Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 8

a long steadying breath. "My friend Thomas owned the studio your old coach sent you to. I used to come watch you. And I even made a dance for you. For us. Perhaps, when you are better, I could teach it to you? The dance is very beautiful—"
    Peter cut him off, pressing their mouths together again even as he spoke. "Yes. Beautiful like you are beautiful. Teach me later. Kiss me now."
    Hinata melted into Peter's arms. There would be time later to tell him, and then show him the clever workings of the Shadow Dance. Here, and now, on this old couch and in Peter's arms Hinata had enough to fill his whole world.
    THE END
    Author bio: Cherie Noel~~I write. Mostly romance, and I'm particularly fond of nekkid boys, semi-nekkid boys, and purely sweet boys… so the more of those I can fit in a story the better I like it. If you like what I do, you can find more at the following locations:
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    ****

SHOW ME YOURS
    by Kaje Harper

    Two dark-haired young men share a playful moment beside the ocean, framed against a backdrop of waves crashing on a rocky shore. Both men are laughing, wet and tanned, wearing only Speedos. The slimmer man reaches forward to snag the waistband of his friend's swim trunks, pulling them back in a way that exposes part of the other man's taut, rounded ass. The more muscular man reaches back with a hand planted on his friend's close-cropped head, shoving him away.

    Dear Author
    It seems like we've known one another forever, but he doesn't really know me at all. He doesn't know I'm gay and I'm really scared what will happen when he finds out. Especially when he finds out that I don't want to be just friends anymore.
    Sincerely,
    Shaz

    genre: contemporary
    tags: friends-to-lovers; coming out; homophobia; past abuse content
    content warnings: off-page episode of childhood sexual abuse
    word count: 47,684
    Back to Table of Contents

     
    Acknowledgements
    With thanks to my amazing beta readers, Sammy and jeayci who can probably recite this one by heart by now.
    Show Me Yours is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
     

     
    SHOW ME YOURS
    by Kaje Harper
    CHAPTER 1
    The doorbell rang as Trey was lifting a batch of cookies out of the oven. He jumped and caught at the cookie sheet with his unprotected free hand as it tipped. Ouch! Fuck! He set the tray on the stovetop, pushed the oven shut with his knee, and slammed on the cold water in the sink for his burned fingers. Damn, that hurt! He tossed the potholder on the counter and let the blessed coolness sluice over his reddened fingertips.
    The bell rang again, longer. Whoever was out there was getting impatient. Trey sighed, turned off the water, and headed for the front hallway. The tip of his thumb throbbed and he absently stuck it in his mouth as he pulled the door open. And then just about bit it off.
    Josh. On his front porch. Grinning at him with that wide, little-boy grin as if it hadn't been eight years since they'd last met. As if Trey hadn't done everything in his power to keep it that way.
    There was laughter in Josh's grey eyes. "Hey, Trey, still sucking your thumb?"
    Trey yanked his hand out of his mouth. For a moment he fought the impulse to slam the door shut– to just pretend he hadn't opened it and rewind to that last moment before the bell rang, when the worst thing that had happened today was a burned thumb. Not possible. He coughed and found his voice.
    "Josh! You?" Jesus, that was smooth. Josh's grin was fading, and Trey realized he was standing planted in his own doorway, staring at Josh like he was some kind of alien. "I mean, wow, come on in! So... what brings you to my neck of the woods?" Without warning me first. Trey stepped back, pulling the door wide, and Josh came inside, brushing past him, the grin restored.
    "You mean you don't think I came just to catch up on old times?"
    "Yeah, right, you spent good money on a plane ticket just for that." Suddenly Trey didn't care. It was Josh, here, in his house, after all these years. Trey grabbed Josh in a quick rough hug, and Josh pounded his back and finished up with a noogie, the years falling away.
    "It's not the first time I've been back in town, you know. You've just never been around. You travel too damned much, and never out my way