Christian took a shaky breath in. God, he wanted him. He wanted to put his head on Alexander’s shoulder. He wanted to wrap his arm around his waist. He wanted to straddle his body and ride him. And all of it was going at a thousand miles an hour through his head, making him dizzy with need.
Friends? At this rate, he would go mad by the end of the week.
Chapter 16
By the end of the week, Christian had developed a case of blue balls.
By the end of the week after that, he was also annoyed as hell and stupidly, ridiculously smitten.
Alexander was a very attentive “friend.” He came to Christian’s place every day, usually right after Christian returned from school. He somehow knew Christian’s schedule, but that didn’t exactly surprise him: Alexander’s memory was freakishly good and he noticed everything.
Well, everything except for the fact that their “friendship” was weird as hell. He touched Christian all the freaking time. A touch on the neck or on the shoulder, an arm around his waist, a nose nuzzling the side of his face. Not to mention the staring. It drove Christian crazy.
The worst part was, Christian was pretty sure Alexander didn’t even notice how weird he was behaving.
But other people did.
Shawn was looking at them oddly, and no wonder.
Christian took a deep breath in, trying to ignore Alexander’s hand on his neck.
“Sure,” Alexander told Shawn. “If you want to ascertain that your sisters’ babysitter really speaks fluent Italian and Chinese, send her to my office.”
Shawn stared at Alexander’s hand around Christian’s neck. “It’s not that I care,” he said slowly, tearing his eyes away and giving a what-the-fuck look to Christian, who gave him a helpless look in response. “But my partner finds her recommendations a bit suspicious.” He shrugged, smiling crookedly. “Personally, I think he’s just paranoid, but we haven’t had much luck with babysitters for the twins, so he’s a bit overprotective.”
“Send her over,” Alexander said, the tips of his fingers stroking the side of Christian’s neck.
Christian hoped his shivers weren’t obvious. “Yeah, do it,” he told Shawn with a slightly forced laugh. “Maybe that would make this guy stay in his office for a few hours.”
Alexander looked at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “My business can run smoothly without my full-time supervision. If the manager needs to be present at all times, it means he didn’t hire the right people in the first place and didn’t create efficient systems for them to follow. I did.”
“Smugness isn’t attractive,” Christian said, smiling at him. Though who was he kidding? Alexander’s self-assurance was kind of hot.
Alexander’s cell phone rang. He answered the phone with his free hand, the other still wrapped around Christian’s neck.
Christian gritted his teeth. This was getting ridiculous.
“I can’t hear you.” Alexander let go of Christian’s neck and made his way to the empty classroom nearby where it wasn’t as noisy.
“What the hell?” Shawn said as soon as Alexander was out of earshot.
“Tell me about it.” Christian sighed. “He’s driving me crazy with this. He says we’re friends and then gropes me all the time.”
“Did you discuss it with him?”
Averting his gaze, Christian raked a hand through his hair. “I…”
“You’re scared,” Shawn said, a note of surprise in his voice.
“I’m not,” Christian grumbled. Yes, he was scared, and he hated it. He was scared to freak Alexander out if he confronted him. He was scared Alexander would stop coming, that he would stop touching him. No matter how frustrating all the touching was, deep down, he was a bit addicted to it already. Or more than a bit.
Damn it.
He caught Shawn looking at him oddly. “What?”
“Nothing. Just…” Shawn was eyeing him, thoughtful. “You’ve changed—I don’t mean it in a bad way, though. You just used to be all cocky and overconfident. You’ve got it bad, huh? You’re almost shy around him now.”
“I’m not!” Christian protested. He wasn’t shy. He was never shy.
“Just…” Shawn’s face was grim. “Just be careful, okay? He has a girlfriend. He might be a bit confused now, but he has a girlfriend. Don’t let him dick you around.”
Christian swallowed. “I know. I won’t.”
Alexander walked back to them, sliding his cell phone into his pocket. “Mila told me not to wait for her.” He looked at Christian. “You need a ride?”
Christian thought about Shawn’s warning.
Then he thought about spending the evening with Alexander.
He said, “Yeah.”
He ignored the disapproving, worried look on Shawn’s face. Fuck it, maybe it was pathetic and stupid, maybe it wouldn’t end well, but he couldn’t deny himself this.
Slipping into his jacket, Christian followed Alexander outside.
It was very cold, but he didn’t feel it.
Alexander looked back at him.
“What?” Christian said with a smile, feeling snowflakes melt on his flushed skin.
“Nothing,” Alexander said, dragging his eyes away and opening his car’s doors with a remote control. “Get in.”