Chapter Two
Spiro
The guy paced on the sidewalk, talking on the phone, gesticulating wildly.
He’d be gone soon.
I returned to the living room, plopped on the couch, and watched Gordon Ramsay yell at someone. I didn’t care who and for what because all my head would register was the image of a ginger-haired twink’s smile falling when I’d told him to go.
With a grumble, I shuffled to the kitchen, pulled out the pot of my lemon chicken soup from the fridge and heated two mugs of it. I downed one and grabbed the other.
“I’m gonna regret this,” I muttered and opened the door.
The guy stopped pacing, although he was still on the phone, this time typing furiously. Snowflakes landed on his orange hair, the shade of sunset. He was shivering now, standing in the snow that had reached his ankles. Even his suitcase had an inch of white fluff on it.
“You look cold.” I took a step forward.
He noticed me then and flinched, nearly dropping his phone again. “I am.”
He reminded me of a scared cat someone kicked outside into the blizzard. That would be me. Mr. Scrooge.
I handed him the mug. “Here.”
He eyed the steam. “What is this?”
“Soup.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Is it poisoned?”
I scoffed. “No, of course not.”
“Well, you don’t seem to like me very much. I get it.” He shrugged and hit send on whatever he’d been typing.
“Drink. It will warm you up.” I crossed my arms and stood back.
“So you feel sorry for me.” He thrust his chin up.
I pursed my lips. No one had ever spoken to me like that. At 6' 4" and with four tentacles on display, I hardly ever got any cheeky comments. Let alone from a tiny stranger.
“Do you want the soup or not?” I didn’t have time for this. Oh wait, I did. I had three weeks filled with important plans of relaxing and cooking.
“I do. Thank you.” He wrapped his shaking fingers around the mug, took a sip, and directed his wide eyes at me. “This is so good.”
“Thanks.” I guess the soup had a warming effect on me too.
“You made this?” He slurped unapologetically.
I couldn’t hold the smile off my face. “Yes. So how’s the hunt for a place going?”
“All hotels, motels, apartments, and anything with a bed are already booked for this week. Most of them until the end of the year, actually. So I looked into flying home or somewhere else, but the planes are grounded.” He shook the snow off his boots, then stepped back into more of it.
“Apparently there’s a snowstorm warning. ” His shoulders sagged. “I better go.”
I took a deep breath.
“Wait.” I reached out with my tentacles but snatched them away. “Come inside. You can figure out what’s next when you’re not freezing.”
His ears perked up. “But you said—”
“I changed my mind. Get warm and we’ll sort something out.”
“Okay.” Mug in hand, he hauled his huge suitcase toward the house. I reached for it, but he batted my tentacle aside. The touch of his finger over my sucker lasted a fraction of a second before he jerked away as if it stung him.
I stifled a gasp. His hand was cold, but sent a sliver of warmth through my tentacle. He wouldn’t meet my gaze, but the blush that spread on his pale, freckled face was absolutely adorable.
“I can do it myself. If you hold this.” He thrust the mug at me.
“Sure.”
Grunting, he wrestled with the luggage through the heavy snow and into the house. He stomped his boots on the mat and ruffled his hair, sending snowflakes flying. “I’m waiting for replies from a few places, so I’ll be out of here soon. Don’t worry.”
“I’m glad to see your phone still works.” I gestured to the battered device.
“Oh, the screen was already like this.” He gave me a sheepish smile, pressed his thumb to unlock it three times, then put in the code. His hands had to be so cold. “But now the damn battery is dead.”
“The couch is right there if you wanna sit and warm up.” I waved toward the living room. “I’ll grab a charger for you.” Since I’d already made peace that he invaded my privacy, I might as well be welcoming to him.
“I don’t want to impose.” He wrapped his arms around his middle.
I levelled a deadpan expression at him. “I offered.” At first he wanted to barge into my house, and now he was getting all shy about me inviting him in? This guy was like a flag in the wind.
“Thanks.” He beamed, unzipped his mid-calf leather boots, and stepped out of them. The bright striped socks he wore took me aback, considering he was otherwise in a classic emo outfit.
He caught me looking and set his mouth in a straight line. “What?”
“Nice socks.” I bit the inside of my cheek.
“No one was supposed to see them, so you can spare me the sarcasm.” His eye roll was so intense I could almost hear it.
“I’m serious. They’re cute.”
He had very shapely feet too, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“I like wearing black, but the socks let me carry a piece of joy with me. It’s stupid.” He shrugged.
There was fire in him but it got lost in his resigned posture. “It’s not. And you don’t have to explain it to me. Or anything, for that matter.”
“Not even how I got myself into this mess?” He placed his boots neatly next to mine and hung his coat.
“Nope. It looks like an honest mistake to me.”
“Well, it wasn’t. I can never do anything right.
I wanted to prove that everyone was wrong.
That I can book a winter vacation, organize everything by myself, go and have fun.
But no. I fucked it all up at stage one.
” He flopped his arms and headed to the living room, looking as resigned as a wet cat after an unwanted shower.
I went to grab the charger from my bedside table and returned to find him sitting on the floor in front of the electric fireplace with his legs curled under, his palms raised toward the heat.
His phone lay on the coffee table, so I plugged it in and left it there. He looked so cold and miserable, I grabbed one of the fluffy throws from the couch and placed it over his shoulders.
He flinched, then glanced up at me and smiled, wrapping himself in the blanket.
“By the way, I’m Kaos.”
“I can see that.” I sat cross-legged next to him.
He pursed his lips. “That’s my name.”
Oops. I offered him a smile, but he remained unfazed. “Right. I’m Spiro to friends.”
“And to enemies?”
I chuckled. “Spyridon, I guess. That’s my proper name.”
“So which one should I use?” He glanced at me from under a ginger strand of hair that spilled over his forehead.
My tentacles drifted toward him involuntarily, like magnets to a fridge. A very cute and fluffy fridge.
“Call me Spiro if you’re good.” I forced my appendages back to my sides, willing them to stay put.
He blushed and looked away. “Thanks for the soup and all. I should get replies from all the other places I contacted when I can turn my phone on again. Sorry I made this your problem.”
“Not at all. You just caught me unawares, so I behaved like an ass. I should have let you in when you first knocked. You don’t even have a proper coat.”
He pulled the blanket tighter over himself. “I wasn’t expecting it to be so cold.”
“It’s Chicago. In winter.” I lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah well, I had no reference. I traveled only to the colder states in summer, and I spent my entire life in California.” He returned his gaze to the fireplace, and the warm glow danced over the pretty features of his face.
“I should have known I’d fuck this trip up from the start.
When I ordered the plane ticket, I didn’t notice that it wasn’t a direct flight.
So instead of a four and a half hour journey from LAX to Chicago, I wasted five hours in Denver for the layover.
In the end, it took me almost twelve hours to get here.
I came to this house straight from the airport. ”
“You must be exhausted.” Now I felt even worse for not letting him in right away.
“I am. Would you mind if I lie down just for a moment?”
“Go ahead.” I gestured to the couch, but he curled on the floor like a human burrito.
“Since you’re renting this place, how did you get here?” he asked, then yawned and hid his face in the blanket, leaving only his big green eyes visible.
“I flew from Mykonos with one transfer as well. That was two days ago, but I’ve just recovered from jet lag.” My flight was long and gruesome too, but he didn’t need to know that.
“You live in Greece?” His ears perked up enough to push the blanket off his head.
“Yeah. I grew up there.”
“Your accent is so good I couldn’t tell.”
Personal questions tended to annoy the fuck out of me, but when he was rapid-firing them while looking adorably swaddled, I didn’t mind. “My dad is American, so we spoke two languages at home.”
“Cool. What’s the best thing about Greece? I’ve never been, but it looks magical in photos.” He shuffled closer to the fireplace like a fluffy chrysalis. Maybe once he rested, he’d regain his confidence wings.
“The weather is decent all year round. A bit too hot in the summer, but we rarely have freezing winters in the coastal areas where I’m from, so it’s a great balance. The northern and mountain regions get snow, though, and similar weather to Chicago.”
A soft, wheezing sound left Kaos. Was he snoring? With the tip of my tentacle, I brushed a strand of hair off his forehead. His face was relaxed and eyes closed. Yup, fast asleep.
He murmured something and gathered my tentacle under his head like a pillow.
Shit. If I didn’t want to wake him up, I had to stay put. I lay back on the shaggy rug and watched the flames dance in the fireplace. The day hadn’t been what I had expected and far from what I’d planned, but the soft purring of an emo cutie was actually more pleasant than being home alone.