“Come on. You got this,” I coached, standing behind Quinn as he struggled with his last set of squats. His legs shook, but he was determined to finish the round. “One more,” I encouraged, keeping my fingers right next to the weight resting on his shoulders.
“Fuck,” he called out, almost screaming it as he finished his last rep. Once he lowered the weight to the ground and moved it outof his way, he collapsed against the wall. “Dude, I don’t think I can even stand.”
Thinking about all the ways I wanted to make standing—hell, even walking—difficult for him was probably not the best use of my energy right now. In fact, I knew if I wanted to make it out of this week intact, I needed to keep my guard up as much as possible. I’d play along, that much was certain. But at the endof the week, Quinn would go back to his life and me to mine. I knew there was no way on earth this would ever work out, especially because we lived hundreds of miles apart and I doubted either of us had any plans on relocating.
But who was I to turn down a week of hot sex?
And company.
I pulled two waters out of the small drink fridge I kept in the gym. I handed him a bottle and had to stiflea laugh as he worked to prop himself up against the wall. “Seriously,” he said as he tried to stretch out his legs. “That was insane.”
“Maybe I pushed you a little too hard. We could always do a beginner’s workout, if that’s more your speed,” I joked.
Quinn elbowed my side and laughed. “Ha. Ha. Ha,” he mocked.
“Want me to massage them for you?” I teased.
Arching an eyebrow, he shot me a sinfullook. “Be careful what you offer. I just might take you up on that.” Chugging my water in a few huge gulps was the only way I could think of to cool myself down. “But maybe another day. I have other plans for you today.”
His words alone set fire to my skin. “Yeah, like what?”
He looked down at his watch and simply said, “Get showered, dressed, and ready by one.”
“Care to tell me where we’regoing?” I stood first and then extended a hand to help him stand up.
He took it and we stood there, face-to-face, as he said, “Nope, I like surprising you.”
His words, equal part threat and promise made a river of chills race across my skin, made my heart race in my chest.
But perhaps the scariest feeling of all was the one of being alive.
Not knowing where we were going or what we were doing made me far too anxious to be able to rub one out in the shower. Even though that was my usual go-to, I knew Quinn’s warm body would be far more enjoyable than my hand.
Trying my best to keep as calm and collected as possible, I put on a pair of khaki shorts and a blue polo. There weren’t too many places around here where this would beunacceptable, so I knew the odds were in my favor.
Quinn had set himself up in the guest room at the other end of the hall. He, too, showered somewhat quickly and I couldn’t help but wonder if he had the same opinion about jerking off as I did. Maybe I’d have to ask him later. That ought to throw him off his game.
At exactly one o’clock, I stepped out of my room. Quinn closed the door to hisroom just as I did the same with mine. He smiled as he walked toward me. “You look good,” he assessed, taking me in from head to toe. Setting his sights on my lips, he licked his own and then added, “Real good.”
Leave it to Quinn to take the air out of my lungs simply by paying me an honest compliment. The sincerity in his words and the brightness in his eyes made me wish I hadn’t even thoughtabout asking him about his masturbation habits.
You’re like a teenager, you know that?
Shaking away all the pretenses I was hoping to play, I decided that I might as well be as honest and genuine as Quinn was being with me. “You look great, too.” He smiled as he took in my words and in that moment, something changed between us. I couldn’t speak for Quinn, but as far as I was concerned, ratherthan think of all the ways to make the week go faster, I knew I had to drink down every second of my time with him and enjoy it.
Because I knew it wouldn’t last forever.
“Okay, now that we got that out of the way.” Quinn broke the silence. “Let’s get going.”
He didn’t wait for me to ask where we were going or what we were doing. Probably because he knew he wouldn’t answer those questions anyway.So biting my tongue, I followed him outside and to his car. Clearly, he was the one who had this all figured out, so I may as well let him drive. My nerves about how we were going to spend our time together faded away as the road spread out before us. Driving along the ragged shore line, I let the salty air fill my lungs.
“Yelp! tells me this is the best place to get lobster rolls,” he said ashe verified something on his phone. “Let’s go.” And then he was out of the car and walking toward the line before I could say anything.
There was something contagious about his energy and enthusiasm that made it impossible not to smile as I followed him. We stood in silence until he got to the window and ordered for us. They gave us a number and we made our way to a table at the water’s edge.Before we could even sit and let what might have been awkwardness set in around us, they brought us our food. “Come here often?” Quinn asked before he sunk his teeth into his meal.
“Really? This whole ‘I’m not telling you where we’re going’ thing and you lead with the lamest pick up line of them all?”
He smiled before swiping a napkin across his lips. Leaning in across the table, his body ateup the space between us. “Last I checked I was going home withyoutonight. So I can use whatever lame lines I want.”
