Page 50 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

He propped both fists on his hips, then scratched at the top of his head, paced across the room and back. “How do you turn him off like that?” he asked finally.

“Myles.” Steven reached for him, but Myles quick-stepped away from the touch. “Hey.” Steven stood, advancing, both hands up.

“Don’t touch.” If he touched, Myles would lose his balance again.

“I’m not going to stop you leaving. Just stay still for one second.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re freaking out, and I can help.”

“I am not freaking out.”

“You are. You expected me to turn into a puddle of goo the minute we connected. How could you know it would go the other way?”

“It’s never gone the other way.” And he hadn’t meant to admit that it had even happened this time, never mind that it had never happened before.

Steven’s smile was all calm, knowing assurance. Still crooked, but oh so gentle. “You know it’s okay that it did.”

“It’s weird.”

“Maybe. Bad weird?” For the first time, Steven looked worried.

“No!”

The momentary pinch left his features, and he smiled broader. “Well, that’s a relief, then. Come here.”

Myles realized he’d backed clear across the room, fetching up against one of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf units. “I⁠—”

“Trust me.”

Yeah. And there it was. Myles shook his head. “I barely know you.”

“I know. I’m not talking about life and death here. Just five minutes. Hold my hand.”

Simple enough. That couldn’t hurt. Much. Myles took his hand, because it was ridiculous not to.

Steven’s fingers, long, dry, stronger than they looked, wrapped around Myles’s. “You see?” he asked. “I don’t bite.”

From somewhere, Myles found a scrap of bravado and raised his eyebrows. “Oh no?”

“I mean…” Steven grinned, wicked. Delighted. “Not without asking first.”

“Jesus.” A shudder rattled Myles’s bones.

“Maybe not on a first date,” Steven assured him.

“That what this is?”

“Maybe? Do you want it to be?”

“Do you?”

“If I confess to hoping for a date since I saw you step out of that monstrosity of a car the day you arrived, will you come back for another?”

Myles tilted his head, as if that would give him a better view, more information about the man he couldn’t take his eyes off of or pull away from. “Where did you come from?” he asked again.

Steven shrugged as he stepped closer. “Been here my whole life.”