We settled back down, both watching the TV. Rowan stretched his arms above his head and rested them on the top of the headboard as he shuffled to get comfortable. I kept my head turned towards the screen but snuck a quick look at him from the corner of my eye.
“Thanks for tonight, by the way,” he muttered, not looking away from the TV.
“Sure. Thank you for asking me,” I replied. “Even if I did sort of ruin the plans you’d already made for us.”
Rowan scoffed and glanced across at me. “I’d take an evening like this over what I had planned any day. I would have suggested it myself, but I thought it sounded a bit presumptuous.”
I laughed. “A bit late for that, isn’t it?”
We stared at one another for a moment, remembering what happened the last time we were on this bed together. Rowan smirked and looked away. “I suppose so. Thanks forthat, too. It was…” he trailed off and exhaled loudly. “In all honesty, I was a bit worried you wouldn’t want to see me again afterwards.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked incredulously.
Rowan glanced at me and laughed softly at my expression before looking away again. “I can think of a few reasons.”
“I find it difficult to believe any of this is happening, to be honest.” I shook my head.
“Fuck,I feel awful for dragging you into all the shit that’s going on in my life right now,” Rowan replied, running a hand down his face.
I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. Although Rowan had never tried to hide or pretend that he didn’t have a wife and a family, I never thought he’d come right out and admit that he was doing something wrong. At least not so soon into whatever was starting between us.
“Well,” I paused. “I’m not exactly innocent here either.” Rowan looked across at me. “I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know about your situation, and I still did more than my fair share of... Persuading.”
Rowan chuckled deeply. “It didn’t take a lot of effort, did it?”
“Nah, you’re easy,” I teased, grateful that the heavy atmosphere seemed to have broken. “All I’m saying is I’ve made my choice even though I know it’s not the right one. That probably makes me a terrible person, but that’s how it is.”
“My marriage is over, Max,” Rowan stated simply, taking me by surprise. “Christina knows it, I know it – but neither of us has admitted defeat because we both want what’s best for Teegan, especially this side of her A levels. We’ve come to a sort of agreement that we’re each free to pursue other people, but she doesn’t make my life easy to do so.” He sighed. “I wonder sometimes whether having us at each other’s throats all the time is actually doing more harm than good.”
“That explains why you’re not wearing your ring. I guess I got involved at a bad time.” I smiled sadly. Did I feel better about things now I knew Rowan’s wife was aware he was potentially seeing other people? Not really.
“No time would have been good,” Rowan replied, and we both caught one another’s gaze for the first time in what felt like hours. “Without a reason to leave, I probably would have carried on believing I was doing the right thing for my daughter by sticking it out.”
Despite my relief having finally got this out in the open, I was apprehensive. What if it didn’t work out? Would Rowan blame me if he rearranged his life and left Christina for no reason? This was too heavy for first date talk, but I figured my relationship with Rowan was far more complicated than any I’d been in previously. We weren’t strangers and this ‘thing’ between us had been building since the first day I walked into that surgery.
There was a strange, comfortable silence as we both basked in the relief Rowan’s honesty had brought us. For the first time all evening, I relaxed and actually found myself watching the TV show in earnest. It was only when Rowan’s weight creaked on the bed next to me, did I notice he was leaning in to kiss me.
As he pressed his lips to my cheek, I turned my head and wetted my lips. He pulled away a little and I caught his mouth with my own. I’d never kissed Rowan like this; having time to think about what we were doing and take everything in. It was staggering how real it was. We kept our mouths closed at first, just massaging our lips against one another’s. I hummed appreciatively, feeling my body growing hot. Hearing my enjoyment of the situation, Rowan pressed in firmer, coaxing me to open my mouth to him.
There was no rush from either of us to introduce our tongues just yet. I was blown away by what a good kisser Rowan was. Every other time we’d kissed, we had either been drunk or rushed. This kiss was calm, slow and deliberate.
Rowan pulled away from me slightly before dipping gently back in and slipping his tongue between my teeth with a needy sigh, inviting me to kiss him harder. We kissed, teasing our tongues against one another, until the room was suddenly plunged into darkness and the TV went silent.
We broke apart and both glanced over to the screen, reading the message: ‘Are you still watching?’ I didn’t realise Rowan and I had been making out so long. I ran a hand through my hair.
Rowan turned to look at me. “Hell no,” he grated, leaning in to kiss me again.
The darkness of the room only served to heighten our need for one another. My breath caught in my throat as Rowan pushed my t-shirt up and smoothed his hand across my abs. I had already been well on my way just from kissing, but I felt the familiar feeling of blood rushing to my groin with every touch. It wasn’t going to be long until the physical effect Rowan was having on me would be painfully obvious.
I shuffled my weight further down the bed until I was lying down properly, pleased when Rowan shifted down to join me. With my t-shirt now wrinkled up underneath my armpits, Rowan slid his palm down my body. Still attached at the mouth, I released a quiet grunt, and my hands flew to the fly of my jeans. I hurriedly unbuttoned them, shuddering when Rowan slid his hand beneath my boxers.
My phone buzzed loudly in my pocket and both Rowan, and I startled. We laughed breathlessly when another message came through, then another…
“Fuck’s sake,” I groaned, lifting my hips to snatch my phone from my pocket. Without taking my eyes off Rowan’s hand as he carefully pulled my underwear down a few inches to free my hard-on, I fumbled to put my phone on my bedside table. It fell just short, thudding loudly on the carpet, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Sweat beaded at my brow and I sighed, my breath staggered, as Rowan grasped my cock. I was so hard, it was almost painful and when he started to slowly stroke, my head flopped back against my pillow.
“Ah, fuck,” I hissed beneath my breath, closing my eyes and gritting my teeth. My thigh muscles tightened with every pump of Rowan’s hand.
