Chapter 16
Logan
I wake up to a sweet scent, but with my leg still pulsing with pain, I can’t bring myself to get up yet. The blanket draped over me is the comfort I need so I gather it tightly around me and rub my cheek against the pillow while glasses clink somewhere in the background.
I remain in blissful ignorance until a hot tongue runs across my face.
“The fuck?” I yelp and sit up, clenching my teeth at the pain shooting up my leg.
My mind is still groggy, but as I meet Jekyll’s eyes, the reality of last night slams into me like a punch.
Kyle is here. I broke my leg. I now live with a dog. Or two.
I look over the back of the sofa and toward the kitchen while my hand drifts to Jekyll’s head. The other puppy is facing away from me. He wears only a pair of dark blue boxer briefs that cling to his masterpiece of an ass, and the dampness of his hair tells me he’s showered already.
Have we… fallen asleep right after fucking? Full of dread, I peel away the blanket to reveal a crusty layer in my chest hair. But Kyle is already greeting me with a smile as he adds a few more pancakes to a massive tower already occupying a plate.
“Hello, sleepyhead! Sorry about Jekyll. He sometimes gets impatient when people sleep in,” he says and approaches me with a tray that also contains a full coffee press and a bowl of fruit salad, as well as some toppings for the pancakes.
Kyle places the tray on the coffee table and sends me a syrupy smile.
If he were edible, he’d be the perfect topping for this gorgeous breakfast.
I’m not ready for this, but my stomach chooses this moment to grumble with hunger.
“H-hey, good morning. I need a side of painkillers. Have you been up long?”
Kyle leans in and kisses me with his minty mouth while I’m still so groggy and have my hair out of order.
“Not that long. But I wanted to treat you first thing in the morning.”
“Wow, this is… nice.” I grab a fork, eager to dig in.
“I could get used to this.” Sure, I cook for myself in general, especially when it comes to breakfast, but my morning meals are hardly restaurant-worthy.
Unlike the spread in front of me. “Has Jekyll had food?” I ask when the dog puts his muzzle on my thigh.
“Yeah, I always feed him at the same time, so he’s got a routine,” Kyle says and pulls my injured leg up to rest on a footstool, before taking place next to me. He smells of my shower gel, and I can’t help but glance at his perked-up nipples.
He might have been a first-timer in giving head last night but his talent is natural.
His mouth was so hot and eager. Despite balking at his presence yesterday, I’m starting to think that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if he stuck around for a bit?
And if he stayed with me, helping out with things that might be hard because of my leg injury, why wouldn’t I teach him a thing or two if he wants me to?
“Aren’t you organized.” I pour syrup over my pancake, but as soon as a piece of fluffy dough is in my mouth, I groan in pleasure.
My boss gave me the day off. Hell, maybe I could even take him out?
Yesterday, pain kept me from thinking straight, but it’s undeniable that my evening would have been way harder if it wasn’t for him.
And while he was the cause of my fall, it’s not like it was his fault.
He did not push me off the damn ladder and couldn’t predict how spooked I’d be by his presence.
I can only blame myself for going straight into panic mode.
Kyle grins and pours us both coffee before leaning on me and rubbing his nose against the side of my neck. A shiver runs down my body as he pushes under my arm, greedy for touch. It’s so cute.
“Well, I want to take good care of my boyfriend,” he says, emphasizing the last word as if for comic effect, yet there is a hint of hesitation in his voice, and it makes me pause.
The dangerous word jams the cogs in my brain and I just sit there, chewing. Even the dog seems to be watching me for a reaction. I need to be honest, but I fear he might then take away the pancakes. Couldn’t he have said it after I ate?
“Kyle. You’re not my boyfriend. You hardly know me.”
He keeps up a smile, hiding behind a cup of coffee, but there’s a tension to him now. “We can get to know each other. And you’re single, right? We like each other, so why not be spontaneous about it?”
Because my whole body balks at the perspective of attachment as if it was conditioned to fear it by now. “I don’t want to. I’m single, but I’m not looking for a boyfriend. I told you yesterday that I’m not the right choice for you.”
This time, he doesn’t try to hide his disappointment. “Why not?”
I guess it’s time for the big guns. “I don’t date cheaters. You’re so ‘spontaneous’ that you’d just do it again one day.” Even the pancakes aren’t as sweet anymore. I don’t need all this stress on top of a broken leg.
Kyle frowns and squeezes the mug so hard I wonder if it’s thick enough to withstand the force of his grip. His cheeks go red. “That’s really damn low.”
I don’t want to be here anymore. On this sofa. Next to him. I just don’t. But I also know getting up will be awkward and painful so I’m stuck, like the dude was in Misery.
“I never promised you anything. I’m letting you stay at mine so you can get back on your feet. I don’t know, maybe I could have some loose arrangement with you, an open thing? But I’m not doing relationships right now.”
Kyle puts the mug on the table, and his hands keep opening and closing as he struggles to keep his emotions in check. “Oh, so you can have your cake and eat it? I’m not gonna get emotionally engaged with someone who wants to fuck other people.”
I roll my eyes. “No one’s telling you to get engaged with me. You like my dick, and I like it sucked. That’s it.” Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but I need to get my point across. I’m not his white knight, not his boyfriend, nor husband material.
He lets out a raspy chuckle and stares straight at me, as if he wants to flay me with the sharpness of his gaze. “No. You’re just the guy who fucked me knowing my fiancée was cheating on me and then left me to deal with the fallout.”
To avoid his gaze, I get back to the pancakes. I deserve that. “I left you the photos, didn’t I? So you could deal with the situation however you liked. I figured you cheating didn’t matter anymore if she was doing the same.”
“Aren’t you morally superior. Never made a fucking mistake in your life,” Kyle says and rises to his feet.
Something I can’t easily do. And while he’s standing there all gorgeous and clean, I’m crusty from his cum. It’s not fair.
“Oh, I made many mistakes, and I’m trying not to repeat them!”
“Aren’t you only a few years older than me?
We are both bound to make mistakes, and you’re not gonna learn by keeping your head in the sand,” Kyle says, pacing in his tight underwear while his dog follows him, as if thinking they’re playing.
“I know you like me, so why don’t we give this a shot? It costs you nothing!”
It could only cost my heart, which I’m not willing to put on the line again.
“I won’t be dating you. You’re unhinged, and you’ll find a new guy to get infatuated with in a month or two.
I’m offering sex. Take it or leave it.” I glance at his ass and realize I might get attached to it, so I change my mind.
Fucking him would be a game far too dangerous when he makes pancakes like this.
“No. Actually, sex is off the table too because you can’t keep your emotions in check. ”
He stops and Jekyll gets to his hind legs while resting the front ones on the small of Kyle’s back, as if they were about to dance the conga.
It’s a surreal image, yet Kyle ignores the dog, as if this were an everyday occurrence.
His eyes are already getting red, and I look at my breakfast, not wanting to see him tear up.
“I’ll find a new guy? I have never even tried kissing one before. People don’t suddenly change their entire diet if they enjoy it!”
I shouldn’t have let him get to me last night, but he was so sweet, so hot, so needy, and I was horny and tired. I won’t slip again.
“We’ve already established that I’m an asshole, so this is for your own good.” I shrug, even though it hurts me to say it, and sip my coffee.
“Yeah. I suppose you are,” Kyle says in a tight voice and pushes Jekyll away as he rushes to his open bag. I chew the delicious pancake that suddenly feels like sweet rubber in my mouth, but then Kyle storms toward me and tosses wrinkled white fabric on my head. “Your shirt.”
I end up spilling some coffee on it as if it landing in maple syrup wasn’t bad enough. “Jesus! Watch it! Thanks, I guess. You could have washed it at least.”
Kyle keeps pacing. “It’s your fault that we had to swap in the first place.”
I frown at him. He’s looking to pick a fight, and I’m wondering if he’ll even stay at mine now that he’s gotten his boyfriend application rejected. “My fault? I got cum all over your wedding shirt? I knew to keep mine in the condom.”
His heels bang the floor so loudly as he walks. “You told me to jerk off. I barely knew what was going on at that point!”
“Oh, so it’s my fault you were so horny you lost your mind? Kinda flattering really.”
I couldn’t possibly eat everything he cooked, because it’s too much, so I put the plate on the coffee table and fight for dignity as I pull my pants up under the blanket, then attempt to rise, using the sofa’s armrest for leverage.
“Yeah, it damn is flattering. I like you, and I’m not afraid to say it,” Kyle says through clenched teeth.
That takes me aback, because I was expecting him to spit in my face or at least push me back down on the couch as if I were a beetle that’s stuck on its back.
I’m not used to this level of emotional honesty and don’t know what to do with it. In my world, guys play games to get ahead, or to get head.
“Okay, let’s start over,” I try once I manage to get up and reach for one of my crutches as I hold on to the backrest of the sofa.
“You’re disappointed. I get it. You wanted a boyfriend, but you found only me.
It is what it is. You can stay here for a bit, but whatever we did last night, stays in the past. We’re not… aligned.”
“I feel we’re very much aligned,” Kyle interjects and picks up my walking aids before leaning in so I can see his toned chest up close.
“Do I get a say in this?” I huff in frustration and extend one hand, demanding the crutches.
Kyle meets my gaze. “Well, I’m not gonna give you head if we’re not a couple.”
“So we’re in agreement. You stay here for a bit, cook, drive me, and we keep it hands off.” Though I already miss his lips. He was so eager to take my dick as deep as his gag reflex allowed…
“Hands off unless you need help with your leg?” Kyle asks. He’s no longer about to cry and now watches me with a cool half-smile.
I huff in frustration because he still hasn’t handed me the crutches. “Unless I need help with my leg,” I mumble in the end.
I hate needing help.