Echo (11 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

The day seemed to drag and being able to glance out his door at Cole's office didn't really help him a whole lot. Every time he thought he was starting to get into the proper "work" mindset, he would catch a glimpse of Cole's bowed head and his cock would instantly pop to the forefront of his attention.

He couldn't help thinking about all the things he wanted to do with Cole. Or
to
Cole.

Finally the day was over and he hurriedly packed up his briefcase and left his office for Cole's. "Are you ready to go?"

Cole looked up in surprise. His hair looked as though he'd been running his fingers through it and there was a streak of yellow highlighter next to his mouth. "
Are you ready to go?
Already?" He looked at his watch.

"Yeah, let's blow this popsicle stand before someone makes us stay," Anderson said.

Cole shrugged and started packing his own things away. But Anderson didn't think he was moving fast enough and came around the desk to start scooping things up.

He knew he was making a bit of a mess, but the outraged expression on Cole's face was worth it. He was just so cute.

"Enough! Enough!" Cole slapped his hands away and finished clearing things away himself. "You sure make a mess."

Anderson slung his arm around Cole's shoulder in a quick hug before letting go. "Are you ready to go now?"

Cole looked around the office, a frown pulling his brows together. "
Are you ready to go now?
I really think I am."

"Okay." Anderson felt as excited as a child. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Cole slung his backpack over his shoulder and followed Anderson out of the office.

Anderson waited impatiently for Cole to clock out, then took him down to the parking garage and his car. He'd given Cole a ride to work that morning, so Cole's duffel bag was already in the back and they were ready to just go.

"You drive like a maniac," Cole said as they left the parking garage and went zooming out into the city toward the nearest freeway exit.

Anderson flashed him a quick grin. "Don't worry. I have insurance."

Cole rolled his eyes. "
I have insurance
. That'll be such a gigantic relief when I'm in full body traction or dead."

"You're so negative." Anderson thought it was hilarious that Cole was so worried. He was actually a very good driver and hadn't gotten into an accident since he first got his license. "You've gotta live a little, that's all I'm saying."

* * *

He didn't know how it happened, but after they'd been driving for about twenty minutes he fell asleep, his head leaned up against the window. One minute he was listening to Anderson sing along with the radio, the next he was being shaken awake and the car was parked.

Cole sat up with a yawn, looking around. "This doesn't look like a house," he said.

Anderson laughed. "I thought we could pick up some snacks and something to drink before I introduce you to my father."

Cole felt all the blood drain out of his face. "
Something to drink before I introduce you to my father
. You never said anything about your father. What if he totally hates me or something?"

"He's not going to hate you," Anderson said. "He's actually a really nice guy... when he's not being a jerk." He laughed. "Seriously, there's no reason to be worried. The worst thing he's going to do is make you eat a ton of grilled steak and possibly some ribs. He makes a mean pulled pork sandwich."

Cole rolled his eyes while Anderson waxed eloquent about the various foods his father put together. He followed Anderson out of the car and toward the gas station mini-mart.

They attracted a few looks because of their suits, but it wasn't that big of a deal. They were just a couple of guys getting off work.

Cole couldn't help the way his shoulders hunched when he carried his soda and small bag of chips to the cashier. He
hated
talking to new people.

He handed his stuff to the woman, then reached into his pocket to pull out a ten dollar bill. "Here you go," he said, not waiting for her to speak.

She gave him a weird look, but quickly completed his purchase and handed him his change. "Here you go. Have a good day."

"
Have a good day
," he echoed, hurrying to stand next to the door to wait for Anderson who was browsing around the candy section.

He watched Anderson walking around and couldn't help his faint smile. Anderson was so handsome, and the way he was groping the gummi bears was undeniably cute. It was the kind of thing a kid would do.

Cole turned to the swivel rack next to him and glanced through the fold-out maps and spiral bound atlases. There wasn't anything very interesting, and there was no way he was spending $17 for an atlas he was only going to
maybe
use one time.

"You ready to go?"

He twitched in surprise. "
You ready to go?
You surprised me," Cole said, glancing up at Anderson. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

Anderson pushed open the door and gestured Cole through. "You got chips and I got candy. Do you want to trade with me when we get in the car?"

Cole shrugged agreement and walked back to Anderson's car. His hand was a little sweaty on the plastic of the potato chip bag. Whenever he had to deal with strangers, he always got the sense that the world was closing in on him and it took him awhile to gain back his equilibrium.

"Social anxiety sucks," he said, putting on his seat belt.

Anderson glanced at him while he turned the key in the ignition. "What?"

"
What?
I just said that social anxiety sucks." Cole sighed. "My heart always beats so fast when I have to deal with strangers. One day, I think I'm just going to drop dead from stress or something."

"I would never let that happen to you," Anderson said. "If I had to, I would do all your talking to strangers for you."

"
I would do all your talking to strangers for you
. Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm pretty sure I can handle things," Cole said. "I need to figure out how to deal with things myself or my therapist is going to think I took a step backward or something and I'm going to end up on her list or super loser patients."

Anderson snorted a laugh. "That's pretty funny right there."

Cole opened his bag of chips and held one out to Anderson, who flicked his eyes at the chip near his shoulder, then opened his mouth.

Cole popped the chip in Anderson's mouth, then made a squeaking noise in the back of his throat when Anderson licked his fingers clean.

"Hey, don't stick anything in my mouth if you don't expect it to get wet," Anderson said in a perfectly normal tone of voice. But there was a definite smirk on his lips.

"
Don't stick anything in my mouth if you don't expect it to get wet
," Cole echoed in an aggrieved tone of voice. "You're the kind of guy that my mom warned me about when I was a kid."

"I do have candy," Anderson said, jerking his head toward the bag he'd set down next to Cole's feet. "You could feed me some more chips if you wanted."

Cole rolled his eyes in mock-despair, but proceeded to feed him potato chips. He couldn't help shivering at the feel of Anderson's tongue licking the salt off his fingers.

He couldn't help thinking about what it would be like to have that tongue lick other parts of his body. It made his skin prickle with goosebumps and he once again had half an erection as his cock made its interest known.

* * *

Even though he was trying to come off as casual as possible, Anderson couldn't help feeling a bit nervous at the idea of introducing Cole to his dad.

It was probably way too soon in their relationship, but his father was a very important part of his life and if he was going to add Cole to his stable of important people, well... All he could do was hope that everything went well.

"Here we are," he said, pulling up to the heavy iron gate and rolling down his window. He quickly punched the access code into the keypad and waited until it slid open before driving through. "Welcome to the neighborhood."

He couldn't help glancing at Cole's awed expression out of the corner of his eye. He personally thought the houses were over the top, but he kind of wanted to see Cole's response.

"They're so big," Cole whispered after a moment. He practically had his face pressed up against the window as he stared out at the large mansions.

"Yeah, most of these guys gave up on the idea of penis enlargement, so turned instead to showing off the gargantuan sizes of their wallets as a means of attracting mates."

Cole gave him a surprised look, then burst out laughing. The sound made Anderson smile too.

Cruising through the neighborhood at the carefully marked speed of "Slow 15," he at least had the satisfaction of knowing that his dad had the taste and decency not to have gone crazy with the house he'd bought. So, hopefully, that meant whatever he'd gotten for Anderson wouldn't be a horror story of riches.

"Here's my dad's place," he said, pulling into the somewhat winding driveway.

"
Here's my dad's place
. Wow, it's big," Cole said, sounding nervous.

"Don't worry. He's like a really big pussycat." Anderson had to laugh at the look Cole gave him. "Okay, okay, not so much a 'pussycat' as a 'man-eating tiger,' but I promise he's not going to go out of his way to be mean to you. He's just not that kind of guy."

"
He's just not that kind of guy
. You realize that you've not comforted me at all, right? In point of fact, I think that I might actually be a bit terrified." Cole shook his head. "I don't know where you get your comforting skills from, but it must have been at a
terrible
place because they just don't do anything for me."

"You're ridiculous," Anderson said, driving through the sliding gate as soon as it opened for his car. "I promise that I won't let him eat you or anything."

Cole huffed and leaned forward to peer out the window. Glancing at him, Anderson saw the way his eyes went wide and his mouth fell open a little as he stared at the large mansion.

"Seriously, you don't have to be scared. I promise that everything will be all right." Anderson didn't really like the doubtful look that Cole shot him, but he couldn't really blame him.

He didn't know what he was going to do when Cole introduced him to his mother. He'd probably be sweating through his clothes. So he could understand where Cole was coming from.

"It's going to be all right," he assured one more time, parking in the curve of the turnaround just in front of the walkway that led up to the house. "He's not going to give you a hard time, I promise. You're not another business tycoon, so he's not going to feel the need to go all alpha male on you."

He opened his car door and climbed out, then waited on the walkway for Cole to catch up. He couldn't help watching him walk toward him and admiring the way he looked in a suit. It was
very
hot to him.