by AG Meiers
Alex’s response came immediately. Expect updates every twenty-four hours. No exceptions.
Jayden pulled up the Perfect Match homepage. Of course, he had looked at it before, but he wanted to prepare himself for the next inquisition with Sven.
Perfect Match’s internet presence gave nothing away. It appeared to be like any other online dating site and in a way, it was. Alex had explained the basics to Jayden when they’d first met. There was a perfectly legal side to the agency, which had started with a bunch of deeply closeted Ivy League students, who had built a gay dating site. Hooking up close to home had been too risky, so travel arrangements to discreet hotels or resorts had become part of the service. Once the founders had all graduated, one of them had tried to turn it from a social platform to connect like-minded rich kids into a business but failed pretty quickly. That was when Nicolas Carter had come onto the scene. He’d bought out the last owner, moved the headquarters to Texas, and re-created the agency in its current form.
Alex had also explained that starting up this kind of business was difficult, so Carter had added extra services to ensure he had more satisfied customers.
The fact that Jayden was considered an extra service still made his stomach turn.
Man up! Ten days! Only nine to go!
A movement in the room caught Jayden’s attention and he looked up from his computer. Orla was hovering. Hiding behind his screen again, Jayden quickly closed the site and clicked through some spam emails, pretending to be busy.
There was an email from one of the cooking sites he’d researched before coming here, and before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “I was thinking of baking a pie for Sven.”
Orla clapped her hands and gave him a huge smile. Within minutes, Jayden and his laptop were dragged into a large kitchen behind the front room, while she chatted about the equipment and recipes. He shook off his initial intimidation and let her excitement carry him along. Orla seemed really nice. Like a picture-book grandma: short and round with a light lilt in her voice. Full of energy and warmth, only her eyes seemed a little sad.
Jayden took a deep breath to get his nerves under control. “What’s Sven’s favorite pie?” he asked, pulling up his recipe collection on his computer. Baking had been a request on the profile, and he had spent the last few weeks researching and practicing so he would be prepared. To his complete surprise, he’d enjoyed experimenting with different recipes. Back at home, he’d stayed away from the kitchen. His mom had always made things up as she went along, creating tasty dishes without a recipe. But improvising had never worked for him—in cooking or in life.
Baking was not like cooking. Baking was all about exact measurements and focusing on the instructions. It had to be right on the first try. There wasn’t a way to add some more flour or baking powder once the dough was in the oven.
“Apple. Sven loves apple pie.”
“Covered?” Jayden asked while clicking through his recipe library.
Orla threw him an amused look, but replied, “Yes, and not too sweet. No raisins.”
Jayden clicked through a few recipes and then showed one to Orla, who appeared a little skeptical. “You’re making the pastry from scratch?”
“Yes. I’ve tried this recipe a few times, and it usually works.”
They pulled the ingredients together and carried everything to a large table in the back. Orla showed Jayden where he could find mixing bowls and utensils and preheated the huge oven. They both settled down with different prep tasks, and after a few minutes without looking up from the apple she was peeling, Orla started to pry. “That young man at the agency told me that you lost your mother last year.”
Alex had used Jayden’s real story as part of his cover, because losing a parent was something he and Sven had in common and it would keep things simple for Jayden.
“She died of colon cancer last July.” Jackson’s instructions were ringing in Jayden’s head. “Don’t talk about too much personal stuff. Keep the focus away from you. Ask questions. Deflect.” But then, Jayden had already broken that rule, so he said, “There hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about her.”
Orla stopped peeling, and her hands sank into her lap. “Oh, I know. My husband died in December. I miss him all the time.” A tear slowly ran down her rosy cheek. “A massive heart attack. One moment he was out back chopping wood, and the next he’d collapsed and was gone.”
Jayden nodded and stretched out his hand to give Orla’s shoulder a gentle rub but didn’t say anything. Orla took a deep breath and picked up her apple again. “It was hard for all of us. Sven was way up north. He’d planned to come down for a few days at Christmas. Instead he made it just in time for the funeral. Quit his job as a forester right after to stay with me for a while.”
“That must have been tough for him, not being here when it all happened.”
“Yes, those two were close.” Orla pointed her knife at Jayden. “My husband sometimes wouldn’t say five words to me in a whole day, but when Sven called, they’d talk for hours. Never could quite figure it out. They’d talk about the mountains, the weather, and trees. Trees! I’m not kidding. Then, when Duncan hung up, I’d ask him if Sven had gotten the package we sent up to him the week before. He couldn’t say. It just never crossed his mind to ask. Men . . . so useless sometimes.”
Jayden smiled. “What was your husband’s favorite pie?”
“You have to ask?” Her eye roll made Jayden chuckle.
“Then let’s make two apple pies!” he said on an impulse.
“You’re a sweetheart.” Orla gave him a long look and another tear escaped. “It’s been difficult without Duncan. For Sven, too. They always stuck together, plotting one thing or another. Couldn’t have been any closer if Sven had been born our son.”
Jayden had been measuring out the flour, but Orla’s statement caught his attention. “Sven is adopted?” It sort of made sense as Sven had a different last name.
“Yes. We always wanted a big family, but it wasn’t in God’s plan for us.” Orla picked up another apple. “But then he sent Sven to us. Best thing that ever happened to Duncan and me.”
The kitchen was warm, and Jayden started to relax as Orla told her story. “Cold Creek was one of the last big logging camps out here. Eventually they all closed. But because we had electricity and a good road, the Fire Watch and Rescue moved in. Duncan didn’t want to leave. It had been our home for a long time. He got lucky and got a job as a forester. He wasn’t really trained for it, but he knew the area like the back of his hand, so they took him on.”
The old logger limped in from the front room. Last night, Jayden hadn’t noticed the uneven gait caused by a stiff right leg. With his weathered face and grizzled beard, he looked exactly like Jayden had always imagined a lumberjack would look. He was only missing a large ax over his shoulder.
“Elliot, remember that summer when Sven came up here with that church group from Vancouver?” Orla said as he got himself another cup of coffee from the stove and then took the pot and refilled Orla’s and Jayden’s cups as well.
Jayden fully expected another series of growls, but to his surprise, Elliot leaned against the kitchen counter and replied in a low, deep voice. “Like it was yesterday. I thought Duncan would blow a gasket with all them boys running around the place.”
“Oh yes, he hated it,” Orla replied with a snort. Then glancing at Jayden and clearly realizing his confusion, she explained, “A church in Vancouver was sponsoring this program for orphaned boys to come out to the woods for a month in the summer. We have the space here. There are rooms and beds upstairs. The kids would stay for a few weeks and learn all about the mountains and the forest. Of course, they had their own teachers looking after them, but the foresters would find small odd jobs for them or take them on hikes. It wasn’t a big group, maybe twenty boys—”
“Hah,” Elliot interrupted her, “if you listened to Duncan, you’d think we had been overrun by a battalion.”
“Oh, yeah, my husband, bless his soul, he was a good man, but he’d scare those boys half to death with his loud voice and angry words. He’d come in the room and the kids would scatter, all but Sven. I could never quite figure it out, but Sven somehow attached himself to my husband. Right from the first day. Like a lost puppy. Wherever my big lump of a husband was, Sven’s head full of golden curls wasn’t far.”
Elliot, who had become quite chatty all of a sudden, said, “I remember once, Duncan was going on patrol early one morning and Sven was already waiting at the door with his worn-out sneakers, ready to walk up the mountain with him. And then, the next day, my brother asked all around the camp to find a decent pair of boots for the kid.”
Jayden started to put bits and pieces together. Lumberjack Elliot was Duncan’s brother, so he was Sven’s uncle. Adopted Uncle. Orla stood up to get Jayden the rolling pin, which made him realize that he had completely stopped working on his pie.
“They became inseparable. Just the strangest thing. My grouchy husband and that sweet lad with the sad eyes.” Orla took a sip of her coffee. There was a moment of silence as both Elliot and Orla seemed to get lost in their thoughts. Jayden stayed quiet. Memories were all they had left, and he didn’t want to interrupt. After a while, Orla pushed a bunch more apples in Jayden’s direction and continued with the story.
“I should have seen it coming, but at the time it was a complete surprise. Duncan was even grumpier than usual when the boys packed up to go back to the city, and then that last night he woke me up at two in the morning and asked me if we could take Sven in. He couldn’t bear the thought of Sven getting lost in the system. At first, I thought no way. We were too old for kids. I had given up on that ages ago, but there was no stopping Duncan O’Conner if he’d set his mind on something.”
“It was a bad day when Sven had to leave ’cause of blasted paperwork, but I still remember Duncan bringing him home. Hadn’t seen my brother so happy since his wedding day,” Elliot said, and Orla’s eyes got misty.
Jayden had listened quietly while slowly mixing his pastry. Now, he asked, “How old was Sven?”
“He was nine. His mother had abandoned him as a toddler, and he’d been in foster care for a while, but somehow nobody kept him for long.” Orla continued with a sad voice, “Never really understood that; Sven was such a sweet little thing, so quiet, trying so hard to be good.”
“Yeah, he was a good little boy,” Elliot interrupted. “And so polite. Called me Mister O’Conner and sir for the longest time. Took him a while to adjust.”
Jayden had noticed that Sven at times referred to Orla by her given name instead of calling her mom. It seemed oddly formal, but now that Jayden knew he’d been adopted as an older child it made sense.
Orla nodded. “And it took us even longer to convince him that we wouldn’t send him away again. Remember those first weeks, Elliot? Every day once or twice, Duncan would just happen to mention that there was so much snow on the road that nobody could ever leave Cold Creek.”
Elliot shook his head. “Yeah, I remember that. I thought he’d gone bonkers.” Orla laughed and wacked the old man’s shoulder. She pushed the last batch of peeled and cut apples over to Jayden.
He asked, “Do you have pictures of Sven as a child?”
For some reason that made both Elliot and Orla laugh out loud. Orla caught herself. “Pictures? Yes, we have a few around.”
Perfect Match Commitment #4:
You focus on love! We take care of the rest.
Sven stood under the thin stream of the shower. Not for the first time, he wished the hot water would last longer than twenty minutes. Getting Greg’s truck back onto the road had been more difficult than expected. Of course, the idiot couldn’t have just waited for them to get there. By the time Sven and Petrovic had found him, Greg had dug himself in pretty deep. In the end, it had taken them almost two miserable hours in the freezing rain to get the truck out and back up to the main road.
Sven had been the one to lie down in front of the truck to hook up the rope, so he’d been wet and muddy all over. After ensuring the cabin was empty, he’d dropped his clothes at the entrance and walked to the bathroom in his boxers. Jayden had obviously taken his advice and walked over to the lodge.
City Boy had been on Sven’s mind the whole time they were pulling out the truck. Sven had been mortified when Jayden got so upset at his callous way of handling the whole situation that he’d hurt himself on that blasted shelf. Not one of Sven’s finest moments. Challenging and outright rejecting people weren’t Sven’s things. A few years of bouncing around in foster care had taken care of most of the confrontational facets of his personality.
Jayden. Under the stream of hot water, Sven recalled the memory of a freshly showered Jayden coming out of the bathroom naked. It would be burned into his brain for the foreseeable future. Heat rushed to his groin as he remembered Jayden’s lean muscles and flawless skin. His sparkly green toenails that gave him just a touch of mystery.
Sven’s dick was one hundred percent onboard with his wayward thoughts. And had been for a while now. This morning—with Jayden’s warm body against his back—he’d woken up with a raging boner. It had been too goddamn long since he’d seen any action. That probably explained why just memories of Jayden were getting him hard again. Sven let the water run over his back as he slid his hand down his body toward his growing arousal. He shouldn’t be thinking about Jayden this way. It would only make it more difficult to look him in the eyes later, but he pushed hesitation aside; he wouldn’t make it out of the shower without taking care of his hard-on. Sven closed his eyes and tried to imagine how soft Jayden would feel under his touch. His kiss.
Sven leaned forward, placed one palm flat on the tiled shower wall, and started stroking his growing erection. He let out a low groan, remembering Jayden’s shaved pubes. He hadn’t even known that it was one of his kinks, but the memory of Jayden turning, bending over, and presenting his smooth ass crack and balls sent Sven’s arousal into overdrive. It had taken all his restraint not to rip the shirt back off, push Jayden over the kitchen table, and take him right there.
Now, here, alone in the shower, Sven gave into the desire that had been too damn distracting all day long. His strokes became shorter, more urgent as he pictured Jayden sprawled under him, in his bed. He imagined exploring Jayden’s soft skin, his pupils blown wide with need. So good. So perfect. His orgasm hit him full force. He snapped his head back and thrust his hips forward as he came. Water sprayed down his face. For a moment he just stood propped against the wall, trying to stay upright. The hot water started to run out, and Sven stayed under the cold spray long enough to wash away the last bit of sexual fog clouding his mind.
While thinking through his next steps, he cleaned up the small cabin. He felt like a creep when he started to collect Jayden’s clothes and threw them into the laundry bag with his own. Touching Jayden’s stuff while he wasn’t around seemed wrong. Too familiar, intimate . . . almost domestic. Just like breakfast this morning. Sven had convinced himself that it made sense to cook Jayden breakfast so they could have a private conversation. Though honestly, a fool could see the kid was too skinny. He needed food.
Ignoring the twinge of discomfort, Sven picked up Jayden’s mud-crusted jeans. It made total sense to throw the dirty clothes in the washer. It was the right thing to do . . . logical.
Mother hen. Dave’s laconic voice ran in his head. Yeah, if his one and only ex-boyfriend could see him now, he would have a field day. Dave had called Sven out on his protective nature a few times during their year-long relationship. Sven liked to take care of stuff. Stuff and people. Independent to a fault, his ex had never needed anybody to fuss over him, but Jayden clearly needed a keeper.
Oh, goddamn! Yesterday, he’d been all upset about his family meddling with his life and setting him up. This morning, Sven had given Jayden a speech about the fact that he wasn’t looking for anybody in his life. And just a few hours later, Jayden had starred
in his sexual fantasies and Sven had started to think of him as a date. Madness.
Did Jayden really believe in the whole Perfect Match sales pitch? Sven for sure didn’t. And the idea that Jayden was his match based on a questionnaire that had been filled out by his mother almost made him laugh. Still Jayden seemed to think they . . . belonged together? And he had traveled to Canada to meet in person. Cold Creek was a pretty isolated place in the middle of nowhere, and for a city kid like Jayden, coming here alone must have taken guts. There was something so insanely hopeful in his actions, and it seriously messed with Sven. It made him feel like an ogre for constantly trying to crush Jayden’s dream of true love.
And with the bridge underwater, they were all stuck here, which probably meant Sven would have to spend some time with Jayden. Well, so be it. He didn’t want to lead Jayden on, but at least he had an opportunity to make sure Jayden left in ten days with a better impression of Sven’s home. Sven loved Cold Creek with a passion and enjoyed taking people around. He could show him the few sights if the blasted rain would hold up long enough. And seeing Sven hang out with City Boy would make Orla happy. It wasn’t like he had a lot of other things to do these days.
Satisfied with his new plan, Sven grabbed the soggy laundry bag and headed toward the lodge.
The first thing Sven noticed when he walked into the lodge was Uncle Elliot laughing. Sven almost lost his step in surprise and stumbled into the room. His dad had been loud and boisterous while Elliot was more reserved. Sven hadn’t heard him laugh like this for a long time. A chuckle maybe when he won the pot at poker, but a real laugh? No way. Yet here he was, sitting in his usual chair, his big body shaking with amusement. Jayden was sitting with him at the same table, and Petrovic was standing in mud-covered clothes in front of the fire with a full plate in his hand—Orla right next to him.