But to his surprise, Zack gave a gentle smile as he took their now empty plates to the dishwasher. “No, tell me. I like hearing about your work. Vent away.”
And so Pike did, keeping up a steady ramble as they worked first in his room, then in the empty spare room. Zack was an excellent listener, and weirdly enough, the more Pike complained, the more relaxed Zack got, offering little suggestions here and there, but mainly just listening.
“Hell. I’m doing all the talking. Tell me about your day?” Pike wiped the sweat off his face with the bottom of his T-shirt. He didn’t miss the way Zack’s gaze dipped down to his stomach, so he pulled it up a little more than strictly necessary.
“I...uh...” Zack’s eyes were still riveted to Pike’s stomach.
“Eyes up top, sailor,” Pike joked.
Something dark and cloudy passed over Zack’s face and his relaxed stance shifted into a stiffer posture, one that shut Pike out again. “My day was okay. Nothing special.”
“Ha. Everything you do is special.” Pike tried to get Zack loosened back up, but the guy kept a white-knuckled grip on his paint roller.
“Not really. Inventory. PT. Meetings.” Zack shrugged. “Damn. I’m going to need a second shower before bed.”
Pike let the very obvious change in subject slide in favor of trying a different tactic to get Zack back to the friendly place they’d been moments earlier. “Me too. Wanna share? Water conservation and all?”
Zack was silent a long moment.
“Never mind.” Pike sighed. “You go first. I want to grab my pillow and blanket from my room—you were right about it reeking too much to sleep in there, even with the low VOC stuff. Luckily I’m not too tall for the couch, right?”
Zack’s body still radiated tension, but he nodded sharply, jaw firm, as if he’d come to some major conclusion. “No. My bed’s big enough. We could share.”
Hallelujah. Pike grinned at him, not even trying to hide his eagerness. “And water conservation?”
“You’ll make an environmentalist out of me yet.” Zack laughed, shoulders finally relaxing as he shoved Pike into the hall.
* * *
Zack was getting better at this whole sharing-a-shower thing. Third time showering with Pike, and he was downright efficient about getting the paint washed away, helping Pike to scrub the splatters from the back of his neck and tops of his arms, and otherwise not focusing on getting his rocks off.
Because that came next.
God help him, that came next. Because he’d invited Pike to share his bed, knowing full well that meant more than just sleeping. Maybe he was drunk on that amazing meat sauce that Pike had made for dinner. Maybe he was swindled by all that great conversation while they painted. He could seriously listen to Pike talk about the ins and outs of teaching for hours. He had a knack for capturing the students in his class or his colleagues and making them come alive. It got him out of his own head with Cobb and Harper and Danny and transported him to the Pike show, which, yeah, seemed full of drama, but it wasn’t his drama.
But maybe it wasn’t the food or the talking. Maybe it was Pike—the way he smelled brushing by Zack for a paint refill, the sound of his voice as he told his stories, the creamy and freckled expanses of skin he revealed yanking on his shirt. Yeah, maybe Zack was, for possibly the first time in his life, super horny. He wanted Pike. Now. Tonight. They’d been creeping toward this all week, ever since their talk in the hall. Pike had given him space to sort himself out, which Zack appreciated even as he kinda wanted Pike to just force the issue of more sex, but he’d been locked in his own head long enough. It was time for some action.
“You gonna fall asleep in here?” Pike bumped Zack’s shoulder as he reached around him to shut off the shower.
“Nah.” Face heating, Zack grabbed a towel, handing one to Pike.
“Good.” Pike gave him that look again, the one with the narrowed eyes full of filthy promises and the sly smile that meant sex was on Pike’s brain.
For the first time, Zack returned the stare, really drinking in Pike’s lean form, his half-hard cock, the rounded curve of his ass, water glistening from his back muscles. And making sure Pike saw him looking.
Huh. The world didn’t implode. Pike didn’t get embarrassed or look away, instead seeming to invite more staring, stretching leisurely as he toweled off. Pike’s cock thickened more as Zack looked his fill.
“Jesus. You keep looking at me like that and I’m going to come on the rug before I even touch you.”
“Can’t have that.” Zack’s voice came out all rusty, this impulse to flirt grinding past years of restraint. “We’d have to wash the rug.”