18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Zach
For at least the third time since they’d arrived at the hotel’s indoor heated pool, Zach was grateful for the curious but distinct lack of other people. He knew it couldn’t last forever—not with the hotel full and everyone still stranded from the snowstorm—but god, he was going to enjoy it while they had the place to themselves. Drew’s hands were on Zach’s ass cheeks again, cupping and squeezing them as he pulled Zach’s hips close and got lost exploring that one spot on his neck. Zach moaned, low and quiet, his heart racing and his erection far too hard for such a public location.
“God, you’d think solid bright red swim trunks would maybe be a turn off,” Zach said, his voice thready.
“Mmm... nuh-uh,” Drew managed between wet, open-mouthed kisses against Zach’s neck. “Lifeguards are sexy. Baywatch was a whole thing.” His kisses moved up to Zach’s jawline.
“So you have a thing for lifeguards?”
“Nuh-uh.” Drew’s lips found Zach’s earlobe and sucked gently, his hands still caressing Zach’s ass. Then came the ragged whisper in his ear. “I have a thing for you , Superman.”
Zach tried not to die right on the spot, the heady feeling of Drew’s assault on his senses combined with the knowledge that, for Drew, Superman was—that he was... Zach lost the rest of his thought in his haze of desire, but oh god, they needed to put the brakes on, didn’t they?
So, as much as he was reluctant to, Zach used every ounce of willpower at his disposal to pull away slightly and put a bit of distance between them. Thankfully, Drew seemed to understand why they were suddenly no longer touching, though he still looked dazed for a second.
With a shaky voice, Zach attempted some innocent banter, though it fell somewhere... really short of innocent. “Oh, so when there were only two terrible choices in the airport clothing store, and you insisted on taking the tropical floral print ones, that was why? So that I’d be stuck with the bright red ones in order to fulfill a fantasy of yours?”
To say that Drew’s shrug—his shoulders rising and both hands going wide—was adorable and sexy all at once would be a huge understatement. Zach had to restrain himself from launching back at Drew for another kiss, so he splashed him playfully instead.
“Ahhh, playing dirty, are you?” Drew laughed as he returned Zach’s splash.
“Dirty?” Zach questioned, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
Drew bit his lip, maybe in an effort not to laugh, but it wasn’t successful. “No comment,” he said.
Ah god, that was fucking sexy. Something in Zach’s eyes must have read as an invitation for Drew, because before Zach even realized what was happening, Drew’s lips were on him, kissing him deeply with an edge of hunger for something more. But it was over almost as quickly as it had begun, Drew pulling back and giving him a devastatingly handsome but wicked grin.
“Time for laps?” he asked innocently, putting a smidge more distance back between them .
Zach shook his head, but only to clear his mind. “Uh, yep. Yeah. Let’s, um...”
“Swim some laps?” Drew’s grin still lingered.
Zach only shook his head again, this time with a laugh, and they both picked an informal lane and took off swimming toward the opposite end of the pool. After a few laps, Zach stopped and rested against the wall, working to catch his breath and wishing he were in slightly better shape. Though it wasn’t like he swam all that often.
Drew stopped next to him and leaned up against the wall as well, propping himself up with his elbows on the concrete behind him. He looked around the room and then out at the parking lot through the window, his gaze thoughtful, maybe. “Are we all done with laps, you think?” he asked after a moment.
“Part of me thinks I should do more, but I really just don’t want to.” Zach laughed lightly, then gave a slight nod and a lift of his eyebrows in the direction of the hot tub. “Relaxing time?”
Drew nodded eagerly. “Let’s go,” he said, already heading toward the ladder on the side of the pool.
Zach grinned as he followed him out, Drew’s eagerness contagious. When they reached the edge of the hot tub, Zach hit the plunger on the wall to start the jets churning. He let Drew go first, watching as he made bold steps down into the water and sat down, inhaling sharply and then slowly blowing out a deep breath.
“Hot?”
“It’s perfect, actually. Just, you know, takes a second to adjust. C’mon,” he said, holding out a hand.
Zach grimaced but took Drew’s now very warm hand and put his feet on the top step. “Ahhhh! That’s”—he sucked air in through his teeth—“hot!” he said, almost accusingly.
“What? It is the perfect temperature once you adjust to it.” Drew smiled warmly at him and gave his hand a squeeze. “C’mon, baby, join me,” he pleaded gently, his voice just a whisper above the sound of the bubbling water from the jets.
“I’m going to, I’m going to! Just might take me a hot minute longer than you to get used to it.” Zach gave him a mock-glare, but even still, his heart squeezed pleasantly at Drew’s words and touch. When he finally made it all the way in, he lowered himself to sit next to Drew on the bench and submerged himself up to his shoulders in the roiling water.
“Better now?” Drew asked, his hand coming to rest on Zach’s thigh.
“Much better.”
A noise at the far end of the room drew their attention, and Zach watched briefly as a group of four twenty-somethings came into the pool area, their voices and laughter echoing off the walls and the water. It looked like they brought a ball with them, and they all jumped into the water noisily and began setting up to play an informal game of volleyball.
Drew’s thumb brushed against Zach’s thigh under the water before his hand slipped away, and Zach turned to look at Drew when he cleared his throat. “Uh, so do you have any plans for... this weekend—you know, assuming we both make it back to our respective homes?”
Zach glanced to the side, out the wall of tall windows half surrounding them—a fabulous view of the massive parking lot, but also the sky. “Well, it looks like it at least stopped snowing. I wonder if it’s snowing back home in Albuquerque.” He focused on Drew again. “This weekend is monthly brunch, and my mom likes to have it on the back patio once the weather starts warming up a bit.”
“The infamous monthly brunch?” Drew’s eyes were wide. “The one with no quiche for Zach?”
“The very same.” Zach laughed. “What about you? ”
“Ah, my brother and family are coming in from out of town to visit. I’ll get to meet my baby niece for the first time—she’s just four months old.” Zach could hear excitement in Drew’s tone but also something else, something wistful, maybe.
“Awwww, that sounds amazing!” Zach said, reaching for Drew’s hand under the water and giving it a short, gentle squeeze. “I wish I had siblings—no niblings for me, I’m afraid. Maybe that’s why I try to save all the dogs—trying to fill that void in my life through the unconditional love of animals.”
“I mean, there are worse ways to go.” Drew gave him a thousand-watt smile, his eyes bright and joyful, though that wistfulness was still there, and a thought seemed to cross his mind then, darkening his expression a little. “Seriously, sometimes I swear it’s my volunteer time at the shelter—the dogs, mostly, especially Milo—that keeps me sane when the job gets to be too much.”
“Milo?” Zach asked, warmth filling his heart at the idea of Drew having a favorite dog at the shelter. He did too, of course.
“Yeah,” Drew said, his voice dropping to a quiet volume barely loud enough to be heard over the jetted water. His entire face just... softened and lit up with so much affection and love. “I’ll show you some pictures when we get back to the room. But oh, Milo. He’s a character! He’s one of the middle-aged dogs that tend to get looked over—you know how that goes—but he’s the sweetest guy.”
Zach was pretty sure he could listen to Drew talk about Milo forever. It ended up only being about forty-five minutes until Drew had exhausted his supply of Milo antics, but Zach really could have listened for much longer.
The jets had long since turned off, and neither of them had wanted to get out of the comfort and heat of the water to press the plunger again. But given that it was quieter now, they had adjusted the volume of their voices so as not to bother or be overheard by the few other groups that were in the main pool. Not that the others were being quite as mindful of their own voices carrying, but still.
“I keep thinking I should adopt one of the dogs from the rescue,” Zach said wistfully. “But it almost doesn’t seem fair—or it’s too hard to choose, or something. I mean, there are a few dogs that are office dogs and get to hang out with us in the main building, greeting people who come in and keeping us company. I guess that’s almost like having my own dog—more than one, really!”
“Ahh, but you miss out on the snuggling at night!” Drew protested. “That’s what I would love most, anyway. That and jogging with a dog—my runs get so lonely sometimes. But I travel too much for it to be fair to a dog.”
The ache of loneliness that emanated from Drew seemed about more than just jogging, and Zach wondered how things would change now that they’d found each other. Part of him wanted to ask, but he was hesitant, unsure of exactly what Drew had been thinking about all of this. So instead, he deflected.
“Of course you’re a runner,” Zach said, ending on a small huff of laughter. “Every day? Like five miles just to start your morning?”
Drew laughed softly, and Zach was glad to see his smile back. “No, I’m not that bad. But it is most days, and three miles. Helps me get out of my head a bit.”
“Maybe I should try it sometime,” Zach quipped half-heartedly as his mind created this whole scene—the domestic fluff of them waking up together, getting dressed, taking their dog, maybe Milo, for a jog, and then coming home and taking a shower together before work. God, it was a little scary, but his entire being ached for it to be real.
“You should.” Drew seemed distracted as well. Surely he’d been having a lot of the same thoughts, right? “Ah, just a sec,” he said before hopping up, getting out of the hot tub, and then giving the plunger a firm press to restart the jets.
Zach gave him a little grin as Drew climbed back in the hot tub. “I think we went an hour without, but now you brave the chill for more bubbles?”
Drew just chuckled, and it almost seemed like he was nervous.
“I-I mean, thank you.” Zach wasn’t sure if it was the jetted water making more heat rise or if his cheeks were flushing slightly with embarrassment. “I’d be delighted to spend more time in the hot tub with you.”
For a moment longer, Drew was quiet. He still wore a soft smile on his face, but it looked like he was having some really deep thoughts as his gaze wandered slowly around the room and then out the window.
“What is it?” Zach asked, taking hold of Drew’s hand under the water. He was glad when Drew gave him a light squeeze.
“I, um...” Drew shifted slightly so that both of his hands were holding Zach’s, his fingers running over Zach’s knuckles under the water. “So... h-how do you think this is... How does this work? Tomorrow, I mean. And the day after that?”
Zach sucked in a breath and then blew it out. “I... I’m not sure. I mean, we should probably exchange phone numbers for a start. Uh, once we have our phones in hand, that is.” They both laughed a bit self-consciously. “But yeah, phone calls, visits, see if—if everything . . . still feels the same?”
Drew’s nod was almost imperceptible, and his fingers paused in their movements, his hands tightening slightly more around Zach’s, though the touch felt a bit more like anxiousness than an attempt at comfort.
It almost seemed like Drew wasn’t quite breathing. Or maybe it was his own lack of breathing he was noticing. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath in, blowing it out slowly before he looked up at Drew again. And when he did, it was as though every trace of nervousness and uncertainty was gone from Drew’s eyes. This time, when Drew squeezed Zach’s hand, it somehow felt more reassuring and comforting. And this time when Zach sucked in a breath, it was because the look in Drew’s eyes was almost overwhelming.
God, he really wanted to kiss him.
Zach started to lean in slowly, about to close his eyes, but then Drew gave his hands another squeeze before letting go and standing up abruptly. “I, uh, I wouldn’t mind going back to the room now.” Drew’s voice was halting and a little bit husky.
Zach took a second to get his bearings and then nodded his agreement. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s... let’s do that.” Zach’s mind was reeling a bit from the quick shift, but after some of the foreplay they’d had in the pool, he was more than ready to be back in the privacy of their hotel room too.