When someone tapped his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled around.
“Whoa,” Caleb said, hands up, palms out, “I didn’t mean any harm. I come in peace. Wow, you’re skittish, huh?”
Lucas felt the blood drain from his face as he searched his brain for something to say. Anything. Really, anything at all!
“Sorry,” he said, not wanting to look Caleb in the eye.
“Hey, I’m sorry, man. I won’t do that again. Promise.” Caleb crossed his heart and smiled.
Fuck. That smile did things to him. Lucas sensed trouble in his future.
“So, you want to start tonight?”
Lucas froze. “Um, tonight? Start tonight?”
“Yeah. Unless you have something you need to do. I mean, we have a game tomorrow and you were a little hard on us out there today. You definitely need some tutoring.”
“Hard on you?” Lucas asked incredulously as he looked around the now-empty locker room. “You think Iwas hard on you?”
Caleb nodded.
Lucas threw up his arms in defeat. “For your information, this was one of the worst days of my life. I hate baseball. I hate sports in general. And I really hate jocks!” He knew he was losing his cool, but damn, he hated having some stupid jock think he was an idiot and was hard on the team because he just didn’t understand the game. “For your information, I was hard on you guys because you kept dropping the damn ball! You let the Lions destroy you!”
Caleb stared at him for a minute with those soft blue eyes. He looked…confused.
“What?” he barked at Caleb, exasperated.
“How can you hate baseball?”
Lucas stared at him. “That’s what you heard?” He rolled his eyes and pushed past Caleb. “I’ve got to get going. We can start tomorrow,” he huffed as he strode across the locker room and out the door.
* * * *
Caleb watched him leave and his lips twitched into a smile. Lucas was a firecracker. All that passion rolled up in that tight body. Damn! It was going to be hard to stay away from that. God, I’m an idiot. How the hell was he going to play it straight around Lucas? His cock was hard as marble and all he wantedto do was kiss those sweet, angry lips.
Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.
“Tomorrow?” His voice echoed in the empty locker room. “Shit. I don’t have his number,” he said as he grabbed his bag and ran to the exit.
He reached the parking lot and came to a stop as soon as he saw Lucas coming his way, head down, muttering. Caleb was pretty sure he heard the word “jocks.”
“Hey,” Caleb called, hoping he didn’t startle him again.
Lucas stopped. “Shit!”
Caleb grinned. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”
“I’m not scared,” Lucas shot back. “I’m just…tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Yeah, I know. Not the best for either of us, I guess.”
Lucas granted him a half-smile. “Agreed. I’m ready to drown my sorrows in some chocolate ice cream and go to bed.”
The image of Lucas in bed popped into Caleb’s head, and the intense heat that unfurled in his belly surprised him. His dick throbbed against his zipper, painfully at this point. “Chocolate ice cream, huh? I’m a mint chocolate chip guy myself,” he admitted, waggling his eyebrows.
Lucas laughed, and the sound crashed into Caleb. His heart raced and his skin heated. His balls ached and it took everything in him not to grab the man and kiss him senseless. He was sure Lucas was gay—he had always had pretty good gaydar—but he always had to be careful around town.
“Look, I forgot to give you my number,” Lucas said, offering him a piece of notepaper with a number on it.
“Thanks,” Caleb replied, taking it and stuffing it into his pocket alongside the other slip of paper Juan had given him earlier. “What time should I call tomorrow?”
“I’m up before the sun, so anytime would be fine.”
“Sounds good. Talk to you then.”
Lucas headed to his car. Caleb stood still for a minute, unable to tear his eyes from the man. Yes, he knew he was in deep. This season would definitely be interesting.
2
The next morning, Caleb woke to find himself on his stomach, naked and sprawled across his king-size bed. His sheets and duvet were in a twisted mess and his dick was stiff and throbbing, pressed between the mattress and his stomach.
He flipped over and groaned. Last night he had lain in bed for hours thinking about Lucas. He couldn’t remember the last time a man filled his thoughts like this. Those incredibly warm brown eyes flashed in Caleb’s mind and he gave in to the fantasy.