Puzzle Me This Read Online Free

needed some time to process.
    He liked Alex. He was intelligent and funny, seemed honest and kind, and they had a lot in common. And that was all very well and good. But there was more to it, and that more was disturbing.
    Luke had a strange lump in his chest. There was a kind of brink-of-a-cliff momentousness to the situation with Alex that he’d never felt with a guy before. In fact, the closest thing he’d ever felt to it was the day he’d accepted his first job as a game designer, his dream job since the age of eight. That day he’d had an almost out-of-body sense of relief and joy that translated roughly to Yeah, this is my future; I made it. I managed not to fuck it up. Thank you, God .
    He didn’t understand why he would feel something like that about Alex. It couldn’t be real. It was like seeing someone in the street that you think is a long-lost loved one, only to have them turn around and reveal themselves a stranger. Alex was a stranger.
    And then there was the chair . They hadn’t talked about it, but it was obviously a long-term thing, not a temporary injury. Alex was independent. He’d made it through college—Masters in English, he’d said—and lived alone, and Luke admired that. But what about… relationships? Sex? There was a sweet, vulnerable innocence about Alex that Luke found really, really attractive. But the man was twenty-eight and blushingly shy. Was he a virgin? Was he even physically capable of… of not being a virgin?
    Luke knew he hadn’t misread the look of hunger on Alex’s face as he’d removed his coat. Alex was capable of lust, and he liked Luke. But how far was he able to go physically? And did he even want to share himself like that?
    And what if he did? Could Luke handle a relationship with a man in a wheelchair?
    Luke searched his gut for some kind of ick response or reluctance to go there. But each time he thought of Alex, all he could remember was their easy conversation, the way Alex laughed, the look of his upper body in that red shirt, those wide, sensual lips. Those eyes . What he was sitting in just didn’t seem to matter much to Luke’s body. Or his heart.
    When he hadn’t heard from Alex by Saturday noon, Luke decided to call. “Hi, Alex. It’s Luke.”
    “That’s what my phone says. But then, you high-tech types are used to all these fancy devices.”
    “Um. Yeah. But it’s the add-on vibrator alerts that are really hip. I can score you some if you want.”
    Alex laughed. “I love the way you drag my mind right into the gutter.”
    His voice was low and sexy, and Luke felt a tugging in his groin. No, there was no mistaking where this was headed. Thank God.
    “Hey, Sunday is supposed to be in the mere eighties for a change. I thought you might like to get out of the house.”
    “Um… sure.” Alex sounded a bit hesitant.
    “You mentioned handicap-accessible trails. Do you have a favorite? I’ve Googled some we could try if you don’t have a preference.”
    “You did? That’s… nice of you.” Alex sounded surprised.
    “Well, despite what you might have read on the bathroom walls around here, I’m a pretty decent sort.”
    “You’re right, that’s not what they write about you on bathroom walls,” Alex teased. “But getting back to outdoor activities, there’s a nice rail trail in Luzerne. I try to hit it a few times a year, but it’s probably not all that exciting for you. It’s a flat out-and-back, and it’s a two and a half hour drive to get there.”
    “I don’t mind driving, and flat works for me. It is August. Don’t want to overdo the whole sweat thing. Can I bring Trevor?”
    “Yeah! I’d like to meet him. Dogs are fine there on leash. But… I don’t have a car.”
    “Your chair collapses, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “It’ll fit in my back seat, and Trevor has his own spot in the hatchback.”
    There was a pause. “You’ve thought this through. I appreciate that.”
    Luke felt a tightening in his throat. Did Alex think