The Italian Word for Kisses

Chapter 1: “Who’re you calling Juliet?!”-3

“Thanks, Mam!” Tav yelled, slamming the car door and jogging across the car park to the leisure centre. Half an hour until the end of swimming practice. Tav liked to flash his membership card to get poolside—sometimes he’d actually go swimming, too, and Luca would stay a while with him, and sometimes Tav would just sit on the seats that surrounded the water and watch.

Or perv, as Luca said.

The pool was busy, but four lanes had been closed off for the club. Tav wasn’t pleased to see Samantha Marks from the end of the road lingering in the public lanes even though the girls’ team had finished practice. She was very obviously watching the boys, but then that was Samantha all over. Tav swore blind she fancied Luca; Luca swore equally blind she was into any gay boy that crossed her path. But then Luca was an oblivious s**t at the best of times, so what did he know.

Luca’s hair was the best part of him—for touching, for toying with, for leading, for soothing him, for riling him up again—but it was even better when he was swimming. It marked him out. Everyone else on the team was either blond, ginger, or had their hair shaved down. So Tav could trace that lean body with his eyes, and settle against the back of the seat to perv in peace.

Luca had been swimming since before Tav knew him. He’d probably been swimming longer than he’d been walking. And it meant he was cut from a very wiry, powerful cloth. He wasn’t built, but he was scarily fit, and it was just the way Tav liked it. All tight abs and sleek limbs, but no bulk. Swimming—even though Tav wasn’t a huge fan of doing laps in a pool all day—was the best sport ever.

Especially as swimmers had to be mostly naked. When he’d first developed a crush on Luca, he’d had to stop coming swimming for a while. It had been too risky. And…okay, so they’d been together for nearly six months before Tav could do this again. And even then, if they were going to swim together…it was best to have one off the wrist before leaving home, you know?

On the far side of the pool, Luca hauled himself out, and Tav sat forward to watch, grinning. Water streamed off him and when Luca turned around, Tav could feel his gaze. Luca knew he was watching. And he showed off a little bit, too, stretching his arms way above his head, before crouching down and plunging back into the pool like a frog from the ledge. Straight under, effortless and graceful. He powered through water like it wasn’t there, and the parts of Tav’s brain not ogling Luca’s bare back and legs were marvelling at his speed. They were doing some kind of relay or something. Or Luca was just racing Aaron for the hell of it, Tav wasn’t sure.

It happened so fast, Tav nearly missed it.

But one second, David was standing on the edge of the pool, talking to the coach, and Luca was beelining for the wall under the water, silent as a koi in a Japanese garden. And the next, David was in the water, someone was screaming—

And Luca was gone.