Gravity (Greenford #2) - Romeo Alexander Page 0,35

They had saved him from once again stepping into a situation he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready for or ever would be, for that matter.

Caleb

It took Caleb a lot longer to leave the room the next morning than he would have wanted to admit to anyone. He’d woken up to the sounds of soft movement somewhere else in the house, and after a gentle clatter was heard, he confirmed that Samuel was awake and moving about.

It had brought a smile to his face to know that the man was still as conscientious as ever about someone else’s presence in the house. The same man who, drunk or sober, could forget the volume of his own voice, and had no problem speaking up, was one of the softest walkers Caleb had ever known. That went at least double when he knew someone was sleeping around him, where Samuel would take extra care to make sure not to slam or bang too many things around if he could help it.

The smile had disappeared from Caleb’s face quickly when he remembered how their night had almost ended. Without meaning to, the two of them had gravitated a little too close to one another. At that moment, Caleb had watched as Samuel’s nostrils flared, his dark eyes somehow going dark, and tension running up along his jaw. They were the warning signs that something had taken Samuel off-guard or was working him up and usually preceded Samuel pouncing on him.

Yet Caleb hadn’t moved away, as logic would have dictated. Instead, he found himself drawn even closer to the other man, wanting to bask in the heat that he could see threatening to spill over from Samuel’s eyes. The same heat he had craved so often when they’d last been together, grabbing onto the embers whenever they showed themselves.

It was that almost kiss that kept Caleb in the bed, even though his bladder was vocally advocating a little more action. In the end, it was a mix of his own body screaming at him to get moving and acknowledgment of the reality that he couldn’t stay in Samuel’s guest room that finally got him up and out of bed.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he only had to follow the smell of coffee into the living room. Samuel sat on one of the couches, a blanket wrapped around his bare shoulders, his lounge pant covered legs curled up under him. A huge mug of steaming coffee sat on the table beside him, and the e-reader was in his hand.

“Good morning,” Samuel said without looking up. “Coffee’s fresh. Figured we could grab food on the way back from the car unless you’re hungover enough to need some grub now.”

“I can wait,” Caleb told him, a little surprised to see the man was even aware of his presence in the first place. When Samuel got to reading, the man forgot that the whole world existed, and it was one of only three things that could make Samuel late for something. Another was video games, which had the same effect as reading. The last was sleeping in, as Samuel had always struggled with properly waking up.

When Caleb returned with a cup of his own, Samuel was where he’d left him. “Not a night owl anymore?”

Samuel snorted. “As if. I’m still convinced I was born to stay up all night. But there’s not much I can do with the schedule I have. As much as I dreamed of being one of those professors who could have late classes, I don’t really get that choice.”

“Good ole tenure,” Caleb said as he took a sip.

“Tell me about it,” Samuel grumbled. “I’ll be old before I get to benefit. What kind of system is that?”

“The one that respects experience and dedication.”

“One that totally screwed over my internal clock for the next decade and a half.”

“For someone who’s been up for a while and has their coffee, you’re awfully cranky.”

Samuel looked up from his book, tilting his head. “You’ve been up for a while?”

Caleb blinked, realizing he’d been caught out. Sometimes Samuel’s distractibility and wandering thoughts were a detriment to him, but other times they made him incredibly observant and gave him an unusually sharp intuition for people and moods.

“I was feeling lazy,” Caleb said, not quite ready to approach the truth, not without a little more caffeine in his system.

“I guess you’ve slowed down a little,” Samuel noted, tapping the screen to change the page.

Caleb chose one of the chairs and