Dandelion - a MM second chance romance by Merlina Garance

Author:Merlina Garance [Garance, Merlina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Bill’s heart was still racing at the memory of that touch, even as he loaded his suitcase in the trunk. He could feel Bobby’s gaze on the back of his neck, and none of that was helping him cool down, despite the night setting around them.

He turned around after closing the trunk and leaned against it. If he looked cool and aloof – though that had never happened to him in his life – that was only an added bonus, but he was doing it to steady himself at the sight of Bobby in a soft t-shirt, standing on his doorstep.

“Promise you’ll call, then?”

Bill nodded. There was nothing he wanted to do more than hear the other man’s voice as soon as he got home.

“Alright,” Bobby whispered into the darkness. The streetlights were illuminating only half of his face, turning it hard to make out his expression. “Off you go, then. Please be safe.”

Bill squeezed his hands on the body of the car and inhaled slowly.

“I promise,” and he hoped Bobby would know he was speaking for both his requests.

He turned away before his resolve dwindled, worried that he might do something stupid – run to Bobby, slam him against his door and kiss him. Out in the open. Something he’d have to ponder again in the privacy of his own ‘home’, if it could be called one.

He knew he couldn’t subject Bobby to the same prevarication and stealth he had last time.

But there was the big issue that he still didn’t feel brave about being… himself.

About letting others know.

Not when there would be disapproving stares from the neighbors, not when some of them had guns, not when… not when the law still said it was a crime.

He got lost to that thought for the rest of the drive, barely seeing the outskirts of Memphis scrolling past him until he was parked in front of his building. From inside the car, he could see the lights on in Mrs Heigel’s apartment, and his stomach filled with dread at the idea of having to knock on her door, pick up the dog, and go back to his old life.

He wasn’t sure he could bear it.

This half-living, going to work, making diagnoses, prescriptions, barely ever a surgery these days, getting snide remarks from his secretary about his state of clothing or celibacy, and then…

Back home, rinse, repeat. The very thought made him gag.

Then he remembered the phone upstairs, the white cord he could twirl around his fingers to settle his nerves as he listened to the dial tone. And some long miles away, Bobby, waiting to hear that he’d gotten home safe.

He rushed upstairs, arbitrarily deciding that Mrs Heigel wouldn’t mind keeping the dog for one more night. He dialed with trembling fingers, having abandoned his suitcase in the entrance, his shoes still on.

“Hello?”

Bobby didn’t sound tired. It was nearing on eleven in the evening, and they’d just had the most exhausting day Bill could remember since his last divorce was pronounced.

But the other man’s voice wasn’t that of someone who’d changed into pajamas and was ready for bed.

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