Page 17 of The Arrangement

“Hey! I’m not short! It’s not my fault you’re a freaking giant.” His rumbling laughter, already farther ahead of me than I would like, pushed me to move faster.Damn him and his long legs.Why the hell did I think running was a good idea?Oh, right, because my friend was feeling down,and I wanted to make him happy.Grumbling to myself about how much I hated being a good person, I continued to pick up my pace until I was running in step with JD. I glared at him, but the smile he turned on me wasn’t teasing or mischievous. It was bright with joy.

“Thanks for suggesting this. It’s been a while since I’ve actually gotten to run with anyone. I almost forgot how much I like this.” His enthusiasm was warmer than the air—which, to be fair, it was Fairhope and even at this hour, it was plenty warm—and I might have melted a bit. Andfuck. Now I knew every time heasked if I wanted to go for a run, I’d say yes. Hell, I’d probably be the one to suggest it.

We fell into a groove, the steady sound of our footfalls on the ground and wooden plank bridges an easy beat to get lost in. I wasn’t sure how long we continued like that, side-by-side, almost perfectly in sync despite our height difference, but it was long enough for me to remember the times when I hadn’t equated running with punishment or survival. It was peaceful. All around us, the world continued to wake up. The daytime insects picked up their cadence; sunlight filtered through heavy branches battling with invasive kudzu; even the frogs and fish in the shallow waterways we passed over seemed to move with more vigor. The world was officially awake, which meant our quiet solitude was coming to an end. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that thought.

“Okay, quick break before we turn back,” JD panted as he slowed to a stop and braced himself on his knees.

“Sure thing, Sarge,” I said, returning his wide grin. Honestly, it was a little reassuring to see he was pouring just as much sweat as I was.

“Can I get one of those waters?” He held out a hand, and I swung the drawstring bag around to fish two out, then tossed him one.

I followed his lead and squirted some of the cool liquid, only half of which actually made it into my mouth. Apparently, JD had a similar issue. He chuckled and straightened up, lifting his shirt to wipe his face and revealing a blazing treasure trail that disappeared into his micro-shorts, which I was absolutely not staring at.

“Fuck, it’s hot. Why does it feel so goddamn hot? Like, Iknowit was hotter in the literal desert, but I swear I sweated less there, and that was in full gear with a fifty-pound pack.” He shook hishead in obvious disbelief, then stripped his shirt clean off and sprayed down his head and shoulders with the chilled water.

ThankGodI’d answered this question so many times over the years that the answer came by rote, because I fucking blue-screened. “It’s called humidity. By the end of the summer, it’ll feel like breathing soup.”

“Oh, yeah?” he asked, sauntering closer, which was not helpingat all. The sunlight caught on the rogue droplets of water in his chest hair and he literally fucking sparkled. “What would you say the humidity is at now?” He stopped close enough that I could feel the excess body heat pouring off of him, mixing with mine. I’d have expected it to be uncomfortable, but there was something oddly exhilarating about it.

I smiled, matching his broad grin, and squirted another long stream of water down my parched throat. “Eh, it’s still early. Probably only about seventy, maybe seventy-five percent.”

“No fucking way.” He shoved me hard enough that I had to step back or risk losing my balance.

Laughing, I rebounded and somehow ended up closer to his magnetic heat. I also wasn’t entirely sure I could blame my rapid breathing on our run anymore. “Way.”

“How damn high does it get around here?”

“Averages around eighty-nine in the summers, but can get up to ninety-eight and ninety-nine for long stretches too. And before you ask, because I can already see it in your eyes, when it’s a hundred percent it’s literally raining. You know, since humidity iswater in the air.” I smirked, because his expressiontotallysaid he’d been about to ask.

The surprise stayed on his face a full beat before a laugh erupted out of him. “I see you get that a lot. Still…” He tucked his now water-and-sweat-soaked shirt into the back of his puny shorts and wove his fingers behind his head, stretching his impressive chest, which wasn’t distracting in the least. He huffedanother laugh, his gaze roaming the area where we’d stopped. “Only seventy percent. Fuck me.”

“Well, if you’re offering.” The words were out before I could consider whether they were supposed to be funny or serious, or better yet, why they’d come at all. And… had my voice dropped? Given how quickly JD gave up his perusal of the scenery to spear me with his intense blue-green gaze, I was gonna go with yes. I should also probably give up the notion that my rapid breathing had anything to do with the run. What I didn’t and wouldn’t do was back down.

“Careful, Weathers,” JD said in a husky voice I felt in my balls. “I might take you up on that.” He squirted more water into his mouth without breaking eye contact. Neither of us blinked. When I’d suggested a run, I’d had no inkling that I’d find myself in a game of gay chicken. And I really hated to lose.

The heat merging between our too-close bodies seemed to morph into heat lightning the longer we held our ground. My heart was pumping so loudly, I could barely hear the mockingbirds, which was really saying something because those fuckers were noisy as hell. Then, much like the Night-Blooming Cereus, which only bloomed once a year, I felt the shift I so rarely experienced, or more accurately, I recognized what had been happening since the moment I’d seen JD through the sliver of a cracked door. I was attracted to him. I wasreallyfucking attracted to him.

A loud bark nearby caused us both to jump and ended our stalemate. In an effort to shake off some of the tension, I let out a laugh, which ended up sounding awkward as fuck. Okay, yeah, that didn’t help.

“Race you back?” JD suggested, clearly way better at diffusing than I would ever be.

“How is that fair? You’re half a foot taller than me,” I argued, already maneuvering between him and the way back to the parking lot.

He held his hands out in a helpless shrug, once again displaying his fine ass chest. Damn him. “If you don’t have enough gas in the tank, you can always decline.”

I snorted and casually put some more distance between us. “I didn’t say that.”

“Or maybe you need a head start? After all, your legs are shorter than mine.” His gaze running down my body might as well have been a caress, and I had to forcibly restrain a shudder. Great, now I was going to have to run with a chub. Joy.

“For the record,” another half step back, “I don’tneeda head start.” A full step back. I met his gaze and took a moment to enjoy the smile playing on his lips before grinning wide enough to split my face in two. “But I won’t turn one down either.” I spun on my heel and took off down the trail, but not before I caught a glimpse of his surprise followed by his laughter chasing me.

Chapter 12

James

The only thing I needed more than that run was to be buried balls deep in Marc’s perfectly bouncy ass… or vice versa. I wasn’t choosy. Fuck, when he’d thrown back my tease about fucking me, I’d nearly come in my damn shorts, which in hindsight were aterribleidea, because they hid absolutely nothing. Thank God he’d been too absorbed in our standoff to look down and clock the steel pike tenting the thin material. Truthfully, he should be damn glad that dog barked when it did, otherwise I’d likely have ended up mauling him within an inch of his life and probably bending him over the railing of one of the many little bridges.

I scrubbed at my sweat-soaked hair with my still mostly damp shirt. It always amazed me how fast it grew. It had been—what?—a little over a month since my last buzz and it was already long enough to run my fingers through. I didn’t bother putting the shirt back on once I was satisfied no more sweat or water would drip into my eyes. It didn’t hurt that I’d caught Marc sneakingglances, which I was almost positive he didn’t think I noticed. Which, if I was being honest, was confusing as hell.