“This is okay,” Max said, holding his glass of wine up aftertaking a sip. “Thank you. For… all this. I know it was a ploy to get me to comeover, but it’s nice.”
Connor swallowed.
He couldn’t kiss Max. No matter how much he wanted to. It’d ruineverything they were working for if he made a move.
But he really,reallywanted to.
“You’re welcome,” he said instead, pushing aside the impulse toscoot just a little closer to Max.
Max needed a friend right now. Not a sad gay boy drooling overhim.
Connor needed a friend, too. Way more than he needed a doomedfling that’d ruin his chances of getting his career back off the ground.
At least, that was what he was telling himself.
The wedding was more important than his hopeless crush.
Chapter Fourteen
Max groaned as he straightened up, wiping sweat from his brow.Riley hadn’t been kidding when he said this was hard work.
He glanced over at the fence the saplings had been lined upagainst, breathing a sigh of relief when he noticed there were only a handfulmore to go. They must have put in twenty or thirty by now.
Max hadn’t thought to count when they started.
“We’re getting there,” Riley said. “Glad I had you here to help.”
When Riley had first offered him the job, Max had assumed it waspurely out of charity, but by then, he was desperate enough to take a littlecharity.
Now that they were almost done, he could see that it would havebeen nearly impossible for Riley to do it himself. Brent might’ve helped,otherwise, but it was probably better for their general marital harmony thatRiley got help from someone else.
Max didn’t mind being bossed around a little. Not that Riley hadbeen unreasonable at all.
“I really appreciate the extra work,” Max said sincerely. Hismuscles ached and he’d hate himself in the morning, but he never felt like hewas accomplishing anything on weekends. This made him feel better.
“Well, any extra work I have is yours if you want it,” Riley said.“It’s time for me to start doing something with my life again. So I thought…why not apples?”
Max chuckled at that. He didn’t know Riley well, but he got theimpression from other people that this was how he always was.
Riley had sought him out a while back, offered him a few small jobshere and there. Max had taken them eagerly, and they’d been building in scopeand complexity ever since.
Riley was kind, and he paid fairly, so Max liked him. He seemed tohave a million stories to tell, and Max never got tired of that, either.
“Why not apples,” Max agreed. “This is gonna be beautiful, whenthese trees really get started.”
“It is,” Riley said. “This is a beautiful place. I used to lovecoming here as a kid. Mostly for Brent, but partly because once you cross theback fence you’re in the wilderness. We had so many adventures when we werekids.”
Max couldn’t help but smile at the way Riley talked about Brent.He was clearly a man very much in love with his husband.
“You’re welcome here anytime, by the way,” Riley said. “If youneed to… talk, or get away, or whatever. You don’t even have to talk, if youdon’t wanna. There’s a spare room and everything.”
Max swallowed. “That’s, uh… that’s generous of you,” he said.
It gave him a little more confidence that Riley wouldn’t refusethe request he was about to make.
“Seriously, anytime. We’d love to have you.”
Max cleared his throat. “Actually, I was gonna ask you a favor,”he said.
