What?He gave a choked laugh. “I thought you’d be better at maths. That’s nowhere near forty.”
“It’s a lot older than you.”
“So what? Are you trying to say you know more about what you want because you’re older? Age makes you an expert?”
“Age makes me more certain of what I’m looking for.”
Corey didn’t agree. He knew what he wanted and what would make him happy. “Maybe the older you get, the more set in your ways you become. Closed-minded when you should be open to a different way of thinking. Are you worried about what other people would say?”
“No.”
The slight hesitation meant Corey didn’t believe him.
“I think we have different goals,” Tal said.
“Do we?” Corey stared at him. “I just want to be happy and for me to make someone else happy too by being with me. Simple as that.”
“I’m not into casual sex.”
“But…”
Me neither.But Corey heard what Tal was saying. He didn’t want sex outside a committed relationship.He doesn’t want sex with me.No point saying anything else. Corey pushed to his feet and wrapped the towel more firmly around his hips. Hegot another towel for Tal, and dropped it by the bath. Back in the bedroom, Corey curled up on the chair under the throw and closed his eyes. So that was that. Tal was saying no.
Seven
Tal exhaled as Corey went back into the bedroom.Oh fuck.He shuddered and slid down into the water. He’d not handled that very well. Corey ending up in the bath with him had been an accident, although he’d been disappointed when Corey had slithered out again.Disappointed!That shocked him. Tal had never shared a bath with anyone. A shower, occasionally, but that was all. He’d had a chance to rectify that and instead he’d pissed Corey off.
He liked him. Tal wasn’t one for flights of fantasy but he found himself wishing he was currently wiping a towel over every inch of Corey’s body. Drying his toes before moving up his legs, over his calves, around those knobbly knees and then the soft skin of his thighs. Stroking his sharp hipbones and that flat stomach. His cock was big. Tal had noticed it hardening before the towel covered it. Tal might have told himself he was too old for Corey, but his own cock had declared that a lie. Except now it was soft again.
Because you’re an idiotLouis said in his head.Isn’t this the way to get your head back in the game? You know he’s interested.And what did you achieve by saying you weren’t interested in casual sex?You offended him.
Tal thought about that. He wasn’t into casual sex but he could have been kinder.
By the time Tal walked into the bedroom, in his black underwear, Corey was curled up on a chair, covered up by the throw he’d worn earlier. His eyes were shut but Tal didn’t think he was asleep.
“Sleep in the bed with me,” Tal said. “It’s plenty big enough.”
“I don’t have any dry underwear. Everything in my bag was soaked.”
Tal threw him a pair of his boxers. To his amusement, Corey pulled them on under the cover of the throw. Then he bounded from the couch to the mattress, slid under the sheet and duvet, and curled up, facing the windows.
“Am I okay on this side?” Corey asked.
“Yes.” Tal switched off the light and climbed in beside him. Corey’s voice was wrong. It had no energy. His body language was wrong too.
“Good night,” Tal whispered.
“Night.”
It had been a long time since Tal had been in bed with anyone. A year. He didn’t miss Dorian. He did miss the awareness of another person being close to him. He wished he wasn’t thinking about his ex. He really was over what had happened, but the memory was still there ready to nip him, gnaw at him, tear at him.
At least Corey could get comfortable in bed and that wouldn’t have happened curled up on that chair. Tal could feel his warmth even though they weren’t touching. He lay facing away from Corey, waiting for him to go to sleep, for his breathing to even out. Even after it did, Tal still waited. Was Corey asleep? Waiting for Tal to go to sleep?
“We could have died tonight,” Corey whispered.
Not asleep, then. “We could. You saved my life.”
“You’d have done the same.”
