So then, like an idiot, he asked the guy out. He, the one who had always kept his attraction to men on the down low, he, who had joined in with his friends and fellow soldiers in talking about girls they found hot, and who had meant every word that he said. He, who had hoped that any interest in men was just a phase, though truthfully, he was equally interested in both.
But it had always been so much easier to focus on the side of himself that he could talk about with other people, with his family, and with the friends who had become, through all of the fighting and the camaraderie that had built, like his family.
Easier. Safer.
So why had he just opened his mouth and let those words fall out? From the dazed look on Skyler’s face, the other man was wondering that, too. Skyler opened his mouth, obviously about to say something, and Craig had the feeling that he didn’t want to hear what it was. How stupid was he, to think that anyone as spectacular as Skyler would even consider going out with Craig?
“Nothing weird,” Craig assured him. “Just, you know, I thought I could show you around the town. Or the ranch. I mean, I guess you’ve probably seen them by now, right? So it’s a stupid idea.”
He was babbling, and worse, he knew he was babbling and was powerless to stop it. He was actually known for being pretty smooth and charming, but under that intense, pitiless green gaze, he found that he just went to pieces.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Skyler said, and Craig lapsed back into silence, relieved that the other man was finally saying something. “Actually, I haven’t been to see most of the ranch, and I’ve only been through town enough to get to the grocery store when something needed to be picked up.”
It seemed that Craig only had two modes when it came to Skyler, and neither of them was particularly flattering. Either he wished for the other man’s attention and was willing to do nearly anything to get it, or he stared like an idiot once he had finally gotten what he wanted. He just had no way to predict what Skyler was going to do at any given time.
The guy was just nothing like the people that Craig was used to, either at the ranch or the other soldiers that Craig had spent so much time with. Was that why he couldn’t get him out of his head?
“Okay. Cool.” Craig cleared his throat, trying to sound like he wasn’t as affected as he was by Skyler’s agreement. “Tomorrow, then?”
“Okay,” Skyler agreed, and Craig fought the urge to pull the other man’s slender body closer to his, to see if it fit against him tightly just as well as he thought it would. He could practically wrap around Skyler twice, and while tiny men had never been Craig’s thing before, he was definitely a convert now.
Besides, it probably wasn’t a date. No, it almost certainly wasn’t. Skyler had only agreed after Craig had assured him that it wasnothing weird, and in Craig’s world, two guys going out on a date definitely counted as weird. It was probably just as well that Skyler wasn’t thinking that it was, actually.
“Hey,” Craig said impulsively. Anything to pull him away from the ocean which was somehow entirely contained within Skyler’s eyes. The song had changed, from a slow, sweet ballad to a much funkier tune, and it was probably time to change the mood for Craig, as well. “The rest of the people dancing are being boring.”
Skyler tilted his head to the side, the most endearing little gesture that Craig had ever seen, a question in his eyes. A question that Craig, as it turned out, was more than happy to answer.
“Let’s spice it up a bit,” Craig suggested. Maybe it was just to liven up the party, which Craig had always been good at. Maybe it was just to change the mood. Those were the options that he thought were most likely, and it wasn’t until later that he would allow himself to think about what was really going on.
The dance was over, and he didn’t want to let Skyler go.
So before Skyler responded, Craig spun him into a deep dip, his hand resting intimately on the small of Skyler’s back. So close to the tempting swell of his ass, and that was the first indication that Craig had of the firmness of the muscles as they flexed under his fingers. Skyler dressed so conservatively that it was impossible to tell, but the man had a hell of a tight little body under those clothes, didn’t he?
Another disturbing thought, so Craig pushed it aside. He hauled Skyler close to himself, knowing through experience that he could get away with a lot if he made a joke out of it. That was how he had been getting through life for a long time, and it did more than keep him safe. It made him the sort of person that other people liked and wanted to have around.
So, as he pulled Skyler out of the dip, he grasped the other man by the hand and stuck their arms both stiffly to the side, his other hand resting on the small of Skyler’s back still. He spun him off into an exaggerated tango, dramatic flourishes and all, to the point where Craig’s brothers were rolling their eyes, but smiling, so that was okay. And other guests, all of whom Craig had known since he was a little boy, were even clapping and cheering.
It was a way to get away with a lot, including dancing with another man and having it be completely safe or flirting with another man. All of these habits that he had to keep himself from showing this part of who he was to the world.
At first, Skyler was stiff and unresponsive, but just when Craig was thinking that he should probably stop, that it wasn’t really fair to push this all on Skyler, he felt the other man’s body relax into his arms. It went from Craig pretty much steering Skyler around where he wanted him to Skyler clinging to him, pliant and supple.
Maybe that was worse because when they were dancing like this, it was so easy to remember that, for many people, dancing was just clothed sex in public. Skyler’s body was so perfectly responsive to his, and he had to wonder what this would be like without the clothes. If they could press right against each other and touch bare skin, rub together.
Was Skyler gay? Bisexual, maybe? Craig had gotten very good, through his years of hiding, at reading other men’s signals, knowing which ones were safe to try to sneak some private time with. But Skyler threw his signals completely off. Gay, bisexual, straight, Craig couldn’t tell. Maybe he was none of that. Maybe he just had no interest in sex or romance.
But the way they were dancing, that was the first sign that Craig had that maybe it wasn’t the case. That he and Skyler, if they went to bed together, would flow together as naturally as the sea coming in to shore.
It was too soon to say, but Craig was having a good time. And he had to wonder if maybe, just possibly, he and Skyler would get to play more and if there was any chance that this ridiculous attraction was shared. Maybe that would get Skyler out of Craig’s system. In his experience, a few good orgasms did wonders for that.
And then Skyler laughed.
It was something that Craig had never heard before. A brief smile, at most, was what Skyler gave. Granted, Craig didn’t really know Skyler that well, but that had been his impression, anyway.
But that laugh was easy and free and open, filled with wonder and delight, and even though Craig would try to deny it for quite a while after that, that was his first sign that the attraction to Skyler was more than just physical.
Even then, though, he had to admit that he would do just about anything in his power to make Skyler laugh like that again.
Three
