Evan turned to look over his shoulder, and Heath looked away. He flushed so readily, it made teasing him even more satisfying.
“We went to college together, and there were a few instances of… experimentation on his part with other people.”
“But not with you.”
Heath shook his head and replaced the second towel. The relief caused Evan’s brain to go momentarily offline.
“It’s a long, complicated, and boring story, but the summary is, I thought inviting me here meant we might… y’know…”
“Fuck?”
“Jesus, Westin.”
Evan dropped his head back onto his arms to bury the smile.
“We’d kissed once, and he’d made it seem like something he’d wanted to do for a long time. I thought maybe he’d be open to doing it long term.”
“But he ghosted you.”
Heath sighed. “He eloped with some woman I don’t think he’d known for more than a week.”
Evan stood so quickly, both towels hit the floor. “Are you serious?”
“I’m not in the habit of crafting stories about myself, but if I were, they wouldn’t be pathetic and embarrassing. But yes, that’s why I’m being a miserable crab to everyone.”
The gnawing returned. “Not everyone. Just me.”
“Right. I’ve been thinking about that too.”
He chewed his lip some more, and Evan caught himself staring. Did sun poisoning make you delirious? Maybe he needed to check with Marta about having a doctor come visit.
“See, my friend is relatively well-off, and I’ve dated friends of his who fall under the same umbrella.”
“TheI drive an R8umbrella?”
“Um, yes.”
“Ah.” Heath’susslip during the Hannah tirade came into better focus. “And I’m no better, is that it?”
He shook his head. “I thought so, or I tried to, but not anymore.”
“What changed?”
Heath bit his lip. “I realized I like you too much to hate you.”
Evan stalled, captured by Heath’s cerulean eyes. He couldn’t stop noticing them. When had he ever paid so much attention to another man’s eyes? Hell, when had he paid attention to another man’s anything? He could barely picture Owen’s face, let alone his eye color, and he’d known that bastard for over ten years.
“I… thanks.”
They stood staring at one another for several beats before Heath abruptly turned to retrieve the towels from the floor. “You should go to bed while you’re cooled off. I can make another batch tomorrow if you need it.”
Evan nodded dumbly, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Yes, he needed sleep. At least twelve hours, and maybe he should drink a few gallons of water, because something inhis head clearly wasn’t working right after all the sun he’d gotten.
Things had changed between them tonight. He’d felt the persistent animosity shift into something else, something that felt an awful lot like chemistry. Except not the platonic kind, which was an unexpected a problem.
The even bigger problem was how much he liked it.
fifteen
