Steam (Homecoming Hearts #4)(16)

For a brief, horribly selfish moment, Ashby worried if that was how he was going to end up. Then he mentally slapped himself. Yes, he’d been through a tough breakup, but it was of his choosing and undoubtedly for the best. He was half this guy’s age and wasn’t facing anything nearly as bad as seeing a child through a long illness. Skye had assured Ashby the boy was out of the woods now, but a divorce on top of that was bound to be exhausting. No wonder the resort looked in dire need of love. Bob was in dire need of some love, too.

“Carpe diem,” Ashby reminded himself for the hundredth time since he’d left Gordon. He was only twenty-four, and he needed to start seizing the day more so he didn’t end up lonely and unfulfilled.

Starting with a nighttime swim.

He’d fancied the idea since he’d arrived, and after his third glass of wine, he decided now was the time. The hotel’s heated, outdoor pool was open late so guests could enjoy a warm paddle surrounded by snow. It sounded scandalous to Ashby. Something that surely should have been against the rules. Which is precisely why he wanted to do it.

Feeling tipsy and naughty, he went back to his room and put on his favorite tight swimming trunks. As it was dark and the hotel was low on guests, he figured he’d get away with no one seeing how skimpy they were. They left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Then he wrapped up in his robe once more and stuck his feet in his fluffy boots to head outside.

The shock of the cold cleared out the cobwebs and sobered up Ashby immediately. He giggled in shock at the sharp contrast of temperature between indoors and out, scampering over to the coat hooks to shuck off his robe and step out of his boots.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he hissed, hopping and dancing his way across the snow into the warm waters of the pool with another laugh. It was more like a large jacuzzi with pressurized jets creating bubbles and currents around the edges. Ashby sighed as he sank down until only his head remained in the frigid air. “Magic,” he said softly to himself as the steam rose from the water all around him.

There was a sauna house to the left that had a foot of snow on its roof. Ashby was looking forward to giving that a go soon. Trees rose up beyond the fence, encircling the back of the resort. Pointed pines that climbed up the start of the mountainside, hinting to the summit lost in the darkness. Ashby sighed, feeling blissfully peaceful.

Until he realized he wasn’t alone.

As he turned and glanced to the right, he realized there was someone else bobbing in the corner of the rectangular pool, hidden initially by the steam. Someone familiar.

“Oh, hello?” Ashby spluttered. Obviously, he wasn’t going to be able to play it cool, no matter when or where he saw TJ Charles. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I didn’t splash you, did I? It’s damned cold getting from the clothes rack to the water.”

TJ was staring at him. His dark eyes were wide enough that Ashby could see a fair bit of the whites despite the gloom. “Uh…” he said.

Fuck. Ashby had forgotten he was wearing the skimpiest damn swimwear ever invented. It was practically a thong. He blushed, wondering how much of his junk TJ had seen bouncing around when he’d run over the snow.

“Sorry, I’m bothering you again,” Ashby mumbled.

His knee-jerk reaction was to get out of the pool as fast as possible and take himself far away from TJ’s judgmental stare. But his pride refused to bow down to that. His body was also extremely against the idea of getting back out into the snow any time soon.

So instead, he swam over to the opposite end of the pool, by the pine trees, and rested his hands on the stone edge. He stared up at the side of the magnificent mountain, trying to ignore TJ’s presence and enjoy himself.

Only when he heard the splashing of water and the door to the main lodge swinging shut did Ashby finally relax again.

Well, it seemed his unfortunate crush hadn’t left the resort just yet, after all.





7





Trent





It was like the image of a certain almost-naked-British guy was seared into the back of Trent’s eyeballs. Every time he closed his eyes, his lithe body dashing across the snow appeared. Normally, Trent noticed other guys’ bodies in an abstract sort of way. Like, he thought about how much they did or didn’t work out to get their physique. But the Brit was like an otter or mythical elf. Lithe, slender, but with enough muscular definition so his body didn’t look skinny. Trent’s mind kept drifting back to him simply because he was incredibly attractive to look at.

Which was weird, right? Trent could understand it if it had been a gorgeous girl in a bikini, her breasts bouncing as she jumped into the water, squealing in delight. But something about this guy’s ridiculous dash across the snow along with his willowy body clad only in the tightest, tiniest Speedos had taken up space in Trent’s brain and refused to leave.

Maybe it was just unusual? He had an ethereal, androgynous sort of look about him, further tempting Trent to think he might have been a model. But his dorky nature didn’t really add up with that.

It had annoyed Trent that he’d taken forever to get himself to sleep the first night in his cabin as he’d been so preoccupied with random thoughts about a strange dude. What was that about?

By the time morning came, he felt like he hadn’t slept at all. It didn’t help that when he wasn’t thinking about the stranger he’d now crossed paths with twice, he was thinking about his dad. Yesterday’s reception had been far from ideal. But Trent would be willing to try as many times to smooth things out between them so long as his dad was looking after Merlin well enough.