Page 40 of Only This Once
Not that she was a selfish lover. She liked to make sure her partner got off. She was damn good at it, though she couldn’t take credit for this time. Her stomach tightened just from thinking about him coming without even a touch.
She wanted to make him come so hard he lost all sense of reality. No, she needed to stop thinking about that. He might not want to orgasm with her.
He might be having a panic attack in her bathroom right now.
She listened harder. If he was crying, he hid it well. The door clicked open, and she forced herself not to look. It closed quickly, and more vague sounds followed as he got dressed.
She sat up on the bed, swinging her legs over the edge to stand. When the door opened again, she moved toward it.
Jinx’s hair was wet and plastered down. The scrubs fit him fine, the dark blue a good color on him. It matched his eyes when they lifted.
“Hey,” she said. “You okay?”
He nodded, his hands tightening on his bundle of clothes. “Yeah. Just embarrassed.”
She moved forward, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. His shoulders tensed under her hold at first, then relaxed. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’re two adults who got off with each other. That was the whole point of this, right?”
He sighed. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It is simple.” She pulled away, her fingers brushing his damp hair off his forehead. “Now, want to wash those while I make us some breakfast? I can do sausage and scrambled eggs.”
“You don’t want me to leave?”
She snorted. “If I haven’t gotten sick of you after all these years, I doubt I ever will. I like having you around, Jinx. That part will never change.”
His lips curved into a smile. “Okay. Breakfast would be good, then.”
She pointed toward the closet in the kitchen. “Laundry can be done in there. Now, do you still like cheese in your eggs?”
“Sure.”
The worry inside of her eased as she opened the fridge. Feeding him would let her make sure he was okay. His relaxed posture helped her believe she hadn’t screwed up his head even more with her horniness.
Chapter 11
Jesse flopped back onto his bed in his brother’s house and stared at the ceiling. Julia had said he could stay longer, but she’d already cooked him breakfast and washed his clothes. She was so efficient, even cleaning up along the way as she cooked, that he couldn’t offer much help besides rinsing the plates. They’d sat on the couch after, her arm pressed along his, but he hadn’t wanted to move away. Time passed so easily when he was with her, with only the beep of the dryer making him realize he’d probably overstayed his welcome.
He hadn’t meant to stay overnight either, but he’d slept better than he had in a long time, even on the not quite tall enough couch. Being around Julia made him feel more settled than he’d been in a long time, like he fit in his own skin again. Even when he woke up turned on by the way her body spooned his.
He usually hated getting an erection, and it freaked him out the night before, but her arm tightening around him had kept him relaxed for a few minutes. Even now, there was no tensiontightening his muscles from remembering. Though he could be feeling relaxed for another reason altogether.
He couldn’t believe he’d lost control without even being touched. It had been Julia’s words combined with the way she’d looked. She’d orgasmed thinking about him touching her. The realization ripped something open inside him.
Would she really let him do that? For the first time in forever, he wanted to find out. Just the thought of her orgasming from his touch had made him come in his pants, completely soaking the material.
He was pathetic. Why in the world would Julia want to have sex with him?
“Oh, hey,” Charles said from the doorway to Jesse’s room. “You didn’t come home last night.”
Jesse hated the heat that flooded his cheeks, telling his brother exactly what he’d been up to last night, likely insinuating more than he’d managed to do. “Nothing happened!” he blurted out, cringing.
Charles laughed as he scratched his naked stomach. “I wasn’t asking.” He crossed the room, still dressed in his plaid sleep pants. Sunday was his day to sleep in. The bed dipped under his weight, and he patted Jesse’s arm, helping his sudden tension ease. “You went over to Julia’s, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” Jesse swallowed, staring back at the ceiling.
Charles shifted, making the bed dip a bit more. “You know it’d be okay, right? If something happened?”
“What?” Jesse’s head turned. His brother’s eyes looked steady. He had almost twenty years on Jesse. Just past forty, his stomach was a little softer, and his chest hair was thick, though the blond coloring kept it from being too obvious. Jesse wondered if that would be what he’d look like in the future, though he’d always been thinner than Charles had been at his age.
