There was no mistaking the slight hitch of breath that came out of him. And if my ears hadn’t heard it, my dick still would have.
Well… Fuck. Me.
Chapter 6
Felix
I hid behind the thick mug as if it would be able to block my flaming face from view. The gorgeous man in the magical hidden room was turning me into jelly. I was a sucker for a handsome face, and his… his was almost regal in a way. Strong features, a prominent square jawline. Thick, dark hair with more than a day’s worth of sexy beard growth. Confident body language in spades.
The man was like a grown-up version of me. Or who I’d be if I gained forty pounds of sleek muscle, matured about eight years, dressed in elegant but comfortable clothes like a Polo model, had mesmerizing blue eyes instead of shit brown ones, and finally got some poise.
It shouldn’t have turned me on, but fuck if it didn’t. He was dreamy as all hell. The kind of vision that made me seriously consider maybe I’d entered into a fantasy when I’d stepped from the salon into the hidden room.
“You never told me your name,” I said in a voice too squeaky to ever be considered mature.
His intense cobalt eyes bore into me for a moment before he spoke.
“Leo.”
“Ah, like the horoscope sign,” I said. “You weren’t born in August by any chance, were you?”
Shut up Felix. Jeez. He’ll think you’re a moron.
His face softened. “No. And I spell mine differently. L-I-O.” He seemed to continue studying me as if waiting for a reaction.
“I like it. It suits you.” I felt my face warm again and moved my chair back from the fire a little. As if it had been the flames heating my face rather than the intensity of Lio’s gaze. “I guess the polite thing to do would be to ask what you do for a living.” Could I be any more awkward?
Lio seemed to have mercy on me and leaned forward with a sparkle of mischief in his eye. “Why don’t we try something different than the norm? What’s your favorite vegetable?”
I thought for a second. “Zucchini. And you?”
“Hmm, I do like that one, but I’d have to go with artichoke.”
“Dammit, can I change my answer? I love artichokes. My grandfather makes the best ones,” I said, thinking of Doc’s steamed chokes with homemade dipping sauce.
He shook his head, laughing. “Nope. You had your chance. Now you ask me something random.”
“Okay. Let’s see… Stuck on a deserted island or a snowy cabin in the woods?”
Lio made a show of looking out the windows and gesturing around us. “Deserted island, of course. And you?”
“Snowy cabin. Although, now that I’m here, I can see the allure of a deserted island for sure.” I took another sip of my tea and tried to enjoy the nutmeg spices I could taste in it even though I’d decided I wasn’t a fan of hot tea. “Your turn.”
“Dresser or bureau?”
“What?”
He smirked at me. “My American friends seem to interchange the words, and I’ve never understood it. The chest of drawers you keep your clothes in. What do you call it?”
“Dresser, I guess. Although I’ve actually seen classified ads listing it as a ‘chester drawer,’” I said with a laugh.
“No way. That’s awful.”
“That’s Texas,” I corrected. “What do you call it?”
“I don’t. I have a wardrobe.” His grin was cheeky and accompanied by a wink.
Oh god. That wink. Kill me now. I might as well offer to suck his dick and get it over with.
“Um, oh. Okay,” I stammered, trying so very hard not to actually offer to suck his dick. “I-I didn’t, uh, think of that.”
He reached out to put his hand on my arm. “I’m teasing, Felix. We call it a chest of drawers.”
I looked away, pretending to study the rest of the small room around us but really trying to pull myself together. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been alone with someone so beautiful and elegant before. At least someone I wasn’t related to. My grandfathers’ words about indulging in a sexy adventure rattled in my head, making my face heat even more.
“You okay?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Felix.”
The sound of my name on his tongue made me shiver. I still couldn’t look at him.
“Are you cold? Maybe you should move back by the fire,” he suggested. His voice was still quiet and low as if he was worried a louder sound might scare me off.
“I’m really hot.”
Oh god.
He barked out a laugh. “Your lips to god’s ears, man.”
“No. Oh god. I didn’t mean it like that,” I groaned. I risked a peek back at him and saw a gentleness to his features despite his smile.
“I don’t bite,” he said. “Come back, please.”
If I came any closer to him, I’d spontaneously combust. Instead, I shot out of the chair and lurched toward the carved windows.