Stubborn Heart (15 page)

Almost four hours later, they staggered back into the condominium, all three men loaded down with their purchases. They all deposited their bags near the tree, then they worked together to start dinner. Mark prepped and seasoned a pork loin while Derrick and Trevor cleaned and chopped vegetables. Once everything was happily roasting in the oven, they began unpacking ornaments and decorating the tree. It was very quiet as everyone focused on hanging ornaments, so Mark turned on the radio and found a station playing holiday carols. Pretty soon everyone was humming to the music as they worked.

A little after eight o’clock, the timer went off, signaling the meat was done. They took a break from trimming the tree to eat dinner. Trevor sliced crusty bread to serve with the roasted pork and vegetables. Mark opened a bottle of chardonnay to complete the meal. Their plates heaped high, they all sat around the table and ate.

“Compliments to the chef!” Derrick said, raising his glass.

“Not me,” Mark protested with a smile. “It was a community effort.”

“That’s right,” Trevor chimed in. “We should cook like this every day.”

“And retire to the fat farm,” Mark joked.

They all laughed.

Cleanup was simple. All the food had been consumed, so the dishes were rinsed and placed in the dishwasher. In no time at all, the kitchen was back in order and spotless.

After dinner, they refilled their wine glasses and resumed trimming the tree. It took some effort and a great deal of rearranging, but they finally managed to get all the decorations on the tree. Ornaments of all shapes and sizes covered every branch, leaving very little of the green underneath. The men stepped back and stood, admiring the fruit of their efforts.

“I think we need a bigger tree,” Trevor said with a grin as he gazed up and down at the ornament-laden branches.

“It really is beautiful.” Mark sighed. Trevor placed a hand on his shoulder, and Mark leaned into the touch.

“Best tree ever,” Derrick proclaimed. He covered his mouth to mask his yawn.

“Someone’s getting sleepy,” Mark said, grinning at Derrick. “You should just stay here.”

“I wondered when that was coming,” Derrick said. His eyes brightened and he grinned wickedly.

“When what was coming?” Mark asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

“You know,” Derrick continued in a low voice. He glanced over at Trevor, who tightened his grip on Mark’s shoulder. “A ménage à trois.”

“What?” Mark gasped in surprise as Trevor whirled him around and pulled him close, chest to chest. Derrick came up behind Mark and reached around him to grab Trevor. Trevor grabbed Derrick as well and together they began grinding their chests and hips against Mark, squeezing him in the middle. Both men laughed uncontrollably as Mark squirmed between them. Finally he was able to gain enough leverage to force them apart.

“Get away from me, you big goons!” he yelled in mock disgust. He broke into a grin, but moved a safe distance away from the other two men.

“Come on,” Trevor teased, still laughing. “It could be fun.”

“Fun for who?” Mark asked indignantly. “I know where you two stand in the bedroom. And since I want to be able to stand in the morning, I think I’ll have to pass. Go find someone else to be your butt boy!”

That brought fresh peals of laughter from both men. Grinning, Mark watched as the other two held on to each other for support. Trevor had tears streaming down his face. Mark crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “I should make you both leave,” he said unconvincingly.

“Not necessary.” Derrick still chuckled as he struggled to regain his composure. “I’m leaving of my own free volition. Tomorrow is my last day off before the holidays, and I plan to sleep in. The last thing I want is to be awakened by the two of you carrying on.”

Trevor pulled Derrick into a bear hug and then gave him his keys. “It was a good day.”

“It was a great day,” Derrick affirmed. He walked over to Mark and gave him a peck on the cheek and a hug. “Thanks for letting me play with you guys today.”

“You’re always welcome here,” Mark replied warmly.

“Thank you,” Derrick replied, knowing he meant it. He gave Mark another hug and left the condo.

A
LITTLE
while later, Derrick sent a text to Trevor, letting him know he had made it home. Mark and Trevor were finishing tidying up the living area. The lights were still on, and the Christmas tree radiated in its corner. Trevor reached over and took Mark’s hand in his own. Together, they stood admiring the tree again.

“Wait!” Mark exclaimed as an idea came to mind. “We haven’t seen the tree from outside.” He tugged at Trevor’s hand, pulling him toward the balcony.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Trevor admitted as he followed along.

Mark opened the sliding glass door, and they stepped out onto the balcony, hands still clasped. Mark walked over to the rail and turned to look at the tree. Trevor moved to stand behind him. He wrapped his arms around Mark and pulled him close. Mark reached up to hold on to Trevor’s firm biceps. They stood for several minutes without saying anything.

“It really is a beautiful tree,” Trevor murmured after a while. He hugged Mark tightly and leaned forward to kiss his ear.

“This is the best Christmas present ever,” Mark whispered, squeezing Trevor’s arms. He huffed out a small breath in surprise as he realized that he had tears running down his cheeks.

“What’s this?” Trevor asked as he turned Mark to face him. He reached up and gentled a tear away with his thumb. He brought the thumb up to his mouth and touched the tear to his lips. He then cupped Mark’s face in his hands and wiped both cheeks with his thumbs.

“Thank you, Trev,” Mark said as he looked into Trevor’s eyes.

“Mark,” Trevor started, his expression tender, but serious.

“Shhh.” Mark stopped Trevor with a gentle finger to his lips. “I need you to take me to bed now,” he said in a soft, low voice.

Chapter 17

“S
O
I
got called into the principal’s office today,” Mark said over his shoulder. He was standing at the counter in his kitchen, working on dinner. He placed two chicken breasts in a baking dish and liberally coated them with a packaged seasoning.

“What does that mean?” Trevor asked. He stopped chopping vegetables and looked over at Mark curiously.

“Nothing bad,” Mark reassured with a grin. “The director asked to see me in her office today.”

“What did she have to say?” Trevor prodded.

Mark placed the chicken in the oven. He moved over to the sink, where he washed and dried his hands. He turned to face Trevor. “She asked me to accept the nurse manager position permanently.”

“That’s great news!” Trevor said enthusiastically. He gave Mark a big hug. “So what did you tell her?”

“I told her I would take the position. It becomes official the Sunday after New Year’s Day,” Mark said.

“Congratulations!” Trevor said, running his hands up and down Mark’s upper arms. “So why don’t you seem happy about it?”

“I wasn’t sure that I wanted to give up direct patient care. I was hoping to have more time to think about it. It just seems like such a big step. I mean, I’ve never managed anything before.”

“That’s not true,” Trevor protested. “You’ve been running the unit for a little while now. Obviously long enough that management has confidence in you. Even before that you were in charge almost every day that you worked. You manage your house. You manage your finances. Hell, you even managed to manage me.”

“Is that right?” Mark asked with a grin.

“Sure is,” Trevor replied, lowering his voice. He reached down to cup Mark’s ass cheeks and pull him close. “You’ve managed to make it so that I can’t think about a damn thing but you.”

“I think I like the sound of that.” Mark reached up and placed his hands on Trevor’s chest, right below his neck. He hooked one heel around Trevor’s calf and ground their crotches together.

Trevor growled as he leaned over to claim Mark’s lips.

T
WO
days later, on Christmas morning, Mark was slightly disoriented when he awoke. He realized he was completely under the covers, and he was curled up on his side. His face rested on Trevor’s hairy stomach. He was pointed south, staring directly at a one-eyed monster. Said monster was at full mast and hovered directly above the hair on Trevor’s abdomen. Mark flicked the tip of Trevor’s cock with his tongue and grinned as it jumped in response. Immediately the covers were yanked away and Trevor pulled him up in the bed.

“I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up,” Trevor said, leaning down to kiss Mark. “I have been just lying here still forever.”

“Seems like you were doing more than just lying here.” Mark chuckled as he reached down and took Trevor’s member in his hand, then gently pulled at the skin covering the rock-hard muscle. He lowered his mouth to Trevor’s chest. He ran his tongue around one pink, hard nipple, while still slowly pumping Trevor’s cock.

Trevor moaned with pleasure as Mark worked him over. He reached around with one hand, kneading Mark’s neck in encouragement. With his other hand, he used his thumb and middle finger to lightly pinch Mark’s nipples. He alternated from one to the other until both were hard as pebbles and Mark was squirming in response.

“Stop it!” Mark fussed in protest. “You’re messing up my concentration.”

“That’s the whole point,” Trevor replied gruffly. He reached down and pulled Mark on top of him until they were face-to-face with Mark sitting straddled across Trevor’s hips. “I laid here for almost an hour with your face pointed to my crotch. I was trying so hard to be still and not move so I wouldn’t wake you. Every time you exhaled, it made my cock harder and harder. I thought I was going to cum a couple of times. I didn’t know which head was going to explode first.”

“That’s pretty hot, big man,” Mark whispered seductively. He moved his hips back and forth, grinding Trevor’s dick into the soft area between his balls and ass. He could feel the pulsations of Trevor’s hardness in response, as well as the stream of precum leaking from the head and running down the back of Mark’s ball sac.

“Mark!” Trevor groaned, lifting Mark off him. “Stop that. I don’t want to cum yet.”

Mark grinned wickedly and tried to reseat himself on top of Trevor. He yelped in surprise as Trevor shifted their positions. In one swift move Trevor was on top, and Mark lay splayed on his belly underneath him. He twisted in bed to look up at Trevor.

“How did you do that?” Mark asked, amused.

“I work out,” Trevor said with a laugh. He reached under Mark and lifted his midsection.

Mark shifted to accommodate as Trevor placed a pillow underneath his abdomen, elevating his buttocks. Trevor reached his hand between Mark’s thighs and underneath to grab his cock. He gently tugged until it pointed down toward his toes. Mark shifted to lift up, but Trevor stopped him with a hand in the small of his back.

“Stay right there, baby,” Trevor demanded in a soft, firm voice.

He kept one hand on Mark’s back and grabbed Mark’s cock with the other hand. Slowly, his hand started to move, gently stroking up and down Mark’s shaft. He circled his thumb and index finger about Mark’s scrotum so that each movement pulled his cock and balls in unison. Mark moaned and spread his legs further apart to give Trevor better access. Trevor lowered himself down to the bed and pressed his face between Mark’s ass cheeks. He shifted so that his forearm lay across Mark’s lower back, still preventing his movement. With his other hand, Trevor continued massaging Mark’s cock and balls.

Mark hissed as he felt the first pass of Trevor’s hot, wet tongue across his opening. He shifted as much as Trevor’s arm on his back would allow. Trevor began running his tongue up and down Mark’s tight pink pucker, gradually increasing the pressure on the opening. Mark tried to shift his buttocks, and finally Trevor moved his arm off his back. Mark arched as much as he could, spreading his thighs.

Trevor released Mark’s cock and used both hands to spread Mark’s ass cheeks. He continued to work at Mark’s hole with his tongue, coaxing him to relax. Mark gripped the sheets with both hands, his breath coming out in small pants.

Trevor replaced his tongue with one spit-lubed finger and pushed slowly into Mark’s tight opening. Mark groaned and raised himself up, then pushed back onto the new intruder. He leaned down, encouraging Trevor to give him more. Trevor added a second finger, then began working them in and out of Mark’s tunnel.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Mark asked between breaths. He had his face back down on the bed, his ass held high and inviting.

“That would be sort of counterproductive.” Trevor chuckled. “I just want to make sure you are ready for me.”

“That was at least five minutes ago, Trev,” Mark said, his voice low and raspy. “Enough playing around. I need to feel you inside me. You, not your fingers. Please, Trevor. Now.”

“I love you all needy and begging for me,” Trevor growled. He reached into the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a condom and bottle of lube. “Turn over,” he commanded. “I want to see your face while I fuck you.”