Beta Test (#gaymers) (9 page)

“I know.” Tristan colored again. “You’ve...uh...got great personal style.”

Now that was an unexpected compliment, but Ravi preened anyway. Being noticed by Tristan shouldn’t make him this warm inside or make him smile wider. He had to resist the urge to fluff his hair. “Thanks. Haunting vintage shops in LA is one of my hobbies. But now, about those souvenirs...”

* * *

An hour later there was no text from Elmer, but they walked back to the broken truck with their purchases.

“It’s coming,” Elmer said testily when they pressed him as to when they could expect the replacement truck. “I’ll call you when it’s here.”

Ha. Ravi still wasn’t sure he trusted that, but wandering around Weed was far preferable to hanging out with Elmer, who’d flipped the small TV in the store onto some right-wing rant.

Another hour passed, during which time they got a snack in a café with a lavish stone exterior and homey 1950s interior. They split an order of onion rings, and the waitress gave them a knowing look as she set their food down.

“It’s like garlic, right?” She winked at them. In her early twenties with pastel hair and a long nose, she reminded Ravi of an overgrown My Little Pony figurine.

“Eh?” Tristan made a sound not unlike Ravi’s dadi when she didn’t understand something. And like those occasions, Ravi had already figured out what was up, and inwardly groaned.

“You know, you won’t care about onion breath if you both eat it.” She winked again. “You guys are adorbs by the way.”

Tristan made a choking sound, so Ravi saved him again. “We’re not a couple.”

“In that case, I’m Heather.” She gave him a different look this time, one Ravi supposed was designed to be seductive. “You in town long?”

“Hopefully not.” Ravi gave her a friendly smile but kept his gaze distant.

“Darn. I do love ethnic guys.” She gave him another saucy smile and headed back to the counter.

“I’m not sure what’s worse,” Tristan said once she was gone. “That she thought we were a couple or that she wanted to collect you like those fifty state spoons back at the gift shop.”

“After Elmer, I’m just happy she was friendly.” Ravi snagged an onion ring. They weren’t as good as his mom’s onion pakoras, but they were tasty enough. And sadly, the idea of being a couple with Tristan wasn’t nearly the turnoff it should have been. Ravi should be chomping at the bit to be free of this tiny town and its colorful residents and shouldn’t be enjoying hanging out with Tristan this much. At least Tristan seemed put off by it, which was good. Tristan being oblivious to the attraction between them was great insurance against Ravi doing something stupid.

* * *

Life would be so much easier if Tristan wasn’t attracted to Ravi. Like seriously, he should not be aware of how Ravi’s eyes crinkled when he told a joke or how his mouth quirked when he pointed out something interesting. And absolutely, Tristan shouldn’t be noticing how Ravi’s muscles bunched and flexed as they moved the cargo from the broken truck to the replacement truck, which had finally shown up three and a half hours after they arrived in Weed.

“You sure you’re not up to no good?” Elmer asked. He kept popping out of the convenience store as Tristan and Ravi unloaded the first truck. All elements of the booth were either covered in white draping or hidden in plain brown boxes. Robert Christopher’s insistence on top secrecy had to be maintained. But apparently such need for privacy was threatening to Elmer.

“I’m sure.” Tristan kept his end of one of the set pieces aloft while Ravi backed out of the truck. “Ooof.”

“If he comes out one more time, I’m going to scream,” Ravi muttered as they set the background piece down.

“Wait a second. I’ve got an idea.” Tristan grabbed his laptop case from the front seat. He fished out one of his file folders and pulled some brochures out. “Hey, Elmer?”

“Yeah?” Elmer’s voice was still suspicious, as if Ravi and Tristan were going to take him hostage at any moment.

“You have any grandkids?”

“Maybe.” Elmer’s lips pursed. “Not sure it’s your business.”

“Well, we appreciate your assistance.” That was a total lie, but he’d heard his mother utter the line enough that he could deliver it without a hint of irony. “Here’s some coupons from our employer for a free starter colony for
Space Villager.
Maybe you have some grandkids who like to do games?”

“I might just have a few. So you were telling the truth about working for one of them high-tech companies?” Elmer took the papers Tristan held out.

“Yup.”

“Pretty impressive. Thank you much.” The man’s tone was far nicer now.

“But Elmer?”

“Yeah?”

“We really need to focus on getting these trucks swapped. You know, without interruptions.” Tristan kept his voice light but sincere.

“I’ll let you boys work.” Elmer shuffled the coupons in his bony hands before making his way back into the store.

“Yup, pretty impressive.” Ravi nudged Tristan. “Did you have those brochures filed under
b
for
bribes
?”

“Maybe.” Tristan’s skin heated, but he grinned despite himself. It
was
pretty impressive that he worked for
Space Villager.
And he was the one who’d come up with the free starter colony prize from a previous promotion. Maybe Ravi was right and he
was
good at his job.

“Well, I think it worked. Now let’s get back to it.” Ravi had lost his overshirt several loads ago, and his thin cotton T-shirt hugged his lean frame. He used the hem to wipe his face, exposing a swath of brown skin with an intriguing smattering of fuzz. Tristan had tried hard not to look at Ravi’s bare torso last night in the hot tub—
hard
being the operative word, since simply their proximity had had him fighting a losing battle to not react physically.

Now he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from Ravi. Even the way sweat beaded up along his hairline was sexy because it had him wondering what Ravi would look like without his ridiculous popstar hair, how he might look after a shower or in the morning or...

Oh hell. Now Ravi was looking at
him
, and he’d totally caught Tristan checking him out.

“What?” Ravi raised an eyebrow.

“Oh nothing.” Tristan looked away. “I was...just thinking what a good team we make.”

Seriously?
Seriously?
Could you be a bigger dork?
Tristan did a full-body cringe at his own words.

“We do. Come on, let’s get back to it.” Ravi laughed, and Tristan had the feeling it was directed at him and his idiocy.

They had to completely unload the cargo from the broken truck into the parking lot of the mini-mart before loading the new truck so that everything fit, the biggest pieces going into the new truck first. Wrestling the last large booth set piece, Tristan slipped, crashing into Ravi. The piece tottered before they righted it and got it to the ground, but no amount of quick reflexes could disguise the fact that he was invading Ravi’s personal space. Ravi was both warmer and more solid than Tristan had expected, and this time his eyes weren’t laughing. In fact, they were deadly serious and linked with Tristan’s own.

And man, Ravi smelled
good
—like good, clean sweat mingled with some sort of expensive herbal shampoo or soap. The muscles in Ravi’s neck flexed, and Tristan was almost overcome with the urge to lick right over his Adam’s apple. He needed to jump away, apologize for crashing into him, but instead his feet melted into the asphalt, and his torso leaned in further and—

“You boys need a cold drink?”

Fuck.
Elmer was back, holding out two store-brand waters. A nice gesture, but truly awful timing. Elmer’s eyes narrowed. Hell. He might not suspect them of a terrorist conspiracy anymore, but he probably had a whole new set of suspicions.

Tristan’s feet regained the ability to move in a hurry, and he snatched a water with a mumbled thank-you.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Ravi took the water, but his eyes were carefully considering Tristan, not Elmer.

Oh shit.
Tristan looked away and took a long drink of water. If he hung around Ravi long enough, he was going to become a terrible curse-word abuser, because there weren’t enough polite words for how jumbled up Ravi made him feel.

Chapter Nine

Ravi’s muscles burned like he’d run a 15k in record time, and he’d sweat through both his shirts. They had hours of driving in front of them, but he was already counting down to a long shower.

“How is it after five already?” Tristan pulled out his phone as they got the last of their stuff out of the old truck.

“Fuck. Is that how late it is?” Ravi snagged his own phone, making sure he had the audio cable and charger.

“Yes. And according to my calculations, we’re at least six hours from Portland still, probably longer given the road construction advisories I’m seeing around Medford and Eugene, and given the speed these trucks go—”

“Screw calculations.” Ravi slammed the door and stalked to the new truck. They’d already received the new keys from Elmer and done the necessary paperwork. Elmer was BFFs with Tristan since he’d handed out the freebies, but he still looked at him with barely guarded hostility. Ravi was done with this town, done with delays, done with Tristan’s perfectionism, and really, really done with how much he liked his infuriating copilot.

“I was just trying to help.” Tristan’s choirboy face with the big blue eyes looked like a wounded puppy as he climbed up into the new truck’s cab.

“I know.” Ravi scrubbed at his already ruined hair. “Sorry for snapping. I just hate how the day got totally wasted.”

“We haven’t eaten in a while. How about I pull up a list of vegetarian options for Ashland? I know you’ll feel better if you eat and if we can at least cross the border.”

Ravi clicked open his phone because Tristan wasn’t the only one who could read a map. “I can probably wait until Eugene for food and stopping. That would get us three hours—”

“Ashland,” Tristan said firmly as he dug around his bag. “We can stop for the night in Eugene, but I can’t do three more hours with the Incredible Hulk routine you pull when you need to eat.”

“I’m not
that
bad,” Ravi protested, but he accepted the packet of chocolate-covered raisins.

“Yeah, you kind of are.” Tristan laughed, and Ravi couldn’t help but join in before eating a handful of the raisins. Tristan had the ability to pull him out of a bad mood, which Ravi totally hadn’t expected.

“Okay. I’m a
bit
less Hulk smash now. Tell me about these options, O Almighty Navigator.” Ravi put the truck in Drive and headed for the interstate.

“Well, Ashland is a big tourist destination with a summer Shakespeare festival apparently, so there’s a lot to choose from.”

“Did you seriously do extensive research on each city we’re passing through?” Ravi marveled yet again at Tristan’s organization.

“Not all on Saturday night.” Tristan colored the way he always did when someone handed out praise. “I told you, I did prep for Katya and Mark. I figured they’d want to know about the cities they were passing, so I included some tidbits.”

“Tidbits.” Ravi laughed because Tristan was just too cute. “You know, Tris, for a road-trip virgin, you’re a total natural at this.”

“Thanks. So what are you in the mood for? There are a number of foodie-type places with all local ingredients and unusual dishes.”

“I could seriously eat an entire pot of my mom’s dahl without coming up for air. Pretty food with tiny portions isn’t going to cut it.”

“Oh! If you’re homesick for Indian food, there are a couple of options there with high marks for vegetarian options, but...” Tristan trailed off.

“I’m not
that
homesick. And few places come close to my family’s cooking, so honestly I often skip the restaurant stuff. But what’s the deal with the hesitation? Bad health code violations?”

“Oh nothing like
that
.” If it was possible for a voice to blush, Tristan’s was totally doing that now. “It’s just that I’ve never actually
been
to an Indian restaurant. I mean I’ve had curried stuff before, like in the dining hall on campus, but neither of my parents are into ethnic food.”

“And the adventurous ex-boyfriend?” Ravi couldn’t resist getting the dig in.

“Patrick was allergic to onions and garlic. He was a bit...high-maintenance when it came to food.” Tristan said that last bit far more fondly than Ravi would have thought possible.

“Well in that case, pick the Indian place with the best reviews. Might not be able to get you to a gay bar tonight, but we can give you a new experience.”

Oh the totally not-work-safe imagery
that
line conjured up. Ravi apparently couldn’t even speak without getting a new round of dirty thoughts. For his part, Tristan gulped like his brain had gone to R-rated places too.

“Okay. You’ll tell me what to order?”

Oh man. If Ravi wasn’t driving, that sweet little hesitation in Tristan’s voice would have him half-hard, and as it was, it gave him all sorts of new images of what Tristan would be like handing over control.

“Yeah. I’ll order for us,” Ravi said gruffly. And he’d try like heck to get back to not liking Tristan.

* * *

Tristan was a total convert. Dinner with Ravi had been the most fun he’d had eating out in
years
. But if he was honest, it had a lot more to do with the company than with all the new food, tasty as it was. And Ravi was in a far better mood after the big meal, as Tristan had known he’d be.

That was a dangerous thing. Hungry and angry Ravi who snapped and growled was easy to resist, right up there with the lackadaisical-yet-charming work version of Ravi. But down-to-earth Ravi who explored tiny towns with him and made the best of awful situations, that was hell on his resolve.

“I really liked the food,” Tristan said lamely as they carried their belongings up to their hotel rooms. They’d pushed on further north after Ashland, although they’d taken time for a brief walk after dinner through the adorable downtown full of little shops and boutiques. And if Tristan had had a moment where he wished they were a real couple, walking their dinner off before retiring to one of the quaint B&Bs they passed, spending a vacation taking in plays and the small mountain town, well, that moment was something he better well stamp down. He wasn’t going to be half of a couple anytime soon and certainly not with Ravi.