Page 23 of Tommy

From the outward look of Hardin, the food he created was the last thing I had ever expected. He made my mouth crave the food that was on the plate. I couldn’t get enough of it. There was something about it, and something about him too. I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was probably just my inability to be face-to-face with another homosexual and not think about having sex with them.

10. HARDIN

Tommy had my guard down more often than he probably knew. The way my brain told me to react versus the words that came out of my mouth were all in conflict with each other. And having seen him almost naked with his tiny blue briefs, I knew almost certainly that he was a little. And if his choice of underwear didn’t give it away, the rubber duckies and bubble bath did, as well as overhearing him talk in the voices of the ducks and hold conversations between them.

There was a soft spot in my heart for littles, and for whatever reason, Tommy was either knowingly or accidentally pressing that soft spot. It awakened the caretaker within me, wanting to cook for him, cover him up in bubble wrap, and make sure his injuries were taken care of, even if I couldn’t caress them better.

He left soon after eating, giving me two thumbs up and positive feedback to the food. If the words hadn’t been positive, the action of him nearly pressing his nose to the plate and lapping the gravy spoke for him. Once he was gone with all his things in a large bag, I was left to deal with my thoughts, one needy dog, and another dog pawing at the other to stay quiet.

“You two were well-behaved,” I said. They were both exhausted after our mid-morning walk earlier. I knew they wouldn’t be going out again while I had the horses. “What do you think about our guest?”

They loved anyone who would entertain them, and Tommy had always petted them whenever they approached.

“I guess you’re both biased,” I told them. “You know, he’s not sticking around. He’ll be gone before we even manage to form an opinion on him.” I didn’t know if I was telling them, or myself. I had a lot of thoughts on the situation. Mickshould’ve really sent a note with his arrival so I knew if there was something more to this I should’ve been getting.

I settled in for the evening with some more tea and switching gears from romance to thriller. The romances were just making me feel lonely, and usually, it was fine to yearn for a little romance when I was busy, but that emotional pit like a stone in my stomach wasn’t nearly as welcome when Tommy was around, almost tempting the idea of something happening between the two of us.

The signs were there, at least, I was telling myself they were. He came out to me, he practically got naked in front of me, and he was complimenting me. At any rate, tomorrow, he’d throw himself at me and I’d call it the final sign. But what would happen if he did? A tightness struck my chest. I was nervous about the notion he actually fancied me. It had been a while. I was out of shape when it came to it in practice.

After a night, tossing and turning in bed, unable to shake the feeling of having a smaller insurmountable crush on Tommy, I was soon to be face-to-face with him. There was always the possibility of leaving him for the morning, but then he’d ask why, and he probably wouldn’t give up until I gave him an answer he was seemingly satisfied by. I had to give him props for that, he was tenacious.

Rusty and Pip were barking up a storm when I got out of the bathroom. I had to make sure the house wasn’t on fire. In fresh, thick socks, I was skidding around the entire place just to get to them at the front door.

Sully’s van was parked up outside with the plow on the front, hauling up a chunk of the snowy drive. I opened the door and the dogs jetted out to him standing by the porch.

“Why are you here so early?” I asked, grabbing my hat and fixing it to my head.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, Sir,” he said. “It’s Wednesday. I’m here to work on the stuff in the garage and help out with the roof. We don’t want a repeat of two years back when the thing near caved in.”

“Oh. Right, let me put my boots on and I’ll come out,” I said.

Sully tipped his head to me. “Heard you’ve got a guest around too.”

“A guest, who’ve you been talking to?” I asked.

“The entire town knows someone is staying here,” he said. “And June mentioned it. She went to pick him up, right?”

“I’m doing a favor for a friend. I’m sure you’ll meet him as he’s about to help me in the barn.”

“Great, is he in there?” he asked, petting the dogs. “What’s he like?”

“He’s in the cabin over there, and he’s just a kid.”

Sully laughed. “Then maybe he shouldn’t be in a cabin alone, those places can be a death trap to stay in alone.”

“He seems capable.” But he was right. Tending the fire and making sure the stove was working could be tricky sometimes. He wasn’t actually a kid, but in comparison to the cabin, he was pretty new.

“Yeah, but your capable and someone else’s capable are two different things,” he said. “June mentioned he was from the city too. I’m surprised you forced him out there. You’ve got plenty of rooms in there.”

I bit my tongue gently. I knew I had rooms in the house, but they weren’t exactly rooms I wanted to be making up for him to stay in. Although that was my initial thinking behind it. Now, I was in two different minds about what I wanted to come from the rest of his stay. Him staying in the main house might’ve been beneficial for the early mornings, and maybe even a way I couldhelp him build better blanket forts. Lord knew he needed the help.

“I’m probably not going to be coming back up after today,” Sully continued. “I heard there’s a snow storm approaching and I don’t think my little plow will help.”

“Fuck. Where did you hear that?” I asked.

“The radio,” he said. “I figured you’d have the weather reports on.”

I usually did, but Tommy had distracted me from my regular schedule. He’d sent my entire month out of whack. “I guess I’ll need a little extra help with preparations for that then.”

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