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

“Son of a bitch,” Max muttered. “He put money before someone else’s life?”

“She,” Bo corrected. “And there’s plenty of people like that in this world.”

Max couldn’t disagree, but there were plenty of good people too, which he pointed out to Bo before dropping the subject like Bo seemed to want. Judging by the way the man was nibbling at Max’s lips, he didn’t think Bo wanted to talk much at all. “Bo—” Max whimpered as Bo burrowed against his neck and licked a strip up to his ear. Bo sucked on his earlobe and Max felt his knees tremble. Two weeks of making love hadn’t done a thing to douse the desire between them. Still, as badly as Max wanted to bend Bo over the couch and plough into his hot, silky ass, he was determined to romance his man tonight. That didn’t exclude the couch, just postponed it for a bit, Max promised his disappointed dick.

“The doctor said I’m good to go, healthier than a lot of men ‘my age’.” Bo sneered the last two words, clearly miffed. Max thought his vanity was rather cute. He’d managed to talk Bo out of dying over the streaks of grey hair—on his head—and there’d been a whole different discussion when he’d walked in the bathroom and found Bo getting ready to wax off his body hair. Max had convinced him, both times, with some very ardent love making, that grey hair was sexy. Besides, as he pointed out, Bo sure didn’t seem to mind Max’s grey MILES TO GO

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at all. He hadn’t, however, even bothered trying to talk Bo out of using his skin creams.

Didn’t really want to since they left Bo’s skin smooth and supple, such an erotic contrast to Max’s own work-roughened skin.

“That’s good, then, right?” Max wanted to ask more, like if that included blood tests, because he really wanted that kind of commitment from his man. He wanted to give it, too, so much so that he was nearly vibrating with the need to ask.

“Yeah, it’s great,” Bo muttered. He leant back and looked up at Max, worry etched into his expression, deepening the fine lines at the outer corner of his eyes. “Are you going to want me to leave now?”

Max tamped down his irritation that Bo would think so little of him. One thing he’d become aware of since they’d made love the first time was that Bo, despite his swagger, suffered from a truckload of insecurity.

“Of course I want you here,” Max soothed. “I’ll always want you here.”

Bo looked thunderstruck at the confession, his mouth flapping without making a

sound. His eyes were welling with tears that he rapidly blinked away. The need to reassure him rode Max hard, and he wondered if he should alter his plans a bit, tell Bo how he felt before they sat down for their romantic dinner. Would it really matter if he said I love you before they ate? Would Bo throw his arms around him and admit that he loved Max as well, like Max knew he did?

Max was scared shitless to say those words, which was stupid. He knew he loved Bo, knew it was reciprocal. It was still scary since Max had never said those words to anyone else, ever.

“Do you mean that?” Bo’s expression shifted from hopeful to fearful, repeating that pattern as he fidgeted in Max’s arms.

“I do,” Max promised. He felt the ball of nervous tension uncoil in his belly at the sweet smile that chased away everything except joy from Bo’s face. Seeing Bo’s eyes gleaming with happiness made the words come easy. “I love you, Bo.”

Those words didn’t light Bo up like Max had expected. Instead his lover shuddered in his arms then shoved Max back a step. “You don’t! You can’t, Max!”

Max frowned and struggled unsuccessfully to keep Bo in his arms. “I can and I do!”

Bo darted past him and ran into the kitchen. Max was practically right on his heels, which didn’t work out so well when Bo came to a sudden stop. Max slammed into his back MILES TO GO

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and cracked the bottom half of his face against the back of Bo’s head. He managed to wrap his arms around Bo and twist around as they slammed into the floor. Max’s breath spewed from his lungs as his back hit the hardwood floor, followed immediately by Bo’s weight coming down on his chest. He rolled them to their sides, gasping for air, as he locked his squirming lover in his arms.

“Ain’t letting you run off, Bo,” Max murmured against the man’s ear. “You’re going to have to accept that I love you, and I think you love me, too.”

Bo whimpered and shook his head. “I do, Max,” although he couldn’t say the words just yet, “how could I not? But you can’t love me! You haven’t ever been with anyone else, this could just be an infatuation or—”

Max rolled Bo to his back and took his mouth in a kiss he had meant to be tender but was more than a little angry and possessive. When he ended the kiss, Bo looked blissed out, his full lips rosy and more plump than usual, his eyes filled with a dazed look.

“I told you I can, and that’s all that matters.” Max had to take another nip of those sweet lips. Bo moaned and bucked beneath him, stabbing at Max’s taut stomach with his erection. “I don’t know why you think you’re unloveable, but that ain’t the case.”

Bo blinked furiously but it didn’t help this time. Tears spilled, rolling from the corners of his eyes, over his temples and into his hair. “I want to believe you, I do, but you haven’t had any other sexual experience except what we’ve done together.”

Max pushed himself up on his elbows and glared. “So, what? You saying you won’t

believe I love you ‘til I’ve gone out and fucked a few men? Or does it need