He paused, peering at me. “Should I ask you if you want to do something about that distraction, or should I stop stretching?”
I laughed nervously. “I’m not going to tell you not to stretch after a workout. I don’t want you straining your muscles.”
“A hot shower works just as well,” he said, glancing toward the locker rooms. “It seems like you need one yourself.”
I knew what he was hinting at. I had invited it and would have to deal with the consequences. Of course, I could find a way to avoid his offer, and hell, I could turn him down and say nothing was ever going to happen between us again. Rowan would be like most people and would feel the sting of rejection, but he appreciated the direct approach. I could do it right now, as a matter of fact, cling to what little professionalism I had left, look him in the eye, and tell him it didn’t matter if I hadn’t done anything ethically or morally wrong; there had to be a way for us to bond that didn’t require physical intimacy. That I wanted to be his friend, to help him, but that didn’t have to involve us sleeping together.
“A shower would be great,” I said instead, a part of me hoping there was someone in there already and we’d have to shower like well-behaved people instead of whatever idea was in his head. The rest of me, though? Well, my thoughts were anticipating whatever was to come.
The small voice in my head, which was probably the voice of reason, was disappointed when we stepped into the locker room and found that Cade had not, in fact, lingered after his workout and no one else had come in. That made sense; most of the guys at the resort worked out in the mid-afternoon or early morning. Evening was when they wanted quiet time alone, or to hang out with other guests or Guides.
Rowan wasted no time opening the locker he’d used and grabbing his supplies. I did the same and followed him toward the showers. Although every person in the building, staff or guest, had showers in their rooms, the showers in the locker rooms were less private. Thought had been put into the decision not to create individual shower stalls, but it had a high school locker room feel. There were stalls with partitions about waist high that covered most of what could be seen from the side, but you would have to be awfully short not to be able to glanceover the edge and see everything your neighbor was working with...not that I had ever done that.
“Privacy without actual privacy,” he mused thoughtfully as he walked to one corner of the room and flipped on the shower.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I laughed as I took a breath and chose the ‘stall’ next to him. “Doesn’t hide much.”
“I suppose they rely on the individual to be responsible enough not to peek.”
“Or maybe it’s some sort of bonding thing, like sports teams.”
“Perhaps,” he said as he stripped without his usual reluctance when others were around, and began tucking his clothes into the small cubbies so they wouldn’t get soaked. Then again, he was sharing the space with the only person in the building who knew what he looked like naked, so perhaps he didn’t feel the need to be wary. Which would have been comforting, a sign that I was doing my job right, but it was just a reminder that I’d done something I never thought I’d do with a guest...and was contemplating doing it again.
“In for a penny,” I muttered as I stripped off my sweat-drenched clothes and stuffed them into a bag before throwing them into a cubby and stepping into my stall.
“So,” he began after a few minutes of silent washing. “Haveyou?”
“Have I what?” I asked as I finished rinsing the soap off.
He smirked as he rubbed shampoo into his hair, head tilted back. “Peeked.”
“At someone here?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, uh,” I laughed nervously. “Once.”
“Is that a kink or just normal human curiosity?”
“I don’t get off on peeking at people,” I said as I peeked over and felt the familiar twist of arousal in my gut at the sight of him wet and naked, rivulets coursing down his body beforecombining into one as it slid down the shaft and off the head of his cock, which was just...there to admire.
“He says as he peeks.”
“Your eyes are closed.”
“I can open them enough to see you staring.”
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t suggest a shower for me to at least stare, if not touch you.”
“Well, I thought it might be mutual.”
I snorted. “Exactly.”
“You can leave anytime,” he said with a shrug. “Or you can come over here and see what mutual reciprocity gets us this time.”
All of that was said with his eyes closed, hands raised, massaging his hair. Not that he managed it without reaction, because at a glance, I could see he was beginning to react to whatever thoughts he was having. Where he had been soft but still eye-catching because of the heat of the shower, he was now longer and thicker, and the voice of reason began to unravel as I stepped around the partition. I stopped long enough to listen, knowing there was a chance I could miss the sound of someone coming in, but I wasn’t so horny that I didn’t have the sense totryto make sure we were alone.
When I heard nothing but the running of water, I wrapped my hand around his cock. His reaction was to get harder, but also a twitch at the corner of his lips as he knew he was getting what he wanted. Okay, whatwewanted. I couldn’t pretend I was being bullied or coerced, and I was already rock hard just from that touch.
