Naked Calendar - 29. Return

Something in Jaymes had changed in the two months he had been away. Carefree, uncaring, light-hearted Jaymes appeared to have been replaced—at least temporarily—by a darker, more serious version. An urgency, a hunger filled him on their hasty way back to the flat, frequently stopping them every few hundred yards to take Nathan into his arms and press their bodies together, to kiss him, as though he needed reassurance that Nathan existed, had not changed, and still desired him. The few questions Nathan asked as they hurried along were met with short and curt answers.

"Jaymes, do you realise you still have Arlene's phone in your pocket?"

"My phone."

"Your phone? So she was in on this?"

"No. Hell, was your place always this far away?"

"So how on earth—?"

Jaymes turned and push Nathan's body up against the nearest wall, their mouths joining hotly, Jayme's tongue tracing the ridges of Nathan's ear.

"Later, baby. I'll tell you everything later. Can we just get home first? I need you. Really need you."

As soon as they got upstairs and reached the bedroom, Jaymes ripped at his own clothes before breathlessly helping Nathan out of his. In record time, Jaymes had Nathan laid on his back naked, staked out, Jayme's mouth licking, kissing and exploring every crevice, each nipple, every orifice, every tiny piece of goosebump flesh from his neck all the way down the treasure trail to his groin. And every time Nathan lifted a hand or tried to move to try to reciprocate, Jaymes pushed him firmly back. After the third attempt, Nathan relaxed and let Jaymes do all the work, which is what he appeared to need. And which, frankly, was no hardship at all.

Before long, though, Jaymes had Nathan's body screaming for release, even though Jaymes had not touched his straining erection yet. Soft kisses and an eager tongue continued exploring around his groin, his balls, while his knees were lifted and the tongue worked hungrily between the cheeks. Fingers probed inside, Jaymes own straining erection constantly smoothing along one of Nathan's upper thighs, and once or twice rubbing against his achingly needy crevice. And then, in a final act of cruelty, he drew his tongue from the base of Nathan's cock all the way up to the top.

"Jaymes, please," Nathan whimpered, unable to contain the onslaught of pleasure.

Jayme's head came away then and hovered smiling over Nathan's tortured face.

"What do you want, baby?"

"Anything. Everything. You."

"Want me to fuck—?

"Yes!"

"Or suck?"

"Yes. Either."

"Baby, I just want to make sure you get Raul's money's—"

"Jaymes! Stop playing with me."

Jaymes had been lubed up and ready and within seconds pushed inside Nathan. The hot, initial pain—so startling, yet familiar and something he had missed—filled him, completed him. As Jaymes stilled fully inside, allowing the initial burn to subside, knowing Nathan's body and need so well, he waited for a few breaths before beginning the regular strokes in and out, each time hitting the pleasure spot. Pushing slowly at first, he continued to kiss Nathan's neck, to smooth his hands up and down Nathan's body—both to distract him and to overwhelm him with sensation. Nathan murmured unintelligible sounds, broken words of encouragement, meeting Jaymes' thrusts until he could hold on no longer and let out a loud, guttural roar as he sprayed his own stomach and Jaymes' chest with pent-up cum. Dizzy and dazed from the sheer intensity, he felt Jaymes' own orgasm seconds later, almost like an out-of-body experience, heard Jaymes' growl in his ear, felt the hot wetness fill him and the shudder of his lover's body as he collapsed on top of him.

They lay like that for some minutes. Boneless, he allowed Jaymes' body to rest heavy on top of him, smothering him and could have happily died that way. Slowly the breathing of both began to normalise, Nathan feeling Jayme's erection deflating inside. Without a word, Jaymes rolled over and stilled next to Nathan, but knit their fingers together, the hot left side of Jaymes' body touching Nathan's right. Eventually, Jaymes pulled Nathan's head onto his shoulder and kissed him on the brow, which made Nathan sigh and smile.

"Want to tell me what that was all about?" asked Nathan.

"Sorry," murmured Jaymes, placing his free hand over his eyes. "Didn't mean to freak you out."

"Freak me out?" said Nathan, pulling the hand away. "Are you kidding? That was as hot as hell. If you want to freak me out all night long, then please be my guest."

Jaymes chuckled and stared affectionately at Nathan.

"Good answer. Because that was only number one in a very long list rattling around in my over-active brain. Since leaving, I've developed a whole imaginative storybook of things I want to do with you, and to you. All stored up in my head and aching to be played out. The long and the short of it is I miss you, Nate. Like I've never missed anyone in my life. I reason it's because I've never had such a powerful connection with anyone. I thought being over there, things would normalise, but every night I lie awake—sometimes all night—thinking about you, what we would be doing if I'd stayed. Sometimes simple things come to me, like sitting eating breakfast, watching television together curled top on the sofa, or going for a run—and, of course, a lot concerns what we'd be doing in the bedroom."

"Oh, God, baby. Why didn't you say so on the phone?"

"I didn't want you to worry. And honestly, what could you have done?"

"You know I'm yours, Jay, don't you? Yours alone?"

"Of course I know that. But for once in my life, the distance has become an issue for me."

At that, Jaymes turned on his side and studied Nathan.

"How do people do it? People who love each other. How do they work on different continents away from each other? Because every day I work with a lot of men and women who do what I'm doing."

"Necessity, I suppose. To be able to provide for their family? I don't know for sure. I'm just guessing."

"Life can be so cruel."

"But also amazing. And isn't there that old adage that 'absence makes the heart grow—'"

"Bollocks."

"No, I'm sure it wasn't that. Fonder, I think the word is."

But Jaymes was not feeling the humour.

"Absence just seems to be making me more angry and frustrated. I should never have taken this job."

"Jay, you'd already accepted before we met. And I know you love what you do, from the way you talk about it."

"I still do. But there's never been conflict before."

Nathan didn't know how to respond, so instead wrapped an arm across Jaymes' stomach and kissed his chest. Almost on cue, a groan of hunger issued from Jaymes' stomach, vibrated through Nathan's arm causing him to chuckle.

"Need to get you some food. You must be famished. When are you flying back?"

"Tuesday night."

"I'm surprised they let you go. You've barely completed two months. How did you manage to get the time off?"

Finally, a faint smile touched Jaymes' lips as he stared at the ceiling.

"So that is a very insightful question, which has a less simple answer. In theory, I'm actually here for work. Hence why I had to use a lot of the flight time to work to get something very hastily put together. A day after I got to Malaysia, I got an email from the president of the Imperial College. She's good friends with the head of operations in KK. We'd spoken many times in the past, mainly on an informal basis about the work I've been doing. Next week they have this global conference going on over here, and they'd originally asked me to provide a one-hour video-link lecture. Last week she asked the head in KK if they could fly me over to provide a series of lectures on Monday afternoon, followed by workshops all morning on Tuesday."

"Which also meant you could be here. Lucky for us. That turned out well."

"Not without a bit of careful manipulating. You see, I know she wants to have a serious talk with me about the position as a lecturer in their Natural Sciences faculty. My contacts tell me the position's still vacant. She's been on at me about doing this for the past few years. And if she—if the faculty—still wants me, I'm going to accept."

"Of course they'll still want you," said Nathan, sitting up quickly and facing Jaymes, astonished. "Back here in the UK? When would that be? And where is this Imperial College? Why didn't you say anything?"

Jaymes smiled and gently pulled Nathan's head back onto his shoulder.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The campus is in South Kensington. I don't know the full details yet, Nate. But I have a suspicion they'll want me to start at the beginning of the new term, in September."

"What about Malaysia? And New Zealand?"

"That's the thing. The college president has connections worldwide, and I know they already have someone to take over in KK, one of the other guys who interviewed—a good friend of mine from Wales—who would jump at the chance. New Zealand wasn't completely confirmed, so I'm sure they've got enough time to get someone else on board. I could even recommend a few people to them."

"But Jaymes, I thought travelling the world and being in the open was your dream."

This time, Jaymes leant down to bring their lips together and kissed Nathan almost chastely.

"Dreams change."

Again the kiss became something more. Jaymes pulled Nathan on top of him, pulling their bodies together. Tongues probed each other's until Jaymes' stomach rumbled and growled so loudly, both of them laughed and lost the moment.

"You know what? I knew this day would be a long one, so I knocked up a huge batch of chilli and made some baked jacket potatoes. In case Polly and Grant came back. And also so I didn't have to cook on Sunday. So how about I heat those up for us, while you go and shower."

"How about we do it together once we're showered?"

"Still the same shower, I'm afraid. Gonna be a huge squash with both of us in there."

"Sounds perfect."

After setting the food in the oven to heat, they jumped in the shower together, spent time cleaning each other and trying out a few more of Jaymes' imaginative ways of enjoying each other's bodies.

Later, both dressed in sweatshirt and pants, they sat in comfortable silence at Nathan's small dining room table, enjoying soft music on the radio. Bowls of chilli and a bottle of cold beer sat in front of each of them. A tremble went through Nathan, at the realisation of how much he had missed this simple, quiet time together. As he sat there smiling at Jaymes, a warm bare foot landed gently on his own. Eventually, he broke the silence.

"You still haven't answered my question. About who was in on this covert operation."

"I imagine you can probably guess. Raul and your Auntie Margie, of course. Ken Mills. Your cousin Grant—"

"Grant knew? But not Polly?"

"Turns out Grant can be trusted to keep a secret."

"From Polly?"

"It appears so. And of course, Giorgio."

"Clifton's manager? Seriously?"

"You know, he called me in Malaysia. Said he'd been worried about Clifton and you. Worried that you might lead Clifton to do something he later regretted—"

"Would never have happened, Jay."

"I know that. Which is exactly what I told him. Honestly, I think he worried more about the adverse publicity if something had happened. But I think at the award ceremony you attended, the truth finally sank in for Giorgio. Even for Clifton, by all accounts. Although he still bid on you pretty aggressively at the auction."

"You heard that?"

"I was backstage the whole time, listening to everything going on and waiting for the signal. Then I called Raul and handed my phone to Giorgio. Yes, we heard everything, Clifton and his mother outbidding each other. She is one tenacious woman, and her first counter-bid was my signal. I'm guessing you were caught up in that whole back-and-forth farce with the rest of the crowd and didn't notice Giorgio hand my phone to Arlene. But Raul and I had already spoken, and he said he would outbid them both, offer two or three thousand pounds, just so—"

"Two or three? Try ten thousand."

"What?"

"Raul bid ten thousand—"

"Did he now?" laughed Jaymes. "I didn't hear that part. Giorgio told me to go and hide in the shadows at that point. So I didn't hear the actual bid. But makes total sense. Giorgio told him to bid ten."

"What do you mean?"

"Imagine the headlines tomorrow? The icing on the cake for the press and the fête. Clifton outbid by his mother for a date with the handsome Crumbington baker and captain of the football team at the team auction. And then an anonymous bidder pledges ten thousand to trump them both. Kind of headline sells newspapers. Hell, if they included a copy of the particular naked baker in question from the calendar, then I'd buy twenty copies of that publication—"

"So you think Giorgio—"

"Of course, it was Giorgio's idea. He's a businessman. The bidding war between Clifton and his mother, followed by the anonymous but far-too-generous bid. I bet money the whole thing is already up on YouTube getting thousands of hits."

Jaymes fell silent for a moment.

"Does that bother you?"

"Not a bit. Not anymore. Shit, Jaymes, you're here sitting opposite me. How can I possibly have an issue?"

Once again, they sat in comfortable silence until something else popped into Nathan's head.

"So if you've spoken to Giorgio, you probably know that Clifton and his mother are putting in a bid to buy the bakery. And I'm going to accept. Not only that, but I'm finally going to do what I always wanted. To get on the Sports and Exercise Science degree programme at Surrey University in Guildford. Ken Mills has got me an interview with a guy who manages three of those Open Road mega-gyms down here. They'll be able to get me the practical health and nutritional experience I need to complete the programme. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I'm pretty stoked—but nervous at the same time, if that makes sense."

"You don't need to be. Ken Mills told me on the drive from Heathrow. Manager's name is Rudy Mortimer, and he's a really nice guy, by all accounts. Family's Scottish and in the whisky business. But your interview is just a formality. You've already got a job in the Shipworth gym if you want it. Did you know Mortimer has a boyfriend?"

"He's gay? Is the whole world gay?"

"No," laughed Jaymes. "But that's how Ken knows him. Both of them being in the same profession. Rudy used to date Damian Ingram, the rugby player."

"No way. The one who did a George Michael in New York?"

"And then tried to top himself."

"What? No! I never heard about that. Seriously?"

"Kept under wraps, but yes. Not a pretty picture. The point is, Rudy is more than happy to have you training with them while you take your degree program."

Nathan tried to process everything. So much had been said, he barely heard Jaymes speaking.

"If we were to get a place together in Horsham—which is only twenty miles from here—I could get the mainline rail link into London each day, and you could easily get to Guildford and to Shipworth, as long as you don't mind driving my death-trap of a Land Rover."

Tear brimmed in Nathan's eyes before he could stop them. Jaymes didn't need to ask whether they were tears of joy, but came around the table and pulled Nathan up from the chair, into his arms. For more than five minutes they stood together, an unmoving dance, bodies pressed together, Nathan overcome with happiness.

"Nothing's confirmed yet," Jaymes whispered in his ear, but the words sounded more warmly encouraging than cautionary. "But this feels so right. And I know we both feel the same way."

"I love you, Nathan."

"I love you too, Jaymes."