Page 60 of Moody as a Minotaur

“Perfect.”

Was drinking alcohol the best thing to do right now? Probably not.

Was I going to let that stop me? No.

21

PRAYING FOR A MAGICAL INTERVENTION

LEVI

Parker was in my space, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I was on edge, and I didn’t think it was going away anytime soon. I opened the fridge to grab the beer and leaned into the frigid air, hoping it’d cool me off a bit. Because my body felt heated. Too heated. The kind of heat that would probably only go away with a cold shower.

I should have protested when Parker announced he was staying with me, but I’d been too shocked. Now I was stuck with him for the night.

Except it really didn’t seem like an inconvenience. Nope. Not at all. It felt like temptation.

I pulled the two bottles of beer from the fridge and turned to look at Parker.

A faint blush stained his freckle-covered cheeks. His ginger hair was a mess, which was to be expected considering the number of times he’d dragged his fingersthrough it today. His mouth was twisted in a way that suggested he wanted to smile, but something was holding him back.

“Hey,” I said, setting the bottles on the counter. The glass clinked against the marble countertop.

“Hey,” he said back. The smile that had been flirting with his lips a moment ago broke free.

Fuck, he was gorgeous.

Today, when he’d panicked after finding out about magic, I thought I’d lost him. That’d scared me more than I wanted to admit, even to myself.

Honestly, I still could lose him.

Once he had the chance to think about everything he’d discovered today, he could decide to walk away. A sharp pain shot through my chest at the thought of never seeing him again.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go sit and finish these drinks. Then we can turn in for the night. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be another long day.”

I swallowed down all the things I wanted to say to him.

Instead, we walked to the sofa and sat. Parker positioned himself so he faced away from my bed. Was that intentional? I wished I knew what he was thinking, but I was too afraid to ask. My mother would have been disappointed in me. She believed strongly in open and honest conversations. It would have to come eventually, but I wasn’t quite there yet.

So we sat. We drank. Then we very platonically took turns in the bathroom to change into something more comfortable for sleeping. I dug out a stash of blankets I’drecently set aside to donate but hadn’t dropped off at the thrift store yet. There wasn’t a lot of space to store excess things in my apartment, but thankfully I’d kept those around a little longer.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, my eyes went straight to Parker, who was rearranging the blankets and pillows on the sofa. He was wearing a pair of plaid lounge pants and a T-shirt that was so threadbare I swore I could see the shadow of his chest hair through it. He tugged at it like it bothered him.

“Is something wrong?”

He looked up at me.

“You’re pulling at your clothes.”

“Oh, uh…” His gaze dropped to his shirt. “I don’t normally wear anything to sleep, and this shirt feels a little tight. But I’ll be fine.”

I swallowed hard and tightened my grip on my bundle of dirty clothes. I bit my tongue, so I didn’t offer him one of my shirts. The last thing I needed was to see him in my clothes. It was bad enough that I was now envisioning him naked.

“Uh, we can keep the bathroom light on,” I said, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Parker glanced up. Our eyes caught. “Oh. Um. I’m sure I’ll be fine without it.”

“It’s quite dark in here at night. It’s a strange place.” I shrugged. “It’s no problem.”