“Shut up and take your pants off,” Theo grinned, and Eric had to fight off a shudder. That shouldn’t turn him on as much as it did, unless, of course, Theo had deliberately said the words to get just that effect.
Wow, was he ever delusional. All he had to do to keep himself from thinking these things was to remember watching a much younger Teddy’s back as he ran away from him, and the emptiness inside, the pit of despair, which had almost consumed him after that time.
Still, it made sense to let Theo do this. So Eric swallowed down his emotions, his budding arousal which he could so easily let take control, and then he slid his pants, and boxers, down so the abused backs of his legs, and his ass, which might have taken it the worst, were revealed.
To his credit, Theo was damn well near professional in terms of his reaction. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t tease, and he didn’t even, to Eric’s secret regret, try to touch him in any sort of inappropriate way. He simply cleaned the mess and then stepped back.
That damned blush was still on his cheeks, though. What was it about a huge man like his Teddy blushing that drove Eric so wild? Or maybe it was only Theo that did that to him. It wasn’t like there had been a whole lot of other men that Eric had ever wanted.
Oh, there had been a few, but Eric had always been able to resist whatever attraction he had to them. Theo was different. Theo was the one that Eric had never been able to resist, no matter how he tried. And oh, how he’d tried!
“There.” Theo finished and disposed of the supplies that he’d used, not quite meeting Eric’s gaze. What a puzzle Theo was, and Eric wasn’t sure that he was the man to put those pieces together. Not with their history. “Uh, you want me to get you some sweats or something?”
Right, so there it was. Theo felt strange being naked in the same room with Eric, who was, other than his socks, bareass naked at this point. The question was, what did that mean? Eric wanted to angrily demand of Theo why it was such a big deal to see him naked. Hadn’t he seen Liam naked before?
Even he knew that would be unreasonable, at this point. He had no claim on Theo, and Theo, he told himself firmly, without quite believing it, had none on him.
“Yeah. In the third drawer,” Eric allowed. It probably would be better to get some clothes on himself, and he had to admit that it wouldn’t be fun to have jeans on his recently cleansed wounds.
Theo brought him back the loose, comfortable black sweats, and Eric pulled them on with a minimum of discomfort. It really was remarkably thoughtful of the man to grab them for him. To tend to his hurts, too. Theo didn’t owe Eric that.
It also, however, didn’t make up for what Theo had done to him. It was a confusing mix of emotions roiling away inside of Eric, and he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it.
“Hey, so … why are you here, man?” Eric asked, trying to distract himself from the emotions, trying to turn this into something like a normal conversation. Two people who had known each other once would have things to say to each other, right? He just had to tap into that, make this into a normal situation, turn it away from that strangely intense twenty minutes or so that he’d spent being tended to by this man.
Theo looked at him like he’d gone crazy.
“Uh, remember the truck almost hitting you?” he asked, and Eric couldn’t help but smirk as he brushed past Theo, his shoulder against Theo’s chest, heading for the kitchen and a beer, which he was definitely feeling the need for.
“No, I mean, why are you in town again?” Eric pressed, and, just as he’d somehow instinctively known would happen, Theo followed him. Eric propped open the fridge door with his hip and grabbed two beers, one of which he tossed to Theo.
“Oh, that. Yeah.” Theo cracked open the beer with one of those enormous hands of his, and Eric figured he must be loopy from the accident still because he couldn’t stop wondering what else those huge hands could do to him. It was pure sex, as was the way Theo cocked one hip and lounged against the counter.
Still. After all of these years, this man could make him hard just by being himself. If anything, it was worse than ever. Was he actually going to get an erection just by watching Theo lean against a counter? The slow, aching throbbing between his legs, almost a tugging sensation, warned him that he might just.
“My dad wants to sell the house.” Theo raised the beer to his lips and took a long swallow off of it, and while he was distracted, Eric tried to figure out just what it was about his Teddy that could drive him so crazy. Sure, he was handsome, and those eyes of his could stop traffic, but there were plenty of good-looking people in the world. Hell, there were plenty of good-looking people right in this tiny corner of the world.
Still, Theo’s confession made Eric feel a little bit like he’d swallowed a brick, all heaviness and sharp corners right in the very center of himself. Selling the house? The house where he’d done half of his growing up? Maybe it was stupid to be so hurt by that, since he hadn’t even been to that house in eight years, but somewhere, deep down, he’d been comforted by knowing that he could, someday, if he wanted to. There was always the chance.
That chance was being taken away, and Eric swallowed around the sinking sensation in his belly and took a deep breath.
“Okay,” he said. “So you’re here to …?”
“Clean up the place. Look through the stuff and see if there’s anything worth keeping,” Theo finished Eric’s sentences, just as had happened in the old days. Funny how, in some ways, it was like nothing had changed, but in so many others, everything had.
The urge to grab Theo and kiss him, for instance, that was stronger than ever. Not that that had gone so well for him the last time he’d tried it. Besides, there was the lingering shadow of this Liam guy which haunted him. It made it seem like it was more possible that Theo would kiss him back this time, but it complicated matters terribly.
So he should stop staring at Theo’s lips. The only thing was when he looked over at Theo, he saw that those fire agate eyes of his were looking right back at Eric, and this time, there could be no doubt about where he was looking. Right at Eric’s lips.
There was that tug again, right in the pit of his stomach, in the base of his balls. Pure, primal arousal, that was what it was. And he had to resist it somehow.
“Uh …” Eric cleared his throat, pulled his focus back away from Theo’s lips, from the look of desire in Theo’s eyes, and tried to think about something, anything, else. “How’s it going over there?”
“It’s rough. It’s okay, though, I’ll figure it out.” Theo’s voice was husky, deep and sweet like honey and whiskey, and Eric gripped onto his can of beer to keep from going to him. “Something pretty cool actually happened there last night. There was … oh God, Jupiter!”
Draining down his beer, Theo put the empty can on the counter and then turned back to Eric. “Look, I’ll be back in a few minutes to keep an eye on you, okay? I just have to go do something really quick.”
Then, much to Eric’s shock, but not his dismay, Theo reached out and that huge, strong, warm hand was on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. Other than Theo saving his life, and then tending to his wounds after, it was the most, the only, contact they’d had since Theo had come back.
And Theo had initiated it. There could be no doubt about it. The touch was brief, but it sent little shivers of shock and delight through Eric’s whole body, followed by a tingling warmth. How ridiculous was it that this man could still do so much to him with so little?
Then Theo was gone, but unlike the last time he’d run off, this time he’d promised to come back. That was more than Eric had gotten last time, but it wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t five minutes later that Eric slammed down his own beer can and ran for the door. Last time, he’d really had no choice but to let Theo go, but this time, well, that was a whole different matter.
