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The landlady, who had heard what had happened through the paper and had not called out of re-
spect, was more than pleasant. She expressed her sympathies, agreed that it would be best for Jacob
to stay where he was for the remainder of the school year, and told Jake that there wouldn't be any
need to change the lease.
"I can put your name on it and have you sign until the end of May, Mr. Taggart, that won't be any
trouble, but I'm fine with leaving it as is. It's only a few weeks, after all, and given the circum-
stances& " She trailed off and then added, "Ms. Taggart's lease was due to be renewed in October,
but it's void and you don't have to worry about it. Just let me know when I can show the house--
after you've moved out, even. Don't you worry about a thing dealing with that, you understand?"
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"It'll be before the end of the month," Jake assured her. "I expect we'll stay through the weekend
after school lets out, so he can see his friends for a bit, but then we'll be off. I can't be away from
home too long past that."
She made more sympathetic noises and that was one more thing crossed off his list.
By the end of the afternoon he'd paced and made calls and drafted yet more lists. Tor and Cath sat
in the kitchen and made lists of their own, and at some point Cath got out 'Lissa's jewelry box and
went through it, setting aside the very few pieces that had special significance.
"You might as well keep it all," Jake said, sitting down. "Not like we'll have much call for any of
it."
She smiled and shook her head. "I'll take care of it, but some day Jacob might want to give some of
it to his wife. This ring," she said, picking up an opal set in silver, "is worth less than seventy dol-
lars. But it's the first thing 'Lissa ever bought herself just because it was beautiful and she wanted it.
These earrings were a gift from a man she loved very much." She pointed to a pair of small gold
cross posts and dropped her voice. "Not his father. After that."
Jake raised his eyebrow and Cath smiled. "I liked him."
"What happened?" Tor asked, undisguised curiosity in his voice.
"He moved out of state--well, was transferred. 'Lissa wasn't cut out to be an army wife. But she
loved him anyway, and he loved her. I'm actually kind of surprised he wasn't there yesterday."
"Maybe he didn't know," Jake suggested.
Cath shook her head and put the earrings next to the opal. "I called him myself. He's in California.
Doesn't matter. Point is, I'll take care of it, perhaps even use some of this& but it's all Jacob's when
he wants it."
Jake could only nod. It made sense, and there really wasn't anything more to say about it.
In the late afternoon he found himself wandering aimlessly around the house like a restless cat. Tor
was watching him, and every once in a while Jake caught him smiling a little, looking amused and
a little exasperated. Finally, Tor got up and stood in front of him and Jake absently tried to step
around him. Tor moved with him, blocking the way. Jake apologized and stepped to the other side.
Tor moved with him again, starting to grin.
"Am I missing something here?" Jake said, almost stumbling in his effort not to run Tor down.
"Yep." Tor's grin grew. "I'm hungry."
Jake took a moment to switch mental gears and nodded slowly. "Pizza?"
Tor beamed at him and shook his head.
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"That's our cue, kiddo," Cath told Jacob with a wink. "Come on. Ribs, sugar, and then a movie."
She scooped up her keys even as Jacob was pointing to his cast and insisting that ribs were a bad
idea, and then they were gone out the front door and Jake was left feeling more embarrassed than
he'd been since the last time Tor had been so obvious in mixed company.
"Do you have to do that?" Jake asked, fighting off the urge to smile as his blush began to fade.
"Nope," Tor said easily. "But it's fun."
Jake shook his head to himself and asked, "Any interest at all in pizza?"
To his mild surprise, Tor nodded. "I think there's one in the freezer. How about you get that going?
I'm going to take a fast shower."
"All right," Jake agreed, letting Tor move past him and down the hall. Amused and a little confused
by Tor's changeable notions, Jake went into the kitchen and turned on the oven. He added cheese
and a few more mushrooms to the mostly unremarkable pizza and waited for the timer to tell him
the oven was preheated. When the sharp beep roused him, he realized he'd been staring into space
thinking about Tor's ass, weighing its merits against Tor's mouth.
"Got it bad," he said under his breath as he put the pizza in to heat.
Tor arrived in the kitchen just as Jake was getting plates out and watching the timer again, peeking
in to check the browning of the cheese.
"Almost done," Jake said, not looking up, just aware that Tor was there. "Few more seconds. Your
showers are getting longer and longer, you know."
Tor snorted. "Says the man who routinely leaves me without hot water."
"I figure if you want a long shower you can haul your butt out of bed and join me," Jake said with a
grin. "But we should take a look at a bigger water heater, what with Jacob and all." He turned off
the oven and the timer just before it could beep at him again, and turned to grab a couple of pot-
holders off the counter. "Nice dinner attire, sir," he said, not really objecting to the towel clinging
to Tor's hips.
Tor shrugged and winked at him, but didn't say anything at all. His hair was damp and a little curly
over his forehead, and there were still occasional drops of water splashing onto his skin; he was
obviously turned on as well, his erection nicely distorting the towel. All in all, it was rather distract-
ing.
Jake dished out the pizza slices and graciously let Tor walk in front of him into the living room
where they both sat on the couch, probably closer to each other than was absolutely necessary for
optimum TV viewing. Jake didn't care at all.
They flipped through a few channels as they ate, but Jake spent more time looking at Tor than he
did watching the evening news. Tor knew it, meeting Jake's gaze now and then and smiling, his
eyes frank with invitation. But that was all he did, and it confused Jake. Tor was still hard, his legs
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splayed and the towel all but falling off, but he didn't actively do anything at all.
Jake looked at him more and more frequently as they finished eating, waiting. Tor's skin was start-
ing to flush, his breathing had picked up, and as far as Jake could tell from years of reading the
signs, Tor was more than ready to move on. And yet, he didn't so much as reach out for Jake or
even offer a kiss.
Slowly, because by that point he was more than a little excited himself, Jake moved their plates to
the coffee table and sat back, leaning against Tor's side. "Hey," he said softly, turning his head to
look at Tor's face.
"Hey, yourself." Tor winked at him, and Jake leaned closer, fitting his mouth over Tor's.
The kiss was intense and deep, Tor falling into it with a quick hunger that made Jake that much
harder, but it was clear from the first that Jake was in charge of it. He thought about that as he
plunged his tongue deeper, forcing Tor's mouth to open wider. It wasn't like Tor to not even play at
taking control; he wasn't usually so passive.
As soon as the thought occurred, Jake knew what was going on. Tor wanted him in charge, wanted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]