Page 19 of The Lawyer's Quandary
Mark was well aware of the position he had put himself in. But he wasn’t going to back down any more than Greg was.
“Why doesswimming make me so danged hungry?” Greg asked later as they sat down at a sandwich shop just outside the campus area.
“Because even though you’re in the water and don’t sweat, swimming uses the entire body. Arms, legs, core… all of it works together to propel you through the water, and that burns a great deal of calories. You also don’t drink the pool water, so even though you’re surrounded by water, you can still get dehydrated. Swimming is exercise, the same as any other activity, so the same rules apply. Eat good food, drink plenty of water, and give your body a chance to recover.”
They ate their sandwiches, and Greg downed a glass of water before requesting some more. “I never really thought about it like that. When I was a kid, swimming was something we did to cool off and have fun. A neighbor family had a pool, and it had one of those slides. We used to love going down it and into the water. We’d play games and things in the water, and I did okay, but I was never a strong swimmer. Some of my friends used to do fancy dives and have contests to see who could go the farthest. I was just happy to be able to go off the board and reach the side of the pool without sinking to the bottom.”
“Well, you can swim now, and if you practice, you’ll be able to do even better. They have leagues and things at the Y for people who are older.”
Greg shook his head. “No thanks. I’m happy to be able to swim better, but I don’t need a bunch of people watching me flail in the water. I just want to be able to have fun in the water without worrying, and you helped give me that.”
Mark finished his egg salad sandwich and threw away the paper. Greg finished as well, and once they were done with their drinks, they headed out into the May warmth.
Without thinking too much about it, Mark led Greg back to where he had parked. Greg slipped into his car, and Mark drove to his three up, three down home a few blocks away. Over the years, his little house had stood as a bulwark against the encroachment of the college. He purchased it from a couple who had lived there for fifty years, raising their son in its small rooms. The other homes in the neighborhood were largely used as off-campus student housing. He had a tiny front yard, but a nice-sized back one that was mostly grass, with two neighboring trees that provided shade at various times during the day.
“This is nice,” Greg said as he stood in front of the house.
“Yeah. I was lucky to find it. Most of the houses had that fake stone stuff stuck on them in the forties. But no one did it tothis one. I really like that it wasn’t messed with.” He had scraped all the wood siding and had the entire place repainted a soft gray with white trim. The house looked neat and warm. At least he thought so. Mark unlocked the door and welcomed Greg into his small kingdom. The first floor was a living room, small kitchen, and a dining room perfect for no more than six. The house had all its details, like the crown molding in the living room and even the old cabinets in the kitchen that Mark had stripped down and repaired. Whoever had built the house hadn’t had a lot of money, but they had poured themselves into it.
“Did you redo the floors?” Greg asked.
“Yeah. I think when this was built in the twenties, someone had a connection because of how wide the planks are. I pulled up carpet and found this. So I sanded as lightly as I could and refinished them.” His favorite detail was the staircase. Someone had spent a great deal of time on the newel post and banister, because they were stunning. “I also redid all the rest of the woodwork to clean it up. There are two bedrooms and a nice bathroom upstairs. At one point, they converted the area under the stairs into a powder room, but it’s tiny.” He was proud of his little house and the way Greg wandered through, smiling.
“My dad would love this place,” Greg said. “He always loved working with his hands, and he was meticulous about it. I used to help him sometimes. When I was a kid, I held his tools, and then he tried to teach me all he knew.”
“And you became a lawyer,” Mark snickered.
“You got that right. I can do basic things, but I’m not all that good with bigger projects and things like that. Dad could make wood sing, and had a small workshop that was his domain.” Greg ran his hands over the banister. “This was made in one piece.”
“Yes, it was, and someone had painted it black. I got all the paint off and refinished it back to what it had been once.”
“Did you do a lot of work upstairs?” Greg asked, and Mark led the way to the second floor. The bathroom had a gorgeous claw-foot tub and was vintage-looking, but a lot of the fixtures were new.
“This is part of what sold me on the house. I loved the space here. The tile is all new, though I was able to keep the tub.”
“It’s really nice.” Greg turned to him and stepped down the hall to his bedroom. The door was open, so he peered in. “Jesus.” The master bedroom was the only larger room in the house. It was the entire front width, with a king-size bed. “How did you get this in here?”
“I built it there,” Mark said. “I fabricated the pieces, assembled and finished them to test the fit, and then carried the larger pieces up here and fastened them together in the room. After that, I barely got the mattress up here. It’s on a frame that I built instead of a box spring because one wouldn’t go up here.” It was pretty obvious that one of the things he loved was his bed. The duvet was deep green, almost emerald.
“I love the wainscoting, but don’t understand why it’s up here,” Greg continued.
“I guess because that was where they wanted it. I restored that as well and made the bed to go with it. I love that it gives the room a sort of cabin feeling.”
“It really does. If you closed the door, this room would feel right at home in a cabin in the woods.”
And that had been exactly what Mark had been going for. He stepped inside and closed the door. “Have you ever made love outdoors? With the birds singing and the fresh air blowing over your naked skin?” he asked, and Greg shook his head, swallowing hard as his eyes widened. “Then you’ve missed out. Let me tell you, there is nothing like it. No one around for miles, the scents, the sounds.” He cupped Greg’s cheeks. “The ability to scream your pleasure so even the frogs decide it’s matingseason.” He kissed him, and Greg put his arms around him, returning the kiss with a fervor that took Mark’s breath away. The sounds he made were enough to drive Mark wild.
“I guess you’re going to have to take me to the woods so we can experience this magic firsthand.”
“Or maybe we can pretend, and we create our own magic, right here and now.” He pressed Greg down onto the bed. “What do you think of that?”
Greg’s eyes darkened. “I always wanted to be a lumberjack.”
Mark couldbarely breathe as he stripped away the last of the fabric covering Greg’s lean body. He wasn’t bulky in any way, but damn, he was sleek, and his skin was flawless. Mark had seen most of him before at the pool, but there was something extra enticing about having him in his bed. For one thing, the pool was kind of public, but this was private, and Mark didn’t have to observe any sort of propriety. He could look and touch all he wanted.
“What are you doing just standing there?” Greg asked. “Am I ugly and you’re trying to figure out how to get the hell away?”
Mark groaned. “Fuck no.” He pulled off his shirt and got out of the rest of his clothes as quickly as possible, his cock pointing the way to Greg like a damned compass. He prowled closer and climbed onto the bed. “You’re hot as hell. I wanted to do wonderfully nasty things to you while we were at the pool, but I wasn’t able to, and now I have you in my bed, so I get the admire the view for a while.”
