Max was staggered. On the one hand, guilt that he’d never realized how sick Jed was until it was almost too late tore at him, but then he’d watch Jed lithely scale the height of the boat shed to replace a rotten panel, and everything else was forgotten. In moments like those, there was no guilt, pain, or fear. Instead there was only awe and wonder at the astounding strength of the man he loved so much.
Life wasn’t perfect. Jed had days when he could only curl up on the couch in unimaginable pain, but those days were few and far between—a temporary glitch rather than a hard way of living.
Jed mumbled something. Max ducked to catch the words. “What’s that?”
There was no response, but Max didn’t mind. They’d come a long way since the bleak days when he’d have given anything for Jed to wake up and utter a word.
Max lay down and put his head on Jed’s chest, his gaze trained on the sparkling, sunlit water of the lake. The sight was dazzling, and for the first time in a long time, the future looked just as bright.
JEDWOKEto Max’s soft lips on his chest, the tip of his warm wet tongue tracing the scar on his belly, and his strong hands tugging on his hips.
He opened his eyes as Max slid into him, and sucked in a breath. It burned, but he didn’t care, because sometimes a little pain feltso fucking good.
He shifted, eager for more. Max followed the silent cue, his gaze hawklike, watching Jed for signs of discomfort.
There were none. Jed gripped Max’s hips and pulled him closer, taking all of him into his body. Sometimes it bothered him that Max was so cautious, but other times he was grateful. After all, having his leg jammed over his headwouldhurt like a bitch.
Max bent and kissed him, distracting him momentarily from the sweet push and slide of his cock inside him, but not for long. Jed pulled away with a breathless gasp. A shudder tore through him, and he dropped his head back on the pillow Max had jammed under his head while he slept.
“Fuck.”
As ever when Max topped him, Jed was right on the edge in mere moments. He raised his hips to meet Max’s slow deliberate thrusts, and reached for his cock.
Max batted his hand away. “I want you to come like this.”
Jed was powerless beneath the weight of Max’s heated, dark gaze. He gripped the bedframe behind him, desperate for something,anything, to tie him down to the world.
Max twisted his hips. Sweat broke out over Jed’s chest. On the inside, he screamed. Only Max had ever taken him like this… only Max had ever made him feel like this, so desperate for something he’d yet to understand.
Only Max.
“Let it go, baby.”
The throaty, whispered words and term of tender endearment, used only in moments like these, was all it took. Jed arched his back and came without either one of them ever touching his dick.
Huh.
Max followed fast and collapsed on top of him in a careful heap.
He trembled in Jed’s arms. For a moment, Jed worried, until the wonderful sound of laughter reached his ears. “Somethin’ funny?”
Max raised his head and shrugged. “I should quit fucking you while I’m ahead. One day, I’m going to come before we’ve even got started.”
Jed chuckled, but held his tongue. Max didn’t need to know the effect he had on him. Not yet, at least. He’d let him figure it out all on his own.
He closed his eyes and his mind wandered, recalling the very first time he’d fucked Max. It had happened almost by accident. For months it was something he’d almost been afraid of… afraid of his own recovering body failing him, afraid that the sensation of Max’s beautiful, lithe form writhing beneath him would finish him off for good.
Then Max had come to find him one day, shirtless, smeared with oil, with an endearing, devilish plan.
Now Jed couldn’t get enough, and he drifted back to sleep to the lullaby of Max humming and playing with his hair.
He was alone when he next woke. It figured. Max rarely slept in daylight hours—he had too much energy and it upset his routine. Routine was good for Max; it kept his wayward brain in check.
The thought sobered Jed as he lay naked in bed. Max had only dropped with a full seizure once since the grand mal in the boat shed, and Glenn had been around to catch him, but the shadow of his condition never went away, even if Max did a stellar job of ignoring it.
Flo was amazing, and Desta was fast learning to guard Jed as well as Flo did Max, but their combined efforts didn’t keep Jed from worrying. He wanted to take care of Max, to love him and protect him the way he deserved, but how could he if he wasn’t strong enough for both of them?
He hauled himself out of bed without bothering to ponder an answer. It was a quandary he knew he’d probably have to live with till the end of his days, or at least as long as Max would have him.