Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Now, there was someone else to take into account when deciding what movie to watch or what to have for dinner.
And somehow it didn’t feel like he was losing anything when they watched the documentaries that made Bram lean in close, eyes wide with fascination, the light comedies that made Bram smile softly, or the dramas that made him wipe at his eyes and say, “Aw, man, that one really got me.”
Or by eating roasted vegetables and couscous and something called jackfruit, about which Bram always said, “it’s perfect for barbecue—no one would know it wasn’t pork.” Zachary nodded because he was fairly certain that he wouldn’t know pork from any other meat anyway, much less a fruit.
Zachary didn’t feel like he was losing anything because, of course, he could just watch the movies he wanted and eat the foods he usually ate once Bram was gone and he had to return to his solitary life.
For now, though, it was nice to have someone to share things with.
More than nice. Disturbingly great. So great that actually Zachary was concerned it wouldn’t be quite so easy as he’d thought to go back to that pre-Bram life whenever Bram inevitably left him.
Zachary had dated other people. He’d done online dating and he’d been set up by several well-meaning Garnet Run citizens over the years. He’d met the odd person at the grocery store or in a coffee shop.
But although some of them were interesting or attractive or whatever had drawn Zachary to them in the first place, what they weren’t was worth interrupting his routines for.
He didn’t come right out and say this, of course. But apparently he communicated it to them clearly enough that they took their leave after three or four dates.
And Zachary was fine with it.
But Bram...
This one was really going to hurt.
“C’mere, c’mere,” Bram said, dragging him into the shadows. “You hold this end and I’ll unroll them.”
Zachary nodded and crouched low. It would be great not to have the cops called because someone spotted them creeping around in the yard.
Bram, for all that he was a large man, moved lightly, and his height came in handy, since they couldn’t very well be moving a ladder around the Purcells’ yard without being noticed.
Bram grinned every time their eyes met, and Zachary found himself grinning right back.
When the final light was in place, they fell against each other, wheezing with the attempt to stay silent.
Bram shook with laughter and wiped at his eyes.
“Aw, man,” he said, and buried his face in Zachary’s shoulder to muffle his giggles.
“It’s a little anticlimactic since we have to wait until tomorrow for them to turn them on,” Zachary said, but he said it lightly because he was stroking Bram’s hair and it was hard to be disappointed by anything when he was stroking Bram’s hair.
“I’ve done recon,” Bram said. “They turn the lights on at 3:30. So we can just casually walk Hem and see it all happen.”
“You can. I’ll be at work.”
“Right, but, you work from home ten houses down. Can’t you take a break for like fifteen minutes to watch the fruits of our labor?”
“I don’t take a break at 3:30,” Zachary said.
Bram’s smile faded and it seemed like he wanted to say something else, but he just nodded.
“Okay,” he said. “Your call.”
He ran a hand through his hair and Zachary was instantly disappointed it wasn’t his hand.
There was no concrete reason he couldn’t take a break the next day at 3:30. Just because he didn’t usually didn’t mean he couldn’t. No one would know. And this was the first time they were joining forces to prank someone else—it seemed like a new phase of the prank war, and Zachary did want to see it. He wouldn’t mind seeing the joy on Bram’s face either...
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll meet you outside at 3:25.”
Bram’s face lit up. “Actually, 3:26 is better for me, schedule-wise,” he teased.
Zachary elbowed him and walked away.
He couldn’t stop smiling.
Chapter Fifteen
Bram
Bram was standing outside Zachary’s front door at precisely 3:25. He didn’t want to give Zachary a single moment to regret taking a break from the schedule that was so important to him.
“Hey, handsome,” he said when Zachary emerged. Zachary’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth and closed it again.
“Hi.”
Bram enjoyed flustering Zachary. He was clearly unused to people finding him attractive and Bram took advantage of it to watch him blink and sputter and, eventually, get a tiny private smile at the corners of his mouth, like he was eating something delicious very slowly, so he’d have a little bit to savor later.
“Can a coconspirator get a kiss?” Bram asked.
Zachary’s kisses were wild and intense when they were in bed together—hot as hell and unexpected—but there was something deeply tender about the soft kiss Zachary pressed to his lips now.