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As though he’d conjured him, his doorbell rang and Noah stood just outside, a bouquet of flowers inhis hand.
“Happy Thanksgiving! Thought you might like to dress up your table,” he said, smiling shyly.
Jax stepped aside so he could enter, and as soon as he shut the door, he pulled Noah in for a kiss. “Thank you. That’s really sweet. Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Come through. Food’s onthe way.”
Noah placed the vase with the flowers on the dining table and smiled at Jax.
“Wow! You sure know how to make a guy feel special,” he said. “Nice spread. I love that they’re not your mother’s china.”
Jax laughed. “She wouldn’t part with those, I’m afraid. Besides, I like these plates … they’re masculine.”
“Don’t think you need to worry about being masculine, Prof,” Noah said, turning to look him in the eye.
The shot of lust that speared through Jax at that moment matched the hunger in Noah’s eyes, but he stayed where he was by the door and waited. He would let the younger man take the lead for now.
“D’you mind if I wash up?” Noah asked.
“Not at all. You know where to go.”
While Noah cleaned up, the food came, and by the time he emerged from the bathroom, Jax had set out the containers on thecounter.
“Buffet style, so we can have more room on the table,” he told Noah, and went to get the wine from the refrigerator while Noah took their plates and began to serve them.
“You don’t have to do that,” Jaxprotested.
“I know, but I want to. You got me food. The least I can do is make a platefor you.”
Jax poured the wine, and they sat down to a delicious repast, but he was too wound up to fully enjoy it. His eyes took in Noah’s features, particularly his mouth as he ate and drank. And Jax knew the younger man was aware of his scrutiny, because Noah’s heightened color gavehim away.
“Do your other students know how unnerving your stare can be?”
Noah’s question gave away his nervousness, and Jax chuckled. “Am I making younervous?”
“I feel like a steak, and you’re the starving homeless man on Thanksgiving.”
Jax laughed out loud at that comparison. And then he almost choked on the wine he had just sipped when Noah added, “I’m ready whenever you are. Just saythe word.”
Jax’s whole body shuddered as the memory of the rest of that afternoon swamped him. They had kissed and frotted against each other, and Noah had given him the best blow job he’d ever had, before allowing Jax to return the favor. They’d fallen asleep wrapped around each other, and when Jax woke before Noah, he’d taken a picture of the younger man, his body curled around Jax’s pillow which he had drawn up against his chest when Jax had slid out of bed.
The other picture he’d taken as Noah was standing by the door, before he’d had to leave. Jax hadn’t dared to kiss his lover before he exited the car at his apartment, but he had watched as Noah walked slowly up the steps to the front door of the house and turned to wave at him. He tooted his horn once and drove off as Noah went inside.
Dredging up the memories wasn’t helping him. He was aching with a need that lived just beneath the surface of his skin, ready to pounce on him whenever his thoughts strayed to the man he’d loved and lost. He wouldn’t sleep now unless he did something to wear himself out. Checking the time, he saw that it was just past nine. He could go for a run. That would dothe trick.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he was jogging across the road to the beach and running along until there was no more beach and he had to take to the running path. He ran the whole length of it, about a mile and a half, and then turned around and ran back. His mind had been blank for most of the run, for which he was grateful. He would take a shower and collapse into bed, and hopefully, it wouldremain so.
But then he rounded a corner on the gravel path and bumped into another man also out jogging late at night. Jax put his hands out to steady the person, who was shorter and somewhat lighter than he was, noting the hoodie pulled over his head. He assumed it was a man, because he couldn’t imagine a woman out running after dark up here where life shut down much sooner than inthe city.
“Sorry,” the other jogger said.
Jax froze and stumbled back. His mind refused to believe it, but his heart knew who it was. He caught himself before he fell and spoke a name he hadn’t uttered inten years.
Chapter 2
Noah
Tears were for the weak. He was strong.
It had been a long day, and Noah was tired. Funny how depression worked … some days, he functioned like a regular adult, his body under his control, and life was tolerable. Other days, he lost the plot a little bit, his body making him feel like he was his own ancestor, his mind a jumble of disconnected thoughts, his spirit suffocating under a weight of useless emotion. Which probably explained why he was so tired. He’d spent the whole day battling a sense of loss that even after all this time had swamped him when he wasn’t even aware of the flash flood approaching.
