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

came to using toys. Bo had only got him to use a dildo on him in the past month. Although, the man really liked watching that thing stretching and filling Bo’s hole.

Bo liked it, too, and he’d like to use it on Max one day soon. He figured that was a possibility, what with the way Max seemed so…enthusiastic about using the dildo on him.

The first time Max had turned beet red, but once Bo had moaned that flush had turned into one of arousal and Max had forgotten all about being embarrassed.

Jesus, it was making Bo hard just thinking about it! The phone rang and startled Bo enough that his erection withered. He got up off the couch and found the handset on the kitchen table. He didn’t recognise the number, but the San Antonio area code made his heart slam into his ribs. No one from San Antonio called him. The last time had been the hospital trying to clear up a billing issue Bo had disputed. And before that it’d been the detective.

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Bo answered the phone, fear and hope tangling into a ball in his belly. He greeted the caller then sat at the kitchen table when his knees threatened to give out. After grunting through most of the call, he managed some semblance of a polite goodbye then hung up and cradled his head in his hands and tried not to fall apart.

Max walked into the kitchen and stopped when he so Bo sitting with his head in his hands and his bottom lip quivering. Fear shot through Max and had him thundering across the small space to reach Bo. He’d known something was off when Bo hadn’t been on the porch to greet him like he usually did, but he’d almost convinced himself he was being paranoid and that Bo was just in the bathroom or something.

Well, he’d damn sure listen to his instincts next time, if there was a next time. There’d better not be a next time. He was beside Bo in two heartbeats, and his lover stood and plastered himself to Max, his arms locking around him tightly as Max held Bo in return.

“What happened, honey?” He could feel Bo shuddering, hear his breath hitching as he swallowed noisily. “Bo? Honey can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Bo made an agonised sound that twisted Max’s guts into a fiery knot. “Detective

Sanchez called and said…” Max brought a hand up to cup the back of Bo’s head. He rubbed gently, letting the silky strands slide between his fingers as he tried not to push Bo.

“They arrested him,” Bo finally whispered, then repeated it when Max only grunted.

The truth was, he couldn’t speak just yet, he was too angry and relieved and so many other things he couldn’t keep track. Instead Max kept caressing Bo, and trailing soft kisses over his brow. Bo shuddered again then sighed shakily before tipping his head up to look at Max.

Max stared into those hazel eyes he knew so well, looking for pain or guilt. He saw a little of both, but he mainly saw relief.

“He tried to hurt another man, but he fucked up and picked a guy who taught martial arts of some kind. The guy beat the hell out of the man who assaulted me—Louis

Christopher is his name.” Bo’s grin was a bit watery as he continued. “I’ll need to testify, and so will the man who put the smackdown to Christopher, plus there might be other victims who come forward, but—”

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This time when Bo smiled, it did that thing Max loved, the one that lit the man up from the inside out. “They got him. They got him, Max, and I don’t care what his lawyers try to say about me, I’m going to make sure that asshole goes to jail as long as possible.”

“He will.” Max was worried about what Bo would have to go through on the stand, but there was always the chance Christopher would plead guilty and get a lighter sentence. The idea of that made Max’s blood boil, but if it saved Bo from going through something that might be almost as bad as the assault, then Max was all for it. And he firmly believed Christopher would get what he had coming, either in prison or elsewhere. To think anything else was unbearable.

But, if the case did go to trial, then Max would be right there in the court room, as close to Bo as he could get. He’d support his partner all the way, and try not to lose it and do anything stupid like attempt to rip off that asshole’s head. Chance and Rory would probably be there too, and likely some other people Max and Bo had got to know and become friends with. It might not just be Max who had to try to keep from going after Christopher, come to think of it.

“We should celebrate.”

Bo’s whispered words snapped Max out of his daze. He smiled and lowered a hand to Bo’s ass. He’d have asked if Bo was sure, but the man was rubbing his groin against Max’s thigh eagerly, and soft pants were slipping from his lips. Max’s concern for what would happen should there be a trial or if Christopher pled out didn’t vanish, but he did push it down.

Bo wanted to celebrate, and that was something Max was happy to do with his man.

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Chapter Eighteen

If Bo had thought he was nervous the day before, it was nothing compared to when he woke up on Valentine’s Day. Max had made love to him almost all night long, making sure Bo knew just how precious he was to Max, how loved he was. Those doubts that used to plague Bo still cropped up sometimes, but usually all he had to do was close his eyes and think about the way Max