On the grooved metal of the open truck bed lay a slowly inflating mattress.
“Um… it’s not what you think.” Ed stopped pumping and walked around to Jack’s side of the pickup. “Here’s the deal. A while ago I was working in those buildings over there.”
Jack followed his outstretched arm to a small office park across the road.
“When I left work, it was already dark and the airstrip was lit up with these green and blue lights. They started flashing, running down the rows. That’s when I heard the plane’s engine. A minute later, this little prop plane flies overhead, all lit up. It was exhilarating.
“I checked with the tower, and there are two planes scheduled to take off tonight in the next half an hour. The first one leaves in about ten. I figured we could sit together over a picnic and watch.”
Jack drummed his fingers over Ed’s forearm. He stepped forward, pulled Ed teasingly close. Instead of kissing him, he whispered over Ed’s lips. “What’s with the air mattress?”
Ed laughed, and soft puffs of air tickled Jack’s nose. “The back of the truck is uncomfortable. This is for cushioning.”
With a cute nudge of his nose against Jack’s, Ed moved away.
As soon as the truck bed was ready, Ed put the pump in the cab, and Jack used the tire as a step to hop on.
“This is really comfortable,” Jack said as Ed returned with a blanket, picnic basket, and coy shrug.
Lying back, Jack stared at the nearly cloudless night sky while Ed unfolded the blanket, positioning it and the picnic basket at their feet.
Ed mirrored him, his lips ticking up as he looked from the stars dotting the sky to Jack.
Jack shifted his arm until the backs of their hands touched. At once he was hit with a shock of electricity. He took hold of Ed’s hand, slowly sliding their fingers together. Ed gulped, and warmth filled Jack’s chest. This was nice. Romantic.
At least it appeared so. There was always the possibility taking Jack here had been because Ed didn’t want to be seen in a restaurant. That this was his way of playing it safe.
Jack frowned up at the sky, wishing the thought had never occurred to him.
Lights flashed. He and Ed scooted into a sitting position, resting back against the cab. Blues and greens lit up the runway. He looked at Ed, who was staring at him softly. Like he wanted to lean in and kiss him.
Jack raised a brow, daring him to go for it.
Ed darted a tongue over his bottom lip and closed the gap between them. The soft kiss trembled against Jack’s lips. Ed tasted like coffee and uncertainty.
Jack looked into his eyes, trying to read what was going through Ed’s head. Trying to figure out what the hell was going through his own.
Something about this guy tugged at Jack, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that this intense attraction was going to get him in trouble.
An airplane engine roared, shifting their attention to the runway.
“This is the fun part,” Ed said and tugged Jack back down to the mattress.
Ed pulled the blanket over them and stared skyward, body tingling with apprehension: the roots of his hair, the curve of his neck and shoulders, his stomach, thighs, and toes.
The plane rushed toward them, heading for the truck, making Jack’s heart hammer. He shifted nervously, and Ed squeezed his hand, rubbing a callused thumb over the base of his palm. Down the runway the plane charged faster, faster—they were well back from the runway, but still.
“Holy shit!” Jack wrung Ed’s hand.
The front of the plane lifted and gained altitude to clear the trees and streetlights between them. It rushed over them with blinking lights and a wake of cool air that lifted the blanket.
“Whoa.” He finally released his death grip on Ed’s hand. “That was wild.”
Ed laughed and ran his hand through Jack’s brown hair. The thrill working from head to toe shot back to his groin.
A knowing smile curved Ed’s lips. “The next takeoff is in another twenty minutes.”
Jack slid his hand around the back of Ed’s neck. “Hmm, what to do with the time…?”
“There’s the picnic if you’re hungry.”
“I am hungry….”
Ed twisted his body, pressing closer, and Jack locked him there, throwing a leg over Ed’s. Gods, he was hungry to kiss Ed again. But first, he had to know more. “You said no one knows you’re gay. Doesn’t your family suspect?”
The lust in Ed’s eye dissipated, and he tried to roll back. Jack squeezed his thigh, keeping Ed in place, making Ed met his eyes.
“I hope not,” Ed said.
“Why?”
“Because they love me, and I kinda like that.”
“You don’t think they’ll accept you?”
“I’m too afraid to find out. It might be as simple as just telling them and they don’t care at all. Maybe just opening up and telling them would make them the happiest parents in the world. But… what if it doesn’t?”
“The unknown is scary. Sometimes coming out is easier dreamed of than done.”
“You’re not going to gently nudge me to man up and get over it? Just tell them?”
“No, but….”
Ed tensed.
“It would be easier if you were out.” For purely selfish reasons, mostly. Jack could ask Ed to be his date for the spring formal, and he wouldn’t have to worry about moving out of his dad’s fraternity house. Worry about letting Marcus down. He also liked the idea of having a boyfriend who would hang around no matter where Jack went. A guy who wouldn’t feel ashamed to have him at his side.
It would be easier if Ed was out. “But right now I feel ridiculously warm around you. Relaxed. Like I could just hang here and have nothing to say and it wouldn’t be uncomfortable.”
“And yet that sounded rather frustrated.”
Jack nipped Ed’s lips. “Yes, because it’s true.”
“And being in the closet sets the timer on us.”
“This isn’t first date discussion.”
Ed sighed. “I want to be upfront. I’m not coming out, Jack.”
“One day you’ll meet a guy who’ll be worth the risk.”
“Is this your way of telling me it’s over before it’s started?”
Jack cupped the side of Ed’s face. “It should be.” Nervous hope filled Ed’s eyes, and again something hard tugged in Jack’s chest. “I like what I know about you, Ed.”
“I like you too.”
Jack swallowed the small well of disappointment and focused on the cute guy looking at him with relief flooding his expression. “You are really hot.”
Ed smirked. “Oh yeah?”
Jack pushed Ed onto his back and rolled on top of him. Their stomachs touched where both their shirts had lifted, and their hard-ons nestled against each other. Ed lifted his head, coming for Jack’s mouth. Warm tongue slipped into his mouth, and Jack melted into the kiss. He tangled one of his hands together with Ed’s at their side, while Ed’s other hand made a delicious trail over his shoulders, down the base of his spine, to settle at the curve of his ass.
Jack rolled his hips into the kiss, and Ed pressed up into it, breaking away from the kiss to gasp. His exposed neck drew Jack’s attention, and he lightly dusted kisses under Ed’s ear. Kisses turned to nibbles down the cord of his throat, and at the junction of his neck and shoulder, Jack grazed his teeth and sucked hard.