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"Anything. I'm dying over here. Pancake me." Aiden snapped his teeth like a trout going after live bait, but Seth jerked the treat back at the last minute. Droplets of melted butter rained down over Aiden's face, and he yelped. Seth laughed, taking pity on him, and folded the pancake in half. He allowed Aiden a hefty bite before gripping him by the chin and turning his face to lick the butter from his mouth.
Aiden closed his eyes, savoring the taste, and sighed contentedly. "Damn, that's good," he whispered. His lips moved Seth's ministrations into something like a kiss.
"Which part?" Seth murmured into his mouth.
"All of it." Aiden's lashes drifted lazily open. He arched against Seth's body, running his palms up the insides of Seth's denim-clad thighs. It was such a turn-on to be naked beneath him while he still had his pants on. It should make Aiden feel ridiculous, but it didn't. He felt cherished and decadent. "Who knew," he whispered to himself.
Seth propped himself up on one elbow to study him. He wiped a stray droplet of butter from Aiden's cheek with his thumb and asked, "Who knew what?"
"Oh, I'm just wandering." Aiden grinned sheepishly. "Just…the day we met. The day you became more than just a cool older guy who offered me a ride. Who knew it was going to end up like this? I wasn't looking for more friends. Hell, I wasn't even looking for a ride that day. But suddenly, you were there when I needed you, and it felt...important."
Seth's expression grew solemn. "Sometimes people come into your life, and you never really know how much they'll mean to you or what kind of impact they'll have. Good or bad."
"Good. Nothing but good," Aiden rushed to assure him, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.
Seth didn't reply, but he did return Aiden's kiss with a sweetness that felt dark and a little desperate. "I wouldn't change things," Seth whispered against his mouth. "Even if I could, I'd do it all again if I had to."
It sounded ominous when he put it that way. Goosebumps prickled across Aiden's body, lifting the hair on the back of his neck, and he shuddered.
"Cold?" Seth asked, wrapping him in his arms and tucking him close.
Aiden pressed his hands to the flat of Seth's naked belly, eager to share his body heat. "I'm always cold in this tin can," he joked, trying to shake his strange feeling of foreboding. "Freeze in the winter, fry in the summer; it's practically the motto of the trailer park. I wish I had somewhere nicer to take you."
"We could go home. My home," Seth suggested, keeping his tone casual. His shoulders were tense, as if he was bracing himself to be rejected. "You always liked it there, and I want to check on Tessa, anyway."
Aiden's eyes met Seth's, searching for any hint of regret or hesitation, but all he found was the rock-steady, dependable affection that had been there from the start. Looking into those eyes felt like taking a deep breath.
"It's a long drive," Aiden waffled, "and I'm already naked."
"Yeah, but you could stay naked all day at my place."
"Not sure what Tess would think of that," Aiden mused. "I don't think I'm her favorite person right now."
Seth smoothed a hand over Aiden's belly, and Aiden foolishly tensed to give his abs better definition, sucking in to give the illusion of a six-pack. Seth huffed out a breath of amusement, tracing the delineation above his belly button with a fingertip.
"I didn't rip that Jensen kid's head from his body when he put his hand on her ass leaving the festival," Seth said, one mouth quirking upward in a wry smile. "She owes me. Besides, she's been on my case about finding some company ever since she came home. She'll be thrilled."
"Does she know you're…" Aiden hesitated, flummoxed. He'd always been sexually fluid, but Seth had never given any sign he wasn’t completely straight. He'd never dated much, even when they were young, but surely Aiden would have noticed if he'd been willing to hop the fence to the male side of the pasture now and then?
"I'm not much of anything these days," Seth said, interpreting the direction of his thoughts. "But I don't think she'd be too surprised. She wasn't the only one who had a crush on you back then."
"You did kiss me that night in the barn," Aiden said, searching his face. "Didn't you?"
Tension flickered across Seth's expression, and he pulled back to examine him carefully. "Do you remember anything else from that night?" he asked.
"Not really." Aiden sighed. "I wish I could. Maybe if I'd been around to help you feed the cattle?—"
Seth interrupted him with a swift kiss. "What's done is done," he said. "If you come home with me now, you can help me feed them in the morning."
"You raise a good point," Aiden mused, stroking his chin, but he couldn't hide the slow smile already spreading across his face. "Yeah," he said decisively. "Yeah, let's go home. But you've got to give me a minute to rev up 'cause my legs are practically out of commission."
Seth's lips quirked in a half-smile, filled with affection and quiet happiness. "Big baby," he teased gently. "You're going to milk this for all it's worth, aren't you?"
He stood and dressed quickly, moving with a grace that belied being such a big man in a small space. Then he grabbed the balled-up quilt from the foot of the bed and shook it out, tucking it securely around Aiden's body.
"What—" Aiden gave an incredulous laugh as he was unceremoniously flipped like one of Seth's pancakes. Once Seth finished cocooning him in the blanket, he hoisted Aiden over his shoulder like a feed sack. Aiden let out a whoop of surprise, instinctively clutching at Seth's back for balance. "I was joking!"
"I wasn't." Seth maneuvered through the cramped trailer with the ease of a lifetime of hard carrying, ducking to avoid the low ceiling, and just barely avoiding banging Aiden's head against the doorframe.
