Page 53 of Tough Call

“There is a flight.” I arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to go through security and all that bullshit again, just to be crammed onto a plane for an hour?”

Connor wrinkled his nose.

“That’s what I thought.” I patted his shoulder. “The train is longer, but it’s a nice ride. And you can relax tonight.”

He exhaled, his shoulders sinking, and that was when the fatigue seriously started to shine through. “I really am going to pass out as soon as we get to the hotel. I know I should try to stay awake, but…”

“One day of sleeping won’t kill you. Let’s go.”

We headed out to the taxi stand, and in no time, we were settled into the back of a cab. My Spanish wasn’t great, but it was passable enough to communicate the name of our hotel.

As the driver pulled away from the airport, I turned to Connor, pausing for a moment just to drink in the sight of him. Even tired and rumpled from a long flight, he was absolutely gorgeous.

And he was here. Here with me. We had weeks to do nothing but be together without hiding, without sneaking around, and without worrying about anything. It barely felt real.

“How was your flight?” I asked.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed back against the headrest. “Ugh. It felt like Purgatory.”

“Really?” I suppressed a smirk. “It’s only a couple of hours to Madrid.”

“From Genève!” Connor rolled his eyes and shoved me playfully. “Some of us had to come from Canada.”

“That just sounds like poor planning on your end.”

He snorted and gave me the finger. “Jackass.”

I just chuckled, then took his hand. That felt so damn good. All of this felt so damn good. And to think, just a few months earlier, I’d barely thought about the kid who’d lived across the hall from me for two years.

Since Prague, I hadn’t gone a day—hell, an hour—without thinking about him.

And now, for the next few weeks…

Here he was.

Our hotel was about fifteen minutes from the airport. It was a huge conference hotel, and it was bustling with people here for—I thought—two separate conferences.

I’d already checked us in, though, so we just had to get past the crowd and into an elevator, and then it was up to our room.

“Holy shit,” Connor said when I opened the door. “It’s pitch black!”

“Siesta shades,” I said just before I turned on the light. “Better than any blackout curtains.”

“Nice.”

“The villa has them, too. They’re really nice for days when we go to bed before the sun goes down.”

He eyed me. “Are we going to bed that early? Or, well, going to sleep?” He slid his hands up my chest. “Because I don’t think I’ll mind the sunlight too much if we’re not sleeping.”

I chuckled and kissed him lightly. “The sun doesn’t go down until late in the evening. Like ten or so.”

“Sounds good to me. And it’ll be nice for a nap at… what time is it right now?”

“A little after one.”

Connor made a face and groaned. “Oh my God. My body clock is so fucked.”

“You didn’t sleep on the plane?”