Page 96 of He's the One

“Not really! I don’t eat much meat and I definitely wouldn’t eat rabbit.”

Theo closed the door behind him and pulled Col into his arms.

“Your father just saw me,” Col whispered.

Theo gulped. “Really?”

“I was getting out of the car. I thought about walking somewhere else but there wasn’t really anywhere else to go and I’d parked right by the door.”

“Did he say anything?”

“No.”

“Okay. Well… Good!”

“Can I have a shower?”

“Possibly. It depends on whether the bathroom likes you.”

Theo took his hand and pulled him up the stairs.

“Temperamental?”

“Completely. This morning it treated me to a thirty second deluge of freezing water right in the middle of an otherwise uneventful if lukewarm drizzle. I’ll get you a towel. Oh, you brought clothes. How did you know I’d ask you for dinner?”

“I was going out clubbing, but I never turn down food.”

“Will you take me clubbing one night?”

“I wasn’t really going clubbing.”

“Good, but the question still stands.”

Col nodded. “If you like.”

Theo handed him a towel. “The bathroom is through there. Try not to scream. Ignore the spiders.”

Theo wasn’t going to think of Col naked a few metres away.Tricky.He busied himself getting the rest of the meal ready and set the table.

Col emerged rubbing his hair with a towel. He’d changed into jeans and a grey T-shirt that clung to his chest. As Col dried his hair, the material rode up over a flat chiselled stomach and Theo snapped his jaw shut before he drooled.

“Did the shower behave?”

“It was fine.”

Theo pouted. “It is so rarely fine for me. Bloody thing. I’d really like the bathroom renovated but my father won’t fund it.”

“I could do it for you.”

Theo gaped at him.

“I can plumb in toilets and sinks, and tile and plaster.”

“You… Really?”

Col nodded. “I’m wary about electrics though.”

“It was all rewired before I moved in.”