Ian (Unbreakable Bonds 4.5)

“Are you gonna kiss me or stare at me?” Chuckling, Ian pressed his lips to Hollis’s and before he could pull back, Hollis had him wrapped in his arms and mostly off his feet.

What was obviously supposed to be a peck turned into something deep, wet, and pretty damn carnal. One kiss became another and it was Ian who moaned and pulled Hollis down so he could wrap his arms around his neck. Fuck, he could never get enough of this man’s taste.

“Rowe told us. Basements are a problem for these two.”

Hollis reluctantly took his mouth off Ian and aimed a glare over his shoulder. Snow stood at the foot of the stairs and he must have been talking to Lucas, who was busy hurrying back up them. Hollis wasn’t sure he’d ever seen the tightly controlled man moving that fast. Snow didn’t look like he planned to budge. He’d leaned against the wall and crossed his arms and the naughty wink he sent them made Hollis want to choke him.

Clearing his throat and obviously flustered, Ian stepped back from Hollis. His hair was completely mussed, his lips swollen, and the sexy, amused twitch of his mouth had Hollis reaching to pull him close again.

“Go away, Frost.”

“Food’s gonna get cold.”

Ian rolled his eyes. “They’re cold deli sandwiches.” Hollis’s stomach chose that moment to growl causing Ian to laugh and hug him. “Come on,” he continued. “Let’s eat. We can finish this later.” He pulled Hollis toward the stairs.

“Just so you know,” Snow said as he started up. “It’ll be much later. Lucas already ordered food to be delivered tonight.” He stopped after two steps and looked back at them, his light blue eyes glittering with mirth. “We can have yours delivered down here if you want.”

“You have absolutely no room to talk, so shut the hell up and walk,” Ian ordered as he and Hollis followed. Snow laughed all the way up the stairs.

Hours later, after they got to finally finish what they’d started in that basement, Hollis lay boneless and sweaty on their bed. With everyone’s help, they’d managed to knock out everything they could do at this point, so he’d sent them all home and ordered them to take their last vacation day.

Ian stretched out on his stomach and laid his cheek on his pillow, his skin looking sleek and tempting in the light of the moon streaming through the window. “You were so great with everyone tonight. You didn’t have to thank them so much. They were happy to do it.”

“You and I would never have gotten that much done on our own, so I am thankful. I’m thankful for a lot of things.” Hollis tugged him closer and slid his leg over the backs of Ian’s.

“Someday, you’re going to tell me what you wrote in that letter. I can’t believe you sealed it up and put the box back before anyone got to read it.”

“I will. I even know when I’ll tell you.”

“That’s a weird thing to say.” Ian’s sleepy voice was muffled by the pillow.

“You’ll understand then. I promise.”To whomever discovers this letter,

While remodeling this house in 2017, my friends and I discovered two bottles of Kentucky bourbon along with this love letter from W.S. in 1961. The letter reads as if it’s from someone having to hide their same-sex relationship. W.S. also toasted those in the future lucky enough to find a great love.

Times have changed.

I’m standing here, in the same house, more than fifty years later with my partner and our friends. Proud gay men, all of whom have found great love. We no longer have to hide and gay marriage is legal. I plan to propose to the man I cherish in September on the anniversary of the first time I saw him. We’re lucky that we can live openly together and that we can legally call ourselves husbands, but the fight for true acceptance is still going on.

This weekend, together with our friends, we celebrated with that bourbon and we toasted W.S. and his (or her) love.

We’re replacing the bourbon with a new bottle that should keep for many years behind this wall and we hope that another happy couple finds it in the future. And that in this future, gay marriage is nothing but a term in the history books and instead, it’s just known as marriage.

Hollis Banner

May 28, 2017Authors’ NoteWe want to thank all of the readers who took a chance on two writers who jumped into gay romance out of a true love for the stories. The ones who picked up the unknown Shiver out of curiosity and then stayed along for this long, bumpy, and fun ride. This certainly isn’t the last you’ll see of our boys—we are too attached ourselves—but we hope you stick with us for the upcoming Ward Security series and any books we decide we have to write together. There are discussions happening already. We have so many stories still to tell!