I make my way down the hall and grab a fluffy white towel and washcloth. God, they’re so plush I want to curl up in them. I know they will feel like heaven on my bare skin. Shit, do I have a fluffy towel kink? Is that a thing?
I make my way into the bathroom and close the door before starting the water and going pee. That coffee is really going through me, along with the water I had, and I just realized I haven’t peed since last night before I got here.
I strip and step into the shower. I practically moan as the warm water cascades over me, relaxing my muscles and relieving tension. I wash my hair with his shampoo like he said to, and it smells amazing. I can tell this stuff aint cheap and there’s maybe a little part of me that’s smiling at the thought of smelling like him. I scrub and rinse, and then just stay in the flow of the water for a while. I don’t know when I’ll get my next shower and I want to enjoy this as much as I can. I don’t want to run up his water bill, though, so I shut the water off and step out after a few minutes. I grab the fluffy towel and use it to dry my hair first, before my body. Then I wrap it around my waist and get a good look at myself in the mirror.
Ugh. I’m freakishly skinny. My skin is pale, my eyes are still somewhat bloodshot and I’m feeling ridiculously tired suddenly, and a little nauseated. Crawling back under the covers in the extra bedroom and sleeping for a few more hours sounds amazing. But I’m supposed to be getting out of here, after I clean the kitchen. I can’t believe last night I had to convince myself to stay and now I’m trying to convince myself to leave.
I make my way out of the bathroom and towards the bedroom. I sit on the edge of the bed for a moment, telling myself I’ll get up in just a second. I notice that the sheets are a different color and I realize he must have changed them while I was in the shower. Thank God. They smell so much better now. I slip out of the towel and climb under the covers, pulling them up and over my naked body.
I’ll just lay down for a minute, I tell myself.
PAUL
God, what the hell is wrong with me? I was fucking checking out a nineteen-year-old. When I saw him standing there in my T-shirt it did something to me. My chest constricted and my fucking cock twitched. He looked so cute in it, his red hair a mess, his socks still on, and his legs, I don’t think I’ve ever thought the wordprettyabout a guy's legs before, but there’s just no other word to describe them. Slender, and pale, and why on earth did I have visions of grabbing onto them, running my hands over them? Nipping and biting them? Oh my god, I’m disgusting. He’s a kid.A fucking kid!Younger than my son would be if he were still alive and I’m lusting after him. God, I’ve reached a new low.
I’ve never had thoughts like this about another guy, so why the hell am I now, and about someone who is way too young for me? How mortified would he be if he knew where my mind has been?
Speaking of which, where the hell is he? He finished with his shower twenty minutes ago and I haven’t seen him since. Is he okay?
I make my way down the hall to his bedroom. The door is shut and it's quiet on the other side again. I knock softly. “Charlie?” I say. Why does it feel so amazing to now have his name on my lips?
There’s no answer so I open the door. A soft smile forms on my lips when I see him passed out in bed again. Good, I want him to rest. I step in and grab the damp towel on the floor before leaving and closing the door behind me. It only then occurs to me that he was probably naked under those blankets. Why do I like that idea so much? His naked body on my sheets?
Fuck. Not going there.He’s nineteen, he’s nineteen, he’s nineteen,I repeat to myself so it gets lodged in my brain.
I take the towel back to the bathroom and hang it up on a hook behind the door. I consider doing the clean up in the kitchen, but since I already took over one of his chores, I decide to leave it, even though the mess unsettles me.
I curl up on the sofa and turn the television on, a blanket draped over me, and before I know it I’m fast asleep too.
I wake to the sound of the dishwasher being loaded and the sink running. I grunt, and for a brief second wonder who the hell is in my kitchen, before remembering Charlie.
“Bout time,” he says. “If I had to bang the dishes around any louder I was gonna break something. I’ve been in here slamming cabinets and everything and you were just snoring away, grandpa.”
I smirk at him as I sit up. “I don’t snore.”
“Well it was either that or you have an elephant giving birth somewhere in your house,” he replies.
“Very funny.” I stand and run a hand through my hair. Do I really sound like an elephant in labor?
“I took a video if you want to hear yourself,” he says, as if reading my mind. He whips his phone out of his back pocket. I stare at him because he can’t be serious. Who does that at a stranger's house? Charlie, that’s who. My Charlie. Fuck, I’m in way over my head. He hasn’t even been here twenty four hours and I’m labeling him mine? And the thing is, the longer he stays, the less I want him to leave. Mostly because I hate the idea of him being back out there, but also because he’s fun to have around, and he keeps me from feeling so desperately lonely. I like that I woke up to noise for a change, instead of silence.
He turns the video on and holds it out for me to see before I can even answer him, like he’s sure I’ll want to hear myself snoring, or he just doesn’t care because it’s too damn funny to him, which seems more likely. You know what though, if my snoring is what makes him laugh and smile, I’ll take it. I’ll snore like a million pregnant elephants to see him happy.
“I could hear you all the way from my room when I woke up,” he says, and chuckles as I watch, his phone camera making its way down the hall towards the living room, my very unsophisticated noises getting louder and louder the closer he gets. God Almighty this is mortifying. I’m making whistling noises through my nose and everything, and I am loud as fuck. Was I this bad when Rachel and I were married? She complained some, but I thought she was exaggerating. She must have been a frickin’ saint to put up with this.
“All right, I think that’s enough,” I say, and reach out to stop the video. He jerks his phone away and I reach for it again as he moves it behind his back, and then the next thing I know he’s running and I’m chasing him as he laughs, moving through the kitchen, around the island, and back to the living room. He circles around the coffee table, and the video is still playing. He’s laughing so hard he can barely move anymore and I’m chuckling too, as he collapses on the couch and I follow. I sigh with relief when the video finally stops, but then Charlie grins at me and holds his phone in front of his face. He sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth and his eyes dance as he presses play again, and I groan. “I’m thinking of making it my ringtone,” he says.
He laughs as I reach for it one more time, this time kneeling on the couch and hovering over him. He reaches his arms above his head, the phone out of reach yet again, smiling at me, and I swallow when I realize how close we are, and the position we’re in. I’ve got my hands on either side of the arm rest where his head is resting, my leg between his on the sofa, my other leg pressed against the back cushion, and my face is only a few inches from his. And now he’s gazing at me, his breathing heavy, and his laughter forgotten.
I clear my throat and sit up, backing away. He sits up as well and stops the video. The atmosphere in the room seems to have changed rather abruptly and I try to lighten it.
“You, uh, you had lunch?” I ask, and stand, running my fingers through my hair again.
He shakes his head. “You don’t need to feed me again. I’ll finish up in the kitchen and be out of your way.”
My heart sinks. He can’t leave. I have to convince him to stay. But I know he doesn’t want something for nothing.
“Stay and eat lunch with me.” My gaze meets his. “Please.” His green eyes stare back at me for a long moment and I can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking. But then he simply nods. I want to squeal in excitement but I rein in my exuberance and just smile.
