Chapter 14
After two or three hours of lazing on his deck, Rhys felt much better than he had when he first woke up. Once they returned home from the resort, he’d changed clothes and gone outside to lie in the October sun, stretched out in one of his deck chairs. The cool breeze kept him from getting too hot, and he’d dozed off and on until his headache had abated and his stomach was settled.
In fact, he was finally feeling hungry, and the thought of food didn’t make him want to bolt for the bathroom. He got up and wandered back inside the house to see what Thomas was up to. Firing up the grill was sounding like a pretty good idea, but it would depend on whether it would entail a run to the grocery store or not.
He could hear Thomas upstairs, and there was music playing, with Thomas singing along. As he started up the stairs, Rhys discovered Thomas was in the guest bathroom, bent over the sink with the water running. The mirror was lightly fogged, and Thomas was shirtless, with a towel draped around his shoulders.
Even though he wasn’t aware of having made a sound, Thomas must have heard him. “Hey! Wait a sec, I want you to be surprised.” He was still bent over, and he splashed water over his face, then turned off the faucet and lifted the ends of the towel to pat his cheeks. “I got a call from the movie studio, and they asked me to make a change in my appearance. And so…” Thomas straightened and faced Rhys. He lowered the towel and gave Rhys a wide smile. “What do you think? No more beard!”
Rhys’s eyes flew open wide, and he took a step back, conflicting emotions waging a brutal war within him. Without a beard, Thomas was… pretty. There was no other word for it. His wide, sensual mouth was on full display, and with those huge blue eyes and upturned nose, he looked like a cherub.
He also looked so much younger, and Rhys became acutely aware of the decade-plus age difference between them. If he started dating Thomas looking like this, people would think he’d been cruising a high school.
“Wow, that’s…” He scrounged around for suitable words. “That’s a big difference.”
Thomas laughed. “I can see you’re surprised. It’s been years since even I saw myself like this. Do you approve? I’ll have to grow the beard back beforePlague Zstarts filming again, but it’s nice for a change.”
“I’m very surprised,” Rhys said, which was the plain truth. The last thing he’d expected when he came inside was to find a baby-faced Thomas, looking like temptation personified. “I can’t get over how young you look.”
Thomas slanted a coy look up at Rhys as he stepped closer, encroaching on Rhys’s personal space. “It’s only an illusion, you know. But if you want to pretend I’m a sweet young virgin you get to despoil, I’m all for it.”
Thomas’s words slammed into Rhys with the force of a mac truck, bringing his shriveled libido to blazing life, because that was what Rhys saw when he looked at Thomas — an innocent who needed to be seduced and debauched. And Rhys wanted to be the one who did it.
“No, that’s — that’s wrong.” Rhys averted his face, hoping Thomas couldn’t see the flush of arousal creeping up his neck. “I’m not a cradle robber.”
Thomas’s smile faded. “What’s wrong with it? I’m not actually a virgin or underage. Whatever you wanted to do would be legal and perfectly fine by me. So what’s the problem here?”
Rhys realized how foolish he sounded, but he couldn’t explain the real problem. He wasn’t ready to face how much he desperately wanted to enact all the fantasies crowding his brain.
“You’re right,” he said, mustering a smile. “Sorry, it was a shock, you know? I wasn’t expecting to see you like this.”
“It’s okay,” Thomas reached out to touch Rhys’s arm gently. “I didn’t mean to give you a heart attack. I just figured I’d go ahead and do it now rather than next week. Just for a change.”
“No, I get it,” Rhys said. “You need to give your skin time to adjust too.”
“This is true.” Thomas grimaced and rubbed his bare jawline. “I’m not looking forward to the itching. Or having to shave every day again. I got out of the habit. Anyway… I assume you were looking for me. What’s up? Did you have a good nap?”
“I did, thanks.” Rhys released a long breath and rubbed the back of his head, trying to refocus his wayward thoughts on anything except how young and pretty and fuckable Thomas looked — and how old he felt. “I came to see if you were hungry. I was thinking about grilling something, depending on what’s in the fridge. Delivery’s an option too if we want to keep on taking a lazy day.”
“Why don’t we order something? I’m all for a lazy day, and no doubt you’ll end up with lots of leftovers from the reunion, right?” Thomas hung the towel over the bar, then picked up his t-shirt. “I’m game for anything. Pizza, Chinese, whatever you want. I’m not picky.”
“Pizza sounds good,” Rhys said, trying and failing not to notice the play of Thomas’s lean muscles as he shrugged into his shirt. “Half pepperoni and bacon for you, half chicken and spinach for me?”
“Sounds perfect.” Thomas smoothed down his shirt, then rose on his toes to kiss Rhys on the cheek. “Thanks. And don’t worry, the beard will be coming back, all right?”
“Okay.” Rhys hesitated, and then he bent and brushed his lips against Thomas’s cheek in return. He caught the tang of shaving cream on Thomas’s skin and a citrusy whiff of shampoo from Thomas’s hair, and he drew back quickly before he could give in to the temptation to do something rash — and stupid. “I’ll go place the order for us.”
The kiss seemed to please Thomas, because there was no mistaking the warmth and affection in his gaze. “Good. Where do you want to eat? In the kitchen, outside, or do you want to put in a movie so we can sprawl decadently in front of the TV?”
“It wouldn’t be a lazy day without TV, right?” Rhys said as he headed back to the stairs. “You can start looking through my DVDs when you get downstairs.”
“Sounds good.” Thomas followed along behind Rhys, then veered toward the living room. “Is there anything you’d like to watch?”
“If I’ve got it on DVD, it’s safe to say I like it and won’t mind watching it again,” Rhys said.
“Cool. Ah, lots of action-adventure. I approve!” Thomas knelt down by media shelves and started sorting through the contents.
Rhys went to his desktop computer to order the pizza online, and then he settled on the couch with Thomas to start the movie Thomas had picked out and wait for their pizza to arrive. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Rhys pushed himself to his feet and reached into his back pocket to get his wallet so he could tip the driver with cash.
