AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t like when you called him darling.” His voice was lower than it had been and gruff. It was possessive, which made Oliver shiver all over. And it was wrong because neither of them had any business crossing that line.
But Oliver wanted more.
“You want me to save that for you?” he murmured.
Victor closed his eyes in a slow blink and took a deep breath before he said, “Yes.”
And that was that.
“Then it’s all yours.”
Victor looked at him with heated eyes, and then his lips curved into a very small but all-consuming smile before he tugged on Oliver’s hand and resumed their walk. Oliver let the odd feeling sit in his chest as they made their way into a corridor.
The place reminded Oliver a bit of the summer he worked banquets at a resort. There were pushcarts, and everything smelled vaguely of raw fish, and the air was very humid. That job hadn’t lasted long the moment Oliver saw what the humidity was doing to his hair though, and he ran a hand over his now just to check.
Pierson stopped a ways up and turned, his cheeks pink when he fixed his gaze on Victor’s cane. “Sorry. I tend to get ahead of myself.”
Victor shook his head. “I walk slower than most people, but I can keep up.”
Pierson looked like he wanted to argue, but in the end, he just nodded and slowed his stride, taking them to a set of double doors. Swiping the badge he was wearing, he stepped to the right as the doors swung open to the aquarium lobby.
It was a weekday, so it wasn’t as busy as Oliver expected, but it was odd to go from the still, quiet hallway to the bustle of a crowd. He moved in closer to Victor, who gently squeezed his fingers.
“You okay?” Victor asked, frowning at him.
Oliver nodded. “More than. You’re good at this.”
Victor lifted a brow. “Holding hands?” When Oliver nodded, he laughed and shook his head, the expression on his face fond.
Oliver was absolutely not used to men looking at him like that. Not his clients, not past lovers, not his friends. Usually, they stared with a mixture of annoyed tolerance or—if they were paying him—hunger he could never really satisfy.
He was terrified to let Victor go.
* * *
The rest of the afternoon went as any date at the zoo might have gone. Victor held his hand through most of it, and they cooed at the penguins after Pierson told them they were attention whores, and Oliver was absolutely sure he’d seen a couple of them preen. When Victor was done pulling faces at the little birds, Pierson took them to see the skates, where Victor got to lean over the edge of the pool and let them nip at his fingers like little water puppies—exactly the way Victor had described.
Oliver took a couple of photos while Victor wasn’t looking—the sun from the tall windows highlighting his dark hair, the smile on his face so beautiful and so genuine Oliver wasn’t sure he was actually human.
It was around one o’clock when they left the otters and declined lunch at the little café that frankly smelled worse than half the street food nearby. He was starving and afraid for the date to be over, but he was also ready to ditch their guide.
Oliver realized his desire to kiss Victor had gone from a quiet want to an almost painful need. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make it the rest of the week without giving in.
“Any other plans for the day?” Oliver asked once they were past the sad dolphin fountain.
Victor lifted a brow at him as he led the way back to the car. “Well, I’m starved, and I believe I was promised either hot dogs or gas station burritos.”
Oliver felt his heart jump in his chest. “Seriously?”
“Unless you’re trying to poison me with salmonella…yes. Seriously.”
Oliver laughed, clapping a hand over his mouth so he didn’t get too loud, and he tugged on Victor’s hand. “You’re so not going to regret this.”
Victor captured his gaze and didn’t let go. “You know, I don’t think I am.”
On the way back, Victor mused over the new facts he’d learned and how it felt to let his hand rest in the pool of water and just exist with the rays that were swimming around.
“I regret not going back out to swim with them again,” Victor told him, staring out the window at the coastline. “My body loves the water.”
