Checked Out

Chapter 1

Squished into the back end of a booth, Jensen felt about ten feet tall.

Well, maybe not ten feet, that would be absurd, but he felt much taller than his completely respectable and not at all disappointing height.

Which he wasn’t ashamed of. He knew he was fortunate to have grown to a measly few inches shy of six feet, since his Italian American mother topped out at five foot five in heels.

Regardless of the semantics, he felt so good about himself.

So good that he had to hide his outrageous smile behind the crystal glass he held.

He’d been doing so well and didn’t want to ruin it by being the weird guy in the corner of the hotel bar that was laughing to himself.

The happiness, though, was hard to contain.

He’d made it through two airports and a cramped flight, found a taxi, and checked into his hotel without a single incident.

Of course, he got to the airport three hours early and refused any of the complimentary drinks on the flight so he didn’t risk spilling on his clothes.

And he might have overpaid for the taxi, but he wasn’t going to try creating an account on any rideshare app—he did not trust his safety with some stranger employed by a tech startup.

The whole gig economy stressed him out, truthfully.

Nevertheless, everything was going so well that he almost called his mother to brag.

But again, he was trying to not break his cool streak.

He’d wait until he was back in his room to talk her through his accomplishments.

And, oh boy, she was going to be so impressed.

“Hello.” The smooth voice cut through his one-man mental fellatio and kicked him in the gut. “I’m Daniel.”

Jensen’s glass nearly toppled out of his hands by the force of Daniel’s half smile alone.

With palms already breaking out in sweat, Jensen set the drink on the hickory table before adjusting his glasses, sure that his vision was deceiving him.

Surprisingly, the man across from him didn’t lose his corporeal form or smile as Jensen blinked rapidly and squinted through the only slightly smudged, thick glass, trying to make sense of the intrusion.

He’d noticed Daniel the moment he entered the cozy bar.

The man was impossible to not notice, and Jensen, who had been quite adept at noticing boys his entire life, would have needed to be at least 40 percent more blind to not be aware of Daniel.

He was so aware of him sitting at the long wood bar that hugged the east side of the room that he made a point to sit in the farthest corner, where he was nearly out of sight.

It was the polite thing to do, and Jensen prided himself on being a decent person.

And, of course, the nicest thing he could do for the man now sitting next to him on the high-backed leather bench was to never make his presence known.

He had made a career out of ensuring beautiful people had beautiful environments to be comfortable in.

Jensen, who had not once been comfortable in his entire life, did not belong within smelling distance of people like Daniel.

And there was exactly one reason he was over here with Jensen now.

“Oh”—he scrambled to grab his notebook and drink without combining the two—“am I in your seat? I can move.”

Fingertips fluttered to land on his upper arm, halting his escape, the heat scorching through the sweater and shirt he was wearing.

The slight pressure felt like it was burning him even though he could hardly sense it was there.

But it was. His eyes were actively seeing those dainty fingers slowly wrap around his bicep like a snake winding up a branch.

Though he could hardly call his wet noodle of an arm a bicep and probably shouldn’t refer to the man leaning closer as dainty.

Because he was. A man, that was. A bit more compact than Jensen and a bit more feminine than the ones he usually conversed with.

Not that there was anything wrong with that.

Oh God, no, there wasn’t a single thing wrong with Daniel.

It was just that he was an early-spring-toned stained-glass masterpiece crafted by a loving expert in their prime, and Jensen was not something worth categorizing.

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t move.” Daniel leaned in closer, like he had a secret to tell and was petrified anyone else in the nearly empty bar might hear it. “I was hoping to talk to you.”

“Why?” Jensen asked, disgusted by the notion that this god among man would lower himself so far as to exchange words with Jensen.

In his quick look around the bar before fleeing to a dark corner with this drink, Jensen had sighted a few well-fitted suits he knew from experience cost more than his entire trip.

Surely the rich men had much more to offer Daniel than Jensen did.

Sweat already dampening the pits of his shirt, Jensen was certain he didn’t possess a single thing that could matter to Daniel.

Just as simply and naturally as the smile that lit his face, Daniel’s expression turned neutral, if not apologetic. “Oh, my bad. It seems my intuition is rusty. I can introduce you to one of my friends,” he stated with a gesture back toward the bar, robbing Jensen of his touch.

He glanced over to a group of three women, all just as beautiful as Daniel. “Friends,” Jensen muttered, then turned his attention back. “Are you all staying at the hotel too?”

Daniel’s smile returned, this time with a twinkle in his eye that almost made Jensen feel like he was being laughed at, which was not quite an unfamiliar feeling, though it didn’t make his gut squirm like it usually did.

“Sure are, handsome,” Daniel said, humor obvious in his tone. The hand was back on Jensen, but this time scorching his knee. “How long are you here for?”

The end of the world itself could not force Jensen’s attention away from staring at the palm lightly applying pressure on his pant leg.

He was focusing so hard on the light-blue veins that he might just blow a blood vessel in his eye.

It felt like his mind had been burst apart.

Nothing but ash and a guttural need to keep the hand exactly where it was filled his skull.

Before he could sift through the wreckage to find an ounce of common sense or self-awareness, his mouth moved.

“I wasn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow.

No one else going to the conference is flying in until tomorrow.

But then the conference officially starts on Friday, even if there is the cocktail hour tomorrow night that I probably won’t go to.

And what if my flight was delayed an entire day?

Or what if my luggage was lost and I didn’t have pants to wear to the conference?

Not that I ever check bags. My mom once watched a show where TSA agents went through people’s items and stole them.

Sure, it was fiction with a surprising number of lesbian sex scenes—she had lots of questions about that—but it could happen. ”

Daniel, bless him, only smiled and nodded as what could only be described as real-life exposition was projectile vomited onto his crisp brown pants. “So, you’re here for a conference?” he asked, while Jensen sucked in air for the first time since his mouth had opened.

He nodded a tad too vigorously, then quickly aborted the motion before his glasses could fly off his face. “Yes. It begins Friday at eight over at the convention center and ends Sunday. So, to answer your question, I’ll be checking out Monday morning.”

Humming lowly in the back of his throat, Daniel trailed his fingers higher up Jensen’s tense thigh. “Are you the only attendee that’s staying here?”

“I think so,” Jensen said, but it came out more like a question.

He was too busy trying to get his leg to relax before it knotted and became painful.

“I believe most people took advantage of the discounted rate at the hotel next to the venue.” He didn’t quite understand why anyone would.

Sure, it was more convenient, as it was attached to the conference center, but it was a chain monstrosity made from concrete and cutting costs.

Completely impersonal and, more insulting, repeatable.

“So I get you all to myself, then,” Daniel said, his hand moving just a few centimeters higher as he leaned close enough that Jensen could feel the heat wafting from his overly pretty body.

“This hotel is quite difficult to get a reservation for.” Jensen continued his thoughts aloud.

His heart was racing from Daniel being so close.

From touching him. From having his full attention.

“Surprisingly so. It’s not advertised on many websites, and it wasn’t part of the travel portal that my firm requires us to use.

And there’s no online booking. Isn’t that weird?

It’s the first hotel I’ve had to call to make reservations for.

I don’t usually like calling to make purchases, I much prefer to do it all online.

I mean, everything basically autofills, and I don’t have to remember my credit card number. It’s just all there.”

“It is a unique hotel.” He somehow took Jensen’s ridiculous babbling in stride with a smile on his face and wasn’t running for the hills, or to someone that could manage a normal conversation. “This conference of yours, what’s it for? Sexy professors?” he asked.