Right Move (Clean Slate Ranch #6) - A.M. Arthur Page 0,50

safe word for this week?”

“A safe word?”

Levi squeezed his elbow and George stopped walking. Shadows from the moon’s silver light made the planes of Levi’s even sharper. Almost more handsome. “If you feel overwhelmed during a social situation, it’s something you can say that will tell me that, so I can get you out of it. I’m getting to know you pretty well but I don’t ever want to assume.”

That made sense. “Okay. What should it be?”

“Something innocuous. How about ‘Did you hear that?’”

“That sounds good. I was pretty close to a ‘Did you hear that?’ moment at the end of dinner there.”

“I assumed as much, which is why I asked to take a walk.” Levi’s hand hovered near George’s cheek, as if he wanted to touch. Or brush hair away. George wasn’t sure but he did welcome the touch. He wanted the touch.

So he leaned into it. Warm fingers brushed his skin, featherlight, but George felt it in his bones. He was on a moonlit walk with a handsome man, and George yearned for more. He glanced at Levi’s lips, then parted his own. Levi’s palm cupped George’s left cheek and he took a step closer. George swore he felt Levi’s body heat all over, despite them only touching in one spot.

The moment stretched out for an eternity, neither of them moving. Holding eye contact. Levi seemed at war with himself, and George saw the moment he made a decision. Those beautiful blue eyes softened. Levi leaned in closer. “I don’t want to screw this up,” he whispered.

“You can’t,” George rasped, unsure when he’d gotten short of breath. “Please. I want it to be you.”

Levi let out a soft moan. “Your first kiss?”

“Yes.”

Warm breath gusted across George lips and he waited for the gentle pressure of—an abrupt blast of music from Levi’s pocket startled them both apart. George’s heart kicked up and he nearly fell over from the shock of the noise.

“Damn it, Robin.” Levi pulled his phone out and glared at it.

With the spell broken and the moment over, George said. “Answer it. It’s fine.”

Levi hesitated then answered. “Hey, what?”

In the quiet of the night, George could clearly hear Robin say, “Hey, man, are you going to chill at the guesthouse and play checkers like an old man, or do you wanna come to our cabin and watch a movie? George, too, if he wants.”

“You go,” George said before Levi could. “I’m going to head back to the room and read.”

“Are you sure?” Levi asked, probably more to be polite than anything.

“Definitely.”

“Copy all that,” Robin said. “I’m helping with some of the cleanup. See you around eight.”

“Okay. Eight.” He hung up and let out a deep sigh.

“It’s okay,” George said, even though it wasn’t. He wasn’t okay and needed to be alone. “Just walk me back, please? I have no idea where I am.”

Levi watched him for a few moments but George couldn’t bring himself to meet the older man’s eyes. He waited, hands in his pockets so Levi couldn’t see them shaking, until Levi silently turned and started walking.

Chapter Eleven

Levi paced around cabin row while he waited for Robin and Shawn, unsettled by what had happened on the trail with George, and unsure what to do about it. He’d wanted to kiss George like crazy and he still did. His palm was still warm from touching George’s face. When George had looked at him with those wide, begging eyes, Levi hadn’t been able to say no.

He wasn’t sure if Robin’s call had been fortuitous or the worst timing ever, because Levi had never been anyone’s first kiss before. It had been a perfectly romantic moment with the moon out and the stars twinkling overhead. They were the only two people who existed in the whole world. Levi had never felt so alive, so seen, as in that moment.

It had also scared the crap out of him.

George seemed delicate on the outside but he had a core of steel. Levi simply wasn’t sure he was the person George really wanted. Levi was the guy who was available.

Trust him to know his own mind.

Xander’s voice sometimes peeked out as his conscience, and it did again tonight. Back when Xander and Robin first got together and were hot and heavy, Levi had cautioned his little brother about getting involved with a coworker. Getting involved with someone he’d known for a day. Xander had told Levi to trust Xander knew his own mind. That Robin was who he wanted. And