Chapter 1 #2
Jensen chuckled nervously and tugged at his shirt collar.
If he hadn’t sweated through his button-up, he’d have ripped his sweater off.
Daniel’s chest was almost touching Jensen’s arm, and the hand on his leg gently squeezed the tense muscle every so often.
Blood swirled around Jensen’s body, making him dizzy and hot, and if he wasn’t sitting down, he would have fallen over from the minty breath that caressed his cheek on each of Daniel’s exhales.
“No, no. I’m not a teacher. It’s an annual architecture conference.
One of the largest in the United States. ”
“Does that make you an architect?” Daniel asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
“The firm I work for designs office buildings,” Jensen said with a nod.
“Oh, very interesting.” Daniel slid his other palm up Jensen’s arm, then back down, feeling the lack of muscle.
“It’s okay, I guess.” Jensen stared at the fingers wrapped around his arm. “I’m not really passionate about it, but it pays the bills.”
“What are you passionate about?”
“I’ve been really into the locking mechanisms of old Chinese puzzle boxes recently,” Jensen said, then immediately cringed.
Every part of his body shut tight—hell, he could almost feel his balls recede into his body as he closed his eyes.
That was not the correct answer, and he knew it with every fiber of his being.
When a hot man asked about interests and passions, they were not asking about internet deep dives.
Jensen should have said something sexy, not that he knew what classified as sexy.
But he should not have responded with fucking puzzle boxes.
“I might have something you can unlock.”
The suggestion was whispered into his ear, Daniel now fully pressed against Jensen’s side.
Much too loudly, air sucked into his lungs.
With all the bravery inside his body, he opened his eyes and came face-to-face with Daniel.
Icy blue eyes stared back at him, clearer than the sky outside.
They were so close. So fucking close, and Jensen had to say something.
Do something. It would only make it weirder if he didn’t respond.
“Oh no. I just …” He trailed off because he could not finish that sentence.
God, he was hopeless. He knew Daniel was flirting with him.
He wasn’t stupid. He knew the man was trying to start something up with him, but he was so out of Jensen’s league.
He cleared his throat and tried again. “My name’s Jensen.
I don’t think I told you that. Gosh, is it hot in here? ” He tugged at his collar again.
“I was just about to say the same thing.” Daniel slid back on the seat, robbing Jensen of his presence, and stood. “How about we go back to your room?”
“I, uh, I’m …”
Daniel extended his hand with a bright smile and a tilt of his head that had hair falling onto his forehead. “Come on, Jensen, I want to hear about all the things you can unlock with those fingers.”
A sound escaped Jensen’s open mouth as his gaze traveled from the outstretched hand to the hair glittering in the warm overhead chandeliers.
Stained glass at sunrise.
This man was stained glass at sunrise inside this darkened bar in the middle of the polluted city.
Golden-blond locks. Soft blue eyes that shone so brightly from within.
Pale skin glittering with highlights and a brushstroke of pink blush, not dissimilar to the opalescent white glass used by Jensen’s favorite artists.
Lips tinted with a shade that couldn’t have been achieved in art until the more modern era.
A nose and jawline and lines that were so perfect they must have been painstakingly soldered together after hours of measuring and cutting and sanding.
So delicate-looking but with underlying masculine strength that could weather storms and shield admirers from the outside world.
And Daniel invited Jensen to admire him.
There wasn’t a world where Jensen didn’t take his hand and stand from the table, nearly forgetting his notebook.
He couldn’t even muster up embarrassment at his sweaty palms as their fingers locked together.
Somehow, he’d entered a world where men that looked like Daniel wanted his company, and if the rules of reality didn’t apply, he wasn’t going to let something as banal as insecurity ruin this for him.
He was sure he would ruin this eventually, but that was a bridge he’d cross when he got to it.
“What room are you in?” Daniel asked as they stepped out of the bar onto the herringbone flooring of the lobby.
“Two-oh-three,” he mumbled as he kept all his focus on putting one foot in front of the other so he didn’t trip and break his head open on the old wood floor.
Daniel didn’t need any further guidance from Jensen as he directed them past the garden mosaic that had made Jensen want to book the hotel in the first place and up the curved staircase that had solidified his decision.
Together they ate up the wallpapered hallway on the second floor until they arrived at his door.
Only then did Daniel let go of his hand and move to lean against the wall.
It took Jensen more than a few beats of his frantic heart to realize that he needed to unlock his door if they wanted to go in.
And he very much wanted to go into his room with Daniel.
After fumbling through his pockets, he pulled out the copper key and slotted it into the keyhole. He turned it one too many times and grimaced before managing to get the door open.
Daniel followed him into the room, catching his eye as he moved away from the door. The look he gave Jensen barely contained a sultry promise.
Giving himself a moment to breathe, Jensen turned his back on the beautiful man in his room to close the door tight and turn the lock.
Daniel, however, didn’t give him any privacy.
As soon as the lock engaged, arms wrapped around Jensen’s chest, smoothing over the fabric of his sweater and pulling him back into Daniel’s embrace.
“What are you hoping for, handsome? I like to get expectations out of the way before we begin,” Daniel said, his breath hot against Jensen’s ear.