Page 74 of Necessary Time

I didn’t mean to stare. I was very happy with Colin, but I was still testing the waters about how far my attraction to other men went. Objectively, he was attractive. Older than me, which I clearly had a thing for, but his hair was far away from showing any signs of graying. He was fit for his size, which was smaller than me, but his chest was broad, spattered with a dusting of pale, blond curls that almost disappeared into his skin.

“Are you checking me out?” he asked.

I cleared my throat, quickly righting myself and narrowing my eyes at the wall.

“No,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I mean yes, but not how you’re thinking.”

“Do share, Wesley.” Thankfully, Grayson sounded amused at catching me, not offended or concerned.

I didn’t look away from the wall.

“Colin is the first man I’ve been interested in,” I explained, working my jaw as I thought through the answer. “I know I wasn’t—I’m not attracted to David, but I didn’t know if Colin was a fluke or what.”

“And?”

“I mean…I don’t want to make it weird, but I don’t think I would throw you out of bed.” I covered my mouth with both of my hands and let out an embarrassed squeal before bending forward and burying myself in my own lap.

“I’ll take it as a compliment, Wes,” he said. “But you’re not my type, so in separate beds we stay.”

“I’m with Colin.”

“All the more reason.”

I knew I couldn’t stare at the floor forever, so I straightened up and turned toward him, not quite ready to look him in the eye again.

“Hey.” He waved his hand in the middle of the table, clearly trying to get my attention. “I promise it’s fine.”

“I don’t want you to think I’m gonna David you.”

That earned a laugh, which relaxed me, just barely.

“I’m not worried about your David-ing me,” he said. “I’m confident that you and I, even if we wanted to share some afternoon delight, are not compatible. And please don’t ask me to say more.”

“A little more?” I scrunched my nose.

“I feel like if you put poppers, edging, and figging into a search engine, you can figure out why,” he said with a smirk.

“Figging? What now?”

Grayson had brought up edging a while ago, but when I told him I didn’t know what it was, he again refused to tell me. I was positive it didn’t have to do with landscaping, but my Google searches weren’t adventurous enough to yield me any real results yet.

“Figging,” he said, standing. “F-I-G-G-I-N-G. I’m going to take this call and then hop in the shower. Do you have plans today?”

“No.”

“Right. Well, do some googling if you’re so inclined, and when I’m done, maybe we can go get you a job.”

“Get me a job?” That piqued my interest.

“I have a lead that might be of interest to you, so go put on something nice.”

“How nice?” I asked.

“You have to have some kind of judgement.” Grayson headed toward his bedroom, coffee in hand and ass testing the limits of the elasticity of his neon yellow briefs. “Use it.”

With a sigh, I shuffled off to my bedroom, kicking my backpack ahead of me. I set the coffee down on my dresser and dumped all my laundry into the hamper. Shaking the bag out whirled the air around me, giving me that whiff of Colin I’d already become so addicted to.

I didn’t have much in my closet that I thought would be passable for whatever Grayson had in mind, but I managed to find a pair of khaki pants that didn’t look like they were from the kids section at JC Penney, and I paired it with a red and white plaid, short-sleeved, button-up. It was what I would have considered business casual and I hoped Grayson agreed.