He dropped his hand and blushed as if he realized how intimate the gesture was. I wanted to tell him it was okay, that I liked it, but I kept my mouth shut because I wasn’t even sure what this was between us. He cleared his throat. “We should probably stretch before we go.”
I pointed toward the ocean. “It’s easier to stretch on the boards. You can use the railing for support.”
“Sounds good,” he said.
We walked the block to the boardwalk in comfortable silence. It was chilly, with a light breeze from the west. I shivered but knew I’d warm up quickly once I started running. The sun was shining, but the boards were mostly empty since Memorial Day was still two weeks away. The sunlight reflected off the ocean, sending sparks of light everywhere. When we reached the boardwalk, Jeremy stood for a moment, looking out at the water. “It’s beautiful,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, it is,” I replied. “I’m really lucky to live here.” Jeremy had his phone strapped to his arm, but he’d put his earbuds in his pocket. “What were you listening to?” I asked when we started stretching, expecting him to name some piece of classical music I’d never heard of.
“Billy Joel,” he replied and then laughed at my shocked expression. “I’ll bet you thought it would be something like Prokofiev’s third piano concerto.”
“I don’t know who that is, but yeah, kinda.”
He snorted and elbowed me lightly in the ribs. “Stereotype much? I’ll have you know Billy Joel is an incredible pianist and composer. Same with Elton John.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I guess I figured a guy like you wouldn’t like rock and roll or pop music.” I shook my head. “Wow, that sounded really bad. Ugh. Sorry again.”
He smiled and said, “You’ll just have to make it up to me.” He put one foot up on the boardwalk railing and bent so his head was just about touching his knee. My cock perked up instantly, watching that fine rounded ass. All that and flexible too. I wanted to grab his hips and rub my semi-hard dick in his crease. He turned his head and caught me staring at him. “You keep looking at me like that, and we won’t make it a hundred feet down this boardwalk.”
I felt the blood rush to my face. I raised an eyebrow and retorted, “I was just thinking about ways to make it up to you.”
He switched legs, bending again, making my mouth water. He turned his head again. “You’re a creative man. You’ll think of something.”
I began my own stretching. “The problem is narrowing it down,” I said with a smirk.
Jeremy’s head dropped, and he groaned. “You are going to make it impossible for me to run.”
I chuckled. “All right, I’ll be quiet and let you stretch.”
We finished our preparations in silence. Jeremy checked his fancy fitness watch and turned to face south.
“What’s your plan?” I asked.
“I thought I’d head south to see what’s out there to do,” he replied.
“Mind if I make a suggestion?” I asked.
“Of course not,” he replied.
“South of here is very pretty—lots of ocean views—but not many places to go. If we run north, I can show you a whole bunch of places to go for food and shopping and all sorts of fun.”
“All right,” he said with a smile. “Lead the way.”
“How far do you usually run?” I asked.
“About five miles—it’s about that to run the complete circuit around Central Park.”
I thought for a minute. “That should get us to Avon and back—that’s a nice first look at the local places.”
He smiled. “Sounds good. Let’s go.”
We started slow, just to warm up, but we soon hit our stride. Jeremy had really good form and kept pace with me—much to my surprise. And there I was, stereotyping again. I really had to stop doing that. “How long have you been running?” I finally asked.
“Since high school,” he replied. “Not on any teams or anything,” he added. “I didn’t have time for that. I took up running to clear my mind and do something active.” He chuckled softly. “Sitting on a piano bench isn’t exactly healthy exercise—at least not for the body.” He got a distant look in his eyes. “After my accident, I couldn’t run for a while because it hurt my shoulder. It took me a while to heal and…” He stopped speaking, and I saw his jaw clench. “And get my act together. Now I run three or four times a week and lift weights and do upper body exercises the other days to keep my shoulder strong and limber.”
“Has it helped?” I asked.
Jeremy nodded. “On many levels.” He slowed, and his brow creased in a puzzled frown. “Why does it look like there’s a building in the middle of the road?”
