TLR Chapter 67

A few days after their lovemaking Duke approached Jake at the bar during his lunch hour. "Jake?"

"Hey Duke," Jake replied with a smile and a quick kiss to his lover's lips. "What's on your mind?"

Duke blushed and looked around to be sure no one else would overhear him. "I've been thinkin' since we...well you know."

Jake smiled at Duke's blush; it was sweet and endearing coming from such a large man.  "Tell me what you've been thinking about, hon." Jake encouraged.

Duke gulped and then said in a bit of a rush, "Well I love you and you love me...so let's move in together."

Jake was momentarily speechless but finally said, "Are you sure you're ready for this, Duke?"  It was something he'd been thinking of for a while but Duke had been having such a hard time dealing with his own sexual preferences he'd been worried about bringing it up.

Duke nodded. "Yes, I've been thinkin' about it ever since that night. It just makes sense. This way we can be together more and...well..." He blushed brighter this time, not wanting to say they could make love more often too.

"Well," Jake said thoughtfully, "It would be nice to be together more, I'd like that a lot." He knew that there was going to be a lot of planning involved, and they'd need help moving. He thought about his own little bungalow and knew that it would be too small to accommodate Duke's custom made furniture, and he knew that Mutt had customized Duke's doors so that he wouldn't have to duck to get through them. That meant he would have to move into Duke's place.

"Are you sure you're ready for me to move in?" he asked, looking at Duke for any signs of discomfort.

Duke smiled and nodded shyly. "Yes, I'm ready to make it official that we belong to each other like the others here at the resort."  A sudden thought hit Duke. "We don't have to be married first do we?"

"I don't think that's necessary, unless it's what you want. Let's just take things a day at a time. I'm sure no one will think twice about the arrangement. We have plenty of guys here at the resort who aren't married and live together. Take Warren and Spencer for instance. They've been a couple forever but haven't felt the need to get married. If, at some point, you'd like a wedding, we can deal with it then." Jake reassured.

Duke relaxed visibly at Jake's words. He wasn't quite ready for marriage yet.  "'Kay." He said to Jake. "When should we tell James?"

"If you're sure this is what you want, then I guess we can call and make an appointment to stop by sometime tomorrow."

Duke nodded. "Maybe we can make sure we see him before we need to report for our shifts?"

"That should be ok," Jake replied. "I'll call him first thing in the morning."

Duke smiled. "All right."

Jake leaned forward for another kiss and grinned. "I'm really looking forward to this, hon. Thank you."

Duke smiled and blushed again. "So am I, Jake."

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>  

The next morning, Jake woke earlier than usual and made the call to James at his office.

James answered the phone. "Harrington here."

"Good morning, James." Jake said brightly. "Duke and I were wondering if you had some time to see us today before our shifts."

James asked, "What is it Jake? Is it something we can handle over the phone or do we need to meet?"

"I think we can do this over the phone if it's easier." Jake replied. "Duke and I were talking last night and we thought we'd like to move in together."

James said with a smile in his voice, "Well it's about time the two of you figured this out. I have no objection to the two of you moving in together. Will you be moving into Duke's place or is he going to try to squeeze into yours?"

"I'll be moving into his place, and I'll need help moving a few of my things there. It will also leave a bungalow free."

James said, "All right and once we get you moved then we'll get the cleaning crew to take care of the bungalow. We may use it for guests or perhaps a new resident. I'll let you know."

"Sounds good, James. Thank you. I won't be taking a lot with me; the rest will have to go in storage, alright?"

James said, "It shouldn't be a problem.  Get hold of Jeff and Mutt and they should be able to help with the moving and the storage."

"Ok, I'll do that. Thanks James." Jake said with a grin. "Goodbye for now, and thank you.”

James said, "You're welcome Jake." and smiled as he hung up the phone.

<<<<>>>>  

As soon as they hung up, Jake called Jeff's office and explained the situation.

"That's wonderful! Congratulations." Jeff said.  "When do you plan to make the move?"

"As soon as possible, I suppose. We hadn't really set a date; we were both a little excited at the thought." Jake admitted.

"Well, let us know when you two are ready and I'll send Mutt and the others over to help you move your things."

"Thanks Jeff, I really appreciate that. I'll let you know as soon as I talk to Duke. I have the feeling that he'll feel the same way I do and the sooner the better. I'll need to find some boxes."

"We can take care of all of that for you. Talk to Duke and give us a date, alright?" Jeff replied, smiling.

"Will do." Jake replied. "Let me call him now and I'll get right back to you, alright?"

"Sounds good, I'll be looking forward to your call."

"Thanks, Jeff. Talk to you soon."

<<<<>>>>  

Duke was anxiously awaiting Jake to call to tell him when they would be meeting with James.

Jake was surprised at how quickly Duke answered the phone. He'd thought for sure that he was going to wake him at this hour.  "Duke, how long have you been awake? I thought it would be early for you."

Duke said hesitantly, "Well...ummm...I was so excited I couldn't sleep so I've been waitin' for your call."

Jake's brow creased in consternation. "You haven't slept all night?" He demanded. "Duke..." he said threateningly.

"You're lucky I'm not there right now."

Duke said, "Umm...no, but I couldn't help it Jake."

Duke sounded so lost that Jake couldn't stay angry. "Listen to me, hon, James is all for us moving in together, and Jeff said he'd have Mutt and the others help me move in, we just need to give them a date. I didn't want to give a date without talking to you first."

Duke said excitedly, "Tomorrow?"

Jake laughed. "I'm sure they'll need more notice than that. Plus I have to pack up my stuff. It could take a few days at the very least, since I have to decide what to take and what has to go into storage.  Let me give Mutt a call. I have to get boxes anyway and I'm sure he can help me there. I'll find out when he and his crew can slot us in."

Duke sighed. "Can't you stay with me anyway and then when they move those things we'll already be together?" He asked a pleading note in his voice.

"I still need to pack my things, hon. I can hardly wear your clothes now, can I?" he joked. "Let me get a hold of Mutt and make arrangements. I'll pack up my clothes and be there tonight. Deal?"

Duke smiled and it came across in his voice on the phone. "Yeah...deal!"

"I'll talk to you in a few minutes, once Mutt and I get the details seen to. In the meantime, I want you to go to bed and sleep. You'll be no good to anyone if you're too tired to work.  Now get some rest. That's an order."

Duke said, "I'll try, but I'd sleep better with you next to me." He wheedled.

"Plenty of time for that." Jake grinned, thinking about the huge bed that took up most of Duke's bedroom. "I'll call Mutt and handle things there, then I'll head over to your place, but I want to find you in bed when I get there. Understood?"

Duke couldn't resist asking, "What will you do if I'm not?"

"I'll paddle your backside til it glows and then I'll put you to bed myself. And if you don't get what I consider to be a decent amount of sleep you won't be going in to work tonight. Got it?  Now you just do as you’re told, and I'll see you soon."

A thrill went through Duke at Jake's forcefulness and he said, "Yes Jake...I got it."

"Bed. I'll call Mutt and head over afterward. Sleep well. And I do mean sleep, little boy." Jake said fondly. "Now no more stalling. Get yourself into your bed."

Duke said, "I'll try, but visions of you keep goin' through my head." He grinned. "Bye for now...I'll at least crawl into bed."

"Bye for now. I'll see you soon. Love you."

"Love you too my man." Duke said fondly.  Duke crawled into the large bed. He thought about Jake sharing it and his body began to stir instead of sleeping.

Jake hung up the phone and called Mutt, once again going over the plans and asking for help.

"Boxes we've got plenty of," Mutt assured him, "And we've got plenty of storage space. So just box up what you're taking and we'll get it all over to Duke's place. Congratulations, man." he said happily. "I'm really glad for the both of you."

"Thanks Mutt," Jake said with a grin. "Alright, I'm packing some of my clothes to bring over there this morning. When would be a good time to take care of the other stuff?"

"We can get started in a couple of days. Give you time to pack and sort, and with me and the other guys working together we'll get you and Duke all set in no time."

"Great, Mutt. Thanks a lot." Jake said happily.

"Welcome." Mutt replied, grinning at the sound of happiness in Jake's voice. "Talk to you soon." he said just before hanging up. It was a slow morning so he immediately went about box hunting and dropped off a stack of them, along with some packing tape, at Jake's soon to be empty bungalow.

<<<<>>>>  

Duke tossed and turned restlessly, thoughts of him and Jake going through his head.

Jake got off the phone with Mutt and quickly packed a bag of clothes before heading out to Duke's place. He was as eager to begin their life together as Duke was and he knew that Duke wouldn't be sleeping until he got there. He let himself in with his key and put his bag down before heading into Duke's room. He found his lover there, tossing and turning. It took a little doing to get onto the huge bed and he made a mental note to ask Mutt to build him some steps to make it easier. He placed the large wooden backed hairbrush he'd brought with him onto the night table before he snuggled close to Duke and wrapped an arm around the restless man.

Duke's grey eyes opened briefly as he felt a warm body engulf his and he snuggled close. "Hi Jake." He said and then drifted off to sleep.

It was around ten in the morning when Duke's grey eyes opened. He looked down and found Jake snuggled up to him and smiled. "Good mornin' Jake." He said quietly, running a finger along Jake's cheek.

Jake yawned and stretched, then smiled into the dove grey eyes he loved so much. "Mornin'." he replied, leaning in for a kiss.

 Duke kissed Jake and smiled. "I love wakin' up next to you."

"Ditto." Jake said with a gentle smile for his 'little boy'. "I'm looking forward to more mornings like this one."

Duke grinned "Me too." He stretched out next to Jake his length taking up the whole bed that had been custom made for him.

Jake smiled and ran his hand down the full length of his boy. He chuckled to himself thinking of Duke as his little boy when there was really nothing physically little about the man. It was his inner self that was still little and it was what endeared Jake to him.

Duke squirmed a little, but smiled back at Jake. "I like the way you look at me Jake." He said softly.

"You're beautiful to look at. I see something new every time." Jake said, kissing Duke's lips softly.

Duke blushed. "You embarrass me sayin' things like that."

Jake chuckled. "Get used to it, hon. I have a bad habit of saying what's on my mind, and right now you're all there is on it."

Duke grinned. "It's going to be great livin' together...I hope you don't feel like you're livin' in a giant's lair." He said, his brow wrinkling with concern.

"I kind of like this set up. I like that I can curl up in one of your chairs and get comfortable, and the fact that most of them are big enough for the two of us to sit in at the same time." Jake laughed. "Although I am going to need Mutt to make me some steps so that I can get onto the bed without jumping and wriggling onto it." he laughed.

Duke asked, "Do you want me to call him right now?" He reached across Jake to get his phone off the nightstand.

"No, hon. I'll make you breakfast while you shower and shave. I'll call Mutt while you do that."

Duke pouted, but rolled back onto his back.

Jake shook his head. "Duke, you know I love you and I want to look out for you right?"

Duke nodded. "Yes, of course."

Jake said a slight edge of sternness in his voice, "I want you to get your proper rest so you can perform your job well. Before we get up I'd like to address this with you."

Duke looked at Jake puzzled. "What?"

Jake said, "I want you from now on to go to bed when you're supposed to in order to get your proper sleep. I know you want to be with me at the bar, but we don't get off until three and you need to be up by at least one in the afternoon to shower, dress, eat and then do whatever chores need to be taken care of like your laundry before you head over for your shift."

Duke looked at Jake puzzled. "I can do all that and don't need that much sleep."

Jake said, "That's going to change little boy." He put an arm around Duke and rolled him over onto his stomach. Jake reached over and took the hairbrush and landed a hard swat so Duke would feel it through the covers.

Duke yelped and jumped at the unexpected sting. "Ouch!"

Jake said, "Let that be a warning to you little boy, sleep when you're supposed to understand?”

Duke nodded. "Yes Jake...I understand."

Jake smiled and kissed Duke on the forehead while he rubbed his bottom. "Now let's get things going we have things to do before we need to report for work."

********

Wednesday evening after watching his boy wrestle with whatever was bothering him Jeff asked, "What's on your mind, hon?"

"What makes you think anything is on my mind?" Mutt countered.

"You have that 'I'm thinking about something but don't want to talk about it.' look on your face.

"What look is that?"

"Stop avoiding my questions, little boy. What's on your mind?" Jeff smiled, used to Mutt's evasive tactics.

"I'm just thinking about Ricky and Troy. They'll be leaving soon. I want to get his email address so that we can keep in touch, that's all."

"Why didn't you want to tell me about that?"

"I was just thinking how will I ask, and if he's even going to want to keep in touch."

"I don't see why not." Jeff replied. "You two got to be pretty good friends while he was here, after you beat the living daylights out of each other, that is." Jeff laughed.

"So, should I just call him?"

"Why not?"

"Ok, here goes nothin'." Mutt said with a smile.

The phone rang several times before Ricky picked up.

"Hi, Ricky, it's Mutt. Can Troy come to the phone?"

Ricky said, "Sure." He turned to Troy, "Hon, it's for you. It's Mutt."

Troy came to the phone. "Mutt?"

"Heya Tiger. Yeah, it's me. I just... well, you and Ricky are leaving soon and I just wanted to get your email address so we can keep in touch."

Troy grinned at being called Tiger. "Sure, not a problem. I'd like to keep in touch."

"Great!" Mutt smiled. He gave Troy his, then took out a piece of paper and wrote down Troy's.

Ricky said, "Hon, when you're finished speaking to Mutt tell him I'd like to speak to Jeff."

Troy said, "Ricky wants to talk to Jeff when we're done."

"Well, I'd love to talk to you awhile longer, if it's alright with Ricky. Why don't we let them talk and then maybe he can give you the phone back when they're done."

Troy said, "All right." He turned to Ricky. "Do you want to talk to Jeff and then me and Mutt can talk a while longer?"

Ricky smiled. "Sure. Tell Mutt to put Jeff on."

Troy said, "Mutt Ricky said to put Jeff on."

"Jjjjjeeeeeffffffff!" Mutt called, "Ricky wants to talk to you!"

Jeff came back into the living room and gave Mutt a light swat. "I was right in the next room, you didn't have to yell."

"Ow," Mutt said with a pout, even though the swat hadn't hurt. "Well, Ricky is on the phone for you." He continued, passing the hand set to his husband.

"Hiya Ricky. Jeff here. What's up?" He asked, pulling Mutt into a one armed hug and tickling him until he smiled.

Troy, hearing Mutt calling for Jeff had handed Ricky the phone. Ricky hearing Jeff come on the line said, "Troy and I are leaving on Sunday morning to go back home. I'd like to invite the two of you for a real Mexican dinner if the two of you are up to it. I promise nothing too hot and spicy."

"Thank you," Jeff replied, somewhat surprised. "We'd love that. Mutt has a cast iron stomach but mine can't take anything too spicy." He laughed. "When would you like us to come over, and can we bring anything?"

Ricky said, "Can you come over Saturday night? You don't need to bring anything. I'll have Sangria and special dessert as well as the main menu."

"That sounds great." Jeff replied.

"What sounds great?" Mutt whispered.

"We've been invited to dinner at Troy and Ricky's on Saturday." Jeff whispered back, putting his hand over the mouth piece.  "Now shush, it's rude to eavesdrop."

Ricky said, "Then it's settled. We'll see you and Mutt about six if that's not too early?

"Six is fine. We'll be there. Thanks again for the invite."

Troy took the handset from Ricky. "Mutt?"

"Still Jeff, hold on, kiddo, he's right here."

"Thank you Sir."

"Troy?" Came Mutt's voice.

Troy said, "Yeah, did you hear that? You guys are comin' Saturday for dinner."

"Yep, excellent! I didn't want you to just go like some of the others do without having the chance to say goodbye."

Troy and Mutt talked for over an hour before Ricky and Jeff both told them to hang up.

"You'll most likely see him tomorrow, and then we'll see them again Saturday night. You can talk all you want then." Jeff said.

"But Jeff!" Mutt began to protest.

"It's nearly 11 and you have work in the morning, tell Troy goodnight. Now." Jeff directed.

"But..."

Jeff took the handset. "Troy? Mutt has to get up early for work tomorrow. He'll talk to you later, OK?"

Troy said, "'Kay Mr. Markham." He looked at Ricky, then hung up the phone.

Ricky hugged him. "It's late hon, let's go to bed as well."

Troy pouted. "We could have talked a little bit longer. We only have a couple of days left."

Ricky said, "If you come to bed we can have a little time together before we go to sleep." He winked at his brat.

Troy grinned and went along much more happily with Ricky.