"You can't dump me right now. Not when we've established I'm going a little nutty and pacing in my underwear."
"No, that's not what I'm saying," Jory replied with a stiff laugh. "I feel bad that it's taken me so long to warm up. Sometimes, I experience changes like new jobs, new cities, new homes—"
"New guys," I added.
"New guys, yes," he agreed. "I experience some of that change as little traumas. Even if it's a good change, a wonderful change, my system needs extra time to regain homeostasis. It's like I can't do anything until I've accepted those changes, integrated them into my operating system, and found that new normal because my brain and body are in survival mode. That's why it took me so long to go out with you in the first place and why I'm still on eggshells."
"You don't have to apologize," I said. "I know you're just processing. I can tell. I see it. It's like you're thinking real hard to solve a problem."
"You're being extremely tolerant. I know you'd like it if I just hurried up and—"
"No," I interrupted. "Actually, no. Expecting you to hurry up because I'm kind of obsessed with you is a quick way to send you running for the hills. I don't want that for me, and I also don't want to be the guy who scared off everyone's new favorite science teacher."
"So, you've thought about this," Jory said.
I could picture him arching his eyebrow up and giving me a sharp look. Loved it.
"Sure have," I replied. "I know I'd rather respect your needs and make you feel safe than anything else. I like you, Hayzer. I plan on hanging around as long as you'll have me."
"But…" He laughed, but it was the kind of noise that came without humor, without light. "But why?"
I was this close to detailing the frequency with which I eye-fucked him but stopped myself and replayed that humorless laugh. "Do you need compliments, or do you need me to explain why you're worthy of affection?"
"I need—" he started, all crisp and snappy with his tone "—well, I guess I need to understand why you'd put up with all this from me. It's a lot to ask. Most people can't handle it."
Though he couldn't see it, I curled my arm into a bicep flex. "Most people aren't Coach Maximum."
"Why do I get the impression you're flexing something right now?"
"Because you're a fan of my fire power," I replied. "You also care about things in big, deep ways. You think more than anyone else I know and you listen even more. When you talk, people pay attention because you're thoughtful and informed. I figure you're one of the good ones. You're worth my patience. Plus, you're hot as fuck and kiss like a porn star."
"Max," he said, my name barely a sigh. "You're making me rethink this pumpkin patch idea."
I fisted my hand in my hair as a chill washed over my bare chest, down my spine. "Oh. Okay then. Um…I'm sorry."
"Oh, shit. No, not—I mean—if my roommate didn't make such a big deal about his no-visitors policy, we could just hang out here. Or we could get some pumpkins and then come back here and…and see what happens."
I pulled the phone away from my ear, frowned at it a moment before asking, "Are you saying we'd have naked bedroom time if it weren't for your roommate?"
"I'm saying I like you too," he replied. "I'll see you in an hour for the pumpkin farm. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay." A strangled groan rattled in my throat. "Look, I have to deal with my dick's interest in naked bedroom time—"
"Yours too?"
I pressed my forehead to the wall. "Jory. Babe. Sweetheart. You can't say that unless you plan on letting me listen while you jerk it."
There was a pause, and then, "I wouldn't mind that. If I can listen to you."
Above me, my sister yelled for her kids to gather their soccer equipment. Her husband yelled back something about a phone charger. The kids yelled about missing cleats, missing hoodies, missing shin guards. Feet pounded down the stairs, across the first floor. All while my dick throbbed against my belly.
We couldn't do this. Not right now. Not with all…that. I couldn't focus with the kids hollering at each other and my brother-in-law counting down the seconds they had to get their shit together. I couldn't perform under these conditions.
"Just imagine I'm there," Jory continued. "And I pull your underwear down. That's what you want, isn't it?"
"Ohmygodyes," I groaned. My boxers hit the floor.
"Then I stroke you," he went on. I didn't know where the fuck Dirty Jory came from but I was all about this side of him. "You like it when I slowly twist my fist from the base all the way over your head, don't you?"
I shuttled my hand over my cock while my brother-in-law shouted, "I will only count down from ten one more time."
"That's right," Jory said. "And you like it when I give it to you fast. It isn't pretty like this, with me stroking you so hard that all you can do is take it. You give me that beautiful groan, the one that tells me you need this so badly. The one that says you'd come on the spot if I sucked you for even a minute."
My sister stomped her foot overhead, saying, "This is your last chance to get in the car. If you're not ready to go, we're skipping the game."
"No games today," my brother-in-law yelled.
"You need this so badly, baby," Jory repeated.
His voice was thick and breathless, but not the same kind of breathless as when he answered the phone. This was a hot and sweaty form of breathless, the kind that came from—oh, fuuuuuck, if I listened closely, I could hear him jerking himself. The slide of skin over skin, a grunt, a hitch in his breathing.
"Yes," I whispered, my hand moving over my shaft faster, faster. "I'm—I want—with you."
"I'm there, baby, I'm there," he said, his voice pitching up and shattering the words into small, panting syllables. A deep, satisfied grunt followed and that was it for me, that was all I needed to spill into my hand, down my leg, onto my foot and the floor. "That's right. Give me everything, baby. Keep going. Let me have it."
A minute passed as my strokes slowed and the last spurts of my orgasm flooded my hand. My heart was thumping in my chest, my breath coming in ragged exhales, and I couldn't hear anything but the tender caress of Jory's words in my ear.
Eventually, I said, "Hey, Jory?"
"Yeah, Max?"
"That was…well, I don't know what to say other than holy fuckballs."
"That's all right. Holy fuckballs works for me," he replied.
"Okay good. But, listen. I gotta rinse off now if you're showing up here in"—I blinked at the clock—"forty-five minutes. I don't even know what I'm wearing yet."
"Yeah, same," he said with a laugh.
"I'd rather shower with you," I added.
"Yeah, same," he repeated. "I'll see you soon, Max."
I picked my way down a quiet lane of not-quite-ripe pumpkins with Jory at my side. The sun was high and bright, the air cool and crisp, and I hadn't thought about what I was wearing since Jory had greeted me with an unexpectedly hot kiss. Maybe I should've expected it after that phone call. Maybe I'd read Jory all wrong. A person could be anxious and introverted while also being boldly sexual. All of these things could be true at once.