Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 3

silence. "Jesus, so I jumped the gun. So what? You were never going to make a move on him unless I pushed you and I'm sick of hearing you talk about him. You want him? Ask him!"
    "Tay, I fucking told you what would happen if you--"
    "Forget it," Zach said, incredulity and hurt welling up like blood from a cut as he saw the way Jack had flinched at Taylor's words. What the fuck ? "If you'd wanted to make it a real threat, you'd have said a day or two. No way is he going to think you'll cut him off for a month when it means you'll be suffering too."
    "Smart boy," Jack said, his voice even. "Listen, about what he said--"
    "No, you listen!" His voice cracked, but he steadied it. "This was all planned, wasn't it? Leaving me alone with him, the come-on, the -- all of it."
    "No. Well, I planned to leave you alone as a test, but the emergency today was real and the test was work-related, nothing to do with -- I wanted to see how you'd handle yourself."
    "He did good," Taylor put in. "Asked all the right questions, figured out why I'd be best for the job and why the other two wouldn't."
    "I can gag him if you want me to," Jack said with a sigh.
    That didn't turn Zach on. Too tired of being fucked with. "Let him talk. I'm done playing with both of you."
    "We haven't even started," Taylor said under his breath.
    Zach ignored him. Jack was the only one that mattered to him right then."I figured you were going to fire me for touching him, but I guess not if it was all a fucking set-up. Good. It means I can tell you where you can shove your job and that's so deep up his ass, you'll have to fist him to get it out again."
    Taylor whistled long and low. "Feisty. You raved about him reorganizing the filing and saving you a fortune by bringing in a coffee maker that actually produced coffee not sludge, but I should've known he had more going for him than a brain and a sweet, tight little ass you wanted to spank."
    "Shut the fuck up," Jack said wearily. "You're just making it worse, Tay. Didn't think it was possible, but you are."
    "I'm out of here." Zach took one step and found himself up against Jack's chest. "Get the fuck out of my way!"
    "You can go when we've got this sorted out." Jack's voice was calm. "Sit down. Please?"
    The 'please' tipped the balance. Zach hesitated, then took a seat on the couch again, his legs shaky. God, everything had happened so fast...
    Jack crouched down beside him, nothing subservient in his position, but nothing threatening either. "What Tay said is true as far as it goes. I'm...attracted to you. But I would never have done anything about it and I tried not to let you see it. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
    "I thought you were straight." Hard not to make that sound like an accusation.
    "Well, I'm not. It isn't something I make a habit of telling people the way you do, but if anyone ever asked me, I'd tell them, I guess."
    "And I never thought for one single, solitary fucking minute that you were into me."
    "Make that the last time you swear when you're talking to me, boy," Jack said, the reproof bringing a chuckle from Taylor.
    "And I didn't have a fucking clue that you were into those kind of games either." The disobedience was deliberate. Jack hadn't earned the right to correct him. During office hours, yes, but they'd gone beyond that -- or not far enough.
    Jack's eyes narrowed. "No? You sure about that?"
    Zach swallowed hard. It was impossible to look away from Jack's green eyes and he didn't really want to. They held him as surely as cuffs would've pinned his hands in place. "Sometimes I got a feeling that you guessed I was," he admitted, the confession dragged out of him. God, coming out to his parents had been easier than this. "It wasn't like I could ask you, though, was it?" He drew in a deep, shaky breath. "I've been obsessing over you from day one. Two months of being the only one in town who looked forward to Mondays because I'd see you again. Two months of you ignoring me, walking by without even looking at me. I busted my ass trying to impress you and I'd just about given up."
    "I noticed you." Jack reached out and brushed his fingertips over Zach's cheek. "Tried not to let it show. Guess I was too good at that, but I was punishing myself for being too weak to turn you away after the interview."
    "He came over to me as soon as you'd left," Taylor said, drifting over to lean against the desk. "Took me out into the woods and fucked me raw over the hood of my truck. You got