Page 99 of Worlds Collide

“Where’s Max Jr.?” he says between breaths.

“At the ranch with his uncles,” I mumble.

“It’s kind of adorable that you call them his uncles.”

“Well, they are,” I argue weakly. I’m not used to being called adorable and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Though if CJ likes it then that’s great, I suppose. I’ll be whatever he wants me to be, that’s the one thing I’m sure of after one year of being away from him. And the reminder of that time is what finally gives me the strength to lift my body, then slide out of him as delicately as I can. He winces anyway, and I kiss him in apology when I lie down next to him.

We’ll have to change his sheets later, but that can wait.

“I need to tell you something,” he says quietly before I’ve figured out how to go about telling him I love him—it’s more complicated than it should be. But his words bring back the ball of dread in the pit of my stomach. I look into his eyes while a million awful thoughts flit through my mind about what he could need to say with such seriousness. Before I can have an actual panic attack though, he opens his mouth and paints my whole world in the brightest colors. “I love you, Wolf,” he whispers softly, staring right back at me with a smile.

“Oh, thank God. Damn, you scared me,” I growl immediately and go in for a kiss. I lose myself in the feel of his lips softly caressing mine, so when CJ pulls back, I only lean in more until he pushes me hard as he pulls back again. I don’t want him to get away from me again, in fact I’m almost ready for round two.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me?” he demands curtly. I smirk at him using that high-class tone on me. It works in the exact opposite way than I suspect he wants it to.

“What do you mean?” I play stupid.

“Don’t make me call you Francis again,” he warns and I snort. Hearing him say it again is pretty ridiculous, and I don’t think the fake middle name has the effect he wants it to have either.

“I love you too, CJ,” I say, with a smile still on my face. I comb my fingers through his hair and love him even more when he doesn’t look even a little bit surprised. It’s business as usual for him, and more than anything, that’s what I want for us. I want us to consider our love for each other the most normal and natural of things.

“You cut your hair,” he whispers.

“Yeah. Do you like it?” I worry my bottom lip.

“It fits you just as well as the longer hair,” he tells me with a satisfied sigh.

“I can be inventive and make up names for you too, you know?” I change the subject again because I can. Because he’s right here next to me and we can talk about whatever the fuck we want for as long as we can manage it. “I even have the initials already, so it won’t take much work.”

“Do your worst,” he dares me.

“Clarence Johannes,” I say, lightning fast.

“Johannes?!” he demands, in a clearly offended squawk that has me falling to my back from laughter. He only needs pearls to clutch and he could so be a high-society matriarch. Just imagining it makes me laugh more, and when I do my best to explain it to him through breathless laughs, he snorts once, twice, and then he’s giggling with me.

“Clutching my pearls,” he repeats after me through breathless chuckles.

It feels like the most perfect moment of my life, and it probably is just that. I swear I could sign my life away to him at this moment.

“So what do we do now?” he asks when we settle down. I can only lift a brow at him suggestively and he snorts and swats my shoulder. “I mean between us. Are we really together now? Or are you going to move three-thousand miles away again?” He tries to play it off like a joke, but I can tell he’s worried, so I say the only thing I can think of to put those worries to rest.

“Adam actually suggests we try going out on a date.”

“Oh, you’re taking advice from Adam now?” he teases.

“Yeah, I think I kinda stole your best friend,” I tell him casually and smirk at the way his mouth drops.

“Excuse me,” he actually does look offended then, but I’m pretty sure it’s all an act. Still, I throw an arm around him and drag him closer to whisper right against his mouth where I drop a quick kiss—and fuck, I love that I can just kiss him whenever I want. I’m going to do everything I can to ensure we’re always like this, whatever he wants.

“I’m joking,” I tell him.

“I know you are, Max, lighten up. Why are you so tense?”

“Well, I’m trying to ask you out on a date and I don’t think I’ve ever actually done that before, so excuse me for not being as suave as you want me to be.” Itmightsound like a whine, but come on. I’m out on a limb here. I really don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

“Is it bad that I like that?” he whispers.

“I don’t think it is,” I say just as quietly, and once more raise my hand to play with his hair. “I like it too. So what do you say, you gonna let me take you out tonight?”

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