Page 26 of Poolside

He let his eyes linger on the rolling muscles of Tommy’s back as they shifted with each stroke. Chuck’s gaze traced his arms, and any attention to the technicalities of swimming was lost as he watched the water glittering against Tommy’s golden skin.

It was a rare indulgence, butfuck, Tommy had said Chuck had a nice body and talked about ancient Greek warriors being in love. He was only so strong.

A hand stretched out under the water, reaching between where Chuck’s legs dangled to touch the wall, and Tommy broke through the surface, shoulders rising and falling with every audible breath. Chuck watched as he tore the goggles from his face, revealing the deep purple indentions that circled his eyes.

His breathing was labored as he looked up at Chuck. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

Chuck laughed and kicked his leg out, the water making the movement sluggish as he nudged his foot against Tommy’s hard hip.

Tommy just smiled up at him. “Thank you,” he said. “For doing this. You’re the best.”

“It’s no problem, man,” he said, but the gratitude still lit up something hot in his chest.

Tommy moved to climb out of the water, all of his muscles straining and wet as he pushed himself from the pool. “Dinner andSpartacuson Thursday?”

“Sure. Burgers?”

Tommy was already nodding. “I’ll make sweet potato fries.”

Chuck groaned. Tommy made the best sweet potato fries in the world. “You sure know the way to a man’s heart,” he teased, and Tommy just smiled back at him as he wrapped himself up in his towel.

Tommy was good in that way, always showing up and doing the little things that mattered.

Chuck hadn’t ever met anyone else like Tommy. It was something he wanted to look for in a partner. His heart hungered for that kind of care, to be with someone who knew him well enough to do those seemingly small, important things.

Maybe now that he was out, he could find someone like that, since the man who already was the best at it wasn’t an option.

Not for Chuck, at least.

CHAPTER7

LOTS OF BUTTS

TOMMY

Tommy climbed into his car late on Thursday afternoon, his body aching in places he’d never been sore before. He wasn’t a slacker; he was an ex-college athlete who still liked to move and work out. He didn’t mind having a tight body that people in the gym stopped to look at, either.

But being sore on the backs of his knees? The tops of his feet? That was fucking new, and even after spending half of his lunch break on the foam roller while he scarfed down a sandwich, his muscles were still smarting.

Chuck was a good teacher. It was hard for Tommy to let go of the fact that he was so embarrassingly bad at something, but if there were any of his friends who he trusted to not be a dick about his struggles in the pool, it was Chuck.

Sometimes, it felt like Chuck was too good for this world. Too kind, too thoughtful, too giving.

It still blew Tommy’s mind that a man like Chuck was single. Hell, if he were into dudes, Chuck would be exactly the kind of man he’d want in his life.

Tommy guzzled the last of his water as he drove on autopilot toward Chuck’s house. He had a grocery bag full of sweet potatoes and spices and a container of his famous white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. It was his mom’s recipe, but she was all the way up in Minnesota and he was the one baking them, so he’d take the credit.

Making cookies was one of those things he’d done when he was married, another habit he hadn’t been able to turn off after his divorce. He’d had years to build patterns with someone else: he was the one who deep cleaned the bathrooms and made sure there were cookies in the jar, while she’d been the one to sweep the kitchen and wash their sheets.

Too bad he’d been putting his effort into all of the wrong things: booking Courtney a weekend at a spa when what she’d really wanted was a weekend with him. Taking her to Paris for a week when all that his ex-wife had wanted was for him to slow down and ask about her day.

It still hurt to think of how badly he’d missed the mark in his marriage.

But now, rather than craving Courtney specifically, he just craved havingsomebody. He missed having someone to direct all of his energy and care towards.

At least work was crazy, which didn’t leave much time for pacing his empty apartment or thinking. Rick had been on a tear for the past week after their region had dropped in sales numbers. He had Tommy and the rest of the area managers scrambling to get more cars on rent, like there was anything they could actually do to convince people to rent more cars. But Tommy did what was asked of him. He dropped off fliers and discount cards at local hotels, visited the auto body shops that sent them business, and called the local companies that rented their cars for employees.

As Rick kept reminding him, there was a promotion on the line, and every day, every call, every meeting, mattered.

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