TJ blinked, then shook his head. “How was I so blind?” How had he not noticed that Cody had liked him all those years earlier? He’d seen a troubled kid, someone who needed help, but Cody had seen him as more, and here Cody was all these years later with the man he’d wanted back then.
“You saw him as a kid.” Miles’ words echoed TJ’s thoughts. “I don’t know much of what happened with his folks, but I know for him to run the way he did, it was something big. Even with you trying to help him, he still left, and no one heard from him again. Then when he does come back, he comes back to you. Your house.” Miles sat back in his chair. “How is he? The last time I saw him, I was genuinely worried about him. He was skinny and half-dead. The look in his eyes…” Miles shook his head.
“He’s taller than me now. Broader too. He’s grown up. I talk to him and forget he’s only twenty. He’s lived more in his few years than I have in all of mine.” TJ watched Miles nod. “How long will they gossip for?” They would gossip about them. A place like Robinson thrived on gossip, and now he was going to be front and center.
“You and Cody?” TJ nodded. “First it will be about Cody and that he’s not dead, then how he’s changed, and then when they find out about you two?” TJ groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Leave it to me. I’ll get Carrie-Ann on it. She has her finger in every pie in this town.” Carrie-Ann knew everyone and everything worth knowing in Robinson. If something needed sorting out, then she was the person to go to. She'd put a stop to any gossip if Miles asked.
“I would appreciate it if she could help. I don’t want to be talked about, and I know Cody doesn’t either. Toni said she would fake a horrific childbirth with Carter passing out. They both seemed to like the idea.” The longer he thought about it the more he considered it as well. Anything to take the heat off of him and Cody and their private life.
Miles snorted. “That’s a good one. Don’t worry too much about it. There will be talk. You can’t avoid that. It’s Cody, and he left under difficult circumstances. When they see how happy you two are together, they’ll let it drop, plus Carrie-Ann will do her thing.” Miles stood and palmed the stick. “Give me the afternoon to go over everything, then I’ll let you know what I think. We might want to bring Taylor in if it contains significant information. He’s the numbers man.”
“Good thing he’s back.” TJ blew out his breath. “Right, you get on with that and let me know. I’ll let Cody know.”
***
TJ walked into the kitchen to find Cody standing at the stove, stirring something that smelled amazing in a pan. Leaning on the doorframe, TJ watched him move around the kitchen like he belonged there, and maybe he did. With a soft sigh, he walked over to Cody and kissed the back of his neck. “Hey.”
Cody jumped, then spun around and wrapped his arms around TJ’s waist. “Hey.” A kiss that was meant to be a quick peck lasted far longer, and when TJ moved away, Cody murmured, “I can turn this down low.”
Feeling Cody’s arousal press against his thigh, arousal curled in TJ’s belly, and he nodded. “I need a shower first.”
“I can wash your back, then eat your ass before fucking you.”
TJ stared. “Uh huh. Yeah.”
“I love how you react to me talking dirty to you.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a relationship with someone like you.”
Cody moved back, a frown on his face. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No. I’ve slept with four people my entire life. Toni was my friend, my childhood sweetheart, when I hadn’t figured out why I didn’t react like all the other boys. I thought I was a late bloomer.” TJ huffed out a small laugh. “Once I realized, I told her and she was angry, justifiably, but she understood, too. Then the two men after her were both very short-lived. You… have me confused, but in a good way. I feel like that life is…”
“What? How is life like with me in it?”
“I want to say an adventure, but that’s probably the last thing you’d want after everything.”
“I want to experience life with you. I want to travel this great nation and go abroad. I want to watch you with your kids and Macy and the baby. I almost died, but thoughts of you kept me alive. No matter what I’ve done in my life, when I thought of home, I thought of you.” Cody kissed him slowly, a lingering kiss full of emotion. “I love you. I have always loved you, even as that messed up kid who just wanted his family to accept him and love him. You were my constant.”
“I never knew,” TJ whispered. “I wish I’d have seen it.”
“We wouldn’t be here now.” Cody kissed him again. “Shower sex sounds good, and I’ve never had that.”
“Really?”
“Don’t sound surprised. There are a few things I haven’t done. When you’re drunk or flying high, you don’t do acrobatic sex. It really is just about exposing the parts and getting on with it.” Cody pulled TJ up the stairs, and he went willingly.
“Do you wish—”
“What’s the point of wishing things had been different? It happened, but I’m here with you now. I get to tell you how I feel, and I get to go to sleep with you every night after having my wicked way.” Cody grinned. “My past means nothing now because I have the person I always wanted.”
Cody stripped and TJ let him help remove his own clothes. In the shower, Cody washed every inch of his body, touching and kissing him everywhere he could, and when Cody pushed inside, TJ’s whole body shuddered. Slow and gentle, soft kisses that seemed to make TJ’s body light up, and when he came, it was long and drawn out, making him forget about everything.
“I love you, TJ.”
TJ opened his eyes and touched Cody’s face. “I’m glad you came back.”
Cody’s smile was so bright TJ couldn’t help but return it. “Let’s get dry and eat, then you can tell me about the stick.”
