Page 17 of Smoky Mountain Dreams
Jesse seemed to hear the wound in Christopher’s voice and hecocked his head a little, his eyes soft and empathetic as he reached out totouch Christopher’s hand.
An electric spark jolted through Christopher at the contact andhe pulled his hand away, both embarrassed and hungry for more. “Anyway, when Igot back, I needed some income and a place to live. My Gran suggested I go outfor a position here at SMD. I got the job and she offered for me to stay in herhouse. Then she fell, and the rest is history.”
“Are you happy here?” Jesse asked.
“Dang, man. That’s a tough question.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Don’t be sorry.” Christopher wished he hadn’tpulled his hand away. He cleared his throat. “I don’t know. I like my work. Ilove to sing and perform. I guess I’m happy, sure. I could be working a cashregister somewhere like Darla, so it could be worse. How about you? Jewelrymakes you happy?”
Jesse smiled and cast his eyes down. “Not as much as it usedto. But speaking of jewelry—I brought along the design for your grandmother’slocket. I figured if I managed to finagle some time with you tonight I might beable to get the go ahead to move forward with it.
Christopher felt his heart sink. It wasn’t a date. It wasbusiness. “Sure, of course. Let’s see it.”
Jesse reached into the inside breast pocket of his coat andpulled out a folded piece of paper. He smoothed it onto the table between themand turned it so Christopher could see.
The drawing was in ink, detailed and meticulous. An ovallocket, noted as being two and one-third inches tall and two inches wide, waspictured with three stones in the middle set together to form an approximationof a heart. Around the stones and along the sides, oak leaves and acorns werebuilt up, as though holding the stones in place.
“My friend Matt Crowe lives on the Qualla Boundary—you know,the Cherokee land? I’ve already emailed him about deer teeth to use here,”Jesse said, pointing at the three white ovals on the drawing. “Obviously teethvary naturally, and they aren’t as easy to shape and polish without damagingthem, so I’ll have to see if the teeth he supplies will actually work to form aheart, but we can figure out how to use whatever he gives me.”
“The heart’s a little kitsch, anyway,” Christopher said. Hewas surprised by how pleased he was with the design, though he didn’t know why.Jesse had a reputation for a reason, and listening to his clients was probablykey to making them happy.
“I can remove it.”
“No. Gran likes kitsch.”
Jesse chuckled. “Most grandmothers do. But if you feel likeit’s too much…”
“No. Really, I like it. I guess we’ll see if the teeth work.If they don’t, I’m sure I’ll like the design just as well without the heart.”
Jesse seemed to be measuring his sincerity, and then nodded.“As you can see, there will be four frames for the pictures inside the locket,and I was thinking a small acorn at the pinnacle of each frame would be a nicetouch.”
Jesse explained the drawing a bit more, his fine fingerspointing out the various design elements and features. Christopher ate as helistened, nodding and asking questions that seemed pertinent but were reallydesigned to keep Jesse talking. Even if this was just a business meeting,Christopher didn’t want it to be over yet.
Eventually there was no getting around it. There was nothingmore to be said about the locket, and it was just a matter of giving Jesse thego ahead, which Christopher did enthusiastically. As Jesse folded the paperagain, Christopher took a final bite of his biscuit and sighed. He supposed nowwould be the moment when Jesse took his leave.
Instead, Jesse smiled. “Do you have to head home now? Or…”his eyes dropped to Christopher’s mouth and lingered there. “Here, you’vegot—let me just—” Jesse reached out and wiped crumbs from the corner ofChristopher’s lower lip.
Christopher licked the place Jesse had just touched andwatched Jesse’s eyes follow his tongue. He was gay. He had to be. Other guyswould’ve said, “Dude, you’ve got food on your face,” if they said anything atall. They wouldn’t have touched his mouth. They wouldn’t be looking at him likethat.
“Want to get dessert?” Christopher asked, his stomachfluttering when Jesse grinned and nodded.
Chapter Five
JESSEOPENED HIS MOUTH, BUTChristopher put a finger to his lips. “Shh, don’ttalk. Wait a minute.”
Jesse wasn’t sure where they were going, or why they neededto be quiet, but after Christopher made a show of double checking that the sidepath by the grist mill was still empty, he grabbed Jesse’s hand and pulled himthrough the rhododendron bushes. Jesse ducked low so as not to get hit in theface by branches as Christopher pushed on ahead.
On the other side, Jesse found himself up close and personalwith the side of the mill. The gray wood looked almost fuzzy in the moonlight,and the sound of the water slap-slapping as the wheel turned struck him assomehow sensual.
“What are we—”
Christopher hushed him again and whispered, “Trust me.”
Jesse flashed back to a time in Prague when he’d followed aguy he’d met in a club through the city’s winding streets, unable tocommunicate with him since he spoke no Czech and the man spoke almost noEnglish. In the end, he’d found himself on his knees in an alley beside achurch, sucking the guy’s cock like his life depended on it, while the manwhispered a foreign word that sounded like, “Trust, trust…” over and over.
Jesse recalled the thrill of swallowing the man’s cum, ofshooting his own over his hand as he’d jerked himself off, and the man’s gentlekiss when he’d deposited Jesse outside of the night club again before walkingaway. Marcy had been so pissed he’d gone off alone with a stranger. Brent, herboyfriend at the time, hadn’t been impressed either.
