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Thus far in their relationship, Kai hadn’t shared much about his past, but after the day they’d experienced, it seemed only fair. “When the courts granted me custody of Melissa, I wanted to get as far away from our mom and Denver as I could.” He sucked in a whistling breath between his teeth. “Sadly, Dallas was as far away as I could afford.”
Bas sat up a little straighter and shifted on the cushion to face him. “That couldn’t have been easy, but I have to admit I’m glad you landed here.” Taking his hand, he held it on top of his thigh and began playing with Kai’s fingers. “You said Melissa was four?”
Kai still remembered her on the first day of preschool with her little pigtails and pink tennis shoes. “Yeah, she was four, and no, it wasn’t easy. It didn’t get easier for a long time, either. I worked three jobs, and most months, we still ended up at the food bank.” Leaning his head back, he stared up at the water stain on the ceiling and chuckled. “We used to live in a place just like this. It was a downstairs unit. Apartment 5A.”
The silence stretched on for so long he lifted his head to look at his host. “Did I over share?”
“What? No, no, no.” Lifting Kai’s hand, Bas whispered a kiss over the knuckles. “I guess I was just stunned for a minute. You tend to do that to me.” He lifted Kai’s other hand to kiss it as well. “You are truly remarkable, Mr. London.”
Drawn into the moment, into the feel of their hands twined together, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Bas launched up from the sofa with a loud curse.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I forgot all about the delivery at the club.”
Pressing a hand to his chest, Kai swallowed a few times, trying to force his heart out of his throat before he could speak again. “Hey, it’s okay. Just call and explain. I’m sure your boss will understand it was an emergency.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“No one has called to fire you, so I think you’re okay.”
“True.” This time, he sounded a little more confident and a lot less stressed. “Jared is a good guy, and he owes me. He probably covered for me.”
Kai didn’t know who Jared was, but going by context clues, he guessed him to be a coworker. “Well, there you are.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Okay.” Bas shimmied a little as if shaking off the tension of the day. “I’m going to jump in the shower.” Reaching over his head, he fisted the back of his collar in one hand and pulled his shirt off with a quiet grunt. “So, uh, just make yourself at home. Grab whatever you want from the kitchen, and the remote is there on the table.”
Kai bobbed his head a few times and hummed something that might have been taken as agreement.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, he’d never seen so many muscles outside of professional sports. Bas’ flawless cinnamon skin stretched tight over the most perfect set of cobblestone abs he’d ever seen. When he turned around, it did nothing to diminish the view. Kai bit his bottom lip and choked back a whimper when Bas rolled his shoulders, making the muscles ripple from neck to hips.
Once he disappeared down the hallway, Kai dropped his face into his hands and groaned. Christ, he needed to get it together. It wasn’t as if he’d never seen a half-naked man before. This wasn’t just any half-naked man, though. It was a gorgeous, selfless, kind, amazing half-naked man he was pretty sure he’d fallen in love with.
When he heard the shower turn on down the hall, he flung himself off the couch. Fisting his hands at his sides to stop their trembling, he paced the narrow strip of carpet between the television and the coffee table.
“What am I doing?” he grumbled out loud to the empty room. “I should go.” He nodded firmly. “Yeah, I should just leave.”
“Kai?”
A sound he’d never made before escaped him as he whirled around to find Bas watching him from the mouth of the hallway with nothing on except a towel slung low on his hips. He had no idea how long the guy had been standing there, but judging by the look on his face, it had been long enough.
“You scared the hell out of me,” he accused. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I was going to say you’re welcome to join me, but I can see this is a bad time.” Strutting out of the room, he laughed all the way back to the bathroom.
Whether that was what he’d really meant to say or not, Kai’s entire body responded to the offer. Surely, he hadn’t been serious. He’d only said that to get a reaction from him. It didn’t mean anything. He should just call a cab and go home. Better yet, he could walk. It would give him time to clear his head.
Or he could stop letting his fears rule him. He could stop inventing reasons to run. Bas had sworn he’d never let him fall, and heaven help him, he believed that promise.
Now, the only question that remained was what did he plan to do about it?
Breathing in deeply to steady his nerves, he straightened his spine and squared his shoulders. Then he stripped out of his clothes right there in the living room, leaving them wherever they fell. Before he could lose his courage, he marched down the hallway and stopped outside of the bathroom.
The door stood slightly ajar, and tendrils of steam curled through the crack, bringing with them the clean scent of soap and toothpaste. Oh, it had been a long time since he’d done this particular dance, and even longer since he’d been the one to lead. Never had it meant this much, though. Not once before had he been afraid that sex might ruin everything.
After another mental pep talk, he slipped into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked just as he’d found it. It surprised him that the scene wasn’t anything like in the movies. Yes, he could hear the spray of water from the shower as it drummed against the bottom of the tub, but that was about it. He even tilted his head to the side and squinted, but he still couldn’t make out a silhouette behind the frosted blue curtain.
Anxiety returned full force when he thought about what came next. Should he pull back the curtain and just step into the shower with him? That would probably scare the hell out of him. Not exactly the mood he was going for. Did he clear his throat? Call Bas’ name?
