Page 34 of Love Spell

“I wouldn’t be looking after my pack if I didn’t make sure you had a place to sleep at night.How about this: I’ll book the room, or, for absolutely free, you can stay with me until you find a better option.”Timo smiled up at him.“One or the other.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“We usually call it ‘a helping hand’ in this country, but I cannot claim to have mastered every cultural intricacy.”

“You have to realise why I can’t stay with you.Do you even have a guest room?”

“I have a couch.I will take the couch.You can have the bed.Breakfast optional.Depending on if you make it or not.Hands off, unless you say otherwise.”

“That would last about thirty seconds.”

“Cross my heart.”Timo rested a hand over his heart.“I do have that conference coming up next month, you know?I must look smart.No broken bones.And if you don’t like the view, we can always find you a hotel room.”

Noah chewed his lip, glanced at the glowing screen.True that he could simply leave if Timo’s bad behaviour escalated.Classic stupid move, going to live with a guy like this.But Noah looked at him and remembered lying awake regretting, not what Timo had done on Saturday night, but what Noah had done.Finally, Noah nodded.

12

Timo transferred one of the perfectly seared tuna steaks from the packaging onto the bed of greens and quinoa, poured the still-hot sauce over the top, and took his dinner to sit on an accent chair by the sprawling bay windows overlooking the lights of London and the winding Thames.Pressing a button that had restaurants delivering food from pan to his door in less than 15 minutes was his favourite invention.That, and mind-altering substances, truth be told.

“You’re sure you won’t have anything?”

“I really did just have dinner.”Noah sat stiffly in the middle of the couch, feet squarely on the floor, hands on knees, looking like someone awaiting a mug shot.“Thanks, though.It smells good.”

“Wine?Tea?Make yourself at home.”Timo started to eat.

“I don’t suppose you have anything herbal?”

“Ginger.In the cabinet beside the fridge.Mugs in the next one over.”

“Thanks,” Noah said again and stood.“Kettle?”

“Instant hot water tap.The one on the left.”

“That’s genius.”

“I invented it myself.”

Noah laughed a little nervously.

By the time he returned to the couch, he still looked as comfortable as a lobster dangling over a boiling pot, but at least he had something to do with his hands.

Timo said nothing, only ate, smiling on the inside.

Everything was going to be all right now.Whatever was happening to him was going to stop tomorrow because he had a meeting with the man in black over his lunch break and he was going to get to the bottom of this and see that it stopped.He’d talked to Julian by text on Monday, set up the meeting at a coffee shop on Wednesday, and knew he had only two more days to get over this whole thing with Noah.

What and how and details didn’t matter.Somehow, someway, something had happened to him starting the night of the wedding and it was Julian’s fault.Now he was going to get it sorted and the fact that in the meantime, in these last few hours of his own insanity, Noah was actually in his home, right here, about to sleep here, a couple rooms away from Timo, was totally unimportant and uninteresting because Timo willed it to be so.

Just thinking about the meeting was distracting enough that Timo hardly even noticed Noah here with him.Right here.Right now.Much more interested in his dinner, in fact, than his casual work friend employee person who just happened to need a place to crash and Timo offered because that was what friends did.Practically invisible as far as Timo was concerned.

He ate and Noah fiddled with the string on his tea bag and looked at the view.

The penthouse was quiet.Timo didn’t like quiet.He liked action, conversation, getting things done, seeing things happen and making them happen.Normally, he’d have on news or be listening to one of his audio programs over dinner, possibly texting someone or checking trades at the same time.

But no, he had a reticent guest and he ate and didn’t turn anything on.

Chivalrous.That was what Timo was.It was a good word.His picture could be beside it in the dictionary.Other relevant, interesting English words included imperturbable and valorous, which was one of the many words Americans didn’t know how to spell.

“I’m fine out here,” Noah said.“Really.I’d rather be on the couch than turf you out of your bed.”

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