was going to end, but the more he got to know Julian, the more he was glad he said yes. He’d been through enough—and even the unspoken details Julian had kept hidden, Archer could feel them. He knew it was time for him to have a win, and Archer planned to make that happen.
Chapter 9
Julian didn’t expect to sleep at all. When he first starting dating Bryce, everything was good until he started sleeping over. Even the slightest shift in bed kept him wide awake, and it took months to adapt. After they were married, he still slept better on nights Bryce fell asleep on the sofa watching TV or stayed with a friend.
When he woke with a stream of sun in his face and a warm body pressed against his backside, Julian felt a quiet rush of panic—not just at the fact that he’d slept through a total stranger cuddling him, but the fact that he’d managed to stay unconscious through the entire night. It was more than likely his body needed it rather than the fact that he was comfortable with Will, but it was impossible to ignore.
He tried to move carefully, turning his head to the side, and he breathed out a sigh of relief when he realized it was Will’s back pressed to him. They hadn’t assumed a position of intimate lovers, and he wouldn’t spend the day viciously trying to avoid the what ifs and almosts of ill-timed morning wood.
Grabbing his phone, Julian moved to the bathroom, trying to keep from making noise which was harder without his hearing aids, but he needed to find new batteries and he knew rummaging through his case would wake the other man. They didn’t have a lot of time to waste—his mother was going to expect them both for the first morning brunch, but he planned to drag his feet for as long as he could.
Turning on the shower, he sat on the toilet, then turned his phone on and was relieved only to find a text from Ilan and a text from his dad.
Ilan: You need to check in so I can make sure you weren’t robbed and ax murdered.
Julian: Alive and well.
Ilan: I have two surgeries this morning, so I’m going to call you after. Love to Papa.
Julian: Tell him yourself.
He set his phone down and stripped, stepping under the hot spray of water. He had a half-chub just from waking next to a ridiculously good looking man, and there was no helping it, but it was one of the few times he thanked his suffocating anxiety because there was no way he’d be able to—or want to—get off right then.
He appreciated that Will was less than what Ilan had painted him out to be. He was good looking—as good looking as Ilan claimed, but there was something more subtle about him that set Julian at ease. He expected something from porn or television—someone with a larger than life personality that swaggered in with charm and expectations. Instead, Will seemed genuinely kind and almost shy, which Julian wasn’t quite sure what to do with.
He couldn’t help but wonder a time or two why someone like Will had gotten into the business, but it was clearly a touchy subject because Will had gone more tense and sharp than ever when Julian brought it up in the car. He had his own soft spots, his own secrets, so he didn’t push the issue.
He didn’t need to know this man—didn’t want to know him. It would only complicate things when it was over. Bracing his hands on the wall, he turned and let the water rush down his back. It was just shy of too hot, but it helped unknot some of the tension he held in his shoulders, and after a few minutes, he rinsed the rest of the bubbles from his skin and stepped out.
He regretted not having his hearing aids with him only because it meant he couldn’t tell whether or not Will had finally gotten up. The night before had been awkward, until it wasn’t, and then it was again. He was asleep before Will finally came back inside, and he knew it wasn’t entirely fair to treat him this way, but he didn’t know what to do.
He was going to have to try harder, though. He couldn’t act like he was terrified of the man in front of his family or Bryce. This was someone he was supposed to know intimately, someone who he