“You can’t look at me like that in front of the others,” Levi said.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re reading a restaurant review you wrote.”
“I’ll try,” Asher said.
Yeah right.
Levi sighed. He walked over to the small closet of the room and opened it, spotting a cream colored t-shirt sitting on a carry-on bag on the floor. “Is this yours?” he asked as he bent over to grab it.
“No, this is your hotel room,” Asher said.
Levi glanced back, about to ask how Asher had his hotel room key, but paused because Asher’s cheeks had reddened and the tilt of his head had increased by several degrees. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Asher laughed. “You’re the one bending over where I can see, it’s not my fault you have a nice ass.”
Levi stood up too fast and winced as every sore part of him inside and out protested the movement. “Shut up.” He threw the t-shirt at Asher. “Come on, we should get back out there so I can embarrass myself with an apology.”
“Come here,” Asher said as he caught the shirt.
“No, we need to figure out—”
“Please?” Asher asked, his mouth forming a little pout.
Oh, fuck me.
Levi felt the pull of it in his chest before he had time to defend against it, that small protruding lower lip and the soft mismatched eyes above it doing more damage than any of the actual damage Asher had done since they woke up here. Hewanted to cross the room. He wanted to put his thumb on that lip and push it back where it belonged and then kiss Asher until the pout dissolved into the smile underneath. He wanted to stay in this room with the rumpled bed and forget that there was some new horror waiting for them somewhere.
He hated that he wanted it. He hated that Asher knew he wanted it. He hated that the pout was working.
“Fine, what do you want?” Levi sighed, moving back over to the bed. Asher caught his wrist, pulled, and Levi went easily, too easily, into a kiss.
It wasn’t a quick kiss…this was the kind of kiss that had a plan — slow at the start, his hand sliding up to cup Levi’s jaw, his thumb at the corner of Levi’s mouth coaxing it open, and then deeper, unhurried, like everything could wait because Asher had asked and Levi had come. Heat bloomed at the back of Levi’s neck. His hand had ended up flat against Asher’s bare chest. When Asher finally pulled back, Levi’s mouth chased him by half an inch before he caught himself.
“That’s all I wanted,” he murmured, and the smile he flashed was the one Levi never knew what to do with — the soft one with no edge. His thumb stroked once across Levi’s bottom lip, and then he pulled the t-shirt over his head, his hair sticking up in three directions when it came through the collar, and Levi’s hand was still on his chest until the fabric pushed it away. He smoothed the shirt down, gave Levi’s hip a quick squeeze, and stepped back like nothing had happened. “Come on. Let’s go embarrass you in front of your friends.”
Levi stopped at the window at the end of the hall near the room, peering out at the thick fog. It was unsettling. Nearly opaque,and with the darkness, it felt like his eyes couldn’t process it as something that was technically just a mist. Itlookedsolid. Every few seconds, it shifted, almost like there were shapes moving through it, but he couldn’t tell if it was close to the window or far. It just was.
“Whatever this game is, it has something to do with that fog,” Levi muttered.
“Worry about that later,” Asher whispered in his ear as he wrapped his arms around Levi. “This is the nicest place we’ve gotten to be in together. Can’t you just enjoy it for a few more hours? For me?”
That doesn’t get us out of here…
“Okay,” Levi said. “Come on, dovey, lead the way.”
Asher grew tense behind him for a split second, then spun Levi in his arms and kissed his forehead.
Levi’s forehead was still buzzing as they returned to the lounge, and it was noticeably warmer than the hallway had been. The gas fireplace had been lit, casting the leather couches and arm chairs in a warm orange light. Jasper had his feet kicked up on the coffee table nearest to the fireplace, beer in hand, and what looked like the remains of a charcuterie board in his lap, like he had decided it was solely his. He looked up as Levi and Asher came in.
“Hey, man!” He placed his feet back on the floor and almost stood, then seemed to have a moment of panic between greeting Levi and losing an entire row of summer sausage. “You good?”
“Yeah.” Levi’s voice was still rough. “Sorry about leaving so fast.”
“Don’t be. Owen tried to explain cryptocurrency to the table after you left. You missed nothing.”
Owen, in an armchair opposite Jasper, looked up from his book. “It wasn’t cryptocurrency, it was blockchain architecture, and the distinction matters —”
