Love in Xxchange: Miles to Go, Bailey Bradford [the reading strategies book txt] 📗

on the way to San Antonio. I thought maybe we could grab a bite, if you wanted.”

It was on the tip of Max’s tongue to say no, but the eggs didn’t look as appealing as they had a few minutes ago. And he was in one of those broody moods, the kind where he’d sit and stare at the TV or the wall and try to keep from thinking too much. Maybe getting out for a bit was just the thing he needed. Maybe.

“You don’t want to stop in and see Chance and Rory?” Max asked, still reluctant

though he wasn’t sure why. “Rory’s sister Annabelle is here now, too.” Not that she’d appeal to Bo. Rory had met Bo for the first time when Bo had been trying his best to get into Chance’s britches. Apparently they’d had something going years ago, and Bo had shown up thinking to hook up with him again. Or something. From what Rory had said, Max didn’t think Bo had been looking for anything permanent.

“Ahhhh…” Bo drew the word out then gave another of those huffing sounds. “As nice as I’m sure it’d be to meet her, I kind of didn’t feel like hanging out and watching Rory and Chance get all sweet and cuddly with each other. Green is not a good colour on me.”

Max crinkled his nose, trying to make that stupid twitch stop. He finally pressed at it with his fingertips. “What do you mean, green ain’t your colour?” Max knew jack shit about MILES TO GO

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stuff like what colours looked best with what skin tones and such. It dawned on him what Bo meant just as the man started explaining.

“I mean, I got a bit envious, seeing those two together—not that I want either one of them,” Bo rushed out. “I just…well, I guess what I mean is, I want what they have. With someone else, of course.”

Surely that sensation of something tickling down his spine was just some weird

coincidence. Or maybe he’d pushed that damned twitch down through his shoulders. Max lifted his fingertips. Nope, still there.

“So, anyways, you up to meeting me in town? We could meet at Cowboy’s. I heard they have a great chicken fried steak.”

Max’s stomach rumbled loud enough he wouldn’t have been surprised if Bo heard it through the phone. Obviously one part of him was all for eating out. Max looked at the packaged cheese. He was pretty sure there was a funky grey-green tinge to it.

“Yeah, okay. What time?” The twitch ramped up a few tics then stopped as Bo’s

laughter filtered into Max’s ear.

“Soon as you can get here, cowboy. I’ll get us a table.”

“That sure of me, were you?” Max mumbled, but he was talking to a dial tone. He

shrugged and hung up the phone. Why wouldn’t Bo be sure of him? It wasn’t like Max had anything else going on in his life, and he remembered telling Bo almost that exact thing when they’d been hanging out before.

Cowboy’s wasn’t too crowded on a Monday night, and Max was grateful for that. The place was fairly popular with the locals, so sometimes it was packed. Max wasn’t sure he could have handled that tonight. He wasn’t surprised he was nervous; he’d never been one to get out much, preferring the company of horses and cattle to most people. At least with the animals, he didn’t have to worry about making a fool of himself, or being laughed at.

Max knew he was odd, different from most folks. He didn’t need anyone getting a kick out of it, though.

You’re being ridiculous. Ain’t like you got a sign on your head saying you’re weird as hell. Max lifted his cowboy hat and wiped at his forehead, brushing off the sweat caused by nerves MILES TO GO

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before settling the brim just so. Then he got out of his truck and pocketed the keys. He slammed the door shut with more force than he’d meant to, and it drove home how unsettled he was. Why, though, was a mystery to him. Surely he wasn’t so set in his routine that he couldn’t alter it now and again without getting rattled.

Max took a couple of deep breaths and envisioned a layer of calmness coating him. In his mind’s eye, it was a feather-soft pinkish cloud encapsulating him. It was always pink, he reckoned because he’d read somewhere it was a soothing colour. Wrapped in his imaginary pink cloud, Max walked across the parking lot and pulled open the door to Cowboy’s. The interior of the place was over the top country, with horse shoes and old tack hanging on the walls. Along with that there was more rooster and chicken prints and figurines than should ever be in one place. But no one came here for the décor.

There was a panicked moment where he worried he had forgotten Bo’s face, but then the smiling blond man was right there in front of him, walking with a slight bounce in his step. Bo was slightly shorter than Max, who wasn’t anywhere near tall himself, but the blond had a presence big enough for a giant. He just exuded personality, and his mega-watt smile had more than one person in the place craning their necks to keep Bo in sight. If Max could have only picked one word to describe Bo, it’d have been glossy. The man seemed to shine all over, from the tip of his blond head to the toes of his red boots. Even his lips looked slick.

And why was he noticing that? Max didn’t have the chance to consider it any longer because Bo parted those lips and words tumbled out.

“Max! Glad you made it!” Bo thrust out his hand and Max was shaking it before he knew what was what. The fissure of electricity that skipped up his forearm startled him for a second before he put it down to Bo’s