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A s soon as I made it into the changing room, I grabbed my towel and shower things and saw to business. Jasper bopped in while I was shampooing my hair and called out that he’d see me at The Chipped Cup on Monday, and I almost made it out.

I really did.

I was standing by my open gym bag. I’d dug out my change of clothes and dropped my towel when the door opened and Kevin and his friends walked in.

It took herculean effort to play it cool and not to hunch in on myself or shriek and lunge for my towel, but I managed.

I calmly turned my back to them, boxers dangling from my white-knuckled fist, and stared fixedly at the wall as I bent over and stepped into first one leg hole and then the other.

I dragged my boxers up as if I didn’t have a care in the world, as if I didn’t feel Kevin’s searing attention prickling the skin on my arse, my thighs, my back. I quickly slipped my t-shirt on. Then my jeans. My hoodie.

I didn’t turn around until the only things left to put on were my socks, and I still pretended I had no idea he was there. I wasn’t ignoring him. That would be childish.

I just wasn’t looking.

I tossed my sweaty kit into my bag, emptied out the locker, and strode on out of the changing room.

I kept on striding, all the way out of the gym and over to my car.

I congratulated myself on a calm and dignified extraction as I beeped the locks open, and then ruined it by yelping and attempting to leap into the car while it was still shut when Kevin said, right behind me,

“Charlie.”

“ Shit ! Kevin! Shit !” I whirled around to face him, then reached out and whacked him in the arm.

I wasn’t entirely sure that he noticed. His dark eyes were fixed on mine.

“Sorry,” I said, and patted him where I’d whacked him. “You startled me. Don’t sneak up on people, god .”

“I wasn’t sneaking. I’ve been right behind you since you left the changing room.”

He could have mentioned it earlier, rather than following me in creepy silence for the two minutes it took to exit the building and cross the carpark to where I’d left my car under a row of horse chestnuts.

He hadn’t showered yet. Not only was he still wearing his workout clothes, his skin was still faintly dewed with sweat, and his hair was damp. When he shifted closer, his body heat wrapped around me.

His gaze didn’t waver from my face. “Can I have a lift home?”

“Um. Yes?” I scanned him. “Did you forget your stuff, or…?”

He blinked slowly.

“Kevin?”

“Yeah.”

“Where’s your bag?”

He blinked at me again. Slower, this time. It was…unsettling.

“Your bag?” I swung my own gym bag forwards to illustrate. “Where is it?”

“Changing room.”

“Right. I can wait while you run and get it.”

“Don’t leave.”

“O-kay.”

He held my gaze just long enough to make me swallow nervously, then turned and ran across the carpark back to the gym.

And I mean, he ran . It was a flat-out sprint. I even recoiled slightly, he was off so fast, kicking up a little spray of grit that pinged against my shins.

I checked my phone, opened the car door, and tossed my gym bag inside. I climbed in, switched the engine on to fiddle with the radio, and as I was cycling impatiently through the stations, my eye fell on a bright neon-blue Land Cruiser with an infuriating decal stuck to the side.

I sat there and stared at Kevin’s car thoughtfully.

Two minutes later, he came out of the gym and headed my way. I slid out of the car and stood, arms folded on the roof, watching him.

His gym bag was a plain black backpack, and he had it slung over one broad shoulder. His red t-shirt was still pasted to his abs, and the silky fabric of his shorts didn’t hide much as he strode over the asphalt. His chin was slightly lowered, brows were down, and I felt his attention arrow straight to me again the second he exited the building.

I’d never got an arrogant vibe from Kevin. Not ever. He was a sweetheart. A lovely lad. Kind. Calm.

But as he closed the distance between us, I was having a hard time seeing him as sweet, he didn’t seem calm at all, and there was a certain something in his step. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It wasn’t arrogance, but it wasn’t far off.

I frowned as he stopped on the passenger side of the car. We contemplated each other across the roof.

I remembered what he’d said about getting wound up if he didn’t burn his excess energy off properly. “Did you get a full workout in?”

He shifted restlessly from one foot to the other, and shrugged.

“Kevin?” I prompted.

“No. Not really.”

I didn’t think so. “I can’t help but notice that your car is right over there.”

He didn’t look. He shrugged again.

Okay, that was enough of that. I rounded the front of the car to march up to him. “What’s going on?” I said. “Do not shrug at me. Why do you want a lift if you drove yourself?”

He took a moment to answer, and I knew it was a lie straight away. “I’ve got a flat tyre.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Have.”

“All right. Come on, I’ll help you change it. I assume you have a spare?”

“No, I don’t.”

Another lie. No way was Kevin, proud owner of the tidiest car I’d ever been in, driving around without a spare.

He shifted again. One foot to the other.

I poked him.

He didn’t react.

I poked him again. “You’re telling me that if I go over there and inspect your tyres, one of them will definitely be flat?”

He pressed his lips together. “Are you going to give me a lift or not?”

“Yes. Of course. I’m a bit confused here, that’s all. You’ve got your own car and, if you really do have a flat, you skipped your shower and left a changing room full of gym bros you can ask for a lift to chase me out here and ask me instead. What’s going on?”

His eyes slowly dropped to my mouth and then equally slowly dragged back up. He let out a heavy breath.

“Kevin?”

He reached out and curled his hands around my hips, pulling me in. “I don’t want a lift home. I want to come home with you.”

“Okay. You can do that.” I didn’t have to sound so breathless about it.

His thumbs rubbed tiny circles over my hip bones. “I want to do stuff with you.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “You can do that, too. We can hang out. That sounds fun. Phil will be thrilled.”

His eyes gleamed with amusement and it took me a moment to understand why.

“Oh,” I said.

He nudged me back against the car and let go of my hips. He spread his arms and gripped the edge of the roof either side of me instead, effectively caging me in.

“I’m in a right state over you, Charlie,” he confessed.

Same.

The door of the gym opened and noise spilled out, along with a group of loudly talking men. I flinched and tried to shove Kevin back.

He frowned.

“Kevin,” I hissed. “People can see.”

“Yeah?”

I shoved at him again, harder, and he reluctantly stepped back. A whole inch. “Your friends will know.”

His frown deepened. “Know what?”

“That you…that we…that you’re…” I gestured between us.

He lifted his brows.

“You’ve got me mashed up against my car,” I said. “They’re going to know you’re…you know. Interested. In me. Or else they’ll think you’re mugging me.” Probably the latter.

His brows inched higher. Any further and they’d be in his hair.

I shoved him again. He didn’t yield any more ground, and then it was too late.

“See you, Kev!” one of his mates bellowed across the carpark.

“See you!” Kevin bellowed.

Good grief, he had a set of lungs on him. I swear my hair blew back in the blast.

“Bye, mate!” another one yelled.

“Bye!” He lifted an arm to wave and I took my moment to sidle away. I didn’t get far. He dropped his arm again, caught me, and put me right back.

“Oi, Kev!” a third one yelled, jogging over.

“What?” he yelled back.

Did I really have to be here? Having my eardrums assaulted like this? I huffed and attempted to squirm away but Kevin simply leaned against me. I was going nowhere.

What on earth was the silly boy doing?

No one could look at us and think, Ah. They’re discussing football. Or lager. Maybe Star Wars.

Kevin had me flat to my car, one leg was now between mine, and I was standing there helplessly, all red faced and wide-eyed about it.

It wasn’t like this was the nineties or the noughties, but a lot of people were still dicks about anything other than heterosexuality.

His mate arrived. Griffin. One of my regulars. “Hi, Charlie,” he said.

“Griffin.” I scowled at him, ready to lay into him if he even hinted at having a problem with Kevin. He’d never drink another cup of coffee in this town again for as long as he lived if I had anything to do about it, and I’d?—

“You good to help me haul that stuff to the tip later?” Griffin continued without seeming to notice that Kevin had a possessive hand resting at the base of my neck, thumb lightly grazing my collarbone. “My mum’s giving me shit about it. If I don’t get it out the garage this weekend, says she’s going to start charging me storage fees.”

Kevin laughed. “She would and all, wouldn’t she?”

“Yeah. Say around three?”

Kevin lifted my wrist and looked at my watch. He made a considering face. “Can we do it tomorrow?”

“Eh.” Griffin shrugged. “Kind of need to get it done today. Unless you two?—”

“Three is fine,” I said, before he finished that sentence.

“Yeah?” Kevin asked me seriously.

Was I his social secretary now? Was I in charge of his calendar? I nodded.

“Right, then. I’ve got to go and see to Charlie’s front door first, I’ll meet you at three, and be back at Charlie’s by—what d’you reckon?”

Griffin pondered this.

So did I.

Back at Charlie’s?

Wait. Front door?

“It’s not that much,” Griffin said. “Probably only one load, two max. Tip closes at half five anyway.”

“Right. Back by half six. Sounds good.”

“Thanks, mate, I appreciate it. Next game, I’m getting the beers in. See you later. Bye, Charlie.”

“Griffin.”

He jogged off.

I returned my attention to Kevin. “Front door?”

Not to be crude about it or anything, but I’d got the impression that Kevin was more interested in my back door.

He gave me a cute little yikes-face.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s that for?” I demanded.

“Okay. You can’t get mad.”

“I assure you I can. I very often do. Not with you, but I’m sensing that today we’re going to be exploring new territory— oh .”

He caught my chin and lifted it as he ducked down to press a quick, fierce kiss on my lips.

“Yeah,” he said. “Gonna explore you all over.”

“That’s…that’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it?”

I wasn’t buying his innocent act anymore these days.

I was starting to think that Kevin Wallis was a bit of a fraud, actually.

I was starting to think that half the time he came across as sweetly innocent, the little shit was manipulating his way into getting what he wanted. Or no, not manipulating. He wasn’t sly. He was simply…implacable. That word was a better fit.

He saw the path ahead and he would not be swayed.

“No,” I said. “Why can’t I get mad?”

“I bought you a door.”

“A…? You bought me a door?”

“Yes.”

I put two and two together. It was difficult to do, pasted up against my car by big, hot, sweaty Kevin who’d just kissed me so hard my lips stung, but I managed. “I’m guessing it’s a front door?”

“Yes.” Kevin picked my wrist up again and checked my watch. “In fact, it’ll be delivered any minute. We’d best get on.” He pushed away from the car, rounded the front, and climbed into my passenger seat.

He was like a juggernaut, wasn’t he?

I opened the driver’s side door and got in.

Kevin was all buckled up, looking expectantly out of the window. His backpack was in the footwell between his feet, and he’d pulled his phone out. It was the largest iPhone model on the market—practically an iPad—and it was in a protective case with a steampunk design of clockwork gears, pipes and cogs in copper and steel. He unlocked it and checked his messages. “Yep,” he said. “My mate Ali will be there to drop it off in half an hour.”

I’d started up the car, but I switched it off and turned to look at him.

“Half an hour,” he said again, and slapped my thigh. “Let’s go. Oh. Mmm.” He curled his hand around my thigh and seemed to get distracted, going by the soft hum as he slid it right up to my groin. He checked my face, grinned, and palmed my dick.

“Shit.” My head fell back against the headrest and I jerked into his touch. “Argh. Not here, Kevin.”

He put his hands in his own lap. “I can wait. It’s okay. I can wait.”

I wasn’t sure if he was saying that to me or to himself.

“I don’t have any tools,” I said.

“What?”

“I don’t have any tools. I assume you were planning on installing the door once it gets delivered?”

He stared at me blankly. “Right. Yeah. Didn’t think that through. Bollocks. Toolbox is in the Land Cruiser.”

“Which gives you two options. One, you go and grab it and put it in the back of my car and we continue to pretend that you need a lift. Or two, you come clean and admit that you haven’t got a flat tyre.”

He leaned in again for another quick kiss. “I haven’t got a flat tyre,” he said. “That was me going off script. Sorry.”

“There’s a script?”

“More of a plan. Me and the door were going to show up at the same time. That way, I reckoned you wouldn’t tell me off too much, what with it being a done deal. And you really needing a door that works. Then, after I’d wowed you with my DIY skills, I was going to wow you with my wicked gay sex skills.”

I stared at him.

“Do you like my plan, Charlie?” he asked sincerely.

“It’s…uh. It’s bold. It’s a bold plan. I like boldness. Is it a good plan, though? Hmm. That’s a whole other question.”

“Didn’t ask that question,” he said firmly. He placed his warm hand on my jaw and held the side of my face, looking deep into my eyes. “I asked if you liked it?”

“Yeah. It sounds…” Like it could end in disaster. Like everything I’d decided earlier that I needed to avoid.

Like everything I wanted.

“Yeah,” I said. “It sounds good.” Not sleeping with Kevin wasn’t that easy after all, it seemed.

“Yeah?”

“Mm-hmm. Great.” I nodded. “Oh, hey. Another question for you. Just a quickie. Seems like the right time to bring it up. Do you know how to have sex with a man?”

Because it was soon going to become very clear that I didn’t.

“Don’t you worry about that,” he said with a reassuring clap to my shoulder. “I’m great at sex.”

He unbuckled himself, popped the door open, and lunged out.

I leaned across the passenger seat to hiss, “I’m glad to hear it, but being great at heterosexual sex might not be all that helpful with me, and I?—”

“Charlie.” He ducked down to meet my eyes. “I already told you. I’ve watched so much gay porn, you don’t even know. I’ve got this.”

“Okay, but talking about all the porn you’ve watched is worrying in and of itself. If you start choking me or you spit on me, I’m not going to lie, I won’t react favourably?—”

“I don’t want to choke you.”

Always good to hear.

“Or spit on you. Although if you want me to, I will accommodate your needs.”

“Thanks, I’ll pass.”

“Noted.” With that, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and jogged off towards his car.