God, he didn’t want to think about any of it right now. It all felt too overwhelming.
After he finished his shower and was appropriately dressed, hair damp and his bag at his feet, it was time to go back into the room.
He began to have a little panic. Just a little.
He was going to have to face him, sooner or later. And maybe Obiora hadn’t noticed Ejiro’s sudden attraction. Probably. Hopefully.
In fact, it was highly likely this attraction thing was even a fluke. I mean, who wouldn’t be aroused when someone as devastatingly handsome as Obiora started talking about sexual attraction with his voice all deep and gravelly like sin. Right?
Before all this, when Ejiro had been pondering his sexuality, he could have counted on both hands the number of people he felt he’d been sexually attracted to in his entire life. After Obiora’s explanation, however, that number had dwindled down to one hand. It turned out a lot of the feelings Ejiro had attributed to sexual attraction might just have been sensual attraction; his desire to be physically close to someone, but not specifically in a sexual way.
So, yeah. Maybe this whole thing with Obiora was him getting confused because of the topic, that was all. Yes. That made sense.
Squaring his shoulders, Ejiro opened the bathroom door and pulled his bag out, focusing intently on it instead of anything else inside the room. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Obiora was still lying reclined on his bed where Ejiro had left him.
“All done,” Ejiro said, wincing inwardly when his voice came out way too bright. He resolutely did not look in Obiora’s direction, instead pulling his boxes toward the wardrobes on the other side of the room.
“Good shower?”
Ejiro jolted, his eyes flying up to meet Obiora’s. “What?” he squeaked. Did he know? Had he heard? And holy hell had Obiora always been that fucking handsome?
Obiora grinned slowly, the curve of those full lips transforming his features from merely attractive to downright sinful, the dimple in his cheek flashing, begging to be kissed.
Obiora raised an eyebrow, the move so effortlessly sexy Ejiro didn’t know how he was still standing.
“The shower,” Obiora drawled. “Was it good?” Ejiro tried frantically not to stare at his mouth.
“What?” His heart slammed against his ribs. “Oh. Yes. Fine. It was fine. Pressure’s good. Hot water seems endless. You know. It’s good.” Oh God, Ejiro, shut up, shut up, shut the heck up.
“Great.” Obiora stood from the bed and stretched. “Think I’ll have a shower myself.”
Ejiro’s eyes snapped down to where Obiora’s shirt rode up as he stretched, hungrily taking in a revealed strip of beautiful, deep golden-brown skin and a trail of dark, coily hair.
Obiora moved, and Ejiro looked away quickly, cheeks on fire. He didn’t look up again until he heard the bathroom door click shut. He waited for the sound of the lock, but it didn’t come. He waited some more. His eyes grew wide and his hands clenched into fists when he heard the sound of the shower come on.
Obiora hadn’t locked the door—the freaking heathen.
Ejiro began to furiously unpack, ignoring the way his heartbeat fluttered and heat flooded his body. Why had Obiora left the door unlocked? Had he done it on purpose? And why the heck did Ejiro even care?
He groaned, dunking his head into his open bag.
So. His attraction to Obiora apparently wasn’t a fluke.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
“THIS WEEK’S EPISODE IS GOING to be a little different,” Ameri said early the next morning, when all the men had gathered in the empty ground floor of the bigger house, the entrance to the entire accommodation. Sophia was there, too, looking bright and excited, dressed in a pretty peach knee-length sundress, pale pink sunglasses and a wide straw hat on her head, her feet in cute flat white sandals. “Here’s the challenge: you will all—yes all—be going on a private date with the bachelorette.” All the bachelors whooped and hollered, especially those who hadn’t yet been on a private date with Sophia.
Sophia winked and blew kisses at them, grinning flirtatiously.
“Before y’all get too excited, there’s a catch,” Ameri continued with amusement.
“Of course there is,” Noah deadpanned. Some of the men laughed.
“You’ll each have a time limit of one hour only, and you can only take her to one of the places written on the list we’ve handed to you this morning. We’ll be going on a private scheduled tour by water taxi to visit all the places written down on the list; your assignment is to check them out to make sure the spot you pick is perfect to impress our bachelorette. Now, are we ready men?”
There were enthusiastic responses in the affirmative.
“Then let’s go!” Sophia said, her grin wide. Her excitement seemed to rile up the men; they were practically vibrating with the need to get started.
