Lighthearted, Jude allowed himself to be led into the bathroom, where he had to slap Mason’s hands away as he soaped himself.
“I’ve been washing myself since I was a boy. If you keep this up, the dog will have an accident, which I’ll makeyouclean up, plus we’ll both be late for work.” He turned off the water. “And I’d have to dock you for missed hours.”
“Bastard.” Laughing, Mason swooped in for a kiss, his lips soft and wet. They clung to each other for a moment, stood there with the water dripping off their hair. “This is really nice.” Mason ducked his head and grabbed a towel, but not before Jude spotted the pink rising in his cheeks. His heart did a swoony dip.
They dressed, and Jude’s nerves rose with each step toward Edith’s apartment. At six thirty in the morning, he wasn’t prepared for a barrage of questions he didn’t have answers for.
He let himself in with his key. Foxy was already waiting by the door, and Edith was walking out from the bedroom. At the sight of him with Mason at his shoulder, her morning smile brightened to supernova and her brows flew up.
“Well, well. I don’t need to ask if you had a good night.” She cackled, and Jude sighed. “Or morning either, I’ll bet.”
Mason, the idiot, left his side and went to give Edith a kiss on her cheek. “Good morning, Edith. No need to waste your money when it’s a sure thing. I know I might need to grab a power nap this afternoon.”
“Can we go, please?” Jude growled and rose from kneeling to clip the dog’s leash. “I don’t have all morning to listen to you two.”
“Is he always so grumpy?” Mason smirked. “I need to think of something to turn that frown upside down.”
“Oh, I’m not worried. I bet you know all the tricks and some I’ve never heard of.”
Burning, Jude smothered a curse and strode out of the apartment to Edith’s ringing laughter. As Mason scrambled after him, she called out, “If anyone would know what and how to do that, it’s you, I’m thinking.”
Jude waited at the elevator, seething, and when Mason attempted to kiss his neck, he brushed him away.
“What’s wrong?” Mason quirked a brow, and Jude waited until they entered the elevator before answering.
“I don’t need everyone to know my business. What I do in my personal time is my own and not for other people’s jokes and—”
Mason’s mouth hit his, cutting off his words, and Jude—damn his traitorous body—couldn’t help but kiss him back, not letting Mason go until they reached the lobby.
No trace of smugness remained on Mason’s face as he walked with Jude and Foxy, who needed to sniff every inch of sidewalk on Prince Street.
“Look, Jude, I know we’re not going to walk around hand in hand, smooching on street corners, and I agree that we should definitely keep it to ourselves in the office. But it’s not fair to treat me like I’m just there for you to fuck at night and then forget about in the morning.”
“I didn’t forget about you. Trust me.” On the contrary, the night had been the most extraordinary Jude had ever spent.
“So what is it? Are you embarrassed that Edith knows we had sex? From what I’ve heard, she’s lived a life that might make me blush.” His eyes narrowed. “Or is it me? Are you ashamed it’s with me?”
Mason leaned against a streetlamp while Foxy did her thing, and Jude used the time he cleaned up after her to gather his confused thoughts into some form of coherency.
“I’m not embarrassed. It’s just…I’m not one to put my personal life out for public display. I value my privacy and everything that comes with it.” He swallowed hard. “This probably won’t surprise you, but I’ve never had a relationship before. I don’t know the protocols or what’s the right or wrong thing to do. But it’s not you at all. I can’t say I’m not shocked about us.…Years ago, you and I could barely be in the same room together without wanting to kill each other.”
Mason had remained silent until then. “Yeah. But beneath that lay a whole lot of tangled emotions, and somewhere along the way, it went from wanting to rip your head off to wanting to rip your clothes off.”
Jude nearly swallowed his tongue at the blatant desire on Mason’s face. He struggled not to grab hold of his shirt, drag him close, and kiss him.
Once back inside the apartment building, he waited for the elevator door to close before saying, “I don’t understand it either. All I’m asking is to keep what happens between us. Just that. Even with Edith, as much as I love her, I don’t need to explain my life or my choices.”
“But that’s not always how life works. If you’re happy, you want to share it, especially with the people you care about.” Mason chewed his lip. “Are you saying, then, if this is still going on when Doug and Ilana come home, you don’t want to tell them?”
The thought of discussing his personal life with his sister and best friend—with Mason’sbrother—gave him stomach cramps.
“Why do we have to decide today? Maybe you’ll have second thoughts about being with me.” He recalled Mason’s new apartment and sighed, leaning his head against the wall of the elevator car. “You made a date with your real-estate broker. Maybe you’ll want him more.”
“Impossible.” Mason caged him between his arms, his face so open, so full of naked desire, that Jude didn’t know whether to go up in flames or melt in a puddle. “I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you. Right now.”
Mason dipped his head, and Jude’s eyes slid shut, anticipation of another mind-altering kiss spiking his heartbeat to pounding, but Mason whispered in his ear, “Hold that until later.”
The elevator stopped, and the door opened. Mason strode out, tossing him a wink over his shoulder.
