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The corner of Sven’s mouth quirked. “My mother is the queen of frugal and raised us to repair before we throw out.”
He didn’t know whether to laugh or be impressed. “Seriously? You’re going to sew your shirts?” The microwave dinged. “This I gotta see.”
“It’s not that thrilling. Trust me.”
“It is if you do it naked.”
Sven didn’t answer, he just watched as Geoffrey poured the popcorn into a big bowl, grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the pantry—he’d noticed Sven never drank it cold—and walked toward the stairs. He knew he looked good in these pants, that they cupped his ass so Sven would know he hadn’t bothered with underwear. He felt the burn of that gaze on his ass all the way up the stairs and while he bent over to dig the DVD he wanted out of the cabinet underneath his wall screen. He made sure to clench his cheeks a couple of times.
He caught Sven standing next to the couch, mesmerized, and threw him a sassy grin.
But Sven turned the tables on him when he set his things down and slowly pulled down his sweatpants. He kicked them off, settled onto the couch, and pulled a shirt into his lap.
All words and organized thought fled his mind as he watched Sven let down his hair and shake his head until it fell around his shoulders. Then he casually opened his pack and started threading a needle.
A wave of amused affection went through him. “You weren’t kidding?”
“Why throw out a perfectly good shirt when I can fix it? Rips in seams are easy.” He waved a hand at himself. “It’s hard enough finding clothes that fit.”
Geoffrey had a talented tailor who could make that difficulty disappear. He thought of a specifically designed, close-fitting black suit made for that muscular body and knew he was about to make things a little more obscene. But after he watched him darn his shirts. He was pretty sure that was the right word. He’d never seen anyone darn before.
“Avengers okay?” He held up the DVD.
“Very.”
He got everything set up and grabbed the remote and the bowl of popcorn. “When Finn was in high school, he and his friends lived in this room. I hardly got to enjoy movies on this big screen because they always had the Xbox going.”
“You don’t play?”
Geoffrey choked on a piece of popcorn. “You do?”
A hunk of blond hair fell over his face when Sven nodded. “A few games.”
Geoffrey tilted his head as he regarded him. “Let me guess. The long quest ones. With swords.”
“You’d guess right and you’d get bonus points for dragons.”
“Oh, I know exactly which game and we are so going to play sometime.”
“You’re on.” Sven turned a shirt inside out and started working on a seam right as the film started.
He was really going to sew his shirts naked. Screw all those people online. Screw his fucking stalker. Life was good.
“So tell me about Matinee. I haven’t used it. Sorry.” His slight smile had a sheepish cast. “But I heard it’s different than a lot of other hookup apps.”
Geoffrey gave a little shrug. “It is, but it’s mostly just the user interface. I managed to make it feel very streamlined and sleek. The app also has a stronger link to the GPS with your phone so that you can get notifications when there’s someone close to your location who uses Matinee and matches your search parameters.” He tossed some popcorn into his mouth, enjoying the warmth that filled him as he talked to Sven. He’d never really discussed his app or its development with anyone. His friends were usually just interested in the money he made off it.
“That sounds amazing.”
“There were several different apps that were created around that time and two happened to become the most popular. I was lucky that one was mine.” He paused, his eyes falling to the bowl of popcorn in his lap, but all he could see was Finn’s young face. “It couldn’t have hit at a better time. Social Services felt I was too young to raise Finn even though we were going to be fine with the life insurance my parents left us. But the sale of that app cemented the whole deal. They saw I was responsible enough to see its creation through and market it. I was able to get full custody with visits every few months for the next year and that was it.”
“It’s incredible what you accomplished. I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be. I got lucky.”
“It’s not luck. You’re brilliant and responsible. You would have done whatever was needed to take care of your brother.”
Geoffrey could only smile under Sven’s heartfelt praise. No one had ever said that. When they looked at him, they saw only his young face or his crazy social media posts with his party persona. They didn’t know about the guy who stayed up late helping Finn with his calculus homework or saw his brother through the bullying he suffered after the death of their parents.
