Page 10 of Peacocks

But—and this bore repeating—while I wasn’t as smart as Lane, I definitely wasn’t stupid. I kissed that man back for all I was worth.

My hands came around to press against his back, holding him close while my lips learned the shape of him. His mouth tasted like Italian Gentleman pasta—the foodIhad cooked for him—and that knowledge, combined with Lane’s own sweetness, made the zesty Italian flavors extra delicious.

Lane’s hands continued to cup my face as I pressed even closer, shifting my hardening cock against the bulge in the front of his soft pants. I silently cursed my thick jeans for keeping me from feeling more of him.

After a moment, my hands moved from his back down to his ass, and I cupped his cheeks with my hands. Lane pulled backenough to groan a curse. But instead of kissing me again, he pressed his forehead to mine.

“I like you, Jay,” he said with a smile. “I like you a lot. You’re just so damnednice.”

It didn’t sound like a criticism, exactly, but like something Lane couldn’t quite comprehend, the same way I didn’t understand some of the podcasts I’d heard him listening to… or how I’d come to be standing in my garage with his face touching mine.

I really, really hoped my niceness wasn’t a dealbreaker for him… but just in case, I started arguing.

“I’m not nice. Not at all. In fact, just yesterday, I saw Mrs. Jackson—Hunter’s mom—heading to the only open cashier at Henson’s Grocery, and I deliberately picked up the pace to beat her there. She had at least twenty cans of diced tomatoes on account of the buy-one-get-one thing they still have going on, and if you know Sherri Wattel at all, you know she’d insist on scanning every single one of them through.”

Lane’s laughter rumbled out of his chest. “Wow. You’re going to hell, Jaybird Proud.”

“Yep.” I nodded eagerly. “Sure am. Of course, Mrs. Jackson and I got to talking, and she asked me to help her out to her car with her bags, so I ended up spending half an hour watching Sherri ring the cans anyway,” I admitted. “But… but that’s not all! I also deliberately didn’t clean out Hector Moore’s ashtray in his truck at the car wash the other day.”

Lane whistled, low and impressed. “Oh, well, now, that’sterrible,” he said, sounding so happy and fond I kept talking.

“Right? I mean, technically, it’s because Hector knows how I feel about his smoking. I warned him he was gonna have to clean his own butts from now on, kinda hoping it would help him kick the habit, but he still lookedrealdisappointed.”

“Mmhm.” Lane rubbed his nose against mine.

I racked my brain, trying to think of something even worse that I’d done. When I took a deep breath and inhaled Lane’s scent, the answer came to me.

“Not only that, but I got a call asking for old coat donations… and I didn’t donate, even though I do, in fact, have an old coat right now.” I nodded once, firmly, because that ought to convince him. It had been a purely selfish choice on my part. Not nice atall.

But Lane only seemed tickled pink by my admission… which kinda concerned me.

Was he evil?

When he pulled back and smirked—the man was unlawfully good-looking, especially when his eyes twinkled like that—I decided I didn’t care if he was. Evil looked real good on him.

“There was a perfectly good,nicereason you chose not to donate your coat, wasn’t there?” he teased. “Go on. Admit it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I’d prefer more kissing to this interrogation, thank you very much.”

“I’ll kiss you for every evil deed you tell me about. Howbout that?”

“Mfh.”

He chuckled, and the sound made my stomach fizz like soda pop. “Tell me why you didn’t donate the coat, Jay.”

I realized I was stuck. I either had to lie to someone I never wanted to lie to… or I had to reveal something embarrassing.

If given the choice between hurting him and humoring him, I’d have to choose humor every time. So I confessed the truth.

“Because it’s the one I brought you that day you left yours at home, and it still smells like you.”

Chapter Three

Lane

Jay’s wordslingered in the air between us.

It still smells like you.

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