Page 46 of Amid Our Lines

Fun, Adrian reminded himself. That was all it was—fun. Mutual attraction, a casual arrangement that either of them could walk away from at any point, no hard feelings.

Exactly what Adrian was good at.

Adrian wokeup to dawn already filtering through the curtains. It felt like an indulgence—when had he last slept past seven?

He lifted the fluffy duvet just enough to register the chilly morning air. The heater had been on, but he didn’t fancy sleeping in a sauna and so the temperature tended to drop overnight. It always got coldest before dawn, presumably because science sucked.

All right, up and at ‘em. He just needed to work up the courage to throw off the duvet. He was a bloody adult, and he could fuckingdothis.

Ugh.

The wooden floorboards were cool beneath his feet. He fished a thick pair of socks out of a drawer and put them on first, pants next,before he located yesterday’s jumper draped over the heater. Good enough. He pulled it on as he tried to recall how it had got there. Maybe tossed aside at some point while he and Eric had undressed each other, curious hands and kisses that danced between sweet and urgent. After Eric had left, Adrian had been too awake to turn off the light just yet, so he’d picked up a book he hadn’t opened in weeks, too busy with the hotel to make the time. A few chapters later, when he’d finally switched off the lamp, the room felt a tad too quiet somehow.

But of course Eric hadn’t been meant to stay. That wasn’t what they were.

The distant resonance of the grand piano twined with the quiet morning. Once Adrian had accomplished the amazing feat of getting fully dressed, brushing his teeth, and combing damp fingers through his hair, he made his way down the stairs. The worn carpet muffled his steps.

When he peered into the dining room, he found Eric at the piano, singing along to an unfamiliar melody. One of his own? He didn’t have the most confident voice, but it was pretty—a gentle, pleasant baritone as he sang about sun-kissed skin and shaking sand out of his shoes.

He’d be gone by summer.

Adrian shrugged the thought off like a dusting of snow. He kept quiet until the song petered out, listening as much as watching. Yes, fine, maybe loitering uninvited in the doorway made him look like a creep—personally, he preferred the term connoisseur.

Only when Eric reached for his phone did Adrian realise he’d been recording. Ah, that explained the singing. Adrian waited until Eric set his phone aside before he applauded, hooting like it was a concert, shaking his hips. “Take me backstage, you sexy hunk!”

Seated on the piano stool, Eric looked around, his grin bashful. “Sorry, did I wake you? Your parents said it’d be fine.”

Good God, he was adorable.

“Nah, you’re good.” Adrian wandered closer. Since his parents were nowhere to be seen, he stopped behind Eric and bent down to wrap his arms around him, nosing along the back of his neck. “Can’tremember the last time I slept past dawn, to be honest. Must have been an exhausting evening.”

Eric leaned into the contact. “I’ve no idea what you mean.”

“That so?” Adrian inhaled—the spicy note of Eric’s cologne was starting to become familiar. He tightened his arms in what might pass for a hug before he stepped back. “Had breakfast?”

“Wanted to get this done first.” Eric gestured at the scattered notes on top of the piano as he got up. “I’m meant to get this demo to the artist by the end of the week, and I don’t like leaving it to the last minute.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t,” Adrian said, smiling, before he nodded towards the door. “How do you feel about some scrambled eggs?”

The corners of Eric’s mouth hitched up. “Great if you’re the one cooking. I’m a disaster in the kitchen.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re single.” It had been meant as light-hearted teasing, except it actually was a sore point for Eric, wasn’t it? And there Adrian went, flapping his gob. He should be banned from human interactions before his first cup of coffee.

“Maybe,” Eric agreed.

“I was kidding.” Adrian hesitated, then grabbed Eric’s wrist for a squeeze and used it to pull him close. “Honestly, they must have been idiots. There’s really no other explanation.”

He meant it, kind of. Which was … something. But not something Adrian was going to think about right now because breakfast to eat, wine lists to revise.

“Thank you.” Eric’s gaze dipped down to Adrian’s mouth. Adrian wasn’t about to let an invitation like that slip past him, so he tugged Eric in for a kiss—easy and light, not so different from a quick peck he might share with Martin.

Eric wasn’t Martin, though.

They made their way down to the breakfast kitchen on the ground floor. While Eric set about preparing coffee for both of them, Adrian rooted through the fridges for eggs and other things he could add—peppers, green onion, cheese. They were running low oneverything, so it was timely that the next grocery delivery would arrive tomorrow.

With Adrian’s parents having left early to go skiing, breakfast was just the two of them. They ate across from each other, eyes occasionally meeting over sips of coffee as Adrian leafed through a Swiss paper and Eric readTheNew York Times.

“Thought I’d go skiing later,” Adrian said as he got up to clear away his empty cup and plate. “Prove Martin wrong when he claims I have no life. Want to join?”

---