It was a quiet ride back to Jayden's home, both inside and outside the car. While traffic never really went away in Manhattan, it did at least tend to keep moving, even when it went slowly.

All the while, he chewed over how he'd just let Jayden sit there at his father's grave and take almost all the responsibility for their little fallout. It wasn't right, and it wasn't fair.

Lucas hadn't liked the fallout from one set of photos. Jayden had lived as a rich kid all his life. And the fact was that if Lucas and Jayden were gonna be a thing, Jayden was hardly gonna give up his multi-million dollar home to come live up in Inwood. No, it'd be Lucas moving down to the Upper West Side. Into a home he hadn't earned and could never afford, while his boyfriend paid for everything without even batting an eyelid.

Maybe that's what had stung the most with Jayden throwing his financial weight around yesterday. Every single one was like a slap in the face, a needle to Lucas' pride. For all that Lucas had worked his ass off to get where he was now, be who he was today, Jayden hadn't ever had to do that and he was way ahead.

But then, Jayden's father had done all the work, hadn't he?

Lucas knew damn well if he came into a fortune he'd leave it all to Lottie and Tamsin. So where was the difference?

Why did he let him unsettle it so much?

They headed up to the penthouse, and his brain was still turning it over as Jayden wandered through to the kitchen to begin making dinner. Lucas wandered after him, while Marcus was polite enough to linger in the hallway.

"I think I owe you another apology," Lucas said slowly.

"Huh?" Jayden fetched an onion and some eggs from the fridge, and set them on the counter. "What for?"

Lucas sucked his teeth as he tried to figure it out and get it into actual words. "Being a dick," he finally concluded.

"I like your dick," Jayden chuckled.

He snorted at that and leaned against the counter while Jayden began to slice the onion. "I mean... Being all macho about your money, I guess. I've always been self-sufficient, and..." He shrugged.

"And having me come in and throw money at Lottie didn't help," Jayden concluded.

"Right." He nodded at that. "And I guess I kinda took it way more personally than you ever intended it to be."

"I'm sorry." Jayden smiled, but never took his eyes off what he was doing with the knife. "Like we agreed earlier, we were both idiots. But there's gotta be some way to handle this going forward. I mean, I'm gonna spoil you rotten, you know? I'm gonna take you nice places, buy you nice things, we're gonna go on amazing dates and if I play my cards right you're gonna move in with me and we get to have lots and lots of stupidly hot sex, so..." He grinned, pausing his hands so that he could glance up at Lucas. "We've got to work that out. Pretty fast. Because I wanna take you out again this weekend."

Lucas sucked on his teeth. He hadn't even thought that far ahead. He'd only focused on the living arrangements, but Jayden was right. This was what people did, wasn't it? Went on dates. Out in public.

Most of them just got totally ignored by the press when they did it.

He raised a hand to rub his jaw while he mulled it over. He wanted to spend his time with Jayden, there wasn't any doubt about that. He needed it so badly that just one night away wasn't on his to-do list again in the near future. And what was he gonna do on his salary, take Jayden to Starbucks for a coffee and muffin? No. Jayden was bringing the money, so Lucas had to bring something else, and stop letting his damned pride stand in the way of happiness.

'Cause that was what was really happening here. Somewhere between his SEAL training and now he'd gotten prideful, when the whole point of the SEALs was that they were a team.

Him and Jayden were a team.

It settled around him like a breakthrough, as though it should have been blindingly obvious right from the start but the clouds of his own stupidity had obscured it.

"You're right," he finally answered. "You're totally right. I'm being stubborn about all the wrong things, and not stubborn enough about the right thing."

Jayden's eyebrows climbed above the rims of his glasses. "And what is the right thing?"

Lucas stepped closer. He placed his hands on Jayden's hips and turned Jayden to face him.

Jayden set the knife down and gazed up at him.

"You," Lucas breathed. "You're the right thing. You were the right thing back when we first met, and you've been the right thing ever since. I might've been too dumb to spot it then, but I can see it clear as day now, and I'm not gonna let anything stand in the way of us. I'm especially not gonna let my own pride get between us. Starting now, it's no longer a problem, I promise you."

Jayden trailed his hands up Lucas' shirt to rest them against his chest. His breath had quickened, and his cheeks were flushed. "I was gonna make dinner," he breathed, "but then you got all sexy, so now I really think we should just skip food and go fuck instead."

Lucas took in a breath to answer him, and the scent of onions from Jayden's hands hit him. His eyes began to water like he'd been hit with pepper spray, and he coughed. "Oh my God!"

Jayden blinked tears away, and coughed himself. "Oh, shit! Fucking onions!"

They peeled away from each other and raced to the sink, fighting to get to the cold water first. Jayden pulled his glasses off and set them on the counter, and Lucas fought not to wipe his eyes before he could wash his hands.

They both laughed as they jostled shoulder to shoulder with the soap and water.

"This is so fucking hot," Jayden guffawed.

"Seriously," Lucas laughed. "I totally can't wait for you to wash your hands for me, baby. Mmm, yeah, like that."

Jayden laughed so hard he coughed again. "Oh you like it when I get all soapy, huh?"

"You know I do, you sexy little fucking minx!"

He trusted that his hands were clean enough now, and cupped them together so he could wash the sting from his eyes. The cold water was like ice to a burn, and he sighed with relief. Jayden did the same, until the faucet was off and they both stood by the sink, water dripping down their faces and onto their shirts.

"I think you might have onion on your shirt," Jayden observed.

"I think you might be right," Lucas said. "I should get rid of it before it sets us off again."

"Mmhmm."

He stepped back and loosened his tie, then unbuttoned just the top and bottom of his shirt, along with his cuffs, so that he could peel the shirt off over his head in one smooth movement.

Jayden gasped before Lucas could see him, and placed his hands against Lucas' pectorals. Fingers brushed over nipples.

Lucas ditched the shirt on the kitchen floor and grabbed Jayden, then threw Jayden over his shoulder and stalked toward the doorway.

Jayden squealed and clutched at Lucas' ass while his feet kicked in the air. "You're a monster!" he laughed. "Put me down right away or I'll... Well, I guess I'll just be here until you do!"

"Nothing to see here," Lucas said to Marcus as he emerged from the kitchen and continued on toward the bedroom.

Marcus, very wisely, said nothing,

He threw Jayden down on the sheets and kicked his shoes off, then pulled Jayden's off him and tossed them over the edge of the bed.

Jayden grinned as he wriggled toward the center of the sheets. "I'm gonna need you inside me pretty fucking quick, Mr. Neal. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Let me consult my schedule, Mr. Deus." Lucas shrugged his pants off and sent his briefs to the floor with them so he could step out of both. "Yeah, I think I've got some time free to fuck you senseless. You want me to pencil you in?"

"I want your pencil in me, does that count?" Jayden tore at his own shirt and scrambled out of it like his life depended on it.

Lucas got rid of his socks, then crawled onto the bed to get rid of Jayden's pants, too. "Let's just never call it a pencil again, okay?"

Jayden grinned up at him. "What're you gonna do to stop me?"

"I've got some ideas."

He straddled Jayden's chest and grabbed hold of Jayden's head to lift it from the pillows, then he moved forward and let the tip of his cock fall against Jayden's lips.

Jayden's cheeks burned red again, and he opened his mouth to take Lucas in, eyes looking directly up to him, hands moving to stroke over Lucas' thighs.

"Yeah, that shut you up, didn't it?" Lucas slid into Jayden's mouth and gripped his hair as his cock thickened to life.

Jayden's tongue was magic. The guy gave the most amazing blowjobs, and the soft sucking and tender licks soon had Lucas hard as an anvil. All the while, Jayden's worshipful eyes never looked away from Lucas.

Fuck.

He was everything Lucas could ever have wanted. Smart, funny, caring, sensitive, and a kinky little asshole. He loved being handled exactly the way Lucas loved to handle him, and he wasn't shy about saying so either.

"You know," Lucas growled as he fucked Jayden's throat, "I think I'll keep you."

Jayden's response was so muffled that Lucas couldn't even begin to work out what it might have been, so instead he pushed his cock so far down Jayden's throat that he could feel Jayden swallow around his head.

Shit, he was so fucking perfect it hurt,

"I love you," Lucas whimpered.

It came out of him and he wasn't prepared for it to, hadn't meant it to. There was a time for those words, and it wasn't when you were busy choking your boyfriend on your cock.

He pulled free and grabbed himself in one hand so that he could stroke Jayden's lips with the head of his dick, tracing wetness around them before he sat back on Jayden's chest.

Jayden licked his lips and swallowed. "I love you, too," he groaned. "Now for fuck's sake tie me up and fuck my name out of you."

Lucas caught his breath, then wriggled down so he could lean in and kiss Jayden roughly. Their tongues clashed, a small battle in a much larger war, but once Lucas won it, he sat up again.

"I'm gonna fuck it out of you so hard you're gonna wear it out," he growled.

There was nothing better than hearing Jayden cry out Lucas' name when he came, so Lucas slipped free of the bed and began to search the room for things to tie him up with.

And then they really needed to go buy some proper damn restraints.