Page 5 of Dance With Me
He was still going over the accounts when a text came through on his phone. It was from Seb. His stomach fluttered, wondering what he wanted.
I need to change the time of Tuesday’s lesson to 6.30 if that’s OK with you guys, and can I ask you to wear some suitable footwear? Any problems, let me know. Seb
Joe admitted to being a little disappointed that was all he had to say. Although what he was expecting, he didn’t know. Honestly, he was being fucking ridiculous and needed to get his head out of his arse.
He sat back in his chair and looked out of the window, his office on the first floor giving him an excellent view of the cathedral. He looked a bit closer, and there in the row of shops opposite was a dance shop.
Well, who knew? Decision made, he called out to Hazel and told her he was going for lunch now. He made his way over to the shop and got himself some ‘suitable’ footwear. The thought he had done something that would please Seb made him stupidly happy. He remembered Hazel’s sushi, too. It was more than his life was worth to forget that!
Later that afternoon, the cake tasting had gone about as well as expected; each slice tasted much the same as the other. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to say, so he just made what he hoped were the right noises at the right times, and no one seemed to be the wiser. Thankfully, Clare decided on what she wanted, so at least that was another thing they could check off the list.
“What are you going to do tonight?” Clare asked as he drove them back home from the tasting.
“Not sure, really. I have some exam papers to grade, and I’ll probably open a bottle of wine after. I’m exhausted, though, so I might just have an early night.”
Joe was an examiner with the local university and helped mark accountancy exams at the end of the academic year. He had thirty papers to mark, but he had some time yet.
After a quick meal, Clare left for work and Joe opened a bottle of wine, as he’d intended. He sat looking at the papers in front of him but really wasn’t in the mood. He moved to the sofa and lay down to listen to some music, his wine on the coffee table beside him.
As his mind wandered, he thought abouthistime at university. It had been great there for him, a time where he was able to fully explore his sexuality. He’d always known he was bisexual, kissing Bethan Williams in his last year of high school and then kissing Glen Thomas the following year. His preference had always been for men, but he’d only really ever had girlfriends. At university, though, he’d met Andrew Simmonds, who had been more than happy to experiment with Joe.
They’d been out to a local bar for his twentieth birthday, and afterwards, they had gone back to the house they shared to carry on the party. A game of Truth or Dare started, and Joe had chosen ‘dare’. Lucy, one of his housemates, had dared him to kiss Andrew, not just a peck, but full-on action.
“If there’s no tongue, it doesn’t count.”
Too drunk to care, he’d grabbed hold of Andrew’s shirt and pulled him in. To his surprise, Andrew had responded, deepening the kiss. He’d slid his tongue into his mouth, and Joe had been gone. Everything else had faded away until it was just him and Andrew, their lips moving in sync, tongues battling for control.
Catcalling and whistling had soon broken the spell, and they’d parted, breathing heavily. It had been obvious to them both that this wouldn’t be a one-off, and that night, Andrew had ended up in Joe’s bed.
After that, Joe and Andrew had regularly enjoyed each other’s company, spending evenings and weekends together for the next twelve months. They’d experimented a lot, hand jobs, blowjobs, ass play but never going the full way to penetration.
When university had ended, they’d both gone their separate ways, and Joe hadn’t been with another man since. He’d heard through the grapevine that Andrew had married a few years earlier, living happily with his husband. All Joe’s other relationships, if you could call them that, had been with women. Then he’d met Clare and the rest, as they say, was history.
Around five years earlier, a woman he’d worked with had asked him to a party she was hosting and had, unbeknownst to Joe, invited Clare along too. It was clearly a setup, but they’d hit it off, and here they were, engaged and about to get married.
The realisation dragged him out of his reminiscing. He wasn’t sure why the thought of getting married was bothering him so much. Joe swallowed the last of his wine and decided to call it a night. His trip down memory lane had given him much to think about. Was this what he was missing, and had meeting Seb brought it all back?
The following morning, he woke to feel Clare’s hands roaming over his body. He froze beneath them, not wanting to move.
“Good morning. Did you miss me? I know I missed you, baby.” She moved lower, reaching for his morning wood, gripping him in her small hand. “How about it, Joe? It is Saturday, and you don’t have to get up for work,” she purred.
Usually, Joe would have been happy to comply. He was never one to turn down sex, but today, he didn’t want her touch. The images from last night still ran through his mind.
He groaned and shrugged her off, moving to the other side of the bed and pulling the covers back.
“Sorry. I didn’t sleep very well last night, and I have a terrible headache.”
He knew it was a poor excuse, but he couldn’t face sex with her, and that confounded him. He stood quickly and removed himself from the awkward situation.
“Why don’t you get under the covers? I bet you were on your feet all night and could do with the rest. I’m just going to go and get some painkillers and put the coffee on.”
He slipped out of the bedroom and went downstairs. By the time he came back, she was fast asleep, her red hair fanning out on the pillows.
Joe tiptoed through the room, grabbed some clothes, and went back downstairs. He needed to get out of the house.
Chapter Four
Seb
