Page 38 of Starved

“Nice.” Evan set down the bags he held to shrug out of his coat.

Grateful for something to do, Colin took it and hung it in the front closet. When he turned back, Evan had toed off his shoes and was picking up his bags again.

“Um, can I take those?” Colin asked.

“I’ve got ‘em,” Evan said cheerfully. “Okay if I head back to the kitchen?”

“Of course,” Colin said, wondering why he felt the need to ask, and trailed behind him. Evan was wearing well-worn jeans and a t-shirt, with athletic socks on his feet. The t-shirt was thin, an old Gus Macker Tournament souvenir, and it clung to Evan’s broad shoulders and muscled arms like a lover’s hands.

With his hands back in his pockets to disguise the direction of his thoughts, he cleared his throat. “So, what’s for dinner?”

“Steak,” Evan announced, and pulled a thick package wrapped in butcher paper out of the grocery bag. He tucked it away in the fridge. “Plus potatoes, asparagus, and a lemon tart for dessert.”

Colin’s eyebrows rose at that. Evan was a decent cook, with an excellent hand at the grill, but Colin would’ve bet his IRA that a tart was beyond his skills. “You made a lemon tart?”

“God, no.” Evan folded the now empty grocery bag with a laugh. “Claire made it for me.”

Claire had been a star volleyball player in college and had played on two Olympic teams. After spending a few years coaching, she’d decided to switch careers and was currently studying to be a pastry chef. “I hope you paid her.”

“I paid for the ingredients, but she wouldn’t take anything else. She said it was good practice. And shit, I left it in the Jeep. Be right back.”

Colin stood where he was as Evan brushed by, taking the few minutes he had alone to try to get his raging lust under control. For a moment there, when Evan was bent over to tuck the food away in the fridge, he’d been tempted to jump him then and there.

He still wasn’t sure why he hadn’t.

When the door opened and closed behind him, he picked up the leather duffle Evan had left on the counter. “I’ll just put this in the bedroom,” he said when Evan walked into the kitchen with a box in his hands and escaped down the hall.

He was tempted to unpack the bag, to distract himself with the domestic chore. But it felt almost too intimate, the kind of thing a partner would do, and he wasn’t sure they were there yet. So he set it on the bed and stepped into the bath to splash some water on his face.

When he felt like he could breathe without hyperventilating, he turned back to the bedroom, prepared to walk calmly back down the hall and join Evan in the kitchen. He’d have a glass of wine while Evan cooked, maybe help him peel potatoes or something. He would use the mundane, repetitive activity to find his calm and give the seething heat in his blood time to cool.

But when he stepped into the bedroom, Evan was there.

Colin stopped short. “Oh. You’re here.”

“I’m here.” Evan hefted the bag Colin had left on the bed, a question in his eyes. “Any objections if I put this in the closet?”

“No.”

“Thanks.” Evan opened the closet. “I’d leave it on the floor, but I know you like to keep things neat.”

He’d appreciate the thoughtfulness of that statement later, Colin knew, but right now he just didn’t have the focus. Still, manners should be observed, so he choked out athankswith as much normalcy as he could muster.

He knew he hadn’t quite managed it when Evan turned to stare at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Colin said, his voice cracking on the word. He cleared his throat and fought not to blush. “Yeah, I’m fine.

“You don’t sound fine.” Evan crossed the room to where Colin stood, brow furrowed in concern. “You getting sick?”

The laugh escaped before Colin could stop it, the sound helpless and a little wild. “No, I’m not getting sick.”

“Oh.” Evan’s eyes cleared, amusement replacing the concern in their depths. “You’re horny.”

Colin fought the automatic urge to deflect and defend. He didn’t want to laugh it off the way he might have with someone else, didn’t want to pretend—not with Evan. So even though it made sweat trickle down his back and brought a flush to his face, he looked Evan square in the face and nodded.

“I want you,” he said, letting all the heat and need spill out with the words. “I can’t help it.”

“You don’t have to help it,” Evan began, but Colin was still talking.

---