Page 28 of Love Spell

“That … explains your strategies.You know, in civilised countries we tend to have strong feelings about striking above versus below the belt.So I was once told by a young Englishman who first informed me that I was from an uncivilised country soon after I arrived here.”

“Told you that after you kicked him in the nuts?”

“I bit him, actually.”

“In the nuts?”

“No.”Timo tentatively shifted his crushed foot.“I kicked his feet out from under him, then bit his arm when he got me in a chokehold from behind.”

“He attacked while your back was turned but called you uncivilised?”

“The English are a contradictory people.”

“Appropriate for you to have joined their ranks then.”

“How’s that?”

“You just assaulted someone and then chided him for hitting below the belt.”

“‘Assault’ is a strong word.”

“Strong words are meant for strong deeds.”

Timo sighed.“I’m sorry.”

Noah simply stood there for several seconds, then, “If you’d dodged the foot stomp I’d have broken your nose, but I didn’t want to do that because … you know.That’d be awfully visible.And you’ve got the conference next month.”

“Thanks for sparing my vanity.It means a lot to know you care.”

“No problem.”Again, Noah hesitated, looking from Timo to the hotel.Timo couldn’t see his expression in the dark but wondered if Noah was about to offer to help him back.Instead, he said, “Leave me alone, okay?You said you would leave me alone.”

Timo only nodded while Noah walked off, picking his way carefully back down the trail in the dark.

10

Timo sat on the edge of the tub, trousers rolled up to his shins, feet soaking in a few inches of hot water, one hand over his eyes.Every toe on his left foot was bruised and swollen.Thankfully no worse, but he might not be able to avoid a limp for a day or two.

What was happening to his life?Tonight was impossible.Everyone knew that.The whole goddamn universe knew how tonight was going to end: two twined souls, eyes meet across a crowded room, a holiday, an overnight resort, a day of luxury, boozing, smoking, chemistry between them fogging the windows — he even had the bloody roses.

Everyone,everyone, knew how the night ended.Everyone except Noah Cerveny.So it wasn’t happening, which was impossible, defying all the laws of physics.Just impossible.

The muscles in Timo’s jaw worked as he clenched and unclenched his teeth, eyes screwed up below his hand, squeezing his temples with thumb and middle finger.

What more could he possibly have done?Slower?Kiss first?No, he was positive that wouldn’t have worked.Pushed Noah a bit more?Noah had been correct about Timo needing his nose intact right now.It was bad enough that it sprang regular leaks.He wouldn’t be able to do his job of networking at the conference if he had a plaster on his nose and bruised face like he’d been in a car wreck.Somebody more unscrupulous might already have slipped something into Noah’s drink.Not that Timo would ever sink that low.He liked his partners at the very least conscious and ideally enthusiastic.

And he’d never do Noah any harm.Of course not.Noah needed protecting, watching over, wooing.What would be useful was if someone else tried such tactics on Noah and Timo saved him and executed the perpetrator and Noah saw what a hero Timo was, how devoted and selfless he was, thinking only of Noah, and be reminded that he was in the process of falling madly in love with Timo.

This scenario being unlikely, Timo wondered if he might stage something else.Could he save Noah from being struck by a car while crossing the street, for example?Or from a mugging?Or from a bear?

Yes, a bear would be the ideal thing to save someone from and earn his undying devotion as a result, looking incredibly ripped and heroic in the process.So … a trip to Russia?Not happening.Alaska then.Basically the same thing once you went outdoors.

All right.So all he needed to do was get Noah to invite him home to Alaska, get him out into the forest, find a bear, and make sure he was carrying … what?Not a gun.Nothing brave about shooting an animal.A bowie knife?Sure.Or two?Just one and a rock?

So they’d go out hiking and — was it a brown bear or black bear?Had to be brown.Had to be big.Had to be a male.And this was the perfect season because they would go into hibernation soon.They were all busy getting fat as butter right now, feasting on salmon and reindeer calves and human hikers who weren’t saved at the last instant by their Russian-English lovers wielding nothing but a bowie knife and a fistful of sand thrown in the bear’s eyes.There’d be a media buzz and they’d end up getting married and become the famous bear couple.

Better get the bowie knife in Alaska.Airline security might be fussy about that.

Trouble was, after how Noah behaved tonight, throwing the law of averages and the whole universe out of whack by his impossible behaviour, by his not being in Timo’s bed at this very moment, begging Timo for more and deeper, gasping out Timo’s name as he came, he’d probably not respond correctly even if Timo saved his life from a rampaging grizzly bear with nothing but a pocketknife.Yeah, make it a pocket knife.Not so small that it looked stupid in the press photos, but small enough to draw gasps from the crowd — “No, you tackled a grizzly with nothing butthat?”

---