“Sorry, did I hurt you?”
“No. It tickled.”
Alec smiled. “Ah.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Ed’s foot still in Alec’s lap, and Alec’s hand resting lightly on Ed’s ankle.
“I’m all finished” came a female voice with a strong Scottish accent from around the corner.
“Oh, cool. Hang on a sec,” Ed called, trying to sit up so he could go and give the poor woman a tip for clearing up his mess.
But Alec beat him to it, already reaching into his pocket as he stood. “Thank you,” Alec said smoothly. “Sorry to have troubled you so late.”
“Och, its nae bother, sir. Thank you. Have a good evenin’.”
The door clicked shut and they were alone again.
Alec came back into view, but he stopped at the foot of the bed, his hands in his pockets as his gaze raked over Ed where he lay sprawled on top of the covers.
“If I leave you to it, will you survive till morning?” he asked, lips curving. A dimple Ed had never noticed before pressed into his cheek.
Ed’s heart skipped a little faster. “I don’t know. It’s a tough call. What if the spider has a family? Like a spider mafia. They might come looking for me.”
“I think we’ll have to take that chance.” Alec approached the bed and started packing up his first aid kit.
Ed wanted to reach out, touch his hand and ask him to stay. But he didn’t want to ruin this new atmosphere of levity between them by risking rejection, and they both needed sleep. They had a job to do tomorrow. “Thank you,” he said quietly instead.
“You’re welcome.” Alec’s smile was soft and made Ed’s heart thump hopefully. “You can text me again if you get attacked by any more marauding spiders.”
Ed chuckled. “Good to know I have backup. Thanks. Night, Alec.”
“Night, Ed.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alec woke early, feeling unusually refreshed. After he’d left Ed’s room last night, he’d gone straight to bed and slept almost immediately. His head had been full of thoughts of Ed, but they hadn’t kept him awake.
Wide awake with an hour to spare before breakfast, Alec went down to the hotel pool and swam laps until his shoulders burned. Back in his room, he considered going straight down to breakfast, but the urge for Ed’s company had him picking up his phone. It was an urge that had become familiar over the last couple of weeks, and one he usually tried to resist.
Morning. Have you eaten yet? he sent.
No, came the reply.
Are you ready to go down for breakfast?
I can be in 5.
I’ll call for you on my way past.
When Alec knocked on the door, Ed opened it quickly. His smile of greeting made Alec’s heart beat harder.
“You survived the spider apocalypse, then?” Alec deadpanned. “Glad to see you made it through the night.”
“Seems that way.” Ed flushed a little, ducking his head so his golden brown fringe flopped into his eyes. He normally used some product to slick it back when he was at work, but this morning it looked as though he was fresh out of the shower and his hair was damp and soft. It made him look younger. “I’m sorry about last night. I feel like a bit of an idiot this morning.”
“You are an idiot,” Alec said.
Ed jerked his head up to meet Alec’s gaze, but when he saw Alec was smiling, he grinned back. “Fuck off.”
“That’s no way to talk to your boss. Let’s go. I’m starving.”
Ed stepped into the corridor and pulled his door shut. He winced as he moved.
Alec frowned. “How’s your foot this morning?”
“A bit sore. I won’t be running any marathons today. But I’ll get by.”
Alec was relieved the meeting went as smoothly as he’d predicted. Their London client, Mr Maxwell, seemed to make a good impression on Mr Mackenzie.
There was a little quibbling over some of the covenants, but Alec had drafted them so tightly that it was easy for Maxwell to concede a couple and let Mackenzie feel he’d won a few points. Maxwell was good at that sort of thing, and when the meeting ended, he and Mackenzie were on good terms.
The whole thing took less time than they’d anticipated. Alec had expected the meeting to drag on into the afternoon, but they were finished by midday. Normally he would have tried to rearrange his flight and travel back to London that afternoon. Staying somewhere to sightsee was an unnecessary luxury he didn’t usually permit himself, but the extra night was already booked and so were the flights for tomorrow. Alec wasn’t going to turn down this unexpected chance to spend some time with Ed away from the office.
He knew it was dangerous. His feelings for Ed had only intensified in the two weeks since they’d had sex—crazy, risky sex that could have lost them their jobs if they’d been caught. The sensible thing to do this afternoon would be to go their separate ways and put some distance between them again for Alec’s sanity. But Alec was tired of resisting. The pull towards Ed was too strong, and he wanted to test it out, to see whether Ed was as powerless to fight it as he was.