Last night had been everything he hadn’t expected. Walking in here fired up, only to find Chad was a talented designer. That he had a vulnerability to him and a dream and a past. Chad was far from two-dimensional. He was multifaceted, and Owen wanted to get to know every single part of him.
So not only did he want more of Chad in bed, he wanted more of Chad out of bed, too.
And that was the biggest surprise of all.
When Chad walked out of the bathroom, his hair grooved from his fingers, Owen pointed to the laptop on the desk. “Show me what else you got.”
Chad stopped in his tracks. “What?”
Owen sat up and placed a pillow on the headboard so he could recline against it. “Show me what else you’ve drawn. I want to see.”
Chad didn’t move, his eyes wide.
Owen threw up his hands. “I had my tongue in your ass last night and you won’t show me your designs?”
Chad stomped his foot. “Showing you what’s on there”—he pointed to his laptop—“makes me feel more naked than when I’m standing here like this!” His voice rose at the end, and then he clacked his teeth shut, as if he was surprised by his outburst.
Owen was surprised, too. “Oh, wow. Okay. Well, I appreciate the honesty, then. If you aren’t ready to show me, that’s fine.” And it was. He didn’t want to push Chad.
But Chad was marching over to his laptop. “Of course I’ll show you. Don’t be stupid. You just surprised me.”
“In a bad way or good way?” Owen asked as Chad plopped beside him on the bed with his laptop on his lap.
Chad kept his eyes on his screen as it booted up, but his smile told it all. “Good way.”
He opened up Dropbox and selected a file labeled “BadAssArt.” Owen laughed at that, and Chad grinned, then slid the laptop onto Owen’s lap so he could check out the files.
He flipped through them, admiring Chad’s style. It wasn’t all hard edges and angles, but it wasn’t soft, either. He drew realistically yet embellished. He was incredibly talented. “So how did you learn?”
“Books. Internet forums. Stuff like that.”
“That’s hard to do.” Owen squinted at a female version of the screen saver centaur.
“I don’t know. Hands-on experience is best anyway, right? So I played around and figured out how to do stuff.”
A memory hit Owen, and he looked up. “Hey, that book on your bookshelf. Quark for Dummies.”
Chad’s cheeks colored.
Owen twisted at the waist. “That was you, wasn’t it? You put that book in the wrong place. Why did you do that?”
Chad took his computer back from Owen and shut the lid. “I don’t know, it was stupid, but I didn’t want you to know. Know about me.”
Owen should have been hurt, but he hadn’t wanted Chad to know much about him at the time, either. He hadn’t even told Chad he knew who he was.
“So I hid the book when I saw it was you and then went back later and got it.”
Owen didn’t apologize, because they’d both been assholes when they first met. He watched as Chad placed the laptop on the bedside table. “Well, thanks for showing me now. I really loved looking at your work.” He floundered, wanting to encourage Chad. “So where are you attending?”
Chad stared out his window. “Uh, well, not sure yet. I need to apply but most likely William Penn.”
That was their local state school, which was close enough Chad could commute. “I know some faculty there, actually—”
Chad looked at him askance, then pushed him gently on the shoulder. “What’re ya gonna do, O, huh? Go in there and be like, ‘please don’t fail my boyfriend.’”
Owen was impressed with himself that he didn’t even flinch at the term “boyfriend.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “I think I can take care of myself.”
“I was just trying to help,” Owen muttered.
Chad’s expression sobered, and his eyes hardened slightly. “Look, I appreciate it. But for real, I can handle school myself. I want to handle it myself. I need you to understand that.”
Owen swallowed, recognizing this moment for what it was—a time when Chad was actually serious about something. He smiled to show no hard feelings. “Okay, I understand.”
Chad’s face lightened, and he stood up beside the bed. “So, want some coffee?”
Owen looked at the clock and groaned. “I need to get to work.”
Chad’s face fell. “What? Work?”
“Yeah, that thing that pays my bills?”
Chad chewed on his lip, and Owen wasn’t so sure he liked the sparkle in his eye. And he was sure when Chad blurted, “Call out.”