Page 28 of Except You
“You mean, like my dick or my balls? No, nothing else. Just this and my ears.”
I glance at his ears, and he shakes his head. “I don’t wear earrings often. I should though, huh?”
“If you want.”
He sighs and then throws an arm over his eyes. “You should probably get off me now, Max. There’s only so much a gay guy can handle, you know?”
I don’t know, but I do slide off him and lie down beside him.
“Sorry,” I murmur, and he chuckles.
“Don’t be sorry. I deserved it. ”
He turns on his side and tucks his entire body under the covers. He’s facing me once again as he scoots closer and closer until his knees bump my side.
“I do like poking the beast.”
“Apparently.”
My hand rests on his thigh over the covers, and he sighs into the pillow, the blankets pulled up over his neck and chin.
“My eyes are just gonna close for a minute,” he says on a yawn. “If I poke you in my sleep, it’s a reflex, and I don’t mean it.”
I bite my bottom lip as his eyelids flutter shut, and then I continue to just watch him. I watch him until I’m finally pulled into sleep.
Chapter Five
Max
“Okay, Max, there’s a bit of a problem.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “What happened?”
“Well, I kind of told my parents you were coming with me to visit. And they got the wrong impression and think you’re my boyfriend. And thank god my sisters won’t be there this weekend or they’d cause such a fucking riot over this.”
“What?” I ask, feeling a little overwhelmed by that statement. In just a few weeks, I’ve gone from not being sure I could even be friendly with a gay guy to having one suddenly be my fake boyfriend. To be honest, I don’t really mind the idea of it because it’s Beau. For some reason, things are just different with him. “Why would they think that?”
“Well, I’ve never brought a guy home before. And when I told them we are just friends, they didn’t believe me.”
“Oh,” I say and then pat Doggo’s head. “Well, I guess that makes sense if you’ve never done that before. Does it bother you, them thinking of me as your boyfriend?”
“What? I mean, no. Not at all. If you were gay, I’d just drape myself across you and never let you go. I really have to restrain myself as it is.”
“I thought I wasn’t your type.”
“Oh yes, well, you aren’t. Not at all,” he replies with a grin.
He pats my chest as he takes a sip of his smoothie. He met me for lunch at my place and brought me a sandwich and some chips. It was thoughtful and completely unexpected, but then again, with Beau, everything has been that way. I never know what will come next, and yet, I eagerly await it all.
Beau stares out at my backyard and sighs happily. Doggo is at our feet, snoring slightly, his feet moving as if he’s playing fetch.
“You’re a catch, Max. And like I’ve said, that bed of yours is a real selling point.”
I huff a laugh and peek over at him.
“So are you. A catch, I mean. I’ve never stayed in your bed, so I can’t form an opinion about that though,” I say, and he beams.
“Trust me, my bed is garbage. I’m going to light it on fire one day. And I know I’m a catch but someone is gonna have to wrangle me first. I don’t go so easily into the night.”