Page 16 of Fear of Flying

“It’ll be okay. This, you can make room for,” Drew said confidently from behind the counter at the elaborate beverage bar. “Mint tea helps with digestion.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Zach said as he smiled over at Drew, whose eyes lingered on Zach’s for more than just a beat, managing to steal Zach’s breath from halfway across the room. After a moment, Zach ducked his head, feeling a blush rise up in his cheeks. “Ah, I realized... we kinda blew right past the whole, um, date thing.”

“Date thing?” Drew asked softly, a slight roughness to his voice that made Zach’s eyes dart right back to Drew’s.

“Yeah . . .” Zach breathed.

Drew was watching him, and Zach couldn’t quite read his expression. “It, uh, didn’t feel like a date... to you?”

Ah, god. Had it? He had no idea what a date felt like—he’d only read about them, watched them on a screen. “I... guess... not?”

There was an entirely-too-long silence during which Drew was looking down at the counter, quite obviously focusing on making the tea, but with his brow furrowed, and Zach’s anxiety meter began to go haywire. Had he said something wrong?

Desperate to fill the silence, Zach tried his best to hedge his bets. “I mean, it—it certainly didn’t seem typical for a first date, you know? And maybe—maybe that’s just because we’re so distracted and out of our element here—here in this gigantic room and all its fanciness. Maybe?”

Drew lifted the two mugs and came back around to the large dining room table. He set one mug in front of Zach and the other where he’d been sitting, then he cleared his throat and settled back down in his chair. Zach murmured a quick thanks as he watched Drew carefully... but while also trying not to look like he was staring too expectantly.

“Um...” Drew trailed off, fiddling with the paper and string of the tea bag in his mug. When he looked up at Zach again, he was biting his lower lip and his eyes seemed to hold some sort of nervousness. “I’m definitely out of my element here, but, um, it’s not the room...”

“It—it’s not?” Zach’s nerves were jumping around everywhere, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the conversation or Drew’s nearness now that they were sitting next to each other at the table again.

Drew shook his head, and Zach tried to keep his breaths slow and even while he waited for more of an answer. “This—this is all, um...” Drew trailed off once more, letting out a nervous huff of laughter.

For some reason, Zach’s nerves felt a bit more settled as he reached over and covered Drew’s hand with his own.

Drew took a deep breath as his eyes found Zach’s. “I’ve never... really... dated before.”

“Oh! Oh good! I mean, not that it’s good you never dated because that’s kinda sad, honestly, and—” Zach stopped himself and watched in horror as Drew’s face fell. He shook his head emphatically. “Oh god! No, no, no! I meant me! Me... I-I’ve never been on a date before either! Ever. I have absolutely zero clue what I’m doing, and I’m sorry I didn’t mean—”

Suddenly, Drew’s lips were pressed against Zach’s, and there were warmth and sparks, tendrils of electricity running through him. Zach inhaled sharply against Drew’s lips, even as he brought his hand up to touch Drew’s face and moved his mouth tentatively, unsure and overwhelmed all at once, but hell if he wanted to ever stop. Seconds later, though, Drew was pulling back, his cheeks tinted pink and his lips parted. Drew’s eyes held a touch of concern, as though he were searching Zach’s face for something.

“Ohmygod . . .” Zach breathed as his hand dropped slowly back to the table. That was . . . He wanted . . . “More—oh, no wait, I mean . . . God, we should probably talk about . . . Hell, I don’t even know. I just . . .”

“More?” Drew rasped.

Zach nodded emphatically and reached eagerly with both hands for Drew’s face even as Drew leaned back in. Zach felt the soft roughness of Drew’s closely shaven facial hair against his fingers and decided he really, really liked it. The warmth and electricity were right there again, sparking every time Drew parted his lips to move against Zach’s, and all Zach wanted was more of whatever this feeling was. All too soon, Drew was pulling back, his gray-blue eyes seeming to darken as they searched Zach’s face again. Zach let his fingertips run gently over Drew’s jawline and down his chin before he rested them awkwardly in his own lap.

“I, uh...” Drew took a few quick and trembling breaths, his chest rising and falling pretty much as rapidly as Zach’s was. “That... that was my first kiss. I mean second, um, technically, just now... I, um... I’m not—not sure if I did it... right, but oh god, it felt right. To me... at least to me, it did?”

Zach was speechless for a second and could only nod. But then he managed to find his voice. “Me too, uh, mine too. Damn, if that was wrong, I don’t want you to figure out the right way.”

Drew started laughing, a breathy, gorgeous laugh that made Zach’s chest feel lighter and warmer and filled with an excited wonder. Who was this man who seemed to make everything so magical?

Chapter Seven

Drew

Holy shit. Wow. It was like magic. It actually—god, it actually felt like magic. Zach was smiling at him, laughing lightly along with Drew, and his mind was just racing, spinning, tumbling. God, all he could think of was how he wanted more, more of whatever this amazing, intoxicating, thrilling feeling was. He felt like he was lit up from the inside, sparks of magic and threads of arousal spreading throughout his body like he’d never felt before. It was phenomenal. Breathtaking.

“We—we should... talk?” Zach said tentatively, still slightly breathless, as was Drew.

“I... don’t want to? I mean, yes, but—God, if that was even half as good for you as it was for me”—Zach was nodding—“then, uh, talking seems like... not fun?” Drew huffed out a breath. “Ah, sorry, um, I don’t even know what I’m saying... I’m not sure I’m capable of higher thought right now.”

“Me neither.” Zach chuckled and shook his head. God, his eyes were so perfectly blue and distracting as hell.

Drew splayed his hands out on the table top and was now acutely aware of the arms of both their chairs and the edges of the table and how they separated him from Zach more than he would have liked. He glanced around at the rest of the expansive living space. “Um, do you want— Should we move to the couch with our tea?” Drew suggested.

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds good,” Zach agreed.