Rachel was just finishing up with her Algebra homework when her phone rang. Elise had left less than forty-five minutes ago on a date with some guy she’d met in one of her classes, and she had made Rachel promise to call her in an hour to see if she needed bailing out. That was also why Elise had picked a Wednesday night rather than a weekend. It was always easier to use the I-have-an-early-class excuse to end a night prematurely.

Rachel picked up on the second ring without bothering to check who was on the other end, figuring it was her friend. “Sick of him already?”

There was a pause and then, “Rachel?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s Luke.”

Rachel frowned. That’s odd. Why would he be calling me?

“Are you busy?”

“Uh…not really.”

“Can you come over here?”

“Uh…” Rachel was confused.

Sean had told her that he was working out and then meeting with a study group tonight. Plus, he wouldn’t have his roommate call her. If he wanted her to come over, he’d call her himself. She had a momentary thought that Luke was hitting on her, but he wouldn’t do that to Sean. Besides, Luke had never shown the slightest bit of interest in Rachel. If anything, Luke was trying to hide an attraction to Elise.

Luke sighed. “Look, about a half hour ago, Sean’s mom called. After that, he went into his room, and he hasn’t come out since. Not even when we offered him free pizza. And he won’t talk to any of us. I think you should come over here.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

Rachel hung up with Luke and immediately called Elise as she grabbed her jacket and put on her shoes. Thankfully, Elise’s date was going well, and she didn’t need Rachel to bail her out.

“Keep me updated,” she told Rachel before hanging up.

When Rachel got to Sean’s, his roommates didn’t say anything. Luke just shook his head, as if to say Sean hadn’t come out of his room yet.

Rachel knocked on Sean’s bedroom door. When Sean didn’t answer, she slowly pushed it open. Sean was sitting on his bed, facing the wall. He didn’t turn around.

Rachel shrugged off her coat and cautiously approached her boyfriend. He was wearing a T-shirt and nylon shorts, and his hair was stuck to his head. He looked like he’d come back from the gym but not showered yet. He played with his silver ring and stared off into space.

“Sean?” She moved closer and crouched in front of him. “Sean?”

He sluggishly turned his head, as if in a daze, and looked at her.

“Hey,” she said, giving him a small smile. “Are you okay?”

He lifted his hand and brushed a finger down her cheek. He looked so sad.

Rachel grabbed his hand and clutched it in hers. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“My mom called.”

“I heard.”

“My uncle…” Sean swallowed. “My uncle died.”

“Oh, Sean.” She lifted his hand and brought it to her mouth, kissing the back of it.

Sean looked away from her to the floor. “I haven’t seen him for a few years. I should’ve…” He trailed off as tears filled his eyes. “I should’ve visited him. I kept telling myself I had time.”

Regret was a bitch to deal with, and her heart went out to him.

Rachel moved to sit beside him. She pulled Sean into her arms and hugged him close and tight. She guided Sean back onto the bed and held him. “It’s okay to cry. I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”

Sean snorted a laugh, but then he buried his face in her neck and let the tears go. Rachel rubbed his back and muttered soothing words.

Rachel opened her eyes to Sean’s ceiling. He was lying beside her on his stomach with his nose still buried in her neck and an arm around her waist. He shifted beside her and rolled over. She hadn’t wanted to wake him, but she must have moved or made a noise.

Sean opened his eyes and smiled at her.

She rolled toward him. “Sorry I woke you.”

“It’s okay,” he said, his voice hoarse from sleep.

She reached out and caressed his chest. “Are you okay?” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Stupid question. Of course you’re not okay.”

He put his hand on hers. “I’m a little better now. Especially since you’re here.”

His comment sent warm tingles down her body.

“I’m glad I could help.”

Sean looked down at himself. “I need to shower. I’m surprised you were able to put up with my man stink.”

Rachel moved closer, pushed her nose into his neck, and inhaled. “I happen to like your man stink.” She wasn’t lying. There was something about the way a man smelled that made her feel things all the way from contentment to desire. Particularly Sean’s smell.

He tucked his chin to his chest and took her lips in a slow kiss. It heated her up on the inside, but it was different from his usual kisses. This one said, I’m glad you’re here, more than, I want your body.

When he pulled away, he asked, “Keep me company in the shower?”

Rachel nodded.

It had been over a week since Sean’s birthday and still no sex. But she had a feeling that he was asking her more for comfort than for sexual reasons.

Sean led her into the bathroom, and they stripped off their clothes and got under the hot spray. Rachel watched the water slide down Sean’s thin, muscular body. She lathered soap in her hands and slid them down the rigid planes of his chest and stomach, the only hair a thin line that led from his belly button to his groin. He closed his eyes and pushed his head under the stream.

She flicked her thumbs over his nipples and fingered the ring on his left side. “When did you get this?”

Sean straightened and looked down at her hand. “When I was eighteen. It was an impulsive move. Sometimes, I think about taking it out, but then I forget about it. It’s such a part of me now.”

Rachel shook her head. “I don’t think you should get rid of it. I like it.”

He smiled. “Then, I’ll keep it.”

She moved her fingers lower until she reached his left hip and the tattoo there. “Another impulsive move?”

He chuckled. “Yes. I got them at the same time.”

“Why a devil?”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

“I don’t think it’s you.”

“I was a senior in high school and the little brother of Dean and Brian King. I wanted everyone to think I was a badass.”

She raised her brow with a grin. “Did it work?”

He laughed. “Hell no. I got a lot of crap in the locker room about it.”

Sean had told Rachel that he wrestled from elementary school up through high school. He’d decided not to wrestle in college due to dislocating his shoulder. After the injury, it’d continued to pop out when he wrestled. He could have opted for surgery, but he’d told her that he was never that good anyway, so he’d chosen to quit after his senior year.

“Turn around,” she told him now that she had reached his waist.

“Babe, you missed the most important part,” he teased as he did as she’d requested.

She hadn’t missed it. She was planning to come back to it.

She shampooed his hair and then soaped up his back and sexy-as-hell ass. It was small, like the rest of him, but it wasn’t flat. He filled out the back of his jeans very nicely.

Rachel felt the familiar pull between her legs as she took care of her boyfriend, and when she spoke again, her voice came out as a croak, “Tur—” She cleared her throat. “Turn back.”

When he faced her again, she looked up into his eyes, expecting to see a knowing smirk since he’d probably guessed what she was going to wash next. But there was no cocky smile, and it was another thing she liked about this guy.

She put more body wash in her hands and knelt down in front of him. She started washing his legs from the ankles up. She heard Sean groan, but he didn’t say anything, and she steadily worked her way up. When she reached his semi-hard penis, she wrapped both hands around it and stroked until it became a full-fledged hard-on.

“I bet there was no teasing about this in the locker room,” Rachel said.

Sean touched the top of her head in a light caress and smiled. He didn’t reply, but she knew that he had to know he wasn’t small. He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world—at least, according to porn she’d seen—but he was not small or even average. His dick didn’t match the rest of his body. The first time she’d pulled down his pants, she’d been surprised. She shouldn’t have been because she’d already touched him, but seeing him in the buff was a sight.

His cock was long and thick and perfectly proportioned, in her opinion. From the base to the tip, it gradually broadened, and she ached to feel this wide head inside her. Her ex wasn’t nearly as big, and there was a slight fear that Sean’s would hurt. But, boy, oh boy, would it be worth it.

She gave Sean a small push, and he stepped back under the spray and washed the soap off his body. Once his body was rinsed, she pulled on his legs, and he moved back in front of her.

“Let me take care of you,” she whispered.

She got up on her knees and licked the slit of his head. She tasted the water from the shower and Sean’s pre-cum. She groaned as she took more of him in her mouth. She hadn’t really liked giving head before Sean, but there was something about a guy who could take it or leave it that made it more appealing. Her ex had thought getting a blow job was his right as a man. She’d practically had to beg Sean to let her take him in her mouth because he’d rather be giving her pleasure than getting it.

She suspected he didn’t argue with her today because he was still raw from the news of his uncle’s passing. That made her more determined to make him feel good.

She took him into her mouth as far as possible and used her fist to make up for what she couldn’t fit. She took her time in licking, sucking, and even kissing his dick, just like he did when he went down on her. She had one hand on his stomach, and she felt his breathing pick up as his cock started to swell. He was getting close, and his next words confirmed it.

“Rach, I’m going to come.”

She pulled her mouth away to say, “Please, let me finish. Let me do this for you.”

He hesitated, rubbing his hand down her cheek, and then he nodded.

Sean had never let himself finish in her mouth.

She licked the large vein from base to tip and took him in her mouth again. She pumped him in her fist and sucked. Within seconds, he exploded in her mouth, and she swallowed him down.