New Year, New Love, New Challenge

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

HEY

fell through the doorway together in a tangle of lips and limbs,

barely avoiding a collision with the floor.

One moaned, the other gasped as they navigated the dark

apartment. The faint sounds of passers-by outside reached their ears
as  others  made  their  way  home  from  their  own  New  Year’s
celebrations,  but  they  were  ignored.  Trent  thanked  his  lucky  stars
once  more  that  he  accepted  his  boss’s  invitation  to  a  Hogmanay
ceilidh, which led to him meeting the fun and sexy man in his arms.

Andrew Cameron, his boss’s nephew, seemed to be doing his

best  at  the  moment  to  suck  his  tongue  from  his  mouth  and  pull  his
hair out. Trent slid a hand down Andy’s waist and along one muscular
thigh to the bottom of the kilt he was wearing, finally, finally reaching
underneath  and  dragging  his  palm  back  up  again.  He  let  out  a
surprised,  pleased  groan  as  he  encountered  no  resistance  until  he
reached  the  waist  of  the  kilt  once  more  from  the  other  side,  feeling
nothing but smooth, slightly chilled skin the whole way.

“Well, that answers that question,” he gasped. Andy laughed,

kissing him again and grinding their bodies together.

“Come on you,” he pulled Trent through another door. “You

know there’s a saying that the first thing you do on the first day of
New Year’s is what you’ll be doing the rest of the year?” Trent could
just make out the grin on the other man’s face thanks to the dim light
seeping through the curtains from the streetlamps outside.

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

“Really?” he asked, his own lips stretching into a leer. “I don’t

believe I’ve heard of that belief before.”

Andy nodded emphatically. “Oh yes. A venerable and respected

superstition—that I may or may not have made up, but I’m sure I
heard it somewhere. And if not, well, venerable, respected
superstitions have to start somewhere.”

Trent laughed. “And what would you suggest we do?”

Andy snorted. “I shouldn’t have to draw you a picture; let’s just

say I didn’t bring you here to play Scrabble.”

Trent laughed and pressed his lips against Andy’s again in a hard

kiss and withdrawing his hand from the kilt to try and unfasten it. He
cursed as he fumbled with the straps and buckles, becoming clumsy in
his eagerness. Andy snickered, finally taking pity on him and shoving
him away to fall on the bed while undressing himself in less than a
minute, leaving the kilt and his shirt in an undignified heap on the
floor topped with his socks, his shoes next to it like a side dish.

Trent’s breath was taken away by the sight of the naked man

before him. The ache he felt in his groin for most of the night
intensified to an almost painful degree. Andy’s smile turned to a cocky
grin as he noticed the effect he was having and stalked over
confidently. He let Trent settle further up on the bed and leaned over
him.

“Now, your turn.”

He undid the buttons of Trent’s shirt, kissing each patch of skin

in the trail down his chest as it was revealed, paying extra attention to
his sensitive navel until Trent was squirming beneath him. Upon
reaching the black trousers he bypassed them completely, moving
instead to take off Trent’s shoes and socks, making him squirm for a

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

different reason as his feet met the cool air.

“I wonder if Americans are as ticklish as Scottish people?” Andy

asked, mischief clear in his voice.

Trent aimed his best glare in the other man’s direction. “Don’t

you fucking dare!” It was only met with a gleeful laugh.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m only joking. I can barely hold on

much longer as it is.” The desperation of his words made Trent moan,
and he sighed, relaxing, as he felt hands at his waist again.

The rest of his clothes were quickly tossed to join Andy’s on the

floor. Andy’s warm skin slid against Trent’s and burned like a heater.
Trent gasped, trying to touch every part of it that he could. Andy
rocked and groaned above him. The cold of being outside for so long
had been chased away and now Trent felt only a molten heat from
within and around him.

“Oh, hang on.” Andy paused, moving and picking up his sporran,

the round leather bag that hung at the front of his kilt, to Trent’s moan
of complaint. He retrieved something from it, grinning as he returned
to the bed. Trent stared at the condom packet and mini tube of lube he
held.

“Is there anything that thing doesn’t carry?” he asked.

Andy chuckled. “Kitchen sink?” He climbed onto the bed and

stretched out over Trent again. “So, how we doing this then?” His
spoke in a low, suggestive purr.

“Your place, you choose,” Trent replied, tracing Andy’s skin with

his fingertips again. He received a grin and Andy sat up to straddle
him.

“This works for me.”

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

Lubed up, his fingers pushed inside one by one with little

resistance, and Andy rocked down to meet them, making him groan. It
had been far too long since he did something like this and he wanted
to savor it. At the same, he wanted to move faster and get to the main
event. Finally Andy was ready, begging him to “quit fucking teasing
and stick your dick in there.” It was an order Trent was eager to obey
after rolling on the condom.

It almost burned, the clenching around him, feeling perfect as

Andy drove down onto his cock, the body above him a pale, broad
stripe in the barely there light. Trent wished he could see the glinting
green eyes, the wild mane of golden brown hair better, but he would
settle for feeling instead and gripped Andy’s thighs, moving up to his
hips, shifting one hand to examine his member by touch.

They moved together, beads of sweat running from Trent’s brow,

their  groans  and  cries  filling  the  room.  Trent  gave  one  last  buck
upwards,  releasing  into  the  restricting  rubber  sheath  as  Andy
dropped down, splattering Trent’s hand and both their stomachs with
hot liquid. Andy’s lips found Trent’s again, moaning into the deep, lazy
kiss.  They  did  a  minimal  clean  up  and  struggled  to  get  under  the
covers  when  their  limbs  had  become  practically  boneless.  The  New
Year continued to roll in without them as they had soon drifted off to
sleep, arms and legs around each other.

* * *

“T

RENT

?”

a low Scottish-accented voice burred in his ear.

“Mm?”

“I’m off in the shower; I won’t be long, okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” he managed to hum, barely awake.

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

He was lying in a warm, soft bed feeling heavy limbed and sated,

his black hair the only thing visible above the covers. He wasn’t ready
to get up and face the world yet. Though his ears picked up the sounds
his brain didn’t really register them, as he was still mostly asleep. He
heard  a  heavy  door  open  and  slam  shut,  then  something  being
dropped  on  the  floor,  clattering  against  wooden  floorboards,  and  a
minute later came the sound of the bedroom door creaking open and
steps  approaching  the  bed.  Oh,  Andy’s  back,  that  was  quick,  his  sleep
fuzzed brain reasoned idly, not realizing that the steps were too light
for a man.

“Ha-ppy New Year Andy—”

Trent yelled, suddenly jolted awake by a woman’s loud voice as

she practically leaped on him. She screamed in response and fell onto
the floor in her haste to clamber quickly off him.

They both screamed in surprise together.

“What—what?” Andy asked, panicked, as he ran in, dripping wet

and with only a towel clutched around his waist. The strange woman
struggled to her feet, turning to him while Trent held the covers firmly
up to his shoulders and stared at them both.

“Andrew! There is a naked man in your bed!” She paused for a

moment. “Can I have him?”

“No! My naked man! You go find your own!” He stepped around

her so he was between her and the bed. “What’re you doing in here?”

“I came in to say Happy New Year to you and I find him!” she

explained, gesturing at Trent before giving him a bright smile. “Hiya.”

“Uh, hi,” Trent replied, returning her smile weakly.

“So are you gonna introduce us or not?” she demanded, turning

to Andrew again.

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

Looking as uncomfortable as Trent felt, Andrew pointed to each

of them in turn. “Isla, Trent. Trent, Isla. Isla is my sister who I share
the flat with.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said cordially with a smile, as if Trent

wasn’t sitting naked in her brother’s bed and she hadn’t jumped on
him a moment ago.

“You- you too,” he managed to reply, still wishing he could just

sink into the bed and disappear.

Now that he could look at her properly, Trent saw the

resemblance.  She  was  short,  too,  though  slimmer  than  her  brother,
and wearing a bright pink strapless dress that clung to her curves. She
was  shoeless,  and  her  hair  fell  past  her  shoulders  in  soft  waves  and
was  a  deep  red  of  a  uniform  color  that  usually  meant  a  dye  job.  She
had  the  same  cheerful  face  as  Andy,  though,  and  her  green  eyes
sparkled with the same mirth as his.

“Well, nice to see it was a very happy new year for the both of

you. I’ll leave you to it, and Andrew, I expect all the details so I can
tease you and blackmail you with them later.” She gave them a final
carefree wave as Andy all but shoved her outside the door.

Andy turned to Trent with an embarrassed sigh, still gripping his

towel. “Sorry about that. She’s the older one as well, if you can believe
it. I should have warned you.”

Now awake and recovered from the surprise, Trent was more

interested in the way water droplets clung to Andy’s still wet skin, his
nipples hardened by the cool air. “That’s okay,” he coughed, clearing
his throat.

“I’d better go finish my shower,” Andy said. He still looked

uncomfortable in only a towel despite what they’d done last night. He

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

went back out, but Trent heard him banging on the bathroom door a
moment later. “Isla! I was taking a shower!” There was a pause where
he assumed Isla was saying something, and then Andy pounded the
door again. “Augh!” he shouted, stomping back to his room. “Isla stole
the bloody shower off me!” he fumed as he slammed the door. “Says
she’s in it now and I can go in after her even though I’d been in there
first and ran out ’cause of her screaming! I’m still wet and it’s cold!”

Not really listening to the tirade, Trent sat up with a smile, his

brown eyes still holding a sleepy warmth to them. He held out a hand.
“I can always warm you up.”

Andy approached but hesitated when he reached the edge of the

mattress. “I’ll get the bed wet.”

But now that he was close enough, Trent simply flipped aside the

duvet and hauled Andy under it with him; Andy gave a surprised yell.
“Don’t care. It’ll dry out.” He nuzzled Andy’s droplet-speckled skin.

“I might almost think you were enjoying my predicament,” Andy

managed to get out as he gasped at Trent kissing his neck.

“You’re wet and naked. I’m definitely not complaining.”

His attention shifted to the stiff, peaked nubs on Andy’s pale,

broad chest. He licked at them and sucked them into his heated mouth
one  at  a  time,  leaving  gentle  kisses  on  the  skin  between  them  as  he
moved  from  one  to  the  other.  Now  that  he  could  fully  see  and
appreciate  Andy’s  naked  body  in  the  soft  light  coming  in  from  the
windows, he wanted to worship every part of it.

It always fascinated him, seeing the bare skin of a new lover

against his own, which was a warm, tawny brown thanks to his
Hispanic roots. Being an international manager for one of the world’s
largest banks allowed him to travel to various points around the

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

world  and  he  firmly  believed  in  experiencing  the  local  culture  and
people.  But  he  found  Andy’s  strawberries-and-cream  skin  with  its
light  dusting  of  freckles  the  most  mesmerizing  of  all.  By  the  time  he
was finished they both needed a shower and crept stealthily into the
bathroom  together,  keeping  an  eye  turned  to  Isla’s  closed  bedroom
door  on  the  way.  The  little  spectacle  earlier  had  been  more  than
enough embarrassment, they didn’t need her to see them sneaking in
to  the  bathroom  to  have  a  shower  together  with  only  towels  hiding
their  modesty.  The  water  warmed  and  revitalized  them  and  turned
their skin slippery smooth. They took their time washing each other’s
backs… and other areas. It was only the water beginning to turn chilly
that drove them out and back to the bedroom once more.

Trent sprawled on a corner of the couch while Andy stretched

his legs out on the cushions, leaning against Trent’s chest. They were
making fun of Eastenders when Isla emerged from her own bedroom.
She looked clean and fresh with her hair pinned up, subtle makeup
enhancing her features and wearing a dark brown suede skirt with a
pale green satin blouse and brown knee high boots. She zipped up her
purse, flashing them a smile.

Trent had borrowed a jumper from Andy which was a little

short on him and had to put his trousers from the night before back on
as nothing of Andy’s would fit. Andy was only wearing tracksuit
bottoms and a long-sleeved T-shirt. The two of them looked like slobs
compared to her, not that either of them really cared.

“Where you off to?” Andy asked.

“Back to Stan’s. We’re having dinner with his parents for New

Year’s Day.”

“So you came back here just to change? Why not just stay at his?”

“Because I didn’t have a change of clothes at his, at least not

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

anything I could wear for dinner with his parents,” she explained,
annoyed.

Andy snorted. “Don’t see why you don’t just get married, or at

least move in together. You’re at his place most of the time anyway.”

She made a frustrated sound and rolled her eyes. “Don’t think I

haven’t been dropping hints, believe me.” She moved closer, leaning
over the couch and pinching his cheeks. “Besides, I couldn’t leave my
poor, sweet wee brother Andy-Pandy all on his own!” she said in a
high-pitched, syrupy sweet voice with a smile to match.

“Get off, hamster face!” He batted her hand away. “Save it for

Stan. Stan’s her boyfriend,” he explained to Trent. “My man Stan. Stan,
the man with the plan,” he added with a faint smile.

“Does Stan have a tan?” Trent asked, joining in.

“Since he came back from Japan,” Andy grinned.

“He should go to Milan, or maybe Iran.” The two of them were

both snickering now.

“I don’t think that he can, unless he…”

“Took the Auto-ban?” Trent suggested. It rhymed, at least. It

didn’t exactly make sense, but it rhymed, that was the main thing. Both
of them were laughing outright.

Isla turned away with a frustrated huff. “You must really like this

one Andy, he’s as bonkers as you are,” she said.

Trent looked at him with a smile. “Am I as bonkers as you are?”

“Hmmm, not quite, I’d say, but you’re getting there. Don’t worry.

I’ll soon have you up to speed.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Trent murmured in his ear.

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

With a final shake of her head, Isla put her coat on, happy to get

away and leave the both of them.

Trent grinned, pulling Andy closer. They were alone in the

apartment, he had the day off, and even the weather didn’t seem so
bad now that he had somebody hot, in every sense of the word, to
cuddle with. His new year was off to a pretty good start already.

* * *

RENT

laughed, enjoying himself as he played with some of Andy’s

younger cousins. Eventually he dusted off his knees and went to get
another vodka and Irn-Bru, the clear, bright orange soda being the
(nonalcoholic)

national

drink

Scotland,

its

sweetness

complementing the sharp vodka perfectly. He got hooked on the stuff
when Andy introduced him to it on a night out in January. That was
when he’d learned that yes, Edinburgh did have a gay scene and it was
a fairly vibrant one at that. The Gay Pride parade in particular was a
real eye opener.

He was at the house of one of Andy’s many aunts, he never could

remember  all  their  names,  for  New  Year’s,  or  Hogmanay,  as  he’d
become accustomed to calling it. There was plenty of food and drink
as  it  apparently  was  necessary  to  have  both  as  the  bells  rang  at
midnight and the Scots believed in starting early—especially when it
came  to  the  drinking  part.  He’d  been  told  that  the  food  to  eat  at
midnight  had  to  be  a  steak  pie,  though  he  wasn’t  sure  what  the
reasoning  was  behind  it.  There  were  some  British  customs  he  still
didn’t understand.

Trent thoroughly confused his relatives earlier on the phone

when he wished them “Happy Hogmanay” and was accused of going
native, which made him laugh. The rest of Andy’s family seemed to be

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

crammed inside the mid-sized residence as well. His mother, he knew,
would like Andy’s relatives. She’d always believed that the bigger the
family, the better, and Andy’s certainly fulfilled her exacting
expectations. He really would have to get round to the whole telling-
his-parents-he-was-gay thing pretty soon.

A hand clapped him on the shoulder. It was one of Andy’s

cousins, Ronnie, with a grin on his reddened face and a can in his
hand. “All right big man? You had a good Christmas?”

“Yeah, thanks. You?” It had been a quiet Christmas for him,

though he and Andy went a little crazy and had a lot of fun with the
mistletoe.  There  also  was  dinner  at  Isla’s  and  Stan’s  for  the  four  of
them,  along  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cameron  and  Stan’s  parents.  He
remembered  having  to  disguise  a  laugh  as  a  cough  into  his  napkin
when Isla beamed at her mother’s compliments of the food, waving it
off as though it had been no trouble at all and she hadn’t really only
barely averted some sort of disaster.

“Not bad, not bad,” Ronnie replied. “Will you be coming to Burns’

Night again this year?” he asked with a grin.

Trent smiled. “I’ll have to check with Andrew, but probably.”

“Right, let us know, aye? I’ll see you later.”

Trent nodded as the other man ambled away. Although he’d

travelled to various countries and loved it, he never felt as at home in
any of them as he did in Scotland. That was due in large part to Andy’s
family taking to him and making him feel like one of their own. Not
everyone knew about his and Andy’s relationship, but most did and
welcomed him as part of the family the longer they dated. Those that
didn’t know weren’t worth bothering about, in his opinion.

If someone had told him this time last year that he’d be so happy

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

about moving to and living in Scotland, he would have looked up the
number of the men in white coats to take them away. But the past year
had  been  one  of  the  best  in  his  memory,  and  all  because  of  the  man
he’d  shared  it  with.  He  still  griped  about  the  cold  weather,  but  even
that didn’t bother him so much. Especially since Andy usually found a
way to warm him up. It was hard to believe, sometimes, that he’d met
Andy  this  very  night  a  year  ago,  and  that  they  dated  ever  since.
Sometimes he  wondered if he should  pinch himself, but if  this really
was a dream he didn’t want to take the risk of waking up. He saw Isla
approaching, Stan visible behind her. She gave him a tight hug.

“The pair of you made it then?” she asked, her face beaming, the

diamond on her finger sparkling like a star.

He returned her smile. “Yeah, Drew’s around here somewhere.”

He was the only one who called Andy that.

Isla went off in search of her brother to pounce on him and tease

him. It hadn’t taken long for them to be labelled “the pair of you” by
Isla. “The pair of you coming to the party?” “The pair of you give me a
hand with this,” or “bugger off, the pair of you. I’m busy tonight.” It
made him smile, feeling that he’d been accepted by someone his lover
was so close to, even though both siblings would probably rather eat
live worms than say such a thing out loud. There was just one thing
that was really worrying him now though, and it was Andy himself.

The other man seemed pensive and anxious over the past few

days, not at all like his usual cheerful self. Trent asked if anything was
bothering him and was told “I’m fine.” There were only so many times
he could ask, he didn’t want to push the matter or seem like he was
prying. If Andy wanted to tell him, he would when he was ready. But
still, Trent couldn’t help but be concerned. He managed to spot Andy
in the dining room and made his way over.

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

“Hey, you okay?”

“Fine,” he said, though his voice sounded a touch listless.

“Pretty busy, huh? I can’t believe they got so many people in

here, I think the house might burst.”

“Mm,” was all Andy said to his weak attempt at humor. Trent

frowned.

“Look, Drew, I can tell something’s bugging you, okay? Can you at

least try to tell me what it is? Is there something I can do to help? Or is
it something I’ve done, or haven’t done?”

“What? No!” Andy said, honestly surprised. “It’s not you, at least

not really. I—oh fuck.” He broke off, scrubbing a hand over his face
and taking another gulp of his drink. He pulled Trent into the hallway,
stopping at a small nook that held boots and raincoats.

“There was this thing at work months ago. One employee would

get to do a sort of work experience thing at a wildlife conservancy, in
Kenya.” Trent nodded in understanding. Andy worked as a keeper at
the Edinburgh Zoo and loved his job. This would have been an
amazing opportunity.

“I signed up for the chance to go just because everybody else was

and  said  I’d  be  crazy  not  to.  We  had  to  fill  in  a  form,  say  why  we
thought  we  would  be  the  best  choice,  that  sort  of  thing.  Anyway,  I’d
completely  forgotten  about  it…  until  I  got  the  letter  the  other  day
saying I’d been the one to be accepted. I mean, I still can’t believe it;
it’s like a dream. A chance to go to Africa, to see so many different wild
animals in their natural habitat, to study them, it would be incredible.”

His face lit up, his eyes sparkled, and then it fell once more. “But

the placement’s for a year, and I know you can say ‘it’s only a year’,
but that’s a long time, and I can’t ask you to wait that long for me and

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

long-distance relationships suck. I really want to go, but then I—I love
you, and being apart for that long, I just—I just can’t choose,” he
finished, his expression tormented.

Trent was silent, processing all of this. All the years he’d been

travelling,  he’d  always  been  uncertain  about  getting  into  a  serious
relationship  when  his  job  could  send  him  to  the  other  side  of  the
world with little notice. When he was younger he’d been happy with
quick  flings  and  the  chance  to  escape  if  things  got  bad,  but  then  he
started  to  want  more  than  that.  When  he  met  Andy,  it  hadn’t  really
been  a  choice  of  whether  to  get  serious,  it  just  sort  of  happened
without either of them actively causing it or even being aware of it.

He always assumed he would be the one having to make the

choice of whether or not to leave Andy, whether or not to ask Andy to
come with him, not the other way around. Andy loved him. He’d
known it of course, but hearing it out loud was an entirely different
matter. He knew there was no question of what he wanted.

“You don’t have to choose,” he said quietly.

“What?” Andy stared at him.

“I can’t promise anything, but the bank’s usually very

understanding  towards  couples  and  families  that  want  to  stay
together,  doesn’t  matter  if  they’re  gay  or  straight.  I  can  talk  to  my
bosses,  and  I’m  pretty  sure  they’ll  be  able  to  find  a  place  for  me  at
least  close  to  where  you’ll  be  working.”  Andy’s  stare  was  getting  a
little unnerving.

“But- but I can’t ask you to do that. Pick up and leave just to come

with me.”

“Why not? My work sends me to different countries all the time,

it’s not like I’m not used to it. And you’re not asking me. I’m asking you

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

if  I  can  come  with  you.  Would  you  want  that,  me  tagging  along  with
you?”  He  staggered  back  as  Andy  all  but  flung  himself  against  him,
giving  him  in  a  heartfelt  kiss,  almost  making  both  of  them  lose  their
drinks. Well, that answered that question.

“But are you sure?” Andy asked when they broke apart. “You’d

really come to Kenya with me?”

Trent grinned. “You remember when we met last year, and you

had to leave to go to the street party. You asked if I wanted to come
with you?”

Andy’s lips turned up in a smile. “As if I’d forget. I was praying

you’d say yes.”

“I’d figured I must be insane, leaving a nice warm building to go

stand  in  the  freezing  cold  for  hours,  listening  to  loud  music,  being
jostled,  dozens  of  people  crowded  in  all  around  me.  But  you  know
what? I loved every minute of it, because I was with you. That was all
that mattered to me. Wherever you are Drew, that’s where I want to
be.  I  don’t  care  if  it’s  Edinburgh  or  Africa  or  anywhere  else  in  the
world. If you want to go there then I do too, for as long as you’ll have
me. In case you can’t tell, I love you too, you dumbass.”

Andy laughed, despite looking slightly stunned with a hint of

misty eyes at Trent’s words. “I want you. I want you with me
wherever I am, too; don’t worry about that. I’d been excited but sort of
terrified as well at the thought of having to travel to Africa by myself;
leaving you, my family, not knowing anyone. I don’t know how you
can do it for a living. But if you’re there too it won’t be so bad, will it?”

“It’ll be great,” Trent assured him. “You get to eat weird food, see

new things, get away from this goddamned freezing weather… you’ll
love it. And it is only for a year. You’ll be back here getting me drunk
on whisky and eating sheep’s insides before you know it.”

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

Andy laughed again, sounding more cheerful this time. “It was

only the once! And I told you not to drink so much; that was your own
fault.”

“Hey, I needed some way to take my mind off what I was eating!”

Trent protested. “Still, the night ended well, didn’t it?”

Andy returned his leering smile with a knowing smirk of his

own. “Aye, it did. And I think tonight might end well too. We have a lot
to celebrate now.”

“Can’t we, maybe, start celebrating early?” Trent asked, hope

clear in his voice.

“No!” Andy told him sternly, though he looked for a moment as

though he was considering it. “Come on, it’s nearly time for the bells.
You can wait a wee bit longer.”

Trent let out a whimpering moan but followed him back into one

of  the  stifling  hot  rooms  to  be  sociable  again  until  midnight  struck.
There were no huge crowds to contend with this year. No loud bands
and, thankfully, no freezing cold either. Just family and close friends,
people  who  welcomed  him  and  who  he’d  come  to  care  about.  The
music  that  was  playing  was  turned  down  when  the  time  came  and
voices young and old joined in for the countdown. Cheers rang out and
party  poppers  exploded,  sending  streamers  into  the  air  as  the  hour
struck,  others  went  around  hugging  and  kissing  or  shaking  hands,
saying  “Happy  New  Year!”  but  for  two  men  there  was  no  one  else
there except for them.

Trent pulled Andy close, giving him a quick kiss. “Happy New

Year.”

“Happy New Year.”

Trent’s grin widened. “Happy anniversary.”

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

“Happy anniversary,” Andy echoed, smiling as well, pulling him

in for a longer, deeper kiss, taking the chance while no one was paying
attention to them. “At least neither of us is likely to forget the date of
it,” he laughed. Trent joined in.

“Yeah, maybe we should get married at New Year’s as well to

make that easy to remember too.”

Andy’s eyes went wide, but before he could reply Isla pounced

on them. “Oi! The pair of you, give me a kiss!” They obeyed, not that
there was any choice, and shook Stan’s hand with “Happy New Year”s
said all around.

Andy went back to staring at him as Isla wandered away. “Did

you just propose to me?”

“Uh, I don’t know. If I said yes, would you accept?”

“I- I don’t know. I’m still trying to let the fact that I’ll be going to

Africa sink in, to be honest.”

Trent could understand, and he wasn’t entirely sure why he’d

said  what  he  had  himself.  It  just  sort  of  came  out,  without  his  mind
having any say in the matter. Not that he was completely averse to the
idea, now that he was actually thinking about it. He couldn’t imagine
Andy  not being in his life. He had come from a family with traditional
beliefs,  brought  up  to  respect  marriage  and  all  that  it  represented,
even though he’d never had any desire to go through with such a thing
himself—until now. And men in Britain could get married… Would he
be allowed to marry Andy though, since he was American? And what
if…? It was too much to think about, for the moment.

“Okay, I know we do have to get through the whole ‘moving to

Africa’ thing first, but how about if we agree to at least not completely
dismiss the idea for good?”

New Year, New Love, New Challenge * S. Blaise

Andy relaxed and smiled. “Sure, I think I can do that.”

Trent grinned, feeling a tightness in him release. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

They wished others Happy New Year and then went back to their

apartment  to  celebrate  in  their  own  way,  into  the  early  hours  of  the
morning.  Trent  was  still  awake  afterwards,  content  to  stare  up  into
the  darkness,  listening  to  Andy’s  deep  breaths  beside  him,  the  slight
puffs of air as he exhaled washing over a patch of skin on his chest as
his arms were crossed behind his head.

Yet another year had gone, and it looked like there would be a

new country and new challenges to face in the year ahead. But this
time he wouldn’t be alone, he’d have someone to face them with him.
His lover (and future husband? The thought made him smile.) would
be by his side. Life didn’t get much better than this.

S. B

LAISE

has loved reading and creating stories for as long as she can

remember,  but  first  got  into  the  “male  romance”  genre  through
fanfiction.  She  found  slash  and  yaoi  quite  by  accident  (honest!)  and
began  voraciously  reading  stories  online  in  many  fandoms,  finally
getting  up  the  courage  to  have  a  go  at  writing  some  fan  fics  herself
before  shifting  to  original  fiction.  She  has  lived  on  both  sides  of  the
Atlantic  and  so  can  write  about  Caribbean  summers  as  easily  as
Scottish winters, since she has experienced both.

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 Paul Richmond http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com
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 2009

eBook Edition
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-322-3

Document Outline