Strictly Business - 8. Down by the River

p style="text-align:justify;"> Let’s go on a date!

Sam looked down at his plate, unsure how to proceed. After a few seconds, he realized he needed to tell the truth. Better sooner than later. After all, nothing serious had happened between Jared and him.

“Yeah… about Jared…”

“What about him?” Brian asked curiously.

“Well… We kinda had a thing shortly after he started working with us,” Sam said nervously. He wasn’t sure how Brian would react, but he wanted to come clean. He didn’t want any lies or secrets between them. “Just some kissing in the elevator, nothing more. I was already starting to fall for you, so I didn’t want anything with him… Are you… ok with that?” Sam added, his voice low and insecure.

He looked Brian in the eyes and reached for his hand. Brian wasted no time in taking Sam’s hand in his own and smiled, reassuring Sam that everything was alright.

“Of course, baby, it was just a kiss. Even if it was more than that, we weren’t together at the time. You were free to be with whoever you wanted… But now, you’re all mine!” He flashed a big smile, took Sam’s hand to his lips and kissed it.

“And I couldn’t be happier about that!” Sam replied, grinning from ear to ear.

The rest of that Sunday was pretty uneventful. The guys went to Brian’s house, picked up Bo from the neighbor and spent the entire afternoon chilling and cuddling. After having a nice dinner (Brian cooked, to Sam’s delight), Sam reluctantly headed home. Tomorrow was Monday – a work day – and he didn’t have any change of clothes with him, so he had to go, but not before getting a big goodbye kiss from his boyfriend. Also, they made plans to go on a date tomorrow night, which put Sam in an even better mood!

Brian took it upon himself to organize their first “official” date. Sam gladly agreed because, frankly, he was more convinced in Brian’s ability to prepare an amazing date than in his own, especially on such short notice.

Also, Brian seemed genuinely excited to plan the whole evening for just the two of them. He cared a lot about Sam and wanted him to enjoy himself and have a good time. As planned, he drove to Sam’s place at seven to pick him up, but didn’t tell him where they were going. Sam wasn’t the biggest fan of surprises, but he knew that wherever they were going it would be great because Brian is there, so he was actually very excited.

“Good evening, handsome,” Sam greeted Brian with a smile.

“Hey babe. You look so sexy!” Brian smiled back and kissed him.

The two man got in the car and went to a small, intimate restaurant near the river. As the weather was nice, they chose a table outside, enjoying the warm summer evening. As it got darker, the paper lanterns above were lit up, creating the perfect romantic setting. Sam thought about how he had already been to this place once or twice, but it didn’t look nearly as amazing as that night. Of course, he didn’t have Brian by his side then. During the entire evening, whenever they were not eating, Brian was holding his hand, gently stroking his fingers. Sam didn’t mind these public displays of affection. He was aware others could see them, but he didn’t care. In fact, he was proud to be seen with his amazing, sexy boyfriend.

After the dinner, Brian took him for a stroll by the river. As they walked and chatted, they were constantly touching each other – bumping shoulders, holding hands. With every touch, Sam felt a rush of excitement and happiness. Brian couldn’t keep his eyes off of him, he loved seeing him so happy, knowing that he is the reason.

“Come on, let’s get a little wet,” Brian said, taking Sam by the hand and leading him down by the river.

As they got to the edge, they sat down on the grass. Brian was the first to take off his shoes and socks, and pull up the legs of his pants, before putting his feet into water.

“Mmmm, feels nice. Come on,” he told Sam, who then did the same.

As they sit there with their feet in the water, they watched the city lights reflect in the river. Leaves on the nearby trees were rustling in the breeze, while people walked by in the distance. Sam was trying to soak everything in. He was thinking about how just a week ago he was spending his evenings alone at home, watching TV, and now he was here, enjoying an amazing evening with an amazing guy.

Brian reached out and stroked Sam’s arm. He could hardly believe his feelings were reciprocated. Even though they had just started dating, he had feelings for Sam for a while, ever since he first saw him, and he wanted this to be long-term. He loved every second he spent with Sam and wanted to know all about him.

“Hey,” he looked at Sam and saw him smile, “what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing… Just how great this is, being here with you. Thanks for such an amazing night,” Sam replied, turning to look at Brian.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“What about you?”

“I’m here with a wonderful guy… Having the best time of my life.”

“Let’s see if I can make it even better,” Sam said, rolling on top of Brian and starting to shower him with kisses.

--

Sam decided to come out to Maggie and tell her about Brian and him, and Brian supported him in that. He thought whether he should spread out the news and tell her over the course of a few days, but then decided he would just do it all at once. Just like ripping a bandage, it’s best to do it quickly. He was sure that she wouldn’t have a problem with him being gay, but he wasn’t sure how she felt about Brian. She was always very opinionated. Not that it mattered, it’s not like it would affect his relationship with Brian in any way. He was just curious and a bit nervous, but couldn’t wait to tell her the big news. He was sure she’d freak out (in a good way)!

But first, Sam wanted to share the news with Clara, seeing as how she played a big role in getting the two of them together, whether she realized it or not. Of course, he didn’t want to do it over the phone, so he had to wait until they got together again. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait for long. After teasing her that he had some MASSIVE news to tell her, Clara got very curious (as he knew she would), and said she’d meet him Wednesday in a nearby park.

Clara got there first and was sitting on a bench, in a shade made by huge oak trees. Sam got there just a few minutes later, waving and smiling at her. As he arrived, she got up to hug and kiss him.

“Come on, let’s go sit there, it’s more isolated. Too many people here,” Sam pointed to a nearby bench that was partly hidden from view.

“Ooh, got some explicit news?” she teased.

“But of course! If it gets too rated R for you, I may have to censor myself,” Sam made a silly grin.

“You know I can handle it! Spill it!” Clara couldn’t wait to hear what seemed to be some exciting good news. “OK, first let me guess! It has something to do with Brian, your future husband?” She playfully raised her eyebrows. Sam knew she was joking, but he immediately started fantasizing about marrying Brian someday. “OK, get back to earth,” he told himself.

“You know what? If things hadn’t gone so well, I’d be so pissed at you right now,” Sam replied sarcastically.

“Why, what did I do?” Clara said defensively.

“Well, you exposed me... Remember how we were supposed to have a Spanish lesson on Saturday? Well, it was he who actually offered to teach me Spanish, not the other way around.”

“Oooh, and you pretended you didn’t speak Spanish just so you’d be with him… Oops!” Clara laughed.

“Oops damn right!” Sam laughed along. “So, since you blew my master plan, we went to my place and I had to tell him everything. You have no idea how scared I was.”

“And? He grabbed you in his arms and didn’t let go?” Clara was partly kidding, but didn’t realize just how right she was.

“Well, pretty much,” Sam replied with the biggest grin ever. That was enough to let Clara know how happy he was. Thinking about Brian made Sam so happy, but even more so when he thought about the amazing time they had that weekend.

“Oh my God, so what happened, what did you guys do?” she asked curiously.

“Come on, I was just kidding, I’m not gonna tell you all the dirty details! But it was amazing! He is really nice and so hot… We spent the whole day together and he may or may not have also slept over,” Sam added with a fake coy look on his face.

“Sam, that’s great! I’m seriously so happy for you! And did I tell you how hot he was? You really got lucky!”

“Yeah, I definitely did!” Sam said, being completely honest. He really felt like the luckiest guy on earth to have Brian in his life. He still had trouble believing it was true. Things like that never happened to him. They just didn’t. He thought love and relationships were something that only happened to other people. He had a hard time having any guy interested in a serious relationship. They were all just looking for casual hookups, no one wanted to make a commitment. But now, he was with the man of his dreams. He felt like there’s nothing he couldn’t do!

Clara realized how big of a deal this was! Sam never shared any dating news from his life. Either because there wasn’t anything to share, he didn’t want to jinx it, or because things had already gone badly and he didn’t want to talk about them. So, the fact that he was telling her all about Brian, and with such excitement, meant that he was sure things would work out between them. It meant that he was seriously happy.

--

The next several weeks were nothing short of amazing for Sam and Brian. Of course, they saw each other at work every day, where they managed to steal some kisses in secrecy when they knew no one could see them. They didn’t want the entire company to know, at least not yet.

Other than that, they also managed to see each other frequently after work, either going out on dates, or staying at Sam’s or Brian’s house when they didn’t feel like going out.

Brian couldn’t wait to share the good news with his sister. He called her on Skype because she had also told him she’d be coming from Spain for a few weeks, and would come to visit him for a few days. She still hadn’t told him the exact date, so he wanted to check if she knew exactly when she’d be coming.

“I am so happy for you, big bro!” Sophie said, smiling on the computer screen. “Sam seems to be a lovely guy, I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Me too, you’re gonna love him, just like I do,” Brian said without thinking.

“Oh… Really? It’s that serious?” she smiled at him.

“Well, no point in pretending. I do love him,” Brian put a big grin on his face. “He makes me happy.”

“And I’m so glad for that!”

“So, when are you coming?”

“In two weeks. I’ll be coming to mom and dad’s first, we can all meet up there?”

“Sure.”

“And then I’ll come to your place for a few days. We’ll have time to catch up on things.”

“You know I’m so looking forward to it.”

“Me too… Hey, by the way… I didn’t want to spoil anything for you since you’re in such a good mood, but I think you should know…” Sophie got serious and Brian wondered if something bad had happened.

“What? What happened?”

“I got a call from Richard the other day.”

Brian was taken aback. Why would his ex be calling Sophie? They didn’t stay in touch after they broke up, not even a text or a phone call. Not that Brian wanted it.

“Really… Richard? What did he want?”

“Well, he certainly didn’t call to see how I was doing. He asked about you, wanted to see how you were doing. Said he missed you and was thinking about coming to visit you…”

Oh no he didn't!  Thank you all for following Sam's and Brian's journey, commenting, liking, etc.! It means a lot!