Sex & Sourdough (38 page)

“You don’t know the half of it.” Anders rolled his eyes. Then he scrunched his eyebrows together and looked at Kevin seriously. “They’re not nice people, Kevin. My parents are affectionate enough, but they’re…. They treat everyone else in the world like they’re just pieces on a board game. They know how they want the game to end, and they have no qualms at all about playing people to make sure things work out the way they want.”

“I guess I should just be grateful they seem to like me.”

“They love you,” Anders agreed. “I’m not entirely sure why, but they do.”

“I think it’s not that they love me, but that they really do love you. They want you to be happy. Meeting your family has explained an awful lot about you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“See!” Kevin pointed an accusing finger at Anders. “Like that. The defensive reactions. The way you’re always wondering how someone’s trying to fuck you over. At first I thought you were just really good at reading people, and then I worried that maybe your last relationship was so fucked up you were always trying to anticipate what your ex would do, always staying one step ahead of him to keep yourself safe.”

“You don’t have to rub it in.”

“But then I met your family…. You do know that most families don’t play games like that, right? In most families, family dinners aren’t about trying to figure out who’s on whose side, and who manipulated them into forming alliances, and why the hell they’d bother, right?”

“I know.” Anders tried to shrug and ended up wincing. “It’s just the way my folks are. I know it wasn’t fair to drop you right into the middle of it like that, but—”

“It’s fine. Like I said, they really do love you. I do too. So, if you say it has to be someone else….” Kevin shrugged. “We’ll hire someone else.”

“Thank you,” Anders whispered.

Kevin stood up and leaned over the head of the bed, so he could tangle his fingers in Anders’s curls. “I’m not going to run away when I get scared, Anders. I already got scared,” he whispered. “Watching you get shot scared the shit out of me. It scared me, thinking about just how little time we could have together. I don’t want to waste any of it, Anders. If that means you have to smack some sense into me when I freak out, then I want you to do it. For my part, I think I’m done running.”

Anders grinned at him. “I still want that cat. And I want a kitten, to keep Buddha company.”

“A kitten?”

“That’s right. Pets don’t do well if they’re left alone all the time. I think she’s neurotic because she’s lonely.”

Kevin swallowed nervously. “After we’re both healed, okay? You can’t drive with your arm in a cast, and I never bothered renewing my license when it expired. Plus, I think we’re just going to end up with two psychotic cats.”

“Still nervous about seeing your family.”

Kevin relaxed, glad he didn’t have to explain.

“It’s not like making things right comes with a deadline attached,” Anders muttered, his eyes drooping shut. “I can’t manage sex or sourdough right now, so I’m at a loss about how to be supportive through this. If we put things off for a few weeks, I’ll be able to manage both again.”

Kevin leaned over and touched his lips to Anders’s. “Sex and sourdough are nice,” Kevin whispered, “but I just need you.”

A.J. T
HOMAS
writes m/m romance, mostly for her own amusement. She began writing as a child, but never attempted it seriously until later in life, penning naughty fan fiction and then original stories. Her time is divided between taking care of her three young children, experimenting with cooking and baking projects that rarely explode these days, and embarrassing her husband with dirty jokes. When she’s not writing, she hikes, gardens, researches every random idea that comes into her head, and develops complicated philosophical arguments about why a clean house is highly overrated.

She has earned a BA in English Literature and has worked in a half-dozen different jobs, from law enforcement officer to librarian. Originally from the Northwest, she has traveled all over the United States and currently lives in California. If she ever stops moving around long enough to call any place home, her heart is set on settling down in the mountains of Virginia.

Blog: http://ajthomasromance.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AJ.Thomas.Romance
E-mail: [email protected]

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