“It’s not bad, what we were discussing,” Karim said. “About you, yeah, but Julien was just lecturing me on being direct, but not rushing things.” He said the last part with disdain.
Luis’s brows furrowed. “Rushing things?”
For some reason, Karim stepped even closer. His fingers found the soft neck hem of Luis’s shirt and thumbed over it. “Mm. I’d love to fill you in, but Julien’s sworn me to a timeline and a literal gag order. Frankly, I’m not willing to suffer through the punishment, so we’ll both just have to wait a little bit longer.”
Wide eyed, Luis blinked at him. “Punishment?”
Karim smiled, wide and wicked. “Chastity,” he whispered, like a secret, “It stops being fun quickly, believe me.”
Luis opened his mouth but no words came out. The conversation had jumped several rails and ended up somewhere entirely new.
Karim laughed at whatever his face was doing. “Yeah so, anyway, come back to dinner. We promise to speak in English.”
Luis found himself nodding even if he didn’t entirely grasp what had just been said. “Okay.”
“I haven’t finished watching you eat,” Karim said,eyes dipping to Luis’s mouth.
Luis’s stomach flipped. “Right,” he said. Was he… flirting?
No. Couldn’t be. Karim was just messing with him.
Luis forced himself to move left where Karim wasn’t blocking with his arm, slipping away.
He heard Karim blow out a breath as he went. Luis swallowed hard, avoided looking, and marched himself back to the table. Karim followed.
##
In the living room after dinner, Karim dropped down into his usual spot, Luis across from him. Julien was cleaning up the kitchen.
“What do you say?” Karim asked, wagging the phone in his hand. “It’s still your turn.”
“I think you’ve already won the round,” Luis said, even as he pulled out his phone. The last word played was stillBITE.
“Probably,” Karim said with no small amount of glee, “But nobody likes a sore quitter.”
Luis rolled his eyes. “That’s not how the saying goes,” he said before locking in to the letters on his screen.
They got through two rounds before Julien showed up.
“There’s some leftovers Luis, so make sure we send you home with them.” Julien took his seat next to Karim.
“Oh, great,” Luis said with a smile. Julien had apologized when he’d come back to the table for theirterrible manners. After that dinner had gone as usual.
Mostly. Karim’s staring had felt heavier than usual, but Luis couldn’t–wouldn’t–put a reason as to why.
“So… dessert?” Karim prompted.
Julien let out an audible breath. “Mon cœur, give Luis a second? We interrupted his meal. And you didn’t even ask him if he would rather just do the bar tonight.”
Karim held up his hands in supplications. “I mean, the bite was good right? Want to do it again?” He aimed this at Luis with a fanged smile.
And oh boy was that doing havoc to Luis’s insides. Some part of him had come here for that, but now, with everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure. It felt reckless to jump right back in again.
He needed some time to think. He didn’t want to make any more mistakes.
So Luis gathered his courage. “Maybe the bar this week?”
Julien smiled as if he’d expected the answer, which made Luis feel better. “Perfect.”
