Page 196

Forty-Two

That night, Nate made a full cup of tea.

Leo watched him carry it into the sitting room. Nate half-expected the ghost to protest the use of that much tea, but he didn’t.

They both needed it tonight.

Nate drank.

He left his body on the sleeping bag, and Leo met him before he’d quite gotten his balance. Hands on his arms, steadying him. Nate caught one of those hands and kissed the palm.

Leo’s fingers curled against his cheek.

“You’re getting better at that,” Leo said.

“Leaving my body?”

“Not falling over afterward.”

“I have help.” Nate drew him closer. He kissed his forehead first, then his mouth, and Leo leaned into him so readily that Nate had to close his eyes.

They ended up on their sides, suspended just above the floor, Leo tucked against him. Nate ran his hand down Leo’s back and up again. He could touch anywhere he wanted without effort. His shoulder. His waist. The small space beneath his ear that made him turn his head.

“You’re fussing,” Leo murmured.

“Am I?”

“Very much.”

Nate stopped moving his hand.

After a moment, Leo caught his wrist and put it back against his spine.

“Not a complaint.”

Nate kissed him again.

Kissing Leo was not so different from kissing anyone alive. His mouth was warm. It softened beneath Nate’s, opened when Nate’s tongue traced his lower lip. He made a quiet sound when Nate caught that lip between his teeth, and another when Nate’s hand slid into his hair.

The differences lived in the spaces between.

Leo didn’t need to draw breath. There was no pulse beneath Nate’s thumb where it rested against his throat. When the kiss slowed, Leo sometimes went completely still—not tense, not withdrawn, simply absent of all the small involuntary movements that meant life.

Then Nate kissed him deeper, and Leo moved against him with enough enthusiasm for three living men.

His hand slid under Nate’s shirt, palm flattening against his back.

Nate shuddered.

“Cold?” Leo asked against his mouth.

“No.”

“You shuddered.”

“I’m allowed.”

Leo smiled. Nate felt it happen beneath his lips.