Chapter 10
AARON
Aaron spent Saturday morning alternating between embarrassment and quiet satisfaction. The prior evening was a little hazy, but clear enough to remember subspace hitting him like a ton of bricks.
He’d expected to sit patiently, make a few jokes, or learn a few knots himself. Instead, something came over him the moment he kneeled for Jay. The symbolism of the position put his body on full alert, every nerve ending thrumming in anticipation.
He didn’t stand a chance.
The arousal of kneeling, the delicious friction of the rope against his nipples, the soft puffs of Jay’s breath on his neck—no wonder Aaron lost himself, not coming back to reality until they were halfway through their eggs and hash browns.
At which point the embarrassment hit. Aaron’s reaction had been so over-the-top, Jay must have thought him pathetic.
Not sure he could face Jay again, he considered skipping the club for a few weeks to let the memory settle. They could pretend nothing had ever happened.
The idea of not seeing Jay made his chest constrict, and he decided to go in the opposite direction. Seeing Jay soon. Today. The text from last night was like an open invitation, tempting him to respond.
Aaron looked at the time—almost eleven—and messaged Jay before he could overthink it.
AARON: Not sure if you have plans this afternoon, but I’m going furniture shopping and I’m graciously allowing you to join me.
Jay’s response arrived before Aaron had a chance to panic.
JAY: That is most magnanimous of you. Will I be allowed to offer my opinions or is my role restricted to following you around with a palm frond?
AARON: You will be allotted three opinions at a time of your choosing.
JAY: Deal. Send me your address, and I’ll pick you up in an hour.
Aaron sighed in relief, hoping their easy back-and-forth would help skip past any awkwardness. He sent Jay his address and started getting ready.
The first hurdle was deciding what to wear.
A boring weekend errand didn’t warrant a suit, but he hated wearing jeans and T-shirts, his body rejecting the feel of rough denim and bare arms. After examining his choices, Aaron settled on a silky lavender button-down and a pair of thin gray slacks that looked formal despite the comfortable, stretchy fabric.
There was still time, so he skimmed the list of furniture he’d made earlier and walked around the apartment, appraising each room to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. He had a lot of empty space to fill. This shopping trip would be expensive.
When his phone chirped with Jay’s message, Aaron flew out the door in nervous anticipation, finding Jay casually leaning against a truck.
“How many cars do you own?” Aaron asked with amusement. Despite being out of it when Jay drove them to the diner, he distinctly remembered a practical blue sedan.
“Borrowed it from my sister.” Jay stepped up to give Aaron a brief hug before opening the passenger door. “In case we needed to move some furniture.”
“We?” Aaron climbed in and waited for Jay to walk around to the driver’s seat. “You know I have a bad back and a good job, right? I am not moving anything heavy. It’s delivery or nothing.”
“Fair enough. But if there’s time, I want to take you to this cute little shop that sells vintage pieces, and they definitely don’t deliver.”
His days of picking up heavy things were over, and no amount of cute vintage furniture would change that, but Aaron loved that Jay went to the trouble of borrowing a truck for him. It made his heart flutter. “That’s sweet of you.”
“I’m a sweet guy,” Jay smirked. “Where to?”
Aaron had a few stores in mind. Ideally, he’d get everything he needed at one store, but Jay laughed at that plan, joking that they’d be lucky to get it done in one day.
He was proven wrong almost immediately.
Though it couldn’t be done at one store, Aaron took pride in impressing Jay with his efficiency by picking everything for the guest bedroom within the first thirty minutes.
Furnishing the living room took longer, since he wanted to match his existing decor—a few abstract paintings he’d collected over the years, a glass sculpture, the giant turquoise vase from his wedding reception.
Eventually, he settled on a minimalist look of clean lines and muted colors.
Jay surprised him by chiming in with insightful opinions as they strolled around, picking out the perfect coffee table and even suggesting a matching liquor cabinet. Aaron asked how he knew what to pick, to which Jay shrugged, saying he could just tell.
Being with him was easy, as if they’d known each other for years instead of weeks.
There hadn’t been a trace of awkwardness in their conversation, and Aaron’s earlier concerns slowly faded away, replaced with the coil of heat in his stomach that flared every time Jay’s gaze lingered on him a second too long.
“This is going to be quick.” Aaron rubbed his hands in anticipation as Jay pulled into the parking lot of the next store on the list. “A dresser, some bookshelves, maybe one of those fancy benches that interior decorators put at the foot of the bed for some reason. In and out.”
Jay chuckled. “You don’t have to tell me. I’m now a believer that it is, indeed, possible to furnish an entire apartment in three hours.”
“After this, I’m taking you out to a late lunch slash early dinner for all your help,” Aaron promised as they walked into the large space filled with a crowd of people navigating around the closely crammed furniture.
Jay looked around. “Wow, this is a zoo.”
“It’s not ideal,” Aaron agreed. “But I know what I want from the website. I just need to look at it first.”
Jay pointed to the nearest employee, and Aaron mapped out his approach before squeezing between two nightstands and skirting a giant couch.
Jay got stuck behind, his broad frame too bulky to fit in the narrow space, and Aaron watched in amusement before turning to the employee and reading her name tag.
“Hi, Jackie! I’m looking for the dresser from the…” He checked his phone. “The Infinity Collection? The one with the fun handles?”
Jackie beamed at him. “Oh, that’s a good one. All the Infinitè has been moved to the showcase. The dresser’s in the main bedroom area.”
“Oh, like those tiny little cubicles that are set up like real rooms? I love those,” Jay said from behind, finally caught up.
“They’re so much fun to create.” Jackie clasped her hands in delight. “They finished setting up yesterday, so you’re just in time.”
Aaron thanked her and moved toward the signs leading to the showcase, Jay right on his heels. They ran into several obstacles on their way, having to backtrack and change directions multiple times.
“It’s like the wild west out here,” Jay huffed after two young boys ran across their path, leaping from one couch to another. Their father was several couches behind, yelling their names to no avail.
“In and out,” Aaron repeated like a mantra as he continued forward. Spotting a shortcut, he eased between two dining tables, stumbling over the chairs before righting himself in triumph. “We did it!”
“This is rough.” Jay glared at him before sucking in his stomach and trying to shuffle through the same gap. “I’m leading the way back. Some of us don’t have the figure to fit in these narrow spaces you keep finding.”
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and with his face flushed from the exertion, Jay looked unbelievably sexy. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, his dense stubble on the verge of turning into a beard, and Aaron had an urge to rub it against his cheek.
Existing in Jay’s presence was a constant exercise in restraint.
He turned and walked through the low doorway to escape the temptation.
The space resembled a small apartment, and they easily found the main bedroom.
After examining the drawers and poking at the swirly handles, Aaron declared the dresser sufficient.
The vanity next to it wasn’t on his list, but it was too pretty to pass up.
He tapped his phone screen to cross off the final item with satisfaction. “I’m done.”
“That was fast. Let’s go back to the living room. I saw a china cabinet my sister would love.”
“Lead the way, Cap’n.” Aaron gestured for Jay to go first.
“Such a smart-ass,” Jay muttered, stalking out of the bedroom and heading straight to the tall, gorgeous piece with rippled glass panels in the corner of the living room. Jay took his time examining it while Aaron wandered around, noting little details.
“Did you know the fake books for staging bookshelves are sold by the foot?” Aaron shared, his fingers tracing the embossed leathery spines. “Like fabric. I’ll take three and a half feet of antique encyclopedia and a yard of bright contemporary young adult.”
“Think the same place sells those fake books to open secret doors?” Jay bent down to test out the drawers, and Aaron’s gaze lingered on Jay’s powerful thighs. The way his jeans stretched over the rippling muscles should have been illegal.
“I think those are regular books, just attached to some mechanism,” Aaron responded, mesmerized by the deliciously sculpted ass presented to him like a tempting treat, begging for a lick. He tore his eyes away before Jay caught him staring.
Suddenly, the wall shuddered with a loud thump from the other side. There was a loud yell, and Aaron’s muscles tensed.
He moved on pure instinct, lunging forward and wrapping his fingers around Jay’s wrist in a steel grip before tugging in a single powerful burst. He had no chance of moving Jay’s body by force—his best bet was to throw Jay off-balance in the right direction.
His gamble paid off. Jay took a step to keep from falling, stumbling along as Aaron pulled on him with all his strength.
A deafening crash filled the room. They turned toward the source, finally making sense of what happened. The bookshelf in the corner had fallen forward, crashing into the space right in front of the cabinet—where Jay had stood a moment ago.