Chapter Seventeen
NASH
I let go of Joshua and held him out at arm’s length, noting the wary look in his eyes. “Come on. Let me feed you.” I took his hand and pulled him into the kitchen, only letting go of it to check the fridge for breakfast ingredients.
“I need a shower, Nash.”
I turned to look at him and smirked. “Why? You just took a shower.”
He frowned. “I know but what if they could smell sex on me…and your other friends are coming…and—”
“I like the way you smell,” I said, cutting him off, “besides, you only smell a little like sex.”
His eyes flew wide as he lifted his arm and sniffed his pits, pulling the collar of his T-shirt up to his nose, and taking a huge inhale. “Oh, my God, no! I just hugged Judy.”
I laughed. “I’m teasing. Besides, who’s Judy going to tell?”
“Everyone you work with!”
I shut the fridge door and went to him. “Don’t worry so much.
No one I work with is going to think badly of you even if Judy tells them about your delicious scent.
” I wrapped my arms around his waist, looking down into his upturned face as I pulled him against my body.
“You met them. No one is going to care.”
“But you’re supposed to be on the job, Nash. You don’t think Captain Sorensen is going to care if you’re screwing me?”
I nearly flinched at his description then kicked myself for wanting to believe that anything between us could be more than that. I wasn’t even sure I wanted that, though, I was beginning to believe I was fooling myself. I pushed the sudden rush of emotions down and focused on his question.
“Because it’s none of his business.” I cut him off as he opened his mouth, probably to protest. “Candy Sorensen is an adult, Joshua. If he even smelled sex, he wouldn’t say anything about it. My job is secure and as you pointed out a few minutes ago, I’ve already gotten you out of some scrapes.”
He smiled and reached up, twining his arms around my neck. “Some scrapes? I said that you’d saved my life three times. Those weren’t exactly scrapes, Nash.”
“That’s true. I am pretty great.” I leaned down and cut off whatever he was going to say with a kiss, unable to resist his perfect, pink lips.
The kiss was slow and lush and within moments, I felt my dick hardening all over again.
Something about the perfectly sweet man in my arms simply did it for me.
We kissed for a minute or so before I finally broke the kiss with a gasp.
“What?” His fingers toyed with the hair at my nape.
I reached up and took hold of his forearms, bringing them down. “Because if I’m going to busy myself with bedroom activities, I’m going to feed you first.”
He snorted, stepping back out of my space. “Fine, but as much as I adored the meal you cooked for me last night, it’s my turn to cook.” He brushed past me, walking to the fridge just as Marvin sauntered into the room. I immediately bent down to scratch his head.
“Good morning, mister. Are you hungry too?” Marvin let out a low-pitched meow, so I opened the cabinet and pulled out a bag of dry and a can of wet food I’d put in there last night.
While I worked to feed my little guy, I reflected on what Joshua had said about my cooking.
I’d made him spaghetti using some ground turkey we’d found, along with dry pasta and sauce out of a jar.
Not the most inventive meal, but the only thing I could think of with what we had on hand and my basic cooking skills.
“Thanks for saying you liked my cooking, but there’s not a lot to work with in the house.
We’ll need to make a grocery run if we’re staying.
” I set Marvin’s bowls down and watched him run to them, digging in.
When I looked over at Joshua, he’d just pulled a bag out of the freezer.
He dumped it on the counter along with the other things in his hands.
“Do you think we’ll be staying?” he asked. “What if the DEA already knows where we are and that unknown person is coming after us?”
“First of all, you heard my captain. He’s sending a couple of the guys to stay here with us until we figure out what is going on here.”
Joshua nodded, pulling a cutting board out as he grabbed an onion from the counter basket. I walked over to him. “What are you making?”
“Farmer’s casserole. It’s great for breakfast or lunch.” He went through the cabinets then pulled out a casserole dish.
“Brunch?”
He nodded, grabbing a bowl and setting it on the counter before putting a can in my hand. “Open that for me, huh?”
I glanced down at the evaporated milk. “What are you going to do with this, bake a pumpkin pie?”
He grinned and the smile that lit his eyes made tingles go down my spine. Fuck.
“No, I told you, I’m making a farmer’s casserole. Just open the can, Nash.” The exasperation in his voice made me smile all over again.
“Fine.” I found a can opener in a drawer and did his bidding.
Though I lived alone and therefore was forced to cook for myself, I was never very inventive with my dishes.
I’d watched Mickey make food quite a bit, but it was Rex—our resident Texan on the team—who was the gourmet chef among my closest friends.
In true rancher style, the man could do everything from making a perfect blood red steak on the barbeque, just how I liked it, to a corn casserole with green chiles and sun-dried tomatoes that made my tastebuds cry for more.
I sidled up to Joshua and watched him break several eggs into a bowl, whisk them, and add the milk from the can before cutting up red onion, fresh jalapeno, and a bell pepper. He worked fast and somehow, that impressed me. “You really know how to cook, don’t you?”
He shrugged. “I had a good reason to learn. After my mom went away, the kids needed some stability at home and I was the one who was tasked to give it.”
I reached over and touched his lower back and when he looked up at me, the vulnerability in his stormy gray eyes made me swallow hard. I looped a hand around his side and pulled him closer, kissing the side of his head. “You’re so brave.”
“It was a long time ago, Nash.”
“No, I mean with everything, not just the kids, but also with this situation. Everything you do is brave.”
He set down the bag of frozen hashbrowns he’d retrieved earlier and slid his arms around me. “You’re the brave one.”
I smiled and clutched him to me. “Just doing my job, sweetheart.” I leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before letting go.
“Now, get back to whatever you were doing or you’re going to end up being tossed over my shoulder and dragged to bed.
” I swatted him on the ass, startling a laugh out of him.
The rest of the time in the kitchen was spent with me watching him assemble a delicious sounding casserole and making a fresh pot of coffee.
I was slightly awed by how domestic the situation seemed.
I’d never felt this way before. The house I’d grown up in after my father’s success in business had never felt homey.
With my father away all the time and my mother drinking, the home which should have been my refuge, had turned out to be anything but.
After escaping that house, I’d joined the Marine Corps and formed a new family.
I’d found people I could trust for the first time in my life, and yet in my personal life away from the Corps, I was brutally aware of my trust issues.
These days, I slept with countless, nameless men and made sure they were out the door immediately after we both came.
I never wanted them to stick around and share a companionable breakfast, completely unlike the time I was spending with this kind, generous man.
By the time we finally sat down to the cheesy, egg, potato, and veggie casserole, I was starving.
The flavors were amazing for something which was so simple.
“This is so good,” I said with my mouth full as I stabbed my fork at the food on my plate.
A piece of hashbrown shot out of my mouth and landed on the plate which made Joshua laugh.
His damned eyes were twinkling again, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Talking with your mouth full and spraying food all around is so sexy, Nash.”
I chuckled as I loaded my fork again. “When we’re finished with this meal, I’m hauling your ass back to bed.” I popped the food in my mouth and chewed another massive bite.
“You know, when you say things like that, I get hard,” Joshua said.
I laughed.
“What? You started the sex talk at the table. I usually wait until I’m doing dishes for those conversations.”
“No, actually your comment about getting hard reminded me of this guy who used to be in my Marine Corps unit.” I grinned at the memory.
“So, there was this skinny twink who was always bragging about how easy it was for him to get and stay hard. I’d seen him in the shower, so I knew he was hung and I admit—being attracted to twinks myself—I’d been interested to see that. ”
Joshua chuckled.
“Anyway, one night when we were all kind of drunk, one of the other guys decided to challenge him to a contest.”
Joshua smiled broadly. “What kind of contest?”
I was into my tale now. “They both dropped their pants while the rest of us gathered around, boots in hand.”
Joshua’s eyes widened. “Boots?”
I nodded. “They jacked their dicks until they were both hard and we tied our shoelaces together and took turns hanging the boots on their dicks.”
Joshua laughed.
“The challenger’s dick sagged after only three pairs of boots and the fourth pair slid off and dropped to the floor, but the twink—who, by this time, I thought was a superhero based on size alone—was able to hold onto seven pairs of boots.”
“Wow,” Joshua said, “impressive. I guess he was a superhero after all.”
I pointed my fork at his face. “Exactly…he was a superhero, but I found out later on, he was as straight as an arrow.”
Joshua laughed. “I’m guessing you made a pass at him.”