I picked the little dinosaur guy with a nice green racecar and did my best to play the game. Blood rushed to my cheeks as I tried to steer, which made me feel much more drunk. Every now and then, Leo offered me a helpful comment and even drove his car around to rumble slowly beside me and help me figure the game out for a minute.
It felt good. I hated that it felt good, but it did.
He was just so freaking nice. And handsome.
And without even thinking about it, I was rubbing my leg against his a little bit, and maybe he was just slightly rubbing his leg against mine. When my racecar sped around the corner, I leaned to the side, and our shoulders bumped, too.
We both laughed, and with a horrified startle, I realized I was hard.
Achingly stiff, in fact.
I pulled away abruptly and scooted back down the couch. Leo twitched when I did it, but he didn’t otherwise react. Instead, we just finished out the game, still occasionally laughing or chatting until my racecar puttered across the finish line.
My heart was in my throat. If Kai knew what was in my head right now, he’d strangle me. Even thinking about flirting with Leo was a hard no. Rubbing my leg against his was the first step in a long road that ended with my job, my housing, and my relationship with my brother all destroyed.
“I should go to bed,” I announced as I stood. I kept my hands folded over my crotch. The phantom sensation of Leo’s leg was still warm against mine as he rose and offered me another smile.
Nice. Handsome.
Damn it.
“Go on,” he offered. “I’ll clean up here.”
“Thanks.” I played with my hair, awkward and dizzy all at once. “Have a good night,” I finally added, then hurried off toward bed.
Who would have thought Bananagrams could get a person so worked up?
Chapter Nine
Leo
There was pretty much onlyone reason to take a sauna at Club Steam. The gay bathhouse had been around for about twenty years, and even though business executives and the occasional city councilperson frequented the steam rooms and showers, it wasn’t the kind of place you went to discuss local politics.
The sauna existed for hookups, pure and simple. I hadn’t been there in years, but after another torturous morning watching River work outside my office, I finally cracked.
I needed to get him out of my system. I needed to get that very hot, bad idea out of my system as soon as humanly possible. Just feeling his knee rub against mine was enough to make my dick so hard it pulsed.
He’d turned Mario Kart into the most erotically charged game I’d ever played.
There went another outlet for my energy. Sitting on the couch and playing games was a tried and true method of relaxation, but not if I was going to spend the whole time desperate for River to join me and to lean in close again.
Club Steam, don’t let me down.
In a pair of flipflops, a terrycloth towel cinched around my waist, I wandered down the hall of the sauna. An older man with a sexy bear vibe passed, and when he gave me a scorching glance up and down, I returned the favor. My eyes drifted across his broad chest and curly black-and-gray hairs that grew across his pecs. He was sturdy and handsome, and he leaned against the wall with a wide stance as he stared, letting me know he was interested.
I tore my eyes away and offered an apologetic smile, then found my way to the steam room. He was sexy in that gruff daddy way, but he didn’t light my fire.
The sauna smelled of cedar, and a wall of heat hit my face when I stepped inside. It took me a minute to see my way through the steam and find a seat on the long, staggered benches. There were five or six other people in the room, some my age and some older, and I glanced them each as I kept my eyes tilted toward the ground.
Everyone was silent, and most had dropped their towels open, offering generous views of their business to the rest of the room. I leaned back against the wall and wiped sweat from my forehead, and, in the spirit of the sauna, I opened my towel and spread my legs.
All the eyes shot my way, which gave me a faint sense of satisfaction. My lean muscles had always earned attention from other men, and even through the steam, I knew my dick was enticing.
But still, nothing. Sweat dripped down my back and sides, and as I got a better look, it was clear several of the men were handsome. A few of them draped their hands near their dicks and stroked their thighs, making implicit offers to me. It was clear I could have my pick, but I just couldn’t work up the interest.
I was broken. Or at least my dick was.
River had broken my dick.
