Page 62 of AJ’s Fire

I pointed to my bedroom door. “I think I’m down for the count, at least for a while. You know where the guest room is. If you can’t keep your hands to yourself, you can shower alone.”

He held his hands up. “I’ll be good.” But then he immediately put his hands on my chest and began rubbing me all over. I groaned as I climbed off him. He propped himself up and took me in. I did the same to him.

We both started shaking our heads and smiling at the same time. “Come on, Aje. Let’s shower.”

I headed toward the en suite and thought I heard him mumble, “Sure thing, cariño,” as he followed behind.

After I reminded AJ that the Chinese food was getting cold, he stopped trying to see if he could get me hard for a third time, and we hosed off quickly.

Chapter Nineteen

AJ

I tried to convince Jackson that our carryout would need to be reheated either way as I lowered myself to my knees, but Jackson just laughed at me and told me to get up as he ran a washcloth over his body.

“Give me some of that fancy-ass soap.” He handed me the bottle of soap and the washcloth as I rose and rinsed off quickly, going for a seductive look as I reached behind myself to clean between my cheeks. I brushed a kiss to Jackson's water-drenched face.

“That was amazing, Jackson. Really fucking amazing.” I hadn’t meant my tone to say don’t fuck this up, but I really didn’t want Jackson pulling away from me again. I felt like I was walking on a tightrope.

I had lived so many years without being close to anyone. I mean, I had my brother, an actual therapist, to talk to, but our relationship had shifted after Anna’s death. For a long time, I would have considered Jamie my best and perhaps only friend. And then Jax had come along, and I wasn’t alone anymore, but I still didn’t really have that emotional connection, or at least I didn’t understand that I did. I certainly didn’t have it with any of the women I’d been with.

Watching multiple shower jets cascade over my best friend, I realized I didn’t have to be alone anymore. More than that, I understood in a way I never had before that I hadn’t been alone for the last five years, because I’d been with him.

I knew he wasn’t ready to be out and certainly not ready to go public with our relationship, but I needed him to know how I was feeling. He was the first person ever that I needed to know how I felt, like it was this living thing inside of me, the swoop talking to me, insisting that l tell Jackson, insisting that I get him to understand.

We ate dinner in companionable silence, both of us in loose-fitting shorts and nothing else. It was a little weird to be shirtless like that, but I didn’t mind every time Jax glanced at my chest, and I imagined him imagining me with his cum drying throughout my chest hair.

I was done eating before Jackson, like always, and cleaned up while he took his last few bites of egg roll.

I caught him wincing as he stood, and he was stretching his back when I asked about it. A sly smile accompanied his answer. “That was a lot of time to spend on my knees.” He kissed my cheek. “Totally worth it, though.”

I matched his smile as I stuck out my hand for him to pass me his plate. I grabbed it, but he held on to it until I spoke. “You have that fancy-ass bubbly tub in your bathroom. Maybe we could soak our sore muscles.”

He let go of the plate, and his light, barely there eyebrows raised. “And which of your muscles are sore, Mr. Gordon?”

“All the good ones.” I turned to the sink to rinse his dish.

“I’ll go start the bath.”

I rooted through Jackson’s huge pantry, finding what I wanted before joining him back in the bathroom. He was leaning over the tub, swirling the water.

“Emily gave me these silly bath bomb things for Christmas,” he said. “She said I would find the aroma relaxing or whatever.” He held one up as if seeking my permission, looking shy and adorable.

I didn’t respond, just stepped into the room with the candles and lighter I had found in the kitchen, setting two up on each outer corner of the bath and lighting them before shedding my shorts, stepping in, and placing two on the other side.

Jackson watched me, the scented round ball in his hand. “Water temp good?”

“Why don’t you climb in and find out?” I placed my last candle and sat down. Jackson turned away from me, and it took me a second to realize he was going to shut off the light. I spread my legs as he approached, and he stood between them, tossing the bath bomb in the water before sitting as I’d hoped, his back against my chest, between my legs.

I kissed the back of his neck and shoulders. “Between the candles, that ball thing, and your fancy-ass soap, I don’t know which smell I like more.”

He turned into me and sniffed behind my ear. “You. I like the smell of you.”

I kissed his lips, and he turned into me until the water level started dancing with the edge of the tub. He reached over to the far end to shut it off, draining a little before turning on the jets.

He turned and relaxed back into me, grabbing my hands before I could move them to wrap them around him.

“I know you’re not ready to come out yet, Jackson. But I need you to know something.”