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I went back to the shed, amazed at the difference in temperature inside. “How freaking hot is it out there? The tropics are brutal.”
Tully didn’t seem too fazed. “You get used to it.” Then he nodded to my crotch and shrugged. “But you could take your shorts off if you get too hot.”
I resisted rolling my eyes.
But then he was serious. He came over with a bottle of water and pressed it to my sternum. “Keep drinking water and take cool showers if you feel like you’re over-heating.” And then he was back to being Tully; he stared at my chest and abs and shook his head. “Damn, Jeremiah. How do you do it? What’s your routine?”
“My routine for what?”
“In the gym.”
“I don’t go to the gym.” I made a face. “Where there are other people, all sweaty and showing off. It’s gross.”
He gave me a crooked smile, and I was waiting for my watch to betray me, but thankfully it didn’t. “So you work out at home?”
“I don’t work out.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. “I swim. For no other reason than it clears my head. And it’s solitary. No one can speak to me while I do laps.”
He laughed, his eyes alight with something I wasn’t brave enough to name. “You crack me up.”
“Glad I amuse you.”
“Ah, don’t be like that,” he said, giving me a gentle nudge. “You are...” He met my gaze and shook his head. “Like no one I’ve ever met before.”
“I can only assume that was because you don’t frequent science conventions or libraries.”
“Ouch.”
I shrugged. It was true.
A bead of sweat chose that moment to run from my temple, down my jaw and neck, and of course he watched it, his eyes intense. So, meeting fire with fire, I opened the bottle of water, put it to my lips, and drank.
He watched my mouth and my throat as I swallowed, his eyes dark, his lips parted.
I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth to hide my smile and offered him the bottle. “Some?”
His nostrils flared. “You’re a cruel man.”
I grinned at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you don’t want the water, just say no.”
He narrowed his eyes at me and snatched the bottle, then took a step back before he turned and walked away. “Christ, it’s hot in here.”
I pressed my lips together so as not to smile too wide. This was kinda fun. I knew how it would end; it was why I was doing it. I hadn’t come here expecting any such thing—it was the last thing I expected, truthfully—but now it was a possibility?
Ending with a romp on that small double bed with a gorgeous man wouldn’t be terrible. If he was willing...
And hewaswilling.
Then I remembered something. Before I took this any further...
I went to my laptop, tracking the storm, pretending to be grossly interested in it. “So,” I hedged, trying for the nonchalance that he did so well. “Anyone in Darwin on your emergency contact list I should know about?”
He squinted at me, confused. “Emergency contact?” Then he came to see the radar. “Just how bad is this storm gonna get?”
“No, it’s not that bad. I mean, it’s a good one. There’s a wind warning in conjunction with high precipitation falls and a flash flood warning for some parts. Decent lightning activity.”
Tully looked at me then. “Why did you ask about my emergency contact? That’s a random and totally weird thing to ask, not gonna lie.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just...” I shook my head and looked out at the darkening sky instead. “It’s just good to know if something were to happen, who I should call, that’s all. Like someone who would be upset if you were injured.”
