Page 44 of Total Creative Control

Beautiful.

And then, that moment…

He’d wanted to kiss Aaron so fucking badly. For a moment or two, that want had almost overridden his brain function, a strange and sudden recklessness urging him tojust do it. He’d seen that Aaron wanted it too; that there was no question of him pushing Lewis away.

Maybe that was what had stopped him. Knowing there would be no going back. Whatever it was, suddenly his heart had been pounding with something that felt a lot like naked fear.

Or maybe it had just been his common sense reasserting itself.

A light knock at his door dragged him out of his thoughts.

“Lewis? Are you ready?”

Toni.

He rubbed his hands briskly over his face, grabbed his phone, and went to the door.

“Morning,” he said, taking in Toni’s hip yoga outfit without surprise. The woman was always perfectly attired.

“Have you been for a run?” she said, eyebrows drawing together. “You need to change.”

“No,” Lewis replied flatly, stepping out and closing the door behind him. “This is all I have, since I didn’t know I was going to have to do a fucking movement therapy workshop before I came.”

Toni chuckled without much humour and stepped towards Aaron’s door, which she knocked on.

“Ready, Aaron?” she called.

“Just coming,” a muffled voice behind the door said.

A moment later, the door opened, and there stood Aaron in plaid sleep shorts and a plain, fitted navy t-shirt, a pair of sliders on his bare feet.

Toni stared at him, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Is this okay?” he asked. “My PJ shorts are the only loose clothing I have with me.”

“They’re fine,” Lewis said shortly. “I’ve had to wear my running gear, and that’s not even loose.”

Aaron glanced at him, his gaze going straight to Lewis’s tightly clad thighs, then quickly back up to his face. His cheeks pinkened, but he quickly quipped, “So long as you can express your inner pain through the medium of dance in those, you’ll be fine.”

“Oh God,” Toni said faintly. “This is going to be so bad. Did you read the information pack thingy, Aaron?”

Aaron closed his door, and they started off down the corridor together.

“Yeah,” Aaron said tightly. “Couldn’t help noticing there was a lot in there aboutchoiceandcontrolandautonomy. Which is pretty rich given we’ve been given no choice about attending.”

Lewis halted in the middle of the corridor and grabbed Aaron’s arm. “Hey,” he said urgently. “You don’t have to do this. It’s fine to pull out.”

Aaron blinked at him. “But we’ve got to work in pairs. Charlie said—”

“Fuck Charlie!” Lewis snapped. “I’myour boss, and I’m telling you—you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Aaron’s light grey gaze searched his face. “Are you going to do it?”

Lewis felt like he had rocks in his stomach, but he shrugged like it was no big deal. “I have to, but you don’t.”

Aaron nodded. “Well, if you’re doing it, I’m doing it,” he said simply. For a second, their gazes met and held. Then Aaron started walking again.

“Did you read the part about being prepared to experienceintense emotion?” Toni said after a few moments. She snorted. “Intense embarrassment, maybe.”