Page 35 of Flirting With Fire
“Pro tip. Got it.” I was leaning with my back against one of the uneven walls—or more accurately—the misshapen compacted dirt and rock surface that was passing for a wall. I did an ungraceful slide to the ground, fighting the ridiculous urge to hold my breath in case I accidentally used up all the oxygen. “But they’ll be here soon, right?”
Damn, but I sounded like a kid. Meyer joined me on the ground, sitting close enough that our knees almost touched.
He gave me a small smile. “I’m sure they will. This is only a precaution.”
My mind traveled to a dark place where Kayla would have her last immediate family member torn from her. Then there was the ranch. How would she handle that? What would Cal and his family do? I didn’t even have a will or trust or anything. I’d be leaving everyone with a big fat mess to deal with. What a fool I was. Why hadn’t I listened to Meyer when he told me to wait?
My throat closed up. Oh my God.Meyer.What would Lindy do? She’d already lost her husband, her health wasn’t the best, and now I was about to take her son from her.
My eyes burned. “I’m such an asshole.” The words flew from my mouth before I could bite them back.
He pinched his eyebrows together. “Where did that come from?”
I hung my head. How could I possibly look him in the eye? “I should’ve listened to you instead of being so pig-headed about waiting. Now I’ve put both of us in danger.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Dex. You were trying to do the right thing.”
“Maybe so, but it was thewrongthing. I screwed up, and now we’re trapped.”
“Stop it, Dex.” He patted my knee. “You get a hall pass for trying to help a hurt kid.”
I grunted. “Yeah, sure. I’ve been a real help so far.”
“Is this the type of stubbornness I have to look forward to?” he said with a stern tone.
I jerked up my head and was met with a wink. I let out a relieved chuckle. For a second, I thought he might be genuinely angry. The thought of such a thing tugged at my heart, and I had to wonder what we were doing. Not in the moment, but overall.
Ever since the day before in the rental, we’d been indulging ourselves in a flirtatious dance. At first, I thought it was me, that I was fantasizing about something—someone—I couldn’t have, that I was repeating what I’d done with Meyer in high school.
But now I realized that whatever this was, it had nothing to do with teenage crushes. This was two men sparking off of each other. We were big boys now.
I snorted.Meyer especially.
Meyer tilted his head. “What’s so funny?”
Picking up a loose rock that was about the size of a walnut, I started doodling in the sandy dirt. Looking him in the eye while I took a step into shaky territory wasn’t possible.
“Thinking about some stuff.” So far, so vague.
“Well, you’ve got my undivided attention, so out with it.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you can’t run from me.”
“You can’t run, either,” he said softly.
I lifted my gaze, too curious to see his expression to resist. He was gazing at me with… affection?
“I haven’t been…”
Okay, so maybe I had been—in my own way. I certainly hadn’t eagerly accepted Lindy’s idea of renting my place to him or jumped up and down with excitement over coming to dinner. But if I were ever to unravel the mysterious push-pull between us that was driving me up a wall, I’d have to make discomfort my friend.
This time, I locked eyes with him. “I need to ask you something before we dive head-first into baring our souls. Did you have an issue with being gay when we were in high school?”
Meyer tensed, frowning as if I’d just threatened him. “Where thehelldid that come from?”
I let out a groan. Sure, the question has been burning a hole in my brain ever since I found out about Meyer’s ex-boyfriend. But perhaps I shouldn’t have led with it.
“It’s just…”Words, Dex. Use your words. “You were such adude. A total jock. And you always acted like I had some sort of mysterious disease whenever you were around me. At the time, I assumed it meant it was because I was gay. But then you tell me about your ex-boyfriend, so now I don’t know what the hell to think.”
