That was it. He was just reacting to being taken care of, andhaving a warm body near his.
It was a weird feeling, but it was just a feeling. It’d pass. Hewould have forgotten about it by tomorrow.
“Better?” Connor asked.
Max swallowed, chasing the last of the feeling away. “Uh, yeah.Thanks.”
Connor smiled a bright, warm smile, and backed away. “Come on. Iwanna show you the beginning of my mood board for the wedding.”
Max had no idea what that meant, but the larger space and coolerair of the living room sounded really good right now. The air in the bathroomhad gotten hot and close all of a sudden.
He stood and followed Connor, forcing himself not to touch hishair, and decided not to think about it.
The feeling was gone now, and it didn’t need to mean anything morethan that Max was lonely and liked to be taken care of every now and then.
That was all it had to be.
Chapter Nine
Connor sighed as he rolled over for what felt like the thousandthtime, shuffling the blankets and pillows he was surrounded by to get comfyagain.
He was never really a great sleeper, but tonight was rougher thanusual. Between all the nervous excitement of the competition and… other things,sleep was proving hard to find.
Other things being Max. For example, the way Max had relaxed underhis hands, his chest rising and falling slowly, the tempting expanse of smoothskin on his chest and back begging for Connor’s touch.
Not that he would ever have touched Max anywhere he didn’t havepermission to, but that didn’t stop him fromwantingto run hisfingertips down his neck, brush his thumb over Max’s nipple to make it peak,trail his hand lower…
He’d been dreaming about something like that. Or half-dreaming,anyway, in the strange place between wake and sleep that he’d been in most ofthe night.
A glance at his alarm clock told him it was a little after two.Way too early to give up on sleep just yet.
Connor rolled onto his back, sighing again. He closed his eyes,and his mind brought back the image of Max from his dream. Naked, laying in thebath with his head tilted back, eyes closed, letting Connor bathe him.
His skin glistened with droplets of water, the low light ofscented candles just enough to see by. Max was beautiful like this, soft andrelaxed, happy to let himself be taken care of.
Connor wanted to laugh at himself overthisbeing hisfantasy, but… it was. Max was sweet, and needy, and Connor wanted to help him.
That was histhing. He liked to help. Weddings were the wayhe’d chosen to make himself useful, but for Max…
Max wasgorgeous.
He shouldn’t have been thinking of him like that. It was adangerous road to go down.
But it wasn’t as though Max ever had toknow, and if therewas one surefire way to get to sleep...
Connor bit his lip, sliding his own hand down his stomach as heimagined doing the same thing to Max, dipping gingerly below the waterline,looking up to check that this was still okay.
His skin tingled at his own touch, the arousal that had simmereddown to glowing embers suddenly flaring up again. Just the thought of touchingMax was enough to send blood rushing to his cock.
He wanted to believe Max would enjoy this. In the safety of hisown mind, Max didn’t have to be straight. This was just a fantasy.
Besides, he’d never exactly saidstraight. Justnot gay.
To Connor, there was a world of difference between those twothings.
He trailed his hand lower, wrapping his fingers around his cock ashe imagined doing the same to Max, curling his fingers around the thick length.Max was a big guy--a few inches taller than Connor, and solidly built, withbroad shoulders and strong arms.
He’d have a great cock. Connor didn’t really have to wonder aboutthat.
