Nico

The silence that followed after we landed was expected, but thankfully it was drowned out by the heavy, rhythmic lashing of tropical rain against the metal skin of the jet.

I had embarrassed myself in front of Alaric yet again, and I had sniffed him. Goodness, I had sniffed him, and he smelled so good.

But the truth was that I wasn’t the only one who had been embarrassed. Alaric had been hard. He was hard for me yet again, like last time. Crazy, but I liked it.

When it was time to get off the plane, I couldn’t look at him. I hid my face in my hoodie.

Richard was the first to move. He stood at the center of the aisle and lowered his head in apology. "I apologize for the inconvenience. We will resume our flight tomorrow, but for now, I already made preparations as soon as we landed. There’s a ride waiting at the edge of the tarmac. A local driver who has your name will be waiting," he swallowed hard and then wiped a bead of sweat from his upper lip.

"It’s a Mahindra Thar. It will take you both to the closest inn in the small town. I’ve booked the rooms. I’ll join you tomorrow morning with fresh transport. I have to stay back here. The pilot needs me to sign off on the emergency logs and handle the local authorities. I..."

Alaric stood up slowly with his hands clenched beside him. "An inn?" his voice was a low, dangerous rasp, still carrying the echoes of the groan I’d heard him make when I was between his knees.

"This is a disaster, Richard. Unprofessional doesn’t even begin to cover it. So I am expected to stay in a local lodge because your logistics failed? Because you didn’t think to check the weather first before the flight took off?"

I also stood up and spoke up. "It’s a waste of my damn time. I have training I have to get to, and not waste time here," I angrily yelled and then turned to leave.

I needed to be anywhere that wasn’t this cabin, anywhere that didn’t smell of Alaric’s sandalwood.

I shoved past Richard, hit the emergency release on the door, and stepped out into the deluge.

The rain hit me hard, soaking through my clothes in seconds, but it wasn’t enough to cool the heat in my blood. I was still burning with anger, knowing that I had to spend my night in some inn—and with Alaric.

I wasn’t mad that I was spending it with Alaric, but it was the thought that I wouldn’t be able to touch him that angered me.

The Mahindra Thar was waiting at the edge of the strip. It was a rugged, open-sided beast of a jeep, and the driver was leaning against it, raising a banner with our names.

Immediately I sighted him, I ran and climbed into the back of the jeep, pulled my hood up, and looked to my side of the window because I didn’t want to look at Alaric.

He entered soon after me, and it was hard to ignore his presence because the instant he entered, his sandalwood scent was everywhere yet again.

He shifted beside me, and his shoulder brushed mine, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Don’t start," I muttered without turning to face him.

"I didn’t say a word, Nico," Alaric replied, his voice smooth and maddeningly calm.

I scoffed and pulled my hoodie higher, hoping to pretend that he wasn’t there with me, but I was only fooling myself.

The ride was a nightmare of sensory overload. Due to the bad roads that were nothing but mud and deep potholes, our shoulders met a few times every time we hit a bump. Even my wet thigh slid against his, making every accidental brush of his leg feel like an electric shock.

And each time, we both made sounds.

I had to grip the rusted roll bar until my knuckles were white. At some point, when our shoulders slammed into each other again, I had to shift on my seat to make sure what had happened during the turbulence didn’t repeat itself.

Finally, the shaking of the car stopped after a moment, but I didn’t stop shaking.

Alaric noticed and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice cutting through the roar of the rain.

"I’m cold," I lied. Well, it wasn’t entirely a lie since one of the reasons I was shaking was due to the cold, but the second was because of him. His scent was flooding my brain and affecting my suppressed dominant side that wanted to pin him right there in the seat and claim him as mine. "And I am pissed off."

"Oh! Is it about what happened with the arrangement? It wasn’t entirely any of their fault. The weather can be funny sometimes, and..."

"Shut up, Alaric, just... shut up."

That was harsh, I knew that, but I just wanted him to stop talking. To Stop adding to my misery.

I shouldn’t even be here. The brand had contacted us a few months back, and I had rejected it, but when I heard them mention that Alaric might join, I had accepted in the blink of an eye, all because I wanted to stop his comeback—or so I thought.

Alaric heaved a deep sigh and shifted from my side, but I knew that he was looking at me. I could feel his gaze heavy on the side of my face like he was waiting for me to jump into his arms like I did on the plane.

But I didn’t, and the ride went on in silence.

Then, the driver killed the engine in the middle of the road in the pouring rain. He turned in his seat, the sickly glow of the dashboard making his features look skeletal.

"The road is gone," he said in blunt English and then pointed a gnarled finger toward a narrow, overgrown trail that looked like a throat opening up in the suffocating density of the jungle. "Too much mud. The bridge over the gully is washed out. You walk from here. Two kilometers, maybe three, and you will be there. Follow the high path."

"You’ve got to be kidding me," Alaric snapped. "Richard paid for transport, and you are telling us to walk in this rain?" he punctuated the sentence with a string of elegant, sharp French curses. "There is no way I am dragging myself out there through a swamp because you are too incompetent to navigate a dirt path."

The driver didn’t blink. He clearly didn’t understand half of what Alaric had said, so he just stared at him with the tired eyes of a man who didn’t care what Alaric was going through. "You stay, you sit in the rain until the morning. You walk, you find the inn. Your choice, sir."

I rolled my eyes angrily and finally spoke. "Unbelievable," I hissed, leaning forward. "This is a joke. How the hell are we supposed to survive in this rain?"

The driver picked up his umbrella from the passenger seat beside him and handed it over to me.

"As if one umbrella is supposed to hold us out in that pouring rain."

"I am sorry, sir, I didn’t..."

"Forget it," I cut him off, and just as I was about to take the umbrella, Alaric’s hand also reached out, and we both touched the umbrella at the same time.

He let out a groan and turned to face me with determination in his eyes. "The one with the better sense of direction should hold the umbrella."

I scoffed. "Good sense of direction, huh? It should be the one who is taller!"

"Oh, Nicholas, you are probably an inch taller than I am."

"Two," I counted my fingers and pointed them at his face.

He cursed angrily in French. "Whatever, I am taking this umbrella," he grabbed the umbrella from the driver’s hand, but I held onto it, and we started dragging it right in front of the driver.

Until he had enough and stopped us. "Both of you are going the same direction. Share it."

I growled at Alaric, and he returned the energy, but neither of us let go. I refused to give up to him, especially in front of the driver, so I proposed an idea that would declare who the winner was between us.

"If you truly want this, then let’s settle it."

Alaric leaned closer, his eyes widening. "How are we settling it?"

" rock, paper, scissors?’’