“Dinner’s ready!” Josh yelled as he breezed into the living room with a tray filled with his homemade dumplings, the aroma settling Riley’s nerves.
Josh looked so happy and unbothered that Riley didn’t have the heart to tell him about the report yet. It definitely wasn’t first-date conversation, and he was determined to do right by his guy.
“Oh man, you know I love your dumplings,” Riley said.
The smile he got in return could have powered a dozen solar panels, it was so bright.
Yeah, the police report could wait one more day.
20
JOSH WAS FLOATING THROUGH his morning with a smile nothing could wipe away, even when Tobias made them do an excruciating workout.
He was next to Riley on the rowing machines, unable to focus on the numbers climbing on the screen in front of him because Riley wasright there, breathing heavy, the muscles in his arms and legs flexing as he pulled the handle over and over and over again.
It was almost hypnotic watching him, seeing his skin glisten with sweat, imagining what those strong arms could do to him—
“Josh, focus,” Tobias barked, interrupting his thoughts. “You’re gonna hurt your neck if you keep twisting that way.”
He shot the man a smile in thanks for not shouting he’d been distracted and staring at Riley.
After that talk they’d had in his office, and now how his and Riley’s relationship had… changed, Josh thought he finally understood what Tobias was trying to tell him.
He tried focusing on the nice parts, and not the part where he called him and Riley idiots.
The way you look at him, I thought you were head over heels in love with him, and I thought he felt the same about you.
Josh was well aware he wasn’t the smartest man alive, but how did he miss how much he loved his best friend? Was he already in love with him and didn’t realize it? How would he even know the difference? Riley would probably know. He was always helping Josh understand the difficult things, and Riley would never let him get hurt.
He didn’t think Riley was even capable of letting that happen.
The counter on his rowing machine finally hit one thousand meters and he jumped off, moving on to the next part of the workout, fucking thrusters.
He had to hold his barbell at chest height and squat with it. Then once he was standing he had to thrust the bar overhead, before going down to repeat the damn movement. Fifty fucking times.
Why did he do this again? Oh yeah, because it made his body look good. And it made Riley’s body look good. Mostly, it made him feel good. Not during, not at all. Butafter? He always felt more powerful, like he could accomplish anything.
As he readied for this first thruster, he peeked again at Riley, watching him drop into a squat and pop up with the barbell. It was hard to pull his eyes away from him, but he forced himself to do it. The faster he finished this workout, well, then he’d be done faster.
He let his mind continue to wander as he moved the barbell up and down over and over, and wondered if he and Riley would keep working out like this forever.
Even if they stopped and Riley gained a hundred pounds from eating too many of Josh’s dumplings, he’d still love him. Sure, Riley’s body was gorgeous, but not as gorgeous as his insides. Not like his stomach and liver and lungs, but his personality, his soul. He was perfect, in any shape or size. Maybe Josh should let Riley know that.
Once they were all panting on the floor, having collapsed immediately after their workout, Chase called them to attention and had them sit in child’s pose until their heart rates settled. He led them through what he called a flow that would help them cool down with a revitalizing stretch to keep them from stiffening up too much when they walked outside into the cold.
Chase was such a great addition to the gym. Josh had always enjoyed Tobias’ workouts, but adding the yoga practice to their post-workout every day, plus adding afull yoga session one to two days a week, helped Josh feel limber after a workout rather than tense.
They were going to begin their yoga classes for kids soon, and Josh was tempted to go and watch, but he realized how creepy that might be. He should probably check.
“Chase, is it creepy to go to the kids' classes to watch?” he shouted, the sound echoing through the gym.
Chase had stood, ending their practice for the day, and blinked at Josh for a moment.
“I mean, yeah, a bit,” Chase said. “Why don’t you take the class and show the kids how even big, strong men do yoga, not just moms? So far, we’ve only gotten moms to sign up.”
Everyone started packing up the equipment around them, but Josh was excited to discuss this more.
“Really? I can participate without a kid?”
