Page 27 of Love and Chaos

“Yeah, and you’re getting old too. I saw a gray hair.”

“What? You did not! Where?”

Max grinned broadly and winked. “Spotted it when I was going down on you last time.”

Ed choked on a laugh. Okay. That was a possibility, but he highly doubted it. He could still pass for twenties. Late twenties, but it still counted. He smoothed out his expression and tried again. “What’s going on?”

“Well, I’m getting older and I thought maybe it might be nice to slow down a little. Just a little! But I was talking to a colleague of mine who teaches at UNC-Chapel Hill, and she was telling me how they wanted to expand their graduate archeology department to include more offerings for students interested in Egyptian history. Don’t get me wrong—their classics department is on point for Ancient Greek and Roman—but they don’t have the same depth for Egyptologists.”

Ed sat up so that he could see Max’s face more clearly. “They offered you a job?”

Max snorted. “More like begged. I mean, come on. There aren’t a lot of Egyptologists out there who’ve had more successful digs than me. Plus, I have impressive teaching credentials. I’ve taught on practically every continent by now. But…if I took the job, I would have to agree to at least a five-year contract. Obviously, we’d still be able to travel and get into trouble, but we’d have to work it around my teaching schedule. Then I figured if I took this job for five years, we might as well buy a house. It doesn’t make sense to rent for that long.” He paused and tangled his fingers together, wincing slightly. “I might have told your mom about what I was thinking, so she’s been helping me to locate homes in good neighborhoods.”

Ed grinned. He could just imagine his mother’s excitement. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d sent Max homes that were only minutes from where she and his dad lived.

Excitement was building in his chest to the point of exploding, but Ed tamped it down hard. This was amazing, but he was afraid of frightening Max away from this path.

“You’re disappointed,” Max stated, his shoulders slumping.

“No!”

“You’re sure? Because I haven’t told the university ‘yes’ yet. I said I needed time to think about it and talk to you.”

“No, I…I honestly think this is amazing. I’m just shocked and confused. I thought you enjoyed all the traveling and never settling down in one place for too long.”

Max shrugged a shoulder and shoved a hand through his messy brown hair. “I did. I do still, but I feel myself getting…tired of hotels and temporary housing. Did you know that I’ve never actually bought a piece of furniture for a house? Or dishes?”

“That’s crazy.” Ed had to admit, though, that he’d not done too much of that in his life either. Most places he’d been living in were furnished rentals.

“We’ve been watching all our friends getting settled. Westin is popping out kids left and right. Kairo and Izzie are going to have kids any day now to fill all of Izzie’s houses. Even Charlie and Will have a cat.”

“Oscar is a pretty cool cat.” Ed cocked his head to the side and smirked. “Is this your way of proposing and saying you want kids?”

“Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can just slow your roll right there.” Max held up both hands toward Ed as if trying to ward him off. “I love you, babe, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be a kids kind of guy. I’m thinking right now we try a house. Maybe, maybe…a dog. Or a really chill cat.”

“I could be down for that.”

“The bonus would be that we’d be near your family.” Max dropped his hands and became serious. “Your parents are getting up there. Your mom is in her sixties now, and it would be a good idea for us to be close.”

“Is that what started this? Baby, I have several older brothers and sisters who are close, and they can take care of my parents.”

“It’s part of it. You’ve spent the past couple of decades constantly traveling. Don’t you want to spend some time with your family? I know your mom would love it. You’ve got nieces and nephews you’ve barely seen.”

Ed’s heart squeezed at the future Max was painting. Ed loved the life they’d built over the past few years, but he had been missing his family. Yet, he’d been afraid of mentioning something and disrupting all that they had together.

“I would actually like to live close by for a while.” Ed stopped and cleared his throat. “But I’ll warn you, my family can be a lot. Birthdays, holidays, random cookouts. There are a lot of them, and they’re all loud and crazy.”

Max flopped back against his pillows, his entire body shaking with laughter. “Oh, my God! I’ve met your family. I know how crazy they are. They’re all amazing, and they don’t seem to mind that you’re running around with some insane white boy who likes to dig for dead people.”

“They like you because you’re insane, and my life has become far less dangerous with you in it.” Ed leaned in and captured Max’s trembling lips in a deep kiss. He could feel Max trying not to laugh. Yes, he was well aware that his statement was ridiculous. His family was convinced that his life was safer because he censored out all the dangerous shit he and his boyfriend got into.

Max let out a sigh as they broke apart and rested his forehead on Ed’s. “So, what do you think? You want to try being normal people for a little while?”

“I’m tempted.”

“I swear, we will still travel the world, visit all our friends, and wander through unexplored crypts every year. You will still blow things up occasionally. And just maybe shoot someone. But not our neighbors. That would be bad.”

Ed hummed softly, making a show of contemplating the paradise Max was weaving for him. “Interesting. Will this house we purchase have a backyard?”