Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane
STANDING outside the last tree lot in the city, Evan Thompson shivered, shoved his gloved hands into his coat pockets, and flexed his toes inside his boots. It was bitterly cold, and windy too, and for a minute he debated just going home and admitting defeat. The place closed in half an hour anyway, as it was four o’clock on Christmas Eve, and no one liked a last minute shopper. But his sister would kill him if she showed up with her kids on Boxing Day and found that he didn’t have a tree to display their presents under, so he steeled himself against the frostbite and went in. Hunching his shoulders and nodding at the frostbitten guy hidden behind a magazine and a space heater at the cash register, Evan moved quickly down the nearly empty row, hoping for a tree that didn’t look like a Charlie Brown reject. He couldn’t take a tree that was too large, either; he didn’t know if he’d be able to carry and right it by himself, never mind get it strapped to the top of his car properly. “Not much left,” said a voice from behind him. Evan jumped about a mile in the air. When he had recovered enough to speak without the fear that his heart would escape through his mouth, he said, “Yeah, I noticed that.” 2
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane The guy shrugged apologetically. He’d left his magazine at the cash register, but Evan still couldn’t tell what he looked like. He was wearing battered jeans and boots, and an even more beat up coat, but his head, neck, face and hands were covered by a new hat, scarf, and gloves. Only pale green eyes poked out from the cocoon. They seemed somehow familiar. “Sorry. These are all sort of....” “Bare?” Evan suggested drily, not that it mattered. This was the last place open. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. “I was going to say pathetic,” the man said with a grin Evan could hear through the scarf muffling his words. “But that works.” “My sister’s going to kill me,” Evan sighed to himself, thinking of how disappointed the kids would be when Uncle Ev didn’t come through with the beautifully decorated house he’d always had in the past. He didn’t know if he could manage the energy this year. He’d always had help before. “She’s bringing the kids, I guess?” Evan wondered again who this man was. He seemed to know Evan, by his responses, but Evan couldn’t place him. “Yeah. They’re sweet, but I know they’ll be disappointed I didn’t come through with the tree. Last year we had a tenfooter.” Of course, last year he’d had someone to help carry it around, set it up, and hold it steady while he tightened the base.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “Well,” the mysterious salesman said, “what about that one?” He pointed back down the row of rejected trees to one that hung from a hook on the fence pole. It was only about six and a half feet tall, but it was full and green with few bare spots. Evan knew he couldn’t possibly have missed it. Who was this guy, the Christmas tree fairy? “That’s a nice tree,” he said casually, noting the remnants of a red ‘sold’ ribbon still clinging to one of the branches, “but isn’t it already taken?” The man shrugged. “Customer changed his mind.” If he wanted Evan to have the tree that badly, Evan wasn’t going to turn him down. He was desperate. “I’ll take it,” he said. “How much do I owe you?” Tree Fairy waved him off. “It’s already paid for. I’ll bag it up for you.” Either Evan had accumulated some seriously good karma over the past years, or this guy really did know him and was doing him a huge favor – both by giving up the tree he’d obviously had set aside for himself and then handing it over free of charge. Evan was leaning toward the latter, but he couldn’t exactly ask the guy to take his scarf off just so he could see who to thank. If the guy wanted him to know who he was, he’d have said. Wouldn’t he?
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “It’s all set for you,” he told him, holding out the tree, now wrapped up in a nylon string bag to keep the branches from catching on anything. Evan took it and somehow managed to set it on his shoulder for the short walk to the car. “Thanks. I really appreciate this. Are you sure I don’t owe you anything?” “The guy who reserved it never picked it up, but we already charged his Visa and we don’t give refunds.” Tree Fairy shrugged. “Besides, who’s going to need a tree after tomorrow? These babies are probably compost.” Evan would have felt bad about that, except that a real tree was still better for the environment than a plastic one. “All right, if you say so. Thanks again.” He set off towards his car, hoping the rope he’d brought would be enough to secure the tree to the roof for the short drive home. It was pretty cold, and the idea of driving with the trunk open and the rear seat folded down didn’t hold much appeal. Evan set the tree down against the side of his car and contemplated the logistics of getting it up onto the roof. He was in reasonably good shape, but a car accident a little less than a year ago had robbed him of some range of motion in his arms, among other things. He was doing physio to try to remedy the problem, but it was slow going. Well, if he didn’t want to freeze on the way home, there was only one thing for it. Bending his knees, Evan grasped the tree by the nylon bag and swung it up so that the trunk end was pointed toward the front of his car and slowly began 5
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane to lever it up onto the roof. He was just about at the point where the tree would balance out when the muscles in his back spasmed and he froze, arms over his head, gritting his teeth against the stabbing pain. Gasping, he took a couple of deep breaths through his nose and tightened his grip, trying to keep the tree from rolling off. “Mr. T!” Footsteps pounded on the icy pavement behind him as the kid from the tree lot skidded up behind him. “Let me give you a hand with that.” Evan grunted in relief as some of the weight was shifted off of his shoulders. The Tree Fairy – a former student, by the way he’d just addressed Evan – shoved the tree hard enough to balance it out on the roof of the car, his body brushing against Evan’s. One of the branches escaped from the nylon mesh and caught on his scarf, causing it to unwind a little. Evan untangled it before the fabric could get a pull. “Thanks.” He looked up at his rescuer and started at the familiar face. “Eric? Eric Morrison?” Though the cold had already pinkened his cheeks, Eric’s blush was visible. “Hi, Mr. T.” “It’s good to see you,” he said, surprised. Eric had been far from a star pupil, but he’d worked hard, and Evan had encouraged him as much as he could. “How have you been?” “I can’t complain, I guess,” he shrugged, boot scuffing in the snow. 6
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Evan opened the back door of the car and pulled out a coil of rope, wondering what that meant, and started to tie down the tree. “I’ve been working overtime the past couple of weeks. I don’t have time during the semester, so....” Evan let himself smile, glad Eric was still in school. Many of the kids in his tax bracket never even finished high school, never mind went on to post-secondary education. Or at least, they hadn’t bothered before the government had implemented mandatory schooling until eighteen. It was only natural that now that Evan had seen his face, Eric wanted to justify his job by talking about his future. It was kind of cute. “What are you taking?” he asked, clumsy gloved fingers tying knots in the rope. Eric moved to the other side of the car to help. “Social work.” Evan could hear the pride in his voice. “I’m in my third year. Next semester I’ll have co-op.” Evan could certainly sympathize with someone who wanted to work with kids, especially considering Eric’s own upbringing. Schools were veritable rumor mills, and unfortunately, sometimes students’ family life was gossipworthy. “How are you getting home, anyway?” he asked to pass the time, curious. It was already dark out, and the streets were mostly empty. His was the only car in the lot, and the buses stopped running early on holidays. “You’re not going to walk, are you?”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane The way Eric’s eyes slid from his face told him all he needed to know. Evan shivered. “In this weather? You’ll freeze to death, if you don’t get hit by someone who doesn’t see you first. Come on, I’ll give you a ride.” “You don’t have to do that,” Eric protested. “I don’t mind,” Evan told him, unlocking the car doors. “Actually, it’ll be nice to have some company, even if it’s only for a few minutes. My sister and her family aren’t coming down until Boxing Day, so I’m all by myself until then.” They piled into the car and Evan started the engine, wanting to get the heat on as quickly as possible. “I’m alone this year too,” Eric confided, keeping his eyes glued to the air vents. “My sister was supposed to stick around until tomorrow, but with the bad weather, she and her boyfriend decided to pack up the kids early to see his parents in New York.” Evan put the car in gear, carefully watching for any sign that he was going to lose the tree. “What about your parents?” “Actually, they’re on a cruise in Europe.” Evan blinked, surprised. “Seriously?” It wasn’t exactly what he would consider cruising season. “Yeah. My stepdad’s been saving up for years, but he didn’t want mom to worry or make a big deal out of it, so he told her he won the cruise in a radio contest.” Eric laughed 8
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane like he couldn’t quite believe the audacity. “Neither one of them’s even been out of the country before. I can’t exactly begrudge them the trip.” “He sounds like a nice guy.” “Yeah, he is.” From what Evan had heard, that was about as far from Eric’s birth father as possible. But then, that was just gossip. “Should I turn right or left?” Eric paused in the act of pulling off his gloves to put his hands in front of the heater. “Oh, jeez, I’m supposed to be giving you directions,” he said embarrassedly. “I’m sorry, I’m sure you don’t want to hear my life story –” “If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked,” Evan pointed out gently. He didn’t remember Eric being this jumpy. “Right. I knew that. I, uh, sorry again.” Evan waited patiently for Eric to stop fidgeting and look at him again. This was definitely atypical behavior. Finally, Eric looked up. “Um....” “Unless you want to come home with me, you’re going to have to tell me where you live.” The moment he said the words, Evan wanted to slap a hand over his own mouth. He was just trying to be nice, but now he was starting to sound like a sexual predator or something. God, he wouldn’t be surprised if Eric just bolted out of the car right now and he 9
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane never heard from him again. When he tore his eyes away from the road again, Eric was staring right at him with wide green eyes. “Left,” he said after a long minute. Not sure if he was disappointed or relieved Eric hadn’t taken him up on his accidental offer, Evan turned left, following the street for a few blocks before he hit a red light. “It’s my first Christmas alone,” Evan abruptly admitted into the silence of the car. He really should get his radio fixed if he was going to be giving people he barely knew lifts. It felt good to get the burden off of his chest. It had been weighing on him since his sister Elizabeth had told him that she and her husband Danny were spending Christmas with his parents before driving up to see him. Last year, it wouldn’t have been so bad. He and Mark would have curled up by the television and watched It’s A Wonderful Life and drank eggnog. If they were feeling really adventurous, they might even have gone to a midnight Mass. And when Christmas Eve finally flipped over into Christmas Day, they would have taken each other’s hands and gone to bed and spent hours making love, keeping each other warm in the night. Thankfully, Eric didn’t seem to be holding his earlier outburst against him, nor did he sense the maudlin direction Evan’s thoughts had taken. “Me too. We didn’t always have a big Christmas. For a couple of years it was just me, my sister, and my mom. Then my sister moved out, and she and 10
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane mom didn’t talk for a while, so it was just us until Bill came along. But I’ve never spent it alone.” They were quiet until the light turned green, and then Eric said, “Were you serious? About spending Christmas together, I mean.” Evan swallowed. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have even considered it, but Eric hadn’t been his student for years – three or four of them, Evan couldn’t remember exactly – and being alone during the holidays sucked. “Sure, why not?” he said. “I’ve got plenty of food and a guest room. And I could use a hand setting up the tree. It’ll be just us bachelors. What do you say?” "I’d say that's the best offer I've had all week," Eric said sheepishly, fiddling with his gloves again. "Pull over here, I just want to run in and get changed. I won't be long." Evan let him out at the curb and watched him disappear into the old house. His whole body was thrumming with a kind of nervous energy. He had no idea what had possessed him to invite a near-stranger to spend Christmas with him. He only hoped he wouldn't regret it. Something told him Eric's fine eyes and features could spell the kind of trouble he wasn’t sure he was ready for. Before he had time to change his mind, Eric was back, sliding into the passenger seat with an ease Evan envied. He had changed into nicer clothes and swapped out the beat-up work boots for a pair of Skechers. “My jeans smelled like tree,” Eric confessed with half a grin when he noticed Evan 11
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane noticing. “You don’t even want to know about the boots. I had to put them out on the back porch.” Evan snickered and put the car back in gear. “Ah, the good old days of winter labor.” “You had a crappy outdoor winter job?” Eric said incredulously. “Pull the other one, Mr. T.” Evan suppressed a smile. “Since I’m not your teacher anymore, you can stop making me feel so old and call me Evan. And yeah, actually, I did, but it wasn’t that crappy. When I was in university I lived in a wine-growing region. Every winter, the first night it got cold enough to freeze the grapes on the vine, I’d get a call at some ungodly hour, and we’d all pack ourselves up and head out to the vineyard to pick grapes.” He paused, looking over briefly on his way to checking his blind spot to change lanes. “You ever tried to pick grapes with gloves on?” “I thought you said it wasn’t that bad!” “It wasn’t,” Evan told him. A lot of his friends had worked at the vineyard too, and he’d kept at it even after he didn’t really need the money anymore. That was how he’d met Mark. “It was kind of fun, and besides, we got to take home a bottle each on top of our pay. Do you know how expensive that stuff is?” “Tastes like Kool-Aid, right?” Evan snorted, turning right onto his street. “Blasphemer. Yeah, it’s a dessert wine. I think I might still 12
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane have some of last year’s in the cellar.” Not that he really had any food that went well with it, except for maybe some old cheddar. “That sounds great.” A loud grumble sounded next to him. “Uh, but maybe we could eat first? I skipped lunch.” Evan grinned as he pulled into the driveway. Maybe Eric would come out of his shell after all. “Yeah, I could eat. Come on, let’s go see what’s in the fridge.”
ERIC closed the car door carefully, taking a step back to check out his surroundings. Mr. Thompson – Evan, he corrected himself; reminding him that Eric had once been his student was emphatically not in the plan – lived in a nice, quiet middle-class neighborhood full of houses that all looked more or less the same. Someone on the block must have had a snowblower, because all of the driveways were plowed the same way too, with four-foot high drifts on either side. Evan’s house was a red brick one-and-a-half story place with a small front porch. His blue box was still by the road, but aside from that it was well-kept, hedges trimmed, sidewalk shoveled, porch salted, and all the rest. There were a couple of giant icicles hanging from the gutters, though, so he figured maybe Evan had been a little busy getting back to school this fall and had forgotten to clean out the leaves. “Nice place,” he commented, turning his attention to the knots holding down the tree. “Man, who taught you how to tie these? They’re impossible.” The knots he himself had 13
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane tied were strong, but came undone with a simple tug in the right direction. “Knot tying was not a life skill I mastered,” Evan said drily. “I can get the scissors if they’re really bad.” Eric wiggled his fingers into the last knot and pried the rope apart. “No, it’s okay, I’ve got it.” The coil slackened, and he wound it up neatly, curling the tail around to keep it wrapped and tucking the bundle into his jacket pocket. The last twenty minutes felt like a scene from a movie of someone else’s life. He wasn’t sure yet that he was awake. “Are we taking this in through the front door or what?” “It’s closest to the living room,” Evan said. “Leave your shoes on. I’ll get the mess later.” They managed to get the tree into the house with a minimal of damage to it or themselves and a maximum of time spent staring at Evan’s ass on Eric’s part. He didn’t think teachers should be allowed to have asses like that. It was beyond distracting, so much so that Eric tripped on the edge of the area rug in the living room and almost ended up eating part of the tree. Blushing furiously, even though Evan wasn’t looking at him, Eric covered, “Um, where’s the tree stand?” Evan groaned. “It’s still in the attic, with all the rest of the Christmas decorations. This is what I get for being a Grinch.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “I’ll get them,” Eric offered. He’d noticed how Evan had seized up earlier and wondered what had happened. Obviously he was having some mobility problems. The pain he’d been in earlier had shown clearly on his face. “Just show me where to go.” They laid the tree carefully on the hardwood beneath the window for the time being. Then Evan showed Eric where the attic was and went into the back shed for something to trim the trunk with. Upstairs alone, Eric gave in to his curiosity and peeked into a couple of the rooms. He’d been wondering what spending a night at Mr. Thompson’s would be like since he was barely seventeen, though his real-life experiences had taught him that his teenage fantasies were, well, fanciful, not to mention naive. He tried a few doors at random – a bathroom, a linen closet – before he hit pay dirt and discovered the bedroom. Eric took in the lush pile carpet and the large wooden sleigh bed in a single glance and swallowed, already knee-deep in X-rated territory, imagining Evan splayed naked and erect across it. Breathing deeply, he summoned his willpower and closed the door, adjusted himself, and pulled the cord to lower the door to the attic. Immediately, he started sneezing; it seemed like no one had been up there since last Christmas, which probably they hadn’t. Wrinkling his nose to guard against future dust bunny sneak attacks, he climbed up the ladder.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Evan’s attic was dusty but organized, and Eric had to crouch to avoid hitting his head. Neatly labeled boxes lined a wall of low, sturdy shelves. Everything was in its place except for the Christmas boxes, which had been shoved across the floor seemingly at random, the motion having carved a trail in the dust that covered the floor. Another sneeze crept up on Eric as he reached for the first of the Christmas boxes, and he hit his head on a low beam, cursing. It hadn’t really hurt, but he was going to come downstairs looking like a ghost, he’d knocked so much dust down onto himself. Stifling a cough, he reached for the first of the Christmas boxes and carefully backed down the ladder. Two trips later, he was in the process of giving up on how to get the door back up on the ceiling when Evan popped his head up at the top of the narrow stairs. “I was starting to think you’d got lost up there.” He grinned. “Nice hair.” Eric’s stomach did a funny flop. Not for the first time in his life, he had the overpowering urge to lean over and kiss his former teacher, but instead of reaching over, he reached up and dusted his hair off. He sneezed. “I was going for the festive look.” Together, they lugged the boxes downstairs. Evan had already trimmed the bottom of the tree trunk, but he’d left the netting on. “Easier to get in the stand that way,” he explained with a shrug. “I think it’s in the one you’re carrying.” 16
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane They dug it out, and then Eric spent a few torturous moments holding the tree trunk and counting backward from one hundred by retired hockey jerseys while Evan, kneeling on the floor at his feet, twisted the supports of the tree stand around the trunk. “That should do it,” Evan announced at Patrick Roy (33). Eric carefully released the trunk and backed away. It didn’t fall over. “Oh, thank God,” Evan said as his stomach growled loud enough to echo off the walls. “Let’s get something to eat.” Eric wholeheartedly agreed, following him into the kitchen. They spent a good twenty minutes eating leftover pasta and whatever else happened to be on hand, making room in the fridge for the turkey Evan had just set out to thaw in the sink. An hour and a half of decorating followed, during which time they trussed up the house until it was kidChristmas friendly: they hung stockings, wrapped a long garland down the staircase banister, and lit and trimmed the tree, leaving off the star topper, which apparently was Evan’s youngest nephew’s job by tradition. By the time they hung the wreath on the front door, it was almost eight o’clock and, on top of being dusty, Eric now had tree sap all over his shirt and jeans. He found that he didn’t mind too much, though it
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane would have been nice if he hadn’t thought it would be too presumptuous to bring a change of clothes. “You have tinsel in your hair,” he said conversationally, glancing over at Evan. The skin on his cheeks was sparkling with something that must have rubbed off of a tree ornament. “And glitter on your face.” “What are you saying?” Evan drawled lazily from where he was sprawled on the opposite couch, “That I look like a fairy?” The good humor in his voice stripped away all the negative connotations. “I was going to be a little more PC about it,” Eric shot back, managing to find the lever to recline the armchair he’d appropriated. He tugged it, flopping back bonelessly when the foot rest popped out. “Besides, people who live in glass houses, and all that.” Evan chuckled, closing his eyes most of the way. He looked just as tired as Eric felt, but happy, much happier than he’d seemed earlier today at the tree lot. “I’m glad I invited you.” Eric’s whole body warmed in response to his words. “I’m glad I came.” He stared up at the ceiling, fighting the lethargy that threatened to overtake him. “I smell like tree.” Evan sniffed. “Are you sure that’s not actually the tree?” Looking down at a sap smear that had somehow managed to stick his wrist to the sleeve of his shirt, Eric 18
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane sighed. “Yep. Unless I’m turning into one. It wouldn’t surprise me, after the last few weeks.” “I hope not. You wouldn’t be very good company, and I don’t have any more ornaments.” Eric did his best to keep from imagining Evan decorating him with anything, but his cock jerked in encouragement anyway. “I’ll try to restrain myself. If I start putting down roots, you might want to move me away from your hardwood floors. I might get jealous or something.” “I think I’ll leave you right where you are.” Evan stretched, fists curled and toes clenched, and Eric’s eyes followed the lines of his body to his taut belly, which was peeking out from beneath the hem of his sweatshirt. Eric swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. “You want to grab a shower? I didn’t think to ask earlier. I might even have some clothes that will fit you. We can throw yours in the wash,” Evan said. Actually, a shower sounded fantastic to Eric. The deep-down chill of sitting outside for hours on end had mostly faded, but he felt washed out, like a bad imitation of himself. He was skeptical on the clothing front – Evan was shorter than he was, not to mention broader at the shoulders and thicker around the waist – but the prospect of a shower was just too tempting, even if Evan wasn’t planning on joining him. “That sounds fantastic.” “I’ll get you a towel.” 19
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Unlike the attic, the bathroom was not a freakishly neat zone. There was a haphazard pile of magazines stacked in a basket beside the toilet, and a handful of everyday items like a toothbrush and a razor scattered across the counter top. Eric closed the door gently, tossed his towel on the counter, and peeled off his shirt. Feeling lethargic, Eric stretched as he stripped, wincing at the knotted muscles. Not bothering to fold his clothes, he reached into the shower and turned on the spray, testing the water temperature to make sure it was nice and hot. With a long sigh, Eric stepped into the shower. Evan’s water pressure was excellent, and under the steady stream the whole day seemed so surreal. The snow that had fallen the week previously had been stained an ugly gray with exhaust fumes, turning the whole city into some kind of industrialist nightmare landscape. He’d thought he had been prepared to spend the holiday alone, yet he’d jumped on the chance to spend the day with a virtual stranger. All right, a very hot virtual stranger. A hot virtual stranger he’d been lusting after for years. A hot virtual stranger who had probably been naked in this very shower mere hours ago. Eric’s dick, which had been half-hard for so long it was going to develop a complex about being ignored, twitched to fullness. Eric licked his lips, idly wondering if Evan liked to jerk off in the shower. Did he like to take his time, bringing 20
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane himself to the brink again and again, only to back off, until he couldn’t stand it anymore? Or did he prefer quick, firm strokes, designed to bring him maximum pleasure in minimal time? Eric breathed heavily, concentrating on the feeling of the water cascading down his body. He couldn’t help himself; his imagination had run away with him. The tingle of shame he felt at masturbating in someone else’s bathroom just made it that much better. Grabbing Evan’s body wash from the shelf, he poured a healthy amount onto his palm, working it slowly over the head of his cock. What would Evan do if he caught him? Would he stand and watch as Eric jerked off until his come splattered against the wall? Would he give directions, demanding Eric slow down, fondle his balls, play with his ass? Or maybe – Eric’s hand stuttered mid-stroke – maybe he would join in, replacing Eric’s hand with his own, or – God, even better – with his mouth. Eric leaned his forehead against the cool tile as he came, panting, all over the wall of the shower, the mental image of Evan’s mouth around his dick burned into his brain. Damn. He was really going to have to get over his shy personality and make a move, or he’d definitely regret it. Maybe after Christmas, though, he decided, reluctantly straightening up. If it didn’t go well, he didn’t want to end up spending the holiday alone.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Quickly, Eric rinsed away the evidence of his indiscretion and then washed away what remained of the day’s grime. When he finally felt clean again, Eric shut the water off and grabbed his towel off of the counter. “Eric? I found you some clothes.” Flushing, Eric wrapped the towel around his waist. Would Evan be able to tell what he had been up to? Surely he hadn’t been in the shower that long. “Just a second.” Stealing a quick look at himself in the foggy mirror, he took a deep breath. Now was as good a time to start as any. Before he could lose the nerve, he opened the door.
EYES above the waist! Evan reminded himself sharply when Eric opened the door. He hadn’t expected Eric to answer – he’d been planning on leaving the clothes outside – but then Eric had responded, and he hadn’t been able to drag himself away. Now he was being presented with a feast’s worth of pale, toned, dripping wet Eric, a fact which made him suddenly and uncomfortably aware of how attracted he was to the younger man. Eric’s cheeks were flushed, from embarrassment or the shower, Evan didn’t know, and that made his pale green eyes sparkle. The fluffy blue towel wrapped around his waist was doing nothing to deter Evan’s imagination. “Uh,” Evan said intelligently, “they might be a bit big.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Five months ago, even a few weeks ago, the idea of dressing someone else in Mark’s old clothes would have made his skin crawl. Right now, he just wanted Eric dressed before the tenuous hold Evan had on his self-control snapped like a twig. “Thanks.” Eric held out his arms and Evan deposited the sweatpants and T-shirt in them, skin sending up sparks where their hands accidentally touched. The towel slipped at least an inch lower. “No problem,” Evan rasped, not bothering to try not to stare. Then he fled. If he had stuck around, he would have seen the shy smile Eric sent after him and heard the quietly murmured words. “Well, I guess that answers that question.”
BY the time Eric made it back downstairs, Evan had managed to find A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV and popped a large bowl full of festive red-and-green popcorn to go with it. “I love this movie,” Eric commented, slouched artfully in Duke University sweatpants that clung to his ass in a way that had to be illegal somewhere. His brown hair stuck up adorably in damp clumps. Evan tried not to stare and did marginally better than he had when Eric was mostly naked. “It’s one of my favorites,” he said. “Rudolph just can’t compete.” 23
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Eric eyed the spot next to him on the couch. It was more of a two-seater, actually, now that Evan was thinking about it, not enough room for two unless they wanted to get close…. “Budge up, I want some popcorn before Linus takes the stage.” He was wiggling in close before Evan could decide whether to protest. On the screen, Schroeder was jamming away on the piano. “I always wanted to play.” Eric seemed a lot more open, relaxed and confident now that Evan had been caught checking him out. Didn’t that just figure. “My mom made me take lessons when I was a kid, but I never had the patience for it.” Mark had played, but Evan hadn’t been able to look at the baby grand after he was gone. He had intended to donate it to charity, but when it came down to it, he couldn’t get rid of it, either, so he’d had it stored. “You? Lacked patience?” Eric nudged him and stole another handful of festive popcorn. One of the kernels escaped his hand and lodged in a wrinkle of the too-large Tshirt. “You put up with a room full of teenagers on a daily basis.” Evan contemplated biting the popcorn off his shirt, but Eric spotted it before he could and popped it in his mouth. “People change,” he said with a shrug. Like Eric, who had been a loudmouthed slacker when Evan had first met him, a hardworking student the last time he’d seen him, and was now apparently attempting to seduce him on his own couch on Christmas Eve.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Eric’s thigh brushed warmly against his own. This was such a bad idea. A terrible idea. A terrible idea that was looking better and better every second. They both jumped about fifteen feet in the air when the doorbell rang. Eric blinked at him, the spell broken. “Are you expecting someone?” he asked, sounding amused. “It’s kind of a tradition,” Evan explained, wishing he’d remembered and put the kettle on to boil earlier. Now it was going to look like he’d been ... busy. “Which I sort of forgot about.” He and Mark had had carolers every year, friends of Mark’s from church, but he hadn’t thought they would come around now that he was gone. “Are you gonna answer that?” Evan rolled his eyes and got up to answer the door. “Do me a favor and go plug the kettle in, would you?” Off Eric’s confused expression, he added, “It’s part of the tradition.” “Okay, but I draw the line at basting the turkey.” Evan grinned. “Don’t worry, you’re not getting anywhere near that turkey ’til it’s cooked. Oh, except maybe to scoop out the gizzard. What’s your stance on turkey innards?” The look on Eric’s face told him everything he needed to know. “Let’s stick with kettles for now, okay?”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Still chuckling, Evan gravitated toward the front door. By the time he got there, a couple of the less inhibited carolers were peering in his front window. “It’s not polite to stare, you know,” he said conversationally to the four people huddling on his doorstep. “Excuse me for being curious,” the little old lady in the faux fur hood huffed. “I just wanted to know what was taking you so long to open the door.” “I’m getting complacent in my old age,” Evan said drily. He knew the minute Eric appeared over his shoulder, because all of a sudden he was facing three expressions of shock and one little old lady’s smirk. “If we’re telling stories about how old you are again, I think I should go first.” Evan fought against his body’s natural inclination to flush when Eric poked his head over his shoulder. “Who’s this?” “Yeah,” Marilyn agreed, the wind ruffling her hood. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” “Yeah,” piped in her husband Joe – at least Evan thought it was Joe; a ski mask covered most of his face. “Where are your manners?” God, were they all going to gang up on him? Because if so, they could forget about refreshments. Evan sighed. “Marilyn, Joe, Chuck, Pam, this is my –” don’t say former student, don’t say former student “– friend Eric. Eric, this is
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Marilyn, Joe, Chuck, and Pam. They go to the church down the street.” “Pleased to meetcha,” said Pam, blatantly giving him the once-over. Eyes twinkling, Chuck put in, “Isn’t he a bit young?” “Yes, you’re all extremely funny,” Evan sighed. “Are you going to sing or what?” “Sing?” Eric asked. “Yeah, you know,” Marilyn said, waving a small booklet. “It’s Christmas. We’re carolers. It’s what we do. Fa la la.” “People actually do that?” The four carolers stared at Eric blankly for a moment, during which Evan squirmed. Then they turned their gazes on him, and that was worse. “What?” he said. Marilyn raised a salon-groomed eyebrow. “All right, fine,” Evan said, “but you’re not getting your hot chocolate.” He grabbed their coats off the hook on the back of the door and tossed Eric his. “Come on, put your shoes on. Let’s get this over with.” “Uh.” Eric looked down at himself. Evan belatedly remembered that he was still wearing Mark’s old sweats. “Think I have time to change first?”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Oh, boy. Marilyn and the rest were definitely going to get the wrong impression if they thought Eric was keeping clothes at his house. Marilyn smirked as Eric disappeared up the stairs. For a long time he thought she wasn’t going to say anything, she was just going to stand there and watch him squirm, and then she opened her mouth. Evan sighed. “Don’t you start.” He shrugged into his coat, grimacing when his arm got caught up in the scarf he’d shoved down into the sleeve. By the time he’d untangled himself, Eric was back, shoving his oversized feet into his Skechers. “So seriously, this is some kind of tradition?” “Normally, I just make them sing, feed them cocoa, and send them on their way,” Evan told him, digging in his coat pocket for his gloves. “But since you’ve never even seen carolers before, I’m risking my life in the cold.” Eric shot him a wry look. “Jeez, Mr. T, the education just never stops with you, does it?” Busted. Evan caught the expression on his friends’ faces and realized he probably hadn’t been fooling anyone. Marilyn wasn’t even bothering not to laugh out loud. “No more old jokes or you’ll be singing the soprano part. Take your gloves too; it’s cold outside.” “Yes, mother.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “Smartass.” He herded Eric out the door. “Come on, holiday cheer waits for no man.”
WHEN they finally made it back to the house, it was midnight and Eric was cold all the way down to his marrow. After their last serenade a few hours earlier, he, Evan, and the rest had stopped at Marilyn and Joe’s for some eggnog and hot buttered rum, a treat Joe had imported with him from his native Britain. Eric had been feeling warm and tingly for most of the night – a fact he stubbornly attributed to the drinks and not the presence of his hot and extremely interesting former social sciences teacher – but the glow had faded halfway through the walk back to Evan’s place and the chill had set in. Caroling had been interesting. Eric had never been able to carry a tune in a bucket, and he hadn’t known a few of the carols. Evan had explained that they were of a more religious lien than most of the ones that got radio play, but he’d enjoyed the experience. It had been nice to spend the evening in company, and Evan’s friends were nice, even if they did tease him for being young and tone deaf. Eric loved Christmas, and peering into the lives of the families they’d sang for – men and women and children gathered together in their doorways, arms around each other, faces bright – reminded him why, even if it did make him miss his own family a little.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane At least he had Evan this year, even if it was only temporary. They’d kept each other warm on the way home mostly by way of good-natured insults and the occasional playful shove into a snowbank, so of course they were both soaked to the bone. “Heat,” Eric said happily as the door closed behind them. He pulled off his hat and winced as static electricity crackled. “I have a whole new appreciation for it.” Evan wriggled out of his coat and hung it on the back of the door. His jeans were wet and clinging to his legs enticingly. “We should probably get dry before one of us gets pneumonia.” “Yeah, that’s so not on my Christmas list,” Eric agreed. He wasn’t too tired to watch Evan’s ass ahead of him on the stairs, but he was too tired to do anything about it. Not that he would have anyway. “Mine, either,” Evan said around a yawn at the top of the stairs. “Okay, as pathetic as this sounds, I’m wiped. I’m going to bed.” Realizing he’d just basically followed Evan upstairs to bed, Eric backpedaled, descending a step. “Oh, you know, that’s all right. I’ve sort of been asleep with my eyes open for about an hour.” Evan was either too tired to notice Eric’s embarrassment or a very good actor. “Yeah, I noticed,” he said. “Guest room’s that door,” he pointed. “The sheets aren’t 30
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane so fresh. Sorry about that. I was going to wash them tomorrow.” Eric had been toying with the idea of calling a cab, but immediate bedtime was way more appealing. Plus, it would mean he got to spend Christmas morning with Evan. “That’s all right. I’m not going to be awake long enough to notice.” “Well, don’t let me keep you awake,” Evan said around a yawn, hand closing around the door handle. “Sweet dreams.” Yeah, Eric thought, murmuring, “Good night.” That’s what I’m afraid of.
ONCE he’d opened his eyes and resigned himself to the fact that it was morning, it took a few minutes to figure out where he was. Eric blinked up at the white plaster ceiling, perplexed – at home they had tile – before turning on his side, wincing a little as his body remembered the long trek home through the snow the night before. Right. He was in Evan’s house, in Evan’s spare bedroom, and the light filtering in through the window meant that it was Christmas Day. Also, if his nose was right, which it normally was about these things, someone downstairs was cooking bacon. Eric swung his legs over the side of the bed and stretched. The house was warm, even though he’d just 31
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane crawled out of a nest of blankets, but he winced a bit as his bare feet came into contact with the hardwood floor. Debating, he found the pair of sweatpants Evan had bequeathed unto him the previous day and pulled them on, along with the oversized T-shirt. It was too early in the day to worry about dressing properly. He got as far as reaching for the door before he noticed the bright red stocking hanging from the handle. More bemused than anything, Eric unhooked it and brought it back to the bed, shaking the contents out on the covers. There wasn’t much there – obviously, it wasn’t like Evan had had time to shop for this – but what was there made him smile. There was one of those little oranges that seemed to find their way into every stocking on the planet, and a little chocolate Santa holding a sack of toys. A few of those gold-wrapped chocolates spilled out around a package of Tic-Tacs and a travel-sized tube of Crest toothpaste. One last shake of the stocking yielded a new toothbrush that must have been stuck in the toe. Eric looked at it for a long moment, and then picked it and the toothpaste up and headed for the bathroom. Ten minutes later, he walked into the kitchen, stopping just past the doorway. Evan was standing at the stove, wearing an old pair of flannel pants and a shirt from Eric’s old high school that read ‘STAFF’ across the back in peeling letters. It was tight across the shoulders and worn thin enough that Eric could practically see through it. 32
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “Hey,” he said, turning around with a smile as Eric took another step forward. “You’re awake.” Yeah, he was, for the first time in what felt like ages. For once in his life, Eric was going to do something for himself. He walked up to the stove and turned off the burner. “You don’t like bacon?” Evan asked. He sounded amused. Eric took the spatula from his hand and put it on the counter. “I like you,” he said firmly, and had just enough time to watch Evan’s eyes widen in surprise before he closed his own and kissed him, curling his hands around Evan’s broad shoulders. For one heart-stopping moment Eric thought that maybe he’d read this all wrong, that he’d just made a huge mistake, and then Evan took two handfuls of the T-shirt he was wearing and hauled him in closer, his mouth opening wetly under Eric’s. Eric traced his lips with his tongue, moaning when Evan responded in kind, sending electrical impulses zinging down his spine. “Think breakfast can wait?” Evan asked when Eric finally had to break away, leaning his forehead against the shorter man’s. “Definitely,” he said, and he let Evan manhandle him back up the stairs.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “You look like a kid on Christmas morning,” Evan said wryly as Eric shoved him backward onto the bed. Eric climbed up after him slowly, straddling Evan’s legs. He pinned him with a pointed gaze. “Not a kid anymore.” Arching his body beneath Eric’s, Evan smirked, grabbing Eric around the thighs and pulling him down closer. “I noticed,” he said. “Well ... good.” Eric gave into the greedy hands climbing up his back and leaned down, sinking into another sloppy kiss. Evan slid his hands up under Eric’s T-shirt, managing to get it halfway off before it became tangled up around his shoulders. He was just about to sit up to fix it when Evan pushed him over onto his back. “I mean,” he said, grinding down sharply until Eric felt the evidence of his arousal slide up against his own erection, “it’s kind of hard to miss.” “Kind of hard, period.” Eric ducked his head and struggled the rest of the way out of his shirt. Evan rewarded him by sinking his teeth into his nipple. Eric bucked his hips upward and reached for the hem of Evan’s shirt at the same time. “I have an idea,” Evan said brightly. “Let’s get naked.” “You say the sweetest things.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Evan moved off of him to dispose of his pants, and Eric was torn between watching and removing his own clothing. He settled for sliding a hand down the front of his pants as he watched, loosely stroking his cock as Evan’s bobbed against his stomach, long and hard and already leaking copiously. “As hot as that is, I am still waiting for the naked part.” Evan nudged Eric’s knee with his, curling his fingers under the waistband of Eric’s borrowed pants. They were cool against the warm skin of his hips. “May I?” Eric lifted up obligingly, and Evan slowly tugged the offending article down until Eric could kick it off. Evan dropped down onto the mattress beside him, and Eric rolled so they were facing, characteristically self-conscious. “That’s better,” Evan said quietly, tracing icy fingers up Eric’s arm to his shoulder. Eric didn’t really have anything to say to that, so he kissed him instead, opening his mouth so that their tongues could duel wetly, curling his fingers gently into the curve of Evan’s ass. Making an appreciative noise into his mouth, Evan slipped one of his legs between Eric’s longer ones, slowly rubbing their erections together, hot, smooth slippery silk offset with coarse hair. It was good, so good, but Eric knew he could make it better, reaching down to take both of their cocks in a loose grip, sliding his hand back and forth, toying with the moisture gathering at the tip of Evan’s prick. Evan broke 35
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane their kiss, panting hard and thrusting deeper into Eric’s grip, the slippery head of his cock painting a wet trail across Eric’s belly. Eric’s self-consciousness evaporated. Watching Evan come apart for him like this was not only extremely sexy, it was also a nice stroke to his ego. He released his grip, fondling lower to cradle Evan’s balls, to brush a finger back to his crease. Sharp pain blossomed in Eric’s collarbone as Evan bit into it, fading quickly into a throbbing want in his belly. He repeated the motion, and this time Evan’s breath hitched as Eric purposely tracked a finger across his hole. This was not at all how Eric had pictured sex with Evan might go, but he sure as hell wasn’t complaining. Since his mouth wasn’t otherwise engaged at the moment, Eric murmured, “Lube?” Evan blinked at him, blue eyes glazed with lust. “Behind you in the drawer. Hurry up.” As if to counter his demand, he threaded his fingers into Eric’s hair and pulled him tight for a kiss. Eric grabbed blindly behind him, unwilling to disengage his lips from Evan’s even for a second. He pulled the drawer open just as Evan wrapped a hand around his dick and almost dumped the contents out all over the floor. Luckily, the drawer was mostly empty, and he quickly found what he was looking for. Thrusting forward into 36
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Evan’s grip, he fumbled with the lid until he could pour the cool liquid directly over their erections. Evan gasped as Eric gripped them both, the hot velvety stimulation of Evan’s cock sliding against his own almost too much. Eric took advantage, thrusting his tongue into the open mouth. “One to take the edge off?” Evan suggested, biting at the corner of Eric’s mouth. That was an idea Eric could get on board with. He could feel his orgasm building, the tension coiling low in his belly. Evan’s dick was leaking generous amounts of precome onto his stomach, leaving a sticky trail. “Good idea,” Eric said, quickening his strokes. “I can fuck you later.” “Shit,” Evan hissed, body arcing like electricity. His fingers dug into Eric’s hips as he came, but Eric barely felt it, caught up in watching as Evan’s prick shot hot semen between their bodies. He was already on the edge when Evan replaced Eric’s hand with his own, sliding through his own come, and that was more than enough to send Eric rocketing into orgasm. “Merry Christmas,” Eric offered when his brain was once again capable of human speech. “Jesus.” Evan snorted. “You saw Him too?” Realizing what he’d just said, Eric had to grin. “I’m not sure. I think I need to do some more research. You up for that?” 37
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “I could be convinced,” the other man said, reaching for the discarded bottle of lube. “If you say ‘please.’” “Please,” Eric murmured, licking a stripe up his neck. “Well, since you asked so nicely.”
THEY dozed on and off for a while until a loud grumble from Eric’s stomach prompted them both into startled laughter. “That bacon’s looking pretty good now, isn’t it?” Evan teased. Eric poked him in the leg. “Not as good as yours.” He stretched, allowing himself the luxury of checking out the room for the first time from the inside. It was so ... symmetrical. Two dressers, two bedside tables. “Who was he?” he asked before he could talk himself out of it. Beside him, Evan went still. “Who?” “The man you lived with.” For a few minutes, Evan didn’t answer, and Eric was afraid he’d crossed a line. Then he said, “He was my partner. Mark.” Eric rolled onto his side, propping his head up and leaning on his elbow. Maybe it was crazy to be making the emotional investment, but it was too late now. “What happened?”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “What didn’t?” To his surprise, Evan turned toward him, pillowing his head under his right hand. He kept his gaze focused on Eric’s shoulder as he spoke. “He had cancer. Inoperable.” Eric swallowed and reached for Evan’s hand. No wonder he’d been so jumpy. He had to be feeling pretty conflicted about getting involved with another man, even if he intended it to be temporary. “The irony of it is, it ended up being a car accident that killed him. We got T-boned by a drunk driver on New Year’s.” Evan’s blue eyes flickered over to Eric’s. They were sad, but dry. “It’s been kind of a tough year.” Giving his hand a gentle squeeze, Eric said, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” “You had every right to ask,” Evan corrected him with a quick smile that seemed almost completely sincere. “Although for the record, your timing sucked. Way to kill the afterglow.” “Hey, I could have asked you before we had sex,” Eric defended, flushing anyway. “Ooh, or at dinner tomorrow with my sister there. That would’ve been pretty bad.” Eric watched Evan sit up and put his feet over the edge of the bed, stretching. It was extremely sexy, the way the muscles in his back moved, like they were happy to be
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane alive, but Eric missed the warmth of his body and pouted. “Where are you going?” “To get you some breakfast,” Evan answered, pulling on his sleep pants. “Unless, of course, you want to tag along.” Eric didn’t really want to get up, but he didn’t want to let Eric out of his sight, either, especially if he wasn’t going to put on a shirt, and besides, bacon crumbs in bed just sounded like bad news. “Helping with breakfast is probably the least I can do.” “Laying there and looking sexy is the least you could do, but I appreciate the help.” Eric made a funny face at him. “Just don’t ask me to stuff your turkey.” Evan’s laughter seemed to fill the whole house.
OF course, the doorbell rang during the middle of Christmas dinner. After breakfast, Eric and Evan had spent the majority of the day in the kitchen or cleaning up around the house for the following day. Not wanting to spend the day of his sister’s arrival cooking, Evan had insisted on making a truly prodigious amount of food while Eric washed the sheets in the guest bedroom, vacuumed up the tinsel that kept falling off of the tree, and appointed himself official Christmas dinner taste-tester. 40
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Evan looked completely wiped out, so Eric took pity on him. “It’s probably more carolers, right?” He stood up. “I’ll get it. You just stay there and stuff yourself.” Evan rolled his eyes. “How many times are you going to make that joke?” “I’ll quit when you stop smiling at it,” Eric countered, hoping he wasn’t covered in breadcrumbs as he walked to the door. He was greeted with a family of four, two young boys and parents right out of a heartwarming Christmas movie. “Uh, hi,” he said. “Merry Christmas.” The woman looked at him blankly. Her blue eyes matched Evan’s almost exactly. “You’re not Uncle Ev,” the smaller of the two boys pointed out loudly. Oh, shit. If he had had to choose a way to be introduced to Evan’s family, this wouldn’t have been it. In fact, it didn’t even make the top ten. Eric shifted restlessly in his borrowed sweats. “Uh, you must be Evan’s sister. Come in.” He stepped back from the door. “He wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” “Danny’s parents got so much snow there was a road closure, so we thought we’d surprise Evan instead,” she said with a dry smile, leading her family inside. “Looks like we managed that.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Covering his flush with a cough, Eric closed the door behind them. “It’s nice to meet you,” he offered weakly, shaking her hand and then her husband’s. “I’m Eric.” “Elizabeth,” she smiled. If she hated him on sight, she was hiding it well. “This is my giant, Danny.” Next to Elizabeth, Danny was a giant. “Nice to meet you,” Danny said. Eric shook his hand numbly. He was starting to feel claustrophobic on top of self-conscious. Should he take their coats? Should he have elaborated on I’m Eric? What should he say, exactly? For that matter, what was he to Evan? In just a few seconds, the panic that he had been holding at bay for the better part of a day overpowered him in a rush. He had to get out of that hallway, maybe even out of the house. “I think Evan’s in the kitchen,” he said, keeping his voice as even as possible. “Make yourselves at home.” Breathing shallowly through his nose, Eric slipped away and out onto the back porch. “I’m just going to go die of embarrassment,” he muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, his plan of hiding had a major flaw in that the sliding door to the porch was made of glass. “Eric? What are you doing out here? Who was at the door?” Evan’s eyes widened. “Why aren’t you wearing any shoes? You’re going to freeze!” “I am hiding from your family, who was at the door, and I think I might’ve been rude but I wasn’t exactly 42
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane expecting them, and God knows they weren’t expecting me, and I didn’t know what to tell them so I ran away.” He took a breath. “And I think you might have a point about the shoes, because it is really cold out here.” Evan looked … well, he looked like he couldn’t decide which piece of information to react to first. That was pretty much the opposite of Eric, who couldn’t stop reacting. “My sister showed up, so instead of behaving like a rational person and coming to get me, thus allowing me to take all the heat, you ran outside without any shoes. Yes, I see your logic.” Eric had the insane urge to stick his tongue out at him, but thought it might remind Evan of how young he actually was. “I’m sorry if I wasn’t exactly thinking straight when I met your sister for the first time while I was barely dressed!” Oh, no … was that the wrong thing to say, ‘for the first time?’ It implied that other times would follow, and yes, that was what Eric wanted. He’d never been in this for a brief holiday fuck, but what if Evan didn’t want that? What if he wasn’t ready, or wasn’t interested? What if – “Could you possibly move your crisis inside?” Evan asked mildly. “I’m cold just looking at you.” “Oh,” Eric said. “Right.” He stepped back inside, wiping his feet off on the mat, not wanting to track water all over the house.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane No sooner had he stepped off of the mat again than Evan wrapped him in a warm embrace. “You need to relax,” he said gently, and apparently Eric’s brain agreed with that assessment, because all of the panic protocols had frozen and melted away the second Evan touched him. “They’re my family. They’ll like you because I like you. Okay?” “Okay,” Eric agreed. He was going to take that at face value and enjoy the rest of Christmas if it killed him, which it might. “I promise to postpone all freaking out until tomorrow.” “That’s the spirit. Come on, I think I’d better go say hello to my sister before she calls the police or something. In the meantime, can you throw the food in the oven to heat it up? Might as well eat together if they’re here.” “You just keep me around so you can give me orders in the kitchen,” Eric grumbled, reluctantly peeling himself away from Evan’s warmth. Evan grinned and kissed him briefly, the gesture unthinkingly affectionate. “Why limit myself to just one room?” Eric rolled his eyes, but headed to the kitchen to heat up the rest of the dishes anyway. He was just looking for a serving dish to put the gravy in when Elizabeth wandered in after him. “Is there anything I can help with?”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “Uh, gravy boat?” he asked hopefully. That was what they were called, right? His mom usually just put it in a glass measuring cup. “I don’t think he has one,” she confessed. “Or if he does, I’ve never seen it.” “Okay.” He thought he’d seen a bunch of baking stuff in one of these cupboards somewhere. There was bound to be something that would do the job. He opened two doors before he found what he was looking for. “This’ll work.” While he puttered around, Elizabeth busied herself in the fridge, retrieving butter, milk and salad dressing and placing them on the counter beside her. “So, you and my brother,” she said conversationally, moving on to the dishwasher and removing four clean plates. “That’s new?” “Obvious, huh?” Eric said with a short huff. He might as well get the whole family interview thing over with and out of the way, since he was clearly not going to be able to avoid it. Evan had told him not to worry about it, so that was what he was going to try to do. Elizabeth pulled open the door to the oven, checking on the food. It wouldn’t be warm yet for another twenty minutes, but at least it would all be ready at once. “Kind of. The fleeing was a big clue. That and you don’t exactly know your way around the kitchen. Besides, Evan and I talk three times a week. If he’d met someone, he would have told me.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “Sorry about the whole fleeing thing.” Eric hopped up on the counter, swinging his feet like he had when he was a kid. Something about Christmas always made him feel young. “We weren’t exactly expecting company, though God knows I should’ve learned my lesson last night.” Elizabeth gave him a knowing look. “Got a visit from Marilyn and Joe, did you?” “I wasn’t dressed then, either,” he confessed, running a hand through his hair. “I have a feeling I’m not making very good first impressions.” “Hey, you’re here,” she pointed out. “That’s a major point in your favor, as far as I’m concerned.” “Uh, thanks, I think.” “So, how exactly did you meet?” Eric debated how much he should tell her. It was pretty embarrassing that he’d once been Evan’s student, especially since he’d had a crush even then. “We met at school a couple of years ago,” he said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. “We ... actually we just ran into each other again yesterday. Neither one of us really wanted to spend Christmas alone, so....” Elizabeth’s gaze turned sharp. “You’re not going to tell me this is just a one-time thing.” Even if he’d been thinking about leaving his encounter with Evan as a simple one-night stand, Elizabeth probably 46
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane could have made him reconsider. “Ah, no, I … I don’t do that.” Not anymore, and not if he could help it. Eric had had enough fleeting, superficial, shitty relationships, such as the one he’d had with his birth father, to last a lifetime. “Good. Because I don’t think I have to tell you, my brother’s not like that, and this would be a really bad time for some asshole to do that to him.” No kidding, Eric thought. “Wait. Did you say you met at school a few years ago?” Uh oh. For a moment Eric was overcome with blind panic, and it must have shown on his face, because the next second, calm, collected Elizabeth was squealing in delight. “Oh my God! You were his student, weren’t you? I’ve been waiting to tease him about this happening for years!” Eric scratched at the back of his neck, not meeting her gaze. “Well, merry Christmas, I guess,” he said sheepishly. “Evan!” she called, winking at him as she backed out of the kitchen, “Hey, guess what I just heard....”
DINNER was a lively affair, with the boys Josh and Brian keeping up such a steady stream of questions that Eric barely had time to eat his dinner, though their enthusiasm dimmed somewhat when they learned that Eric hadn’t bought them any Christmas presents. Their disappointment unnerved him so much that before he realized what he was 47
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane doing, he offered to make peace buy buying them twice as many birthday gifts. At that, Elizabeth gave him a speculative look, like she was trying to decide if he meant it. Evan blushed a little, lowered his eyes, and nudged Eric’s foot under the table. When all the dishes were stacked back in the dishwasher, Josh, the younger nephew, dragged Eric under the tree to read the names on the tags for him, which were written in Evan’s extremely tricky cursive. “And this one’s for your mom,” Eric said, handing over the last present to his accomplice. Josh delivered the gift into the pile at his mother’s feet, and then went back to his own sizable stack of presents. “Can we open them now?” Brian asked plaintively, prompting Eric to smother a smile behind his hand. “Not yet!” Josh protested, pointing at the top of the tree. “The tree’s not finished. We can’t open presents until the star is on top!” He retrieved the tree topper from where it had been resting on the windowsill and brought it over to Evan. “Can you lift me up, Uncle Ev?” Eric caught the wince, even thought it only lasted part of a second. He remembered how Evan had struggled with getting the tree on top of the car, as well as the stairs to the attic. If those things had bothered him, he definitely shouldn’t be straining himself by lifting up a kid.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “He can’t this year, honey, remember?” prompted. “Mommy or I will lift you, instead.”
Danny
Neither Evan nor Josh looked particularly happy about this. “But it’s not the same,” Josh protested, crestfallen. His lower lip protruded threateningly. “I’ll do it, if you want,” Eric volunteered after a brief silence. Anything to get that look off the kid’s face – not to mention Evan’s. “Really?” Josh brightened. “Okay!” “Is that okay?” Eric asked belatedly. After all, it wasn’t his kid, or even his nephew, but everyone else just seemed relieved that the imminent crisis had been averted. “You’ll have to tell me what to do,” he told Josh seriously. Josh gave the star to his brother for safekeeping. “You have to put me on your shoulders,” he instructed. Eric let him climb up and then stood, steadying the boy’s knees with his palms until he stopped swaying. “Wow, you’re even taller than Dad!” Josh said. “Cool! Now, take the star from Brian and give it to me.” Eric passed it up, careful to keep one hand firmly on Josh’s knees as he reached up to place the star on the highest branch. “I think you’ve got it,” Danny said appraisingly from his spot on the couch. 49
Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane Brian made an impatient noise. “So can we open presents now?” “Go nuts,” Evan confirmed as Eric lifted Josh off his shoulders and set him back on the ground. Leaning back against Evan’s knees, Eric watched the kids tear into their gifts, exclaiming loudly and comparing notes, whooping out words of thanks when their manners or their mother got the best of them. Evan squeezed his shoulder. “Nicely handled.” Eric smiled. Later, when the kids had been put to “bed” on the couches downstairs, and Elizabeth and Danny had headed upstairs, they met in the kitchen to clean up the last of the dishes that hadn’t fit in the dishwasher. “Were you serious?” Evan asked suddenly, handing over a glass bowl to be dried. “About being around for the boys’ birthdays, I mean?” Eric’s pulse quickened. “Sure,” he said, as casually as he could. “I mean, if you still want me around....” He set the dry bowl gently on the counter. “It’s not going to be easy for me,” Evan said hesitantly. “I mean, I’m still... I have good days and bad days, you know?” A shy smile crept up on his face. “Actually, these past two days have been pretty great.”
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane “Yeah, they have,” Eric agreed. “And, you know, I can be patient. I’m a patient guy.” Well, he hadn’t been earlier in the day, but surely Evan wouldn’t hold that against him. “Hell, I’ve already waited four years,” he teased. “What’s another four?” “You’re a star,” Evan murmured, and the way he kissed Eric afterward – burning hot but so sweetly – Eric could almost believe it.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane
Ashlyn Kane is a 23-year-old supergeek who graduated cum laude from the University of Windsor with an honours degree in English Language and Literature. When she's not writing, she moonlights as an education student, and is somewhat baffled by the idea that someday someone will put her in charge of a group of children. She is addicted to classic rock, science fiction, and TV on DVD. In the event that her professors go on strike, Ash can usually be found lounging around in Bethany's basement, making inappropriate sexual comments about any given male character on TV, especially if he's in the Air Force and has stupid hair. She has a boyfriend, a little brother and a bitchy cat.
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Hang a Shining Star Ashlyn Kane
©Copyright Ashlyn Kane, 2008 Published by Dreamspinner Press 4760 Preston Road Suite 244-149 Frisco, TX 75034 http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/ This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Cover Art by Dan Skinner/Cerberus Inc.
[email protected] Cover Design by Mara McKennen This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press at: 4760 Preston Road, Suite 244-149, Frisco, TX 75034 http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/ Released in the United States of America December, 2008
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