Steam (Homecoming Hearts #4)(63)

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” the woman cried in delight. “Ashby Wilcott, you get out here this instant!”

“Maeve!” Ashby shrieked. Trent peeked out from under the covers to his left, just enough to see a dressed Ashby burst out of the bathroom. “What are you doing? Go on, shoo!”

Maeve, the housekeeper, cackled some more. “Oh, sweetie, don’t you look pretty? Okay, all right, I’m going. Bye TJ!” she cooed. Trent heard the door close.

After a few seconds, Trent dared to look above the covers. Ashby had his hands in his hair, staring in mortification at the closed door. “She seemed friendly,” Trent commented. There was no sense getting upset. He wasn’t going to be ashamed about Ashby, so why not come out of the closet right now?

Ashby turned to him. Trent felt the humor drop from his face as he took in Ashby’s outfit.

It was simple. The same stonewashed skinny jeans he’d been wearing yesterday, but now matched with a pair of black boots with a small heel that disappeared under the denim. The top was a Chinese-looking black tunic, silky, with a gold and jade pattern of hummingbirds and flowers embroidered on it.

The ensemble was elegant, though neither wholly feminine nor masculine. Even without makeup and last night’s bed hair, Ashby looked totally stunning.

“Fuck me,” Trent murmured in surprise.

It looked like Ashby took a moment to register the lust in Trent’s eyes. He spun and smiled. “I’d rather you fucked me,” he said with a wink.

Trent crooked his finger, beckoning Ashby to him.

“That can be arranged, gorgeous,” he said.





25





Ashby





Ashby was doing his best not to get swept up in the romance and intoxication of such incredible and regular fucking. But it was difficult. Now Trent had been given ‘permission’ (as Ashby saw it) to crush on Ashby, he was having the time of his life. He fancied Ashby no matter what he was wearing. But even when they were lying around naked, he seemed captivated by Ashby’s body, always running his hands over it and kissing every inch.

So it wasn’t just the makeup or pretty clothes that Trent liked. It was everything about Ashby. It eased the worry that Trent was confusing him for a girl, although since their chat that hadn’t really been a concern.

What was an issue was their very separate lives. Ashby had made a home for himself in London. Not that he had a job, but he had friends and a community there. Trent’s home was LA and his movie career sent him all over the globe while he was working. But he was already making noises about ‘making it work.’ After all, they both had money, they could travel. But could a relationship really work with so many thousands of miles between them?

Was this even a relationship? Sure, the sexual chemistry was off the charts. As Ashby sat in the bar and stirred sugar into his tea, he looked out the window at the outdoor pool, steaming like usual as the cold air hit the warm water. Late last night, after a couple of glasses of wine, he had strongly encouraged Trent to put a robe on with him and run out naked to the pool after hours when the lights were off. They had frotted and jerked each other off and kissed until they’d come under the stars in the dead of night.

Ashby shifted in his seat and glanced around. He had a table to himself and there weren’t that many people around. Still, he would have been mortified if the nice grandparents with their grandkid in the big glasses caught him getting hot and bothered in the middle of the day. But bloody hell, just thinking about Trent’s muscular body made Ashby want to climb him like a tree. Again.

A quiet yowl by his feet made him look down. He was surprised to see Merlin the St. Bernard puppy lying down by his shoes. Ashby looked up in surprise. But when he caught eyes with Darnell at the bar, he gave Ashby a thumbs-up. Then Darnell turned to the entrance of the bar where Kadie from reception was hovering. She followed Darnell’s line of sight to see where Merlin was, pointed toward the dog, then called something like ‘he’s here’ down the corridor. Ashby realized she was probably telling Trent’s dad where his dog was and that everything was okay.

Ashby figured Mr. Charles didn’t want him back for the moment, so he bent down and scratched the dog behind his ears. “Good boy,” he murmured. He did love this little fellow a lot. He was so sweet, if not at times a little too exuberant. Mr. Charles was probably glad to get a break from him for a while, unfortunately.

Trent kept skirting around the issue of his dad. Ashby knew things weren’t right between them, but he wasn’t sure what the exact issue was. He had pieced together himself that Trent had got Merlin as a present for his dad and it possibly hadn’t gone down as well as he had hoped.

Ashby felt sad he might not be around to see them patch things up. It was in his nature to want everybody to get along and help achieve that in any way possible. Perhaps he could extend his stay here?

But where would it end if he did that? He and Trent couldn’t stay on holiday indefinitely. They had to go back to the real world at some point. Would their budding relationship survive when they did?

“Oh my gawd,” a voice squeaked.

It pulled Ashby from his reverie and his gaze away from the swimming pool beyond the window. He turned to see a slim guy in glasses with thick black rims and a navy baseball cap standing by his table. His scraggly goatee was in need of a proper trim, but the way he was looking down in delight at Merlin made Ashby think kinder of him.