Chapter Thirty-Three
I close my eyes, entirely exhausted. My mind races from his words and my heart feels as if it could combust. I must have drifted off for a moment, because I startle at the touch of a warm cloth.
“Relax, it’s just me baby. Unless you want to sleep with cum all over you, I advise you allow me to clean you up.” Jensen whispers.
“You don’t have to do that.” I shift to my elbows, but he gently pushes me back against the pillows.
“No, let me,” he insists. I nod, knowing we both prefer actions over empty words. He starts to wipe away the evidence of what occurred between us.
“Spread your legs for me.” A request, a simple one but something about this act almost seems more intimate than what we just shared. I do as he asks, allowing him to clean me. Jensen rises from the side of the bed and holds out his hand.
Another silent request. I take hold, not sure where he is leading me stark ass naked until I hear the shower running. We enter the bathroom, steam already filling the air and fogging over the mirror. He must have turned it on when I had dozed off.
“If I remember correctly,” he begins coyly, “you used to enjoy your showers so fucking hot the devil himself wouldn’t even enter.”
“Still do,” I laugh.
“I’ll shower after you, everything you need should be in there.” He nods in the shower’s direction before turning to leave.
“Stay,” the single syllable comes out as a whisper. Feeling oddly vulnerable in my request, I continue with a smile, “you also need to freshen up.”
“Speak for yourself. I smell like a warm summer day, and ocean spray or something equivalent to that shit,” he declares proudly. “But if you are okay with it, I’ll join you. Better for the planet, you know, saving water and all that.” He grins.
“I had no idea you care for the environment so much, what a lovely side to you.” I quip, stepping into the scalding water. I melt as the waterfall shower head in the middle of the walk-in shower envelopes me.
Jensen stands just outside the shower, still waiting on my answer in patient, eerie stillness that can only be learned from years in the military.
“You coming?” I coo sweetly before he joins me under the water. He hisses at the temperature I’m basking in.
“Only a demon could endure this level of heat. It would explain a lot though.” Jensen spits.
“If I’m a demon, what does that make you?” I ask, unbothered by the heat before I reach for the body wash. The scent he always favors: cinnamon and sandalwood. Those two scents will forever be associated with him. I inhale the intoxicating smell before squeezing some into my palm, turning to him.
His hair is soaking wet as the water runs down his muscular form, dark green hazel eyes lock onto mine. In this moment, I know he belongs to no one else but me. Even if it’s only for now, I will cherish every moment he lets me steal away. Taking a fresh cloth I begin washing his body, starting at his neck and making my way down. I can feel him relaxing into my touch as I offer him the same gesture he gave me moments before.
“If you are a demon, I suppose this makes me a tortured man, because I will never get enough of this—your touch—I’ll never get enough of you.” Our eyes lock again as I finish lathering his body with soap.
“Rinse,” I instruct. The word comes out with more force than intended, but he listens nonetheless.
While he starts to rinse the soap suds from his body, I begin washing my own as I try not to drool over Jensen in the corner of my eye. I look for the shampoo before realizing the body wash is a three-in-one.
“Seriously? This is what you use?” I shake my head. “I have never been more disappointed.”
“Shut up,” his reply comes through a sleepy grin. “It’s not my normal stuff, but I ran out last week. Since the store didn’t have what I needed, I just grabbed whatever was cheapest until my order comes in the mail.” I frown at him. “If it bothers you that deeply, you are welcome to go shower in the room where you insisted you would be staying. How long did that last? Two nights at most before you came crawling into my bed?” He accuses, raising his eyebrows.
“To watch a movie!” I shriek in my defense.
“Is that what we call it now?” He asks coyly.
“Oh, shut up!” I snap, splashing water at him. I finish rinsing whatever nonsense he has in his shower from my body. “My hair is going to be a greasy mess tomorrow, and it’ll be your fault I just want you to know.”
“Is that so?” Jensen challenges.
“It is.” I confirm.
“Guess I will just have to get the proper shampoo for that mess of waves you have, then wash it for you. How does that sound, you spoiled brat?”
I take a moment to act as if I am pondering his question before mumbling something about ‘I guess it would be okay’ and ‘if I’m spoiled it was his own fault.’
He huffs before pulling me from the shower and wrapping me in an oversized fluffy towel.
“I already grabbed your clothes from the guest room. They’re on the edge of the bed for you when you’re ready, but I won’t protest if you decide to sleep naked.” Jensen wraps another towel around his waist.
“How long was I out earlier if you had enough time to do that?” I ask, drying my hair.
“Not long, but I think the better question is: when are you going to give in and just bring all your shit into my room so we don’t have to go back and forth? I mean, I’m sure the other two idiots living here enjoy seeing you half naked in the morning when you try to sneak back to your room, but I would prefer I didn’t have to gouge out Wyhtt’s eyes or bash in Grayson’s skull the next time I see them eye-fucking you.”
The laugh that bursts out of me is so loud he jumps, which has me bending over trying to catch my breath.
“Don’t gouge out his eyes, they’re so pretty.” I manage to say before the laughter takes over again. I start to walk over to the bed and throw on the night shorts and oversized t-shirt he fished out of my newly purchased luggage.
“Are you done?” He asks in a tone that tells me he’s being dead serious. The words all but scream: I am military man who is being territorial for no reason other than I can be.
“I don’t know, are you done being jealous for no reason?” I cross my arms, staring him down.
“Maybe,” he grunts.
“I find it cute,” I tease. “I never took you for the jealous type.”
“Because I’m not!” He growls. “Well, not with anyone but you.”
“Awe, you love me!” I say in a baby voice I know he’ll hate as I give him the biggest puppy dog eyes I can muster.
“Jesus-fucking-Christ. I take it back. Keep your shit in your room.”
“Rude!” I pout. “I bet Wyhtt will let me stay in his room if you really don’t want me in here.”
That earns me a glare along with a slight red tint to his ears.
“Or maybe Grayson will, this is his shirt I have on after all. He let me have it that first night when the airport lost my luggage.”
As if on cue, Grayson knocks on the door before popping his head in to ask if we would like any snacks. Wyhtt apparently was getting ready to place an Instacart order, he has always eaten more than any human should be able to consume. His calorie count would cause me to gain six pounds within two days, I think to myself when Grayson’s voice catches my attention again.
“Nice shirt, good looking.”
I crumple to the ground with laughter as Jensen sprints toward the door, rage covering his expression. He pushes Grayson back out before slamming the door in his face. Grayson is still on the other side of the door cursing Jensen’s name when I hear Wyhtt yell. “What the fuck is going on back there? Did they want snacks or not?”
Jensen is on me a heartbeat later, ripping the shirt back over my head and throwing it aside before taking his shirt off and pulling it down my body.
“There. Problem fucking solved. Tomorrow I am moving all your shit into my room.”
I chuckle as he pulls my hair out of the shirt’s neckline.
“You’re only here for a few more days, and I want every single second of that time to be with me. I would also rather not end up in jail for murdering my best friends all because you think it’s a fun game to drive me insane.” He crosses his arms, looking down at me.
“In my defense, you started this by being jealous.”
“No, but you love to egg it on, don’t you?”
“Maybe.” I answer in the sweetest voice I can manage without breaking into another laughing fit.
“Get in bed. It’s getting late.”
“Fine.” I pout again as I climb into bed. He settles right beside me as I nestle into him.
“Do you want to read or watch a movie?”
“Movie, I’m too sleepy to read tonight.”
“Movie it is.” After a few minutes of browsing, we settle on a rom-com, even though I’m sure he would prefer an action flick or some kind of horror. It isn’t long before his breathing is heavy, his head starts to bob, and he sinks farther into the blankets.
“You sleepy?” I whisper.
“No, I’m fine.” Jensen pulls me closer to him, cuddling me as if I’m a stuffed animal. Not thirty seconds later, he is snoring lightly.
As I reach over him to grab the remote and turn the TV off, I wonder how long things will last between us this time. Does he love me, or is this easy because we have always known one another? While I teased him about loving me, he neither confirmed nor denied it. I know he cares deeply, but what does that really mean at the end of the day? What am I doing here—in his bed—in a town I no longer live in or care to visit often? I have a full life, a job I love, and friends in Nashville I care about.
As my eyes adjust to the dark, I notice how peaceful Jensen looks in this moment. When he’s not keeping an invisible wall between him and the rest of the world, he looks at peace, with each passing day I can tell he’s allowing me in and dropping his guard just a little more.
I know if things between us don’t work out this time, I will never fully recover. I never fully recovered the first time, but now we have a true fighting chance. We aren’t teenagers this time. With that passing thought I curl into his side even further, wrapping my leg around his and drift to sleep.