Page 34 of Love Notes and Late Nights
Harris found it and imagined them looking out at the festival earlier. “Oh, yeah. I see it.” The Ferris wheel jolted as it started again, and he jumped.
“We’re on our way down. We’ll be on the ground in no time.” Wolf put his arm around Harris, cupped his shoulder with one hand, and scooted closer. “I got you.”
The earth could be tilting on its axis right now and the Ferris wheel could be toppling over, and all Harris could think aboutwas that the length of their bodies were touching from shoulder to knee.
“Feel better?”
“Yeah.” Harris didn’t know if “better” could describe how he felt. His heart was racing out of control, and his nerves were frazzled, but in a good way. The tension left his body, and he leaned into the crook of Wolf’s shoulder, even taking the liberty of resting his head into Wolf’s. A soft breeze came and blew a long lock of Wolf’s hair in Harris’ face and tickled his nose, and he tried to blow it away, because he wasn’t taking a hand off the safety bar.
Wolf brushed the length of hair away, but he needed to remove his hand from on top of Harris’ in order to do so.
“Don’t let go of my hand,” Harris protested, for purely selfish reasons. They were more than halfway down to the ground by now.
“You’re just a big baby.” Wolf smiled and took Harris’ hand again, this time bringing it to his chest. “Look, you’re only holding on with one hand.”
Harris smiled, because they were so low to the ground now, even if they fell, he’d probably survive. “Stop playing games, silly boy.” Harris nudged Wolf with his elbow, but it made Wolf shift away, and now Harris was sad, so he pushed out his lower lip.
“We can go again if you want,” Wolf said, assuming the pout was due to the end of the ride. “But I’m hungry. That pretzel didn’t fill me up. It wasn’t as big as it looked.”
“I bet that’s what they all say.”
Wolf shook his head and grinned. “Not at all. Just the opposite.”
The playful smile on Harris’ face disappeared at the implication and turned into something that he was sure looked very seductive. But it was their turn to exit the ride, and Wolf wasn’t paying attention.
They found a food vendor, and Harris ordered a greasy sausage hero, while Wolf got the giant foot-long hot dog. It was putting provocative thoughts in Harris’ head, especially after the way they were sitting so close on the Ferris wheel.
Wolf paused with the giant oversized hot dog at his lips. “Why are you smiling at me?”
“You’re really enjoying that.” Harris didn’t know if the image in front of him was more sexy or hysterical, but he couldn’t hold back his laugh and ended up doubling over.
“Shut it.” Wolf gave Harris a tiny punch in the arm and stuffed the hot dog in his mouth, adding an in-and-out motion for effect.
Harris laughed harder, and now Wolf was laughing just as hard.
“Stop! I’m hungry.” Wolf brought the hot dog to his mouth again, but another laugh made him smear mustard across his chin.
“A short burst of hysterics left Harris’ mouth before he was able to control himself. “You’re a mess.”
“Did I get it?” Wolf asked, wiping everywhere except where the yellow condiment adorned his face.
“Not even close.” Harris took the napkin from Wolf and gently wiped it across Wolf’s chin, but the thing was so tiny and already crumpled that it barely absorbed all of the mustard, so Harris used his thumb. Wolf pulled in his bottom lip while Harris repeatedly wiped at Wolf’s chin.
Wolf relaxed his lip and Harris ended up dragging his thumb right across it. The soft flesh of Wolf’s bottom lip and the intimate contact immediately drove a surge of heat into Harris’ chest. The smile on his face vanished as his eyes drifted up to meet Wolf’s. They were both staring at one another with dead-serious expressions and a spark that never existed before. Thehair on the back of Harris’ neck prickled, and a hot shiver ran down his back, making his heart race.
Wolf wasn’t moving, and Harris realized his thumb was still softly resting on Wolf’s bottom lip.
Oh, God. This was it. The kiss he’d been longing for. Harris cupped Wolf’s cheek and slowly leaned in. He waited, while his heart hammered, to see if Wolf pulled back or pushed Harris away, but he didn’t. Wolf seemed in a trance, with his eyes glazed over and focused on Harris’ lips. Harris inched closer and gently pressed his mouth to Wolf’s. The kiss was light and soft and lasted only a few seconds before Harris pulled back slightly to get Wolf’s reaction. Wolf was standing stock-still, holding the hot dog in one hand and staring back at Harris, unmoving. The happiness that filled Harris’ heart made it feel as if it were going to burst. Still holding Wolf’s cheek, he moved in for a deeper kiss. This one was aggressive and bold, and he pushed his tongue into Wolf’s mouth. Wolf kissed him back, sweeping his tongue against Harris’ but never making a move to close the small distance between them.
It was beautiful and electric and everything Harris wanted, until Wolf jumped back, a look of horror on his face. “What the fuck? What’s wrong with you?” He turned, threw his hot dog in a nearby garbage can, and took off.
“Wait! Wolf!” Harris had to practically run to keep up with Wolf’s long strides, and the bodyguards were scrambling to keep up with the both of them and make a barrier between them and the crowd, who seemed too annoyed at the commotion to notice that two famous rock stars were running through the fair.
Wolf made his way into the parking area and to the waiting car in record speed and slammed the door. The driver started the car, probably at Wolf’s direction, and Harris had to sprint in order to jump in before it started moving.
“I’m sorry,” Harris began, but Wolf cut him off.
“I’m not talking about this.” Wolf kept his gaze straight ahead.
