Free Where You Least Expect It by M. Durango Page A

and settled the check quickly, heading back into the cool fall weather.
    Sometime during dinner, Matt’s mind wandered to the dreams he had been having about Christian and his body started to remind him, rather insistently, that his recent bout of celibacy was getting to be a nuisance. He wasn’t ready for the evening to end, so he said the first convenient thing that came into his head.
    “So, I have this leftover pie.”
    Christian grinned at him from the passenger seat. “Do you? You going to go back to your condo and have some dessert?”
    Jesus, was he that obvious or was he reading into Christian’s response? “I was thinking about it, but it’s kind of a lot for just me. You wouldn’t be interested in any, would you?” And was he actually flirting back?
    “I do like me some pumpkin pie. You sure there’s enough for both of us?”
    “Well, except for the piece I had for lunch, there’s still about half left, so I think there’s enough to share.”
    “Cool. I accept.”
    Matt was at once relieved and anxious. He knew he wasn’t going to stop things if they went the way he hoped they would. He forced himself to focus on the road and not think about the growing heat in his groin, or the warring voices in his head. Just because Matt was horny was no reason to assume Christian was going to do anything more than eat a slice of pie and leave.
    Preoccupied as he was, Matt managed to get them to his condo in one piece. They brought Christian’s bike up and parked it in the same place it had been yesterday.
    “Can I help?” Christian asked as he followed Matt into the kitchen.
    “Grab some plates out of the cabinet.” Matt motioned to the cabinet next to the sink as he took the pie and whipped cream out of the fridge. “Beer?”
    “Sure.”
    When Matt turned back suddenly to grab a napkin, he almost collided with Christian. He was acutely aware of how very close they were standing.
    “Sorry,” Matt said, stepping around Christian to pick up the napkins he’d forgotten. He handed one to Christian as they settled on opposite ends of the couch.
    Matt picked the remote up out of habit. “I don’t mean to be a shitty host. Let me know if there’s anything you want to watch.”
    Christian shrugged. “I’ll watch whatever’s on. I don’t have TV, so I don’t get to watch much.”
    “I, ah, I was planning on watching Top Chef. Do you mind?”
    “Oh, is it the new season already?”
    Matt smiled, vaguely relieved that Christian didn’t laugh at him for watching reality TV. “It is. Have you watched it?”
    “Only last season. My roommate was kind of obsessed with it and downloaded it. It was a fun way to procrastinate.”
    “Cool.” Matt switched to the DVR and started the first episode.
    They watched mostly in silence, commenting occasionally on the new cast and the judges. Matt had gotten them each another beer and Christian had eventually migrated from his corner of the couch to sit closer to Matt.
    Matt noticed Christian starting to fidget. “Hey. You okay? You look kind of stressed.”
    “What?” Christian jumped. “I do? Oh. I.” Matt watched as Christian emptied his beer and stood. “I should go. I need to go. I have to study and stuff.”
    Matt was only half listening. When Christian stood, Matt was suddenly eye-level with Christian’s very obvious erection. At least he had his answer about whether or not Christian was still interested.
    Matt looked up. He didn’t really want Christian to leave. “Do you want to know why I stopped coming in for coffee?” Matt asked.
    Christian shook his head. He looked nervous, which Matt found ironic. Matt was the straight one, wasn’t he?
    “Why?” Christian finally asked.
    Was he really going to do this? “Because I couldn’t stop thinking about you, about what happened when I drove you home from that party. I.” Matt took a breath; in for a penny, as they say. “That’s why I invited you over.”
    Christian’s expression was more