Page 74 of In at the Deep End

“Oh.”

He froze and jerked his head in the direction of the choked sound.

Matt was standing by the side of the pool, lips parted, face flushed.

Owen arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t expect you today.” He resisted the instinct to reach for a towel. They were both adults. Besides, Matt had interrupted him, not the other way round.

Matt coughed, then averted his gaze. “Sorry. I should’ve called. I had to get out of there.”

Then Owen spied a bag slung over his shoulder.

Matt touched the strap. “If your offer of the barn still stands….”

“Of course.” Owen gestured to the water. “Come in for a swim first, if you like.”

“I… maybe later.” Matt’s eyes betrayed him, dropping for the briefest second before snapping back to Owen’s face. More colour crept into his cheeks. “I’d better get some work done.”

He didn’t move, however.

“I think I need a cold beer.” Owen waded to the edge and hauled himself out, water streaming from his body. He caught up his discarded clothes without bothering to dress, then headed towards the house.

Halfway across the patio, curiosity got the better of him, and he glanced back.

Matt was still standing exactly where he’d left him. The instant their eyes met, Matt looked away.

Owen smiled to himself and carried on walking.

It’s going to be an interesting summer.

Everywhere Matt looked felt wrong.

Come on, it isn’t as if you haven’t seen naked guys before. There’d been locker rooms, dorms, shared housing at university.

Then it hit him. It wasn’t nudity itself that unsettled him.

It was context, and in this case, context was everything.

Owen hadn’t been showing off. He hadn’t seemed embarrassed. If anything, he’d seemed comfortable, totally at ease in his own skin.

Matt wasn’t sure he’d ever met anyone like that. Maybe it was an age thing. And speaking of age, Owen appeared to be wearing very well.

As Owen walked away, Matt’s gaze slipped before he could stop it. He jerked it back to Owen’s shoulders almost immediately.

So much for pretending this was all academic.

That settled one thing, at least.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t just in his head anymore.

Chapter Fifteen

Matt stared at the paragraph he’d been trying to write for the last ten minutes.

The cursor blinked. That was the only sign of life in the barn.

He leaned back from the laptop with a sigh and rubbed a hand over his face.

This is hopeless.