Page 59 of Saved By the Pitcher

Mike turned to James and wiggled his eyebrows. “Up for a thirty-minute sprint?”

James snickered. “Seriously? You’d think we’d never had sex.”

“We haven’t as a married couple,” Mike reasoned. “Those were the test-drives. I want to enjoy the ownership now.”

“Well, now we have about twenty-five minutes, and I don’t want our first drive as owners to be so speedy we don’t enjoy the view,” James said. “When we make love for the first time as a married couple, I want it to be something I remember.”

Mike pulled him closer, pressing his hardness against James’ hip. “Yeah? You want it nice and slow with lots of kissing and caressing?”

James moaned and buried his face into Mike’s neck. “Yes.”

“Okay, my sweet husband,” Mike whispered. “I’d like that, too. I can’t imagine having you inside me for the first time any other way.”

James jerked his head back with a questioning look, the way he often did. “Wait. What?”

“I told you I’d want you to top at some point. I’ve wanted it for a while now, but as it got closer to the wedding, I figured I’d rather wait. You’re my husband. I want you to mark me as yours.”

“How am I supposed to go out there now and spend the rest of the day eating and dancing?” James pouted. “You put me in irreversible boner mode.”

Mike laughed. “Oh, baby, I promised to cherish you and care for you, remember? I won’t leave you hanging, so to speak. Let’s go to the bedroom. I’ll take care of your predicament. We’ll save the making love for later. But while our guests are shoveling food in their faces outside, you can feed me inside. Just don’t make a mess where I have to explain to my parents what I spilled on my clothes.”

James didn’t know if he should laugh or gulp, but Mike pulled him to their bedroom before he needed to decide.

* * * *

Billy smirked at James when they were back with the crowd. “Gee, I think your hair isn’t quite as perfect as it looked earlier.”

“Shut up.” James laughed. “I told him to leave my hair alone but he said he had to grab onto something.” James looked down at the knees of his trousers. “Hey, my pants aren’t wrinkled funny now, are they?”

Billy raised an eyebrow. “No, but Mike’s looked like the knees were a little shiny from rubbing against the rug.”

James blanched. “Oh no. The fabric can wear that fast?”

“No,” Billy replied with an eye-roll. “Don’t be a dope. And you call me gullible.”

James swallowed. “We are weird, aren’t we? Do all brothers share stuff like this?”

Billy shrugged. “I don’t know. Don’t care. Do you?”

“I guess not.” James grinned. “Hey, I want to ask you something.”

“Nadia and I just kissed in our thirty minutes,” Billy informed him.

“Not that, doofus. I wanted to ask whether you and Nadia would consider moving in with me and Mike in his apartment.”

Billy was taken by surprise, but then his expression soured. “I don’t need charity, James.”

James refrained from disagreeing. “Listen, since Father stopped helping you with college, you’re struggling to pay for everything. Mike’s place in the city is huge. We get lost in it. He has multiple guest rooms and two living rooms. Billy, he’s the one who proposed it. He’d like to have you and Nadia there.” He saw the resistance on Billy’s face. “I’d like to have you there.”

“I don’t know, James,” Billy mumbled. “It’s like I just keep taking. When do I ever take care of you?”

James pulled him into a side-hug. “Billy, you’re kidding, right? You always look out for me. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be with Mike right now. It’s like we’ve had a pact since you were born, you know? We’re here for each other. Mike sees how happy I am when you’re around and that makes him happy. We want you to move in. Talk to Nadia, okay?”

Billy thought for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to her.”

James rubbed Billy’s shoulder with affection. “Hey, I think they’re trying to summon us to dance with our new spouses.”

The two walked down to the dance floor to the hoots and cheers of some now inebriated guests. “There they are,” one shouted.