden picnic tables in the back yard until they met his ‘husband’s’ approval. John was fussing again, which amused Dean greatly. The man was just like some kind of bird, the kind that had to have the twigs just so in his nest. He was amiable enough himself that it didn’t bother him for the most part. And besides, John didn’t nag or anything, which is something that would have driven him crazy. He just bustled around himself, busy and fulfilled. Dean supposed that this was probably one of the things that had made him a good teacher – which he considered one of the hardest jobs on the planet, and one which he’d only attempt to do himself AFTER he’d had that full lobotomy.
Finally John showered and changed clothes, and before he could start pacing the front doorbell rang. Dean went to go answer it with Misty at his heels. Outside stood the relentlessly cheerful Cindy and a dark-haired woman who must be her wife Carol. Three kids were at their heels, two girls and a boy. ‘Poor kid,’ Dean thought when he saw the boy. “Surrounded by all girls.’
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi, Dean! This is my wife, Carol. Carol honey, this is Dean Milford.” Cindy said.
“Hello, Dean. Nice to meet you,” Carol said as she held out her free hand. The other one had a plastic Tupperware dish in it. “I hope you don’t mind us inviting ourselves over here,” she said pleasantly.
“No, its fine. Come in; we have a barbeque ready to go in the backyard.”
He stepped back so that the little family could come into the house. “These are our kids, Ginny, Patty, and Doug,” Cindy said, touching each child’s shoulder as she spoke. “Kids, this is Dean.”
“Hey,” he lifted a hand slightly.
The boy gaped at him. “You look like a gangbanger,” he said bluntly.
Cindy protested: “Doug!” But Dean waved a hand at her.
“It’s fine,” he said. “I know I’m not the most conventional looking guy in the world. But I’m not a gangbanger,” he added to the boy. “I swear.”
He looked disappointed by this news, which made Dean’s lips twitch. John came into the living room just then, so he surpassed his amusement to make introductions. Cindy gushed: “It’s so good to meet you at last, John! I’ve seen you driving to work and coming home, of course,” she went on. “But it’s not the same.”
“Uh, yes,” he replied, eyeing her warily. She reminded him of some of the scarier of the parents he’d had to deal with at parent-teacher conferences.
“Don’t mind Cindy,” Carol said, putting an arm around her wife’s shoulders. “She’s kind of energetic, but harmless I swear.”
“Hey!” her spouse dug an elbow into her ribs. “You make me sound like a potential serial killer, Carol! Geez!”
Dean had to look away to conceal his grin, while John utilized the much-practiced straight face that he’d learned to employ with some of the parents. “Why don’t we all go in the back?” he said pleasantly.
Everyone was happy with this suggestion, but as the little family streamed by him Dean looked at John over their heads and slowly, deliberately winked at him. John had to struggle not to laugh, and he gave Dean a dirty look as they followed after their guests into the backyard. \
“Oh, what a nice barbeque!” Cindy exclaimed. “You must really like to cook,” she added to Dean.
He hunched his broad shoulders a bit. “Err…not really. The truth is, we just bought this when we moved here. I’ve never barbequed before, so I thought I’d give it a try. We bought top-of-the-line because I wanted the best, but I’m not sure how well these steaks will turn out,” he went on as he carefully turned the meat sizzling of grill in front of him over with a pair of steel tongs.
Cindy giggled, a sound which scraped along his nerve endings. He cursed John, who was standing nearby having a pleasant talk with the dark-haired Carol. The former teacher had deliberately stuck him with the annoying blonde, he was sure of it. Dean intended to get his revenge…and oh, how sweet it would be…Visions of some of the things he could do to get said revenge ran through his head, but they disappeared when Cindy commented: “I LOVE to cook, but Carol doesn’t. When it’s her turn she always gets this kind of pinched expression on her face, like she’s smelling something nasty. It’s funny. Anyway, what did you say you do for a living?”
He gritted his teeth a little as the three kids ran by shrieking happily. They were playing with some toys that John had bought for the little get-together, including a foam Frisbee and one of those electronic ‘tag’ games that came with guns that emitted a high-pitched sound when they ‘got’ one of the other players. Dean could feel a headache coming on already. “I’m a bouncer,” he replied as politely as he could. “At a night club.”
“A bouncer? Wow. That’s the most unusual job anyone in this neighborhood has ever had.” She looked at him a bit doubtfully, clearly wondering what a tattooed, pierced, and long-haired bouncer was doing living in Stepford town.
“Mm. Well, I was going to be a doctor, but that was before I realized that one of the requirements for that job was an actual college education,” he replied sardonically.
She stared, then giggled again. He tried not to roll his eyes heavenward as he applied himself to the steaks, hot dogs, and hamburgers currently cooking on the grill. Then she surprised him by leaning forward a little and whispering: “Admit it. It was John who talked you into moving into this neighborhood, wasn’t it? You’re probably already bored with suburbia, but you love him so you agreed to move here,” she smiled at him.
Dean lifted his brows slightly. “How do you know that?” he asked, letting her think what she’d said was the truth.
Her smile turned lopsided. “Because I’m in a similar situation. I was the one who wanted the big house and the two-car garage in the suburbs, not Carol. I’ve always sort of been Little Miss Suzie Homemaker, you see. And since Carol loves me, she agreed to move here even though I know it drives her crazy sometimes. And I’m going to make her stay here at least until the kids are grown, because this is a safe neighborhood with a good school nearby. Then we can move where she wants to go instead, no matter where that is. Every marriage needs a little give and take,” she added shrewdly.
Dean was startled that the silly blonde was so perceptive. It just went to show that you never knew, and that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…or by first appearances either. “Uhh…yeah, we moved here even though I didn’t want to,” he said truthfully. “But as long as John is happy(and safe, he added in his own head), I’m okay with it.”
She smiled. “It's really nice to see another same-sex couple who love each other so much. Especially…” she trailed off, then decided to be blunt. “You don’t really look the type to settle down and get married, if you don’t mind my saying so.”
Dean shrugged. “I wasn’t,” he replied. “Not so long ago. Before I met John.” Another truth that was a bit of a lie as well. Adding a bit of truth to a lie made the whole thing seem true.
“That’s sweet!” she cried, clapping her hands together. “Are you two thinking of having any kids to fill up this big house?”
“Not right now,” he said. “The new kitten is enough for us both at the moment.”
“Yes, she’s SO cute!” Cindy said, looking over at the kitten currently sitting in John’s arms. “I just love kittens…and babies too. Like I said, I’m Suzie Homemaker,” she went on rather self-deprecatingly.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” he replied. “There are a lot worse things you could be – and at least your kids will have a good mom. That’s important, as I know. I grew up in a broken home, I would have killed for a good mom.”
She threw him a startled, compassionate look. “I’m sorry, Dean,” she said softly.
“It’s all right. Lots of kids grow up that way in this country. You can only do the best you can with the hand life deals you. I’m not going to stand around feeling bitter or sorry for myself. But if John and I ever do have kids, I’ll be a better parent to them than mine were to me.”
Cindy touched his arm. “That’s the best attitude to have,” she remarked softly. “Wanting to give your children a better life than you had. Just don’t go too far the other way and spoil them rotten. That’s no better for them than being abused is. Worse, I think, in some ways. They’re not prepared for life, and no one wants to have anything to do with them if they’re a selfish, spoiled person. At least an abused child can come back from the abuse, can be like you and vow to be a good parent in spite of their own childhood. It’s harder for a child to overcome being spoiled, because they generally like being that way. It’s hard for them not to, since they’re kids and who wouldn’t want to be pampered and petted? Few people ever see the trap inherent in it. It’s like that monkey in the experiment. They hooked it up to a device that gave it a jolt of sexual pleasure every time it hit a button. So the monkey started hitting the button over and over again, and finally died of starvation. Too much of anything is not good for us.”
Dean looked at his seemingly silly blonde neighbor in a new light. Seeing his expression, Cindy’s lips twitched. “I know,” she said softly. “Everybody thinks I’m a ditzy blonde. And I come off that way a lot, it’s true. Fortunately for me, however, Carol saw past that and fell in love with me anyway. I’m really grateful for that. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” She looked over at her wife, her eyes softened and full of emotion.
He felt a small lance of envy go through him. No guy had ever looked at him like that. But almost in spite of himself, his eyes went to John. The former teacher happened to glance his way, and the other man smiled at him. Dean felt the muscles in his abdomen tighten sharply. He suddenly wanted to stride over there and drag his ‘husband’ into the house. He wanted to take John to his bedroom and make love to him over and over until they were both exhausted. But unfortunately for him, they still had these guests. He took a deep breath and turned back to the barbeque, although it was hard for him to do so. Oh, so very hard, at the moment.
Carol laughed as her offspring raced by ‘shooting’ each other with the laser tag guns. “Little hooligans,” she said fondly.
“They’re kids,” John replied.
She nodded. “Yep. Little monsters. I couldn’t believe it when Cindy told me she wanted three of them. I thought she was crazy. Still, she carried all of them so I can’t complain too much.”
Startled, he looked at the boy. The kid was the spitting image of Carol. Seeing his expression, she chucked. “Yes, he’s mine. We had one of my eggs fertilized and stuck into Cindy. She wanted to have a baby that was mine. I thought that was kind of weird at first, but now I wouldn’t trade him for the world. Nor the girls, since they came from Cindy. Turns out having kids was a great experience after all. I’m glad I didn’t say no back when Cindy first started talking about having a baby.”
“I like kids,” John agreed wistfully, his eyes tracking the two sisters and brother as they ran over the back lawn.
“And Dean doesn’t?” Carol asked softly.
“What? Oh, no. Well, I’m not sure, actually. We haven’t really discussed it yet. We’re still getting used to the move, and having new jobs, and this whole marriage thing…One day I’d like to discuss kids with him, but not right now.”
She nodded. “It’s always good to wait until you’re ready,” she agreed. “Cindy and I were together for a couple of years before we started talking about having kids. Gave us time to ourselves, which is something we won’t have again until the last of them,” she inclined her head toward her children, “Leaves for college. Then I think I’ll take Cindy on a world cruise, a second honeymoon, and we’ll sail around the globe together. Although we’ll probably spend most of our time in our cabin,” she added with a twinkle in her eyes.
He laughed. “Sounds like a good plan,” he remarked. His eyes went to Dean, who was standing beside the barbeque. They traced over the muscular chest confined only in a t-shirt that stretched delightfully over that broad expanse; and made their way over those strong arms that held him so easily.
Suddenly Dean’s head turned, and their eyes met. Something in that gaze made him feel breathless all of a sudden. It was a hot, smoldering thing that promised a raging fire that would burn him to ashes. He felt rather faint. Was it hot out here all of a sudden? Did he have a fever?
“Are you all right, John?” he heard Carol ask in concern, and he dragged his eyes away from Dean’s with a huge effort.
“Uh, yeah. I’m all right. Just a touch of heat stroke there for a second, I think,” he said ruefully, rubbing at his forehead.
She laughed. “Is that what they’re calling it now?” she teased.
When he glanced at her, startled, she winked slowly and deliberately. “Ahh, the honeymoon phase,” she mused reminiscently.
He felt his cheeks turn rather red. But he reminded himself that he and Dean were supposed to be a married couple…and that meant that they were doing the horizontal rumba every chance that they got. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
“Don’t be. I can still remember when Cin and I were like that. Making eyes at each other all the time, finding excuses to leave so we could sneak off for some nookie…ah, those were the days.”
“Err…yes.” He agreed, thinking ruefully that he only WISHED that he and Dean were doing all of that.
“That’s the only reason that I wouldn’t recommend having kids. You have to become so much more discreet and scheduled. They can’t come home from school to find their mothers romping naked in a wading pool full of Jell-o in the backyard. We don’t want to traumatize them for life,” she added with a wicked grin.
John had a sudden vision of a naked Dean standing in a wading pool full of Jell-o waiting for him to get home, and felt his knees go weak. His mouth felt dry, so he gulped at his soda rather desperately. “Given you ideas, have I?” Carol murmured in amusement as she looked at his face.
“Umm, maybe,” he replied a bit hoarsely.
She grinned. “Cool. I always wanted to do that, but never got the chance before the kids were born. And afterward…it’ll be nice to think that SOMEBODY’S getting something out of my idea.”
The former teacher gulped more of his soda and tried to banish further thoughts of Dean sliding
around in cherry flavored Jell-o(his favorite flavor) with him. But wasn’t easy. Not at all. He started when Dean suddenly called out: “Hey, the food’s done! Come and get it, and let’s hope I didn’t burn anything too much!”
The kids abandoned their laser tag match in favor of hamburgers, swarming around the barbeque. Carol and John moved in that direction as well, although John found that he’d lost most of his appetite. For food, that was…
The afternoon dwindled away. Dean enjoyed himself more than he ever thought he might have, even getting into a water spraying contest with the screaming hooligans. John mostly stayed on the sidelines for that, although he laughed uproariously at their antics(and didn’t even mind when he got soaked after Dean formed an evil alliance with the kids and they attacked him unanimously). Finally the two women herded their offspring together and left, with many thanks to the two men for the great afternoon. Wearily John and Dean began to clean up the backyard, the former teacher putting paper plates in a garbage bag while Dean scrubbed down the barbeque. They worked in companionable silence, while Misty pottered around at their feet and played with the grass.
John rolled his shoulders as he straightened up from wiping down the picnic table. “Geez,” he groaned, putting a hand to his back. “You’d think I’d be used to dealing with kids, but those three wore me out waayyy more than my little pre-school kids used to do.”
Dean chuckled, closing the barbeque as he wiped his hands clean on a towel. “They did have a lot of energy,” he conceded. “Much like their Mom,” he added drolly, making John laugh as he thought of Cindy.
“She seems kind of ditzy, but not as bad as I’d imagine from your description of her,” he told Dean.
A nod. “Yeah. And she was pretty nice, too. Also a great mom. Brains aren’t everything.”
“Too true. Let’s haul the garbage in and put it in the can, then we can rest.” The former teacher picked up a bag, while Dean grabbed the other one. They went inside, putting the garbage in the big trash can in the garage before proceeding to the living room.
Dean sat down on the couch and turned on the t.v., while John scooped up Misty and began to make much of her. The kitten purred for him, butting her little head against his hand. The sight was so cute that Dean forgot to watch the t.v. screen, and watched his ‘husband’ instead. The way those longs fingers stroked the kitten’s fur…he was mesmerized.
John, unaware that he’d caught Dean’s attention, ran a finger along Misty’s spine. “You like that, huh?” he crooned to her, hearing a sharply indrawn breath. He glanced up, right into Dean’s grey eyes. Which had turned the color of a heavy rainstorm, they’d darkened so much…his own breath left him in a rush, and he just stood there gazing into Dean’s hungry eyes, his tiredness completely forgotten.
The biker stood up slowly from the couch. John’s mouth went dry, as his still damp pants became tight at the crotch. Helplessly he stood there and waited, as Dean prowled slowly toward him like a big cat. “I know,” the other man purred much like that cat, “That we wanted to wait. But damn it, John…I want to fuck you so bad it hurts.”
The former teacher shuddered, his fingers tightening on the kitten’s silky soft fur. “Jesus,” he breathed. “Do it, Dean. Fuck me. I’m going to go crazy if you don’t.”
“Can’t have that, can we?” Dean said in amusement as he gently scooped the kitten from John’s fingers and set her on the floor. She meowed a little, but neither man was paying any attention to her right now. So she padded away into the kitchen to get some food, as her two slaves mashed faces behind her.
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