Paul Harrison is completely straight. His house will not flood again. And gay men don’t play cricket. Eventually Paul will find out just how incorrect these preconceived notions are.
When the river overflows its banks, Paul is forced to find temporary accommodation. The only practical suggestion comes from Trevor, an out and proud work colleague. Despite Paul’s hesitancy regarding Trevor’s offer of hospitality, he accepts and soon grows to admire Trevor, his humanity, his determination, and his abilities with a cricket ball.
In order to protect his fragile emotions, Trevor keeps people at a distance by wearing gaudy clothing and behaving outrageously. He had no way of knowing that doing the right thing by offering Paul his spare room will lead to such a big change in his life.
A tenuous connection develops between the two men. But misunderstandings and in-born prejudices threaten to derail their growing friendship. Things get even more complicated when Gary, Trevor’s ex-lover, shows up.
Can Trevor learn to trust again? Will Paul listen to his heart and discover that, despite first impressions, there’s just something about Trevor he can’t deny?
To say dinner was uncomfortable would be an understatement. Trevor had seen straight man out of his element behaviour too many times to still be amused by it. He’d lost count of how often he’d played the game of touching the other person’s knee and observing the reaction.
Usually the straight guy struggled to work out if it was merely an innocent contact, or … But Trevor didn’t want to try any of that with Paul. Not least because Paul’s reaction could be to thump him. Trevor liked Paul. The man, all six foot two of reasonably well-formed, but not overly bulging muscle. His dirty blond, closely-cropped hair. His light blue eyes. And if that wasn’t enough, the man had dimples when he smiled. Trevor had to shake himself. No, despite Paul’s evident physical attractiveness, Trevor knew he wasn’t going to go down that road again.
“Look,” Trevor set down his sandwich. “Relax, will you?”
“What?”
“Paul.” Trevor shook his head. “Yes, I am a gay man, which means I like men.”
Paul looked like he was about to flee. Trevor imagined him running out of the house, his hands moving swiftly between his arse and his wedding tackle, not sure which was in greater need of protection.
Stifling a smile, he continued. “But I’m not after you.”
Paul looked even more panicked.
“Shit,” Trevor said under his breath. He was supposed to be putting the bloke at ease, not making the situation worse. Paul had barely taken more than a couple of bites out of his panini, and if there was one thing Trevor was uncomfortable with, it was wasting food.
“Okay, a bit of a history lesson. All you never wanted to know about gay relationships, and were too afraid to ask.”
“What? I --”
“Paul, it’s obvious you’re uncomfortable with me. I thought we’d at least broken the ice over the last couple of days, but I was wrong.”
“No, I --”
“Just listen.” Trevor took a sip from his wine glass and began.
