“Your tie,” Jed repeated, amused. “You had it, like, a half hour ago. What did you do with it?”
Max looked down, noting that he had indeed lost his tie. Damn. Kim was actually going to kill him—a thought he found hilarious.
Jed shook his head, but he couldn’t hide his grin as Max broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. “You’re going to feel this tomorrow. What the hell did you drink? You weren’t this funny last time you hit the beer.”
“Yeah, well, look what happened then.”
“You left me hanging, that’s what happened.”
Max coughed and tried to get a hold of himself. It was the first time either of them had mentioned the night he’d first kissed Jed. So much had happened in between, it felt like a lifetime ago. “Um, yeah, that’s the one. Hanging, eh? What would you have done if I’d stayed?”
Jed leaned back in his seat and slung an arm round Max’s shoulders. “Guess you’ll never know, will you?”
Max rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to sink into the casual embrace. He didn’t want to lose his buzz and get sleepy so close to home. Instead, he pondered Jed’s playful answer. Embarrassment aside, he was relieved he’d bailed from Jed’s room that night. From what he’d seen since, he was almost sure that if he’d jumped Jed then, he wouldn’t be here now.
Timing was everything.
Besides, there were days when he woke up surprised to find Jed’s boots by the door, and his things neatly ordered in his room. Despite the growing connection between them, he knew Jed was troubled… that on some level, he was deeply unhappy. No amount of sex could fix that.
“Max, we’re home.”
Max lifted his head. Despite his best intentions, he’d dozed off on Jed’s shoulder. “Hmm?”
In answer, Jed slid out of the open driver door. Flo was already long gone. Then the passenger door opened and Jed held out his hand. “Do I have to carry you?”
Max raised his middle finger, ignored Jed’s outstretched hand, and slithered out of the truck. “Very funny. You want to put me over your shoulder like a fucking caveman, you’ll have to catch me first.”
Jed shut the truck door with a bang. “Ask me again in a few months.”
Intentionally or not, the words were loaded. Max paused in the action of stretching his arms over his head. “You’ll still be here then?”
“Where else would I be?”
Jed sounded closer. Max could feel his warmth again and smell his clean, fresh smell. “You smell like trees.”
Jed laughed. “You’ve said that to me before.”
“I have?”
“Yeah. After you had those seizures in bed.”
Oh. “It must be true, then. I always let things slip when I’m in that attractive, postseizure, dribbling stage.”
Jed took Max’s face in his hands, surprising him with a firm kiss. “Shut your mouth.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down.”
Max resisted the urge to be flippant. “I’m not. I’m stating a fact.”
“Stop it.”
“Make me.”
Max’s back hit the truck door with a dull thud. He put up no resistance as Jed caged him in his arms and kissed him senseless.
It wasn’t always like this between them. Sometimes they could kiss all night, and though the desire to go further was there, Max could ignore it. But sometimes, things exploded between them, exploded in a way he couldn’t control, and on those occasions, it fell to Jed to pull away. And pull away he did, almost every time, but not this time. This time, he pressed Max hard against the truck and kissed him with more force and intensity then he ever had before.