Chapter Eleven
Connor looked around the empty bookstore, surprised to see no oneelse in it at this time of day. He rarely had the place to himself for long,and usually not around noon, when everyone came in for their lunch-hour coffeeand browse through the shelves.
A sound at the back caught Connor’s attention, and he looked up tosee Max walk through the door from the storeroom, a stack of books piled uphigh in his arms, blocking his view.
“I’ll be there in a second,” Max said. “Take a seat if you want.”
“It’s only me,” Connor responded. “Do you need a hand with that?”
“Oh.” Max set the stack down on top of another stack. “Uh, no, I’mokay. I can stop and make you a coffee if you want?”
Connor shook his head. “You look busy, and I was only coming in toask if you were free to come over Saturday night. I know you said the weddingis up to me, but… I’d like your approval on a few things. If you’re free. Andyou want to come. I’ll make dinner.”
Max smiled at that. “Well, if you’re makingdinner…”
Connor breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad Max was gettingcomfortable with him now.
Especially since he hadn’t been able to stop thinking aboutkissing him. Part of him felt guilty for doing it at all, since he hadn’t givenMax a choice in the matter, but the rest of him…
The rest of him wanted to do it again.
And while he couldn’t afford to want that, not if he didn’t wantto lose Max’s trust before they got through this, he couldn’t quitestopwanting it, either.
Max was everything he looked for in a man.
Well, except for the part where he wasn’t attracted to other men.Although, Connor was in the habit of falling for men he couldn’t have, so Maxwasn’t all that different.
“Now’s a good time to put in any requests,” Connor said, eager tomake Max something he’d like.
“I’m not picky,” Max said. “But uh… don’t go to any trouble?Please?”
Connor nodded, planning on ignoring that request entirely. “I’llkeep it… casual.”
Max smiled at him, shelving a book from the top of the stack. Hepicked up another one and juggled it between his hands, pausing as though hewas about to say something, but then sighing and shelving it as well.
“Is everything okay?” Connor asked, not wanting Max to feel asthough he couldn’t say whatever was on his mind.
Max shrugged. “Nervous about this whole… getting married thing, Iguess. It’s nothing. I’ll get over it.”
“Since when are you getting married?” Declan asked, coming aroundthe corner with a stack of books of his own.
Connor’s stomach sank. They’d been caught out, and now Max wouldhave to lie to his boss.
It was one thing to lie to a magazine photographer he was onlygoing to see once more in his life, but another thing entirely to lie to theman who employed him. And as far as Connor could tell, Declan seemed like agood man.
“I…” Max looked between Connor and Declan, obviously torn. “It,I…”
“We are,” Connor said, hoping to save Max the stress of having todecide who to protect.
Declan’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow, uh… congratulations? This is… Idon’t mean to be rude, but it’s kinda… sudden?”
“It’s for a competition,” Max explained. “We… I… Connor is helpingme. There’s prize money. It’s for Zoe.”
Declan’s shoulders slumped as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh,right. That… makes more sense. I thought for a second there that you’d discoveredyour gay side,” he said.
Max looked down at the stack of books he’d been sorting, andblushed.
“Hey, it’s not like it’s impossible,” Declan continued. “I didn’tfigure it out until I came here, so… I guess I just thought maybe you were thesame. Anyway, that’s cool of you to do,” he turned to Connor.
