The pillow was soft, the blankets were warm, and the space heater of a firm, muscled body beside him was—for once—welcome.

River smiled before he even cracked his eyes, rubbing at his eyes for a moment. It took him a moment to realize who exactly he was in bed with. Then, his smile grew.

As he stretched, his mind cast back over last night. God, it had been a good night in every sense. From a nearly flawless opening night in Vegas to going home with Zeph, checking off a few more boxes on his to-do list…

And spending the night in Zeph’s bed was always welcome. Zeph slept like a rock, and tolerated his touchy-feely sleeping habits.

It was a little embarrassing—no matter who he shared a bed with, River wound up wrapped around them with all his limbs by the end of the night. Because of it, and his reluctance to encourage romantic feelings toward every one-night-stand that happened into his life, he rarely slept with others.

But Zeph was different. They had an arrangement. So River was going to take full advantage while he could.

River’s gaze wandered down those broad shoulders, the steady swell and dip of Zeph’s ribs, the tattoo along his arm… He let himself perv on Zeph while deciding how pissed off his lover would be if he woke him for a round of morning sex.

Just when he’d decided to go for it, there was a soft knock on the door.

River heaved a slow sigh. Maybe someone had nerves, or wanted to go over last night’s show, or needed help finding a good breakfast spot… somehow, he’d wound up taking partial charge of the group. They looked to him for guidance along with the official leaders, Tina and Glam, even though he was only supposed to be in charge of makeup.

River pulled on sweatpants on the way to the door and grabbed a t-shirt, hopping from foot to foot toward the door until his toes poked through the ankles of his sweatpants. Then, he groped for the doorknob as he tugged his shirt down.

When he opened it, instead of one of the queens, it was a delivery guy—unmistakably, since he had a uniform and even a cute little uniform hat.

Holding flowers.

River’s head slowly tilted. Maybe they had the wrong room. Tina’s new man seemed hella interested in romancing her.

Oh, shit. Or it was Zeph. They needed to have a conversation about this NSA thing. He’d seen the way Zeph pulled him in to deflect flirting at the club last night.

“River?”

“…Yes? I mean, hi. That’s me.” River kept his voice down so he didn’t disturb Zeph, not that anything but an elephant tap-dancing on Zeph’s face could have woken him.

“These are for you.”

They were pretty—pink and yellow daisies and white lilies and lots of cute little flowers he couldn’t identify. But they were so not him, and Zeph ought to know that by now.

River wasn’t about to turn them down, though. He smiled politely and nodded. “Um, cool. Wow. Thanks.” He rested them in the crook of his arm, pushing his hair to the side and patting it into place.

The delivery guy nodded briskly and strode back to his car while River closed the door and tugged the card out of the plastic holder. He half-expected Zeph to sit up and make some comment about getting into his pants with the flowers.

But when he flicked the envelope open with his thumb and set the flowers on the table, then tugged the card out, his heart sank.

Then, it beat faster.

Loved watching you on stage, sexy. I’m thirstier than these flowers for you. Will you help me let it go?

-your big fan

And “big” was even underlined. That was edgy, bordering on creepy. No, outright creepy, he decided after rereading it a few times.

It took River a moment to realize it hadn’t even come from the motel, but directly from a delivery person, which meant whoever this was knew which room he was in. None of the queens would have given that out, and they would have told him if anyone had asked which room he was in. Zeph sure as hell wouldn’t.

And this wasn’t Zeph’s handiwork. Too creepy, right?

“Who’s that for?”

Zeph was awake behind him, rolling over in bed and rubbing his eyes as he sleepily peered at River. Well, that confirmed that it wasn’t him.

He swallowed. “Me. Apparently.”

Zeph took a few moments to think that through, then pushed himself up. “One of the guys… girls… your friends?”

“No. That’s the weird part. Here.” River sat on the edge of the bed and handed over the card.

Zeph’s brows drew together as he read the card, and then he looked up at River. “No idea who this is? Really?”

“Definitely not any of my friends,” River confirmed. “And I assume it’s not you.”

Zeph snorted. “Well, I am thirsty for you, but I think you helped me let it go… what, twice last night? I don’t need flowers to say it.”

“Always the romantic,” River deadpanned and snatched the card back, tossing it in the trash. “I’ll give these to some random on the Strip who looks like they’re having a bad day.”

“Awww,” Zeph drawled. Then, his brows drew together again as he half-sat, propping himself on his elbow.

River sighed. Now Zeph was going to get overprotective.

“So someone knows where you are.”

River shrugged it off. “We’ll just get another motel and tell them to keep it hush-hush. Reception must have told the delivery guy. No big deal.” Everyone got a creepy admirer once in their life, right?

Zeph eyed him but let it go, flopping onto his back again. “Fine. I’ll even haul your stuff over if you ask me nicely.”

“I’m sure we can work out a deal.” River batted his lashes, giving Zeph a long, slow look up and down.

That distracted Zeph perfectly.

“Huh.” Zeph ran a finger up River’s spine to the back of his neck. “Tell me more.”

River flicked out his tongue playfully. “How about I show you?”

“Payment in advance? I like these terms.”

River ran his hand along the sheets until he found Zeph’s leg, then slowly up his thigh. “Only for you,” he teased.

For the next nine days, it could be sort of true.