Ethan held his breath and swallowed as Max jetted down his throat in rhythmic pulses. Getting Max to this point was like winning a jackpot. Max had the self-control to hold himself back for as long as he wanted to, but when he allowed Ethan to push him to the vulnerable point of no return it was a huge stroke to Ethan’s ego.
When Max had nothing left to give, Ethan pulled off gently, dragging his tongue up the shaft. He kissed the trembling tip. “Beautiful.”
Fingers carded through his hair. “Yes, you are.”
Smiling, Ethan tilted his head up but didn’t rise. “Safe to come up?”
Max looked through the windows before nodding.
Ethan straightened, feeling kind of dirty as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth while Max watched him.
“Not going to lie, I feel sort of like a truck stop whore,” he quipped. “I like it.”
“You would.” Smirking, Max tucked himself away while Ethan did the same for himself.
Once they were both decent, Max caught him behind the neck and pulled him close.
“Thank you,” he murmured against Ethan’s lips. “I enjoyed that.”
“I’m surprised that was our first car sex. Well, where one of us is driving, anyway. The limo doesn’t count.”
“We’re responsible adults, that’s why. Next time should be in the limousine again. I prefer to touch you.”
Ethan smiled against his lips. “I prefer that, too.”
They kissed for a little longer, but it wasn’t the sexiest environment with the sounds of highway traffic and other drivers using the rest stop to spoil the mood.
Ethan stretched as he sat back. “How much farther do we need to drive?”
“Actually, we passed the venue right around the time you dropped to your knees.”
“Really? Ha! And you didn’t bother to tell me. If I’d strung it out, would you have driven us to the next state?”
“If necessary,” Max replied with a glint in his eye. “We’d get where we needed to be eventually.”
“I think we both got there pretty quick.” Grinning at how childish they were—he hoped they never grew out of it—Ethan checked the GPS. “You’re not kidding. We passed it a while back. Well, we should still be just on time if we book it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of breaking the speed limit,” Max said as he started up the engine and backed out of the spot.
“But you’re okay with fellatio in the car. I see how you are.”
“File your complaint through the appropriate channels and I’ll look into it.”
Max drove them to the onramp going in the opposite direction and soon they were retracing covered ground, not that Ethan had seen any of it the first time with his eyes closed and his mind immersed in fantasy. Following the GPS’s directions, they left the highway and headed toward the sun.
The fields around them were filled with tall grasses speckled with reddish Indian Grass. Trees sprouted in copses here and there. A wooden sign welcomed them to turn off to the right and they did, driving onto a wide, well-cared for dirt road heading over a small hill.
“It’s farther than I expected,” Ethan admitted.
“Necessary for the space and the view.”
“It’s a view, isn’t it?” Ethan said as he gazed out at the waves of grasses.
Once they cleared the hill, they saw their destination laid out for them.
“This is wild,” Ethan murmured as Max parked in a square of dirt that had been divided into parking spaces by cut logs. The lot held a single blue sedan, though an old model pickup truck and a Ford four-door sat beside a ranch house adjacent to the parking lot. A woman emerged from the front door of the house and descended the porch.
“Ethan and Maxmillian?” she called out in a cheerful, take-charge way. Ethan assumed this must be Alison, the wedding planner his mother had hired. She wore a crossover messenger bag and carried a clipboard.
Ethan and Max introduced themselves to her.
“Mary, the owner, is in the middle of baking, so I told her I’d be fine showing you the venue,” Alison told them with a toothy smile. She strode toward the grass with a wave to follow. “Come see where you’ll be tying the knot!”
It was an adventure. A well-trodden dirt path bisected the tall grasses, leading from the parking lot to a large, red barn. Ethan couldn’t imagine women in high-heels making it through without breaking their ankles or men with polished shoes arriving with the shine intact.
The barn doors were open on one side. Stepping inside felt like entering a shell. It was furnished with a dozen picnic tables lined with benches. The tables were dressed with mason jars filled with wildflowers and ivory candles of various heights and circumferences. Red checked runners stretched down the centers of the tables to tie the centerpieces together. Scarred aluminum chargers held blank sheets of paper that Alison explained would be replaced with menus on the day of the event.
Overhead, a generous array of globe lights was draped between the beams and a curtain of them rained down one end of the barn where a small stage held court. At the opposite end of the barn were built-in buffet tables and a bar area.
“Very quaint,” Max said as he turned a slow circle.
Ethan watched him closely, worried that he couldn’t read him. This was the polar opposite of any setting Max would have chosen for himself. Ethan was under no delusions that this was Max’s style. He wasn’t even sure he’d choose it, either. It looked like the perfect setting for a square dance.
But the casual, simple feel of the space appealed to him on a basic level. A celebration held here wouldn’t be about impressing anyone. Guests wouldn’t speculate about how much money had been spent. The focus would be on the people sitting at the tables and on the small dance floor. Formal wear would be out of place, replaced by clothes better suited for comfort.
“The best part is still to come,” Alison promised them. She flashed her huge smile again. “This way!”
She led them onto another worn path between the grasses, this one leading them toward a smattering of sugar maple trees. The three of them crested a small hill and then—
“Now I get why my mom chose this place,” Ethan said.
Though it had been billed as a lake, it was small enough to be considered a pond. That didn’t detract from its charm. The sun glittered off its surface, dancing between the reflections of the blue sky and the puffs of clouds overhead, so that the pond resembled a painting spread over the grass. Cattail shoots formed a loose necklace around the water and golden pollen floated on the air like will o’ the wisps. Folding wooden chairs looped with white ribbons were placed in a semi-circle around one side of the pond. On the opposite side of the pond stood a little wooden dais bordered by stalks of pussy willow.
No archway. No trellis. Nothing decorated the dais because nothing was needed. Ethan pictured himself and Max standing there with the grass fields stretching out in one direction and the trees framing them gently in the other and he understood why the setting was special. It was a scene where nothing mattered except the vows made by two people as they stood beneath an open sky.
He let his eyes slide close for a few seconds when Max laced their fingers together.
“What do you think?” Ethan asked, leaning into him.