Chapter four
Wyatt
That was the most intense workout I’d participated in for a long damn while.
And not because the cardio and lifts were a challenge.
No, Rory’s presence was the most distracting thing I’d dealt with in ages, yet I hadn’t had this much fun at the gym in just as long. He flirted, constantly. And that should’ve been a thing I rolled my eyes over or ignored because I was straight. However, I couldn’t deny the way my adrenaline picked up each time. The way I zeroed in on every detail about him fell more in line with my typical reaction to someone I was interested in.
Which of course gave me plenty to chew on.
Maybe I was thirsty for attention. Or sex. Fuck, I’d been with Susie for so long, and the last five years we hadn’t even bothered with sex, both of us realizing we were just friends who’d had a kid early.
“You ready to hit the showers?” Rory asked, a sparkle in his eyes that I now recognized as more flirting. An undeniable thrill raced throughme. Should his attention feel uncomfortable? Because it didn’t, and that threw me on my head. Frankly, I shouldn’t be entertaining any of it because he was so fucking young. Closer to Harper’s age than mine.
I lifted my tank to sniff. Ugh, it reeked. “Yeah, I need one before I get to my next job.”
“Besides, I’ve got to check the status quo on your piercing, right?” Rory said, all mock innocence that I didn’t believe for a second.
“I’m sure it’s fine,” I said, my cheeks heating for the thousandth time since Rory showed up. Why I’d texted him that in the first place baffled me. Truth be told, I just wanted him to show up. Most of my friends had drifted, my family and I weren’t close, and my daughter was grown up, doing things on her own now. The time I’d spent with Rory after the piercing had been one of the brightest rays of sunshine I’d experienced in a while.
“I can do a quick check in there,” he said, taking the lead toward the back, where the lockers and showers were. “Don’t worry, I’ll be hands-off.”
My heart thumped a little faster at the thought of his hands on me.
I was blaming how parched I was for human contact for why this affected me so much.
Rory slipped through the door, and I followed behind him. The locker room was empty, which wasn’t surprising as only a handful of folks were on the equipment right now, and the showers were equally unoccupied. I placed my bag of spare clothes on the wooden gym bench and then stripped off the shirt first. Rory hadn’t brought a bag, which was curious, but he also hadn’t gotten as sweaty as me. I liked to push myself at the gym, to experience the endorphin rush of hitting my limits.
“I meant to bring a change of clothes,” he said, his line of sight on my bag. “But I forgot them on my kitchen table on the way out. Though I’ll need to swing home to change before work anyway.”
“I think I’ve got a spare shirt if that would help?” I offered as I shed my sweats next. My skin prickled, and when I looked up Rory was staring at me, a hunger in his gaze that made my heart speed up. I wouldn’t even know what to do with a guy, so I didn’t know why my body reacted this way to his attention.
“I’m not going to turn down a fresh shirt,” he said, tugging his own off. He was slender but defined from clearly getting enough exercise, and a thin trail of dark hair traveled down to disappear into his waistband. Two barbells glinted in his nipples, drawing my attention, and tattoos traveled up his arms, across his back, all attractive colors and firm lines. My cock woke to life at the sight, and I licked my lips, my mouth far too dry.
Rory’s gaze caught mine, and he flashed me a wicked grin. Then he dragged his waistband down and yanked his pants off—to reveal a red jockstrap. His ass was on full display, his package cupped by the front, and I was officially staring.
His ass was plush and firm, two cheeks that my teeth ached to bite.
Fuck, where had that come from? My cock stirred, the blood humming to it making my dick ache all over again from the piercing.
“Better get this off too,” Rory said, a flirty note to his voice. He grabbed the straps of the waistband and bent over as he dragged them down nice and slow, placing his luscious ass on full display in front of me. It was like being at a buffet and unable to eat. My mouth watered, but what would I even do? Hell, I shouldn’t even be entertaining any of these thoughts. He was so off limits it wasn’t funny.
Rory tossed the jockstrap onto his pile on top of the bench and placed his hands on his hips. He was utterly nude, his cock thick andprotruding out. He shouldn’t be drawing my attention this way, but damn, his whole body was a work of art. Beyond the tattoos, he was all hard lines and smooth skin, and when I reached his face, his eyes danced with knowing. Damn, busted.
“I’ll check your piercing after you’ve cleaned it off,” he said, which surprised me, as I’d been expecting something flirty again. “Better to gauge that way.” With that, he flung open the shower curtain and stepped right on in. He closed it clumsily, leaving a clear view of his body, and the hiss of the showerhead sounded a second later.
I reached for my pants and tugged them off, then took time with my briefs, careful not to jostle my piercing more than necessary. When I looked back up, Rory’s head was under the spray, the view through the curtains showcasing the water sluicing off his toned body.
Shame flushed through me. I was being such a perv right now. I dropped my clothes onto the bench and quickly made my way over to the adjacent shower. The second I yanked the handle, cold water poured over me, which I sorely needed right now given the filthy thoughts parading through my head. The spray quickly turned warm, and I squirted some of the bodywash they kept stocked, then worked it into a lather on my skin.
“You know,” Rory said, his voice cutting through the rush of water. “If you want to hang out, you can just ask. No excuses needed.”
Wow, damn, apparently my communication skills weren’t just rusty but nonexistent.
I let out a laugh, the water rushing over my hair, my body. I basked in the feel of the heat on my aching muscles. “Noted. You don’t mind?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Rory responded, and something in me quieted at his simple response. “Trust me, I wasn’t coming to the gym on a professional courtesy. You’re funny, you’re easy to talk to, and not tomention you’re hot. Though if my flirting gets to be too much, call me on it. I’m plenty capable of being friends with unavailable hotties.”
