Nick sneaked in through the front door and walked quietly up the stairs to their bedroom.

Katie was already fast asleep, and Nick studied her for a second. She was beautiful in her sleep. She was lying on her side with the comforter pulled up around her hips. She wore be small white silken nightdress, that made her breast look bigger, and under normal circumstances, Nick would’ve enjoyed looking at them, but the only thing he could think about, was how Julian would look underneath his shirt.

He began unbuttoning his shirt and walked into the big bathroom. He needed a shower because the thought of Julian’s body was making him hard. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t the thought of Julian that was turning him on, but the sight of Katie.

He stripped out of his clothes as stepped into the shower. He leaned his forehead against the wall as the warm water streamed down his naked back. He tried to imagine Katie’s naked body in his mind as he closes his eyes and wrapped a hand around his hardening cock, but the image of her beautiful figure kept getting replaced by Julian’s warm eyes and bright smiles.

Nick sighed loudly as he began stroking himself faster while the image of the young man was filling up his mind. He could imagine the young man on his knees in front of him, his mouth on Nick’s cock, and the thought of that pushed Nick over the edge fast.

He took in a deep shaky breath, collecting himself a little before cleaning his hand under the stream. It was so wrong, but Nick couldn’t stop it… he didn’t want to.

He dried himself off quickly and got dressed before walking back into the bedroom. Katie was still sleeping as he crossed the room and laid down on the bed beside her.

He cuddled up under the comforter as he felt her move a little beside him.

‘’Where were you?’’ the mumbled tiredly, ‘’you stink of wine!’’

Nick ignored her as he laid down onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. She opened her eyes and looked at him, but he didn’t react. She shook her head and cuddled in closer to him, and Nick automatically wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she rested her head on his chest.

Her small delicate hands were dancing up and down his chest and stomach as she began kissing his neck. Her hands traveled further down, but Nick grabbed her wrist when she tried to shove her hand into his briefs.

‘’What are you doing?’’ Nick asked a little annoyed.

‘’Don’t you want to fuck me?’’ She asked as she leaned up on her elbows and looked down at him.

‘’No,’’ he said coldly as he pulled away from her.

‘’You don’t have to love me to fuck me, Nick!’’ She sneered.

‘’I’m not in the mood! If you want to have sex with someone, then call one of your lovers instead.’’ He turned his back on her and closed his eyes.

‘’You’re unbelievable!’’ She yelled as she slapped his shoulder hard. ‘’I’m stuck in this shitty fake life with you! The least we could do was to have sex sometimes.’’

‘’Then leave, Katie!’’ Nick sneered. ‘’Leave and live your life… oh wait, you don’t want to, because you like the money too much! I don’t want to sleep with you now, okay? You have lovers… use them.’’

‘’You need me too, remember?’’ Katie sneered angrily, causing Nick to sigh. He didn’t need her as much as she needed him, but he had to think about his company… she was good for it, so he just had to stay with her. Nick sat up in the bed, grabbed the pillow and a comforter before standing up. ‘’Where are you going?’’ She yelled after him.

‘’I’m sleeping on the couch!’’ Nick said as he slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.

This wasn’t how he’d expected the day to end.

He laid down onto the uncomfortable couch and closed his eyes. A smile appeared back on his lips when he saw Julian’s face again. His smile and warm eyes made Nick forget everything about the fight with Katie, and he was able to fall asleep with a little smile.

Nick woke up the next morning when a beam of sunlight hit him in the face. He held his hand out in front of his face to block it out, but it wasn’t working.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes hard. He had a small headache, and his mouth felt dry. Everything from the day before felt like a blur to him. He leaned back against the backrest and looked towards the large panoramic windows. The things that had happened yesterday felt unreal. The spark between Julian and him shouldn’t have been there, because it was wrong. He couldn’t look at another man like that. Nick was straight and he was absolutely fine with that.

He stood up and walked up the stairs towards the bedroom, which was thankfully empty. He cleaned himself, brushed his teeth, and got dressed quickly, and once again he left the three top bottoms open. Nick liked the way it made him look more relaxed… there was nothing slobby about it, and he couldn’t care less about what she thought of him.

He looked at himself one last time before walking down towards the kitchen, where Katie was already seated with a plate of fresh-made waffles and a cup of coffee. She was scrolling through her phone and didn’t look up as Nick entered the room.

He sat down next to her, and she pushed a plate with warm waffles towards him. He thanked her, but she didn’t answer.

They were sitting there in complete silence for a long time before Katie finally looked up from her phone and stared at him. Nick pretended not to notice, but Katie wanted his attention. She smiled as she cleared her throat a little. "Who were you sitting with down by the lake yesterday?" She asked quietly, taking a sip of her coffee. Nick was about to choke in his breakfast and looked at her in horror.

"What?" He asked nervously during a pitiful cough.

"I saw you sitting and talking to a young man. Does he live here too?" She sent him a small smile and did not take her eyes off him.

"Yes ... Yes, he lives next to us ... in the little house in the woods," He stared at his breakfast as if it was the most interesting thing in the whole world. Her questions shouldn’t be making him nervous. He’d done nothing wrong, and there was no way in hell she knew what was going on inside of his mind when he thought about Julian.

"Was he sweet?" She asked, sending him another smile.

"Yes ... Or, I think so ... He's not someone I know". He became more and more uncomfortable with the situation and he really did not want to talk about him. If he were to describe Julian, he would make him sound too dreamy.

"So, he's here alone?" She asked. Nick bit his lip nervously and hoped that she would soon stop asking about him. He feared that she could read between the lines when he spoke about Julian… that she would be able to see the attraction he felt towards the young man, and Nick didn’t want that. He didn’t need her so suspect anything at all.

"Yes ... He lives here alone ... He is a writer" he replied, shrugging his shoulders a little.

‘’We should invite him over for dinner then,’’ she said with a big smile. ‘’we could do a BBQ on the balcony.’’ Nick looked at her with big shocked eyes. He expected her to be joking, but she looked serious.

‘’I don’t know… he’s probably too busy,’’ Nick said as he bit his lip nervously. He could not imagine having dinner together with Julian and his wife. It would drive him crazy.

‘’Nonsense,’’ she said with exaggerated hand movements. ‘’I think you should invite him over for tomorrow. It would be good for both of us to see other people than just ourselves.’’ Nick hadn’t seen her smile so much in a long time, and he didn’t expect her to be in such a great mood after the awful night they’d just had. ‘’You should invite him over for tomorrow… I’m sure he’d like that.’’

Nick didn’t know what to say to any of that. He did not want Julian to come over for dinner, and he did not want to go see him right now, while his head was still a mess after the last time, but something inside of him told him to do it. It would be awkward, and Nick feared that Katie would suspect that something was up between them if she saw how Nick stared at Julian all the time. This fascination he had with Julian was almost embarrassing, but no one would have to know about it. He just had to keep it cool and get his shit together, then everything would be just fine.

Katie left the kitchen when her phone started ringing, so Nick cleaned the table quickly before walking out onto the balcony.

His heart skipped a single beat when he saw Julian, swimming around in the deep blue waters under the warm sun. Nick’s mouth went slack as he stared at the young man. He wanted to hurry down to him, to look into those warm brown eyes again… to see that bright smile on Julian’s lips, and to get calmed down by the young man’s laughter.

Nick stood there for just a second before walking back into the house, put on his shoes, and walked down the dirt road towards the lake.

He once again stopped in front of Julian’s house and looked at it, even though he knew the young man wasn’t there… he just couldn’t help it.

Nick reached the lake and stopped up at the same spot Julian and him had been sitting last night.

Julian spotted Nick and waved at him before swimming back towards shore. Nick swallowed nervously as Julian got nearer. Nick’s eyes were taking in Julian’s body, and he felt his cheeks heat up. He knew he shouldn’t be looking, but Julian was absolutely beautiful. His skin was tanned, the muscles on his chest and stomach were much more visible than Nick had imagined, and then there was the thin line of dark hair that started at his bellbottom and ended inside his swimming shorts. Nick’s eyes followed a drop of water as it made its way down Julian’s throat and collarbone, down his chest and lean stomach, towards his waistband.

Julian was smiling big at him, as he bent down and picked up a towel. He laid it around his shoulders and used the ends of it to dry his hair a little.

‘’What’s up?’’ Julian asked with that big smile of his. Nick tore his gaze from Julian’s lower stomach and looked into the young man’s eyes instead. ‘’Hungover from last night?’’

Nick shook his head and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. ‘’No, not really,’’ he said with a little smile. ‘’Are you?’’

‘’Nope,’’ Julian said as he began drying off his upper body. Nick tried his hardest to look anywhere else than him, but it wasn’t easy. ‘’If I was, then a swim in the lake would’ve cured it.’’ Julian laid the towel down on the sand and sat down on top of it. Nick stared at him for a second before sighing and sitting down next to him. ‘’To what do I owe the honor?’’ Julian asked with a chuckle. He knew Julian was doing it to mock him for his formal presentation the day before, but it was in a loving way, and Nick liked it.

Nick cocked an eyebrow at him, which made Julian laugh, so Nick pushed him gently with a bit smile on his lips. He could definitely get used to the sound of that laughter.

‘’Katie-‘’ Nick began and looked at Julian with a little smile. He was about to continue his sentence, but Julian interrupted him.

‘’Your wife?’’ Julian said a little skeptical.

‘’Eh, yes… my wife. She wanted to know if you were interested in joining us for dinner tomorrow evening?’’ He wanted Julian to say no. He feared that Julian would take one look at Katie and then forget all about him. Katie was good at flirting, and maybe Julian would fall for it. Nick didn’t want that to happen. ‘’I told her that you were very busy, so you probably wouldn’t have time for it. So you don’t have to worry about that.’’ Nick said with a little shrug.

Julian stared at him for a second as he tried to read Nick’s reaction, and his expression turned from curious to a little offended. Nick could imagine what was going through the young man’s head at that moment. Maybe Julian thought that it was Nick’s way of telling him, that he wasn’t distinguished enough for them, or maybe he just thought Nick didn’t want anything to do with him. Nick was about to open his mouth again, but Julian stopped him.

‘’Wait… is this some kind of a Hannibal Lecter dinner party thing? Are you planning on eating me or something?’’ Julian said as he cocked an eyebrow at him.

‘’What?’’ Nick yelped as he looked at Julian with big eyes. ‘’No, why would you mind even go there?’’

‘’Writer’s brain,’’ Julian said with a little shrug.

‘’We are not planning on eating you!’’ Nick said as he rolled his eyes, but he could stop the little smile from tugging at the corners of his mouth.

‘’Very well,’’ Julian said as he stood up. ‘’Then tell you're lovely wife that I’d love to come for dinner tomorrow!’’ Julian turned around and started walking away, but he didn’t get far before stopping to look over his shoulder at Nick. ‘’And there’s a lot of people who know where I am right now… I will be missed, so don’t try anything!’’ the young man grinned before leaving Nick all to himself.