I tell myself it would be nice not to be confined to the four walls of a hotel room. It would be nice not to wake up alone. Not that I’d be waking up to him, of course. I don’t mean that. I just mean, it would be nice to wake up to someone drinking coffee in the kitchen. I bet he has so many fancy machines. I wouldn’t have to eat room service for a week. We could even travel into the factory together. It would make the days and evenings here a little less lonely.
Although, he might have plans and is actually just offering me a place to sleep– a bed and nothing more. Not company in the kitchen, homecooked meals, or time spent hanging out before or after work. My brain feels like it’s in overdrive. I should just let him know I’m grateful for his offer, but the hotel is fine. I should really have sorted a place in the UK already, especially with summer break coming up, but I’ve been so busy writing up my thesis in every spare minute that it’s not been my top priority.
I’m stalling. The plane is mostly empty and I just stand here, unable to take a single step towards the exit.
‘Um, were you serious?’ I ask Johannes.
‘Yeah, of course, man. Don’t we spend enough time in hotels? You shouldn’t have to do it whilst we’re at base, too.’ He’s smiling like he means it and I really would be a fool to turn him down.
Or maybe a fool to agree, but here we are.
‘Okay, well that would be nice. Thank you.’
‘Of course. We’ll head there now. I ordered a big food shop to be delivered yesterday so I’m well stocked, but let me know if there’s anything you want and I’ll get that sorted today. I have a podcast to record this evening and a couple of sponsorship videos to make, but then I can cook us dinner, if you like?’
‘You don’t have to do that.’ I wave him off. We’ve got a busy few days. The last thing he needs to be doing is running around after me as well as all his work commitments.
‘No, I want to. I like to cook, so let me. Any allergies I should know about?’ I shake my head. ‘Good, let’s go.’
Nils is finally up on his feet, walking down the aisle in front of us when Johannes’s hand finds the small of my back, guiding me off the plane. I feel like my whole body’s been engulfed in flames. How can such a light touch burn me to my core? And yet the last thing I want is for him to move his hand.
‘You good?’ he asks Nils as the Norwegian stretches his whole body in front of us on the tarmac. Most of the team staff have disappeared into various cars and taxis, but there are still two waiting next to the plane.
‘Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.’ They share a bro hug and Nils eyes me, still looking a little sleepy. ‘You going with him?’ he asks. There’s a deceptive tone to his voice. Almost as if he thinks he has everything between Johannes and me figured out, when there’s nothing to figure out. Nothing at all.
‘He’s staying with me whilst we’re getting work done at the factory. See you tomorrow,’ Johannes says, and Nils waves as he heads for his car.
Johannes asks one of the ground crew to load our luggage into the back of his car and before I know it, we’re off and heading to London.
‘Does Nils have a place in the city?’ I ask.
‘No. Don’t ask me who he stays with when he’s here, but it’s someone. An ex-hook-up or something, I think. But every time we’re here, he goes there. For someone who usually loves to share the details of his sex life, he’s quite private about this person.’ I hear exactly what Johannes is laying out: this person is different.
I struggle to imagine Nils being serious about anyone, but then four years ago I would have said the same about Harper James and look at him now.
‘As long as he’s all right, I guess?’
‘Exactly. He’s twenty-three and living his best life. None of our business who he stays with as long as he’s not out ofcontrol or being stupid or hurting himself, so who are we to stop him?’
We settle into a conversation about what we were like at that age as we drive through the outer boroughs towards the centre of the city.
I can’t stop a breathless ‘Wow’from leaving my lips as we step out of the elevator into Johannes’s penthouse apartment. Because it’s truly stunning. So modern, so sleek, but not soulless or boringly white like a lot of these places.
There are nice hues of blue and purple on some of the walls. His kitchen is decked out with a sleek black counter-top and the cupboards an eye-popping shade of electric blue. This is not what I was expecting at all, but it’s so very Johannes at the same time. Edgy, yet refined. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get with him, but the package as a whole makes total sense. It’s nicely decked out, with appliances on the island, a fancy coffee set-up (of course) and a six-burner high-end range cooker.
He leads me into a big living area furnished with a massive TV and one of the biggest L-shaped couches I’ve ever seen. But what steals my attention– and my breath– is the giant naked photograph of him on the wall above the mantel. It’s tastefully shot, but everything is on display except for his dick, which is covered by one of his racing helmets. It captures a lot of his side profile, so I get a complete view of the delicious curve of his ass and… wow, I need to stop staring but I can’t take my eyes off it. I will not be able to spend a single second in here without my eyes drifting up to it.
‘It’s got four bedrooms, but when Harper and I lived here we turned one into a gym and the other is a mini home cinema, so there’s only one guest bed but I think it’ll be fine for you.’ I follow him down the corridor, as yet unable to stop thinking about the glorious image of his naked body.
‘En suite through there, and then there’s a walk-in wardrobe, which is empty if you need to hang anything.’
‘You know I’m only staying here for the week, right?’ My jaw’s practically hanging open at the ridiculous size of the bed in the middle of the room. It’s already made up, which I’m sure is courtesy of whoever looks after this place for him, but it looks so luxurious.
‘Yeah?’
I can’t help but laugh. ‘This is amazing. Wow. What an apartment. Thank you for letting me stay.’
‘Of course. I get tired of all the hotels. I much prefer when we’re in the villas in Europe, but it’s nice to come back here, too.
