Page 21 of Heart of Glass

With the promise of sweaty, naked, kinky fun when he returned, Lachlan forced Grady out of the house with him to help fulfillLachlan’s dream of the perfect Christmas. Three hours, five stores, and a few hundred dollars later, they had a carload of decorations sure to make it look like holiday cheer had thrown up in their house.

“Do you think he’ll like it?”

“You’re cute when you’re nervous,” Grady joked. “He’ll love it.” They carried in the last of the bags from the car, and stood together, staring at the mountain of purchases. “Go ask if he wants to help put these up. I have a feeling he’ll be better at it than we are.”

“Good point.” Jogging down the hall, Xeno gave a perfunctory knock at the door before walking into his office. “Hey, baby, why don’t you take a break and come help us decorate?”

Lachlan didn’t answer right away, and he stared at the computer screen—Xeno’s computer—with pursed lips and a wrinkled brow. “Xe, what is this?”

When Lachlan’s computer decided it no longer wanted to hold a charge, Xeno had been kind enough to loan him his desktop. Lachlan hadn’t meant to snoop, but the title of the file in the documents folder had caught his attention because he’d used the same title for his latest manuscript.

Within just a few pages, his heart began to pound, his hands shook, and his stomach fell somewhere to the vicinity of his butt. The words were different, as well as the variation in sentence structure, but the story played out on the screen just as it had in his dreams—just as he’d written it in his book.

“Xe, answer me. What is this?”

Circling the desk to stand behind him, Xeno rested his hands on Lachlan’s shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “It’s nothing. Just something I was playing with.”

“This is the story I’ve been dreaming about. It’s all here.” He shifted in his seat to look at Xeno. “What’s going on?”

With a defeated sigh, Xeno scrubbed his face with both hands and walked over to sit on the bean bag. “When we first met, you weren’t sleeping, and you were barely eating. That night I stayed over, and we ordered Chinese, you fell asleep…and you were dreaming about the accident.”

“You were in my dream.” It made sense. After all, what else would a dreamwalker do?

“I know I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like that, but you were so sad, sweetheart. I just wanted to help, to take away some of that pain.”

“So you gave me a different dream instead.”

“I’m not a storyteller like you, though. When I saw the dreams were helping, when you were sleeping better, I wanted to keep going, but I can’t make stuff up on the fly.” He pointed to the monitor. “That’s what that is. I’d write down the next part of the story to help me create the world in your dreams.” He tilted his head to the side and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Are you mad?”

He looked like a scared little boy, and while Lachlan had a moral dilemma about his own manuscript now, he couldn’t find it in his heart to be angry with Xeno. “No, I’m not mad. It did work, and I can’t say I miss the nightmares.” Walking over to hismate—that would take some getting used to—he kneeled in front of him and rested a hand on Xeno’s knee. “I think it’s sweet, and I believe you did it because you care about me, so thank you.”

“I love you,” Xeno answered simply. “C’mon, baby. Holiday magic awaits, and we need to get some food in you.”

“Xe…you’re wrong, ya know? You are an amazing storyteller. I really think you could get the story published.”

“Nah, it’s not even finished.”

Lachlan really needed the advance on his submission, but his conscious wouldn’t let him take credit for someone else’s ideas. “Think about it, okay?”

“Thanks for saying that, but I know I’m not as good as you.” Xeno stood and pulled Lachlan to his feet as well. “I’m morethan satisfied to know the dreams give you inspiration to write again. I love the way you light up when you’re writing.”

Following him out of the room, Lachlan gnawed on the inside of his cheek and twirled his fingers together all the way to the living room. The story only needed a good ending, maybe a chapter or two, and it would be ready for submission. He hadn’t lied to spare Xeno’s feelings, either. Lachlan had embellished a few points, and created some of his own details, but the original story could hold its own without Lachlan’s help.

He went through the motions, hanging garland and decorating the beautiful evergreen tree Xeno had brought home, but the entire time, he warred with himself over what to do. He thought about it while they ate pizza. While Grady and Xeno yelled at the football game on television, he thought about it then. During his shower, he continued to struggle with how to proceed, and even when he crawled into bed for the night, he kept thinking about that damn manuscript.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Xeno curled up behind him on the mattress, pressing the length of his nude body along Lachlan’s back. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Just thinking.” Technically, it was the truth. “Actually, I think I’m going to go work for a little while.”

“I guess I’ll have to get used to this, huh? You sneaking off in the middle of the night to play with your imaginary friends?”

“Occupational hazard, love.” Rolling over, he kissed Xeno and smiled. “Get some sleep. I’ll be back.”

Before he could move away, Xeno caught him around the waist and pulled him in for a toe-curling kiss. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay?”

He really shouldn’t. He’d finally come to a decision, and he didn’t have a lot of time to put his plan in place. The slow glide of Xeno’s tongue over his, and the hard cock pressing into his hip made staying too tempting to resist, though.

“Mmm, maybe. What did you have in mind?”

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