Jalen smiled at him. “Thank you.” She had mixed emotions about being in a separate room from him.
On one hand, she was glad because she wouldn’t be able to lose herself to her wants again. On the other, she couldn’t help but want to be in the same bed as him. If for no other reason than to have him hold her while she slept.
“I don’t know how you feel about lavender, but Alynn’s bath wash is there. Or I could bring you mine.”
“You just want me to smell like you when I go back to work, to keep men away.”
“I’m neither going to confirm nor deny that.”
Jalen laughed. “Thank you. Lavender is fine.”
He nodded at her. “The bedroom is just over here,” he told her, opening the door to the left of the bathroom. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Jalen rose on her tiptoes, and Rohan leaned down, allowing her to kiss him. “Thank you again.”
“Stop thanking me. It’s nothing.”
With that, she stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Starting the shower, she undressed, saw the t-shirt and boxers he’d laid out for her, and smiled. She hadn’t been in too many relationships, but Rohan was, without a doubt, the most thoughtful person she’d ever been with. Jalen was fond of small things over grand gestures, and she got them often from him.
Stepping into the shower, she allowed the hot water to wash over her. It had been a long first twelve hours, and she knew thenext six would probably be just as long. They had two people out, so four of them were splitting their shifts on top of working their own. They needed more nurses, but Jalen knew they wouldn’t get any until the beginning of the year.
Once she was finished with her shower, she turned off the water, stepped out, grabbed the towel, and dried herself off before slipping into his t-shirt and boxers. They smelled like him, his laundry detergent, and she brought the collar of the shirt up to her nose to smell it.
She grabbed her scrubs along with the towels and went into the bedroom. Jalen set her clothes down on the dresser before looking around for a hamper. When she didn’t find one, she went back out into the hall. She saw light coming from down the hall and figured it was Rohan’s room.
She walked down the hall, stopping short when she got to the doorway. She swallowed thickly. He’d taken off his sweatpants and was only in a pair of boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination. It wasn’t even that they were that tight; she knew from her short experience that he was blessed.
“What’s up?” he asked, and her eyes snapped up from his dick.
“Oh...um. I just wanted to know where to put the towels.”
“I’ll take them,” he said, approaching her.
Jalen could only nod as her eyes roamed over him again. She knew mildly that he’d taken the towels out of her hand as her other came up and touched his chest. His finger tipping her chin up had her pulling her hand away as if she’d been burned.
“You must be tired.”
Jalen bit her bottom lip. “Yeah, I guess I am. I should probably go lie down. It’ll take me a minute to fall asleep.”
Rohan nodded slowly. “Or, you can stay and let me put you to sleep.”
She swallowed thickly. “I...don’t think we should have sex,” she replied honestly.
“I didn’t say we should.”
“You said you’d keep your hands to yourself.”
“I did,” he started, gripping her chin. “I never said anything about my tongue.”
Jalen felt her stomach clench. It was like someone had ignited a flame with the heat that struck between her legs. He released her as he turned to head towards the bed.
“You can leave and go to sleep, and nothing between us will change. Or you can close the door and let me put you to sleep, and nothing between us will change.”
She was doing it before she realized it. The click of the door resounded loudly in the room, and she wondered why he’d asked her to close it since they were the only ones in the house. She figured it was to give her two options. One that wasn’t simply lying on the bed.
She moved over to the opposite side of the bed from where he was and sat down, watching him look her over. She felt like prey, and she supposed at that moment she was. At least, prey that had offered themselves up.
Once he was on the bed, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to the middle, laying her down with her legs on either side of him. He grabbed the band of the boxers and pulled them down her legs, placing them to the side. His eyes held hers the entire time.
