When I hesitated to do as instructed, Jeremiah sat up, reached forward, and plucked the button loose on my shorts. The zipper quickly followed, and before I could think, my neon green and blue boxers were revealed, except instead of an intimidatingHulk staring at Jeremiah, the head of my penis was sticking out of the pee-pee slit right above the Hulk’s head, making him look like a tiny fireman wearing a very fleshy helmet.
Jeremiah blinked.
Then covered his mouth.
Then fell backward howling at the ceiling.
“My little fireman,” he said between snorts.
Why, spirits of the deep, did you make this happen our first time getting naked? Why?
I reached for my shorts to pull them back up, completely unsettled and no longer feeling frisky. For the second time in as many minutes, Jeremiah’s hands shot out faster than I could think, holding my pants down with the firmness of Excalibur in its stone.
“Oh, no, you don’t. You’re getting naked right now, young man. I need to see the rest of that fireman. Just . . .” His grin turned positively evil. “Tell him not to hose me down yet. I’m all for a good dousing, but I’d prefer to actually start a fire before he squirts it out.”
My eyes squeezed shut, and I imagined the eighty-two shades of red my face and cheeks and ears and . . . fuck . . . every part of me must’ve been glowing in that moment.
Jeremiah’s hands tugging my pants to my ankles had me gaping down. He was a man on a mission.
“Step, please,” he said, giving me no choice but to walk out of my shorts.
“Now, we can make out with Hulk watching, or I can finish my job while I’m already in the field. Your call.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Fuck it. Get me naked,” I said, surrendering to everything I’d wanted since the day Jeremiah showed up on my front porch. “But only if I get to strip you next.”
His grin widened. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
And down went Hulk—his helmet slapped against my stomach as my boxers slid down.
“I’m gonna lick that helmet for days,” Jeremiah growled, and my cock twitched again, clearly happy with that idea.
Once I was fully naked, I moved to push Jeremiah onto his back so I could remove his pants, but he stopped me, holding my wrists in his calloused grip.
“Change your mind?” I asked, knowing it wasn’t the case.
He shook his head without looking up. His eyes were roaming my chest and stomach and . . . Hulk.
“Oh, no. I just want to take it all in.”“I’m nothing special—”
Jeremiah’s head snapped up, and his brows knitted. “I need you to make me a promise. Right now. Or we’re not going any further tonight.”
“Uh, okay,” I stammered.
“You are the most special man I’ve met in a really long time, Theo Jamison. You are my friend, and I hope you’re growing into more. God, I hope that. I would protect and defend you, no matter what. That means protecting you from anyone who would talk shit about you—including you. Promise you won’t say things like that again. You deserve so much better.”
The heat in his eyes was only matched by the fire in his voice. He wasn’t just saying things to be nice or placating me so we could have sex. No, Jeremiah believed I was special. He was upset, maybe a little angry, that I continued to demean myself. Seriously? No one had ever defended me like that. Nerds like me were the butt of jokes, not the object of another’s defense.
I barely knew how to act or what to say, so I just nodded and looked away.
Jeremiah’s hand lifted to grip my chin and pull my gaze back to his.
“I’m serious, Theo. You are so damn special it hurts. I could list a hundred ways, but I know I’d miss some. If you can’t believe yourself, believe me, okay?”
Who was this man?
What were we doing?
