Jay put a hand over the mouthpiece of the phone he’d been speaking on and stage whispered, “Have a good one.” His manner stayed professional and relaxed, but the twinkle in his eye held a promise, a fondness that did funny things to Landon’s heart. He tamped down on his smile.
“Still need help finishing your deck?” Landon asked conversationally. Nothing to see here, folks. Jay gave him a thumbs up and a wink before going back to talking to whomever he’d been speaking with on the office phone.
Landon made his way back out of the office and to his truck, tossing a few waves of farewell and good wishes for the weekend to some of the fellas.
Getting in his truck, he took a second to breathe. Damn the situation for being what it was. He finally had a guy he liked a lot, who liked him back in his own way, who appreciated the same simple life Landon did. Jay had so many qualities Landon could ask for. But a week of screwing around and getting each other off did not a relationship make. So many things about their situation were complicated, but Jay took to things like a duck to water. His almost childlike wonder in each new exploration together, in each time Landon touched him, was enough to bring bigger men to their knees.
Landon knew Jay’s kids would be an issue in just a couple more days. They hadn’t discussed, at all, the possibility of continuing their encounters once life got back to a normal pace, rather than the laissez faire vacation bubble they’d found themselves in over the last week.
So many of Jay’s actions, his words, made Landon hopeful. Even if that was foolish. There had to be some way to work this out.
Landon didn’t expect Jay to come blasting out of the closet, hell, Jay didn’t even have a word for his feelings yet—gay, bi, fluid, confused. At least Jay had dropped the “I can’t be queer” shit. That ship had definitely sailed. But what did they do with that?
It wasn’t like Landon marched in parades, and he wasn’t exactly screaming about his homosexuality in their hometown. That’d be pretty damn stupid. But people who mattered knew. Was that something they were working towards?
Landon tried to remind himself, though, that in just a couple months, thirty-six years of Jay’s life had just been stripped and bared to have been completely different for Jay than the man thought. He had to have patience. That didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous as hell, but so long as Jay wasn’t flipping out yet, why should Landon?
Because it’s so much more than just sucking his dick. Landon dropped his head to his steering wheel. He had told Mitch about the misunderstanding over Brit and Jay hooking up, but he hadn’t exactly fessed up to the fact he was pretty much dropping trou every time he and Jay were in the same room together. Landon didn’t imagine he’d like Mitch’s saying out loud what Landon tried not to say to himself.
“It’s a delicate situation. It’s only been a little while. Give him time, give yourself time,” Landon told himself in the rearview mirror. Maybe the pitter-patter of his heart in Jay’s presence would go away or dampen as they spent more time together.
He couldn’t help the inelegant snort that escaped him. That’d be the day. Seemed now, every day they got closer. And Jay was surprising Landon by actually speaking when something freaked him out, and his silences weren’t loaded ones that kept Landon guessing. The only thing causing worry was the lack of acknowledging life as they knew it would change...again...when the kids came back.
A knock on his truck window startled Landon. He smiled when he saw his daddy on the other side, and rolled down the window.
“What are you doing hanging out here? Don’t you got better things to do, boy?” his daddy asked with a grin.
“I do. Got lost in thought.”
His daddy cast a sidelong look toward the office before speaking seriously. “Notice you and the Hill boy are pretty tight these days.”
Landon went to talk, but his daddy held up a hand to stop him. “Now, I’m not accusing you of nothing. You know I try. Just remember things could get difficult if y’all were more than just buddies.”