Free Accidentally in Love by Jane Davitt, Alexa Snow

he’d gone along with their plans to avoid being left behind yet again.

    “I know what fun is,” he said now, grumpily. “I’m just not sure this is my kind of it.”

    “You can’t be sure until you try.” Cal patted his shoulder. “Anyway, you should be the one reassuring me right now that I’m not going to scare everyone off. I’m still pretty bruised up.” He touched his own cheekbone tentatively.
     
    “You look better than me even with the bruises.” Tom studied Cal, trying to be objective. Cal’s hazel eyes weren’t bloodshot anymore, and the faint bruising around his eyes just gave them a shadowed look, as if he’d been up all night partying. His nose was still swollen, but even that wouldn’t put people off. “You’ll get people cooing over you, wanting to kiss it all better,” he said in an attempt to cheer Cal up. Cal had recovered physically from the beating, but his normal effervescence had gone a little flat. Tom didn’t like that. Cal’s breezy good humor was something he’d gotten used to, and he found that he missed it.

    Cal laughed. “Yeah, well, if they do, I’m counting on you to defend me. I really don’t like being fussed over.”

    “You want me to be your bodyguard?” Tom asked, amused by the idea. “I can do that, I guess.”

    “You’d better.” Cal took a step back and looked at Tom thoughtfully, and Tom had the distinct impression that he was being judged.
     
    “You don’t like what I’m wearing? I thought we were going to that steakhouse. It’s casual.” Tom knew he sounded defensive. How was he supposed to help it?

    “What if you meet someone amazing at the club?” Cal shrugged like it didn’t really matter that much one way or the other, and that was what enabled Tom to nod when Cal suggested, “Come on. Let’s see what else you’ve got in your closet.”

    He followed Cal toward his own bedroom, stopping when Cal did.

    “Off limits,” Cal said, gesturing, and Tom understood.

    “Oh. Right. Yes, go ahead.”

    “You must have some jeans that are…well, less baggy.” Cal rubbed his lower lip, head slightly tilted to one side. Being studied was discomforting at any time. Being studied by Cal was distracting. Tom found himself studying the other man in return, taking in Cal’s model-like, almost beautiful features while he could.

    “I have some really old ones that probably don’t fit,” he offered. “They shrank in the wash when I screwed up the settings and pretty much boiled them.”

    Cal’s eyes lit up. “Considering how you go for, uh, comfort fit, that might work.” He made flappy motions at Tom. “Go. Shoo. Model for me.”

    Tom grinned and began opening drawers, looking for the shrunk jeans with only a vague idea of where he’d seen them last.

    “I suppose you’re going to want me to wear a different shirt too,” he said without turning his head. The blue and gray plaid one he was wearing was clean and hole-free, but even he could see it wasn’t in the same league as Cal’s dark gray khakis and silky-looking shirt.

    The silence behind him was answer enough, and he rolled his eyes, safe in the knowledge that Cal couldn’t see him. “You know, I’m pretty sure that show was called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ,” he said, finally locating the jeans. “I’m not straight. Not even a little bit.”

    He stood and shook the jeans out. They were black denim, or at least they’d started out that way. The legs looked incredibly skinny compared to the ones he usually wore, and he remembered buying them in a rush at the store, flustered into grabbing them off the wrong pile by an over-attentive saleswoman. That wasn’t a good memory. Maybe tonight would make up for it.
     
    Assuming they even fit him.

    Without giving Cal’s presence a thought, Tom undid his jeans and kicked out of them, skinning out of his shirt a moment later. He reached for the old jeans and became aware that Cal was staring at him, really staring,