Gravity (Greenford #2) - Romeo Alexander Page 0,23

could find his way back out of the building.

“Sam?”

The familiar voice was the best thing Samuel had heard since he’d entered the building. He spun around to face Caleb, ready to praise the man for his perfect timing. Instead, he found the man in shorts that he swore were way too small for the faculty and a damp shirt that was clinging to every contour of his body.

Oh yeah, Caleb had definitely got bigger since the last time they’d seen one another.

“Uh, hi,” Samuel managed as he fought to get his mind to stop focusing on how thick Caleb’s thighs were.

Caleb brought a small towel to his forehead, wiping it clean of sweat. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Samuel said.

That got Caleb’s attention, and he closed the distance between them to stand directly in front of Samuel. “Oh? Why’s that?”

Still trying not to be distracted by his sudden awareness of Caleb’s body, Samuel fought for an answer. He had come looking for Caleb for a reason, a very good reason. Now, if only he could remember that reason.

“Well, I was talking to Lucas,” Samuel began, tracing his mental steps backward to remember what his purpose was.

“Right,” Caleb said slowly. “Your...friend.”

The tone caught Samuel’s attention, and he latched onto that with a laugh. “He is a friend. Lucas is straight, and I haven’t been in a relationship with anyone in...quite a while.”

Since he’d been with Caleb, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that aloud, not just yet. His conversation with Lucas reminded him that he needed to be better with Caleb and not so distant. It was something he’d steadily been trying to work on in general over the years and was probably the only reason he was such good friends with Lucas in the first place. But it was still Caleb, and the history was still there, he couldn’t simply turn it off with the flip of some mental switch.

Caleb straightened at that news. “Oh. I thought he was...with you.”

“No, he’s not. Again, straight.”

“But your type.”

“I’m not into straight guys.”

“You know what I mean.”

Samuel did but like hell, was he going to acknowledge it because then it would require him to grudgingly agree. At the beginning of his and Lucas’s friendship, he had been interested in the man, especially because their sexuality and love lives never really came up at first. When Lucas finally mentioned an ex-girlfriend, it had prompted Samuel to ask, rather bluntly, if the man had ever been with other men. Which was when he found out his friend was straight, and while the physical attraction had lingered for a while, on every other level, Samuel had nothing but platonic feelings.

Caleb chuckled, tossing the towel over his shoulder. “So you were saying.”

“I was?”

“Yes, that you were talking to Lucas, which somehow tied into why you were here, wandering around, looking lost, and trying to find me.”

“I was lost!” Samuel complained, motioning around. “Who the hell built this place, Daedalus?”

“Would that make me the minotaur?” Caleb asked with a rise of his brow.

“You’re certainly big enough,” Samuel said, motioning to the man’s body with a snort.

“I’m choosing to take that as a compliment,” Caleb informed him wryly.

It was Samuel’s turn to snort. “Good, because it pretty much was. Your life has been kind to your body.”

Caleb’s eyes darted down Samuel’s body and then back to his face. “You haven’t exactly been slacking in that regard yourself.”

Samuel sighed. “Eh, I’ve been trying to be better about it. Took me a little while to get used to working out regularly, but once I got the hang of it, it got a lot easier. I’ve been pretty happy with it.”

“You should, and it shows.”

Samuel realized in a sudden flash that not only was Caleb complimenting him, but he could very well be complimenting him. The idea zinged through him, crackling along the same brain cells that had been so focused on Caleb’s little shorts. In the past, despite their difficulties, neither of them had really had trouble when it came to mutual attraction. It had been the thread that had held them together so well on their second attempt.

But was it possible the thread was still there? Samuel wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel with that thought bubbling away in his head.

“Right, so I was talking to Lucas,” Samuel said in a hurry, realizing he desperately needed to get back on track. “And we were talking about…”

After the pause drew on long enough, Caleb smiled and