Chapter 27
Marc
How was I expected to sleep when the shop was finally opening?
I wasn’t. That’s how. Which was exactly how I found myself creeping past JD passed out on the pullout bed, down the stairs, and back into the flower shop at the unholy hour of two in the morning.
Despite my anxious brain being convinced there were still a thousand and one things to be done before the soft opening in a few hours, we’d done a great job of getting everything ready.
In lieu of any real work, I plugged my phone into the store’s speakers, turned on my favorite playlist, and danced around fixing little things that didn’t actually need fixing.
Periodically, I paused to stare at the ridiculously over-the-top arrangement I’d made, replete with bright pink tulips and deep yellow buttercups, made that much more vibrant with decorative greenery and some baby’s breath for balance.
It was stunning and captured how I felt about JD perfectly.
Now if I could only be brave enough to tell him to his face.
Having my aunt call me out in front of him was not exactly the way I wanted to go about it.
Thankfully, he still hadn’t cottoned on to the meanings behind the flowers yet.
Not that I expected that to last too much longer, given his frustrated expression.
I groaned and tapped out the beat of the latest song on the countertop before turning away to find some other mindless task to occupy my restless energy.
But my gaze kept getting drawn to the arrangement sitting innocently on the counter.
I really should put it back in the refrigerator, but I was still debating taking it upstairs.
Suddenly, I was back in front of the vase again, tracing the outline of one of James' immaculate bows. Okay, his bows were better than mine… by a lot. It was kind of adorable that he’d learned to do them because his sister was upset that her gifts never looked as good as her other friends’.
There’d been more to it, of course, but that had been the gist. He hadn’t wanted to put the camouflage ribbon on it, clearly misunderstanding my dismissal of including buttercups in a military arrangement.
“Fuck it.” I rummaged under the counter through the various spools of ribbon we’d used until I found the camo pattern.
I set it by the vase, then made a quick note on one of my many lists to install a pole to make storing and cutting the ribbon easier.
Then I carefully wove the camo ribbon beneath the shimmery white ribbon he’d used.
I didn’t create another bow so much as wound the ribbon around the vase beneath.
It was delicate work, but I was used to that.
Satisfied with the outcome, I placed the finished arrangement in the walk-in refrigerator, resolved to use it as a display piece and not one that would be sold.
This one was for us, even if James didn’t know it.
I was smiling like a bona fide fool as I closed the fridge back up, then one of my favorite dance songs came on.
The beat pulled me in immediately, and it was just me and the flowers.
“Damn, baby boy, if I knew you had moves like that, I’d have found a reason to go dancing.
” The warm humor in JD’s voice instantly had me spinning around and my heart rate spiking.
His coastal blue eyes sparkled with the same laughter that filled his chest. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. ”
“No, I, uh, I should really be the one apologizing,” I said with an awkward laugh as I made my way over to where my phone was plugged in. “Cranking up the music wasn’t very considerate. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He grabbed my hand before I could reach the phone. “Who said I was complaining? Maybe I just feel a little left out.”
I smiled at him, my chest buzzing like bees in springtime with happiness.
“Oh yeah? Is that what it is? Do you feel left out, James?” Hopefully, he didn’t pick up on my weird pause before his name.
It was getting harder and harder not to call him Honeysuckle, and I wasn’t sure how he would react when I inevitably slipped.
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He tugged me away from my phone, then took my place to crank the music a few more notches. “I think you should fix that.”
“Yes, sir.” With a smirk, I slipped an arm around his waist and tugged him close as a new song started up. For as much as I teased him about being a giant, our height difference wasn’t that drastic, and we slotted together perfectly.
I would never get over how natural it felt to have his body pressed against mine.
It stole my breath in all the best ways and gave it back.
We weren’t anything as cliché as one person when we were together, but there was a synchronicity, an effortless compatibility.
I liked to believe we were like so many symbiotic partnerships in nature.
We were perfectly fine apart, but together we flourished.
We continued moving with the music, though there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the movements so much as an excuse to touch each other.
Which was A-okay with me. I loved touching JD, as was no doubt evident by the way my hand was currently halfway up his nightshirt and my lips were practically glued to the side of his neck.
I nipped at the sensitive skin, prompting him to groan and grind into me.
“God, I want you to fuck me so bad,” he said, voice thick as I released his neck.
The words went straight to my dick and suddenly it was all I could do not to drag him to the floor right then and there. “Then what are you still doing down here?”
He looked at me sharply, surprise bright in his eyes. “What?”
“Is that doubt I hear, Sergeant Gallagher?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Just making sure my hearing’s not going in my old age.”
I rounded my hands over his ass, pulling him tight against me, while I skated my lips along the side of his neck until I reached his ear.
“Your hearing is fine, James,” I whispered, then took his earlobe between my teeth.
His resulting groan was almost my undoing, so I pulled back.
“I’ll finish things down here and follow you up in, say…
seven minutes?” Not that I had ambitions of making it a whole seven minutes.
As Alex liked to remind me, patience was neither of our strong suit.
He searched my face for a moment, then grabbed it with both of his giant mitts and smacked me with a kiss so disorienting that it felt like someone had pulled me out by my roots, then hightailed it up the stairs.
I was still trying to regain my equilibrium as I staggered over to the counter to finish clearing away the ribbon trimmings, triple-checked the locks on the front and back doors, ensured the fridge temps were set, and finally unplugged the music.
Then it became a matter of seeing how slowly I could take the stairs, because I was still three minutes ahead of schedule.
I was debating stripping when I walked into the bedroom to find the bathroom door still shut.
My gaze snagged on the bottle of lube and collection of condoms JD had undoubtedly tossed on the bed as I emptied my pockets onto the nightstand.
He’d already flicked on the lamp, which was great because I had zero intention of missing any of his expressions.
Even from those first stolen glances, he was hands down the best porn I’d ever watched.
The water cut off, and I fought to keep my nervous excitement under control.
Sex wasn’t a big deal for a lot of people, and I suspected it wasn’t for JD either.
But it was a big deal for me. I just… I hoped he knew me well enough by now to understand that.
Though he had seemed genuinely surprised when I took him up on the offer to fuck him.
So maybe he did. My heart fluttered at the possibility, and my desire for the man on the other side of the door intensified.
When it finally opened, I was standing right in front, waiting for him like the creeper I apparently was.
At least I’d waited for him to open the door.
“Marc, uh, hey,” JD said, tightening his hold on the towel wrapped around his trim waist.
Water still clung to the ends of his hair and glistened in patches on his impressive chest as if he’d towelled off in a hurry. Hot dayum he was a stunning specimen of a man. The definition of his muscles, the tight coils of his chest hair, that godforsaken “V” with its treasure trail.
Abruptly, he cleared his throat and looked away. “If you’ve, uh, if you’ve changed your mind…” He darted me an anxious look that didn’t linger, and it finally clicked that I’d been staring at him without saying a word. He was nice to look at. So shoot me.
I stepped closer to him, and he sucked in a breath. “Now what in Sam Hill would give you that idea?”
His eyes brightened, and he gave me a coy smile that might have been the single most adorable thing I’d ever seen in my life. “So… you haven’t changed your mind?”
Don’t call him Honeysuckle. Don’t call him Honeysuckle.
“Not even a little.” I dragged my gaze down his body, loving the reaction such a simple thing had on him, before hooking a finger in his towel and meeting his gaze once more.
“You’re not going to need this.” A slight tug is all it took to send the damp cotton tumbling to the floor.
My chest expanded with a deep breath as I took in the full sight of him completely exposed and wrapped my hand around his dick, staring enraptured as I stroked over his swollen head. “God, you’re beautiful,” I whispered.
“You do like to watch.”
I snickered and stroked him again, tightening my hold.
“Apparently I do.” I returned my gaze to his, loving how he was looking at me with such want, letting me take control, trusting me with his pleasure.
“I wanna watch you stretch yourself for me.” I was fairly positive his pained grunt had nothing to do with my hold on his cock.