Chapter Eighteen
Julian woke to an empty bed again, but he could hear the sound of the shower running next door this time, and the other side of the bed was still warm. He smiled to himself, remembering everything that had happened last night.
Hard as it was to believe, he could still feel the pleasant, all-over soreness, and that told him it was definitely real. For whatever reason, Isaac wanted him.
It was a dream come true.
Happiness welling up in his chest, Julian rolled out of bed and slipped into the bathroom to say good morning to Isaac, wanting to make sure he caught him before he left.
He found Isaac just stepping out of the shower, dripping onto the floor. Julian wet his lips, too distracted by seeing Isaac naked under the relatively bright bathroom light, every line of his body exposed.
Instead of saying anything, Julian followed the trail of a droplet with his eyes, tracing its way from Isaac’s collarbone all the way down his chest and stomach to gather just below his belly button.
He tore his eyes away before he looked any further, needing at leastsomebrain power to greet his…
His…
Whatever he was to Isaac.
“Morning,” Isaac said, beaming at him. “Did you just come in for the show, or…?”
Julian chuckled, crossing the small space between them with one stride and pecking Isaac on the lips, humming at the taste and smell of clean, damp skin. “I came to catch you before you left,” he murmured.
“I wasn’t planning on leaving just yet,” Isaac said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Unless you’re subtly kicking me out?”
Julian shook his head. “Never. Not in a million years. Will you stay for breakfast?”
Isaac grinned at him again. “I’ll evenmakebreakfast,” he said. “You shower, I’ll get started.”
Isaac pecked Julian on the lips on the way past, grabbing one of the two towels on the rail and wrapping it around his waist as he left.
Sighing happily, Julian got into the shower and turned the spray on. The water came out hot immediately, a little hotter than he normally would have gone for, but it made sense that Isaac liked hot showers.
Everything about the past twelve hours or so still felt surreal, but in the best possible way. Isaac hadclearlyenjoyed himself last night, and now he was sticking around like…
Well, like this was a normal morning after a nice date.
Julian wasn’t stupid. He knew Isaac had been vulnerable last night, hurt by the discovery that noteveryonewas going to be okay with his newfound sexuality. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have happened.
He was still glad it did. Glad Isaac felt he could come to him, cry on his shoulder, and then let Julian take care of him.
That was everything Julian wanted. To be allowed to care for Isaac, and for Isaac to care for him too from time to time.
It didn’t seem like much to ask, but he knew they had alongway to go.
All the same, breakfast called, and he didn’t want to waste this morning thinking about the future.
Julian shut off the shower and wrapped the other towel around his waist. The mirror was completely fogged by now, but he doubted Isaac would really care how he looked in the morning. He’d seen that before.
And then Julian had seen the way Isaac looked at him last night, with heat in his gaze, his tongue darting out to wet his lips, lust written all over his face.
That feltgood.
The smell of bacon drew him into the kitchen, and he found Isaac poking at a few rashers in a frying pan on the stove.
“You’re out of eggs,” Isaac said. “But last year I had a toasted bacon sandwich in London, so I figured that’d be easy enough to copy.”
“I’d love to see London,” Julian said.
