Page 122 of The Price of Ice

“Wh— You want to?”

Levy nodded, then grimaced, glancing down at himself and shaking his head. “Not right this minute, but yeah.”

“I mean, you met my mum already,” Kallen pointed out, turning around to hang his trousers over the back of a chair.

The pressure of Levy’s body enveloping him from behind made him freeze. “It’s okay if it’s too soon,” his boyfriend told him gently.

Kallen swallowed, then relaxed into him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t sure, and his mum would be happy, he knew that. He put his own hand over Levy’s on his chest, holding it to his heart. “Maybe I need a minute.”

“Have a thousand,” he was told. He could feel the smile on his neck, and then there was a kiss there as well.

All in all, they had a very late dinner, at least as far as food was concerned.

LEVY ONLY HAD ONE MOREfull day in the city, and while Kallen would have happily spent it in bed with him, he couldn’t quite resist his request to be shown around town.

They took some of the hotel’s maps for tourists and went downstairs for breakfast, talking about the different neighbourhoods and their advantages.

It all felt rather unreal to Kallen, Levy had only been in Terali for twenty-four hours, and he hadn’t heard back about the job, but he was behaving like it was a done deal anyway.

Like Kallen was enough reason to go through with it.

“But really, you’d want to be close to your parents, right?” Levy asked.

And Kallen gaped at him.

“I...”

Levy smiled, a little sheepish. “I’m putting the cart before the horse?” he guessed. “Sorry, you don’t—Obviouslyyou don’t have to move in with me. But I thought... Well, we worked well, together, right?”

And Kallen was already on his feet and grabbing his face to kiss him right in front of the full restaurant. They got anapplause, and he sat back down instead of dragging Levy back upstairs.

“Is that a yes?” Levy asked after letting him finish his orange juice.

Kallen bit his lip, forcing himself to think it through. “Not yet.”

He was a little worried, but Levy grinned at him. “No rush.”

That seemed to be the motto for the day. Kallen drove them to the river bisecting the city and left the car in one of the underground garages so they could walk from there. They followed the river, stopping to look at handcrafts and discussing what they’d have for lunch amongst the many enticing smells coming from the food carts and restaurants they passed.

When Levy offered a hand, Kallen reached out and took it, feeling a bit silly. He was nearly twenty years old and he’d had sex with more men that he could count, but holding hands with his boyfriend in public was making his heart race.

He held on anyway, letting Levy’s voice wash over him and huddling close when they passed a big group. He didn’t step away again, and Levy, who always saw him too clearly, let go of his hand and put his arm around Kallen’s back instead, bringing him in. It was a little awkward to walk like that, but after all, they had nowhere to be, did they?

They ended up having lunch on a terrace from which they could see across the water.

“We don’t really need to stick to the diet anymore,” Kallen observed when the waiter had left.

Levy looked surprised. “Huh. Hadn’t thought of that. But I mean...” He shrugged a little. “I didn’t really, did I? You have the discipline of a saint or something.”

"I don’t really like the crappy stuff,” Kallen explained. “I never did, even as a kid I preferred eating fruit to candy.”

“Ugh, you realise that makes you very hateable, right?” Levy asked, softening the question with his smile.

Kallen rolled his eyes at him. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of pie I have eaten to keep Merle happy, though. At least you enjoy it.”

“Good point,” his boyfriend agreed. “But you do love pasta, don’t even front.”

“I likeyourlasagna,” he allowed.

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