Page 19 of Not That Ridiculous

He didn’t take his eyes off me.

The second I helped set the barbell back into the cradle, I bolted.

5

Irushed to the changing room and scrambled into the shower. By then, the sweat had cooled and dried on me and I felt disgusting. If I was at home I’d have stayed in there for twenty minutes and worked through all my mental shit while I relaxed in the heat and the steam, but I wasn’t at home, and although the changing room wasn’t busy, it wasn’t conducive to relaxation, either. I did the bare minimum, dried off, and hustled over to my locker to get changed.

I was buttoning up my jeans when Kevin wandered in, glowing with sweat, rude health, and burned-off sexual energy. He ambled over to me.

His t-shirt was sticking to him. It had been form-fitting to start with. Now it was all but vacuum-sealed to his chest and abs. His shorts clung to his thighs and his cheeks were red. His focused, intense eyes were back to their usual soft and gentle brown. “I’ll be quick,” he said. “Meet you out front in a few?”

“Yes. Thanks, Kevin. You really don’t have to.”

“I want to.” He gave me a friendly tap on my shoulder before wandering off to his locker, where he proceeded to yank his shorts down and moon me.

I was out the door so quickly, I didn’t even remember moving across the room.

Kevin wasas efficient in the shower as I was, because it was indeed only a few minutes before he joined me outside the gym, where I was leaning against the wall, scrolling on my phone.

“What’re you looking at?” he said. “Insta?” He took hold of my wrist and pulled my phone up to his face.

We were touching each other now?

Casual manhandling was a thing we did?

Or a thing Kevin did, because I’d die before I reached out to another human being and made the first move?

“You’d better not be looking for workout Reels,” he said, disapproval heavy in his voice. “Because you shouldn’t waste your time. If Jasper isn’t available, you gotta let me—oh.Oooh.Look at that. Ilovethat, Charlie.” He glanced from the phone to my face and back again. “Will you make me one?”

He’d discovered my secret obsession.

I was addicted to latte art, and I’d been enviously admiring the grid of a barista from Melbourne who had a cult following for all the little foam creatures she conjured into being.

“No.”

His excited smile didn’t even slip. “Ah, go on.”

“No.”

He took the phone clean out of my hand and I just let him do it.

I’d let him do absolutely anything he wanted, wouldn’t I?

I hoped he never worked that one out.

He swiped around with more approvingoohsandahhs. “These are wicked. They’re so clever. This one’s my favourite.” He angled the phone at me. A small, round-faced bear was clinging to the side of a large cup and smiling up at the camera lens. “Look at this little guy. I want him.”

Maybe I could be strong-armed into a leaf or a heart. A swan, even, as long as it was 2D. I refused to make adorable little bears only to stand by and watch them dissolve.

I was a cold, mean man, but I had standards.

“May I have my phone back, please, Kevin?”

“Hang on.” He swiped a few more times before handing it to me. “Please make me one.” He opened his eyes wider. “Please-please?”

“It won’t work. Your order is a flat white.”

He frowned.

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