Pretend

Page 60

“Hey, I…” His eyes landed on the piano, in the corner of the stage. Gavin stared at it so damn long Mason suddenly felt nervous. It was a foreign feeling, someone having that effect on him, but he wanted this to be something good for Gavin.
“I know you miss playing. I’m not sure if this is the best place for it. We can move it to your house if you want, but I just figured you do enough helping me around this place that—actually, fuck that. That’s not the whole reason. I wanted to do something nice for you, so I did.”
Still, Gavin didn’t answer him.
It wasn’t anything special. It was a used piano, but from the research Mason did, a nice one.
“You’re falling in love with me, aren’t you? Shit. I knew the piano was too much.”
It was those words that finally prompted Gavin to look at him. He smiled and shook his head as he pushed the door closed behind him. “You’re crazy.”
“Eh. You just caught me on a weird day.”
Gavin locked the door, and then made his way over to Mason. His T-shirt stretched across his chest as he moved. He stopped in front of Mason and shook his head again. “I don’t know what to say.”
Mason could see that in him, the confusion mixed with happiness, hiding behind the shock.
The almost shy innocence that he sometimes showed came out of hiding. Mason wasn’t sure what it was about that, but it always made his dick hard and his heart race. “I guess you better think of something.”
“Thank you.”
Mason raised a brow. Gavin could do better than that.
“I’m sorry?”
Mason crossed his arms.
“I don’t deserve you, oh great one. You’re sexy, and sweet, and not only the best fuck I’ve ever had, but you give me things I probably don’t deserve.”
“Better.” Mason grinned before nodding toward the piano. “Come play for me, music man.” He could practically feel the anxious energy rolling off his lover.
Mason went to turn, but Gavin grabbed ahold of his arm because he could. “Really, thank you, though. I don’t…no one has ever done something like this for me before.”
Mason shrugged, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Then I’m glad I did it.”
***
Gavin’s fingers felt tight. He opened and closed his hands numerous times to try to make them relax. He had absolutely no reason to feel nervous. The piano always felt like an extension of himself. Any instrument did. He’d played for church, school, and done shows. This was his element, and yet playing for Mason, on the piano Mason bought for him, felt like stepping into a whole other universe.
“What do you want me to play?” Gavin managed to push the words from his mouth before sitting on the bench.
“Surprise me.”
And so he did. His fingers suddenly remembered that this was what they did, that they felt at home here, as they moved across the keys. The sound was slightly off from being moved, but it didn’t matter. Somehow it still sounded perfect to him.
The music flowed from him, slow and then with increasing speed. The notes filled the air, welcomed him, as did the feeling of Mason behind him.
Somehow through all of this, Mason had become like music to Gavin. A constant. Something that made him feel good, that made him feel alive.
When the song ended, he went straight into another one, not wanting the feeling to stop. This was his element. This was what he was born to do. Gavin was good at this, at creating a sound for people to fall in love with. For him to fall in love with.
And he missed it like hell.
At the end of the second song, Gavin forced himself to stop. He only made it mid-turn before Mason’s mouth possessed his, hungry and demanding. It took what it wanted, and Gavin would gladly give it.
Their tongues battled, and then the weight of Mason on his lap, straddling him on the piano bench, sent a whole new set of torture through him. The kind that made him want to bend Mason over the piano and fuck him senseless.
Or maybe to make love with him.
“Jesus Christ, that was sexy as hell. We’re getting a piano for your house and my house, too. I want one every place you can fuck me.”
Gavin didn’t laugh, couldn’t, because he felt so damn much right now—gratitude, friendship, and maybe even something else. “Thank you.”
“You said that already.” Mason fisted a hand in Gavin’s hair. “But you’re welcome.”
He brushed his thumb over Mason’s jaw, felt the rough hair that started to grow there. Wanted to feel it on his body, between his legs and his crack. “You’re making me fall in love with you.” Maybe he shouldn’t admit that, or hell, maybe he shouldn’t even feel it, but he did. Gavin tired of not jumping out of the plane, and he wouldn’t hold that back with Mason.