Be sure to add a donation to Nifty.org to your list- Nifty provides space for hundreds of authors and thousands of original articles for your free reading pleasure.
The following is an original story and is copyright by the author and no distribution or replication may be made except with the written authorization of the copyright owner. If you are not of legal age to enter this website you must leave immediately.
Please send any comments or questions concerning this story series to: pjwltx9@gmail.com
SEVEN
Monday afternoon in the partner's meeting at the law firm, Ted remarked "You seem to be in an unusual mood today, Mario. Care to share with us?"
"Not yet. I met someone, but I need to work out some things in my own mind first, so I'm not ready to make any announcements. I will keep you informed, if, as, or when."
There was clapping and laughter from the three partners, Tommy, Ted, and Berniece, and Tommy said, "It's about time!"
"Seven years." Mario looked down at his notepad.
Berniece patted his arm.
Looking out at the fading sunlight across the Pacific from the patio of the St Regis hotel in Santa Monica, Mario sipped at his glass of wine. His mind was whirling with questions. Why now? Why Peter? What next? Was he ready? Was Peter ready? What about the house? What about the future? A million questions, no answers.
Mario drove home, and as usual for a weeknight, the traffic on PCH was slow and frustrating, matching his mood. He realized two things: the sex was great with Peter, but he needed to feel the spark, the chemistry, that he had enjoyed with Mason. Was that there with Peter?
Yes, it was in that first kiss. Hell yes.
Was it going to last? He did not know; was he willing to give it the time necessary to develop? Probably. Is probably good enough? Probably.
He pulled into the driveway of the house in Malibu and it suddenly hit him: this house, this sanctuary, this home, where he had built a life with Mason, the husband of his dreams, was a mausoleum. He had spent the seven years following Mason's death in this home, not changing anything; he had not even purchased new bedsheets. He had not painted, either the walls or his own watercolors. He had merely slept, eaten, gone to work, and slept some more. Mason's two cars, the Land Rover LR-4 and the Ferrari California, were still in the garage. He was afraid to look, but probably had to admit he had not even cancelled any of Mason's magazine subscriptions.
It was time. Peter was worth the investment and effort to test himself, and to test the outcome; seven years was plenty of hiding. And, he had been hiding. He had not been challenged by anything, had not challenged himself, in any way- had not had a single date in seven years, had worked, slept, ate, jacked off, and put his life on hold. It was time.
Still sitting in the car in the front drive, he called Peter. "You busy?"
"Yes Babe, but whatever, it can wait. What's up?"
"Well please do not think I am a creep or anything, but I miss you."
Peter laughed; "Why would I think that? I am glad! Hell yeah, miss the fuck out of me!"
"OK, I feel better now. I just got home from work and had a lot on my mind and suddenly realized how wonderful it was to lay in bed and hold you and wake up with you and shower with you and have lunch with you, and..."
Peter cut in and said "Oh God me too, all of it! I'm not sure I can wait until Friday."
"You don't have to wait, you can come over here anytime."
"OK, thanks, let me think about that, it's a wonderful idea, but not tonight, I am up to my ass in alligators and have tons of stuff to finish before Wednesday. But I will call you. And Babe?"
"Yes?"
"You are beautiful."
"Goodnight, Peter."
"Goodnight, Love."
The week dragged by for Mario; he and Peter called each other every night, usually at bedtime. By Friday noon, Mario was ready for the week to be over and to leave the law firm behind and not even take his briefcase home with him for the weekend. He phoned Peter while driving north on PCH and told him there would be plenty of wine cooling and a couple of steaks on the grill together with a Caesar salad.
Peter said, "Be careful driving, Love, see you soon."
When Mario pulled into the driveway, he saw Peter sitting in his Jeep Cherokee SUV smiling. They grabbed each other in a bear hug and kissed, and barely made it into the front entry with all of their clothing intact; they did not make it into the bedroom fully clothed.
"What about the steak and salad?" Peter asked, hours later when they had both fucked each other royally.
"I guess we can have the steak for lunch tomorrow, and we will have to toss out the salad." Mario had no regrets. He sat up in bed and stared at Peter: he really looked intently at the man whom he had just enjoyed in every sexual position and evaluated him: can I wake up next to this man for the rest of my life, he wondered to himself.
Peter asked, "What's on your mind?"
"Oh God yes" Mario exclaimed.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Oh, sorry, I had just been having this internal dialogue, and the answer is absolutely yes."
"I'm really glad. I bet I can guess at the question, and for me, the same answer. I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life."
"How did you know?"
"Just a hunch. But it's something I have been thinking about all week. Hopefully my actions of the past couple of hours helped answer it for you, not just the words."
"The words like fuck me harder' or oh God' or `mmmmmmmm', those words?"
"Yes, smart ass, and in fact those were the same words you were using."
"Yeah, especially when you had your tongue in my ass, funny man."
They both giggled and crawled out of the bed and showered together. Mario sucked Peter's beautiful cock in the shower and enjoyed having his cum spray him in the face. By the time they fell asleep it was nearly midnight and they had forgotten all about the dinner.
Over breakfast, which Mario insisted on preparing, the really hard topics finally surfaced: where would they live; would Mario sell this house; when did they want to make any sort of announcement to family and friends?
"Please be patient with me and try to understand my feelings on this topic: I think this is one of the most beautiful homes in Malibu and on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach on the west coast, but this house also contains all of the memories or your life together with Mason. While I respect that, and honor that life, and admire what the two of you had, I cannot compete with it or with his memory. I do not want this to be any harder than average, but it might be easier for us if we found some neutral ground together."
Mario said, "That is exactly what I was thinking; in fact, the day you catered that party for me, I told my closest friends that I was thinking of selling this house and buying a condo in Santa Monica near the law office."
Peter responded, "So let's make a deal: let's agree that you might possibly sell this house when the time is right, and then we can go look together and find something we both fall in love with; OK?"
"Good idea."
Peter then said, waving his half-eaten English muffin in Mario's general direction: "There is another difficult topic I want to explore with you: money."
"You cannot buy my love."
"Very funny, but you already own my heart. What I mean is, you are a big powerful rich Santa Monica lawyer who drives a Lamborghini and lives in a multi-million-dollar mansion in Malibu, so why would you be interested in a lowly little old fry cook like me?"
"Really?"
"Really what?"
"I own your heart?"
"From that first kiss."
Mario laughed, and kissed Peter with butter-smeared lips. He replied, "The Lamborghini is old, not as old as me, but it was a Christmas gift from Mason. But this house is only half mine, Mason left it to me and his nephew Stuart in his will. So, if I decide to sell I have to get Stuart's permission and then have to give him half of the sale price. At any rate, any of those issues have simple solutions, but if you are trying to imply that I am going to look down on you in some weird way because I supposedly am rich, then I need to disabuse you of that notion right now. I am not rich, but I love you and I want to cherish you for the rest of my life."
"Oh my God, you went first."
"What?"
Peter said, "You said those three little words first."
"No, I didn't, you have been saying it for days now."
"Nope, wrong, Mr. Lawyer, I have been calling you `Love', but I did not use the three words you just used."
"OK" smirked Mario, "then I win."
"Yep." And Peter kissed him again, with even more butter.
"Do we have time?"
"I'll race you getting naked."
Peter was the first one to the bedroom, although Mario was the first one completely naked- he was not wearing any underwear beneath the shorts and tank top. Mario launched himself onto the middle of the bed; lying on his back he was just getting ready to spread his legs open for Peter to penetrate him face-to-face. Peter knelt over Mario and placed his asshole directly over Mario's throbbing cock, imploring in a husky voice "Hand me the lube."
An hour later, the two were in the shower together, panting and giggling, soaping and rubbing and stroking each other, when Mario looked into Peter's eyes and kissed him long and hard. "You know it's true."
"What?"
"I do love you. I have never fallen like this before, but oh God you do something to me..."
"Well I am glad, because I love you as well, but tell me, are we moving too fast?" Peter had a look of concern on his face as the water cooled and they stepped out of the shower to dry each other off.
"At my age, I don't think so" Mario replied.
"Your age? What has that got to do with anything?" Peter was smiling.
"Mr. Schilling, I am 50, if you don't know..."
"How old was Mason when you married him?"
"50."
"And how old were you at that time?"
"32."
"So right now, you and I are closer together in age than you and Mason were at that time. Right?"
"I don't know- how old are you?"
Peter laughed; "You clearly do not remember the days when I lived across the highway with the surfers, do you? I was 23 then, now I am 39. Still young enough for you?"
Mario slugged Peter's shoulder- a light and loving slap, not aggressive. "You are crazy; I am not a pedophile." They both laughed.
"But you used to be seriously into fucking some young ass and sucking some young cock, back in the day, if I remember all of the waiters and surfers..."
"Back in the day, when the house and the neighborhood were filled with swinging dicks, yes, but now, you are the first serious relationship I have had since Mason."
"And the last!" Peter said, putting on a mock-serious face as he held Mario by his shoulders. They kissed again, and getting dressed once more, went to sit on the patio with their coffee and chatted amiably about their relationship, the old days with the surfers, the sex parties, their friends, and what was happening now. Within an hour, Mario asked "So are we ready to make an announcement?"
"I have been ready since that first kiss" Peter laughed in reply.
"The famous kiss that shall live forever in my memory. Who are we inviting?" Mario wondered aloud.
"My Mom and Dad, my brother Drew, my sister Elizabeth, and whichever friends you think of, including Tad and Mike of course."
Mario said, "So tell me about your family, I actually know nothing about you except what a great lover you are and what a marvelous cock you have." Indeed, a thick 8 inches, cut, and a slight upward curve, Peter's cock was perfect for Mario.
"And I love yours too," Peter replied, "in fact I have never forgotten about it since the days of the famous sex parties. I have jacked off a million times at least fantasizing about having you in my ass and in my mouth ever since then."
"A million times? So, you must have run out of sperm by now, so we can't make any babies together?"
"Oh, Babe I would love to try to make you pregnant." They both cracked up laughing; Mario nearly spilled his coffee.
Peter returned to the topic of family and friends, giving Mario the details of his life: Mom and Dad stilled lived in the same house in Sacramento where Peter and his brother and sister had been born and raised. Dad had been a civilian contractor for the air force at McClellan air force base until the big Congressionally-mandated military base closures began in the `80's and worked from then until his retirement for a civil engineering firm. Mom had been a school secretary, down the street in their neighborhood. Brother Drew was a federal arbitrator, working for the federal court system all over northern California. Sister Elizabeth was married, now divorced, with two kids who were teenagers and giving her royal headaches. She lived in Sonoma county, and worked in marketing for a huge winery.
"It sounds like `Happy Days'," Mario giggled.
"Kinda, I guess it does, but of course we had our ups and downs; Dad went through some serious depression when the air force base closed, and it took him a year or so to find a job after that, so we had a pretty rocky road for a minute. Mom held us together, and at one point Dad even went to stay with his parents way up in Chico for a couple months until he got his shit together. I was in high school and it was Hell watching him fall apart." Peter had a tear falling from one eye.
"I think this might be a wonderful event, then, to bring everyone together here for our announcement party; I know it will be a lot of fun for me to meet them." Mario already had plans churning in his mind.
Guessing at his thoughts, Peter said "Mario, Babe, please do not misunderstand me, I truly love you and being with you is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, but I do not want a big Hollywood event. My family are simple straight-forward people, and so a quiet announcement party with family and close friends is plenty."
"As you wish."
Peter clearly did not get the quote from Princess Bride; Mario would make a point of playing it for him later.
"But you will allow me to make arrangements for their travel and lodging, and so forth? Please? I really want to do that much at least."
"Sure; that is very kind of you. Speaking of money, let's talk."
"Were we talking about money?"
"We are now," Peter replied. "For the record, I have a small inheritance from my grandparents squirreled away in a money market account, and I have the catering business, and my Jeep, and I rent the kitchen and the apartment above it for the business, and I have no debts. So, you were right about marrying the lowly fry cook."
Mario was clearly uncomfortable with this change in the conversation. "As you know, there is this house, which I think we should talk about selling, and we should sell Mason's cars, and I received half of Mason's estate when he passed away. The rest went to Stuart."
"So, I am not going to ask how much that is, it truly does not matter to me, but let's assume we can pay cash for a new place, such as the condo you mentioned in Santa Monica, after selling this house, so then we are going to be more or less on equal ground, because I never want to feel like a `kept husband'," Peter grinned. "But can we keep the LR-4?"
"As long as we are both working, I think we will have enough to feed ourselves and keep the lights on," Mario laughed.
"OK," Peter smiled at him.
With that, they held hands and took a long walk along the beach. In about an hour, after a companionable silence, they approached the back lawn and Mario said, "I thought I would miss this house terribly, but you know what, I think I am going to really enjoy building a new life on neutral ground with you."
Peter sighed contentedly and kissed him. "Me too."
They spent the afternoon on their cell phones calling friends and family, agreeing on a date for the engagement party at the end of April. Before dusk they had a list of about twenty people who were eager to see the happy couple. Stuart wanted to come over right then that evening with Raj to meet Peter and ask Mario some questions; two hours later the doorbell was ringing, and Mario opened it to find both Stuart and Raj as well as Ross and Joaquin.
"We couldn't wait" four voices chorused. Laughing, they all stepped into the great room, and as soon as introductions were made, Peter excused himself to get wine for everyone. "Sorry we don't have champagne" he apologized.
Within an hour, all of the expected questions had been asked and answered: `Who are you? How did you meet? Where are you from? What is your history? What are your plans?' They were all shocked to hear that Peter had a long history with Mario and Mason, from his time as a surfer attending the famous sex parties in the past. Ross asked, "So you must know Tad?"
"Yes, Tad and I were roommates, he was a shy little Oregon farm boy at that time, and somehow, I never heard the story, he suddenly blossomed and came out as this fascinating and gregarious gay kid" Peter replied.
Mario laughed, and since no one else except Stuart knew any of the details, he related how Mason had mentored Tad as a fledgling gay cock-sucker and threw the dinner party that brought Tad and Mike together. "And they are still together" Peter added, "although as any couple might, they have their ups and downs. They bought a quaint little restaurant in Pacific Palisades, with Mike managing the front of the house and Tad running the kitchen."
"Do you still see them regularly?" Mario asked.
"No, unfortunately, they are busier than I am with their business, but we bump into each other a couple times a year."
"Have you set a date?" Stuart asked.
Mario and Peter both said "No," then laughed, and Mario said, "but by the engagement party, we will."
Peter said, "we have a lot of calendar issues to try to coordinate, mainly, for example, I have to get through the heavy wedding season for my catering business, which is May through August, and of course Mario has his busy law calendar to try to juggle as well."
Ross and Joaquin excused themselves; it was close to midnight. Stuart and Raj stayed for just a few more minutes and Stuart asked, "So does this accelerate the sale of this house?"
Mario replied "No, not necessarily, although we have discussed finding a place for the two of us, and it might just end up being one of the condos in Santa Monica I mentioned before. But you of course will be a necessary part of that process, so I would appreciate your advice."
"Naturally." Raj and Stuart left after kissing both Peter and Mario, and Mario took Peter's hand and guided him to the bedroom. When they were in bed, naked, cuddling each other, Peter with his back to Mario and Mario with a stiff cock between Peter's legs, they quickly fell asleep.