Chapter 15
He kissed me.
Fucking kissed me.
Or maybe I kissed him, but it turned my entire world—no, entire existence—inside out.
I was shattered and rebuilt with a single kiss.
I’ve kissed many guys before, some girls too, but none of them ever felt like that.
Like the world opened up, showing me a fraction of paradise.
Even now, a day later, the phantom reminder of his lips still burns hot against my own.
I find myself licking my lips, hoping to get another taste of him.
But that can’t happen again—at least not while the tournament taking place at Spare Time is still a possibility. No matter how much I want it to. And trust me, I really want it to happen again and so much more. My body reacted to his on a visceral level, but he’s forbidden, and I can’t have him.
But, fuck, I want him.
I don’t know how I’m going to get through the day without wanting to pull Truett into the nearest bedroom and kiss him until there’s nothing between us, only our bodies moving as one.
What would he feel like below me? On top of me?
Inside of me? Would he moan when I kissed him?
Would his body react when I started trailing my tongue from his lips all the way down to his—
“Ezra Jiménez, are you listening to me?” My mother’s voice cuts through my horny brain fog, effectively ending my thoughts. Last thing I need is a damn hard-on while I’m preparing for my family to arrive. My family and the man I can’t stop thinking about.
“Can you repeat that?” I finish up the last task she gave me, which was to set up the folding tables and chairs.
Since I arrived home last night, my mom has been busy cooking, making sure there’s enough food to feed a small army, plus send everyone home with leftovers.
The actual barbecuing will be done by my tío, who should be here any minute now.
“I need you to go out back to the shed and grab the cooler—the blue one with the handles, not the red one. Tía Jacinda is bringing ice.” She flips tortillas, and the smell makes my mouth water.
I eye them, tempted to sneak one, but I know better—she’d probably combust from the stress.
Everything has to be perfect. Which is exactly why I keep quiet about the two other ice chests already sitting out back, packed with fruity sodas and Dos Equis, because I’d rather not lose my head today.
I wipe the sweat from my brow. “Yeah, I’ll go.” The heat from the oven and stove is making its way into the entire house.
Just as I’m about to slide open the back doors, there’s a knock at the front door. “Ay, mijo, answer that for me, will you? I don’t want the tortillas to burn,” my mom says.
Resigned to my fate as errand boy, I head to the front door.
It’s probably just my tío, but he doesn’t usually knock.
I quickly answer it, expecting to see my short, stout uncle holding a tray full of raw, seasoned meat.
But upon seeing tousled brown hair, my body heats up, and my heart pounds rapidly against my chest. Because it’s not my uncle standing there. No, it’s Truett.
And I can’t breathe.
Truett—the man who kissed me yesterday and hasn’t left my mind since—the same man I pushed away out of fear.
I keep trying to convince myself it was the right decision, but standing here now, looking at him in a relaxed green shirt and jeans that cling just a little too well to his thighs, I’m struggling to remember why I pushed him away in the first place.
Truett smiles, dazzling me with his pearly white teeth.
He holds up something in his hand, and it takes me a moment to realize what it is.
“I brought potato salad. From Judy’s BBQ, so no weird ingredients like raisins or whatever.
” He laughs, shuffling from foot to foot.
He looks like he’s afraid I’m going to push him away.
I don’t blame him. Where do we go after yesterday? To my room, if I had my way.
Fuck, stop thinking like that!
“Is it Pablo?” my mom yells from the kitchen.
Then quick footfalls come down the hall as she approaches the door.
“Don’t be rude. Let your tío—” Her words die on her lips as she takes in Truett standing on the other side.
Then a giant smile lights up her face. “Truett! You came! And brought”—she peers over, checking the container in his hands—“potato salad. Sweet boy. Come, come.” She reaches for him, pushing me aside in the process.
“I hope I’m not too late. I didn’t know what time the barbecue started,” he apologizes. My mom whisks him away as I still stand there like a gaping idiot.
She shoots me a look, one that tells me to shut the door because I’m letting the flies in.
I quickly do, following them into the kitchen.
“You’re early, but that’s okay. You can help Ezra.
He was just about to get the cooler from the shed.
Two strong men should be able to get it, no problem.
” She winks at him, taking the potato salad and placing it in the fridge…
way back in the fridge. I doubt we’ll see it again today.
“Oh, okay. I’d love to help.” Truett smiles and then turns toward me. I need to say something, but instead I find myself motioning to the back door and booking it out of the damn kitchen like my ass is on fire.
I don’t make it to the shed before a hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me to a stop. “Ezra.” His voice sends heat down my spine. “Please, look at me.”
Reluctantly, I turn. Truett is close to me.
So close. I can smell his spearmint aftershave and see that he missed a tiny patch when shaving.
“I don’t want things to be awkward between us.
You’re my friend, Ezzie. I swear to you I won’t put you or the alley in jeopardy.
I want to see Spare Time host the tournament just as much as you do. But if you really want me to go—”
“No.” The word comes out sharper than I expect, laced with enough force to startle even me.
The tension already coiled tight in my chest and shoulders pulls even tighter when I catch the genuine sadness flickering across Truett’s face.
Guilt hits fast and heavy, settling low in my stomach because, no matter how I try to justify it, I still feel like the world’s biggest asshole for running out on him yesterday.
Sighing, I run my hand through my hair nervously. “Listen, Truett, I’m sorry for yesterday. With the rep telling me my father would be proud of me, it just freaked me out that we were almost caught. The kiss was…”
“Was what?” Truett asks softly, biting his lower lip. I’m so damn tempted to lean down and suck it into my mouth until he makes the same sweet pleasurable sounds from yesterday.
“Unexpected and… amazing,” I admit, watching his face brighten at my words. “Amazing” pales in comparison to how it truly felt, but it’s the best I can come up with. “But we were careless to do that in the alley. That can’t happen again. Maybe once this is all done…”
“Kissing in general or kissing in the alley?” His thumb gently starts to stroke the inside of my wrist. I nearly forgot he was still holding on to me because it felt so natural.
I should say kissing in general. That would be the smart choice until the tournament is finished. That way, the alley’s chances won’t be at risk, and neither one of us gets hurt. We keep this relationship strictly platonic until it’s safe not to.
However, I’ve never claimed to be a smart man. And punishing myself by not knowing when I’ll be able to kiss him again seems like a cruel punishment neither of us deserves. Especially Truett, who’s done nothing but try to support me throughout this whole ordeal.
“Kissing in the alley. We can’t do that again.” Once the words are out, something charges between us. Truett is smart; he can read between the lines of my words.
“No more kissing at the alley then,” Truett agrees and takes a step forward.
“Good.”
“Yes, good.”
Then, like striking a match, everything ignites.
I don’t know who moves first—only that one second there’s space between us, and the next, his body is in my arms, his back pressed against the side of the shed, hidden from the view of my kitchen window.
I’m kissing him like we haven’t kissed in years, rather than just a day ago.
His lips are soft and warm. I taste his peppermint toothpaste as my tongue demands entrance. A needy sound escapes Truett, hardening every muscle in my body.
My tongue traces along the seam of his lips, coaxing him to open for me.
The moment he does, I capture the soft gasp that escapes him, savoring the sound as my hands slide down to grip his hips.
I pull him closer, pressing against the hard ridges of his sculpted body, feeling every defined muscle beneath my fingertips.
Desire coils tighter inside me, fueling the hunger in my kiss as it deepens, growing more urgent with each passing second.
It’s too much.
It’s not enough.
A loud whistle from behind us has me jumping back, away from Truett like we’ve been caught in a salacious act.
I guess we kinda have. A boisterous laugh echoes around us.
“Ay, stop sucking face with your boyfriend and get your ass over here, cabrón. Let the man breathe,” Tío Pablo yells, apparently having gotten here just as I decided to make out with Truett.
Great. Interrupted again.
“To be continued?” Truett laughs, a cute red flush to his cheeks that makes me want to pull him back in for a kiss and ignore everything else.
But I’m a fucking responsible adult, so I don’t. “Definitely. And sorry about my uncle. He’s harmless,” I assure, not wanting him to get the wrong idea about my family.
Truett just shrugs. “It’s okay. I’ll get the cooler out while you help him. Inside the shed, right?”
“Right. The blue one, not the red,” I say.