Extraits

Laughing, Max bumped Jeremy’s shoulder. “It’s not like you have to fuck a dude right away. Go out a few times. See if you click. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”

“And this mythical guy’s going to patiently date me while he could be hooking up with a million men on apps? I’ve never even kissed.”

Max stopped by a house that had multicolored lights strung up a tree—all the way to the top, thank you very much—oversized ornaments dangling from the barren branches. He took hold of Jeremy’s shoulders. Blue, red, green, pink, and gold glowed over Jeremy’s face, reflected in his glasses.

“You’re building this up way too much. You need to get out of your own way. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. I could kiss you right now.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed with an audible gulp. It was freaking adorable, and Max wanted to ruffle his hair and keep him safe from the world.

He also really, really wanted to kiss him.

Hey, he’d be doing Jeremy a favor. Taking this big, scary thing and bringing it down to earth where it belonged. But he wanted this too.

Slowly, Max ran his gloved hands across Jeremy’s shoulders and up to frame his face. He hoped the leather wasn’t too cold, but Jeremy didn’t jerk away. He stood unmoving, lips parted, breathing shallowly, his eyes locked on Max’s under his color-sparkled glasses.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” Max asked.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“Yep.”

Jeremy’s eyes flicked down to Max’s mouth and back up again. He breathed shallowly. “You’re just being nice.”

“Trust me, I’m not that nice. You’re gorgeous. Of course I want to kiss you.” He said it with a grin and a shrug, belying the thumping of his heart.

Leaning in a few inches, Jeremy licked his lips, and Jesus he was trying to kill Max. “Okay. Kiss me, please.”