Page 16 of Grumpy Bear

I wondered if Coleman had a bathroom in his cabin or if he showered here too.

Two seconds later, like my thoughts had called for him, there was a loud squeak of door hinges and there he was.

8

Sawyer

I’d purposefully hung back, not wanting it to seem like I was following him into the bathhouse to get an eyeful or whatever, which is exactly what it probably looked like to the guys who were leaving right as I came around the corner.

Maybe I was being paranoid, but I could’ve sworn Austin smirked at me with one of his troublemaker grins.

The bathhouse was deserted, except for one lone shower running. Luke was turned away from me, his upper body outlined in gold by the late afternoon sun slanting through the steam.

He looked different with his blond hair slicked back, wet and dark along his skull, almost like he didn’t have all that ridiculous man-bun sloppy ponytail shit going on at all.

Naked, he seemed younger too. I wouldn’t have guessed from his generous facial scruff and furry legs that he would be so smooth-chested. His arms were thin with lean muscles and ropy veins. I was pretty sure he was in his mid-twenties at least, but he looked like a college kid.

I turned away before he caught me doing the very thing I had tried to avoid doing—following him in here, getting him alone, checking him out.

I could’ve acted like I’d just come in to pee, but I had a towel over my shoulder. I could’ve brushed my teeth at the sink and dabbed my mouth and left, but fuck that. I also had clean shorts and a T-shirt with me. I hated going to dinner covered in sweat and creek water, and this was my normal, legitimate shower time.

Why would I suddenly do something different just because Surfer Cowboy was in here deep conditioning his locks?

How many times had I showered in here three feet away from a gang bang simply because it was a Saturday afternoon?

Any other day of the year, I did my thing in my own little bubble. And that’s what I intended to do now.

I calmly hung up my towel and left my clean clothes and dopp kit on the sink. I made sure I didn’t act like I cared about undressing in front of him.

I didn’t. I’d been naked in this actual spot in front of more men than I could count.

At that moment, he turned toward me, and I instinctively looked away.

I peeled off my shirt, dropped my shorts, and kicked them in the general direction of the locker area.

I felt him watching me.

I willed myself not to rush. Part of me hoped he’d finish up before I got in there with him so I wouldn’t have to find out if I’d scare him off.

Luke definitely didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d try to hook up with the boss on the first day. Guys on staff rarely came on to me. They checked me out, and I let them look all they wanted to, but they kept a respectful distance, and I was fine with that.

I’d spent over an hour alone with Luke. He hadn’t acted remotely interested in me. I ran across hundreds of men nearly every week, nine months out of the year. I knew what interested looked like.

I was not an easy trick by anybody’s standards. According to Jim, I was surrounded by an impenetrable wall of unapproachable energy. In my defense, I was probably just lost in thought and not paying attention, but the result was that a lot of guys—my staff especially—made as little eye contact with me as possible.

Some of the guests stared. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but other than a nervous hello, they usually didn’t try to talk to me. There were a few cocky sons of bitches who thought they’d met their match. They acted overly casual, cool to the point of disinterest, but that never worked because I wasn’t chasing anybody.

Luke seemed clueless to the fact that I was standoffish as fuck. He’d actually tried to chitchat with me like I was the easiest person in the world to talk to.

What the fuck was that?

It clearly wasn’t game. He wasn’t trying to pick me up. He didn’t seem to be all that intimidated by me.

In my experience, that wasn’t sexual attraction.

Which was fine. Long-haired hippie drifter musician types were definitely not on my to-do list.

I joined him in the shower, choosing the showerhead across from him and to the right. Technically, it was as far away from him as I could be and still shower at the same time.