Page 16 of Whirlwind

Chapter 5

Taylor

Taylor paced nervously in the living room. He’d gone right to the bathroom, because how embarrassing would that be to interrupt something sexy if he needed to pee?

Then he’d brushed his teeth. With his actual toothbrush that he kept over at Julio’s house in case they were watching a movie or something and it got too late. Fuck, no wonder everyone else had seen this coming. He only hoped they were right about Julio wanting him for more than a one-night stand.

His throat was dry, but he didn’t drink any water because of the peeing thing again.

Which meant that he was pretty much out of things to do. He could hear Julio moving around in the bedroom upstairs, which was only making him more nervous. What was he doing up there? His mind whirled with possibilities.

He looked around the room, trying to distract himself. If this was some stranger, he’d read the titles of the books and DVDs, but he already knew everything on these shelves. Hell, he’d given Julio a lot of it.

His eyes lit on a picture frame that rested on one of the shelves. Julio wasn’t really into pictures, and he expected from the ornate frame that Carmen had gotten it for him. But it was the picture inside that he was interested in.

The two of them were dressed in graduation regalia, clearly posed for a picture in front of the high school. Julio was tucked under Taylor’s arm, and they were both laughing at something.

By that point in their shared history, Taylor had been in love with his best friend for years. Did Julio feel the same thing then? Did he feel it now?

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t realize Julio was in the room until he slipped his strong arms around him from behind. “That’s one of my favorite pictures. Look how cute you were.”

Unlikely. His hair was sticking out around the sides of the mortarboard like a scarecrow’s and his face was just as dumpy as always. The only thing that looked better in the picture was that he didn’t have any wrinkles yet.

But he felt like if he said anything he’d be fishing for compliments. Julio had been making a point of complimenting him recently, and he didn’t quite trust it. “I didn’t know that you liked pictures.”

Julio gave him a gentle kiss on the back of his neck. God, it felt good just to be held like this. “I do like pictures, but I mostly have them on my computer. I have quite a few of you.”

Really?Taylor figured that, of course, Julio must have dozens of pictures of him because they did everything together. They must have a lot of pictures that were like, look, we went to this place and now there’s a picture to prove it or look at something stupid and funny that we did together.

But Julio made it sound like he actually looked at them. That was… surprising.

Julio rocked them slowly back and forth, and Taylor let himself relax into the motion. He’d been expecting something a little bit more… sexual. This was just beautifully sweet.

Julio’s lips brushed against the back of his neck, which was probably as high up as Julio could reach. It was funny how Julio was so much shorter, but he could still make Taylor feel small. He felt something melting inside. Maybe Julio felt something, too.

Julio’s lips found his ear. “Let’s go upstairs, sweetheart.”

Walking through the house was a bit like being in a dream. Taylor had spent so much time at Julio’s house that he thought he knew every nook and cranny.

But hanging out in Julio’s bedroom was completely different from being led into Julio’s bedroom with Julio’s hand at the small of his back.

Inside, he didn’t see anything out of place. Julio’s bed was made, for a change, but it was the same navy comforter and blue-and-white striped sheets. The heavy, walnut furniture was still the same, as well as the mirror above the dresser with the picture stuck in the frame.

It showed the two of them again, proudly holding up two minnows on their fishing lines as though they’d caught some twenty-pound prize winners.

How had he never noticed how many pictures Julio had of him? Now that he thought about it, there was one on the refrigerator, too. And one on the cork board in the dining room. There was only one picture of Julio’s family, which he knew had also come from Carmen.

Julio slipped around in front of him, stealing all his attention. “Thinking about something, sweetheart?”

Taylor shook his head. He liked being Julio’s sweetheart. Really liked it. “Nothing important.”

“Do you still want to do this?” Julio’s voice was as soft as velvet. He hadn’t been expecting this gentleness, but it was just as hot as the rough, dirty commands had been earlier.

And it felt a little safer. Not that he was worried about Julio hurting him physically or forcing him. Just that… when Julio was looking at him like that, he began to hope that his heart might be safe, too. “I want this,” he whispered.

“So good for me, pretty one,” Julio murmured. “I’m going to take off your clothes now.”

Taylor nodded once, though he realized that it hadn’t been a question. That was hot, too. Even though Julio was being gentle, it was his decision. His desire to strip Taylor bare.