“I remember reading something once,” Adam continued, “about divorce. It said that just because someone is a bad husband doesn’t mean they’re a bad father. I think about that a lot, how people have different capacities for failure. And even if you fail in one area doesn’t mean you fail in all of them.”

Nick ran that through his head a few times. What had Quinn said?

He still thinks your brother killed his sister. He seemed kinda upset about it.

Tyler had talked about his dead sister with Quinn? That didn’t seem like something he’d do to get under Nick’s skin.

Adam’s hands moved lower, along his shoulder blades, his thumbs pressing into the area alongside Nick’s spine.

“You have great hands,” Nick said without thinking, then blushed.

Especially when Adam leaned in and breathed along his neck. “You have no idea.”

Nick shivered.

Adam brushed a kiss against his neck. His hands eased lower, finding Nick’s rib cage. “Still obsessing about Quinn?”

Obsessing. Was that what Adam was hearing? Nick had to clear his throat. “Quinn who?”

“That’s better.” Another slow breath against his skin. “What else has you so uptight?”

Your hands. My imagination.

“School,” he murmured. “I’m fourth in my class, and my physics teacher wants to nominate me for some program that will let me take college classes next semester.”

“You don’t sound happy about it.”

“I help my older brother run the landscaping business. Gabriel is taking a special course to be a firefighter in the spring, so if I stop helping, too . . .” He let that thought trail off.

“You told me you were applying to some schools anyway, right? Have you heard back from any?”

Nick hesitated.

Adam’s hands went still. “What?”

“I’ve heard back from all of them.”

“And?”

Nick wished they could get back to the sexy talk. That was loaded with pressure, too, but he didn’t want to think about college. “And . . . I haven’t opened any of the envelopes. Or the e-mails.”

Adam smacked him on the side of the head.

“Ow.” Nick sat up straight and looked over his shoulder. “What was that for?”

“That was for you being an idiot.” Adam grabbed Nick’s shoulders and pulled him straighter. “And for your posture, while I’m at it. I’ve been wanting to do that for three days.”

“What’s wrong with my posture?”

“What’s wrong with your head is a better question. You probably have acceptance letters in there. Maybe even scholarship offers, if you’re fourth in your class.”

“I don’t want to talk about school.” His shoulders had tightened back up, and all of a sudden, he didn’t want to be a part of this conversation.