Love Me Tomorrow (17 page)

Cursing under his breath, Levi realized he was stuck and left with only one option—call Jake for help.

“Which is awesome since I’m completely naked,” he said sarcastically.

The only saving grace in that moment was thinking about the pickle he’d be in were Jake
not
staying in the hotel room with him. He’d be trapped until housekeeping found him the next day.

That thought sent a wave of panic through him.

“Jake!” he yelled out, beginning to shiver as the temperature of the room cooled.

It took several more screaming pleas for help before he got any response.

Levi strained to make out the words hearing Jake finally yelling something through the door.

“I’m stuck!”

He waited a few seconds, finally seeing the door crack open.

“Who the hell is Chuck?” Jake asked.

Levi rolled his eyes. “Stuck, damn it, I’m stuck in this stupid shower.”

Jake poked his head in the bathroom and Levi’s hands instinctively went straight over his crotch, covering his bits and baubles. He removed one just long enough to point at the latch.

“Can you please let me out?”

Jake pushed open the door and entered the bathroom. The closer he got to the shower door the wider his smile became. He finally reached the door, placing a hand on the outer latch, then stood there as if inventorying every last inch of Levi’s naked body through the glass.

“Dude,” Levi said, causing Jake to jump slightly.

“Sorry, my bad.” Jake lifted the latch and pushed open the door.

Levi stood there, hands covering his junk as Jake once again took a nice long look, as if hypnotized by the sight of wet skin and muscle.

“Kinda freezing here,” Levi said, completely mortified or more likely terrified he might sprout a boner any second if Jake continued to eye-fuck him too much longer.

“
God
, sorry… again.” Jake spun around and made a beeline out of the bathroom, pulling the door closed behind him.

“Well, that wasn’t weird!” Levi yelled, scrambling for a towel.

“Sorry!” He heard Jake scream back from the bedroom, better able to hear since the door hadn’t quite closed all the way.

“It’s… fine,” Levi said, wrapping a towel around his waist and opening the bathroom door before stepping into the bedroom. “I got a little stressed when I couldn’t get out, that’s all.”

Jake had taken his shirt off and was rummaging around through his bag. “So you’re claustrophobic?”

“Sure.” Levi spun right back around and closed the door, deciding he needed to mentally prepare himself before seeing Jake in the buff.

God, I’ll have to let him out of the shower.

He shook that image out of his head, deciding to brush his teeth.

Jake pushed the door back open, walking in wearing nothing but his briefs.

“I’m assuming we can we dispense with the formalities since I’ve pretty much seen you naked?”

“Um… I guess?” Levi mumbled over the toothbrush shoved in his mouth.

“Awesome.” Jake stepped over to the shower and turned the water on.

Levi looked up at the ceiling when Jake yanked his briefs down. He bent over and spit, deciding now was a great time to vacate.

“Can you latch the door closed?”

“Just leave it cracked.”

“Come on, water is getting everywhere,” Jake said. “I don’t have anything you’ve never seen before.”

Levi walked over to the shower and latched the door. He noticed Jake was not bothering to cover his own bits and baubles, but Levi kept his eyes planted firmly on the man’s face nonetheless.

Jake started laughing, no doubt seeing that Levi wasn’t going to ogle him like a piece of meat, the way Jake had him. He wanted to do that, but his desire to deprive Jake of the satisfaction won out.

He sneered. “You’re a much stronger man than I am, okay. Happy now?”

“I’ve always suspected as much,” Levi said, smugly, before turning to leave. “Lemme know when you’re ready to get out.”

He rounded the corner and headed straight for the mini fridge where he snagged a tiny bottle of vodka. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall and could see his own judgment staring back at him.

“Jake got one?
Two!
Jake got two teeny bottles.” Levi said, pointing at himself and deciding that was all the justification he needed. He opened the bottle and sucked it down, hissing from the alcohol burn.

“This is definitely one of those instances when not having had sex for…” he paused, counting back the months, his mouth falling open when he realized how long it had actually been. “Christ, no wonder I’m such a basket case!”

“What?” Jake called out from the bathroom.

“Nothing!” Levi yelled back. He’d intended to rub one out in the shower, but he felt weird doing that when he knew Jake would likely be using it right after him.

He decided to get dressed then realized he left his briefs and T-shirt in the bathroom. He glanced back at his reflection and asked. “You did that on purpose didn’t you?”

* * * *

Levi stretched out across the bed trying to keep his eyes focused on the ceiling instead of sneaking peeks at a towel-clad Jake as he moved about the room.

Eyes on the ceiling, Scumbalina, that is someone else’s man and you don’t need to be coveting what you’re never going to have.

Levi ‘accidentally’ took another look.

Holy fuck he is smokin’ hot. I wanna lick all of that and… Gah! I said don’t think about it! Do not covet, asshole! And stop thinking about assholes. Christ!

In that moment, he understood Jake’s shower gawking and felt a twinge of guilt over giving him such a hard time. He wondered if Jake had been thinking similar types of things about him. He couldn’t manage to think of a more dangerous rabbit hole to fall into, so Levi did his best to purge the entire line of inquiry before his brain imploded.

Feeling bad had never felt so good and Levi hated that. He was going to make it through this night by keeping his dirty, wanton lusting to himself and then spend the rest of his life avoiding Jake Freeman at all costs. There was no way Levi could be this man’s friend. It would never freakin’ work. He wanted so much more from a relationship with Jake, and there might have been a chance that the two of them could co-exist within the same world, were it not for the glaringly obvious fact that Jake was also every bit as into him.

One-sided lust was potentially doable if not altogether painful for the poor sap left out in the cold, but two-sided lust would lead to nothing but trouble. One slip-up would lead to the most awesome sex ever, quickly followed by drama and screaming and pointy-fingered accusations. Reputations had been eviscerated over this sort of thing since the beginning of time and Levi wasn’t willing to sacrifice his career for a few precious moments of undoubtedly satisfying, hot, totally hard… bliss.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jake asked, pulling on a pair of boxer briefs under his towel.

Levi shook his head, turning away. He spotted Jake’s iPod lying on the bed, earbuds haphazardly tossed across the thick embroidered duvet cover, realizing why it had taken Jake so long to hear him screaming for help. He reached over and snagged it, placing a bud in one ear while looking at Jake suspiciously.

“Let’s see what we have here.”

Jake grinned, yanking the towel free before walking it back to the bathroom and tossing it onto the floor.

Levi tapped the screen, pressing play and the falsetto harmonies of old school funky rock blared into his ear. Levi quickly turned the volume down.

“My God, you’re like deaf,” he said, tapping the ‘Now Playing’ link in order to see who the singer was. “Who loves you pretty momma?” he asked, repeating the lyrics. “Who the hell are the Four Seasons, grandpa?”

Jake sneered, not appreciating the added color commentary. “I can’t believe you don’t know who the Four Seasons are.”

“Simmer down there, indignator.” Levi shrugged. “Never been much of a music guy.”

“It hurts my soul to hear you say that.” Jake flopped down next to Levi on the bed and placed the other ear bud into his ear as the next song started to play.

“Oh, I’ve heard this one!”

Jake smiled over Levi’s excitement.

“Don’t judge me,” Levi said, sarcastically, “your soul is apparently in jeopardy here.”

Jake sung along in a screeching falsetto that had Levi’s eyes bugging out of his head.

“Wow!” Levi scooched back across the bed a little. “Did the windows just crack?”

Jake busted out laughing, rolling onto his back and placing his hands over his belly.

“Seriously though, what’s up with the doo-wop, dude?”

“I
love
this music,” Jake said, once he managed to stop laughing. “There’s something magical that happens whenever I listen to Frankie Valli. It’s like, no matter how shitty my day has been, these songs make me feel better. A couple of tunes in and I’m smiling and dancing—”

“And singing?” Levi asked. “Assuming that’s what we’re calling what just happened here.”

Jake smacked him in the arm. “Don’t be an asshole, Goode.”

“So it’s your Prozac?”

Jake nodded, visibly liking the sound of that.

“Alrighty then.” Levi laid back and listened along. He started tapping his foot and bobbing his head back and forth. He was just getting ready to give these Four Seasons dudes his personal seal of approval when the ear bud was ripped from his ear.

“I will not be disparaged,” Jake insisted, apparently attributing Levi’s head bobbing to be sarcasm.

“Sheesh, man, I was just going to say that I liked it.” Levi rubbed his ear. “You cracker.”

Jake eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then relented, offering him the bud back. “Sorry.”

They both settled back onto the bed and just listened for a few minutes, occasionally looking at one another.

“It’s a little odd that the child of
the
Vegas showgirl of the eighties doesn’t like music,” Jake said.

“No, I never said I didn’t like music, just that I’m not a ‘music guy’,” he said, using air quotes. “I like music just fine but I’m typically okay listening to whatever happens to be on the radio.”

Jake was staring at him like he was an alien.

“Don’t judge me.”

“Too late,” Jake said, smirking at him. “I’ll admit that my taste in music comes from my grandfather, my dad’s dad. Growing up, we’d visit the farm in the summers, Grandpa Frank and I would spend hours listening to all his old vinyl. There was an entire wall of shelves in his den that housed all his LPs. He actually left them all to me when he passed away.”

“When did he die?” Levi asked.

Jake didn’t answer for a moment, staring off into space, lost in his own thoughts or memories. Levi found it difficult to catch his breath all of a sudden, staring at what had to be the single best looking man he had ever seen, all stretched out across the bed.

“Long time ago, back when I was in college.” Jake finally answered, ripping Levi out of his obsessing. “He loved music, you know, all of it—jazz, rock and roll, classical, hell even disco. But Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons were his favorite—they were innovators.”

Levi nodded, though in truth he had no clue what the man was going on about.

“Guess that’s part of what makes these particular songs special to me. I can close my eyes and go back there again, with him, you know? Hot summer nights, with the windows open and the cicadas singing through the trees, drinking cold Coca Cola and dancing around the den to these songs with Julia, making our grandparents laugh.”

That part Levi could totally understand. “You miss him.”

“Every day,” Jake said. “He was the only person in my family who got me.”

Levi tentatively reached across the bed, squeezing Jake’s hand, letting him hang on a little longer than intended when Jake refused to let go of him.

“What’s with you and your mom?” Jake asked. “She’s such a trip. I’d imagine growing up with Ruby would have been a blast.”

Levi shook his head. “Everyone always says how much they admire her free spirit.”

Jake chuckled under his breath, rolling onto his side, facing Levi. “I’m assuming her free spirit wasn’t fun for you?”

“When I was really little, I loved it. Ruby was like a fabulous cartoon character. Every day was some new game, for which there were no rules. But the older I got, the more I began to long for a few rules. There was always a new guy and we moved around a lot. The same city, mind you, just different apartments. Sometimes we lived in mobile homes off Tropicana Blvd, depending upon where Ruby happened to be working at the time and how much money she was or wasn’t making. I remember at some point, thinking that life with Ruby was like living on quicksand.” Levi turned his head to look at Jake. “Nothing was permanent except for me and her—my one and only constant.”

“So you had to grow up really fast.”

Levi nodded. “Something like that. Then she got sick and I got terrified.”