Page 48 of Harvest Heat

Part of him wanted to stay forever, but that was insane. “Yes. I have to get up early, and you probably do too.”

Caleb nodded. “I do.”

“So, um… I guess I was wrong when I texted you this morning.”

Caleb smiled. “How do you feel about that now?”

“I don’t know. This is… impossible, but…”

“I still want you.” He cupped Rhys’s cheek and pulled him down for a kiss that started out gentle and turned filthy fast. When Caleb let him go, Rhys’s breath was ragged again. “Come back tomorrow night. We’ll work on our drinks and see what else happens.”

Rhys didn’t like leaving things open-ended. He’d never been a see-how-things-work-out person, but he couldn’t refuse Caleb, and he wasn’t ready to think about defining what they were doing, so he simply said, “Okay.”

He and Caleb dressed, and then Caleb walked him downstairs. They kissed once more at the back door, and then Rhys slipped away, hoping no one would see him as he drove home.

CHAPTER 17

After fighting off panic over the feelings he had for Caleb, which were definitely not just sexual, Rhys knocked on the back door of Cloud Nine. Caleb removed his apron as he walked to the door, and Rhys gave him a slow once-over. He was wearing a ridiculously tight T-shirt and a pair of jeans that looked like he might’ve gotten them as a hand-down. They were so worn.

Rhys realized he was staring when Caleb cleared his throat. “I see you’re already distracted.”

“Work first,” Rhys insisted. If Caleb kissed him, he didn’t think they’d get anything done that night.

“Okay, we’ll indulge in distractions afterwards.”

Rhys knew he should say no, but he didn’t want to.

“Come on.” Caleb waved him toward the front.

It took multiple attempts to reach a point where they both agreed the pumpkin chocolate chip latte had potential. Maybe not as much as the apple, but more than the maple. Even if Rhys liked the idea of maple best, it just wasn’t working out. They couldn’t get the flavor strong enough.

By the time Rhys felt like it was reasonable to stop for the night, he was exhausted. He hadn’t slept well the night before, not with two loud voices in his head arguing about whether sleeping with Caleb was the best thing he’d ever done or the worst. One voice told him he should never leave Caleb’s bed, and the other said he needed to go back to making his own drink for the festival and never talk to Caleb again.

“Are you ready to clean up?” Caleb asked. “I think we’ve done as much as we can tonight.”

Rhys nodded. “I think you’re right.”

When they had the shop back in order, Caleb stood behind Rhys and began to massage his shoulders. Rhys groaned and dropped his head down and let himself enjoy the feel of Caleb’s warm hands.

Caleb kissed the back of his neck, and Rhys could feel his warm breath as he spoke. “Are you ready to go upstairs? We got all our work done now, so we can enjoy ourselves.”

Rhys sighed and turned to face Caleb. “I don’t know. I’m really tired. It’s been a long day and… This whole thing… You and me… We shouldn’t be doing this. There’s too much at risk. My business, your business, our friendship.”

“What’s the worst thing that will happen?” Caleb asked. “If people in town figure out there’s something going on with us, they will gossip about us but it wouldn’t put our shops at risk.”

“They’ll give us advice, and you’ll be in the spotlight. They’ll keep driving you crazy until you don’t want anything to do with me. You’ll want to close up and leave town.” Rhys froze. Caleb was studying him with a confused look on his face. He shouldn’t have said all of that.

“What if we don’t make it that complicated?”

“There’s no way to keep things from being complicated. That’s just how it is living here.”

“Come here.” Once again, Rhys took Caleb’s hand. He couldn’t resist. Caleb didn’t lead him upstairs. Instead, he brought him into the storage room, where there were no windows. No one could watch them there. Slowly, Caleb backed him up against the door of the walk-in refrigerator.

“If you want me to stop, just tell me, but I want to kiss you again. I want to help you relax. You deserve that.”

Rhys wasn’t sure he was even capable of relaxing or that he deserved it, but he didn’t tell Caleb to stop.

Caleb’s kiss electrified him the way it had the night before. His lips trailed along Rhys’s neck as he kissed and nipped at the tender skin, making Rhys gasp.