Chapter Two
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Chapter Two
THE B&B’S EXTERIOR had a very pleasant Victorian look about it. Yet, despite its quaint loveliness, Steven felt apprehensive as they approached.
“Well?” Omar asked, slowing the car as they came down the long drive. “What do you think?”
Steven didn’t want to say anything negative about the place his husband had booked, so he nodded and smiled. “Very nice. Beautiful building.”
“The pictures online were great, but they didn’t do the place justice. Let’s hope the room lives up to expectations.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will,” Steven said, but he couldn’t help noting the queasy cramping feelings in his stomach as they parked.
Omar obviously noticed. Hard not to. Steven had practically doubled over in the passenger seat with the pain of it. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? What can I do?”
“Just a little carsick, I guess.” Steven tried to smile. He didn’t want to ruin their weekend. “Hopefully our room is ready. I wouldn’t mind lying down for a while.”
“Of course, of course,” Omar said. “I’ll get us checked in. You wait here.”
“No, no, I’ll come in too. The fresh air will probably help.”
“Okay,” Omar said, though he sounded iffy about that. “I’ll get the luggage later. You’re not lifting a finger.”
“I won’t argue with you there.”
Steven spilled out the passenger side. He was right about one thing: the cold February air went down a treat. The outdoors smelled like a hockey rink, one of his favourite aromas, and when he looked around the parking lot, snow-covered grounds gave way to a tree line in the distance.
When Omar came around to his side of the car, Steven said, “Beautiful location.”
“Yes, better than I even imagined. We’ll have to come back in the spring or summer to check out the gardens. They’re supposed to be extensive and well-maintained, according to the website.”
Steven breathed deeply. Closed his eyes. He could feel a shift in the air, from deep-freeze to pleasantly gauzy. That could mean only one thing: snow was on its way.
Good. They’d made it here in one piece before the snowfall.
From the number of vehicles in the car park, seemed as though the other guests had had the same idea of arriving early.
“Should we head inside?” Omar asked, simultaneously wrapping one arm around Steven’s shoulder and guiding him toward the inn.
Steven’s feet didn’t move.
He couldn’t explain it. He meant for them to move. The weather wasn’t exactly tropical. It made sense to go inside. And yet his feet wouldn’t cooperate.
“Sorry,” he said, with an awkward burst of laughter. “I feel like I’m stuck.”
“Stuck how?” Omar asked, looking down at Steven’s feet.
His winter boots must have felt self-conscious, being stared at like that, because suddenly Steven could move again. “Never mind,” he told his husband. “I guess I’m fine.”
“Good,” Omar said. “We don’t want to spend Valentine’s Day in the parking lot, do we?”
Steven gave a good-natured chuckle as he looked up at the two-storey inn. Had the sky darkened behind it? Something seemed different about the place. Daunting. His heart raced as they approached the building. His stomach clenched. A wave of dizziness came over him, and he clung to his husband as they entered.
Chairs! Big, beautiful wingback chairs! Steven had never been so glad to see a chair. He said to Omar, “I’m going to sit while you check us in, if you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not,” Omar said, his expression a mask of concern. “Are you feeling okay? You look pale.”
Steven tried for a smile. “Just... dizzy. I must not have gotten enough sleep last night. I shouldn’t have gone in for such a strenuous workout this morning.”
A grin bled across Omar’s lips.
That grin was contagious. “At the gym,” Steven said. “At the gym.”
“Oh, I see.” Omar leaned in close to say, “I thought you meant in the shower.”
Steven rolled his eyes, but humour helped. So did sitting.
He hadn’t even noticed that his big sturdy chair faced a gas fireplace until the heat emanating from the unit alerted him to the flames. Usually, he’d have found a fire to be the height of luxury, especially in a setting like this one, with its classic Victorian décor, but today... well, he couldn’t explain it, but the fire inspired an itchy sense of fear inside his chest.
His heart raced again, just as it had done when he was outside.
What was wrong with him? It was Valentine’s Day. Omar had planned this perfect getaway. He needed to pull himself together. Get it together.
Leaning forward, he extended his cold hands toward the fire’s warmth. His fingers must have been frozen, because the heat coming off that fireplace burned them, like when you’re a kid and you take off your mittens to form the perfect snowball, then you come in from outside and your mom tells you to wash up for dinner. Even lukewarm water feels boiling hot when your skin is that cold.
Steven tucked his hands between his thighs. In that moment, a straight couple around his age entered the inn. The woman glanced at where he’d put his hands and grimaced. To show that he wasn’t doing anything perverted, he shivered exaggeratedly, even let his teeth chatter a bit. The woman did not seem impressed.
Luckily, that pair was gone in a snap, just in time for Omar to arrive at his side. “Are you shaking?”
“No,” Steven said. “Well, yes, but not really.”
Omar c****d his brow, but didn’t follow up. Instead, he extended one of two key cards in Steven’s direction. “We’re all checked in. We’re upstairs in the east wing. Want to scope out our room, or do you need to sit a while longer?”
“I wouldn’t mind sitting, to be perfectly honest, except the heat from this fire is burning my knees.”
Omar felt the air between Steven and the fireplace. He left his hand suspended there for a long moment before saying, “I don’t think the heat is on. Looks like the vents are closed”
Steven wasn’t about to start an argument over such a ridiculous issue, but clearly the heat was on.
Not just on, but blazing.
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