WIP Wednesday: In the hot tub with Mateus and Crawford

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to my fellow Americans! To everyone else, happy Wednesday! Since we still don't have a kitchen thanks to all the remodeling snafus, the Baker family has decamped up north to Chicagoland to celebrate with relatives. There's snow up here, guys. Yuck.

I was able to get some writing done in the car on the way up, which is good because today and tomorrow will be filled with family and food. I've left the guys at a pretty critical point, though, so I may have to excuse myself to write. Cliffhangers are hard on readers, but they're hard on writers, too!

Crawford and Mateus are in the penthouse honeymoon suite at the hotel, and Crawford is trying to convince himself it's a bad idea to join Mateus out on the rooftop hot tub. Or is it a very good idea? *g*

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Photo credit: Hotel de Maya

Tall, Dark and Deported

But now he was about to do something very, very stupid, so maybe it hadn't been much of an escape after all. If he were smart, he'd go to bed. He'd tell Mateus, rightly so, that he had an early meeting and needed his rest. He'd ask for a rain check so he could tackle the mountain of paperwork that was waiting for him in messy piles on the dining table. He'd fake a water phobia.

Anything that kept him out of an enclosed space in one of the most romantic settings Crawford could imagine with the one man he couldn't make a move on.

But Crawford wasn't smart. He ran through excuses in his head as he took off his clothes and carefully hung his suit in the closet and rifled through his suitcase to find the swim trunks he knew he'd packed. Not for this occasion, of course. He'd envisioned a vigorous swim in the lap pool, not an agonizing soak in a private hot tub with the most attractive man he'd ever met.

He picked up his phone and texted Adam, not sure whether to hope he was awake to talk him out of this to hope that he didn't see the message in time to chastise Crawford for even thinking about it.

Rooftop hot tub with Mateus. Bad idea?

His phone dinged almost instantly.

The worst. Have fun.

Damn it.

I can't get involved with him, he texted back.

You already are. You may as well get something out of it.

Crawford took a breath and rubbed his hand over his face. As usual, Adam had cut to the quick of it and said exactly what Crawford needed to hear. It would be wrong to take advantage of Mateus. And even if Mateus said he was interested, how could Crawford be sure he really was and he wasn't just saying that because he was afraid Crawford would change his mind about helping him get a visa? No. He had to keep his distance.

Thanks, bro, he texted back. He tossed his phone on the bed and strode out into the main room to tell Mateus he couldn't join him tonight. The doors to the terrace were already open, so Crawford walked through. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Mateus.

He was silhouetted against the skyline, his arms folded together like he was cold. He'd apparently picked up a pair of swim trunks at the same place he'd gotten his clothes for tonight, because they were almost indecently tight, just like the trousers he'd had on.

Crawford's excuses died on his lips. Mateus looked so breathtakingly lonely that he couldn't bring himself to disappoint him. Especially when Mateus turned around and a huge smile bloomed across his face.