Chapter 17

“I would have loved to see you in the pink sweater.”

“Mm, you would. It was short and showed my belly,” Luca said, and Gus was happy to hear the bitterness gone.

“Anything showing off your skin is my favorite,” Gus breathed into Luca’s ear.

“I know. And…” Luca paused. “I wore strawberry gloss.”

“Awww, Luca,” Gus moaned and thrust his hips, pushing his hardening cock against his husband’s hot skin.

Luca burst out laughing. “You’re insatiable.”

“When it comes to you? Yes.” Gus nodded and felt no shame.

Luca pushed up on his elbow, grabbed Gus’s shoulder, and rolled him onto his back. He climbed on top and straddled Gus’s hips, resting his ass on Gus’s dick. And then he continued talking as if everything was normal, wiggling his hips from time to time, driving Gus out of his mind.

“She called me the week after graduation, and we kept talking on the phone for months.” Wiggle. “We’d just started meeting face to face when I met you.” Wiggle. “She was fine as long as I wore ‘normal clothes,’” he said, making quotation marks with his fingers and emphasizing them with a roll of his hips.

“Are you seriously grinding your ass against my cock while you’re talking about your mother?” Gus asked, hoping Luca wouldn’t call him out on getting hard while listening to talk about his mother-in-law.

Luca stilled, and he made a little choking sound before throwing himself sideways on the bed. He slapped his hand over his face. “Sorry,” he groaned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gus chuckled and slid his leg over Luca’s hip. He scooted closer, pushed his hardness against his husband, and started a slow, teasing grind. “I mean, I almost creamed my pants in front of my mom earlier. Let’s see if I can make you cum while you talk about yours.”

Laughter exploded out of Luca, and he reached around and pinched Gus in the ass. Gus yelped and rubbed the spot, and Luca laughed even harder.

“Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?” he managed to ask between fits of laughter.

“Yes.” Gus nodded and stuck out his lower lip. He’d never pouted in his life before meeting Luca, but his husband had rubbed off on him.

So Luca did exactly that. He bent over and pressed a loud, smacking kiss on Gus’s ass. Then they both broke down laughing.

It took several minutes for them to calm down. When they finally stopped, Luca jumped out of bed and started fiddling with something on the nightstand. The sound of a cork popping surprised Gus. He hadn’t realized Luca had brought more champagne. He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Luca handed him a long-stemmed glass and joined him on the bed.

They clinked their glasses and took a sip of the cold, bubbly liquid.

“I don’t know if there’s much more to tell,” Luca said. “I think her Catholic guilt can’t take both having a child out of wedlock and a gay son. A gay son who likes girly things, not to forget.”

“But she’s never said anything about it,” Gus said, thinking back to the times they’d met her.

She’d never been cordial, but Gus had the feeling she tried hard to have a relationship with her son. She hadn’t been disrespectful toward Luca. Gus would never have tolerated anything like that, and she wouldn’t have been welcome in their home if she’d been rude or unpleasant.

“At least not with you around. Sometimes, when we were alone…”

Luca didn’t need to finish the sentence, Gus could fill in the rest. No wonder Luca had been hesitant to see her by himself.

“I’m sorry, Luca.” Gus leaned his head against his husband’s shoulder. “I can’t imagine how you must have felt.”

“No, you Swedes are so damned open-minded. I’m surprised Mona didn’t throw a party when you came out.” Luca giggled.

And if it weren’t for the fact that it was she who had outed him, that might have happened. One day over breakfast, freshman year of high school, she’d asked him if he was gay in the same tone as if she’d asked him what he wanted to eat. He’d choked on his porridge, and she’d calmly walked over to him and patted him hard on the back until he stopped sputtering. When he’d been able to breathe again, he’d confirmed her suspicions.

She’d said “Good, good,”and that was that.

Of course, he hadn’t always had it easy. But the difference between his and Luca’s experiences was that whenever someone had tried to bully him or discriminate against him, his mom had sharpened her claws and fought like a lioness for him and his rights. He’d always known she had his back, and it had given him the strength to stand up for himself. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have to fight one’s own mother, too.