Page 42 of Putting Down Roots

“Looking very fine yourself,” he replies, and I need to kiss him. I need a taste of him if I’m going to survive the evening. I grab his hips and pull him close. Our lips meet, and he pushes his tongue into my mouth, sweeping through. I graze my teeth along it and he lets out a little moan. The sound travels all the way to my cock, which gives a lurch. With our hips ground together, I can feel he’s hard as well.

“We. Should. Go,” I try to say, around kissing him.

“We could stay,” he mumbles.

As tempting as that sounds, I slowly break off kissing him. I want and need to do this. I tell him so, but reach down to play my thumb down the very distinct, hard bulge in his hot, tight jeans.

“But I want that for afters, baby.” I give him one last kiss, biting his bottom lip, which causes another groan and has me almost abandoning my plans to go out. I find the effect I have on him hot, so I slyly smile and say,”Later.”

We don’t talk on the drive down to the village, and I desperately try not to think of Luca’s moans against my mouth as I really need my erection to go away by the time we get there.

When we walk through the door, Darla beams at us and sweeps over.

“Well, if it isn’t little Luca Winterton.” She’s already drawn me into a hug, and she does the same to Luca.

“Hello Darla. I’m not so little anymore.”

Darla holds him at arm’s length and flicks her eyes up and down.

“So I see.” She smiles, and Luca colours ever so slightly. “I heard you’d come back to Larchdown. I’m sorry about old Frances, but I’m glad she left you the house. And I hear from Jackson that you’re opening up the garden—who’d have thought it—but it will be a good thing for the village.” As usual, with Darla, no replies are needed and it’s best to let her ramble on.

“Now I’ve put you boys over here in the corner.” She leads the way through the tables. “Can I get you a drink?”

I order a bottle of wine, checking first with Luca that it would be okay. When she disappears to fetch it, Luca sits back and laughs.

“Were you hoping for an intimate dinner?”

I shrug a reply, smiling at him.

“Because you know, don’t you, that within minutes this will be round the entire village? It wouldn’t surprise me if Darla has her busiest night of the year, while the village turns out to have a look at the boy who returned, and the sexy gardener.”

I knew it would happen, but Larchdown is still the safest place I know. I don’t want to make Luca uncomfortable.

“Are you okay with that?” I think Luca likes his reclusive lifestyle, staying at the house because he prefers it. But now, I wonder if I’ve got it wrong. However, hehasreadily agreed to come with me, and shows no signs of anxiety.

“I’m fine.” He must see my concern, because he adds. “My attacks are normally in anticipation of something bad happening, but this is Larchdown. I might have spent time away, but it hasn’t changed.”

I breathe a sigh of relief and relax slightly. Darla comes back with a bottle of red wine and takes our orders. I notice that there are a few more people in the pub than when we’d walked in.

“Now, there might be a few people who want to say hello,” Darla begins, trying to look innocent, as if she hasn’t been gossiping already. “But I’ve told them that you boys want to be left alone.”

“That’s okay Darla.” I smile, and as she leaves I say in a low voice, “We can be intimate later,” enjoying the dark glittering that shines in Luca’s eyes.

Luca takes a swallow of his wine and looks round the room and back at me.

“Is this you coming out?” He gives me an impish grin.

“What do you mean?”

“Usually a gay or bi person comes out, which is when they tell their family and friends about their sexuality.”

“I’ve spent too long siding with the haters, through fear and ignorance. Tonight is about proving to myself that I can be seen to be who I am without the fear.”

“Coming out then?” Luca smiles his goddamn sexy smile.

“I guess so.” I laugh.

“Come here then.” Luca leans over and plants a kiss on my lips. I swear I hear a few cheers in the pub, but when I look up, no one is looking our way—almost deliberately not looking our way.

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