“I tried to make my mother go to Florida; I thought she’d like me to get her a house there in the winter, but that didn’t go over too well,” said Zach wistfully.
“Maybe it will be different now that you’ve cleared the air.”
“Maybe, but I think she’ll still want to be close to me. Years of habit won’t change overnight.”
That smacked of unfairness to Sam, but he could hardly criticize Zach’s mother, knowing how close they were. Treading carefully, he hoped his answer was nonjudgmental. “You’ll probably need to sit down with her and talk again. Today was a good beginning, though.”
Zach blinked and glared at him. “You’ve managed to steer the conversation away from you back to me again. Nice try.”
“It wasn’t deliberate. Ask me something else.”
“You know,” said Zach, a glimmer of humor returning to his eyes, “I’m not here to interrogate you. I only wanted to get to know you better. I’m kind of a novice at this myself. Having Julian and Marcus as friends didn’t make for the best role models for healthy relationships.”
“I imagine Marcus has never had a relationship with anyone.”
“Oh, he’s had hundreds of relationships; the problem is they all last only one or two days. He loves everyone.” Zach’s good humor faded. “I wish I knew how to help him. He refuses to talk about himself or anything personal. He’s always been like that.”
“Then you’ll have to wait. Forcing him to talk will ruin your friendship. When he’s ready, he’ll come to you. But Julian and Nick seem like a solid couple.”
“Yeah.” Brightness lit Zach’s face. “They knew each other in high school and only recently got back together. I’m so happy for Julian. He loves Nick so much, always has.”
Sam liked this happy, smiling Zach, until he asked casually, “Have you ever been in a serious relationship?”
Fuck. Thoughts darted everywhere in an effort to figure out what to say and not say.
Apparently Sam no longer had the blank cop face it took years to perfect, as Zach now stared at him, tense and unsmiling.
“You don’t have to answer me.” He shifted on the sofa and stood. “I think I’m gonna go. I have stuff to do. Work…” He headed to the front door.
The drifting sadness in Zach’s voice, the finality of him walking toward the door, snapped Sam out of his lassitude. If Zach left now, Sam knew he wouldn’t see him again, and that was unacceptable. He rushed to block Zach’s departure, standing close enough to feel Zach’s breath blow hot against his neck.
“Don’t go.”
“There’s no point,” said Zach tiredly. “You shut down on me as soon as I mention a former lover. I never thought you were a virgin, Sam. I’m only trying to discover how and if we fit together.”
“We do. Better than I have with anyone, ever.” Honesty was the only way with someone like Zach. His kind of caring was obvious from the moment they met. Sam supposed it was what drew him to Zach in the first place. Being in his presence imbued a person with his warm and gentle spirit and steadfast loyalty. It made him a man impossible to forget.
“Tell me. Tell me how. Not with your body.” Zach pulled away when Sam leaned down to kiss him. “I already know the sex is amazing. Talk to me. Let me know what’s in your head. You have to know by now I’m the least judgmental person you’ll ever meet.”
“I used to be happy.” His voice caught, and he cleared his throat. Shit. Could he really do this? If he wanted to keep Zach, yeah. And he needed Zach. He didn’t know how it happened, or why it was Zach and not any other man, but he wasn’t questioning the vagaries of fate. Things were and shit happened.
“I was in a relationship for almost two years. We were total opposites but laughed about it, saying we complemented each other’s differences. And all that was fine until he got tired of me.”
Somehow he’d ended back on the sofa, Zach pressed up to his side.
“Andy started hanging around with his single friends; he never liked Henry and his wife, thought they were boring. He became all about the party scene and the clubs. He’d go out when I was on shift or too tired. I didn’t care ’cause I trusted him, and clubbing was never my scene.”
“We have that in common,” said Zach, smiling into the curve of Sam’s neck. “I’m all about the sofa, Netflix, and some Pad Thai.”
That sounded pretty fucking awesome to Sam right about now. The only thing better would be fast-forwarding to later tonight when he hoped to be naked on this very sofa with an equally naked Zach riding him. The thought sent a flush of pleasure racing through him, and he slipped his arm around Zach, hugging him close.
“I think that can be arranged later, what do you say?”
“I say keep—” Zach’s pocket vibrated and rang. “Hmm. That’s Julian. He never calls unless it’s important.”
“Go ahead and take it.”
Shooting him a disapproving look, Zach touched the screen to turn on his phone. “We aren’t finished yet.”
