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Sid turned slowly around in his spacious empty living room, his steps making the gleaming hardwood floor snap and creak. The sun streamed through the bare windows and the still-open front door, and the fresh smell of spring was in the air. All of his life, he’d dreamed of one day owning an old house, with lots of real wood and high ceilings and muted, quiet tones.
And now, it seemed he’d found it. Three full stories, five bedrooms, close to the only home he’d known since moving to the Pittsburgh area. Once the realtor had shown him the place, he knew it was The One. He’d pay whatever it cost (which, by millionaire standards, wasn’t much) to make it his own. It wasn’t his first house – that was the place on the lake back in Nova Scotia – but this would be the one he’d be settling into. The place he’d call home.
Even empty, he could imagine the furnished rooms filled with people, their voices buzzing in amusement. He could imagine his teammates gathered here for get-togethers, cookouts. He could imagine one of his teammates here, a certain tall dark Russian—
Oh, no. That way lies madness, as one of his old prep school teachers so often said. Now he understood why.
He turned those tantalizing thoughts aside and began to visualize the future décor, losing himself in the achievement of yet another dream, when a very different creak came from his floor – heavier, faster-paced. No, couldn’t be…
“Is nice place, Sid. Congre… congra…” Geno tripped over the tricky syllables, smiling through his attempts to get it right. “Con-gret-you-lay-shuns,” he said deliberately.
Sid bypassed Geno’s extended hand and embraced his teammate, clasping him warmly, familiarly, tamping down his excitement as he did so. “Thanks. G…” He stepped back abruptly and cocked his head. “How did you know…? I mean, who told you where I’d be?”
Geno blushed and studied his feet. “I called you at house by mistake. Austin answered.”
A grin lifted Sid’s mouth. The stereotypical kid brother, always meddling around in his business… Still, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You not mad at him?”
“No!” Sid realized how that must have sounded when Geno flinched. “I wasn’t trying to keep this a secret, so he was perfectly justified in telling you. It’s OK,” he added when his friend seemed unconvinced
“My house darker,” he said as he glanced around the room. “Has carpets, too.”
“You like it better that way?”
The taller man tapped his chin in thought. “Yeah. Too much light I can’t rest.”
“Oh, believe me, my bedroom will have both shades and heavy curtains, just like it is now at Mario’s. But the rest of this place? Nahh…” he said, shaking his head in emphasis. “It’s gotta feel a little like a beach house for me to really feel at home.”
Geno took one more look at the living room, craned his head a bit to see beyond it into the kitchen, and then swung his gaze to the wide, curving staircase. “Your bedroom, up there?”
“Yeah, wanna see?”
His friend nodded, a bit too enthusiastically maybe, but it didn’t ring any of Sid’s alarm bells. He led the way up the stairs and into the main hall, where seven different doorways beckoned.
“Which one yours?”
“Don’t know yet. Haven’t decided.”
They stepped through the first one on the right, but its pink-tinted walls screamed teenage girl.
“Taylor,” they both said in unison, and then laughed.
The first room on the left held more promise, but two large windows faced the front yard and the road outside. As they stood there, five vehicles passed by. “Nah,” said Sid. “Too much traffic and outside noise.”
“Then stay to other side of hall, yes?”
The second room on that side was a bathroom, gleaming with gold-flecked ivory marble. A huge whirlpool tub dominated the room, placed directly in front of a wide picture window.
“Well, if you can’t pick a room, could always sleep there,” joked Geno, pointing at the tub.
But as they stepped into the third room, Sid knew. From its beige painted walls, to the single window overlooking the back yard, to the door that silently swung on its well-oiled hinges – this would be his haven.
Geno must have read his mind. “This your room, Sid. Is so like you.”
“Why? Because I’m dull and quiet and not much to look at?”
His friend’s dark eyes closed briefly as he shook his head. “No. You good to look at.”
Geno’s soft strange declaration sent a shiver of excitement up and down Sid’s spine. He didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what his teammate expected of him.
“I make you nervous, Sid?” The Russian took two strides toward him and the room suddenly felt much smaller.
“No!” he croaked out, but it was a lie and Geno knew it.
“Don’t be nervous. I will never hurt you.” Rather theatrically, he bent down and looked both ways, as if he were a foreign spy hiding from the authorities. “No one is here. We’re alone. Do you know, we are never alone? Might be first time.”
Sid nodded his head slowly even as his thoughts moved like lightning. First time, he’d said, and it fit. First home, first day, first time alone, first… He felt Geno’s warm body inch closer, felt the big man’s arms encircle him, found himself following Geno’s lead. The Russian’s head dipped low and inclined slightly, and Sid’s breath caught as he realized his friend’s intentions.
The barest touch of Geno’s lips, chapped and rough on his own, sent Sid’s thoughts flying out the window. Instinct took over then and Sid lost himself in the heady emotion of yet one more dream realized. His fingers tangled in the dark curls he loved, he tugged Geno’s face closer, closer, until it seemed their mouths would simply melt together under that pressure and heat.
And still, this meeting of hearts, this uniting of minds and bodies, this heady pleasure went on. He felt like Geno would simply devour him, as hungry as his mouth was on his. The room spun, and time with it, and he imagined the two of them living and aging and dying in this room, joined forever at the lips.
And then, far, far too soon, it was over. But when Sid opened his eyes to search the dark depths of Geno’s, he was thrilled to see the familiar twinkle there – the reassurance that this hadn’t been a joke, or a set-up, or even a dare.
“You… you really wanted that? Wanted to do that?” Sid asked as he stood on tiptoe, his arms still looped around the much taller man’s neck.
“Since day I met you, Sid. Every day.”
Seemed that Sid’s dreams weren’t the only ones that came true…