Page 31 of Rules to Love By

He turned his head enough to meet Eli’s gaze, nothing more.

“You let me decide what’s most important, yeah?”

One blink. Two. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” he murmured finally, and broke the deadlock by splashing the flashy grin across his face and tossing the curl out of his eyes. “Nobody said you shouldn’t kiss me again. But—” He held up a hand between them, as though he thought Eli would dive in immediately. “—maybe tomorrow. I’m starved, and I really, really need whatever food Kreed has waiting for me.”

“Fair enough. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Marcus nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

He backed up, allowing Marcus enough room to slip past him.

“Which door?” Marcus pointed between the main front door and the private door leading to the residential exit.

Eli pointed to the main door. “I’ll lock up behind you.”

A smile passed over Marcus’s face. Not the flashy, flirty grin, but a sincere one that made the dark depths of his eyes shine. “See you.” And after a brief false start, where he muttered something at the sticking door, he was gone.

Eli waited until his shadow blended with the others on the street and the door had swung shut behind him before he moved. Then he locked the door, cleaned up the remainder of their tools, and turned off the lights.

He wasn’t sure what had happened, exactly, beyond a kiss and a vague promise, but he was already looking forward to tomorrow.

CHAPTERSEVEN

Not sure if there would still be customers in the dining room, Marcus took the footpath between the B and B’s parking lot and the building to the back kitchen door. He didn’t want to draw any attention or answer any questions before he had to. Before he could sort out what had just happened.

Eli had kissed him. But then, he’dletEli kiss him, despite vowing he would change that old, disappointing pattern, and his stomach had been quicker than normal to remind him why he was trying to break this particular habit.

He should be proud of himself for backing off and pleased Eli hadn’t pushed. It had been one kiss, and it stopped there. It could stay there.

That, in itself, was different enough to confuse him, because he didn’t want it to stop there. But was that just his usual habit coming out, or was that because of Eli specifically?

Had Eli stopped because Marcus had? Or had he come to his senses?

Marcus’s stomach turned over. Maybe Eli hadn’t meant it to happen at all.

“Now you’re just being stupid.”

As he scooted under an overhanging lilac branch, he swore it reached down to catch at his hair and leave its dried buds in his curls. He rubbed at his stomach, not liking that he was still queasy. It had to be the hunger gnawing at him.

“Please let it be hunger.”

As he rounded the corner of the building, he saw that, like his aunt had at the diner, Kreed had left the kitchen door propped open to the fresh outdoor air.

He smiled when it swung open a few inches, as if in welcome. Pushing it a little further, he allowed Emma the cat egress into the night, then stepped over the dented pot Kreed used to prop it open. It fell back against the metal with a clank as he entered.

“There you are.” Without Marcus even having to say anything, Tris set a plate and bundle of utensils down on the counter. “Why so late? Is he going to overwork you?” He narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Marcus grimaced. Leave it to Tris to go full-on mother hen mode before he even said hello.

“No. He’s very reasonable. And nothing is wrong.”

“You’re pale.” Tris scurried around the counter to peer more closely. “And sweating.”

“I was working. Of course I’m sweating.”

Tris didn’t look exactly satisfied with that answer, but he only grunted in response.

“The space he’s redoing is right in the main salon area, so I can’t really work on it while he has customers. Spent most of the day cleaning out an old storage room and counting bottles of shampoo and hair straightener. Then I did a quick bit of demo after he closed.”

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