“Gonna make a run for it,” I say.
“Okay, shall I wait a few minutes?” he asks and starts drying the back of his neck.
I don’t know why but in that moment I realise I’vestill not seen Marcello with his hair down. Even when he showers, he keeps it tied up in that knot at the back of his head. I’m drifting away, wondering again what he looks like with his hair down when he nudges me.
“Shall I wait?”
“Yeah, give me two minutes,” I say, shaking my head to get me back in the room, or rather the shower cubicle.
“Okay.” He nods and there’s that smile again.
And it makes mine return. It makes my heart soar and my feet feel like they’re floating on air as I open the door, step out and butt naked, I walk to my locker.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Giles
When I open my front door to Marcello on Sunday at roughly the same time he arrived last week, I see him holding another bottle in his hand. But this one is not like the last.
It’s a bottle of lube. Abigbottle of lube.
“Have you been holding that like that that the whole way here?” I ask as he gets closer, my eyebrows high.
“No.” He waves a hand at me and I think, not for the first time, how much I like how he talks with his hands as much as his words. “I turned it around so they couldn’t see the label of course.”
I make a guffawing type of noise. “Because you’re worried it’s a bad brand?”
He looks down at the bottle. “Is it?”
“It’s fine,” I say and I pull him and his giant bottle of lubricant into my apartment. “Although did they not have a bigger bottle?”
His face falls. “Is it not enough?”
I hope my laugh is kind as I rest a hand on his forearm. “I’m being sarcastic. It’s more than enough. I mean, you do plan on letting me go to sleep tonight, and to work tomorrow?”
“If you’re a good boy,” he says with a wink and my body shouldn’t light up like wildfire, nor should it feel just as hot. Not from that teasing comment. But it does.
“You want a beer again?” I offer. “Or a glass of wine?”
Marcello shakes his head as he toes off his shoes. “I feel a bit more confident today,” he smiles, “and I want to be clear-headed. Besides, I already feel like I’m close to vibrating out of my skin.”
“Oh?” I ask as I pull a beer out for myself. I don’t need the courage as such, more the calming effect of the alcohol. I wasn’t quite as bad as last week – I didn’t clean my windows but I did go over my kitchen, three times, and washed, dried and ironed my bed sheets – but I’m not exactly as relaxed as I’d like to be. I want to recapture the magic of our shower fun on Friday. I want to feel spontaneous and lost in the moment and out of my messy, messy head.
“Well, I figured we could go for it, today.” He nods like a dog who just heard his owner suggest that they go for a walk. I take a pull from my beer. “You know. Anal. Let’s do anal!”
My throat burns as I choke on my beer. I bring my hand to my mouth, worried it’s all going to come splashing out, and turn to the sink just in case. When it’s all safely swallowed down again, I turn back to Marcello who still looks like an over-enthusiastic puppy.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just wasn’t expecting… that.” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Is it not a good idea? For lesson four, I mean. Did you have something else in mind?”
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t… I didn’t really have anything in mind.” Which is a lie. I’d indulged many fantasies about our time together, but most of them featured us doing more of what we’ve already done. More of his cock in my mouth, more of my hands getting us both off together at the same time, more of us kissing and grinding our dicks together. They had not been lacking fantasies. Not at all. I never imagined Marcello would be ready for more.
“Shit, you don’t want to.” Marcello looks crestfallen, like that puppy just had walkies taken away from him. “I didn’t even think. I just assumed it was… on the table.”
“It can be,” I say quickly. Probably too quickly. “I am not saying no. I’m just checking it’s what you really want to do.”
