Page 56 of Two for Charging

He found Luca waiting on the couch, reading a book. He turned and smiled at Chris. His hair was rumpled, and he wore thick woolen socks. Chris could see them because he had his feet on the coffee table.

“Were you raised in a barn?”

“Hm?” Luca looked down at himself in gray sweats and a white T-shirt with the collar cut out, revealing the line of his clavicle and the moles dotting the skin there. “It is an off day. I can wear what I want.”

“I meant your feet.”

Chris kicked off his shoes and dropped his keys on the end table. He settled on the corner of the couch as far away from Luca as he could without seeming too weird. He eyed Luca’s feet, still on the table.

Luca stuck his tongue out and slid his feet off the table.

Taking a deep breath, Chris forced himself to look Luca in the eye. “So. The sex thing.”

Luca dog-eared the corner of the page he was on and laid his book aside.

“Are we doing that now?”

Luca looked at him steadily. “Do you want to?”

“We agreed—”

“Psh. I am the coach in this situation, remember?” A hint of a smile stole across Luca’s face. “Here is your first lesson. Sex is only any good if everyone wants it.”

“I know. I would never pressure a girl—”

“I mean you. If you do not want it, now or ever, then we are not doing it.”

Chris opened his mouth. Then he closed it again.

“So.” Luca opened his arms wide. “Would you like to try anything? Or would you rather watch a movie and cuddle? It is our day off; we can do whatever we want.”

“I…” Chris had no idea what he wanted. Not having sex with Luca today—when they’d talked about it and agreed on it, and he’d been working himself up with anxiety about it—was a huge relief. Hot on the heels of his relief came instant disappointment: if they didn’t do it, nothing about Chris’s situation would change. He’d stay single forever, and then Luca would meet someone else and move out. “What about you? Do you want to? I mean, I know I’m not…”

“Not what?”

Your type, Chris wanted to say, or in your league. “I know you’re doing this as a favor.”

Luca shook his head. “It is not a favor I would have offered if I did not want to have sex with you.”

The concept was mind-boggling. Luca wanted to have sex with him? “Why?”

“I know you know I am bisexual.”

“Yeah, but why would you want me?”

Luca got to his feet and came to stand in front of Chris. He reached out and pushed Chris’s hair off his forehead. “Let me see. You have very kind eyes and a lovely smile. You are big enough to hold me up against a wall and nice enough you would ask permission first. You give good hugs, and you will make me breakfast after. Also, I’m told you have an enormous cock.”

The last, he said with such a cheeky grin that Chris couldn’t help laughing. He wrapped his arms around Luca’s waist and squeezed him tight. “I’m so glad you live here,” he said when his face was buried in Luca’s belly and Luca couldn’t see his expression.

Luca pulled his head back by the hair, which felt unexpectedly nice. He bent down until their faces were close enough that Chris could feel Luca’s breath on his skin. “Is this okay?”

“Huh?”

“If I kiss you now.”

Their noses brushed together.

“Oh. Um. Yeah.”