What the hell? I hadn’t meant to scare him. I’d called out his name a few times, but he hadn’t heard me. The look of fear in his eyes took me by surprise, though, since he knew I was the only other person in the building. Surely, he wasn’t afraid of me.

Was he?

I wanted to go to him, to reach my hand out to steady him and reassure him I would never hurt him. To be completely honest, I wanted to gather him into my arms and keep him safe. But I was naked in a communal shower. Not the time or place to be touching another man. Especially a client. Especially a client I’d already spent some time fantasizing about naked.

“It’s just me,” I said calmly instead. “Sorry I startled you.”

“Fuck,” Augie muttered under his breath. “Fuck. It’s fine. Sorry.”

I forced myself to turn away and start my own shower spray—act like everything was cool since the alternative would have me interrogating the poor guy to ask what the hell had caused him to spook like that. Clearly there was something going on with him to make him jumpy. It seemed more like he’d been a victim of a beating than a break-in.

My eyes closed as I felt the hot water thrum against my skin. I stood under the water for a while trying to relax. Eventually, I snuck a peek to make sure Augie was okay.

Of course my eyes immediately landed on his bare ass. The same bare ass I may or may not have jacked off to that very morning. I closed my eyes again and stifled a groan. The man was beautiful. His body was lean and sleek like a cat, and his changeable personality only intensified my interest in him.

But if I was being honest, my interest at that point was being driven primarily by his ass. Just the idea of sliding my body into that tight heat had my cock perking up. I clenched my jaw in frustration. Couldn’t Neckie have sprung for individual shower stalls for fuck’s sake? Then I wouldn’t have had to try to rifle through my mental Rolodex of boner-killing images to save my boss from losing a client.

I reached a soapy hand down to stroke my cock under the guise of washing it. Ohhhh, fuckkk. Couldn’t the man just finish his shower and leave me in peace to finish myself off? It seriously wouldn’t take more than like five seconds at this rate.

I reached my other hand to pull on my sac and gritted my teeth as the feelings in my groin only intensified. Even though I was facing away from Augie, there was still no way I’d be able to hide my growing erection from him if I couldn’t get myself together.

Augie made a noise, and I turned to look over my shoulder. His head was tilted back, and his eyes were squeezed closed. He, too, was facing away, and both his hands were hidden in front of his body. Just the thought that he could be doing the same thing I was made my dick even harder.

Suddenly my brain flashed to Lanny and his warnings to me the other day in his office. I remembered how disappointed he’d been in me for being irresponsible with a client. And there I was contemplating stroking one off while I was ten feet away from another important client.

Jesusfuckingchrist, I was an asshole and an idiot.

After my dick deflated, I was left feeling like the lowest of scum. I quickly finished washing, wrapped a towel around my waist, and hurried out of the shower room without sparing another glance at Augie. As I made my way to my locker, I rolled my eyes at myself before sinking to the bench and dropping my head into my hands.

“Saint?” Augie’s soft voice came from directly in front of me. I raised my face to see him standing almost between my spread legs. The divots of worry were etched into his forehead as usual, and without his glasses, he looked deliciously sleepy.

“Hm?” My hands itched to pull the towel from his waist, to trace the path of water droplets down his chest, to reach around to cup his little ass and bring him close enough to bury my face in his front. I felt my breath come in quicker draws.

“Are you… do you like guys? I wasn’t really sure after last night…”

The question took me by surprise. I could see a deep blush mottling Augie’s neck and cheeks, but he had the strength to maintain eye contact with me while he waited for my response.

Instead of speaking it, I leaned toward him and rested my forehead against his flat belly, bringing my hands up to rest lightly on his hips.

“More than you can even imagine,” I whispered.

His fingers forked through my hair as his feet shuffled closer. The bulge of a hard cock was right below my face, pressing the towel toward me. It was so very tempting. And surprising, since I thought he wouldn’t be interested in the dumb-jock type. But maybe he was willing to slum it for a night.

I lifted my head up to meet his eyes. “I can’t stop watching you,” I admitted. “I’m sorry.”

Both of his hands slid over my cheeks to cup the sides of my face. His fingers were slender and cool against my skin. “Why are you sorry? I can’t stop watching you either.”

“But you kind of have a girlfriend,” I said, because I’d second-guessed his declaration after seeing all the photos of the two of them together online. “And you’re my client.”

He came even closer and straddled me, placing one knee and then the other on the bench to either side of me. “I kind of have a fake girlfriend,” he said in a thick voice, settling his tight bum on my thighs. The towel opened enough for me to see the sleek, curved muscles of his inner thighs. My eyes begged to see farther up underneath the teasing towel.

“And you’re fired.”

Augie’s smiling lips brushed against mine before coming back for more. And more. And more.

I let him play around with our lips for a little while before bringing a hand up to cradle the back of his head and kissing him even deeper. Little moans of pleasure made their way out of his throat as my tongue explored his mouth. His hands held on to my shoulders for dear life, and his hips undulated, pushing his hard cock against my stomach.

I was hard as hell and desperate to get him naked beneath me. My hands moved down his smooth back and into the back of the loose towel. His ass cheeks filled my hands perfectly.

“Augie, you have no idea how much you turn me on. I’ve been wanting to touch you like this since I first saw you,” I murmured against his mouth.

“Please,” he breathed, moving his lips in a trail along my jaw and down my neck. “Touch me.”

I pulled the towel away from his hips until I had a naked August Stiel hard and begging on my lap. It was better than every daydream I’d had in the few days since we’d met. I peeked down at his erection, stiff and ruddy pink against the pale skin of his abdomen. The thatch of hair surrounding it was neatly trimmed, which didn’t surprise me in someone so outwardly orderly. I reached down to run my fingers through it before taking his cock in hand and slowly stroking it.

“Like this?” I whispered into his ear. His entire body shuddered.

“Mm-hm. Just like that.”

I kissed the side of his head as he took a break from kissing across my shoulder to try and catch his breath.

“I want to see you come, Augie. Want to watch you relax and let go. You’re so beautiful like this, flushed and panting… letting me touch you the way I want to touch you. You’re making me so hard, baby. So fucking hard.”

I continued to grumble encouraging words to him as I stroked him faster, taking the precum leaking from his tip and smearing it across his velvety skin.

“Saint,” he moaned. “Gonna come.”

His head rested against my chest, and his legs propelled his hips forward and back, fucking himself into my hand as his orgasm drew closer. Suddenly, I had the urge to swallow his release, to take him into my mouth and make him feel as good as possible.

I lifted him off me and sat him on my spot on the bench, causing him to yelp at the hard surface under his tender ass. Instead of apologizing with words, I knelt down and took him into my mouth, bobbing and sucking for all I was worth while wrapping one arm around his hips and holding him tight. With the other hand, I opened my own towel and jacked myself off.

It only took seconds before he was arching up and shooting into my throat with a muffled grunt followed by a loud, sucked in breath. The minute I felt him come, I sensed the detonation of my own release and thrust hard into my own hand. After I finished, I continued soft licks and sucks on Augie until his body shook with the aftershocks of oversensitivity. When I finally glanced up at him, he looked stunned.

“You sucked me off,” he croaked.

I licked my lips and grinned. “Mm-hmm. Sure did.”

His eyes jumped down to where my cock was softening against my thighs. “You came?” His voice was still high-pitched in disbelief. Something about that was endearing as hell.

“I did indeed. You’re sexy as fuck.”

Augie scrambled off the bench and out of my embrace, grabbing the towel and backing up like I was some kind of threat.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His eyes were wide and frightened, not at all what I would expect after such an intimate moment.

“Augie?”

“No, I mean… I just like jumped you… basically. And… well, I never do that. I never do this.” He gestured with one hand wildly between us while holding the towel in front of his crotch with the other. “I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to put you in an awkward position, and… shit, is this like some kind of ‘hashtag me too’ thing where I’ve put you in a terrible position? It’s just that—”

I interrupted his babbling before he could hyperventilate. “Augie, I clearly wanted it. Why are you panicking? Do you regret what we did? Did I do something to—”

“No! Not at all. I was afraid that I was the one… because clearly you wouldn’t normally do… this… with…” He seemed to run out of steam. “Someone like me.”

His eyes were downcast, as if he couldn’t bear to look at me anymore. For a split second, I wondered if he was referring to how much higher up the intelligence and socioeconomic scales he was than I was. But his body language was clearly broadcasting massive insecurity.

Which made my stomach hurt and my heart lodge in my throat.

I moved to the bench and sat down, facing him. I didn’t want to scare him off, and I was desperate to touch him again, if only to reassure him. But I didn’t want to scare him like I had in the shower.

“Come here please,” I said softly, holding out my arms.

His eyes widened and he looked up before taking a tentative step toward me. “You aren’t upset?”

“Are you kidding? Where is this coming from? You’re beautiful and sexy, successful and smart. Why in the world, besides pissing off my boss, would I regret what we did together?”

He came even closer until he stood between my legs again. I put my arms around him and rested my chin on his stomach while looking up at his pretty hazel eyes. Augie’s hands threaded into my hair almost without him realizing it.

“Will you get in trouble with Lanny?” he asked. “I won’t tell anyone. You don’t have to say anything. I’m good at keeping secrets.”

The sour feeling in my stomach worsened. I hated knowing he was so used to keeping his liaisons a secret. And I despised the implication he didn’t think he was good enough for a regular guy like me. But I also couldn’t afford for Lanny to hear that only a few days after benching me for inappropriate behavior toward a client, I’d dived right in to do it again.

“He certainly wouldn’t be happy about it,” I explained. “But I can’t say I’m sorry we did this. Are you?”

“Pfft. Are you crazy? Have you seen you?” His cheeks flamed. “I don’t do this kind of thing very often.”

I pulled him forward to straddle me again so I could hold him a little longer. “So you said. Why is that?”

Augie’s jaw tightened. “My family. If they found out…” He shook his head from side to side. “You know what? No. I’m sick and fucking tired of keeping part of myself locked away. I swore I wasn’t going to do this shit anymore. I’m twenty-eight fucking years old. Why do I turn into a wayward child when I think of coming out again to my family?”

“I can’t say I understand what it’s like to be in the closet with family. Hell, I have the queerest family around. But I do know that coming out is complicated and emotional regardless of your family situation. So you have to go easy on yourself. You don’t owe anyone anything, especially me.”

I rubbed my hands along his slender back, enjoying the smooth warm skin under my fingers. Augie’s arms were wrapped around my neck, and I took the opportunity to lean in and kiss the worry marks on his forehead.

“I hate seeing you worry,” I murmured against his skin. He moved his head down to tuck into my neck, and we just stayed there like that, wrapped up in each other for comfort more than anything else.

It was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever had with another person. Cuddling and embracing like that wasn’t something you did with one-nighters and quick hookups.

After a few minutes, I could sense Augie getting hard again. He wasn’t the only one.

“Come home with me?” Augie whispered. It was so soft, I barely made it out.

I knew I shouldn’t. It was an irresponsible choice considering the damage I could be doing to my job.

He shifted so he could meet my eyes. “Please, Saint. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

If there was a person alive who could resist that plea, it certainly wasn’t me.

“Let’s go,” I said, gently nudging him off my lap. “I’ll follow you there.”