Wrong. So very, very wrong.
Stumbling the last few steps to the front of his building, Ryan collapsed onto his back on the grass verge outside. The beautiful blue sky failed to grab his attention anymore as he greedily sucked in air, wondering what had possessed him. Clearly he had a) failed to notice the enormous hill in the middle of his route, b) underestimated how unfit he was, and c) not accounted for last night’s beer leaving him dehydrated before he even set off. Water might have been a good idea to bring along. He licked his lips, but that did nothing to alleviate the dryness, and his tongue felt like cardboard.
Footsteps on the path startled him, and Ryan groaned when they stopped near his head. How embarrassing. Soft laughter sounded from above him, and with a sinking feeling, he realised he recognised it.
Seconds later, Matt knelt on the grass and peered down at him. “Hey.” Ryan had to blink a couple of times to focus on his face. Matt frowned, concern chasing the earlier amusement away. “You okay?”
Covering his eyes with one hand, Ryan sighed. “No. I think I’m dying.” Licking his lips again still didn’t help, and he coughed as the dryness tickled his throat.
Matt’s voice was soft but firm when he spoke. “You might not be dying, but you definitely overdid it, and you’re probably dehydrated.” No shit. Ryan couldn’t summon the energy to scoff. Matt grabbed his hand and peeled it away from his eyes. “Come on. I’ll help you up and get you inside.”
Figuring it couldn’t get any worse, Ryan let Matt pull him to his feet and didn’t complain when he kept an arm around his waist all the way inside. It was kind of nice if he was honest. But still mortifying. When they reached the stairs, he straightened and shrugged out of Matt’s grip with a smile. “Thanks. I can manage, now. I’m just unfit.”
Matt eyed him suspiciously, as though he might collapse in an exhausted heap any second, but let him go. He gestured for Ryan to go up first and followed. All the way up the stairs, Ryan was conscious of Matt behind him. His shorts were quite snug across his arse, and even though Matt probably wasn’t watching, he couldn’t help but think it was on display. It sent a small thrill through him, and knackered as he was, it was still an effort not to add a little swing to his hips.
Then he remembered Matt’s it’s-just-sex speech, and the spark of excitement vanished. Ryan doubted there was much chance of a third time for them. When they reached his floor, he turned to Matt. “Thanks for giving me a hand and not laughing too much.”
Matt grinned at him. “We’ve all been there. And I’d never laugh at someone trying to get some exercise. It was more your expression I was laughing at. You looked so pissed off with the world. As though you couldn’t quite believe you were that knackered.”
Ryan laughed and smiled back at him. “I used to be fitter than this, I’m sure. And I really didn’t want anyone to see me collapsed on the grass and gasping. Especially not—” He was already gesturing to Matt with his hand, so it was too late. Shit.
Matt cocked his head to one side, considering. “Especially not me?”
“Yeah.” Ryan sighed, figuring he couldn’t embarrass himself further. He finished off pointing out Matt’s lean build and toned thighs, which looked ever so appealing in his black compression leggings. He wore a pair of shorts over the top, and Ryan imagined how the material would cling to him underneath. “You’re not even out of breath.” Matt looked a little sweaty, and his face had that just exercised glow about it, but that was all.
Laughing, Matt shook his head. “That’s because I’ve been running two or three times a week for the past five years. But when I first started out, I was as knackered as you. Trust me, it’ll get easier the more you do it.”
Ryan snorted. “Not sure I fancy doing this again. Think I’ll stick to swimming.” He reached for the door, but Matt’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“I’m usually starving about half an hour after I get back from a run. Why don’t you go shower, change, then come up and join me for breakfast?”
Now it was Ryan’s turn to look curious. Just for food or—?
Matt seemed to read his mind. He held his hands up in front of him. “Just breakfast. I always do far too much, and I should really make more of an effort to get to know my neighbours better.”
Ryan thought they knew each other pretty well already, but he nodded, not wanting to ruin this… whatever it was. He could do the friends thing. “That sounds great, thanks.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in about half an hour.” He gave Ryan another smile, then turned and jogged up the next flight of stairs.
“Show-off!” Ryan shouted up after him, his own legs still feeling like jelly. Laughter sounded up above for a moment, then the door closed, muting it.
Ryan waited a couple of seconds, not entirely sure what had just happened between them, then walked on shaky legs down the corridor to his flat. Drink first, then shower. Deciphering Matt’s intentions could come later.
Freshly showered and feeling a little more human, though not fully recovered by any means, Ryan knocked on Matt’s door.
“Hey.” Matt greeted him with a warm smile and a bare chest. Unable to help himself, Ryan’s gaze dipped to the dusting of dark hair over Matt’s pecs, the odd fleck of silver mixed in with it. Matt glanced down. “Sorry, was still a bit hot after my shower.”
No, don’t apologise. Not wanting to introduce any awkwardness, Ryan smiled and managed to keep his eyes on Matt’s this time. “No problem.”
Standing aside to let him in, Matt closed the door after him and pointed Ryan towards the kitchen. “Go ahead. I’ll be back in a minute.”
The kitchen was the same layout as Ryan’s with the same colour units and working top, but Matt’s also had a small breakfast bar with two stools. The local paper sat on the worktop, and Ryan slid it towards him as he sat down. It was open to the ads page, and Matt—well he assumed it was Matt—had circled a couple of them. Ryan was already reading them before he realised that was probably a huge invasion of privacy.
“So, can I get you a drink?” Matt’s voice startled him, and Ryan looked up guiltily. Wearing a dark blue T-shirt now, Matt didn’t look particularly bothered by Ryan’s lack of manners, but still….
Ryan glanced at the paper. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be nosey.”
Matt waved him away. “It’s fine. Do you want tea, coffee, water…?”
“Tea, please.” He looked down at the paper again and tapped it with his forefinger. “You looking for a gardener then?”
Glancing over his shoulder, Matt regarded him with a raised eyebrow and an expression that said, “Obviously.”
Duh. He felt the heat rush to his cheeks, and unfortunately he couldn’t blame it on exertion this time. “Of course you are, that’s why you circled those ads. Sorry, my brain still hasn’t recovered from being starved of oxygen.”
Matt laughed at him, his smile reaching all the way to his eyes and making them crinkle. “I’m looking into getting one for my mum and dad, actually. Maybe a cleaner too.” He set a mug of tea down in front of Ryan and then joined him at the breakfast bar. “And someone to fit handrails outside, maybe.”
Ryan perked up with interest. “Oh?”
Pausing a moment, as though debating whether or not to explain, Matt rubbed his thumb along the rim of his mug, then looked up to meet Ryan’s gaze. “My dad’s recently had an operation on his back. Been out of hospital for a few weeks, but recovery is slow, and I think my mum’s struggling to keep on top of everything and look after my dad as well. Although she won't admit it.” He mumbled the last bit, glancing down at his mug as he did so, seeming to forget Ryan was there for a minute. When he looked back up, he sighed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bore you with all my family problems.”
Ryan shook his head. “No, it’s fine. And I don’t mean to be pushy or anything, but I can recommend a few people if you’re interested?”
“Oh?” Matt didn’t look like he was going to bite Ryan's head off, so he forged ahead.
When he lifted his gaze, Matt was watching him.
“I’m sorry about your dad.” He offered Ryan a sad smile, but to Ryan’s relief, he looked neither uncomfortable nor awkward with the sudden change in conversation.
“Thanks. It was over a year ago now, but….” He shrugged, hoping he wouldn’t have to spell out how raw it still felt sometimes.
“Yeah, I get it.”
The ensuing silence only lasted for a couple of seconds, then Matt said, “Was your mum okay with you hiring people to help her out?”
The question took him by surprise. Most people were eager to change the subject as soon as it was socially acceptable to do so. It also brought back a few memories, and he huffed out a laugh. “Nope. She certainly was not.”
Matt’s smile got a little bigger, and he took a sip of his tea, so Ryan decided to elaborate.
“Getting her to agree to a little help in the garden wasn’t too bad, but it took me and Rob, my older brother, about three weeks to get her to even entertain the idea of a cleaner.”
“Yeah, I reckon my mum’ll be a bit like that.” He bit at his bottom lip, distracting Ryan for a second. “Can I ask how you managed it?”
Ryan grinned. Not everything in those last few months had been doom and gloom. “My dad, actually. He suggested she might want to spend her time watching the last series of CSI Las Vegas with him instead of dusting, hoovering, or cleaning the loo—since he really wanted to see how it ended.”
“He kept his sense of humour, then?”
“Yeah. I mean he had his bad days, of course. But on the whole, he was amazing. He knew it was his time and wanted to make the most of what he had left.” Ryan took a shuddering breath, only then noticing his eyes were filling up. Blinking rapidly, he took a drink of his tea, looking anywhere but at Matt.
He felt Matt’s hand on his, where it lay flat on the table. Matt gave it a gentle squeeze, then stood. “Why don’t I make that breakfast I promised you, then you can tell me who I need to get in touch with.”
Ryan smiled, beyond grateful for the way Matt patted him on the shoulder as he walked to the fridge but didn’t make a big deal of it.
After a delicious breakfast consisting of a mushroom omelette and fruit, Ryan sat back with a contented sigh and patted his belly. “That was great, thank you.”
Matt’s answering smile sent a jolt of heat through him, but Ryan ignored it. Or tried to. Seeing this side of him was doing nothing to quell his attraction to the guy. Fetching a pad and a pen, Matt looked at him expectantly. “So, who do you recommend I contact for a gardener?”
Ryan gave him the name of his mum’s gardener. “Let me text him first to give him a head’s up and make sure it’s okay to give you his number. I might get him to start back up at mum’s again.” At Matt’s frown he added, “He’s not been coming for the last ten months or so.” He didn’t offer any more and Matt didn’t ask. Ryan had thought he’d be able to handle it all when he moved in with his mum, but it hadn’t quite worked out like that.
Anyway, that was then. Things were a whole lot better now.
“And a cleaner?”
Ryan smiled. “That’s easy. I can give you her name and number now, as I know for a fact she was looking to pick up a few new clients. She’s great, bubbly and chatty, and my mum loves her.” He rattled off Trish’s number and waited for Matt to write it all down before offering up his next bit of info. “If you’re after someone to fit some handrails outside, then my brother does all that sort of thing. Not that you have to use him or anything,” he added hastily. “I just thought I’d mention it. You know….”
Matt set his pencil down, a smirk slowly appearing. “It’s fine. I don’t blame you for mentioning it. If you’d said you needed an accountant, I’d be pimping out my sister.” He finished off his tea and met Ryan's gaze. “And yeah, I think handrails are probably more important than the other stuff but probably harder to get agreement for.”
Ryan frowned and Matt sighed, sitting back in his chair.
“For whatever reason, my mum’s got it stuck in her head that it’ll make the bungalow look ugly. Despite the fact it would make my dad’s life much easier and would mean he could get outside more.” He sighed again. “Anyway, that’s my problem, not yours. If you give me your brother’s number, then I can contact him, if I can get my parents to agree to it.”
Ryan rattled off his brother’s details and watched Matt start to scribble them down on his pad, before setting his pencil down and grabbing his phone. “Don’t know why I didn’t do this to start with.”
The fact that Matt now had Ryan’s brother’s number programmed into his phone, but not Ryan’s, wasn’t irritating at all. Nope. He folded his arms as Matt entered the last couple of digits and tried not to let his frustration show.
When Matt looked up, he eyed Ryan for a second, then grinned. “Might as well get yours too, while I’m at it.” He handed his phone to Ryan.
God, I bet I was totally obvious.
Ryan smiled back as he took it. Clearly, obvious was the way to go. After entering his number, he sent a text to himself, on the off-chance Matt wasn’t going to offer up his number. When his phone chimed, he met Matt’s gaze, slipped it out of his pocket, and waved it at him. “Hope that was okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
With breakfast over and numbers exchanged, Ryan shifted on his stool, wondering whether the polite thing to do now was to leave Matt to the rest of his day. He probably had a tonne of things to do. Surprisingly, Matt’s kitchen was both a homey and relaxing space—Ryan was comfortable and in no rush to go back to his flat that seemed a little cold in comparison. He needed to get some pictures on the walls or something.
Reluctantly, Ryan stood and pocketed his phone. “Thank you for feeding me. I feel much better now.” He stood, groaning as his legs protested the movement. “Well, parts of me feel better.”
Matt laughed at him, not looking the least bit sympathetic. “I hope you stretched before you collapsed in a heap on the ground.”
“Er….” Shit. Knew there was something I forgot to do.
Gesturing at Ryan’s thighs, Matt’s grin widened. “That’s going to be nothing compared to tomorrow then.”
Ryan grimaced. “Awesome. What possessed me to think running was ever a good idea.”
“Because it’s free and you can do it anytime you want.”
“Never again, probably.” He followed Matt into the hallway and slipped into his shoes, groaning again as he pulled them on. Fucking running.
As Matt opened the door, he paused and turned to Ryan, blocking the doorway. “Listen, if you fancy giving it another go, we could go together. I’d be happy to show you how I started so you don't end up passed out in front of our building again.”
“I wasn’t passed out,” Ryan mumbled, all the while stunned that Matt had just offered to spend more time with him, even if it was with their clothes on. Matt continued to watch him, obviously waiting for a proper answer. Maybe running wasn’t so bad after all? Oh, what the hell? If he was going to kill himself, he might as well have something nice to look at while he did it. He couldn’t help but smile as he said, “That’d be great, thanks.” Oh, but…. “I don’t want to slow you down, though.” Matt could probably run 5k without even breaking a sweat.
He waved away Ryan’s concerns. “It's fine. Won't take you long to get up to speed, and I can always do a bit more when you’ve had enough.”
“Of co
urse,” Ryan replied dryly.
“Come on,” Matt nudged his shoulder, his playful smile making him look younger. “It gets boring as fuck running on my own. You'd be doing me a favour.”
Ryan doubted that very much. But he also didn’t care. If Matt wasn't bothered about Ryan slowing him down, then who was he to argue? “Okay, then,” he said and rubbed his hands together. “When do we start?”
Chapter Ten
Matt’s phone buzzed with a text message as he let himself into his flat on Wednesday night. After pushing the door closed with his elbow, he walked through to the living room, slipping his phone out as he went. Sam’s name on the screen made him smile.
Work’s been shit. Fancy a beer?
Normally he’d be up for it, but not tonight.
Sorry mate. Going for a run later.
As he expected, Sam's reply came back seconds later, and Matt laughed as he read it.
You’re saying no to beer to go on a fucking run? Wtf is wrong with you?
Mtg Ryan in 30 mins. Helping him get back into it.
Sam took longer to answer this time, and Matt set his phone on the worktop while he poured himself a drink of water. His running with Ryan wasn’t a secret, by any means, but he hadn't told Sam about it yet. No doubt he’d be reading more into it than there was.
He headed into his bedroom and quickly got changed into his running gear—black shorts and a neon green running top, but no leggings since the evening was a mild one.
Two messages waited for him when he returned to the kitchen.
Ryan? As in hot neighbour, Ryan? Thought you were done with him?
And helping him get back into what?
Shaking his head, Matt typed out a reply. Yes, that Ryan, I don’t know any others. And get back into running.
Oh. So it wasn't even a euphemism? You really are blowing me off to exercise.
Matt grinned. Yep. Sorry.
Maybe This Time Page 10
