Merry Cherry Christmas - Keira Andrews Page 0,4

his muscular thighs, one knee up as he lounged on Doug’s bed, leaning back against the wall. The forest green of his thin sweater outlined trim arms and a narrow waist.

Max waved. “You can see me now?”

Could he ever. “Yep!” Jeremy shot to standing, stifling the burst of attraction before he humiliated himself with a boner. What was he going to do now? Max looked like he was staying for a bit—right, waiting out the weather.

Jeremy belatedly shrugged off his raincoat. His jeans were uncomfortably damp, but he wasn’t about to take them off in front of a guy he’d just met. Especially since the guy in question was all sprawled and threatening to make him hard. His socks squelched, so he peeled them off, dropping them with a wet slap by his shoes.

“Do you want a drink?” Jeremy opened the bar fridge in the corner. Doug had brought it and said Jeremy could use it as much as he wanted as long as there was always enough room for a six-pack.

“Sure.”

Jeremy squatted and pushed up his old glasses on his nose. It felt strangely familiar and foreign to wear them again, like trying on old clothes that didn’t quite fit. “There’s water and Moosehead and…milk.”

Max laughed. “Hey, calcium’s important, right? But I’ll take a beer.”

When Jeremy stood, he tried to hide a wince. He gave a bottle to Max and kept one for himself, making a mental note to replace Doug’s stash. He walked gingerly to his own bed and perched on the side. His pasty feet were bare, and he scrunched the thin rug with his toes.

“You sure you don’t need a doctor?” Max frowned as he twisted the cap off his bottle. His extended leg was so long—and the space between the beds so narrow—that Jeremy could have leaned forward and touched that exposed toe without hardly moving at all.

“My lower back’s sore, but I’ll ice it. My butt took most of the fall.”

“Be careful with your tailbone, though. If your ass is sore tomorrow, get it checked out.”

“Yep. Right.” Just talking about sore asses, as you do. No big deal. “Um, I’m sure it’s fine.” Jeremy gulped from his bottle and stared at Max’s toe peeking out through the red sock. Otherwise, he’d stare at Max and probably look like a total creeper.

There was an electronic ping, and Max took his phone from his pocket and groaned. “I’m definitely not going to that party. My ex is asking where I am. Like I owe him anything after he dumped me.”

Jeremy almost choked. He? Max’s ex was a he?

Max scoffed, muttering more to himself than Jeremy. “We only went out for, like, a month in September. It wasn’t serious at all. I’m too young for serious. And I was already thinking about ending it when he did, so.” He shrugged. He paused and read another message. “Now he’s acting like we had plans. What the actual fuck? No. Hell no.”

“Right. So you’re…”

Max tapped his phone. “Gay. Uh-huh.”

“Oh.” Jeremy’s head spun at the casual way Max said that. Fearless, like it was nothing.

Now Max frowned at him, still holding his phone. “What?”

“Nothing! I’m not—it’s totally okay with me. I just didn’t expect someone like you to be…” Like me.

Max arched a thick brow. “Someone like me?”

Oh God, Jeremy was screwing this up epically. This is why I don’t talk to people! He waved his hand. “You look like you’re the stereotypical captain of the football team. Or maybe soccer? Baseball? Hockey? Lacrosse? But I’m guessing football because you’re so big.” His face went hot.

Thankfully, Max laughed. “Yep, football team. The season’s over, and it’s not like we’re in the States. Not a ton of people at U of T care about football. We were two and six, so can’t blame them.”

“Right. It’s not a big deal like being captain of the hockey team.” He quickly added, “Not that it isn’t impressive! I’m not captain of anything.” Please shut up now.

Max chuckled. “It’s cool.”

Sweat prickled the back of Jeremy’s neck, and instead of shutting up, he said, “And that’s good that you’re, um, gay.” He got up and went to his desk in his corner of the room, suddenly unable to sit still although he was aching. He put down his beer and gulped from the tepid glass of water on his desk from earlier. “I mean, not good. Not that it’s bad!”

“Dude, relax. I’m not going to jump you.”

“I know!” Ugh, he didn’t want Max to think he