“He brought Micah flowers,” Rachel-Lyn told them, making it sound like an accusation. Then, to Micah, “Is that the first time you’ve been out with him, musje?”
Amanda put down the place cards she’d been tapping on the counter—like some kind of percussion soundtrack to their interrogation—and pulled her purse open.
“I brought you these from the hospital, Micah,” she said, holding out a handful of pamphlets. “There are also some websites listed that you should look at.”
He took them from her, squinting as he tried to make sense of them. Reading with his eyes could be a bit exhausting sometimes, but still, he tried. If nothing else, because staring at the pamphlets meant a break from getting peppered by questions from the three M’s.
“Oh my God,” he said once he finally realized what Amanda had handed him. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or die of embarrassment. “Really?”
He held one of the pamphlets up—a bright yellow one emblazoned with the title Safer Sex: A Guide for Gay Men.
“Of course I’m not implying that you need to rush into anything, um, physical,” Amanda said, turning red.
And that comment gave Micah a third option to add to either laughing or dying of embarrassment, because oh God. He had rushed into things the night before, hadn’t he? And it had been freaking awesome. Zach had totally blown his… mind.
Micah started to grin, but caught himself and pressed his lips together tightly in an effort to keep his family from somehow reading too much into his expression. Unlike him, they were really, really good at it, and the last thing he wanted to do was let himself think too hard about the night before. No matter how used to embarrassing himself he was, that horror—getting totally turned on while surrounded by the three M’s?—wasn’t something he even wanted to contemplate.
“Did he push you for sex, Micah?” Rachel-Lyn asked bluntly. “Because a man doesn’t just bring flowers if—”
“He likes me, Rachel-Lyn,” Micah said, cutting her off. Because really, their constant, well-meaning meddling was getting to be a bit much. Zach was pretty much the best thing ever, and besides, was Micah’s sex life—now that he sort of had one—actually any of their business?
“Of course he likes you, musje,” Tanja said in a soothing voice, crossing the room and giving him a motherly hug. “But we know how you are. You get very attached.”
“You do tend to jump into things with both feet, Micah.”
Amanda stood up, glancing at the slim gold watch on her wrist as she gathered up her purse. “We just don’t want you to mistake the exhilaration of any… feelings… you’re having for more than they are,” she said. “It’s easy to become infatuated with your first boyfriend, and we’d just hate to see you get hurt.”
“I know,” Micah said, huffing out a frustrated breath. They weren’t wrong, but wasn’t that all part of just living? “You can’t protect me from everything. And Zach isn’t even something to protect me from. He’s amazing. And besides, there are worse things in life than getting hurt.”
“Micah,” Rachel-Lyn said, frowning at him and sending a pointed look toward their mother when Tanja sucked in a sharp breath.
Tanja’s eyes were too bright, and she turned away, wiping at her cheeks and making Micah feel like the most horrible person on the planet. He’d only meant that he didn’t mind a few bumps and bruises along the way if it meant he’d actually get the chance to experience things, but of course he’d spoken without thinking. His mother had experienced first-hand much, much worse things than getting hurt, and his thoughtless comment had clearly triggered some of those memories. His father—the love of her life, Brian Rawlings—had died in the household accident that had blinded Micah.
He hadn’t died immediately, though.
Seventeen years before, Brian had taken five-year-old Micah out to the garage of their new house to clean out some of the junk the previous owners had left behind. There was no way Brian could have known that helping his young son open and clean a dusty-looking jar would cost him so much. The “dust” inside had been calcium carbide—once used as old-time lamp fuel—and it had reacted to the water he’d helped Micah pour inside with a violent chemical explosion that Tanja and the girls had heard all the way from inside the house.
Micah could never tell if he actually remembered some of the accident, or if he’d simply heard the story enough times that it had woven itself into his senses and given him the illusion of memory. Tanja had screamed at the twins to call 911 the moment she’d heard the loud sound from the garage, and once she’d made it out there to find both her husband and son sprawled on the ground—not moving and covered in blood amidst broken shards of glass—she’d had to face the horrible choice of which one of her loved ones to treat first. When the paramedics had finally arrived, they’d praised her medical training and assured her that her quick reactions had saved Micah’s life.
Brian, though, had lost too much blood, and by the time the ambulance had reached the hospital, he’d already been gone.
“Sorry, Mam,” Micah said, hugging her from behind.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt, musje,” she repeated, turning to face him and cupping his cheeks in her hands. Again remained unspoken, but it was always there, the theme that had defined his relationship with the three M’s for most of his life.
“I know,” Micah said. “Thank you. But don’t worry, okay? Zach is…” He smiled—probably too wide again—as another wave of Zach-euphoria swamped him. “He’s really, really great, Mam. He would never hurt me. I can tell.”
Tanja sighed, shaking her head, then gave in and smiled, too. “Well, I can see that you’re happy, so that’s something. Amanda has to get to the hospital, but you’ll have to tell me and Rachel-Lyn more about your Zach over dinner. Maybe we can meet him sometime?”
“I can’t stay, Mam,” Micah said, pulling away from her and glancing at the old-fashioned clock on the wall. That one was easier to read at a glance, since the position of the hands clicked in his brain faster than the effort of interpreting the shapes of numbers on a digital one. “Zach’s taking me to dinner.”
“Again?” Rachel-Lyn asked, whirling on him with a wooden spoon in hand.
Micah blushed. It wasn’t really again, since they hadn’t made their dinner reservation the night before, but there was no way he was admitting that. Besides, he and Zach had eaten together the night before, but it had just been a few things from the limited selection in Micah’s kitchen.
And it had been while naked.
Micah could feel his blush going nuclear. But God… Zach was so… dang… hot.
Rachel-Lyn narrowed her eyes, as if she could somehow read exactly what had happened the night before on his face, but luckily he was saved from a more detailed interrogation when Amanda jumped back into the conversation.
“Where are you going to dinner, musje? Maybe I can drop you on my way to the hospital?”
“No, thanks though, Amanda. I’ll just call an Uber.”
He loved Amanda, but no way was he going to subject himself to an entire car ride of even more third degree.
Rachel-Lyn frowned. “Make sure he doesn’t push you into anything you’re not comfortable with, Micah.”
“Are Uber drivers required to have any qualifications?” Tanja asked.
“Don’t be silly, musje. I’ve got time. Just tell me where you need to go—”
“No,” Micah said forcefully, making all three snap their mouths closed and look at him with surprise. “Um, sorry, but I’ve got this, okay? I mean, thank you. All of you. And I love you, but…”
“Back off?” Amanda finished for him, her lips twitching.
Micah grinned. “Yes?”
Amanda laughed. “Fine,” she said, tugging him to her for a quick, one-armed hug. “I’m going then, but we still want to meet him one of these days. Maybe at the wedding?”
“Um,” Micah said, kind of liking the idea of having Zach as his date for Rachel-Lyn’s w
edding, but was that too much? A wedding wasn’t like going out to dinner. It was bigger. It involved family. Did people who had just started seeing each other do that sort of thing? Would Zach even want to?
Rachel-Lyn gasped, shaking her head. “I just finalized the seating chart, musje. I don’t have room for a plus-one for you.”
“Rachel-Lyn,” Tanja said, frowning at her. “If Micah wants to bring a date, I’m sure we can adjust, yes?”
Rachel-Lyn’s mouth opened and closed a few times as if she wanted to argue, but Tanja gave her a patented mother look that even Micah could read, and Rachel-Lyn finally nodded.
“Fine, Mam. I’ll find a way. But Micah—” she whirled on him, “—you must tell me for sure if he’s coming or not. There are only—”
“Two weeks left,” Micah, Amanda, and their mother finished in chorus.
“I know, Rachel-Lyn,” Micah added, grinning at her.
“We all know, Rach,” Amanda said, laughing when her sister threw a dishtowel at her and then kissing Tanja’s cheek before scooting out the door. “Bye.”
“I’ve really got to go, too,” Micah said, glancing at the clock again as a little frisson of excitement went through him. He couldn’t wait to see Zach again, and it was all kinds of wonderful that Zach had obviously felt the same, since he’d been the one who’d insisted they had to try for dinner again… and meet at the restaurant this time, to make sure they actually got that far.
Micah grinned, pulling out his phone to order the Uber.
“Let me know about the wedding by this weekend, please,” Rachel-Lyn said, following him out of the kitchen. “I need to finalize the seating chart.”
Micah promised he would, wondering if he’d have the guts to ask. Because maybe it was too much to ask Zach to something like that so soon… but then again, the way Micah felt every time Zach looked at him?
Maybe it wasn’t.
“You grew up here in San Diego and you’ve never been surfing?” Zach asked, sounding incredulous.
“No, but I’d like to,” Micah said, grinning because it did sound fun… but also because he kind of loved that Zach assumed he could have. And, really, he probably could have. Other people surfed blind. But of course, they probably hadn’t grown up under the smothering, overprotective watch of the three M’s.
Micah poked absently at the food on his plate, pretty sure it was cold by now. It was some kind of pasta dish, and it was delicious, but he kept forgetting to eat it in favor of talking. Making out with Zach the night before had been amazing, but just hanging out with him? Micah could happily do that all night, too. In fact, he kind of was. They’d already been at the restaurant for three hours, and at some point, his usual tongue-tied-around-a-hot-guy state had sort of disappeared.
He loved talking to Zach. Loved the way he could make Zach laugh… and the way Zach seemed genuinely interested in every single thing he had to say… and the way Zach got so animated when he talked about his own interests, everything from surfing to his plans for medical school to jumping out of airplanes.
“So what’s stopping you?” Zach asked. “Is it the depth perception thing you were telling me about?”
“No,” Micah said, cocking his head to the side as he thought about it. “I mean, that might be a problem? I don’t think I’ll know until I try. But with surfing, it’s just there are so many things I want to try, and it’s one I haven’t gotten around to yet.”
Zach grinned. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“It’s a date. I’m taking you surfing next weekend.”
Micah forked a bite of cold pasta into his mouth, just to keep from smiling too hard.
“Does that work for you?” Zach asked, nudging Micah’s leg under the table. “I have to work during the week, and I don’t want to monopolize all your weekends—”
“You don’t? Why not?” Micah blurted, heat flooding his face the minute the words left his mouth.
Zach just laughed, though. “I wouldn’t mind, actually,” he said, which did all sorts of lovely things inside Micah. “But I don’t want to assume—”
“You can monopolize me,” Micah interrupted, grinning. “I mean, if you want to.”
“I want to,” Zach said, his voice going all low and sexy in a way that made Micah want to forget about the rest of dinner and hurry up to the part of the night where he found out if Zach wanted to come home with him again.
“Jesus, Micah,” Zach said, laughing as he shifted in his seat. “If you keep looking at me like that, I might forget we’re out in public.”
“I can’t help it,” Micah said, feeling no remorse whatsoever. He grinned, kind of wishing he knew how to wink. He’d have to work on that. “You’re too hot, plus I’m still getting the whole facial expression thing down, remember?”
“I thought that was just reading other people’s faces,” Zach teased, his leg rubbing against Micah’s again under the table.
Micah hid his grin behind another bite of pasta. Caught.
Zach laughed. “If we go surfing next weekend, then maybe on the weekend after that—”
“Oh,” Micah interrupted. “That reminds me. The weekend after that is my sister’s wedding. Do you, um…”
He trailed off, a last-minute attack of nerves hitting him. Was a wedding date too much? They had just met, after all.
Zach smiled, his eyebrows going up as he waited for Micah to continue.
Micah nibbled his lip. Zach’s eyes were kind of doing a sparkling thing… and his leg was still pressed up against Micah’s under the table… and even if Micah wasn’t entirely confident about what Zach’s face was telling him, every other thing about the night gave Micah confidence that he wasn’t the only one who might be a little bit smitten. And really, what was the worst that could happen? Zach saying no?
Micah grinned. “So, do you want to be my date to my sister’s wedding?”
“Yes,” Zach said, showing both his dimples.
“Oh,” Micah said, smiling even harder. “Well, that was easy.” He laughed. “This is the first time I’ve ever asked a guy out.”
Something hot and delicious filled Zach’s eyes, making Micah want to squirm. Or maybe jump on him.
“I like being your first, Micah,” Zach said, his smile all slow and sexy and making the jumping-on-him idea suddenly seem like a really, really good one.
“I like it, too,” Micah said, feeling a little breathless.
There were a lot of firsts he’d like with Zach.
Maybe even all of them.
9
Zach
“What are you looking at?” Zach asked, glancing over at Micah’s rapt expression as he parked the truck near a deserted dune. He’d probably asked that question a dozen times since picking Micah up, and so far, it had always brought forth an unexpected answer. Zach grinned as he waited to hear what it would be this time—no doubt another thing that Zach had seen himself a million times before, but would now start to look at in a whole new light.
Micah pointed ahead of them. “The horizon,” he said, practically bouncing in his seat. “Isn’t it amazing how something that doesn’t actually exist can be all around you? I could never quite understand what it was when I was blind. I mean, I thought I did, sort of? But really, I had no idea. It’s—”
“Beautiful,” Zach finished for him, grinning.
Micah blushed, nodding, and Zach laughed, loving it. He’d already learned that it was one of Micah’s favorite words, and that he applied it sincerely to all sorts of things that Zach had never noticed before, or for which he never would have considered using the word. Dust, floating in the sunlight. The patterned shadows of everyday objects. The way light glinted off the line of traffic they’d been stuck in on the drive up to Coronado.
Micah hadn’t seemed to mind the delay at all, and honestly, neither had Zach. They hadn’t seen each other since the weekend before, partly because of Zach’s work schedule and partly because—despite the unexpected and totally hot turn tha
t their first date had taken—he liked Micah too much to risk rushing things. Still, staying away had been an exercise in self-restraint, and the extra hour stuck in traffic together hadn’t felt like a hardship at all. It had passed in a happy blur, proving to Zach that—as much as he was looking forward to surfing—he basically didn’t care what they did, as long as he got to spend some more time in Micah’s company.
“You ready for this?” Zach asked, grinning over at him as he turned off the truck.
“Totally,” Micah said, unbuckling and slinging his camera around his neck. He hopped out of the truck, his constant enthusiasm bubbling over in a breathless, excited stream of words. “I found a YouTube video? And I’m pretty sure I’m goofy footed. I’ve been practicing popping up all week, too, but paddling? I think that’s going to be easier to practice in the water.”
Zach grabbed his surfboard and gear bag out of the back, then passed Micah the shorter board he’d borrowed from a friend.
“That’s what we’re here for, but don’t worry if it takes you a while to get a feel for it.”
Micah laughed, tripping in the sand as he followed Zach toward the beach.
“I’m used to that.” He paused once they got over the dunes, turning to Zach with a questioning look. “I thought there’d be more people out on a Saturday.”
At the moment, they had the whole beach to themselves.
“This place is pretty out of the way,” Zach told him, taking a deep breath of the salty air. He’d found it by accident shortly after he’d moved to San Diego, and it was actually one of his favorite beaches, even though he didn’t come to it often. “It doesn’t really attract a lot of people. Too rocky, and the waves are too mellow for serious surfing. I thought it would be perfect for today, though.”
Micah looked around, a gorgeous smile growing on his face. “Do you mind if I take some pictures before we get to the actual surfing? It’s—” he cut a look at Zach, pausing to nibble his lip, then laughed and added the requisite, “beautiful.”
Looking For Love (Semper Fi, The Forever Faithful Series Book 2) Page 11