“Max?”
“What?”
Kim poked him, hard. “Stop ogling Jed. Are you ready to go?”
She probably thought her voice was low enough to be discreet, but Jed’s suppressed smirk said otherwise. Max glared at her. “Piss off.”
Kim looked as though she might retaliate, but Jed cleared his throat. “Quit bickering, kids,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
They walked to the tiny Catholic church downtown. Kim led them to a pew at the back. Max knew she’d learned the hard way that it was easier to keep Tess near the exit. Jed gestured for Max to go ahead of him, and Max sat down between Jed and Belle. He leaned back in the pew, feeling a little out of sorts without Flo at his feet. With Jed, Kim, and Carla all close by, he’d given her the day off and left her at the Cooper house. He’d retrieve her later, but for now, he was on his own.
Jed nudged him. “Okay?” He said it out of the corner of his mouth, keeping his eyes on Tess, who was fidgeting in his lap.
Max nudged him back in answer, attributing the shockwave of sensation to the crackle of sexual tension between them.
It had been a few weeks since their alfresco dalliance at the top of the mountain trail, and even longer since the early January night Jed came home from Phoenix, and though they’d spent every night of the past month together, entangled in a snake pit of arms and legs, kissing until Max fell asleep, Jed had subtly put the brakes on their physical relationship. Max didn’t mind—not often, at least, but that didn’t make Jed’s close proximity any easier to bear. Each and every day, he found himself speculating ifthiswould be the day Jed broke the unspoken embargo.
The church organ cut through the quiet chatter of the guests, signaling the start of the ceremony. Max nudged Jed again, caught his eye, and grinned. Jed grinned back and snuck a hand out to squeeze his arm, albeit briefly. Max stood with the rest of the congregation, suppressing another pleasurable shudder, and turned his attention to the bridal procession beginning to filter up the aisle of the church.
Maybe todaywasthe day after all.
MAXTOOKa long pull of a cold Corona. It was his third, and with midnight fast approaching, he felt more than a little tipsy. Lucky he had Flo back with him, really, considering Jed was preoccupied with an overtired, overstimulated Tess.
“Yo, dude.”
Dan dropped down beside him, carrying a sleepy-looking Belle. Max wanted to take her and let her burrow into him, but he didn’t trust himself after a long day topped off with a few beers. Instead, he held out his hand and let her twine her fingers in his.
“Coop still stuck?” Dan asked.
Max inclined his head across the decorated high school gym to where Jed sat with a wriggling Tess and Anna Valesco. “Yep. Your mum won’t let him go.”
Dan laughed, making Belle giggle too. “She’s always been like that with him. There were days when we were kids when she would’ve quite happily traded me for him. My aunties were all the same. Everyone loves Jed. The dude don’t even have to try.”
Max could believe that. When his mood was right, Jed possessed an irrepressible charm. He glanced Max’s way and caught him staring. His eyes twinkled in the low light of the room. Max swallowed and looked away. It was nice to see Jed relaxed again. There’d been a brief moment in the church, a moment Max thought he’d imagined until Jed had abruptly taken Tess outside. The storm had passed by the time Max found them after the service, but it had stuck with him all the same. He hadn’t noticed Tess becoming particularly fractious.
“Want another beer?”
Max accepted the fresh bottle from Dan with a rueful sigh. “Sure.”
A little while later, he jumped into Jed’s truck for the short drive home. It was late, far later than he usually stayed up, and, like Tess, he felt a little hyper.
Jed slid into the driver’s seat. “Are you drunk?”
“Maybe.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have left you with Dan.”
Max rolled his eyes and laughed, though the joke wasn’t all that funny. “It’s not his fault I’m a lightweight.”
“Hey, I’m not judging you. You’ve seen the state of me after a couple of tramadol.”
That was true. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that both times Jed had truly opened up to him, he’d been under the influence of heavy narcotics.
The truck’s engine rumbled to life. Flo clambered over Max and stuck her head out the open window. The wind was cold. Max shivered, but didn’t have the heart to close it. Instead, he scooted closer to Jed… close enough to absorb the warmth from his body without touching him.
“What happened to your tie?”
“Huh?”