Fire & Ice (Extended Edition) by Robin Lynn

Author:Robin Lynn [Lynn, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Idle Winter Press
Published: 2024-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

A morning like this after a night like the last should not feel so good. Or maybe—fuck, is this how it feels to have a real partner? In life, in crime (literal, this time), in—nope, not there yet, Tripp thinks to himself, wiggling down into the mattress and refusing to open his eyes, pupils protesting against the tendril of sun leaking around the far edge of his bedroom curtain.

Next to him, Leander is snoring, heavily enough that Tripp can’t imagine him waking anytime soon. Good, he thinks. It’s not that he doesn’t want to interact with Lee, he’s just basking right now. He isn’t ready to break this feeling yet, this sense of peace, tranquility, and relief that’s infusing the morning stillness. Reasonably sure that he won’t be caught, Tripp cracks one eye open and checks out the situation in his room. What he sees has a smile spreading across his face that he couldn’t suppress if he tried.

An unconscious Leander is wrapped around Tripp’s spare pillow, treating it like a life preserver floating in the middle of the ocean. Usually, that’s Tripp’s job in the bed, and actually, he’s not entirely convinced Lee doesn’t think the pillow is him. Especially since their legs are tangled together underneath the covers, leaving Leander sleeping at a weird angle, one that has his body taking up the majority of the mattress space.

Tripp doesn’t even care. Fuck, he’d let Lee starfish on top of his face (mind out of the gutter, Truett) if that’s what he wanted, if that’s what was needed to make him stay. Not that Lee has even remotely required something so lame as a reason to spend the night beside him, not for a long time now.

Even last night, outside of a scene and absent any good excuse other than a severe lack of beds, Leander didn’t blink. Tripp honestly wasn’t sure what he might do, since after all, the surprise lack of groomsmen meant ample couch and floor space were available. Separating was never on the table in Lee’s mind, though.

The two of them stumbled into Tripp and Beau's shared apartment long before the rest of the groomsmen—well, whatever was left of them, anyway—made it back from the scene of the crime. In all likelihood, the group was either stuck cleaning up the mess at the restaurant, or drinking away the memory of it over at the Hot Plate. Beau isn’t him, though, so Tripp’s betting on the former. It sucks that this is how the night before his brother’s wedding went down, but Tripp only feels minutely guilty about that. After all, Beau is the one who brought that douchebag into their lives, and Tripp has zero regrets about the way Leander effectively escorted him out.

And damn, did he look good doing it. So much so, that when they found the apartment empty, Tripp still had Lee's furious, ‘I’ll smite you,’ expression burned into his brain, and therefore had plans. He was all about baiting Leander

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