Page 93 of In at the Deep End

Owen let out a breath. “Oh good.” A quiet laugh escaped him. “I’m relieved it wasn’t just me.” He stretched his hand out to the bedside table where a box of tissues sat, and helped himself to a few. Once he’d removed every trace, he wadded it and left it on the varnished surface. He stared at the room for a moment.

Now what?

He wasn’t used to feeling this uncertain.

Better to leave before either of us start overthinking it. Before things get awkward.

He pushed himself upright, and Matt’s hand settled against his back, the touch light.

“Don’t go.”

Owen looked round.

Matt met his gaze. “Don’t go back to the couch. Please.” He hesitated. “Stay here. With me.”

For a moment, the request caught Owen off guard. This wasn’t how casual usually worked. Normally, one of them left, or he did. Nobody asked the other to stay because they both understood what the night was—and what it wasn’t.

But this is Matt’s first time with a man.

That changed things. It was only natural he’d want a little reassurance.

He smiled. “If you’re sure.”

Matt nodded. “I’m sure.”

Owen slipped back beneath the duvet.

Just for tonight.

That’s all this is.

Chapter Nineteen

Matt opened his eyes.

For a few blissful seconds he couldn’t work out why he felt so settled. Then he turned his head.

Owen was still asleep. A strand of silver-grey hair had escaped across his forehead. His breathing was slow and even.

Matt smiled. I expected to wake feeling different. Not physically, but emotionally, as though something this enormous ought to have rearranged the furniture inside his head overnight.

Instead, everything seemed to have slipped into place.

And now I’m lying here, listening to Owen breathe.

What they’d done last night had been nothing short of huge, but this? Sharing a bed, Owen inches away from him, lost in the quiet of morning…

He’d never realised how much he’d wanted that.

Everything that had happened during the last few weeks drifted through his head. None of it felt separate anymore. Each moment had quietly led to the next until this morning felt less like a beginning and more like a continuation.

I spent so much time looking for the moment everything changed.

Except there hadn’t been one. It had happened gradually, while he wasn’t paying attention.

Matt smiled again.

Trust me to notice the ending before I spotted the story.