Read Passing Time for Free Online Page A

the hospital. That’s the only reason I’m here. There’s no way I’m going to put—”
     
    Jake breezed out of the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his hips. “Put what where? Are you talking to yourself again?”
     
    “It’s a family trait.” Louis returned to the kitchen to take the eggs from the microwave.
     
    “Seriously?” Jake joined him and peered into the bowl. “Is that like an American thing?”
     
    “Guess so,” Louis said, leaving the eggs a moment to fetch some plates.
     
    “Cool. So, why did you leave England?”
     
    “I got bored of picking up my mother’s empty vodka bottles.”
     
    “Who have you got to pick up yours?”
     
    Louis looked up. Jake gazed back from over the breakfast bar, reminding him this was only some guy who worked in a pub. Yet, every time he asked a question, Louis answered. He wasn’t sure why that was, but still, there were some things yet untouched on he wouldn’t discuss. Not even with Jake.
     
    “I don’t drink vodka,” he said, a little more terse than planned.
     
    Jake rolled his eyes. “Only bourbon. I know.”
     
    Eager to change the subject, Louis peered into the bowl of rubbery-looking eggs on the counter. “I’ve made a bit of a mess of breakfast.”
     
    “Never mind. I’m not exactly hungry for food right now, anyway.” Jake pressed a hand over Louis’s resting on the counter and stroked a finger across the knuckles. Such a tender caress had him drifting back to the sensation of Jake’s hands on his body the night before.
     
    “Would you like a coffee?” Louis pulled his hand free. No point getting sentimental about a simple fuck. “I’ve only got instant, I’m afraid.”
     
    “Instant’s fine,” Jake said as Louis took up the kettle. “But I don’t really care about eggs or coffee.”
     
    “Aren’t I under some kind of obligation to feed you?”
     
    Jake lifted his shoulders, the skin fair and unblemished, the bones and the muscles lithe. “I think you fulfilled all your obligations last night. You were incredible.”
     
    He spoke without a trace of insincerity Louis could detect. Still, at Jake’s age, all sex was incredible.
     
    “I knew you’d be like that,” he said. “Right from the beginning.”
     
    “The beginning of what?”
     
    “I mean, from when I first served you a double bourbon.” He colored. Perhaps he’d given away more than intended. “Heather and I were talking and—”
     
    Heather again . “I was a subject for discussion with the staff?”
     
    “It wasn’t like that. It’s something we do with the customers.”
     
    Louis arched an eyebrow. “Sleep with them?”
     
    Jake’s blush intensified. “We imagine what they’d be like in bed. We rate them. Don’t take offense. It’s only a game.”
     
    “What was my rating?”
     
    “I gave you a nine.”
     
    Teasing aside, Louis’s curiosity led him to ask, “How high does this scoreboard go?”
     
    “Ten.”
     
    Louis grabbed the bowl of congealed eggs, now cool and solid. He guided the lot into the waiting bin with the spoon.
     
    “Now I can report back you’re a definite twelve.”
     
    The bowl flipped over, bounced off the rim of the bin, and hit the floor, spewing cold egg over the tiles.
     
    “Shit.” Louis squatted to scoop the rubbery globs up in his hands.
     
    When he glanced up, Jake stood above him with the towel pooled around his feet.
     
    “Oops.” Jake grinned. “Now how did that happen?”
     
    How did what happen? The dropped towel or the raging erection?
     
    “I have to go out.” Louis stood and backed away, his mouth suddenly tight and dry.
     
    The smile faded from Jake’s face. “Have I done something wrong?”
     
    “No. I’m just due at the hospital.”
     
    “Is this because of what happened in the shower?” Jake bent to collect his towel off the floor.
     
    Louis frowned. “The shower?”
     
    “I had a condom on, Louis,” Jake said, blushing furiously as he