Page 52 of Slew Foot
Rafe made himself comfy—which apparently meant sprawling against the pile of pillows at the headboard and letting his shoulder and knee fully encroach into Mickey’s space.
Every time Mickey thought about shifting away, Rafe turned to look at him, smiling happily, and Mickey couldn’t do it.
So Mickey sat there with Rafe’s shoulder pressed to his and his knee leaning against his thigh and dug his fingers into his palms as he tried to pretend like he was actually watching whatever idiotic comedy Tanner had put on.
When someone clicked off the lamp beside the bed, that only made it worse. It made Mickey even more aware of the soft sounds of Rafe’s breathing beside him and the warm brush of his body whenever he shifted.
Rafe had changed into sweatpants and a black T-shirt, and both were tight enough to be distracting. He smelled good too, all woodsy like the forests in Germany where Mickey often went hiking with his previous teammates in the off-season.
So Mickey sat there in his private hell and wondered what he was going to do about this problem.
Not the ‘a person has given me an inconvenient erection’ problem. He’d been dealing with those just fine since he was a teenager. He could even handle sharing the room with Tannerand wouldn’t be alone long enough to do anything about it. That was what showers were for.
But this larger problem … thisRafeproblem …
Which wasn’t even really Rafe’s fault. It was quite obvious Rafe wasn’t doing any of this intentionally. He was large and handsome and a little bit oblivious but very sweet and he liked being helpful and being told what to do.
It wasn’t his fault those were also things Mickey liked in a man and that he kept getting hard about it.
At inopportune times.
Like in theelevator. God, the elevator.
Rafe standing so close with his good smelling cologne and his big body and his dick right the fuckthere.
Mickey’s knuckles had grazed Rafe’s thigh, and he’d thought about … reaching out and gently cupping the soft bulge above.
Mickey hadn’t.Of coursehe hadn’t. That was so incredibly wrong, and Mickey would never do that without clear permission, but he’dthoughtabout it and that was horrifying enough.
Especially since Rafe was unlikely tostopbeing large and handsome and a little bit oblivious but very sweet. He probably wasn’t going to stop being helpful and enjoying being told what to do either.
So Mickey was going to have to figure out how to deal with his shit.
This wasn’t Rafe’s problem. It was Mickey’s. Andsomethinghad to be done about it.
The movie simultaneously seemed to take forever and be over very quickly. Mickey was confused when it ended because he had no idea what it was about, but everyone was shifting and getting up to stretch.
Guys were yawning and stumbling out, muttering ‘good night’ and ‘thank you’ to their captain and his boyfriend for dessert.
Connor and Jesse got up too, wishing everyone a good night.
And then it was just Mickey, Rafe, and Tanner in the room. After the loud mob of guys was gone, the hotel room seemed extra quiet.
Tanner yawned and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. “That was fun.”
“It was,” Rafe said. “Great movie. Did you like it, Mickey?”
“It was good,” Mickey lied. He’d have to read about it online in case anyone wanted to talk about it at breakfast tomorrow.
Tanner bounced up, full of energy despite his earlier yawn. “God, I still can’t believe ourCaptaingot in a bar fight. It was, like, for a good reason and stuff butstill.”
He sounded scandalized but also impressed.
He pulled out his phone and did something on it for a moment before he disappeared into the bathroom.
Mickey wondered if Rafe was ever going to shift away from him, but he made no move to, just kept staring down at something on his own phone screen intently.
No, why would he move away when he could try to occupy the same space as Mickey instead?
