Hanlon loses the fight not to smile and rolls his eyes. “You’re such an idiot.”
“Fine. I’m an idiot,” I agree easily, taking the win in the curvature of his lips. “Does that mean you’ll stay with me?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to hear one word about how long my showers are,” he says, pointing a finger in my face. It takes every ounce of effort to keep my eyes off his body. God, I’m a pervert.
“Deal,” I agree. “Now, can we pack and get the fuck out of here? I’m pretty sure I’m getting high through the air vent.”
The napeof my neck breaks out in a sweat as I make the turn onto my street, suddenly nervous about inviting Hanlon into my space.
If he hates it, I’ll take it personally, regret asking him to stay with me, and start a new cycle of resentment neither of us wants or needs.
I tap the garage door opener before my house is visible, and in my peripheral vision, I watch as Hanlon shifts in his seat as if he’s anticipating this as much as I am.
“Holy shit, Stone,” he says as I pull into the driveway and park in the garage. “This is your place?”
With the tone of that one sentence, Hanlon sets my nerves at ease, and the role reversal between us is slightly unsettling.
“Yeah. It needed a bit of work when I bought it, but I’m really proud of how it turned out,” I admit, scrubbing a hand across the back of my neck to wipe the beads of sweat away.
I help him grab his bags out of the back of the Tahoe and lead him inside. It’s dark out, so he can’t see the view from the windows in the living room, but I’m hoping he’ll appreciate it in the morning light. I live at the bottom of the mountain that the ski resort is on.
Montana is crazy. You either live on the flattest of flat land or on the literal side of a mountain.
My land is flat.
It’s much cheaper.
“Um, so…yeah, this is the kitchen,” I say unnecessarily, since the stove and refrigerator are dead giveaways as to what room this is. “The living room is through here, as you can see.”
I’m wondering why I’m so nervous when it hits me: Hanlon and I are alone, in my private space without people on the other side of the door, for the first time since he arrived.
“The pine is gorgeous,” Hanlon says, running his hand along the wall as his eyes move around the space. They land on the telescope in the corner behind the couch, and like a moth to the flame, he’s drawn to it.
“May I?”
I nod, praying he doesn’t ask me why I have it.
While he looks at the stars, I look athim, wishing I could stop this insane fluttering in my stomach. Once he’s had his fill, I continue with the tour, climbing the stairs, pointing out the bathroom, my office, and his room, which is directly over mine.
“Oh,” hegasps as we enter. “I expected there to be more pine.”
Downstairs, the floors, walls, and ceiling are all natural pine wood. Afraid I’d get a little tired of it, I decided to drywall the bedrooms and my office, just for a bit of a break. My guest room is painted a moody color called ‘Drifting Mist.’ It’s somewhere between beige and gray.
“Yeah, I thought there was plenty of that downstairs.”
“Good call,” Hanlon says, stripping off his patrol jacket and using his middle finger to push his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. I think I’m supposed to leave, but I can’t seem to make my feet move, and before Ican, he starts talking again. “Thanks for letting me crash here. I promise I’ll stay out of your way, and I can pay you for the extra water usage and stuff.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I say immediately, not actually having thought through the finances at all. I do okay, but it’s not like I earn six figures. Salaries for ski patrollers are all over the place, but Ricochet takes pretty good care of us. Plus, as the team lead, I make more than most, but the extra cost of food and hot water might stretch me thin.
“Stone, I’m not taking handouts. Let me contribute, or I’m leaving.”
“Are you going to threaten to leave every time I do or say something you don’t like?” I ask, needing to know just how fragile things are between us.
“Maybe. It makes me feel better. Like I have some power…even if I don’t.”
This conversation is getting far too heavy for his first night here because the reality is, he hasallthe power. He always has. That’s part of the reason I had to fucking leave. As long as I thought he needed me, I would’ve stayed and continued to protect him from all sides.I would have sacrificed everything to keep him safe, including myself.
I needed to break free of that.
