Free Rough Attraction by Talon P. S. Page B

guilted him into a kiss, now he planned to ride that gain as far as he could while he had it. Then he’d sell out.
    Maxum moved to the sofa, stretching out and coaxed Simeon to join him, but rather the quiet moment of snuggling, he was looking for, Simeon chattered on about his stay in California, about emails he’d exchanged with his friend here in town and something about needing to go to the hair dresser. Maxum ran his fingers through Simeon’s short strands of platinum blonde hair while Simeon’s hand followed  his, smoothing it back down, shooting him an annoyed look. Maxum was just trying to figure out what exactly Simeon needed to have done to it.
    An hour of this and Simeon had reached his limit of sitting quietly. For him it was about as enthusiastic as sitting in a waiting room in a doctor’s office.
    “Can we go now?” a little saucier than perhaps even Simeon had meant to use, because it was quickly followed with a peck on the cheek and a bat of his lashes.
    Maxum forced on a warm smile, “What do you say we just stay in. We could order delivery and lay about for the remainder of the evening in nothing but our skins, and make love all night.”
    Simeon looked at him like he’d just lost his marbles, but played along anyways. “Like what?”
    “Chinese. Works for me.”
    “Eww — are you serious? Do you know how much MSG is in that stuff?” Simeon twisted from his arms. “But you know Thai does sound good. Pat tells me that new place over on Avenue A has superb Tom Yum soup. Perhaps we could go there?”
    “Sounds good, we can walk.” Maxum latched onto the option with a cheerful relief that he’d accomplished some arbitration with his partner so soon.
    “Walk? Are you crazy?” Once more Simeon’s voice went up and gave him a super-sized scoffing glance. “It’s freezing out there.”
    “Well, if you weren’t dressing like you dragged the west coast sunshine with you and put some clothes on, it wouldn’t be so bad.”
    Simeon seemed to think he had a better idea and said as much. “Or— you could pull the Rolls out and we could go in it.”
    “Sim, in case you didn’t notice I picked you up in the Fisker. I am not driving all the way to the garage, changing out cars, then coming back to pick you up so we can go eat at a restaurant that is only three blocks down.” Maxum wasn’t really ready to give up on the moment he was hoping to have. He’d had a taste of the other side. Of what it was like to have intimacy in the most casual of arrangements and atmospheres. If his life with Simeon were to work out, they’d have to vamp it up a bit, but he would settle for bartering for just a fragment of it. “If you can actually spend the next ten minutes snuggling with me then we’ll go.”
    Once again, Simeon’s reluctance was too obvious, but Maxum got what he wanted— in show at least. Along with a mumbled side dish of don’t nobody even know what a Fisker is , to boot. Maxum relaxed back down on the sofa forcing the tension out of him then rolled to his side, making room for Simeon to lie next to him. Which also took some coaxing, but no amount of bribing or cuddling was going to put in the warmth that just wasn’t there. Maxum for all he felt from his partner might as well have been lying down with a mannequin doll.
     
    Ten minutes— on the dot, and Simeon was up and heading wordlessly for his room to change. The silent retreat was his strategy to not invite any further detours. Minutes later a scream echoed down the hall and Maxum was to his feet running for the bedroom he skidded to a halt finding Simeon standing just inside the room with his hands around his face. Maxum glanced around but didn’t see a reason for the scream. “What’s wrong?”
    “What’s wrong? Have you lost your mind?”
    “Why as a matter of fact I have, did you not see it roll across the floor?” Maxum came back with the incredulous response to point out just how insane Simeon’s rant was. However,