Page 38 of On The Run

I couldn’t really argue, not with Gray giving me warm, brown puppy-dog eyes so much like his dad’s.

I followed Gray to his room, and I had to admit his excitement was contagious. I got lost in his enthusiasm as Gray showed me every single one of his Marvel action figures that were set up on a bookshelf on one side of his room. Suddenly, he was shoving a Spider-Man in my hand. “Play with me, Aiden.”

Grinning, I sat on the floor next to him. In the corner of his room was a rug with a collage of all the Avengers on it. It was set up with an insane amount of superhero playsets. I scanned the setup, looking for something specific. My eyes found a Green Goblin figurine and a random dinosaur. I snatched the dinosaur and put him on the top of one of the playsets. “Oh no! Green Goblin kidnapped the dinosaur from theJurassic Parkamusement park and is planning on creating more to take over the world. We have to stop him!”

It was a ridiculous scenario, but when Gray smiled at me, his tongue poking out from his missing teeth, I knew I did well.

“Quick! Use your webs to climb the building!”

I got so lost in playing with the kid, I didn’t even realize we had company until a throat cleared from behind me. Whirling around, my heart in my throat, I relaxed when I saw Max standing by the doorway of the room, leaning against the doorframe with a soft smile on his face.

The way he was standing, his muscular arms were obvious even through his shirt. I swallowed hard, shifting on the suddenly very hard floor.Fuck, did it just get really warm in here?

Max raised his eyebrow at me, and I knew that the fucker realized what he was doing to me. He slowly licked his lips before turning his attention to Gray. “Dinner’s here. Why don’t you clean up your stuff and then the two of you can wash up?”

“But Green Goblin has taken the dinosaurs fromJurassic Parkand we gotta get them out of there before he makes more and takes over the world!”

I flushed, not able to meet Max’s eyes. What sounded like a perfectly reasonable scenario when playing with a kid now sounded so dumb. There was already such an age difference between Max and me. Did he think I was a child? Well, if he didn’t, he probably did now.

“Well, even superheroes and villains need to eat dinner. So how about you just place everything neatly for now, and you can come back to it after dinner, if Aiden doesn’t mind.”

Gray looked at me hopefully, but I finally met Max’s eyes, trying to gauge how he was feeling. There was nothing but warmth in his expression, and maybe, if I wasn’t reading it wrong, lust. He didn’t seem to be judging me or turned off in any way.

In fact, the look he was giving me was intense, and I had to look away before I got a hard-on in Gray’s bedroom. I turned to the kid in question. “I don’t mind at all.”

That seemed to satisfy him, and Gray quickly straightened up our play area before running to the bathroom to clean up. I stood up way more slowly, suddenly feeling a little unsure.

I was still fighting an internal war with myself. It quieted some when playing with Gray, but once Max’s eyes settled back on me, my somewhat subdued mind started screaming at me. This time, though, it wasn’t just self-preservation. The way Max was looking at me right now, like I was his next meal, was doing all the things to me. I was feeling what I’d never felt for another person before, and all my self-doubt and lack of confidence was acting like a physical barrier, keeping me from taking the next step.

I was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t move, speak, couldn’t even look Max in the eyes. All I could do was stare down at my socked feet, my toes digging into the rug, and pray my hard-on wasn’t too obvious.

Before I could gather the courage to do anything, anything at all, Max was in front of me, all up in my personal space. His large hand cupped my cheek, forcing me to look at him. Fuck, it was all I could do to stay still and not jerk my hips up against him. He was so damn close.

“What’s going on in that beautiful brain of yours?”

Max’s thumb caressed my cheek, and I couldn’t help but lean into his touch. No one had ever touched me like that before. No one had ever cared about me the way I thought Max did, and I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand what he could possibly see in me.

“A lot,” I admitted quietly, my eyes closing as I relished his touch.

“Tell me one thing.” Max’s voice was rough, and I knew he was as turned on as I was. One step closer and I bet I could feel his erection pulsing against my leg.

“I don’t understand what you see in me.”

That wasn’t what I wanted to tell him because I knew it wouldn’t go over well, but it slipped out. As I predicted, Max stood stock still, his thumb stopped moving, but, thankfully, he didn’t remove his hand. I didn’t think I could handle that now.

“Hell, Aiden, I don’t think I could possibly put into words everything I see in you, but I’ll try. From the first time I saw you in the coffee shop, wearing that ridiculous orange hat and a fake smile on your face, I was captivated by you. Every damn time I saw you, that feeling only got stronger, and that was before I even really got to know you. Now . . . Now that you’re letting me see just a fragment of the real you, I’m becoming addicted. I think about that sweet smile you give me when you’re not all up in your head, the little glances you steal when you think I’m not looking, and the way you make Gray feel like he’s the only thing that matters when he’s talking to you all the time. I love how your whole face lights up when you talk about punk music or start going on about your newest books. I love how fiercely protective you are of your pops, how you’re willing to put your entire life to the side to take care of him. I love how selfless, how caring, how kind you are without even realizing it. I love how you keep fighting despite the war waging in your head, telling you to run. Fuck, Aiden, you drive me fucking crazy, and I know you have one foot out the door, but just know, if you leave, I will follow. You’re under my skin, and I don’t give up easily.”

Max’s gaze penetrated right through me, and I swore he could see all my inner thoughts. The air was thick around us, and it was holding me in its haze, making it impossible to think. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around a man like Max wantingme.All of those things he said, they couldn’t be true, right? There was no way he really saw me like that. I was a walking, talking mess. Anyone or anything that got close to me broke. He said I was selfless, but I felt like the most selfish person in the world because if I were as selfless as Max thought I was, I’d leave.

I didn’t though. I was fooling myself if I thought I could possibly ever leave again. Instead, I leaned in and let my lips touch his.

Max gasped softly into my mouth, taken by surprise, his soft lips parting slightly. I gripped the sleeve of his shirt and pushed my lips into his with a little more force. I’d barely consider it a kiss—neither of us were moving and there was certainly nothing sexual about it—but I could taste Max on my lips and all of my resolve disappeared.

“Max,” I whispered, though I had no idea what I was going to say.

“Daddy, my hands are washed!” Gray called from somewhere beyond his room. “Can we eat now?”

Max chuckled softly as his lips brushed against mine one more time before he rested his forehead against mine. “Be there in a second, bud!” Max called to his son even as he found my hand.

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