Merry Cherry Christmas

“Great, thanks. Um…” He cast about for something to say and stupidly landed on, “Is there really a delay on the LSAT results?”

Max bristled. “You think I’m lying?”

“No!” Jeremy floundered. “I just thought… Well, maybe you didn’t want to talk about it because you’re not happy with how you did.”

Rubbing his face, Max sighed. “Sorry. Don’t know why I got so defensive. It’s not you.” He briefly squeezed Jeremy’s shoulder. “It really is delayed.”

Jeremy itched to soothe him, but a hug was probably way too much. Instead, he tentatively took hold of Max’s arm. “Whatever happens, it’ll be okay.”

Max exhaled sharply. “Yeah. I… Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

Jeremy smiled, and his hand was still on Max’s arm, and maybe hugging him wouldn’t be too weird? Friends hugged. He could make it one of those back-slapping bro hugs. But the moment stretched out too long, and he had to drop his hand. They stared at each other, and Jeremy fiddled with his new glasses.

“I should run that errand,” Max said, jerking his thumb toward the stairs.

“Right. Yep. I’ll unpack or whatever.”

Max nodded, but at the top of the staircase, he spun back. “Or if you want to come with me, you can see more of the area.”

“Sure.” He tried hard to hit a casual tone. “That would be cool.”

Jeremy practically skipped after him, the fa-la-la-la-la on the radio earlier echoing in his head.

Chapter Eight

One kiss wouldn’t hurt.

Max scoffed at himself as he turned Valerie’s old pickup onto the main road under a gray sky. One kiss would be a disaster because there was no way it wouldn’t turn into more. Way more. He fiddled with the radio, settling on the rock station playing Tragically Hip. Jeremy gazed out the window from the passenger seat, apparently engrossed in the snowy forest and the odd house they passed.

It wasn’t supposed to be this hard.

He’d known Jeremy barely a week. It should be easier to hit the pause button. He’d had casual sex before. He’d had friends-with-benefits arrangements that had come and gone for whatever reason.

He hadn’t struggled with the kind of desire that had been simmering all day being with Jeremy, threatening to boil over. It wasn’t just that he wanted to suck and fuck. He wanted to hold Jeremy and feel him close. He could kiss him for hours, teasing out sweet little whimpers…

He wanted Jeremy to take off his seatbelt and slide across the bench seat to tuck up under his arm. He’d gotten it in his head that Jeremy smelled and tasted like cherries, which was obviously not true. He even knew it for a fact, but he longed for it anyway. He wanted to make Jeremy smile—which was totally something he was allowed to do.

The problem was that Jeremy’s smile made Max want to lean over and catch his mouth in a kiss.

He had to admit he really liked that he was the only guy Jeremy had ever kissed. Although for all he knew, he wasn’t anymore. Jeremy might have gone out last night and hooked up. He might have gone on the app and invited some rando to his room. It was none of Max’s business.

“You okay?” Jeremy asked.

Max realized he was gripping the steering wheel like it was about to be ripped from his hands. He forced a laugh and unclenched. “Yep. Thought there was a patch of ice.”

After another minute of silence, the radio station transitioning to Led Zeppelin, Jeremy said, “Your family’s great. And I’m not sure I’ve seen a house more Christmassy in my life.”

Max laughed. “I did warn you.”

“You did,” Jeremy agreed with a smile. “So what’s the story with the guys who run this Christmas tree farm?”

“Nick Spini and his ‘young lover’ were quite the scandal a few years back. Not only an age difference, but Nick is a total daddy. Like, a kinky daddy. As Meg said, they’re both hot. Tongues were wagging, but Pinevale’s also the most boring place ever, so it was the first exciting thing that happened since a Boston Pizza opened.”

“People are okay with them being gay?”

“Yep. I’m sure there are some people secretly disapproving because they’re joyless dipshits, but the farm has done better than ever since Hunter moved in and ramped up the marketing and stuff. Nick was alone for a long time after his partner died, out there with his dog hiding from the world.”

“Wow. That’s so sad. How did they meet?”

Max grinned. “Nick got roped into playing Santa at the old mall, and Hunter was his elf. Not gonna lie, my imagination went pretty wild on that one. I bet it was naughty and damn nice.”

Jeremy looked a little scandalized, which was adorable. He laughed. “That’s…yeah, that’s…” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Kinda hot.”

Max tore his eyes back to the road. “Anyway, they seem really happy.”