Unwrapping Ainsley Read online

  “Holy sweet fuck!” I gasped, fascinated. I couldn’t remember ever staring at a man’s cock before and just watching it grow.

  “What the hell! Can’t you at least take it inside?”

  At a voice shouting at us, followed by a car horn, we moved in tandem. I released his pants as though burned. He reached for the waistband and pulled up. I slid the rest of the way to the ground amidst a loud ripping sound. Completely mortified, and unable to think of how I could extricate myself from this embarrassing situation, I closed my eyes. I could feel the coldness of the ground seeping into my pants, but it was either that or face Willy.

  “Shit. How the hell did that just happen?” Willy asked, gripping me by the armpits and pulling me up. I clutched at his arms and decided I’d just have to be as dignified as I could be while knowing I’d just ripped my fucking pants.

  “I’d like to pretend that didn’t happen,” I stated. “Not that I see how I can face your parents since the crotch of my jeans just tore.”

  “The material must not have been sturdy if it tore so easily.”

  I glared at him. “You think? Is it noticeable? My God, I’ll have to change.”

  He grabbed my arm before I could go back into the truck. “No! It’s not noticeable. Unless you sit with your legs wide open nobody will know.”

  I scanned his face to find out if he was bullshitting me. “You certain? You know it’s going to look bad on you if it’s showing, right?”

  “Yes, I know, and as I said, it’s completely fine. Look, we’re not going to be here for long. Just pop in and out. Then I can take you back to your hotel where you can change.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and reached behind me to pat my cold backside. “Fine. Just remind me not to bend over. I’d hate for anyone to see my ass hanging out. I’m just wearing a jock strap.”

  He made a strangled sound. “What?”

  I laughed, relieved that I could make light of the situation after all. “You should see your face. I’m just kidding.”

  His laugh mingled with mine. It completely transformed his face into attractiveness. “You should have seen your face when you split your pants.”

  “At least I didn’t have my dick flapping in the breeze,” I threw back at him.

  “It was not flapping, and that was your fault.” He had stopped laughing, but his eyes twinkled. “You know what I think?”

  I slammed the door to the truck shut because it was still hanging open. I should have grabbed it instead of him. “What?”

  “I think you did that on purpose to check out my junk.”

  I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him. “You wish.” I gave him my cheekiest look from beneath my lashes. “Besides, even if I did that on purpose, I’d have been sorely disappointed.”

  “Hah!” he exploded on a laugh. “You’re lying.”

  Of course, I was. The guy was well hung, and he knew it. “Prove it.” I raised an eyebrow in challenge.

  “You licked your lips.”

  I shrugged. “They were dry. In case it missed you, it’s cold.”

  “Yeah, I’ll believe that.”

  “Will, is that you?” a woman’s voice drifted toward us, and we turned to the sound. “I thought I heard you laughing.”

  “Yes, Mama,” Willy answered, grabbing hold of my hand and leading me forward. I didn’t attempt to pull out of his grasp because I needed the closeness. For all my talk of bravado about pulling this off, I was not as confident as I had seemed. My earlier confidence had been born out of desperation. I did not want to face my family alone.

  Willy’s mother was a tall woman, almost as tall as me. I could see where he had gotten his gorgeous hair from. Although the woman before me had streaks in her dark hair, the volume of it was lovely. She had a big smile on her face, and her eyes shone with delight at seeing her son. My heart skipped a beat as I wondered if my mother would have this look in her eyes when she finally saw me after all this time. More than likely not.

  “Hello, Mama, how are you doing?” I stood back as Willy released my hand and hugged his mother. Their hug was so unpretentious and wholesome. It was clear they had great affection for each other, just as it should be between son and mother.

  “I’ve been great,” his mother replied. “I was so excited when Wendy called to let me know you were dropping by.” She glanced at me, then back at her son. “Well, don’t be impolite. Go ahead and introduce me to your friend.”

  I tried not to show my surprise when Willy’s arm snaked around my waist. Although we had talked on the way to his mother’s from the airport, we hadn’t discussed how we would approach intimacy before others. We had just discussed facts so we could pull off that we knew each other.

  “Mama, this is my boyfriend, Ainsley,” he introduced me. “Ainsley, meet my mother, Martha Hicks."

  I smiled and proffered my hand toward her. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Hicks.”

  She grasped my hand but not for a handshake. She pulled me into her for a hug like what she had shared with her son. I was pleasantly surprised at her familiarity but quickly relaxed into the spicy scent of cinnamon and vanilla coming from her. She had to have been baking.

  “None of that Mrs. Hicks stuff,” she remarked. “You call me Martha. Oh, I’m so overjoyed to meet the man who’s made my William happy over the past few months. Between the two of us, I thought he would be stuck in grief for the rest of his life.”

  “Mama,” Willy said in a gentle but warning tone. “Let’s not go there. Is Dad home? We can’t hang around for too long. Ainsley just got off the plane, and he might need a nap, so I have to take him to his hotel.”

  She gasped. “Hotel? Why are you staying in a hotel?”

  Willy glanced at me, unable to answer. “Our relationship is still quite fresh,” I said which was technically the truth. “We agreed on separate accommodations until we get to know each other better. Without the sex.”

  Willy groaned beside me. “Too much information, darling,” he stated. “I’m sure my mother can figure out why we think separate accommodations is a great idea.”

  “I completely get that, sweetie.” She smiled at me. “It’s so great that you guys want to wait before getting sex involved.” She placed a hand at the corner of her mouth and added in a stage whisper to me, “Sex can screw with our ability to make sound decisions you know. How do you think I ended up married and with two kids?”

  “Because you love Dad," Willy answered. "Mama, you didn’t respond if Dad's here.”

  “Yes, he's in the kitchen.” She started to walk back. “Why don’t we go inside so we can talk about Ainsley staying with us? It’s Christmas. There’s no way we’re going to allow our potential son-in-law to sleep in a lonely hotel on Christmas.”

  My mouth fell open, and I sought out Willy for him to intervene. I couldn’t stay the three days with his family. It would be easier for them to uncover our deception. It was easy to pretend to be Willy’s boyfriend for a few minutes or a couple of hours, but if I stayed with his parents, I would be forced to play the role of his boyfriend all the time.

  “I don’t want to put you out of your way,” I told her. “I’m comfortably fine in a hotel. That’s basically how I spent the last two Christmases.”

  “Why you poor thing! You’ll definitely not be spending your third in a hotel. I insist. Willy, get his suitcase, will you? He can have your old room.”

  “Mama, we really don’t want to put you out of your way,” Willy said, trying to regain hold of the situation. I glanced back at him in desperation as I found myself being swept away with his mother inside the house.

  “Nonsense, Will. You know how much I love to entertain. It’s no problem at all taking care of your young man. Now stop dawdling and bring Ainsley’s things inside.”

  My eyes met Willy’s before I lost sight of him because I was now inside the house. The look of terror in his eyes met mine. This was going horribly wrong. I didn’t know enough about him to pull off acting as if we were
together twenty-four seven.

  We were screwed.

  Chapter Six

  Will

  In all the scenarios we had thought of on the way here, Ainsley and I never considered the possibility of my parents asking him to stay with them instead of his hotel. We had talked about mundane facts about each other, such as favorite color, favorite food, but we never got down to tackling this huge what if. I could think of a thousand reasons, right off the bat, why this was a terrible idea, but when my mother latched on to something, she would not let it go. And she had latched on to the idea pretty fast of Ainsley staying with her and Dad.

  I hurried to the truck to get Ainsley's bags before everything blew up in our faces. I would be embarrassed if my parents found out I had staged this whole thing. Although it would serve them right. It would show my mother how much her matchmaking made me uncomfortable. Last year, I’d felt a mixture of emotions dealing with her after the disaster of Christmas dinner. I had been livid at her, but at the same time, I knew she did it out of love, so I hadn't been able to stay angry for long.

  Armed with Ainsley's carry-on and knapsack, I carefully avoided the icy patch on the ground. Although earlier I had been embarrassed at my dick hanging out just inches above his mouth, I was more disturbed at how aroused I had become. If he had pushed up just a bit, he could have captured the tip with his pretty pink lips. I groaned at the blood flowing to harden my cock. This was hardly the right time to discover I liked twinks with a perky ass. I had always thought I preferred muscular men. I had met Ainsley for less than half a day, and his presence was already disturbing my sanity. In a pleasurable way.

  I entered my childhood home, assaulted by fond memories at the lull of Christmas songs playing in the background. The interior of the house was as festively decorated with green, red, white and yellow tinsels. The nativity scene was set up on a table just inside the hall. My mother had those pieces since forever, and I couldn't remember a Christmas when they weren't displayed.

  Ainsley's infectious laughter led me to the kitchen. I paused, feeling quite odd at the sight of him at the counter with my mother. Dad was sitting around the table applying icing to gingerbread cookies. Mama baked them every year, and I delivered them to the homeless shelter ran by the Worship Center. Most times I had gone alone because Luke hadn’t been keen on the idea of visiting the shelter. It was the one thing we disagreed on. He always said seeing the people creeped him out.

  “Hmm.” I returned my attention to Ainsley who licked batter from his index finger. “If the batter tastes this good, I can't wait to taste the actual cake.” He made a moaning sound that teased a certain body part of mine.

  “Careful, Mama,” I couldn't resist teasing as I walked into the kitchen, resting his bags to the side against one wall. “He'll eat the entire cake and ask for more. I don't know where he puts it all.”

  Ainsley grabbed a dishcloth from the counter and threw it at me. I caught it mid-air, laughing at him. “Stop making me look bad in front of your parents.”

  “Nonsense, son,” Dad said, his attention fixed on Ainsley so I knew he wasn't talking to me. “My Martha loves to cook. She thinks she was placed on earth just to fatten the family. You'll be returning to New York at least a size bigger.”

  Ainsley groaned. “I can't have any of that. My agent would have me on lettuce leaves and sparkling water.” He smirked at me as he said it, and my lips twitched at the reference.

  I caught Mama looking from Ainsley to me with the biggest grin on her face, and once again, I thought this might have been a bad idea. It was hard not to like Ainsley, even with all the attitude he gave off in spades. What if they ended up liking him too much?

  “What agent?” Mama asked.

  I stared at him expectantly too because I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “I'm an androgynous model,” he answered, and just like Mama, I still continued to stare at him blankly.

  “A what model, dear?”

  “Androgynous model,” Dad surprised us all by repeating. “You know, versatile models who sometimes walk the stage as male and at other times, female.”

  My mouth fell open, and I glanced from my sixty-four-year-old father to Ainsley who nodded. “Yup, that's it. My last fashion show in Paris, I walked the catwalk as a female. It was a phenomenal experience.”

  “How'd you know what that meant?” I asked Dad, still trying to digest the news that Ainsley was a model. Was that the reason he was able to afford an apartment off Central Park? That would mean I had pegged him wrong again.

  “I've a gay son,” Dad replied with a shrug. “I try to keep up to date with that kind of stuff so I can be supportive to the community."

  “That's so nice,” Ainsley remarked, but a sad expression crossed his face. The expression was gone almost as instantly, but it hadn't missed me, and I wanted to ask him about it. I wondered if he didn’t have the same support of his parents. We hadn't spoken much about them on the drive, but he gave me the idea they would approve of me as his boyfriend.

  “Why don't you take Ainsley up to your old room to get settled?” Mama said gently as though sensing the shift in mood.

  “Come on.” I nodded at Ainsley. “It's this way.”

  He snagged his knapsack, and I lifted the carry-on as I led him from the kitchen.

  “You can take a nap if you're tired, Ainsley,” Mama called after us. “Or a shower. Will, don't forget to show him the bathroom.”

  “Okay, Ma'am,” I called back at her as I led the way from the kitchen.

  “Your parents are so nice,” Ainsley whispered as I indicated for him to go ahead of me up the stairs. “I feel almost bad for deceiving them.”

  “Me too. I never thought I'd feel this way.” Him mentioning it aloud only made me feel worse about it.

  He paused in the middle of the stairs and glanced over his shoulder at me. “You want to come clean about us?”

  I shook my head. “Let's ride it out. Unless you think you can't handle it.”

  He shimmied his hips. “Oh, I know I can handle it. Can you?” With a playful wink, he continued up the stairs, exaggerating the sway of his hips. My eyes glued to his backside as I contemplated his question. Thank God he didn't realize I was like a puppy being led by a leash he controlled.

  At the top of the stairs, I placed my hand at the center of his back and turned him in the direction of my old bedroom. His back felt slender beneath my touch, and I wanted to strip him bare and plant kisses up his spine. I wanted to find out how nimble he was. Fuck, I was seriously screwed. But how? Granted he was sensual and sexy. Plus, he had a great sense of humor. But Luke had not been any of those things. How could I be attracted to someone else who was opposite of the man I had spent so much of my lifetime loving?

  “I must warn you that my parents haven’t put any of my stuff away,” I told him as I stopped at the room door.

  “Come on. Don’t hog the door. Let me see where you spent your childhood.”

  I opened the door and made a sweeping motion with my hand for him to get in. “Welcome to my once humble abode.”

  Ainsley ignored me as he entered the bedroom, his eyes roaming all four corners of the room. It wasn’t very large, but Dad had been adamant that each of us had our own space.

  The single bed was to the left, the bedspread one I remembered well. Mama had bought it the day I went off to Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine and moved into the dorm on campus. She had been teary as she patted the bed and declared that she wanted me to have somewhere nice to sleep when I visited.

  Besides the bed, there was my closet, a computer desk with a few textbooks still on it, and a bookshelf displaying several trophies and awards I had won throughout my childhood. Medals for swimming, trophies for playing basketball and football. I had been actively involved in sports throughout my life, which was why it had come as a shock to most people when I had come out as gay.

  “This looks cozy,” he said, moving further into the room.
He hooked the knapsack straps over the back of the chair at the computer desk and checked out the photographs on the wall. There were photographs of me playing sports, hanging out with my friends and my sister. “You were a popular guy.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly say popular,” I replied, wishing I had taken down those photos over the years. I had left them there, however, because I liked seeing them when I peeked into my old room. I liked the memories they brought back as I got older.

  “What would you call it then?” he asked, touching the awards on the bookshelf. “I bet you had a lot of guys falling over themselves to be with you.”

  The sound I made was a cross between a laugh and a snort. “I was noticed for my contribution to sports throughout middle and high school, but guys weren’t falling over themselves to be with me. I’d see that more happening to you. You’re gorgeous.”

  He sat on the bed and started to unlace his boots. I had a feeling he was deliberately trying not to look at me. “Beauty isn’t everything, you know.”

  I shrugged. “I know that, but just looking at you, your whole appearance says it matters to you. You must have touched your hair a million times since we met.”

  His head snapped up at me as he toed his boots off. “I have not.”

  “Yes, you have.”

  “Okay, maybe I do it when I’m nervous. Happy now?”

  I was surprised at his admission. “You nervous? But you come across so confident like the world is yours.”

  “Who wouldn’t be nervous?” he asked, his voice rising. “I got in a truck with a freaking stranger who could snap me into two. Of course, I’m going to be nervous.”

  “Shush. Keep your voice down. You don’t want anyone else knowing our secret.”

  “Oops!” His shoes completely off but still wearing socks, he got up from the bed. I was puzzled to find him trying to raise the mattress.