12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Max

S pending the night with Jake had been… incredible was the only way to put it. We spent half the night making out. I let him take his time exploring my body and letting me explore his, and we kissed until we were both too tired to move. I fell asleep against his body, larger than mine, warm and secure. I honestly couldn't believe what was happening.

The next morning, after saying our goodbyes, I'd hurried back to the house I was sharing with Sterling, who was getting ready for work when I came in.

"Max? Is that you?" His voice rang out from the kitchen when I closed the front door.

"If it's not, are you prepared to fight off a serial killer?" I turned the corner into the kitchen to find him eating a cup of yogurt.

Sterling laughed and shook his head. "Not at all. What kept you out all night, hmm?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yes, I would like something to eat. Thank you for asking."

He laughed again, tossing his empty yogurt cup in the trash. His spoon clattered loudly as he dropped it into the empty sink. "Help yourself. Are you wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday?"

I glanced at an imaginary watch on my bare wrist. "Oh, look at the time. We're going to be late if we don't hurry."

"Production doesn't start until the producer arrives. Everyone knows that. Besides, what are they going to do without the host?"

"I'm sure they can make do without you," I said dryly.

He flipped me off. "Seriously though."

"Alright, alright. Give me a minute to change, will you?" I hurried into my bedroom and cleaned up, tossing my day-old clothes into a hamper, tugging on clean ones, and doing some basic hygiene in the bathroom. I made my way back to the kitchen to find Sterling waiting patiently, scrolling on his phone.

"Now. Spill."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "So impatient." He shrugged, so I went ahead. "I've been working on a side project for the show."

"Wait, do you mean that mystery box, or our sexy foreman, Jake?" Sterling put his phone face down on the counter so he could listen without distractions.

My cheeks heated. "Both."

He leaned forward, eyes wide. "Oh. My. God. You hooked up with Jake."

The heat in my cheeks burned hotter. There was no denying it. "Maybe."

The squeal he let out sounded very much like it came from an enthusiastic teenager rather than an adult man. "Tell me everything."

I swallowed hard, not wanting to spill all of Jake's secrets. "It's really not a big deal. We were hanging out, working on this side project—the box, I mean—and we just sort of kissed. And then it went from there."

He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Did you fuck him?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not."

"I mean, that's not a dumb question."

"Fair, but the answer is no. We didn't sleep together. I mean, I did spend the night and we slept in the same bed, but we didn't do much else."

Sterling snorted. "Much."

"Look, I'm not going to kiss and tell."

"If you did, it wouldn't be the first time."

I sighed in defeat. "This time's different. He's… inexperienced. I don't want to rush things and I don't want to make it a bigger deal than it needs to be."

He frowned, a furrow forming between his eyebrows. "Inexperienced? That sexy mountain of a man?"

"It's all new for him. He's been alone for a long time."

He nodded slowly. "Got it. Well, I'm happy for you. But…"

"But?"

"Isn't it a little bit of a conflict of interest? I mean, should you really be hooking up with him?"

I let out a slow breath. "It's new. Maybe it's a one-time thing." My chest hurt at the thought. "Either way, can we keep it between us? Just until I know what's going on between us?"

"My lips are sealed. But if we don't hurry, everyone's going to be talking because we'll be late to set."

"Let's get going."

Less than an hour later, we were on set and production was moving along. I was working in the trailer, but mostly daydreaming about Jake, when a knock at the door startled me. Before I could answer, the door opened and Jake stuck his head in.

"You busy?"

I shook my head and put down my pen. "Come on in."

Jake stepped inside, his broad frame filling the doorway and blocking the glare from the bright summer sun. Hot air rushed in, swirling around me and ruffling the papers on my desk. A moment later, Jake shut the door behind him and stood by the door awkwardly.

"You okay?"

He nodded. "Can I sit?"

"Sure." My stomach twisted in knots, worried about what he'd say.

"You wanna grab lunch? I mean, not now, but when we knock off for lunch, do you want to eat with me?" His cheeks were pink as he stammered through his invitation.

I grinned, flattered that he was interested. "That sounds great. Should we grab takeout or what?"

Jake shrugged his shoulder. "I'm game for whatever. Thought I might order pizzas for the crews today."

With a nod, I pointed at him. "Let me know if you need my help. Or my credit card."

He laughed. "I'll do that."

When the pizzas arrived, both crews were excited for the midday surprise. Jake snagged a pepperoni pizza and brought it into the trailer for us to share, along with a couple cans of soda, and I cleared my desk so we'd have space to eat.

"So, Jake… Is that short for something? Jacob maybe?"

He shook his head, chewing a bite of pizza. "Just Jake. How about Max?"

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes. "Maxwell. I don't love it. My brother's name is Mitchell and I maintain he got the better name but the worse nickname. Mitch. Pass." I wrinkled my nose to show my disdain.

"I didn't know you had a brother."

I peeled a pepperoni off my slice and popped it in my mouth. "Yeah, my family is pretty close actually. There are just the four of us. How about you?"

He shook his head again. "I'm an only child. My parents live here, but I don't see them much. They're in their seventies. Mom and Dad live together still, in a community for older adults."

"Like a retirement home?" I asked.

"No, just a planned community. A townhouse, surrounded by other townhouses with other older folks living there."

"And your dad taught you to play guitar, right?"

His eyes lit up. "I can't believe you remembered that. Yeah, he did."

"Are your grandparents still around? The grandfather who taught your dad?"

Jake put his pizza slice down and exhaled softly. "No, it's just my parents and me left."

"So who do you spend your time with?"

Jake's tone was defensive when he spoke. "I have friends."

"I didn't mean—sorry. I was just curious."

"Axton runs a garage in town. He's my closest friend. We've known each other since high school. Since then, we've collected a few more. Slade and Knox. We spend our nights shooting pool and shooting the shit. Axton is usually working on a car he's rebuilding, if he doesn't have client work to do. We have what we need."

It was probably the longest speech Jake had ever given me. "That's awesome. Sterling is my best friend, but almost every one of the production crew is a part of my inner circle, so to speak. Gideon, Kieran, Micah, and Brooks. I brought them all with me from New York. We've been close for years."

"And they know you're…"

"Gay? Yeah. I've been out since high school. I'm guessing your friends and family don't know, then?"

"Definitely not. It's been…" He frowned, seeming to do some mental math. "It's been a long time. Ten, fifteen years. Something like that. I never, I don't know, saw the point."

My breath caught in my throat. "And now?"

He hesitated, looking down at his pizza for a second before looking back at me. "Now I do."

Warmth flooded me. "I do, too."

A few minutes later, someone pounded on the door with their fist, and Jake spun to see who it was.

"Boss?" It was Troy, the carpenter.

"Yeah?"

"Just letting you know the pizza's gone and we're headed back to work."

Jake nodded. "Thanks, Troy. I'll be out in a minute."

"Sounds good." With that, Troy was gone.

"Well, I'd better get going, too," Jake murmured.

I cleared my throat. "This was good. Thanks for having lunch with me."

His soft smile loosened something tense in my chest. "Yeah. Same to you." And then he was gone.

I spent most of the afternoon holed up in the trailer, continuing to work on scripting for Sterling and storyboarding, and about thirty minutes before quitting time, my phone rang. Doug's name flashed on the screen and I answered immediately.

"Hey, boss. How's it going?" I pulled up a notepad and a pen, ready to write down anything important he said, or just doodle while we talked.

"I'm good, Max. How are things going down there?"

I gave him a quick report on how nicely production was moving along. We were moving quickly that week, and he seemed pleased to hear it. "I've also been working on a side project that I think might be good for the show."

"Really? Tell me what you've got."

"I found this box in the house when I was doing my walk-through before we started filming. It was filled with letters. Old love letters from the nineteen twenties." I could feel the excitement bubbling up inside of me. I was really wrapped up in the letters and I wanted to share them with the world.

"Interesting. How do you see this integrating with the show?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, but it looks like they belonged to the landowner. It doesn't look like the couple ended up together. Maybe we can weave in some of their story in the interviews."

He hummed thoughtfully. "Well, see what information you can get me and report back when you have a plan."

"Sounds good, boss." I hung up, nervous energy coursing through me. How would Jake feel if I told him Doug was on board with putting the letters on the show? He was a private guy—maybe it wasn't a great idea to air his family history for the world to see. I'd talk to him before I moved any further forward with that piece. I didn't want to violate his trust that way.

As I pulled into the driveway that evening, Sterling chattered on by my side about how great he was feeling about the show. I was disappointed I'd barely seen Jake that afternoon, wishing we'd been able to sneak a few clandestine kisses in the production trailer, but no such luck. The moment I put the car in park, my phone pinged with an incoming text. My stomach fluttered, hoping for a message from Jake, but when I checked, it was from my mom.

Mom: Haven't heard from you in a while. Everything okay?

I made up my mind to call home as soon as I could. After dinner, I sat at my desk and fired up my laptop. Mom answered the call almost immediately, and her face filled the screen.

"Max? Is that you?"

I let out a little laugh. She always started calls with the same question, like clockwork. "Hi, Mom."

"How are you, honey?" She turned away from the camera. "Allen! Mitchell! Max is calling!"

"Mitch is there, too?" My brother Mitch was only a few years younger than me and a perpetual bachelor.

Mom nodded as they came into view. "He came for dinner. Say hello, you two."

Both Mitch and my dad waved and said their greetings as commanded by my mom.

"How's work going, honey? Tell us everything." Mom's smile was bright as she settled in to hear me talk.

"Things are going really well," I said. "The house we're restoring is beautiful, and the construction team is doing really great work. It's going to be a masterpiece when it's done, really it is."

Dad leaned forward. "What are they working on? Did the house need a lot of work?"

"Oh man, you wouldn't believe it. It pretty much needed to be gutted and started fresh. Asbestos was everywhere, and lead paint, too. The plaster walls were falling apart. We needed a new roof, siding, some of the windows were starting to rot out. Even the porch needed to be rebuilt."

Dad nodded along as I spoke. "Sounds like you have your work cut out for you then."

I half shrugged. "I'm not exactly doing the construction. But the employees are doing a great job of showing up, doing great camera work, and making my job look really easy."

"That's because your job is easy," Mitch retorted. That was rich coming from a guy who ran a team of security guards that were mostly bouncers and mall cops.

When I flipped him off, my mother chimed in. "Hey, mister."

Despite the fact that I was thirty-two, my mom still felt the need to chastise me for swearing or being impolite. "Sorry, Mom."

"Speaking of the crew, how is everyone?" Dad asked.

"Good, everyone's good. Sterling and I are living together in this great little rental the network found for us. It's a nice change of pace, instead of being put up in a hotel. That gets lonely."

Mom cleared her throat. "And are you lonely?"

I knew what she was asking. Mom was ready for both of her kids to settle down and get married, or at least have a partner. I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. "Mom, if you're asking if I have a boyfriend, the answer is no."

"What, no hot construction worker has caught your eye?" Mitch smirked at me.

My stomach flipped and twisted thinking of Jake, but I wasn't sure how much I should tell them. We hadn't exactly agreed to be exclusive or put a label on it. It had only been a couple of days. The thought of Jake seeing other people heated my blood, though, and not in a sexy way. A jealous knot settled in my chest as I thought about it. I took a deep breath and shrugged again, trying hard to make it look as casual as possible.

"There is one guy. He's great, but… you know."

"What?" Mom frowned.

Mitch had no problem piping up, though. "Not a big enough dick?"

Mom slapped him on the arm. "Mitchell, that's enough of that."

I rolled my eyes. "It's only been a few days. He's just… new at everything. He's not exactly out yet. I don't know if he even knows what he wants."

Dad nodded and hummed thoughtfully. "I'm sure it'll all work out for the best. Just be honest about what you want and the rest will follow."

"Thanks, Dad."

We chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up, Dad's words still echoing in my mind. I needed to tell Jake how I felt, but I didn't want to rush him or scare him off. Just be honest , Dad had said. That much I could do.