But Kevin had been there in his house with those silky dreads, his nerdy T-shirt and sweet smile. And he’d loved his surprise when he’d told him he thought he was cute. Kevin had blushed fire engine red, stumbling over what to say. He’d had to hold himself back from jumping him then. Adorable, shy, little nerd.
He probably shouldn’t have let Kevin leave the way he had, but he hadn’t wanted to crowd him. At the same time, he wasn’t about to let him slip through his fingers by avoiding him. He responded to Kevin’s text, letting him know that they would be seeing each other, one way or another.
If you’re really sick, stay home. I’ll come by with soup. If not, get your butt down here. Your session starts in twenty minutes.
His phone was quiet for a good while before it dinged with a response.I’ll be there in fifteen.Nate grinned and put his phone away. He could imagine the back and forth Kevin had gone through with himself before he made his decision.
Fifteen minutes later, Kevin was walking through the front doors. His T-shirt was Spiderman. His tennis shoes were red and blue to match. A thick blue band held his locks back off his face. And a slight pout was on his mouth.
He went to the locker room to put his bag away without acknowledging him. When he came back out, Nate noticed the stiffness to his gait and the way his eyes bounced around without making contact with his. Nate wasn’t about to allow any distance to grow between them. He set out to put Kevin at ease.
“Why don’t you ever wear any dark Spiderman gear? The third movie was the best of the series.”
Kevin’s head popped up and he glared at Nate. “Are you kidding me? That was the worst installment. They went completely off the rails with that one. And Venom-.”
Nate held a hand up, cutting him off. “You’re right. The second one was the best.”
Kevin stopped, but he was giving Nate serious side eye. “Then why’d you say that?”
“Just wanted to get your attention and loosen you up. Things don’t have to be weird between us, Kevin. All right?”
Kevin visibly relaxed. “Okay. I just didn’t know what to expect.”
“You can expect to have a good workout.” He grinned. “Since you decided that was the lesser of the two evils.”
Kevin crossed his arms over his chest. “What if I really had been sick?”
“Then I would have been showing up on your doorstep with some Campbell’s.”
“You don’t know where I live.”
“Your address is on your application.”
A smile tugged at Kevin’s lips, but he managed to hold it back. “Isn’t that some sort of illegal use of a customer’s private information?”
“Not really, you would have been inviting me over soon anyway.”
This time Kevin did smile. Nate caught just a glimpse of it as he turned away to pick up a set of weights.
An hour later, they were finished with Kevin’s workout. While he’d coached Kevin, his phone had buzzed with a few more texts. Gage was getting a group together to go skeet shooting and wanted him to come out. Nate was in, but he wanted Kevin to come along too. Kevin came back over after re-racking his weights and Nate handed him his bottle of water.
“Some friends and I are going skeet shooting in a few. You want to join us?”
“Will there be actual friends there this time?”
Nate laughed. “I never said there would be friends over for our Fuck It Friday. You just assumed.”
Kevin watched him silently for a moment before asking, “Is this a date?”
“Does it matter?” Nate asked with a shrug. “I just want you to come hang out with me.” There was another short pause. Nate realized he was tense as he waited for Kevin’s answer. If he said yes, that meant he was into him and wanted to see him again. If he said no...
“All right. I’ll run home and shower, then meet you there.”
Relief loosened his tense shoulders. “You’ve got stuff in your gym bag, just shower here and ride with me.”
“Fine.” He took a sip of his water. “No wonder you make a good personal trainer. You’re bossy.”
Nate grinned. “Whatever it takes to get results.”