“Anyway, my mom caught me,” Zach said. “She yelled, I jumped, the vase hit the hardwood floor in the hall and shattered.”
Zach paused to clear his throat. “There’s a little scar on my jaw from where her nails caught it when I tried to duck the first hit,” he finished, his hand going reflexively to his jaw.
Flynn hadn’t noticed it before, but he hadn’t been looking all that closely, either.
He took a step toward Zach, unsure whether or not he’d be wanted in Zach’s personal space right now. Zach didn’t make any attempt to get away from him, so Flynn took another step.
Once he was close enough, he reached out, moving Zach’s hand away gently and replacing it with his own. The scar was barely perceptible under his thumb, curving under Zach’s jaw. Not a huge injury, but bad enough for a three-year-old.
Especially from someone they trusted.
“Shouldn’t have happened to you,” Flynn murmured, keeping his voice low and soothing. All his older-brother protective instincts were going nuts, and for once they were directed at someone who appreciated them, and Flynn wanted, more than anything, to wrap Zach up in his arms and never let him go.
He’d wanted that since the beginning. Zach spoke to something in him, an instinct that had never quite been satisfied.
The need to have someone to love, unconditionally, who’d at least let himdothat, even if they didn’t love him back. Who wouldn’t take advantage of him for it.
And he wasn’t there yet with Zach, not quite. He was still feeling out the edges of their relationship, still unsure of exactly what he wanted, but he could have gotten there. If Zach gave him a little more time, a little more trust, a few more small, hard-won smiles…
Flynn knew himself well enough to know who he could and couldn’t fall in love with, and Zach was definitely in thecouldcategory.
“It was a long time ago,” Zach said, just as softly as Flynn had.
Even in this huge, light-filled space, the air suddenly felt close.
Flynn leaned in, forgetting himself for a moment. He paused barely an inch from Zach’s lips, remembering that he wasn’t supposed to justdothis.
“Can I kiss you?” he murmured, lips dangerously close to brushing against Zach’s as he spoke.
Zach drew a sharp, shuddering breath, and nodded.
Flynn surged forward, the force enough to back Zach up a couple of steps, pushing his back to the wall. For the first few seconds, the only thing he could think about was the way blood was pounding in his ears, the overwhelming rush of his own heartbeat blocking out all other sensation.
But then the pounding eased back, and Zach’s lips parted just a little, and Flynn started to relax. He eased off, took his time to brush their noses together, smiling to himself. Without consciously deciding to, he widened his stance to shield Zach from the rest of the room, his heart wanting to shield him from everyone who’d ever hurt him.
That was what older brothers did, and that, Flynn was fairly sure, was what husbands did, too.
And maybe they’d gone into this as a quick fix to an immediate problem, but Flynn was on board now, and he felt like one of those old-timey people in an arranged marriage, slowly realizing that this really wasn’t so bad after all.
Zach made a soft, needy noise under him, and he tasted like orange juice and toothpaste, and he smelled clean and warm andtempting. Flynn paused to take a breath and then pressed their lips together again, parting his own just a little to soften them.
He gasped as Zach’s tongue brushed against him, heart pounding again, but he really,reallywasn’t opposed to it. Warmth flooded his belly, the familiar tightness of arousal catching him off-guard, anddamn.
He could have gotten used to this.
The sound of the door opening behind them made Zach jump, which made Flynn back away. His face was hot, and he reflexively scratched the back of his neck as he stepped aside, trying to pretend…
Well, not trying topretendanything, really. Just trying not to make out with Zach in front of company, which always seemed polite.
Zach rushed over to the young woman who’d just come in, taking things out of her overladen arms. It took Flynn’s brain a few moments to come online again, but once he got back to full function he headed over to help as well, taking the remainder of the bags.
“New boyfriend?” she asked as though Flynn wasn’t standing right there.
Zach looked at him, obviously unsurewhatthey were to each other, and Flynn didn’t have an answer, either.
He liked the wayboyfriendsounded.
“He’s my husband, actually,” Zach said, smiling a wicked, teasing smile at Flynn. “Long story. Uh, Flynn, this is Suki. She routinely makes me cry over how good she is at what she does.”
