I Read A Lot Ch. 04

"Rightyeah howcanyoumore, ahhh."

Gabe kept up a steady stream of nonsense words, but I got the general idea that I should keep going if I valued my life. With a final "Unhh, Tom" and a deep groan of effort I felt the warm liquid of him spill into my hand and his tight muscles constricting around me. He bowed forward with the force of his orgasm and tried to pull me even harder into himself. With a few last deep thrusts, I was there with him, my face pressed into his neck while he held my head and rocked with me to my completion.

Every single muscle in my body was trembling from exertion and satisfaction. For a long time, neither of us moved or talked and we just tried to catch our breath. Personally, I had no idea what to say. I had never felt so completely part of another person in my entire life. For some reason I can't quite understand, I mostly felt embarrassed. As soon as I gathered the energy, my instinct was to get away, even if it was just to the bathroom to clean up. Maybe I was having a hard time fitting back inside my own skin? I don't know.

Lucky for me, Gabe was a lot more lucid than I was and said just the right thing. "Baby, I don't know how you did that, or even what exactly you did, but you can do it again anytime you want," he said in a low, groan-husked voice. Then he added, "As long as it's with me."

I pushed up on my elbows, needing to see those eyes. "It wasn't just me," I said as I looked from eye to eye, trying to memorize them. "I'm not like that; it's never that easy. It was definitely a team effort. And I don't want to be like that with anyone else."

The kiss we shared then was effortless and filled with kindness and promises. If my arms hadn't threatened to completely give way, I might have been able to keep on like that all night long. Embarrassment and my need to escape had faded and I was able to get a clean washcloth to wipe Gabe. I don't think he would have been able to move if a tornado was coming, he was so totally blown. After I tossed the washcloth in the hamper I chuckled a little bit and crawled into bed, next to him.

"What's funny?" Gabe asked groggily.

"Nothing, angel. I just like to see you happy and relaxed," I said and then leaned over and pecked him on the lips. He was slipping into sleep and I knew I was right behind him.

"Hmmm. I like that. You can call me angel. Never been an angel," Gabe babbled.

I hadn't realized that I had called him that. Ever since I noticed that Gabe sometimes called me baby, a pet name I never thought I would be able to tolerate but somehow adored when he said it, I had been trying to think up an endearment for him.

One day, I was so desperate for inspiration, I even did a google search on pet names for men. The lists were mostly pathetic, unimaginative or silly. There was no way I would ever be able to call Gabe 'studmuffin' with a straight face. I guess some part of my brain had already recognized the angelic in Gabe and was just now communicating to the news to me. I just hope I remembered in the morning.

**Gabe**

When I finally woke up for good the next morning and stretched, I think every muscle in my body ached. I had toted painting, painted walls hung pictures and made love within an inch of my life. Funny, I had thought it was Tom who could never do things by halves, but now I was beginning to think that maybe he wasn't alone. The day before was kind of a haze of frantic and frenetic action. I had been driven to finish everything, as if it were my last day on earth. The show was up and Tom was most definitely my lover. A more cynical man might have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the tragic event that made all the happiness evaporate. Not me. I felt like I had scaled some huge mountain and now I could enjoy the view.

The hot shower loosened a few strained muscles and the hotter coffee Tom had left in a thermos shooed away the mental cobwebs. Before I got started for the day, I had a couple of phone calls to make. When I looked at my phone, I appeared that one of my calls had read my mind and called me first. After punching some buttons, the voice of a dynamo filled my ear.

"Sweetie, I love the colors you picked," Isabelle crooned in my ear. "But why does the big one look like a UPS box?"

"Ugh," I moaned. The paper covering the biggest canvas totally slipped my mind. "I meant to leave you a note about that, but I guess I was a little distracted."

Chuckling over the phone, "That's what I figured. After I peeked at it, I decided that it would be okay to disrobe. Was I right?" The warmth and teasing in Isabelle's voice told me I was forgiven for my oversight.

"Yes, thank you. Has anyone noticed yet? I know it's early, but I was just wondering?" The café's morning crowd would have already been through the place, and it was possible that Isabelle had been able to gauge the reaction.

"Gabriel," she soothed. "I don't think a single person left my doors without raving about your work. Really, this is one of the better shows I've had up on the walls in a very long time. The response has been overwhelmingly positive."

One of the things I liked about Isabelle was her honesty. If my work had stunk, she never would have asked to have me show in her place. If the work hadn't gone over well with her customers, she wouldn't have flinched to tell me so. When we first met, she had told me that 'no one ever achieved excellence by being lied to'. At the time, it seemed a little bit harsh, but in hindsight, I realized that she was absolutely right.

"Thank you for everything Isabelle. You have no idea how much your opinion means to me."

"Just come tonight at six so we can have a little toast, okay? And bring that man with you, I think I need to have a better look at him," Isabelle said with a chuckle in her voice.

"We'll be there," I agreed. "I invited a few more friends, if that's okay? That way if Tom explodes, I'll have some help calming him down."

Isabelle rang off then and got back to her endless work. And I filled my mug with coffee before calling Tom.

"Hey," Tom said in a low voice that made my insides flip with joy.

"You better have known it was me calling," I said mock-sternly. "Because if you answer the phone in that sexy voice for someone else, I'm going to get super jealous."

"Just you, angel," Tom husked into the phone. "Besides, I'm in my cube and I don't really want to have everyone listening in."

"Good, just making sure," I replied. "How are you doing today?" Tom had gone into work with Amy at some ridiculous hour to get ready for his project-launch meeting.

"Funny you should ask," Tom said. I could almost hear the smile in his voice. "I seem very relaxed, which is strange. The meeting starts at three, and I'm feeling pretty good about it."

"I'll pick you up at five, if that's still okay?"

"It's only okay since it can't be any sooner, but I can live with it. Are you busy this weekend?" Tom asked.

"Hmm," I considered. "I have to work a shift on Saturday, but otherwise I'll be with my extremely demanding and possessive boyfriend."

"Good, as long as we have that straight."

Since I had Tom's car (again, I know) I had a little extra time before I had to get to the bookstore. One more call and some breakfast later, and I was winging my way to my day job. A great part about working where I do is that it rarely takes up my whole brain to do it right. That's not to say that I'm a slacker, I am pretty conscientious at work. It's just that I am able to let my mind wander and float from topic to topic. Sometimes I'm working on new drawings in my head, or figuring out how to get my work out into the world where more people will see it. Today though, I had a one track mind and his name was Tom.

According to my past experiences, I was expecting to feel some sense of panic or regret at having sex with Tom last night. This was the part where I would have to start looking for and exit strategy before the other guy got too attached to me. Or right about now, I would be depressed because I had probably ruined a great friendship with mediocre sex. As I went through my workday, I kept waiting for these emotions to bubble up through my mind, but they never did.

Fairy tales are a section in the Childrens' Books and 'happily ever after' is simply a literary device for ending a story quickly. I know these things, and have tried to live my life only expecting from life what I could reasonably expect. True love was not in the cards, but if I were lucky, I would be able to find kind and generous lovers to share some time with me.

My rational brain kept repeating all these truths to me, but it seemed the rest of me had no time to listen. Tom was not anyone else I had ever met and I couldn't expect him to fall in line with all the rules I had made up to rule my life. The rules had kept me safe and unhurt ever since my first boyfriend dumped me. I was pretty sure it was time to revise the rules of engagement this time and maybe give Tom a little credit. I wasn't quite at a place where I could just let go and accept the future without any anxiety at all. But I thought I could at least put off listening to the niggling voices that tried to convince me that this relationship with Tom was bound to fail.

"Earth to Gabe," Rob's voice came over my shoulder.

I turned and saw one of the world's cutest and most obnoxious guys smirking at me. "Hey yourself," I responded. "What's up?"

Rob continued the smirk and added a knowing stare. "Nothing much except that you are totally distracted today and I have been calling your name for like, three minutes. You a little pre-occupied?"

I schooled my features and tried not to blush since I kept having these little flashbacks to Tom touching me. Rob is a huge gossip and if he found out about my recent activities, he would broadcast it all over the store. "Mostly I'm just tired. I was hanging a show last night and it took longer than I thought." I shrugged, hoping that this made my quasi-lie believable.

"Who's show? Yours?" Rob's voice was a little excited. "No wonder you haven't been going out with us after work lately."

"Yeah, it's been a ton of work, but totally worth it. It opens tonight at that café' in Old Town, Bella's. It's not the Met, but I think it's pretty cool."

Rob practically started bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Ooooh," he crooned. (I mean really, who croons but Rob?) "What time tonight?"

"I think we'll do the opening toast around seven tonight," I answered without thinking at all. Had I half a brain, I would have known the next words out of his mouth.

"Perfect, I'll let everyone know. If we drive together, a bunch of us can probably get there after the closers come in." Rob's smile was broad and excited as he bounded off to inform the staff of the evening's activity. It was like working with Julie-the-Cruise-Director.

Internally I groaned and kicked myself for my own stupidity for opening my mouth. Maybe I should be a little more gracious and be excited that a few people would want to come tonight. But there was still a big question in my mind and that was Tom. Truthfully, I had no idea how he would react to the big painting when he saw it. If he hated it and got storming-angry, then I'd rather not have a ton of witnesses around when he blew a gasket.

At this point I figured that if I could completely distract Tom, he wouldn't care if I had painted him stark naked for all the world to see. After checking with my boss to see if I could get out a little early and telling way to many folks that I would see them later, I headed out to the parking lot to go pick up Tom.

The couple of times I had picked Tom up from work, he had been waiting outside, so I had never actually seen where he worked. Since Tom liked to read in the evenings yet still work tons of hours, he often went to work super early in the morning. Lots of times, he and Amy shared rides to the office, like this morning. The building where he worked was nice, a little sterile and frigidly air-conditioned. Once inside, I had to check the directory to see which floor Tom's company was on. Three floors, the company took up three whole floors. Okay, how did I not know this? Inside the elevator, I poked the button the first of the three floors and hoped for the best.

"Mr. Middleton is still in a meeting in the second floor conference room," said the nice receptionist, who reminded me a little bit of my mom.

I was a little stunned, only because I had thought Tom's company was kind of casual and I had never thought of him as 'Mr.' anybody. Trying to look like I belonged in corporate America, I followed the lady whose nametag said she was Carol. I hoped I didn't look like a gosling following the mother-duck. As we passed areas, Carol pointed out things I would never remember, and I just mumbled. Finally we came to the conference room, and she peeked in a little window in the door.

"It looks like they're finishing up in there, it shouldn't be too much longer," Carol said kindly. "You can wait in Mr. Middleton's work area, if you'd like. Do you remember where that is?"

I lied to Carol and told her I did and she made her way back down one floor and back to her post. If the meeting were almost over, then I could just hang out and hold the wall up until it was over. I knew I was a little early, and I started to think that maybe this wasn't my most brilliant impulse ever. Just as I was scanning the hallway for an escape route, the door opened and Tom came out with a huge smile on his face and walked right to me.

"I take it that the meeting went well?" I asked in a low voice. This whole 'office environment' thing was intimidating me a little and I didn't quite know how to act. Even though I knew that Tom was mostly out at work, I opted to be as professional as possible and not touch him. Tom obviously had other ideas and he kissed me lightly in the cheek and took my hand.

"The meeting was great and seeing you is even better," Tom practically purred in that way that drove me a little crazy. "Here comes my boss, I want you to meet him."

A tall, nearly middle aged man with bright eyes and a loose-limbed walk came towards us. As soon as he stood in front of us, he stuck out his hand. "Tom, great job. You have everything completely under control. Work with Carol to set-up a weekly meeting with my schedule, okay?"

"Thank you, Steve," Tom released the man's hand and turned to introduced me. I would have felt a lot less nervous if he had let go of my hand. "I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Gabriel Hayes."

I think Tom said a few other nice things, but my brain got a little fuzzy when he said the boyfriend part. I could feel myself go all soft inside. Then the man was shaking my hand. I heard my self say, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Wright."

"Well Gabe," Steve Wright said, meeting my eyes. "I should thank you for your patience lately. Tom's been putting in a lot of extra hours. I hope that hasn't been too hard on you."

"Umm, no," I replied. And in truth, Tom hadn't allowed his work to intrude into our time together at all. He could have, and I wouldn't have minded. At least that is what I told myself. But Tom had made such an effort to support me and encourage me that I often forgot how hard he worked. "Tom has been the model boyfriend. I'm incredibly fortunate." And as I said this, I squeezed his hand to let him know I meant it. He squeezed back.

"Gabe has a show of his artwork opening tonight, and we're headed over there in a little while to celebrate." Tom said with obvious pride in his voice.

"Excellent, you too deserve to have a little fun," Steve Wright said.

As we finished with the obligatory small talk, I saw Amy in the conference room talking with a few colleagues. She gave me a little wave when she looked up and noticed me in the hall. Soon, Steve walked away and Amy bounded out and practically tackled me with a hug.

"Gabe sweetie," Amy cried. "Tom was fantastic -- he convinced everyone that we can handle this project in our sleep."

I beamed at Tom. He would never brag on himself, so I was glad he had Amy to do it for him. "It's just one of his amazing super powers."

Amy stood and just smiled at us a little too long and finally said, "I don't think I want to know the others are."

And with that, Tom coughed and started to blush bright red. "Amy, shut up please or I will tell Henry to take away your chocolate ice cream," Tom growled.

Amy winked and then said, "Speaking of Henry and chocolate, what time at Bella's?"

"Seven o'clock," Tom responded.

"Goody," Amy beamed. "I'll call Henry and we can all grab some dinner and then head over. What do you say?"

Damn, I didn't want to give too much away, but I had to do something to get Tom to myself. Before Tom could say 'sure, sounds great', I took control of the conversation. "Sorry Amy, I made some plans already for Mr. Middleton, here." I emphasized his last name with grin. "I think we need to celebrate his victory first."

Instead of being put off or pouty, Amy seemed genuinely pleased that I said this. "Good," she said. "I'll get Henry to order in and give me a foot massage. Then we'll head to the café for dessert. Sound good?"

As we headed towards the car and I was positive that Amy was nowhere around I said, "Do you think Henry ever gets a say in what he does?"

Tom laughed and bumped into me genially. "Yeah, I think so. Mostly I think he doesn't really care much, as long as Amy is happy. That and he picks his battles carefully. If Henry stands up for himself, and really takes a stand, Amy almost always gives way. I'm not really sure how, but they seemed to have their relationship worked out."

"Maybe I should get some lessons."

Tom stopped and looked at me quizzically. "You? No way, you don't need to change a single thing. Me on the other hand, I'm not so sure about."

"Well I am," I said feigning confidence. "Then again, if we both admit total ignorance and just promise to try, we'll probably do okay." I was getting uncomfortable and pulled on Tom's hand to keep walking put he had turned into the immovable hulk. He stood his ground and tugged my hand until we were nose to nose. The kiss he gave me then was warm and assured and wiped all the temporary doubts I had about my capacity to love this man as he deserved.

Before I could take another breath, Tom's lips were pressed on mine again. His possessiveness and desire made me a little dizzy, though that could have been the oxygen deprivation. He sucked the tip of my tongue into his mouth and played with it a little before he nipped me lightly. Coming up for air, he said, "I was so nervous about the meeting today, I skipped lunch. Where are we going to dinner?"

I grinned at him and told him. "But we have a little stop to make first."

"It better be fast, or I'll start eating the dashboard."

I glanced sideways at Tom as I navigated through the city streets. He looked a little curious, apprehensive. "I can't promise it'll be fast, but I think you'll agree it was worth it."

After a few minutes, I pulled into a parking lot at the back of a nondescript building not far from the University. "Okay babe, we're here. Let's do this and then we can go eat. There's a great Thai place nearby I've wanted you to try." Suddenly nervous that this was not a good idea at all, I was ready to launch into a full-blown babble. The look of sheer surprise on Tom's face wasn't giving me any confidence either.

**Tom**

"Gabe, why did you drive us to the clinic?" My brain was going in too many directions to have any clear idea as to Gabe's plans. And Gabe looked a little guilty and nervous, so I was pretty sure he didn't mean what I hoped he did by this gesture.

When he replied, Gabe couldn't quite meet my eyes. "Jeez Tom, maybe this was a bad idea." He looked like he wanted to grab my hand but then pulled back at the last second. He looked at the sky, the building, even the car, but not at me. "It's kind of spontaneous and all, and maybe things aren't. . . I mean, maybe we're not ready for this step. If you don't want. . . I guess I understand."