29. Jax
Jax
Idon’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I feel Gray move over me. A gentle hand runs over my shoulder.
“You okay?” he asks, his beautiful, sharp features illuminated blue by the giant aquarium behind us.
I nod, but he tilts his head uncertainly, brushing a strand of hair from my eyes so gently I feel a zing of unease. I pull back from him, nodding more firmly.
“I’m okay.”
He sighs as he carefully pulls out of me, offering me his hand as I rise to my feet.
“I didn’t even undress,” he mutters, and I can’t help a little bark of laughter at that. He’s looking down at himself in surprise as if he hadn’t even noticed he still had his suit jacket on and the large red stain beneath where the wine clings to his skin.
His hand runs down my arm, along my wrist, and then loosely interlaces with my fingers. I stare at them, confused by the gesture as he gently guides me toward a short hallway.
Compared to my house, this apartment is palatial. It’s utterly beautiful, too, and I adore the fish tank. I’m sad that I haven’t had any time to admire it when he pulls me into a gigantic bathroom.
There’s a whirlpool tub in one corner that I look at enviously as he turns on the shower, where two showerheads dominate the walls on either side. A knot forms between my shoulder blades as I look up at them.
It looks as if it’s been designed for two.
“You shower with your housekeeper or something?” I ask, mortified to hear a note of jealousy in my voice I can’t quite smother.
He smirks at me.
“No. Watch.”
Reaching up, he angles the shower heads so that they’re pointing into the center of the huge stall, and as the water is turned on, they cascade together, making a wide waterfall in the center.
“Ahh. I get it.”
I had forgotten I was completely naked until that point, and I wrap my arms around my body self-consciously as I step inside. I’m not used to this kind of care after sex. I tend to like being by myself to decompress, but he looks like a schoolboy showing off his toys.
I step under the water, and it’s divine. Then he turns on the jets on either side, and I’m in heaven.
I luxuriate in the water, tilting my face up into the spray, pulling my hair loose, and letting it get drenched from above. My own shower is like someone pissing on you from a great height, and because of my brothers’ tendency to hog the water, it’s rarely even warm, not to mention hot.
This is bliss.
I only realize I’ve been standing under the spray for too long when I notice he’s leaning against the opening, watching me with a funny little smile on his face.
“It looks like you approve,” he says, as I stretch my arms up toward the shower heads.
“This is amazing. I’d never leave the house if I had this.”
He chuckles. “Can I come in?”
I blink the water out of my eyes, surprised by the question. “Of course.”
He steps inside, fully naked now, his abs on display beneath his perfect pecs. He has an amazing body, a huge dick, and a model’s face.
Why the hell is he paying me to fuck him?
His hands slide over me, and I watch as glistening rivulets of water run over his chest.
“Mm, I think I prefer you naked,” I say honestly.
He looks down at me. “Ditto.” He reaches to the back wall, where there’s a nook in the beige tiling, and picks up a bottle.
“Is this where you show me your 3-in-1 shampoo and body wash from Target?” I ask with amusement. The shampoo bottle is covered in gold leaf and actually looks more expensive than my entire skincare routine.
“May I wash your hair?” His eyes are dark and urgent as he pours the shampoo into his palm.
“You may,” I say, flicking my hair at him. “But she’s an unruly bitch and doesn’t do as she’s told.”
“Reminds me of someone else I know,” he says smoothly, and then massages his strong fingers into my scalp, and my body gives up the battle.
What follows is one of the most intimate and sensual experiences of my life.
Whenever I’ve heard people talk about showering together as ‘romantic’, I’ve recoiled at the thought. Sharing a shower with another person sounds like more hassle than it’s worth, not to mention how cold you would get waiting for them to be done under the spray.
With Gray, that’s not the case at all.
I’ve never been in a shower with a boyfriend, or anyone before, but Gray makes it wonderful.
His fingers push through my hair, all the way down the full length of it, like he’s worshiping me. The shampoo is sweet-smelling and soft, like silk, and he lathers it through my hair reverently.
The head massage he gives me almost brings me to orgasm again, and he seems to find my enthusiasm both amusing and puzzling. By the end, he’s lathered up my whole body, rinsed me off, and gone totally silent.
He gives himself a perfunctory yet thorough wash, then shuts off the water.
Stepping out of the shower, he holds up a hand to me to stop me from following him. Leaning around the corner, he pulls a long robe from a shelf. It’s the fluffiest thing I’ve ever seen, and he hands it to me, waiting for me to put it on.
“I might need a towel for my hair, too, or I’ll drip all over your floors,” I say as I tug it over my shoulders. It’s the softest thing I’ve ever had against my skin, but then I go still, glancing at him nervously. “That is, if you want me to stick around. I can leave as soon as—”
“You’re staying the night.”
I stare at him. “What?”
“It’s late. You don’t have to sleep with me. But I dragged you all the way out here. Get some rest. You obviously need it, and I have plenty of beds to choose from. You can be like Goldilocks and try them all out.”
I’m so astounded by the offer that I can’t speak as he pulls out his own robe and another towel and nods his head toward the living room as he walks out.
I tie my own robe around my waist, pushing my hands into the deep pockets, and sigh.
It would be dangerous to get used to this kind of life.
I follow him out, drying my feet quickly on the end of the robe so I don’t track footsteps all over his floors. When I emerge, he’s standing in the living room with the towel, and I reach for it, ready to wrap it around my head.
“Let me dry it,” he says, the same intensity in his gaze, and I can’t help laughing.
“You sure have a thing for my hair.”
“What color is it naturally?” he asks. “I like it red, but I’m just curious.”
“Kind of the same, but more brown,” I reply. “It used to be bright purple, if you can believe that.”
“I can. Do you change your lipstick to match it, too?”
“Hah! Every time.”
He ruffles the towel through my hair, doing a more thorough job than I ever manage myself. Usually, when I take the time to wash it, my hair goes fluffy as hell and starts curling, but the high-quality shampoo has made the curls a lot more defined.
He scrunches it up with the towel and runs his fingers through it one last time before he arranges it down my back.
“Leave it down. Please. I like looking at it.”
He turns away, as he hangs the towel on a hook by the door and goes to sit on the couch. I walk toward the tank, taking in the beautiful colors of the fish as they swim about inside.
“How many do you have?” I ask.
“Thirty, so far. But I’d like more. Ship says I’m a nutjob for buying so many, but I love watching them.”
I notice a tendril at the bottom of the tank beside the glass and gasp as an octopus shoots past, its legs low to the surface as it flits into a fake clamshell.
“Wow. You really do have an octopus.”
“That’s Cordelia.”
I turn. “Cordelia? Oh yeah! I remember you telling me about your lady friend.”
Crouching down, I watch her, staying very still. I always hate it when I walk past a pet store and see kids hammering on the glass or tapping the fish tanks to get them to do something.
Cordelia eyes me warily, just visible at the mouth of the clam as Gray comes over to stand beside me.
“Doesn’t she try to eat the fish?” I ask.
Gray shakes his head. “So far, no. A lot of them are lionfish, and I try to make sure she has enough food to keep her occupied. I might have to separate her if she shows any interest, though. She was injured, so I’ve been looking after her.
It’s kind of a new relationship. We’re still getting used to one another. ”
He glances down at me with a little frown as he clears his throat.
“Well, she has a good home here. Look how beautiful it is!” I say, standing up and watching the fish. I turn to him after a minute and find that he’s watching me.
“Will you bite my head off if I ask what you need the money for?” he says suddenly, the question catching me completely off guard.
I purse my lips, annoyed that I admitted the truth to him in that moment of vulnerability between us. For some reason, I was desperate to make him understand that, despite the money, he still means something to me.
Fuck, it isn’t just about the money anymore.
I put my hands back in the pockets of my robe, and something twists low in my belly as I glance at him, feelings that have no business being there unfurling inside me, looking for something to hold onto.
“Are you in trouble?” he asks, his eyes bright in the light of the tank. I tense up, my fingers clenching into fists.
“Not exactly,” I say truthfully. “I need it for something.”
“What?”
“I can’t tell you.”
He frowns, and his fingers brush against my elbow. “Are you in danger, Jax?” he asks, his lips set in a grim line.
I shake my head, nervous to give too much away. The last thing I want is for him to find out about Monroe. The whole thing is such a shitshow.
I give him a wry smile. “I just have expensive tastes. You’ve seen my shoe collection, after all,” I say, crouching down again to look at Cordelia so I don’t have to stay caught in Gray’s electric stare.
He doesn’t move for a long time, letting out a gentle sigh, and then he steps away, and my heart begins to slow down again.