AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fernando laughed so hard he seemed to choke on air.
“Stop that.” Zander rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You know how I am when I latch on.”
“Poor Max,” Fernando managed, still laughing. “You probably hit him with all the subtlety of a freight train.”
Eh. More or less. Oops?
In Zander’s defense, Max’s cuteness short-circuited his common sense. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
“Well, assure him those scumbags are taken care of. If you need a signet ring for him, tell me. I doubt anyone else would be stupid enough to cross you by hurting him, but the signet ring will give him some reassurance.”
“Oooh. I like this idea very much. Let me have one.”
“Of course. I’ll arrange it. Bring him over for dinner soon. I want to meet this man. Franklin said he was very polite and cute.”
“He is. Let me know a good day and I’ll bring him.”
“Good. Go check on him now. He probably needs it.”
“All right. Good night, Sire.”
“Night, Child.”
Zander caught the sound of a door opening across the hall. Eh? Was Max still up, then? It was nearly two a.m., though. He should be dead to the world.
Unless he was too shaken by what had happened today to settle. That could well be it.
Zander left his room and followed Max down. From the stair’s landing, he saw Max scoop Zander’s favorite blanket off the couch, throw it around himself, and snuggle into the corner of the couch. He didn’t try to turn on a light, or the TV, or anything, just burrowed into the blanket.
Not a good sign.
Zander went down, deliberately making a little noise as he walked. “Max?”
He peeked at Zander from under the blanket’s edge. “Weren’t you asleep?”
“No, talking to my sire. He wanted to know how you are.” Zander padded closer, coming to sit next to him on the couch. “Can’t sleep?”
Max mutely shook his head, eyes on the floor.
He shouldn’t be left alone. Zander understood this instinctively. What could he offer that Max would accept? Ah. That might work.
“Wanna watch another bad monster movie? I found one I haven’t seen yet.”
Max didn’t have to think about it long. “Yeah, sure.”
“Okay. Let me in, I’m cold too.”
Max rearranged the blanket to cover them both, leaning in against Zander’s side, if just a little. Max accepting comfort may have gone to Zander’s head, briefly, but mostly it worried him. Max was far more shaken than he was letting on if he was willing to cuddle without some sarcastic remark. Zander wisely didn’t comment as he turned the TV on and cued up the movie. They didn’t say a word to each other as it started. Half of Zander’s attention was on the movie, the other half on the man next to him.
Not twenty minutes in, Max slumped against him heavily, head pillowed on Zander’s shoulder.
Ten minutes later, he was breathing suspiciously hard enough to be a snore. Max was most definitely out for the count. Zander paused the movie and tilted his head to look at Max’s face. Yeah, he was sound asleep. All he’d needed was the assurance of protection, the comfort of another person, for exhaustion to have a chance to suck him under.
He was even more beautiful while sleeping.
Zander was tempted to scoop him up and carry him off to the guest bed, but…that felt like the wrong choice. He didn’t want to leave Max to wake up alone, but he didn’t think putting Max waking up in Zander’s bed was a good idea, either. Better to stay on the couch.
He carefully shifted so that Zander was flat on his back, Max tucked in against his side, blanket covering them both. Fortunately, the couch was wide enough to accommodate them both without it being uncomfortably tight. Zander turned his head to kiss that silky dark hair, then let himself settle, sleep creeping up on him.
