Chapter Sixteen

 

 

Emerson

The Monday of our third week of silence dragged. The beginning of May brought with it the first hints of spring. Kaiden’s job on the hills had wrapped up the week before, but because we still weren’t talking more than a handful of words to each other, I didn’t know if he was actively looking for more work or not. I should have been pushing the issue, but I felt we needed to resolve other things first. For all I knew, with the change of season, he might move elsewhere.

My brain had been scattered, and it was making work unbearable as well. Jagger had stopped asking what my problem was, but I knew my mood bothered him.

“Okay, I’d like you to finish up Unit Four for homework. We’ll be having a quiz on Friday, so I suggest working through the extra help section at the end of the chapter for practice. If you have any questions, you can see me after class or shoot me an email.”

The half-interested, placid looks on the faces in front of me were common. They were all itching for dismissal, their brains officially checked-out as they dreamed of afterschool activities.

“Pack up,” I said, checking the clock on the wall.

The burst of action and chatter was instant. Bags were stuffed with textbooks and notepads. Phones came out of pockets. Laughter filled the room and plans for the afternoon were made. The only person who didn’t launch into action was Alexa. She’d been doodling in her binder throughout the entire lesson and didn’t seem to register class was almost over.

Sitting at my desk again, I kept an eye on her as the bell rang. With its announcement, she packed up methodically and slipped out of the class with the other students, peering back once to issue me a smile. I never saw her interact with other kids and wondered if she had many friends. Her quality of work varied, her attention was always divided, and her focus was irregular.

She was barely holding a pass in my class as well, and I didn’t want to see her fail. Her participation was non-existent, and her assignments were often late or missing. She rarely did homework, and her quiz results had been mediocre. Yet, I didn’t get the feeling she was stupid.

The little crush she seemed to have developed with me was uncomfortable, to say the least. I ignored it for the most part but wondered more than once if that was the right method to take. Perhaps a parent-teacher meeting was in order. Her father had been determined she was a good kid, and somewhere in there, I tended to agree with him.

Once the room was empty, I pondered my upcoming afternoon and evening, unsure if I wanted to stay late at school and get my work done or head home to the tension-filled house and Kaiden who did nothing more than ignore me anymore.

Nothing much happened on a Monday at the school. Track and field had begun again with the thaw, and Jagger always volunteered to help out. So, with him busy, and no desire to work, I had no excuse to stick around.

I packed up my messenger bag and shut off the lights to my classroom as I left. Kaiden had been spending a lot more time with Cooper, so maybe he’d be gone for the night, and I’d have some peace without having to stew over our silence.

The drive home was tranquil. Birds had reappeared over the past week, and the snow was nothing more than dirty, melted piles of slush—if it still existed. The trees hadn’t begun budding, but that wasn’t unusual in our neck of the woods. Spring came late, and summer was short-lived. Soon there would be hints of regrowth dusting the land and winter would be gone for another season. Despite the chill, I cracked my window to enjoy the scant scent of spring in the air.

When I walked in the front door, the house was quiet. It didn’t surprise me. If Kaiden was home, he was probably locked in his room. We would slink past one another all evening as we filled our hungry bellies and went about nightly rituals. It was our sad new reality.

I kicked off my shoes and plunked my messenger bag by the door. His shoes were on the mat still, so I knew I wasn’t alone. With a sigh, I aimed for the kitchen for a quick drink. My plans included searching up a change of clothes and losing myself in some TV.

The cool water trickling down my throat felt good as I drank and scanned the backyard out the patio doors. In a few weeks, I could busy myself with yard work; clean up the winter debris and prepare the garden beds for the bloom. If Kaiden was still around, it would provide me with a good distraction. Something else to do with the lonely hours between work and bedtime.

Dropping the empty water bottle in the recycling bin, I then wandered down the hall to my bedroom. The door sat shut, and I paused, trying to remember if I’d closed it that morning before leaving for work. Ordinarily, I left it open so the air wouldn’t grow stale.

I didn’t waste too much brain power thinking about it and opened the door, stepping inside. Before I’d gone two feet, I came to a halt. Kaiden sat on the edge of my bed, elbows on his knees, face buried in his hands.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. The air stirred with electricity as I shuffled and glanced around, unsure where to put myself. He was here. In my room. A million questions surfaced beside a million more fears. Was this the end?

Kaiden lifted his head and met my gaze, rooting me to the spot like a deer caught in the headlights. Deep brown eyes which held a hint of nervous energy scanned my face.

“Hey.” His voice was gruff, and he licked his lips, darting his attention around the room. “I umm… I have something to say.”

Here we go. This was it. The moment he would close the door and not look back. I didn’t know if my heart could take the rejection, but I steeled my muscles, preparing for the worst.

All I could manage in response was a nod. With my limbs rigid, I couldn’t move any farther into the room.

Kaiden stood and leveled me with a look I couldn’t read. He breathed deep, his shoulders rising and falling with the effort before he moved forward at an agonizingly slow pace. Every inch that disappeared between us made my heart pound faster. It took all my self-control to stay still and not panic, fall to my knees and beg him not to leave, or burst out with apologies.

He stopped less than a foot away, his gaze trailing my chest, his racing mind visible without him needing to say a thing.

“First… I want you to know, I’m one hundred percent sober.”

Fuck… Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Okay.” Where was my voice? The word I’d uttered was barely audible. A croak at best.

He reached out, fingers catching the edge of my dress shirt where the line of buttons held it together. A single digit disappeared in the tiny opening between buttons and grazed my undershirt-covered navel underneath. I held my breath, a steady buzz of nerves bursting out of my core and blanketing my skin.

With a small tug, my shirt came untucked in the front, and he moved closer, using his second hand to undo the buttons one at a time, working his way down from the top.

“Kaiden?” So many questions encompassed that single word, not one which I could voice properly.

“I’ve spent weeks thinking,” he mumbled. Another button popped loose as he shifted down to the next. “I’m tired, Emerson. Tired of trying to make sense of right and wrong. Tired of battling with myself over how I feel. Tired of telling myself this can’t happen. Tired of not having you in my life.”

Another button fell from its hole, my shirt opening wider as he slid down again. I couldn’t breathe. The gentle pressure of his hands against my chest as he worked was overloading my oversensitive brain.

“You make me feel things no one else ever has. You make me want things I never knew I wanted. You know me inside and out, and I’m fucking tired of this dance we have going on.”

My shirt fell open when he released the final button, leaving my thin undershirt the only thing in the way. Kaiden splayed his hands against my abdomen, the heat of him scoring me as I sucked in a rush of hot air.

“Fuck,” I whispered. “Kaiden…”

“You told me to approach you sober. You said if I wanted this to come back to you and you wouldn’t fight it anymore.”

No words had ever been more true. I didn’t have an ounce of capacity left to deny what I felt or what I wanted. It was a dream. A delicious, forbidden fantasy I didn’t think could exist between us—that shouldn’t exist between us—but there he was, in my room, stripping me bare both literally and figuratively.

He stepped closer still, his fingers slipping under the hem of my undershirt and burning a path up my chest in a delicate, almost hesitant glide. A single finger brushed over a tender nipple, pebbling it and shooting blood right to my dick.

“I want this,” he whispered, toying with his discovery. “I… I want you to let yourself go. Let that desire surface. Take control of it, Em… of me. Please.”

My hands trembled as I reached for him, blood pulsing so thick in my ears the steady whoosh washed away any lingering reason that wanted to surface. When my fingers glanced off his sides, brushing a teasing, testing caress, a puff of air left him, and he closed his eyes, leaning closer.

He buried his nose along my neck, the moist heat of his stuttering exhale fanning across my sensitive skin. I grabbed tighter for balance, certain my knees would give out. Two hands squeezing his hips in a vice grip, I anchored myself to the moment because I was in danger of floating away.

He wanted me to take control, but I was grappling for my own as I tumbled ass over teakettle into a world I’d only imagined. His tongue met flesh, and I gasped, my dick swelling and pulsing with too many years of built-up need.

“Kaiden,” I rasped. “Jesus, stop a second.”

He didn’t, and it took everything in me to find the strength to pull him off. His nails pinched my nipple and twisted as he lifted his head leaving my neck wet from his assault.

I held him back, two hands firmly on his face, forcing him to look me in the eyes. When his second hand began teasing my other nipple, I found the authority he loved so much and injected it into my next words.

“Still your hands right fucking now.”

His pupils reacted exactly as I hoped, and his hands froze at the same time his lips parted in awe. He wanted it, that much was clear in his eyes. That reaction along with the rough scratch of his unshaven face under my palms elevated the tingling need sizzling throughout my body. Every piece of him called to me.

The anticipation in his dark gaze was mixed with something else. Pleading, maybe? The craving was there—the full submission I saw when I pulled out all the stops. He wanted it, was practically begging with his eyes for me to take hold of the situation and move it forward.

“I need to know you’re absolutely, positively sure what you want. Kaiden, there is no going back once we do this. It can never be undone. I need to know you understand that and have thought this through.”

“Emery.” He dropped his hands and wrapped his arms around the small of my back, tugging me forward. Our bodies aligned, and the solid state of his dick brushed against me. “I told you, I’ve thought it to death. I know what I’m asking. Take what you’ve been wanting.” He nudged me again with a rock of his hips.

I stared at the glistening surface of his eyes, the invisible pull urging me closer. Without hesitation, I admired the gentle curve of his parted lips, hovering so close to my own. When had it come to this? When had the walls come down? If I was dreaming, I never wanted to wake up.

I pulled his face closer, grazed our mouths together and watched the heat in his eyes flare. “Now listen to me. Are you listening?”

He nodded, his grip tightening with the infused authority in my voice.

“I need a minute. When I get back, I want you on my bed… naked. Do not touch yourself. Do you understand me?”

Another nod and a noticeable swallow that bobbed his Adam’s apple. “I fucking love when you use that voice.”

My heart thrashed as I tugged him into a heated kiss, owning his mouth, and drawing a groan from deep in his throat. Delving in, I sucked his tongue and tasted every square inch of him like I’d wanted to do for years. A hint of something sweet lingered, and I couldn’t get enough as I devoured him.

Unlike on the boat, Kaiden kissed me back. There was a willingness on both sides, hunger seeping through both our veins, and the simple taste we shared wasn’t near enough to gratify either of us. It was surreal, outlandish, yet unbelievably erotic.

With a growl, I released him and stepped back, adjusting the swell in my slacks. Kaiden’s chest heaved with each panting breath he sucked into his lungs, a sense of bewilderment surrounding him. My skin was on fire, and the urge to strip us both down and ravage him immediately was almost too strong to resist.

“Naked. Now. I’ll be back. Do. Not. Touch yourself.”

I flew from the room before he could respond and locked myself in the bathroom. Leaning heavily against the door, I fought to catch up with what was happening. I splashed cold water on my face before rooting through a few drawers in search of condoms.

Fucking condoms! Because I’m about to take my brother to bed! Jesus, what’s happening?

I hadn’t had a guy over in ages, but I knew I had a new box somewhere, just in case. Locating them in the bottom drawer under a pile of miscellaneous toiletries, I tore the box open and grabbed a couple. There was lube in my nightstand…

… And Kaiden in my bed.

Shit, this is really real.

I paced my return to the bedroom, pausing outside the closed door to draw up some much-needed courage. I had asked Kaiden if he was certain, yet I needed to spend ten seconds soul-seeking to be sure I was as well. Taking fantasy to reality wasn’t something I’d ever anticipated happening. Wished for—yes.

As prepared as I’d made myself, I was nearly knocked to my knees at the sight of Kaiden sprawled naked across my bed. The air left my lungs so fast my world spun and blurred at the edges. Clenching my fists, I raked my gaze over the display, saliva pooling in my mouth.

He did his best to present himself in a relaxed pose, resting on his back with hands cradled under his head. One knee was elevated and bowed out while the other leg was straight. He was on full display, his solid erection a sight unto itself. As I stared and drank in the view, his dick jerked, the tip wet with arousal, leaking for me.

For me!

Kaiden’s gaze burned into me, watching, waiting, a mixture of pulsing desire and an obvious sliver of uncertainty. “I’m fucking dying here. Don’t just stand there, Em, do something.” His voice quivered, giving his nerves away.

I shed my button up and undershirt before releasing the top button of my slacks as Kaiden’s fingers drifted down his abdomen and closer to his stunning erection.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I warned. “That’s mine, and I’ll be in charge of your pleasure.”

My pants fell to the ground next, and I kicked them off and to the side of my room. In only a tight pair of boxer briefs, my own hard dick strained and nestled inside, I climbed over top of him and held myself balanced with an arm on either side of his head. We were so the same, yet so very different in looks. I admired every part of him openly and without shame.

He skimmed one of my thighs with his knuckles, exhaling a shaky breath before speaking. “I want to touch you. Can I?”

With the urge to say yes on the tip of my tongue, my endless fantasies played out inside my head. So many things I wanted to do to him and share with him. I told him no instead.

Clasping his wrists with a wicked grin, I brought his hands above his head before attacking his mouth and capturing any complaints before they slipped out. He tasted of victory and sin, and I didn’t fucking care if doing this meant I went straight to hell. I wanted to claim and own every part of him until he writhed and begged for mercy. When he came, I wanted it to be my name on his lips as he cried out his pleasure.

When I broke from his mouth, he chased the kiss eagerly, whimpering his displeasure. Catching his chin, I pressed him back against the bed and shook my head. “You’ll get all you want and more. I promise you. Answer me this. And do it fucking honestly. How many sexual partners have you had?”

His gaze flicked up for a second as he thought. “Umm… f-fiv- no eight?”

“Five and eight are two very different numbers, Kai.”

“Five penetration. Two women, three men. The rest were strictly oral. All guys.”

“You bottomed?”

A nod. “One guy only. The others preferred I topped. I… I prefer the opposite.” His cheeks took on a hint of red, and he dropped his gaze to my chest, no longer able to look me in the eyes.

I grinned and took his bottom lip in my teeth, biting down hard enough he gasped before I soothed it with a tender lick. “Good answer, Kai. I love me a submissive bottom. Someone who listens and does everything I want.”

He groaned and closed his eyes a moment. “I… I like that.”

“Did you use protection?”

“Every time, I swear it.” That time, he met my gaze squarely and with a seriousness that boded no argument. I believed him.

“Good. After today, we are getting tested, both of us, because I’ll be damned if I’m wearing fucking condoms with you all the time. Once we get results,” I leaned down, resting my forehead against his as I rocked my hips, grinding our erections together, “Then you’re all mine. Do you understand me? Mine, Kaiden.”

“Yes.”

“That means no fuck buddies. No one night stands. No boyfriends. No girlfriends. No one else. You give yourself to me right now, completely, or this isn’t happening. Mine,” I growled. “I want to be your brother, your lover, and everything in between. I don’t care how wrong it is. No one touches your ass but me. No one gets to bring you pleasure but me. And I swear to you, I will give you all you deserve and more. You will want for nothing, you will always be satisfied.”

His frantic nod was followed by a lift of his hips as he sought more friction. The connection made us both shudder. “Okay. I understand.”

“Say it,” I demanded, licking his neck and biting his earlobe before breathing the next words over his ear. “You’re. Mine.”

“I’m yours. All of me. Fuck, Emery, please.” He thrust again, but I denied him contact, moving out of the way just in time.

I ghosted my lips around the shell of his ear once more and whispered, “I’m gonna make you come so hard, you’ll regret making me wait four years for this.”

Our mouths crashed together—hard—bruising and with blistering heat as we both fought to deepen it. Teeth clashed. Moans and gasps were swallowed. His tongue tangling with mine sent a pulse to my dick so fierce, I wasn’t sure how I didn’t come on the spot. I wasn’t even naked yet. Our skin had yet to fully connect.

That needed to change.

When Kaiden reached for my underwear and slid his thumbs under the band, I lifted my hips, encouraging him to remove them. They joined the rest of our clothes in a pool on the floor.

“Fuck, your dick is amazing,” Kaiden panted as he glanced between us, taking hold of my length and stroking a few even pulls. “Shouldn’t be surprised. You got the looks, the brains, and the whole package, apparently.” He highlighted the last statement with a mind-numbing squeeze of my balls.

I couldn’t get enough. My hands traveled everywhere, touching, feeling, and savoring his body. I memorized each curve and contour, soaking him in and reveling in every sensation as they consumed me. In return, I allowed him to map out my own body, relishing in his touch, and working hard not to lose my mind in the process. His excessive focus on my dick had me dripping, and Kaiden smoothed a thumb over my tip as he sucked my tongue.

When I couldn’t take anymore, I pulled back, knocking his hand off and slapping his thigh. “Roll over. Put your ass in the air and show me that beautiful hole.”

“Jesus,” he sputtered as he hurried to comply.

He balanced on hands and knees, but with firm pressure between his shoulder blades, I pressed his face down onto the mattress, collapsing his arms. “Like that.” I massaged the globes of his ass cheeks as I admired his presentation. “You have a beautiful ass, Kai. I can’t wait to bury myself inside it.”

“You’re fucking killing me, Em. Please.”

His hand snuck under his body, reaching for his dick, but I caught it and brought it along with the other above his head again as before. Then, I leaned across his back and rocked, gliding my stiff length between his crack, lubricated with the steady leaking spill of pre-cum.

“I told you that’s mine. Your dick. Your ass. Mine.” I kissed the back of his neck, breathing him in. Kaiden had always had his own unique scent, and I’d been admiring it secretly for more years than I would admit. “Keep these hands away from my goods, and I promise to make it amazing for you. Do you trust me?”

“More than anyone. Emery, you have no idea.”

“I think I do, Kai. I’ve seen it in your eyes. Let me take care of you like I’ve always wanted to do.”

He clenched his fists, but they remained unmoving above his head as I sat back. The sight of his ass on display was glorious. I kneaded his cheeks, watching every reaction my touch induced. He shivered with pleasure, goosebumps prickling down his thighs. He peeked over his shoulder.

When our eyes met, I gave his cheek a light slap. Hard enough to sting but not hard enough to mark him. He gasped, and his eyes fluttered shut, lips parting.

“Fuck,” he gritted, turning his face against the mattress. “Yes.”

Parting his cheeks, I admired the beautiful sight of my destination, salivating at the thought of taking my first taste.

I lowered myself on the bed and got comfortable with every intention of being there for a while, or at least until he couldn’t stand it anymore. Kissing both ass cheeks made him groan and stick his ass out further. When I exposed his crack, he sucked air between teeth in anticipation. I started my first lick at his taint, working my way up until I circled his tight hole. It nearly sent him off the bed, sputtering curses I would have smacked him upside the head for growing up. I chuckled at the response, desperately wanting to produce more.

“Oh shit, I’m never gonna last. This is un-fucking-believable. No one has ever done this before. Holy shit.”

“Good.” I squeezed one of his cheeks and circled his entrance with my thumb, admiring the way he flinched but did his best not to pull away. “And no one else ever will.”

I licked him again, stopping where I desired him most. He bit the pillow as I sucked at the pucker of his hole and teased him again with languid circles around the tight muscle. It took me to take a firm hold of his hips to keep him in place. He bucked, whimpered, and begged, cursing a blue streak as he tried desperately to stay still for me. God, he was incredible.

When I broke through, delving my tongue inside him, he cried for me to stop. “Oh, fuck, I’m gonna come. Oh shit. Em, I’m gonna come without you even touching my dick. I swear to God. Stop!”

Chuckling, I nipped one cheek then the other before issuing another light smack to the same spot as before. “No, you will not. Not until I say you can, and we aren’t even close to that point yet, so you’d better control yourself, Kaiden.”

“It’s too good. Fuck,” he whined. His breathing was ragged as he tore at the sheets on the bed, wrapping them around his fists as though that would somehow calm his urge.

Without warning, I dove back into action, following him when he jumped forward and landed flat on his belly. I wasn’t stopping, even as he tried to escape the intensity. Before long, he was pressing back against me, rocking and trying his damnedest to gain friction against his dick using the bed underneath him. I replaced my tongue with two saliva-coated fingers, working them inside and stretching him as I kissed up his spine to his nape. Two fingers became three, and I teased and prodded his prostate with each pass.

He found purchase on his knees again, moving and encouraging the intrusion, a steady stream of moans filling the air. “Touch me,” he panted. “Fuck. Please touch me.”

“And risk you blowing your load before I’m ready? Not a chance,” I breathed against his heated skin.

He groaned at my refusal.

When he was on the edge of losing control, lost in a swirling cacophony of bliss, I removed my fingers and tore open the condom packet before suiting up. Coating myself in a generous amount of lube, I knelt behind him, positioning myself at his opening. Then, I stilled.

Leaning across his back, I whispered against his ear. “One more time, Kai. Last chance to back out. Are you sure?”

“Do it! I’m sure.”

“We can’t take this back. Once it’s done, it’s done.”

“Emerson.” He bit out my name with an edge of desperation as he turned his head and looked up at me with blown pupils and a lust drunk expression I would never forget. “Please, fuck, I’m dying here. Fuck me. I need you inside me.”

With a hand holding his shoulders to the bed, I entered him wholly and completely. One steady, delicious glide, knowing he felt the burn, but also knowing he was good and stretched and so far gone he wouldn’t feel any pain.

He gasped, and we both stilled when I bottomed out, balls hanging heavy against his ass. Kaiden’s heat surrounding me was almost more than I could take. My dick throbbed, jerked, and threatened to spill. There was no way I wanted it to be over yet, so I swallowed hard, held him down, and dared him to move a single muscle.

“Move,” he begged.

“Wait,” I growled, grappling for control as it tried to slip between my fingers.

I held a firm grip on his hips and slowly pulled back, watching myself emerge from his ass before slamming back inside, my length disappearing again.

“God, you should see how hot you look taking my dick.”

I withdrew again until I almost left his ass, then plunged back in as he groaned. He clenched the muscles surrounding me, and I grunted, digging my fingers into his sides.

“Behave, you little shit. You have any idea how close I am?”

He buried his face and chuckled but refrained from moving or squeezing me again.

Once I’d regained enough control, all bets were off. I slammed into his ass again and again, enough to jolt him forward and make the bed hit the wall with each determined thrust.

“Fuck, yes,” he moaned. “Oh, God.”

Faster and harder, I closed my eyes and moved along the thicket of the dream I’d been having for too long. Every forbidden thought left my mind and was replaced with nothing but balance and a sense of rightness I couldn’t describe. This was Kaiden beneath me. No matter how many times I said it, reality fought to sink in.

“Harder,” he gasped. “Fuck, Em, harder.”

I dropped over his body and pistoned my hips, pegging him in all the right places. A steady stream of curses and groans spilled from his open mouth, our desperate and violent movements jarring them and stilting each sound.

“You’re such a cock slut, Kaiden. Jesus, look at you. You love my dick up your ass, don’t you?”

His response was to meet my thrusts with his own, slamming back when I went forward, nailing himself on my length all while begging for more.

Sweat coated both our skin, and I kissed over his damp shoulders as I plunged deeper, encouraging the rising tingle to build and grow. My entire body was alive, simmering so close to the edge of orgasm, I thought I might blow.

Kaiden’s hand moved underneath himself again, but I caught his wrist and held him tight.

“Fuck, let me come,” he whined. “I’m right there. Please, goddammit.”

Another hard slam, then another. I dug my forehead into his shoulder blade, hammering him with everything I had, driving myself closer and closer as Kaiden squirmed and begged.

When I sensed myself slipping, I wrapped a hand around his aching length and matched my pace to my frantic hips. He wasn’t kidding, within less than two tugs, Kaiden cried out. Thick, hot jets of cum shot over my hand and spilled over the bed sheets. Pulse after unending pulse. His entire body tensed, gripping my dick so hard my movements staggered becoming uncoordinated. In two more short thrust, before he’d even stopped coming, I toppled the edge as well.

I held myself inside him, squeezing my eyes closed, biting into the soft flesh near his neck as the waves of pleasure drowned me. A steady stream of cum filled the condom, leaving me gasping and unsure if the pleasured ride would ever release me. It went on forever. Coasting, soaring, rippling waves shivering over my body and through my veins. I’d never come so hard in my life.

When space and time realigned, and the world made sense again, I collapsed on top of Kaiden, lightheaded yet so fucking spent I couldn’t move a muscle. When he squirmed, I rolled to the side, panting as I caught my breath. I brushed the damp hair from my eyes as I watched him roll over. He looked just as wrecked as I felt, hair in disarray, cheeks flushed, eyes half-shut with pupils blown.

A bout of niggling fear returned. Would he regret it all when the euphoria passed? Seeing the sated, happy look in his eyes dispelled my fears for the moment. Sex-blissed was a good look on him.

“You okay?” I asked, struggling to find words.

“I’m…” he licked his lips, still catching his breath. “I’m trying to decide how wrong it is… that my brother… is the best fuck I’ve had in my life.”

I chuckled and grabbed his hand, offering a squeeze to punctuate how strongly I agreed with his assessment. Because the nervous tension was slowly mounting, and I didn’t want him freaking out, I shuffled off the bed and searched up my discarded underwear.

“I’m gonna go clean up and make us some food. You hungry?”

He nodded, his gaze slipping over my naked body. It should have maybe felt a little weird being openly examined, but it didn’t. I slipped from the room and took a few minutes in the bathroom to put myself moderately back together. Whatever happened from that point on was a mystery. We’d leapt into the unknown with both feet, and I had no clue where to go from here.