You Let Me Fall (MxM)

— Zach —

‘Oof!’

I fell off the branch I was perched on, and right into the bare arms of my crush…and then onto the grass as he…let me fall.

He basically yanked me down before letting go of me, and now I was lying on my back, staring up at him, my caramel blond hair fanned out around my head. To be fair, the tree was in my yard, but the branch I’d been on reached out to hang into his yard. I slunk on it because it’s the biggest branch, and sturdiest. And offered the best view of him when lurking around to glimpse him.

Yeah, this looked bad, didn’t it?

He glared at me, his face upside down to mine, his blue eyes piercing. He was shirtless, his muscles rippling with every rise and fall of his chest, and his black hair was wet, plastering his forehead and his shaved sides. Water droplets fell onto my face. I had to clear my mind and stop it from imagining droplets that weren’t water dripping from him onto me.

Panting, I stammered, ‘You let me fall!’

He shifted his weight, placing his hands on his hips. ‘You were spying,’ he growled.

He wasn’t wrong there.

And here you might wonder how a guy like me wound up spying on his crush from atop a tree branch only to get caught.

It’s simple: We moved here last month, my parents and I, and in that time, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to ogle my next door neighbour.

Our house was fairly modest compared to the mansions around us. We were what people considered ‘new money,’ though we weren’t that far up with money as people thought. My parents simply knew how to save and invest.

My dad did well for himself, though we weren’t millionaires, even if Rhodes was the name of the new family on the street to whom people were showing respect – that’s us, by the way – and we could finally move out of the smaller condo we had lived in for ages and into our family dream home. Large, spacious, in a rich neighbourhood, not too expensive as it stood right on the edge of the richer district, and exactly what the three of us had envisioned when we started listing what we wanted.

My parents, of course, had already brought baked goods to all the neighbours to introduce themselves. I, on the other hand, hadn’t had the courage to talk to him yet – my neighbour, my crush – except for that ‘You let me fall.’ Great.

I internally facepalmed.

‘You trying to sneak a peek at my younger sister, you perv?’ Hot Jock Neighbour growled.

I shook my head. ‘Nnno.’

‘Then explain the tree.’ He pointed up at the branch I’d fallen from – correction: that he ensured I fell from. ‘Explain you dangling from it with…binoculars around your neck.’ Oh right, that. He pointed at the accessory incriminating me before scrunching up his gorgeous features into a scowl, thick brows furrowed. ‘Who even uses those anymore?’

‘Brown-eyed nerds like me, apparently,’ I muttered.

This encounter was not going how I had fantasised. Not to mention I knew nothing about this guy, aside from his last name, which my parents said was old money: Boulton. Zach Rhodes and Hot Jock Boulton had a nice ring to it. If I knew his first name, I could actually come up with a ship name for us that didn’t involve our last names and didn’t sound pretentious.

I rolled over and pushed myself to my feet. Rising, I realised I was a little too close to him. His bare chest was nearly touching my clothed body.

Removing my binoculars from my neck, I held them in my hands that I strategically clasped in front of my crotch, as the heat that was going to my face was also going to my groin.

‘She said she saw you scanning the bathroom as she walked in,’ he accused.

Right, his sister.

In truth, I was trying to catch a glimpse of him…once he would walk out of the shower. I did…catch a glimpse of him, a real good close-up of him now, as it was.

‘I came running out of the shower when she told me.’

‘I can see that,’ I said, my voice too breathy.

‘She’s sixteen!’

‘Uhm, I’m eighteen, and I wasn’t trying to spy on her. Promise.’

He narrowed his gorgeous blue eyes at me. Fuck, he was so hot. He took a step forward, getting right in my space, and making my entire body buzz with electricity. I took a step back, and he took another step forward. I had my back against the fence.

I blinked away the fantasy that suddenly invaded my brain of him taking me against this very fence.

'Then what were you trying to do?’ he demanded.

‘I, uh…’ Thinking fast, I decided on a half-truth. ‘I moved here last month, and introverted me has been too much of a coward to come say hi, so I was…’ I looked down at my binoculars. ‘Spying.’ I looked up quickly. ‘But not on your sister, just generally. Promise.’

He exhaled through his nose. I could smell his soap, his shampoo, his breath. It all smelt like pinewood. It was all so intoxicating. My entire body was on overdrive.

He sized me up and down. ‘You’re shaking.’ His voice was gentler there. He sighed and took a step back. ‘Look, I won’t deck you.’

I nodded, trying to look relieved. But my shaking had nothing to do with his imposing figure or threatening tone, and everything to do with his half-nakedness and husky voice, not to mention my very distracting hard-on.

‘I get very protective of my little sister, okay?’

I nodded vigorously. ‘That’s actually kind of sweet.’ It was also kind of sexy too.

His lips curled into a smile. Oh gosh, he was smiling…at me! I could have melted there.

He held out his hand, and I just gawped at it. ‘I’m Seth.’

I lifted my eyes, scanning the rippling muscles as he stood there, breathing normally, while I was still out of breath, drinking him in.

‘Sorry,’ I said, shaking my head to snap myself out of it. ‘I’m Zach.’

I took his hand, and ohhhh my god! Warm and firm, big and strong, enveloping my hand so perfectly. I wanted that hand to touch me all over.

We shook hands once before he pulled back, nodding. ‘Listen, you should get out of your shell.’ He said it, and I nodded, just agreeing to anything he said, because what more could I do? He had me at a major disadvantage. ‘I’m throwing a party next weekend for my twenty-third birthday. Why don’t you come by? It’ll be fun.’

My jaw literally dropped open. 'You’re inviting me?’

He chuckled, draping his arm around my shoulders in a friendly kind of side hug. The contact nearly made my knees buckle.

'Jocks and nerds can hang out together, you know? Come on, it’ll be fun. My way of saying I believe you, but I’m also keeping an eye on you and ensuring you meet someone who isn’t my sister.’

I laughed, a stupid kind of laugh.

He was touching me!

Look, I wasn’t that sex-crazed, but it had been a while. He had no idea the effect he had on me.

‘So,’ his voice brought me back to the situation at hand – his hand on me – ‘you’ll be there?’

I nodded.

‘Awesome. And…’ he pointed at my binoculars. ‘Don’t bring those.’