Page 43 of Everywhere You Look

Except right now, we’re both awake and wet and aware of my obvious arousal trying to dig a hole through his ass cheek.

But still, I’m able to breathe him in like this. I’m able to inhale his scent and get high on his pheromones like they were created in a lab just for me. I’m able to find happiness in his quiet contentment, to simply enjoy being in his presence and feeling the way our bodies meld together so perfectly.

“Oh that’s wonderful, guys. Don’t change a thing,” Jae says as they move around the tub, snapping photos from various angles. When they’ve got the shots they need of us like this, Jae instructs Luke to turn around so he’s straddling me.

“Perfect. Now Luke, put your hands in Dean’s hair. Give it a little tug. Dean, tilt your head back. Yeah, like that, exactly. Now put your hands on Luke’s hips. Amazing. Tease him a little. Run your fingertips over his skin, press your foreheads together, whatever feels natural. Forget I’m here.”

Luke doesn’t hesitate to follow Jae’s instructions, sinking his fingers into my hair while his palms cradle my neck. He drops his forehead to mine, his minty fresh breath and the smell of his skin clouding my brain and making me feel hazy. I do as Jae says, gripping Luke’s hips and slowly massaging them in my hands, reveling in every small shudder my touch earns me. When I feel goosebumps start to spread across Luke’s flesh, I feel emboldened. I move my hands from his hips to the middle of his back. Slowly, gently, I rake my nails down over his spine until my thumbs settle in the delicious dimples at the base.

Luke gasps, an intoxicating, breathy sound that has my dick thumping. He falls forward an inch, and that’s when I feel it. His cock bumps against mine, hard and needy, just like I am.

And for the first time since I climbed into this ridiculous bath, I feel relaxed. Knowing that my husband is as affected by my touch, by my body as I am by his? That this energy I feel buzzing between usis real and not just one-sided grants me the serenity I need to make it through the rest of the photoshoot.

With every sway of Lukes’s hips, every rise of his chest when he fills his lungs, I grow impossibly harder. The only thing keeping me from doing something stupid—like blowing my fucking load right here in the tub—is the shutter and click of Jae’s camera tethering me to reality.

“Now get close like you’re going to kiss, but don’t let your lips touch.”

“Te quiero comer a besos,” I whisper when Luke’s lips are only a hair's breadth away from mine.

“I think you’re right. Maybe one of these days, I should try to learn Spanish so I can understand you,” he smiles, and I hum, sinking to the warmth of his breath coasting across my skin.

“I’d like that. If you knew what I was saying, you might get that cute blush that goes from your cheeks all the way down to your chest that I love so much.”

“Are you flirting with me, husband?”

Have been for ten years, glad you finally noticed.

“I’m sitting naked in a claw foot tub with my husband while a stranger takes our picture, how else am I supposed to fill my time?” I give Luke a noncommittal shrug, accompanied by my flirtiest smirk. When he parts his lips, swiping the tip of his tongue over the spot that I want so badly to taste, Istart to inch forward, desperate to replace his tongue with my own.

But Jae’s voice cuts through the moment. They instruct Luke to pull back and sit on the opposite side of the tub so they can capture a more playful vibe.

Fucking cock blocked by my boudoir photographer. Go figure.

Jae continues to give us cues, having us turn this way and that until my skin is pruned and the water has gone cold.

An assistant approaches with towels and robes, draping them over a nearby stool before the room clears, giving us privacy once again so we can emerge from the tub. I feel half-drunk, lost in some kind of haze as I watch Luke stand and step out the tub. I follow suit, and not even the cool air hitting my overheated skin is enough to calm my dick down.

We towel off and wrap ourselves in robes in silence, the air thick with tension and unchecked lust.

“Luke,” I say, reaching out for his hand. I want him close again. I want to feel his skin on mine. I want to feel his tongue in my mouth and his cock in my hand. I want to tell him that I want more, I want to consummate this marriage and give us a go.

But as soon as my fingers brush his, Luke pulls his hands away.

“We are killing this whole fake marriage thing. I think Jae believed we actually want each other.”

Fake.

Jae believed we wanted each other.

It’s just your body reacting.

Because of course, none of this is real to him. Why would it be? I’m the one who made sure to use the word ‘fake’ not ten minutes after we signed the marriage license. I’m the one who sneaks out of bed every morning. He’s just following my lead.

And besides, Luke wasn’t turned on because of me. He said it himself, his body was reacting to mine. He doesn’t cuddle me in his sleep because he wants me. His body is seeking warmth. And he doesn’t come to me for comfort because I’m his husband. He comes to me for comfort because that’s what we’ve always done. Because we’re friends.

I am such a fucking idiot.

“Yeah, we really showed them,” I mutter, pulling the old Crushers hoodie I brought along this morning over my head, even though my chest is still coated in the damned shiny oil they doused me in before the shoot. Good thing this hoodie is not one of my favorites, because it’s likely going to smell like potpourri and baby oil for the rest of eternity.

---