Merry Cherry Christmas

“Don’t encourage her,” Nick grumbled. “You’d think we ignored her all day.” He scratched his salt and pepper beard. Max stood and squinted at the toque Nick was wearing. Was the pink wool threaded with…glitter?

Nick frowned, then yanked off the hat with a muttered curse, shooting Hunter a death glare. Hunter grinned, his blue eyes gleaming with amusement. Nick said to Max, “Thanks for the syrup. Your folks need any more greenery?”

“Nope, we’re good. I love the hat by the way.”

“It suits him, right?” Hunter asked with pretend innocence.

“It matches the green plaid,” Jeremy offered with real innocence that made Max want to kiss him all over again.

“That’s what I said!” Hunter exclaimed. He drew Nick’s face down and pressed a kiss to his bearded cheek. “See?”

Shaking his head and clearly fighting a smile, Nick marched back to the barn, Ella on his heels. Hunter snickered. “I gave it to him as a gag last Christmas, but the inside is super soft, and he secretly loves it.”

Max held out his fist, and Hunter bumped it.

“Let me grab the syrup from you.”

“Also, do you mind if we walk over and get a few pics of the farm? Jeremy needs some Insta shots.”

“No prob. Want me to show you around?”

Of course they did, and Hunter took them to all the best spots for pictures. It was cold and the snow was deep, but the wind was mellow. Jeremy’s cheeks were pink by the time they returned to the truck, and while he quickly replied to his dad’s text, Max stared at him biting his lip in concentration.

Maybe if Max just gave in and kissed him one more time, he’d get it out of his system…

They headed for home, Jeremy’s glasses fogging up as the truck’s heat kicked in. He took them off and wiped them on his scarf before digging a crumpled tissue out of his pocket.

“That was great. I’ve never… We saw lots of couples on Church Street and stuff, but it was cool seeing two guys who actually live together.” He shook his head. “That’s dumb.”

“It’s not.”

“I mean, obviously plenty of same-sex couples live together.”

“Right. But there’s knowing that and seeing it for yourself.”

Jeremy nodded eagerly. “Exactly. You get it. It’s all been so theoretical for me. Then I met you.” He ducked his head, cleaning his glasses so vigorously the tissue ripped. He put on his glasses and kept his gaze on the road ahead. “I don’t just mean…what we did together. Meeting you has expanded my world so much in, like, a week. Thank you.”

For a moment, Max couldn’t breathe and he sure as hell couldn’t speak as he turned onto the narrow highway. He wanted to tell Jeremy that it had been the best surprise and there was so much more he wanted to show him.

Not just sex—he wanted to take him to all the Instagramable places, and all the queer places where they could be themselves and see themselves, and show him…everything. More than that, he wanted to discover new places together.

But would they even be living in the same city next year? He’d applied to law school in Toronto, but also Kingston, Halifax, Ottawa, Calgary, and Vancouver. Depending on his LSAT results, he might not even be accepted. He might not even want to go.

This was exactly why they needed to hit pause. Max had to decide what he wanted before getting carried away with a sexy, adorable new guy.

He cleared his throat. “No prob. Anytime.”

“Have a good time?”

Max whipped around to find Meg closing his door. She leaned against it, head tilted and arms crossed, a too-innocent smile on her face. He said, “Yeah. Sure. Hunter says hi.”

Her smile didn’t alter. “You guys were gone for a while.”

“Yeah, they showed Jeremy around.”

Her arms dropped and so did the smile. “Dude, come on. You said you weren’t fucking him!”

“I’m not! We went to the Spini farm to drop off the syrup, and they gave us a little tour for Jeremy. We didn’t do anything else.” It was the truth, after all. He waited with hands on his hips.

Meg’s gaze narrowed. “Okay. You seem to be telling the truth.”

He huffed. “You and your ‘tell.’” It still bugged that she wouldn’t tell him what it was.

“You’re the one with the tell when you lie. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. So let’s say I believe you that this excursion was all business. But you want to fuck him. And you already have.”

“No, I haven’t.” Depending on one’s definition of the word. Max turned back to his duffel, emptying it into the laundry basket in the corner.

“Did you bring anything that doesn’t need to be washed?”

“Of course not.”

“Me either, to be fair. Also? You’re lying.”

He held out his hands in protest, running over every movement he’d made. What the hell gave it away?