Page 23 of Rebound

“Hey,” Ben greeted, wondering why his voice sounded so breathy. He wasn’t a princess or a maiden in need of saving. He didn’tneedanything. He was using Thomas for sex and Thomas was using him as a study guide, and that was all they’d ever be. He stepped aside and gestured for Thomas to come in.

“You okay?” Thomas asked, closing the door behind him. “You look flushed.”

Ben pressed his fingertips against his cheeks and shook his head. “I was just making myself a snack. Did you want anything?”

Thomas glanced toward the kitchen, his expression leery but open. “What do you have?”

“I was cutting up some peppers.” He pointed at the plate on the table. “And hummus. Just something light and easy.”

“I’m fine,” Thomas said. “But you can eat. I’ll take a drink if you have anything, though.”

“Wine? Water? Juice?” Ben went into the kitchen and opened his fridge to make sure he hadn’t missed any of the choices. Thomas sat down at the dining room table and tapped his fingers against the edge of the glass top.

“Whatever’s easy.”

Ben poured two glasses of wine and carried them to the table. He tried to not think about the last meal he’d shared with someone in his apartment, or the meal he’d been supposed to share at least. Cody’s violent tone echoed through his memories and he winced, swiping a strip of bell pepper through the hummus.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Thomas asked.

“Just…a lot on my mind apparently.”

“Did you want to reschedule?”

He huffed out a small laugh. “Not really. Sex seems to help me forget the shit in my head.”

“I know what that’s like.”

“What about you?” he asked, swallowing the pepper and reaching for his wine. “You don’t seem the same as normal either.”

Thomas smirked, tilting his head to the side. “How do I look?”

“More…”

“More?”

Ben shrugged. “Just more.”

Thomas answered that with a thoughtful noise, and he stretched his hand across the table toward the plate. “I had lunch with my daughter today.”

“I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Thomas hedged. “That’s the whole idea of this, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I have two children. Rather, they’re both adults now.”

“How oldareyou?” Ben asked with a laugh. It didn’t matter. Thomas’s age wouldn’t stop him from being interested and it surely wouldn’t stop him from being aroused beyond measure at the idea of taking the older man to bed.

“How old are you again?”

“Twenty-eight.”

“You’re older than my kids, if that makes you feel any better.”

“A little?” He chuckled and swiped another pepper through the hummus.

“I’m forty-five,” Thomas said. “My kids are twenty-one and twenty-four. Does that change anything?”