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Cole fell asleep first, his hand still on Ford’s chest.

Ford lay there and looked at him.

Four days. He’d had four days of this man in his bed with the door open and nobody down the hall. On Sunday, Nadine’s car would pull into the driveway. Cole would carry his things back to the room across the hall.

He wanted to wake him up and tell him he didn’t want Sunday to come.

He put his mouth against Cole’s forehead instead and left it there, and let him sleep.

Cole’s phone went off. They dressed without turning the lamp on. Ford couldn’t get his collar to sit right. Cole came over without a word and fixed it, hands at Ford’s throat, eyes on the button. Then he stepped back and headed for the door.

He had a hand on the frame when Ford caught his wrist.

Ford turned him around, took his face in both hands, and kissed him.

Not slow. He opened his mouth over Cole’s, and Cole opened under him with a sound that shot straight down Ford’s spine. He backed him into the doorframe. Cole’s fingers dug into his hips through the dress pants, pulling him in, and Ford let him feel how hard he was. How little he wanted to walk out of this room. He kissed him until Cole’s grip loosened, until Cole’s head tipped back against the wood and the only sound in the house was the two of them breathing.

Ford pulled back an inch. Cole’s eyes were shut. He opened them slowly.

“What was that for?”

“Midnight.” Ford’s thumb moved along his jaw. “I don’t get to do that at midnight.”

Cole’s hand came up and covered Ford’s against his face. He held on and didn’t say anything.

Ford looked at him and saw the whole night. A rink full of people during their game. A bar after, somebody counting down from ten, Cole across the room with the rest of them. Ford would stand there with a beer in his hand and clap when the clock hit twelve like a man with no one to kiss.

“Four days,” Cole said. His voice had gone rough. “I got used to it.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want to go back to being careful.”

Ford’s thumb stopped. “Me either.”

Cole turned his face into Ford’s palm and kissed the inside of it. Then he let go.

“Come on,” he said. “Before I make us late.”

Ford followed him down. Their coats were on the hooks by the front door where they’d dropped them coming in. Cole took Ford’s down and held it open for him. Ford slid his arms in. Cole’s hands settled on his shoulders from behind, one squeeze, and let go.

That had to last him until the year was over.

FIFTEEN

Cole’s phone went off under the pillow at five-forty, and he had it silenced before the second buzz.

Ford was on his stomach beside him with one arm heavy across Cole’s chest, breathing slowly against his shoulder. He was warm the whole length of him. Cole lay there under the weight of that arm and wanted, more than he’d wanted anything in a while, to stay exactly where he was.

The room was black. Down the hall, Charlotte’s door was shut.

He worked his way out from under Ford’s arm as slowly as he could stand to. Ford’s hand closed on his wrist before Cole’s feet found the floor.

“Stay.”

“She’s up at six.”

“Ten minutes.”