“Um.” Alexei stepped up next to him, making eye contact with no one save for a very interesting spot on the floor. He slid a credit card and ID across the counter. “I got this.”
“Hiking the PCT?” Aaron asked as he processed Alexei’s card.
“Unfortunately.” Ben grinned. “I apologize for the odor.”
Aaron laughed.
“Have to say I’m used to it, man. You guys actually aren’t half bad.”
“Aw, thanks. I appreciate that. You ever spend time on the trail?”
Aaron shook his head, placing a set of room keys into a paper pocket. “Nope, and can’t say I want to. I’ll stay here where there’s air-conditioning and TV. Now, you’ll be in Room 232, which if you look at this map, is right—”
Alexei snatched the keys and map from underneath Aaron’s fingertips.
“We’re good, thank you so much.”
And he was gone.
Ben watched Alexei dart out the door and held in a laugh. “Thanks, man.” He waved to Aaron before hustling after Alexei. Who was halfway up the steps to the second-floor balcony by the time Ben caught up with him.
“I hate you,” Alexei said.
“No, you don’t.” Because even when Ben messed up, he was 95 percent sure Alexei didn’t hate him. “Oh man.Yes.”
As soon as Alexei opened the door, Ben threw his pack to the ground and flew onto the bed. He swung his arms and legs back and forth as if he were making snow angels.
This mattress waswaybetter than the one at Mo’s.
Alexei stood at the side of the bed and stared at him.
And then he dropped his pack and started babbling.
“This place probably has a continental breakfast, right?” Alexei paced to the window, pulling open the blinds and staring at the golden hills they’d been walking through for so long. “I love a continental breakfast. We can load up on horrible pastries and inedible apples for the trail. I hope they have a cereal station. I would kill for some Fruit Loops.”
Ben paused his snow angel action. Alexei kept talking.
“We were never allowed to eat things like Fruit Loops when we were kids. But starting in middle school, Alina got really good at stealing junk food from her friends at lunch.” Slowly, Ben slid himself off the bed and padded over to stand behind him. “She loved those zebra cakes, the Little Debbie things.”
Ben slid his arms around Alexei’s waist. “The best,” he murmured into Alexei’s neck.
“Yeah.” Alexei swallowed. “One day when she was in eighth grade, she went to a sleepover. When she got home, she came into my room and brought out this Ziploc bag full of Fruit Loops. We never had anything so neon colored and artificial in our house. I loved them.”
Ben pulled Alexei closer into his chest, his mouth grazing the back of his neck before he said, “I’m more of a Raisin Nut Bran man.”
“I don’t believe it,” Alexei said on a wheeze.
“Oh, believe it.” Ben’s hands made a delightful trip up Alexei’s chest. “It sounds healthy, but that sugary stuff around the raisins? Delicious. Raisin Nut Bran is the shit. And they never have it at continental breakfasts.” Ben’s hands lowered back to Alexei’s stomach. “A travesty.”
He could feel Alexei’s body tensing underneath him, his nerves tumbling through every stuttered breath. Ben adored him. He leaned up to take his earlobe in his mouth.
This seemed to do it. Finally, Alexei let his body go fully slack against Ben’s, his head lolling to the side to give Ben’s mouth better access.
“Ben.”
He said it so softly, bending his spine farther into Ben’s torso. Ben heard everything inside that one soft sound.
He removed his mouth from Alexei’s neck, sinking his forehead onto Alexei’s shoulder. Squeezing him tighter, this beast of a man who let himself be a kitten sometimes, when Ben’s arms were around him.
