Dalton nodded, a wider smile on his face. “Yeah, you're probably right.”
“Dee, come inside for a bit. You need to get out of the sun and drink something. Have a cold shower and chill out for half an hour in the staff room. I’ll pop over to the deli and get us something to eat.”
Dalton took a long moment to consider Liam’s offer, then nodded. “I'm starving.”
“No breakfast?”
“No.”
“You're being a real bad boy today, Dalton.”
“Sorry.” He took Liam's hand and he hoisted Dalton to his feet. “I’ll try to be better behaved.”
“You'd better be.” Liam slipped his hand in Dalton's and tugged him along.
“My legs ache like a bitch. You know, I ran six miles in under an hour.”
“Really? And wearing those clothes? It looks like I'm putting your name forward for the half marathon in a couple of months then.”
“What?” Dalton stopped walking, but Liam just pulled him against his side again.
“You heard.”
“Liam… I don’t know.”
“You're doing it. I’ll do it with you. I'm not as fast, but then I'm not built for running. You may beat me in something. Wouldn’t that be nice for your ego?”
Dalton tilted his head, attempting to hide how smug he obviously felt about that.
Liam laughed. “You know you're doing this, and you know you're going to work your ass off to beat me.”
“It’s the taking part which counts,” Dalton replied haughtily, a slow smirk making it onto half of his mouth.
Liam laughed loudly, pushing him through the door and into the cool air conditioned reception of Aspire.
“Ahh, God, that’s good.” Dalton tilted his head back, letting the breeze hit him as he stood still in the middle of the room.
Liam slapped his arse and hurried him into the locker room. “I’ll grab some uniforms we keep on site. You’ll fit Nick’s stuff easily. I’ll leave them outside the shower for you. Cool down and get dressed then meet me in the staff room. I’ll be back with food by the time you're out. Anything you fancy?” Liam roamed his eyes over Dalton's torso as he stripped off his damp sweater.
“Anything, really. I'm not fussy. I’ll pretty much eat anything you put in my mouth.”
Liam raised both his brows, a sexy smirk on his lips.
Dalton huffed. “Pervert.”
“Hey, it’s you doing the dirty talking.” He watched Dalton unbuttoning his jeans and took a breath. “I'd better go or I’ll be in that shower with you, your legs wrapped around my hips and my tongue in your mouth.”
Dalton paused, Liam watching as his breathing picked back up. Blue eyes met his and Liam licked his lips.
“Hmm, Dee. Don’t, Baby.” Liam was more than half hard. Dalton saw the bulge in his pants rising and went beet red. Liam chuckled as he stepped closer, tilting Dalton’s head back and pressing their lips together, letting his cock rest on Dalton’s hip. “There’s nothing to be ashamed about getting me hard, Dee. I don’t react like this for many men. I want you a lot. Too much I think.”
“Too much?” Dalton breathed out over his lips before Liam kissed him again, this time wrapping his arms around Liam’s waist and holding him tightly. He could feel Dalton responding, his cock stiffening against his thigh. “Liam…”
“I have to go.” Liam stepped back and blew out another big breath. “Have fun in there on your own though.” He winked at him then walked off, leaving Dalton alone and hard, and wishing he’d stayed to help sort him out, but knowing it wasn’t the right time. Dalton needed to cool off, not burn up.
Maybe later, after food and a rest, they could go for a walk by the canal and he could calm Dalton down a bit more, get some weight off his shoulders. Also, the fact they would be in public would mean the desire to rip all their clothes off and do things they shouldn’t be doing would decrease considerably.
Chapter 21
Troy sat back on the small, black, leather sofa which he’d put in the front of Living Ink for his customers to sit on as they looked through the catalogue of images they generally used to choose which ink to go for. He dragged out his mobile, calling Liam up. He was hungry and Aspire had air con which he was going to enjoy while he took an hour off in between customers. “Hey, you ready for lunch? I'm starving.”
“I'm on my way to Zappinie’s. You want me to pick you something up and drop it off?”
“Well, yeah, I want you to pick me something up, but I want to eat it with you in the cool and comfortable staff room you have there. It’s burning hot today.”
Liam paused, taking a deep breath, and Troy could almost feel the tension down the phone.
“What’s up? If you're too busy, I don’t mind—”
“It’s not that, T. Come on over, it’s just… You know the guy I told you about?”
“You haven’t told me shit about him. You mean this Dee you’ve mentioned like twice?”
“Yeah, him. Well, I told you his dad was ill…”
Troy paused, trying to gauge Liam's tone before he spoke. “Erm, did he die?”
“No, it’s just he’s had a bad morning, so I invited him for lunch. We’re just having a toasted panini in the staff room. You're okay to join us. Kathy and Nick will be there.”
Troy thought about if he wanted to meet the guy. Yes, he wanted to see who’d grabbed Liam’s attention in such a big way, but he also knew he’d be a prick to him and this Dee didn’t need that right now. “I'm good. Just drop off one of those barbeque chicken and cheese paninis I like as you head back.”
“Troy… I'm not pushing you out.”
“I didn’t say you were. I'm just thinking of your new friend, that’s all. If he's had a bad morning and you’ve invited him for lunch, me turning up and being in the way isn’t going to go down too well.”
“You wouldn’t be in the way,” Liam growled out.
“Yeah, I know, but I'm just seeing this from his point of view.”
“Look, if you want me to come round and—”
“And what? Leave your friend waiting for you while you pander to me? No thanks. I know what it’s like to be stood up.”
“I wouldn’t stand him up, and it’s not a date or anything. It’s just lunch in the staff room at the gym. The place he comes to all the time…” Liam must have taken the phone away from his ear because Troy heard him swear, but it was distant.
Troy chuckled. “So, you broke your own rule, huh? This guy must be something special for you to do that.”
Liam didn’t shit where he ate to quote a disgusting phrase, and he didn’t screw around with clients. Liam knew it would end up with them being pissed off at him and leaving Aspire. That would cost him money and it could end up with the guy spreading crap around town to pay him back, so Liam always stuck to picking up men who didn’t go there just in case.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Really?” Troy laughed hard. “Oh, come on. He goes there all the time? What have you been doing, eye fucking him on the treadmill for months and finally broke? How long has this been going on?”
“It’s a new thing, okay. It just kinda happened. I didn’t plan it out. I was staying well away from him. Okay, so I looked, but if you saw him you'd know why. The guy’s stunning.”
“Yeah, I heard about his eyes. Not usually the thing you choose to mention.” Troy rolled his shoulders. It was usually their ass or some other part of their body which Liam talked about.
“There’s not one part of him which isn’t mind-alteringly perfect.”
“Oh, shit! Perfect. You and perfect.” Troy shook his head. “I want to meet him, but not today.”
“I’m at the deli. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be at your place.”
“Get me fries too. I'm starving.”
“Yeah, okay.” Liam ended the call.
Troy lifted his feet onto the sofa and tried to ignore the niggling twisting in his stomach. It was good Liam had found someone. Maybe if he did, Troy could find someone.
Troy moved outside to the rear of the shop where there was a small yard which housed his smoking chair. It was a swing really, one of those which stayed outside and had extra thick padding on it with a nifty canopy on top. Troy had just stubbed out his cigarette when Liam popped his head through the screen door and grinned at him.
“Making the most of the sun, I see.”
“Yeah, it’s nice out here. In there… Have you felt the heat?”
“Yeah, you need an air con unit. It can't be nice for you or the people you’re working on. We can check some out on the web tonight. Here you go.” He passed Troy a few boxes and leaned against the wall, toying with some of the leaves from the ivy which covered every wall out there. “So, you good with me and lunch?”
“Yeah. I said it was fine.” Troy opened up his panini and sniffed it. “They do the best stuff there.”
“They’re closing.”
“What?”
Liam folded his arms across his chest, checking his watch. “Yeah. Buying a bigger place further in town. More customers, more money.”