Page 16 of After Hours

Maybe I’d get up the guts to ask him where we were heading the next time I saw him. Did he see this as the start of a real relationship? Could I call him my boyfriend yet? That other question I asked him alone in my bedroom needed an answer, too.What can I do to make you feel good? What do you want?I really wanted to know that.

After giving Sugar the attention she deserved, a can of chicken and veggie mush, and letting her out into the tiny yard, I shifted my gear bag to the closet and grabbed some clean PJs and fuzzy socks. Wyatt sat on the back porch with his laptop again. He gave me a nod, said he’d make sure Sugar got back inside, and turned back to his typing.

A long hot shower, a quick jerkoff session remembering the exact taste of Oscar’s tongue and lips, and a cozy snuggle into bed awaited me.

At least I had a plan for one day. I’d figure out the rest soon enough. Life was a lot like rock climbing really. If you just left things up to chance, someone could end up getting hurt.

Chapter 9

Oscar

Dishing out six flavors of ice cream to a long line of people who liked their snacks as chilly as the breeze off the lake was kinda fun. At least the camp event gave me a break from spreading mulch and cleaning up after campfire gatherings. Holly hadn’t lied about the opportunity for overtime, and I took every hour she could give me. She’d even started to assign me office work and marketing support at her side.

A tall, russet-haired man in a plaid flannel paid for a scoop of maple pecan for the short, dark man cuddled against his side. The same warm, gooey feeling I got whenever I saw LGBTQ+ people living their lives openly filled me up. I handed him the change with a smile and turned to the next customer, a momwho gripped the hand of a bouncing girl of about five or six. She danced around in the fallen leaves scattered across the path.

“Oh, look at the cute puppy!” The little girl’s squeal nearly pierced my eardrums. I’d just finished scooping her a cone full of apple pie ice cream before she drew my attention across the lawn to the fluffy white dog trotting along at the end of a pink sparkly leash.

My smile, which wasn’t as bright as it had been at ten o’clock when Camp Rocky Cove’s Autumn Bonanza began, widened. Zane matched my grin as he strolled over, looking perfectly cozy and cute in a baggy hoodie, faded jeans, and worn hiking boots. He reeled Sugar in closer as the little girl pulled on her mom’s hand to get closer.

“She’s friendly. It’s okay if you’d like to pet her,” he said before glancing up at me again. The girl dropped to the grass to hold her hand out carefully before patting Sugar on the head. The tiny dog wiggled and danced, eating up the attention with her bright black eyes gleaming.

Zane leaned around the edge of the ice cream table, eyebrows raised, and lips pursed. How could I resist? I met him halfway for a quick smooch before returning to my serving duties.

“Mommy! The puppy man kissed the ice cream man!” The little girl was all wide eyes and drippy ice cream.

A quick explosion of nerves appeared before I reminded myself that I didn’t have to hide who I was anymore in my new world. My days of fear about my secret getting back to my parents were well over. If people around me didn’t like it, that was their problem. Not mine.

The mom smiled and patted her daughter on the head. “They must really like each other, huh? Let’s go check out the papercraft booth now, okay?”

“Okay. Bye puppy!” She flapped the hand not holding her ice cream at Sugar and walked off with her mother.

They left a warm glow in their wake, which only got hotter when Zane stepped closer and bumped shoulders with me. “How’s it going, ice cream man? I haven’t seen you in such a long time, I couldn’t stop myself from coming to the jamboree.”

“Autumn Bonanza,” I corrected with a smile. I dug the scooper into the pumpkin spice ice cream for the next customer before answering. “Ryan’s still out at the inn. I’ve been working all sorts of hours. I missed you too.”

Zane and Sugar hung out for the next hour until another camp employee came to relieve me. Sugar was beside herself with happiness with every other person in the ice cream line taking time to pet her and tell her how adorable she was. “Lady Sugarplum von Snugglefluff is feeling her royal power today.” The moment I handed off the ice cream scoop, Zane took my sticky hand and led me down the path under the trees. We wandered past the festivities onto a smaller, more rugged trail.

“Are you actually on break, or am I going to get you in trouble if I steal you away?”

I swiped on my phone to check the time. My new lock screen photo, which showed Zane sitting on a rock with Sugar on his lap, sent warm fuzzies through me like always. I’d snapped it on one of our walks that were almost, maybe, kinda like dates. “I still have two hours to go, but I can take a break now for fifteen minutes or so.”

Zane looked up and down the path before tugging my hand to pull me behind a tree. “No one’s around,” he whispered as he pushed me up against the trunk. One hand expertly clipped the end of Sugar’s leash to a carabiner on a belt loop while the other skated up my jaw into my hair. His thin fingers clutched at my curls as his mouth moved closer.

Hot breath wafted over my ear. “I still need an answer to my question, Oscar. The one about what I can do to make you feel good.”

The memory of that night in his bedroom flooded me with tingly heat. Feeling bold, I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips to his. He tasted like cinnamon. “This makes me feel good,” I said as I went in for another kiss. It didn’t take long to grow breathless, my lips damp and dick hard where it rubbed up against Zane’s.

One chilly hand snuck under my jacket and settled on my skin. Zane chuckled when I gasped and squirmed. “Sorry,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t really mean it. His fingers warmed fast enough before he slid them into the waistband of my jeans. They teased across the swell of my cheeks as Zane pulled me closer.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. “Oh, not again.” I’d forgotten for a moment that I was still at work and not in Zane’s bedroom like I was last time we’d gotten so rudely interrupted. I pulled it out while he groaned and let his forehead drop to my shoulder. I looked down to see a message from Cody, one of the full-time employees who worked under Jamal.

“They need me to help with the boxes of Rocky Cove merch.” The sounds of the distant crowds reminded me that we weren’t really in private. “I’m sorry, Zane.” Boy, was I sorry, but sneaking off to make out with my boyfriend at work wasn’t the way to keep earning a paycheck.

He smiled and kissed me one more time. “One of these days, I’m going to really get you alone.” Then, he stepped back and pulled his hoodie down to hide the obvious bulge in his jeans. “Text me later?” He untangled Sugar’s leash from around a few small trees and dry clumps of fern before heading back onto the path.

We walked back toward the crowd, and I stole another quick peck before hurrying off to the storage sheds. The taste of Zane on my lips and the memory of his fingers touching me in secret places only left me wanting more. The answer to that question grew clearer all the time. However and whenever I could get him, I wanted more of Zane. His smile, his voice, his touch, his taste, his everything.

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