Page 6 of Unscripted Love

“Why would I be uncomfortable?” Chaz asked in a high-pitched voice that told me he was extremely nervous. “Josh makes a great ham, and you probably don’t want to miss it.” His words were stilted and made it obvious that he wasn’t at all comfortable with me showing up.

“I’ll give it some thought,” I said noncommittally. “Have a good Easter if I don’t see you.”

“Yeah, you too.” Once again, I couldn’t get a handle on Chaz’s feelings. He had sounded sincere and discouraged at the same damn time. How did someone do that?

I changed my mind about going to Easter every half hour leading up to the day. In fact, I sat outside the house that Josh used for his salon and his residence for a good fifteen minutes before I worked up the nerve to ring the doorbell.

The look on Chaz’s face was a mixture of relief and anxiousness like he wanted me to be there but wasn’t sure he should. I got to meet Josh and Gabe’s new neighbor, Emory Jackson, who was a really good-looking guy, and Jonathon Silver, who owned a club in Cincinnati. I wasn’t expecting to see the new faces, but it wasn’t unwelcome.

I learned that Chaz and I had something else in common besidesWorld of Warcraftand our friends. We both lovedFriendsand proceeded to quote the show throughout the night. We started watching the show on Netflix after we ate and the next thing I knew it was after ten o’clock. Josh and Gabe had fallen asleep on the couch indicating that we’d more than worn out our welcome.

I walked Chaz to his car once we left, but wasn’t exactly sure what to say or do. I’d never been a suave guy, but he had my tongue tied and guts twisted in a knot. “That was a lot of fun,” Chaz said, leaning against the car so he could look up into my face.

“It was,” I agreed. I should’ve asked Chaz if he wanted to do it again at one of our places, but I didn’t. “Drive carefully,” I said, stepping back.

“You too,” Chaz said softly. There was a host of unspoken things shared between us in a glance, lust and desire were the two predominant ones.

Over the next few months, we circled each other. Showing up for Sunday dinner at Josh and Gabe’s house became my normal thing, and I found myself looking forward to it more and more each week. The dinners turned into barbecues and cornhole tournaments once the weather turned nice. Chaz and I made a formidable team and had a lot of fun playing. I found myself drawn to him more week after week until I thought I would die if I didn’t at least give him a kiss.

I got my chance on Independence Day. Our small town put on one hell of a festival that ended with fireworks behind the high school at the edge of town. I was supposed to go to the fireworks display with my parents, two of my sisters and their husbands, but I didn’t feel like sitting in the bleachers at the high school field with the rest of the town and surrounding county. Instead, I drove my truck to a pull-off in a farmer’s field on the other side. I knew I’d have an incredible view without the crowd. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one who knew about the pull-off. I smiled when I backed my truck up next to Chaz’s car.

He had been stretched out on the hood of his car looking up at the night sky. “How’d you know to find me here?” he asked when I got out of my truck. The suspicion in his voice made me smile.

“Honestly, it was pure coincidence,” I told him. “I was trying to avoid the crowds.”

“Me too,” he confessed. “Things are getting really hectic at the salon with the expansion and Josh’s upcoming wedding. I just wanted to take in the beauty without all the chaos.”

“Do you want me to leave?” I asked sincerely. He’d told me that his role had increased at the salon with the expansion, and he seemed to be enjoying the new position, but I didn’t want to invade his quiet time.

“No!” Chaz exclaimed.

“Want to sit on the tailgate of my truck with me?” I’d been tiptoeing around my growing atraction for too long, so my invitation held a hint of innuendo in it.

“Um, yeah,” Chaz said, but he didn’t sound excited.

“I’ll share my milkshake with you,” I offered. “Peanut butter chocolate.” I knew it was his favorite and in fact ordered it on my way out to the field because he’d been on my mind. “I have to warn you that it’s made with frozen yogurt and skim milk though.”

“Share the same straw?” he asked incredulously as he slid off the hood of his car and made his way to me. I expected him to scoff about the ingredients, not the method of drinking them.

“Is that a problem for you? You kiss people don’t you?” I asked.

“Not for a while, but yeah,” he said. I liked that he hadn’t kissed anyone recently and decided that both our dry spells would end that night.

“Same for me,” I admitted to Chaz. He snorted like he didn’t believe me. “It’s true.” Chaz hopped up beside me on the tailgate and eyed my milkshake. “I bet I have an extra straw in my glovebox if you don’t want to suck on mine… my straw that is.”

It was getting darker by the minute, but I could see the gleam of his teeth when he smiled. I also caught the twinkle of mischief in his eyes when he made a small “O” with his lips and lowered them slowly to the straw. Chaz hollowed out his cheeks when he sucked the creamy concoction into his mouth. He knew damned well what he was doing and where my mind would go with his little antics.When he pulled back, there was a dribble of the milkshake at the corner of his mouth.

“You gotta little…” I moved to wipe it away with my fingers but changed my mind at the last second. I lowered my head and flicked my tongue over the corner of his mouth to capture the drop of milkshake.

Chaz gasped, and I expected him to pull back, but instead he surprised me by pressing his mouth fully against mine. Even more surprising was the way he fisted my hair in his hands like he was afraid I would try to escape. Fat fucking chance of that.

I set the milkshake beside me and slid both hands into Chaz’s hair. He wasn’t the only one clinging to the moment and praying it would last. Our kiss wasn’t tentative and exploring; it was scorching heat, bumping teeth, and hungry tongues right from the start. I drank from him like a starving man and didn’t let up until the explosion in the sky startled me. At first, I thought it was the sound of my heart bursting in my chest, but I caught the fading flickers of blue, green, and white fire in the sky.

Chaz looked surprised, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of his action or my reaction. Technically, I started it by licking the corner of his mouth, but he was the one who kissed me. Damn, it was the most amazing kiss I’d ever had. I couldn’t tell by his wide-eyed expression if it was something that he wanted to happen again or not.

“That’s been a long time coming,” I said huskily.

Chaz closed his eyes and swallowed hard. When he reopened them, the look of surprise was replaced by regret. “I need to go.”