Page 41 of Trapped for Christmas

“You think?”

“He told me to get my cute ass in the shower. Was that flirting?”

Hunter burst out laughing.

“You’ve been no help at all.”

“Yes, Zeb. That was flirting. What else has he said?”

“He wanted to hear my dirty thoughts.”

“Oh, this is getting good. Did you tell him?”

“Of course not. I said they were intrusive thoughts, but I think he knew what I was thinking about, or am I reading too much into it?”

“I doubt it. What else has he said?”

“I might have said his food almost made me cum in my pants.”

Hunter cracked up again. “What did he say to that?”

“He took it as a compliment. What’s wrong with me, Hunter? I know I can blurt out things sometimes, but I feel like I have no control over it when I’m near him. It’s even worse here in the cabin as we’re in each other’s space all the time.”

“Sounds hot!”

“How is that helping? I’m spiraling here!”

“Just relax and see what happens. He’s made your favorite meal. Now you’re going to watch a romantic film about two men falling in love. Then you’re going to share a bed. It’s the gay trinity of romance.”

Zeb chuckled. Maybe he was overthinking it and should just see what happened.

“Okay, I’ll just watch the film with him and try not to say anything embarrassing when we’re in the same bed.”

“Good luck with that,” said Hunter, with laughter in his voice.

They ended the call, although not before Hunter had made a few more unhelpful suggestions on how to do mating calls. Maybe he did need a new best friend! That would never happen. For them to meet on the street and then end up working at the same restaurant felt as if someone was watching over him, even if it wasn’t all the time.

Now he had to pull his shit together and get out there, watch a romantic gay film with Mason, and try not to embarrass himself any further. Based on what had happened since they’d been at the cabin, the odds were definitely not in his favor!

CHAPTER 14

MASON

Mason woke up with something warm pressed against him. His cock was hard, which wasn’t unusual for the morning. He involuntarily ground up against whatever it was, and felt something familiar. The crease of an ass—a perfect round ass. Fuck! He was in bed with Zeb, and was acting like a dirty old man. He opened his eyes. Zeb was perfectly still next to him. Mason hoped he was still asleep. He was wrapped up in Mason’s arms, and didn’t he look perfect like that? Mason wanted this every day, but he knew he’d only get one shot at it, so he had to be sure Zeb was ready.

It was hard to know what Zeb was thinking sometimes, although him blurting things out always made Mason smile. He referred to them, as “intrusive thoughts,” but Mason saw them more as intrusive desires. Mason hadn’t pushed things in the past, as he hadn’t wanted to encourage anything given his former stance on boss and employee relationships, but now he didn’t care what other people thought. Zeb was going to be his, but it would be the man’s choice when he was ready.

Last night, Zeb had rushed to the bathroom when they were cleaning up, so Mason had gone to check he was okay. He’d heard him on the phone and had hurried away. He wouldn’t have liked to be overheard when he’d been speaking to Max. Was Zeb on the phone to Hunter? That would mean Deacon would be in the know. Mason could have texted him to find out, but he wouldn’t do anything that could risk hurting Zeb. Besides, Deacon wouldn’t tell him anyway. Hunter would have his balls if he did. His sous chef could be a feisty thing when he wanted to be.

Mason just wanted to understand what Zeb was feeling. There had been a lot of mixed signals yesterday. Zeb had made flirty comments, some more suggestive than others, then he’d gotten upset about the dinner. And for a film, he’d chosen not just a romcom, but a gay one. Mason hadn’t been interested in the film, but he’d wanted to spend time with Zeb, so would have watched anything. Zeb had fallen asleep and ended up cuddling into Mason. When the film had ended—which hadn’t actually been bad for a romcom—Mason had picked Zeb up and carried him to bed. He was still underweight from being with that bastard, Kaden. That still didn’t stop him looking perfect in Mason’s arms, just like he did now. Mason wondered what it would be like to have this every morning. No wonder his best friends all looked so happy.

He needed to extract himself from Zeb without waking him up. The first thing he did was move his hips backward, so his dick was no longer pressing into Zeb. Now he had to get his arms out, and one of them was tucked under the man. How had they ended up like this? Mason couldn’t remember ever sleeping with someone like this before. He’d not had many relationships in the past, and anything longer than a couple of months predated the restaurant. Since then, guys hadn’t enjoyed coming second to Epicure. Zeb was different, though. He would always come first to Mason.

Mason maneuvered his arm from under Zeb and slipped out of bed. He headed for the bathroom. Not wanting to have a shower and risk waking Zeb up, he took care of business, his cock having softened, and brushed his teeth. He opened the bathroom door quietly. Zeb was still tucked up under the comforter, so Mason went to pull a T-shirt on and then changed his mind. Zeb seemed to enjoy looking at his body, so who was he to deny the young man something he enjoyed.

Mason may have gone overboard with making breakfast food, based on the confused look Zeb had on his face when he appeared an hour later. He stared when he saw Mason was shirtless. He’d put some sweats on, as walking around in only his underwear was probably pushing it.

“Are we expecting guests?” asked Zeb, his eyes not leaving Mason’s chest.