Page 109 of Game Misconduct

Leif shuddered and kissed him back until they were both panting and the faintly bitter, salty taste was all gone.

Leif’s knees hurt when he stood and he decided that he was probably an idiot. He should have padded the floor.

But time was ticking down until they needed to go, so they took turns washing up. Every so often, Tanner would look at him with these big eyes and a soft smile and Leif felt himself weakening.

This was all going to hit him very hard later but for now, he couldn’t think about what it all meant.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Showered and dressed, Tanner kept up a running commentary about the game last night as they packed their suitcases. Or, Leif packed and Tanner made a halfhearted attempt at not just shoving wads of stuff in his bag.

It was progress, Leif supposed.

After, they had breakfast together. Leif had preordered it to be delivered to the apartment and he answered the door when it arrived.

At the small round table in the open living and dining area, Tanner unpacked the bag and got this cute little smile on his face when he dug through it.

Tanner made happy moaning noises about the breakfast sandwiches Leif had ordered—egg, cheddar, and bacon on sourdough for Tanner and scrambled eggs, halloumi cheese, and sauteed spinach and tomatoes on wheat for Leif.

They devoured the berry muesli cups too, although Tanner was confused about what muesli even was.

“So, like … raw granola?” he said, wrinkling his nose at the oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits Leif stirred into his yogurt.

“It’s better when you let it sit overnight,” Leif admitted. “Try it? You might like it.”

Tanner made a face, but he did stick a spoonful of the mixed-together concoction in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, then shrugged. “I don’t hate it. The sandwich was thebombthough. I could use, like, three more of those.”

“I figured two each would be enough.” Though, to be honest, he wouldn’t have turned down another one either.

“And the coffee,” Tanner moaned. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you got meicedcoffee. I love you so much.”

Leif flushed and looked down at his muesli.

The iced coffee had been a gamble considering the time of year, but Leif had read somewhere online that bisexuals and people with ADHD preferred iced coffee to hot. Leif would have preferred some hard data to back that up, but he’d taken the risk and apparently it was accurate.

At least for Tanner anyway.

Whyanyonewould want iced coffee in March when they were in the middle of a rainstorm was beyond Leif, but Tanner was happy and that was all that mattered.

Leif wondered why making Tanner happy mattered to him at all. And then it sunk in that Tanner had said ‘I love you’.

He glanced up.

Tanner had immediately gone back to slurping down coffee and shoving spoonfuls of yogurt and muesli in his mouth, soLeif probably wasn’t expected to respond. But he still sat there, dumbfounded because what if Tannermeantit? What if ithadbeen more than a throwaway statement of gratitude?

But that was crazy, right? Tanner was … well,Tanner, and he was probably like this with everyone he had sex with.

Leif sat there, his brain whirling with thoughts until Tanner looked up from his phone, smiled at him, and held out his drink. “You want to trade? It doesn’t look like you’re that into your hot latte. I’ll share mine with you, if you want.”

That snapped Lefi out of his anxiety-driven ruminations and he told Tanner, “Thank you, no, this is good,” and he finished his hot latte and the rest of his food.

After Leif cleaned up their breakfast, and Tanner pretended to help but mostly pushed crumbs from the table onto the floor, Leif checked the entirety of the apartment to be sure they hadn’t forgotten to pack anything.

Surprisingly, they hadn’t.

With about ten minutes to spare before they had to leave, Tanner bullied him onto the couch. “Sit,” he said, pointing to a cushion.

Leif sat.