We both shot up in bed at the sound of my landline ringing like a fire bell. I threw the clock on the dresser a blurry glance then cussed like a sailor.
“I wasn’t aware that you had such a wide vulgarity range,” Gideon mumbled into a pillow as I kicked madly at the covers.
“It’s ten after eleven,” I snapped, leaping from the tangled knots of sheet, blankets, and long hairy legs. “We’re late for church!”
“God will understand.” He pulled the covers I’d thrown to his back over his head.
“My parents won’t, and neither will the voters.” I ran out of my bedroom, naked as the day I’d been born, and skidded into the kitchen where the phone rang on and on. Damn it was loud. Why had I ever had the phone company install that extra loud phone ringer? I grabbed the phone from the wall base with a breathless hello.
“Evan, services have started,” my mother whispered. Rolling my eyes, I pattered over to the coffee maker to get a pot brewing.
“I know, I’m not going to make it. We slept in after the dance-a-thon,” I said, my brain slow and sluggish as I scooped grinds into the basket. “I’ll meet you at Missy May’s for breakfast.”
A long, drawn-out silence followed. I was about to ask if she’d lost her signal when she finally spoke up.
“We slept in?”
Crap. Crap. And double crap. On toast even. “Yes, Mother, we as in Gideon and me. Is that going to be an issue? If so, we can skip brunch and simply see you later.”
“If this is what you want, then I’m fine with it. We’ll see you at the diner.” The line went dead. I hung up with a dramatic sigh.
“So, are we condemned to eternal hellfire for missing church for a day?” I glanced over my shoulder at Gideon standing in the doorway, his hair a tousled mass, his beard thick, and his cock soft and tempting.
“My mother said that if you’re what I want then she’s fine with it.” I flicked on the coffee pot then turned to face him. My feet were chilly, and my ass was growing cold.
“Oh, she was so lying,” he replied then chuckled. I nodded. “Am I what you want, Evan?”
His gaze grabbed mine. There was a raw sort of worry in his green eyes. “I think so, yes.”
The tension around his mouth disappeared. “Good. Good. I’m incredibly happy to hear that. Come with me. We can shower together to save time and water like good little eco-warriors.”
He held out his hand. “I really am a tree hugger.”
“Of course you are.”
I took his hand, leaving the gurgling pot behind me. The shared shower did not save time or water. We were bad eco-warriors. Still, the mutual orgasms we’d shared had been worth the sour looks from my mother when we arrived at Missy May’s fashionably late. I’d run Gideon home to change, just to try to curtail the wagging tongues. Which proved to be all for naught when we walked into the diner, and he took my hand possessively. The place was packed. Every eye latched onto us, even Myron’s at the counter.
When we sat down, Dad launched into some rousing tale about a fishing trip out in Oregon he’d taken when he was a fearless young buck of college age. Gideon, it seemed, liked to do a bit of salmon fishing, and so while they talked flies and reels, Mom and I sipped coffee and tried not to look as uncomfortable as we obviously felt.
The meal was delicious, as always, but I found it hard to enjoy as I should have with everyone whispering about the gay mayor with his gay boyfriend. Had we had gay sex last night? Followed by gay coffee, eggs, and hash browns this morning?
“You look like you got your dangly bits caught in a rat trap,” Gideon said, giving my mother his best and most adorable smile.
“Just a little fatigued. Yesterday was exhausting and I have to head over to the high school to attend the senior choir’s holiday concert, followed by a stint in the middle school library wrapping presents. I’m tired is all.” I grinned at my, whatever Gideon was to me, then held up my mug for a fast refill as a new server hustled around topping off cups. “Let me get a little more of this into me, and I’ll be raring to go!”
“Perhaps if you slept at night you’d not be so exhausted,” Mom