Page 39 of The Waiting Game

But Felix had no idea how to answer that.

He’d never looked at Jonah that way. He’d never thought about doing that before.

He’d always known, in an objective way, that Jonah was attractive.

But he’d never wanted to act on that. Maybe there had been a few fleeting moments before now. An appreciation for the way hockey had honed Jonah’s body.

Maybe Felix had been struck by Jonah’s smile and his laugh and felt a tiny glimmer of something.

But he’d never wanted to kiss Jonah. Never wanted to press their lips together and see if the curve of Jonah’s lower lip felt as full as it looked.

Felix squeezed his hand into a fist to keep from reaching out and pulling Jonah close.

He was just tired and sore from the game and lonely and confused and Jonah was warm and close and he cared about him.

“Just tired,” Felix rasped, knowing it was true but maybe not the whole truth. “I should go.”

“You can crash here, if you want,” Jonah said as he sat up slowly, swinging his legs down and putting space between them.

Without Jonah’s body heat, Felix felt cold all of a sudden.

He looked away before he did something stupid like pull Jonah in close once again. Why was he making this weird? The way Jonah had been lying in his arms meant nothing.

Of course he loved Jonah as a friend. As a teammate. As someone who was an inextricable part of his life.

But it was nothing romantic. Nothing sexual. It couldn’t be.

“Nah, this couch fucks my back up,” Felix said, standing.

“My bed’s big enough for two,” Jonah said and for a moment, Felix felt the oddest flicker of temptation.

Jonah only meant sleeping like they did in hotel rooms sometimes but for the barest, briefest second, Felix had thought he meant something else.

Had wanted it to mean something else.

For a moment, Felix glanced down at Jonah, sprawled on the sofa, and considered doing it anyway before he shook his head. Nothing would happen of course, but it would feel so good to sleep beside Jonah again, wake up in a warm bed and …

No.

It didn’t feel quite right when Felix’s brain was swirling with thoughts of what Jonah’s lips would feel like against his.

When he wondered where that strange heat on the back of his neck and deep in his belly was coming from.

“Nah, I’ve missed my own bed.” And that was a big fat lie because Felix hated his bed. He hated his apartment. He hated that he’d spent months designing the place for Whitney and now it was just him.

“Okay,” Jonah said slowly, like he could sense something was still off. But he stood, nodding. “Sure, whatever you want.”

Felix shoved at his shoulder, trying to shake this weird mood and make things normal again. “Besides, you snore!”

Jonah squawked. “I do not!”

And their playful bickering got Felix out the door without doing something stupid or ruining their friendship over something he didn’t understand at all.

Over something that meant nothing.

CHAPTER NINE

When Felix unlocked the door and walked through the door of Grandma Ji-min’s home the following day, he called out a greeting in Korean. He wasn’t exactly fluent in the language but he did his best, loving the way it made her smile.

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