“I like scrambled,” Connor agreed. “Is that my shirt?”
Max looked down at the shirt he was wearing, tugging on thetoo-short hem. “Yeah, unless mine spontaneously shrunk.”
“It suits you,” Connor said, leaning back. He obviously wasn’t shyabout being naked.
He really didn’t need to be. He looked as good and put-togetherout of clothes as he did in them.
“And you’re making me breakfast,” Connor continued. “Going for fiancéof the year?”
“Do you normally have more than one fiancé a year?” Max asked.
“Not normally, no. You’re my first, actually. But there could be aprize or something, if you wanted.”
“I just wanna have breakfast with you,” Max said, shrugging as hepoked at the scrambled eggs.
Connor made a soft sound. “That’s… incredibly sweet,” he said.“For the record, it’s nice to have you here in the morning.”
Max scraped the eggs from the bottom of the pan, turning them overso the curds would stay fluffy as the eggs set.
“Well, I gotta eat and run, but…” Max looked up at Connor. “I hadfun last night.”
“Good,” Connor said. “Fun is good.”
Max swallowed. “Listen… I still don’t know what’s going on withme, and I’ve got all these feelings, and I just… I don’t want you to feel likeI’m jerking you around, and I want you to know that whatever this is… it meanssomethingto me.”
Connor’s expression changed instantly, from lazy and half-awake tosoft and kind. “Max, it’s okay. I get it. You’ve had so much shit going on inyour life for so long, and I’m not gonna add to that. I like you enough to takewhatever I can get, and I trust you not to hurt me.”
Max felt as though that was maybe a little too much faith to putin him--he would never have hurt Connor on purpose, not for the world, but hewas new at this.
He had no idea how to have a relationship, and that part wasturning out to be scarier than the part where Connor was a man.
It was easy enough for Max to accept that he was attracted to men.To Connor, at least, who was single, age-appropriate, and always kind to him.
It was harder to know what to do next, with everything that wasgoing on. He had maybe twenty minutes before he needed to be out of here, andthen he wouldn’t have another free evening until Saturday.
Connordefinitelydeserved better than that. He deservedsomeone who had time to be with him.
All the same… Max didn’t want to let him go. He’d just foundsomeone he really felt connected to, and he didn’t want to lose that.
The half-finished bunting Connor had been working on when hepricked his thumb last night caught Max’s eye.
Connor deserved better, and he was going to at leasttrytogive it to him.
“We should have a craft night,” he said.
Connor looked up at him, one eyebrow raised.
“I mean… you’re doing a ton of stuff for this wedding, and I’m…not.”
“You’re busy,” he said. “I don’t mind.”
“I’m busy, yeah, butyoucould be busy, too. You said youwere holding off on taking clients until this was over. You could be working,but you’re taking time off for me. I wanna help. I mean… I suck at crafts, butI’m good at following simple instructions and holding stuff.”
Connor looked him up and down, but didn’t say anything.
“You’re doing almost all of this by hand, right? I mean, you keptkinda hinting, but I just realized how much work that is.”
“I don’t mind,” Connor repeated. “It’s for a good cause.”
