The sound of the front door closing pulls me out of my thoughts, then a winded Beckett appears holding a laundry basket.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he says. “I walked to the laundromat yesterday, but it’s closed. Pipe burst, whole place flooded. So Ifigured…” He lifts a plastic bag full of quarters. “I come bearing offerings.”
“Shit, your washer.” Guilt niggles in my chest. “No matter what, you can always use my washer and dryer. I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear. But that does remind me I need to call the hardware store in the morning to see if they were able to get it ordered and the estimated delivery.
“To be fair,” he calls as he heads to the laundry room. “I was mad at you, so your washer and I weren’t on speaking terms.”
While he’s doing that, I set the table and finish cooking dinner. I’m just taking the garlic bread out when he comes back into the room.
“Umm, that jar sauce smells amazing.”
I level my best warning eyebrow at him, then step behind his chair, hands on his shoulders, guiding him down. Once he’s seated, I lean in, my mouth brushing his ear.
“Careful, little mouse,” I murmur. “Every warning you rack up is one more time I edge you. And you won’t know when. Could be tonight. Tomorrow. Next month. You’ll never see it coming.”
“Fuck me,” I hear him whimper.
“And if you ever speak of this jarred sauce to anyone… when the time finally comes, I’ll make it go on and on for days.”
He turns his head, and our noses nearly bump. He zips his lips with his fingers. I wink, giving him a chaste kiss before sitting down at the table.
My chest does that traitorous flutter I’m starting to recognize.
Odd feeling number 2346: me sitting at my kitchen table with someone after enjoying mutual blow jobs. And I don’tactuallyhate it.
Huh, interesting.
“You know, even for being boxed pasta, you cooked the noodles perfectly.”
Fork halfway to my mouth, I pause. “One,” I say.
His eyes flash, bright and hungry.
Yeah, I’m in trouble.
Except for a fewtext messages back and forth about getting his car in next week to have it looked at, it’s been a week since I’ve laid eyes on Beckett.
If it weren’t for another round of mutual blow jobs before he left last week, I’d worry I pushed him too far.
I didn’t edge him like I’d threatened. I’ve been saving that for a day I can take my time, take him apart slowly, learn every reaction he has, and claim each one. I just didn’t expect it to be this long before I got another shot.
Work’s been insane. Tommy came in so we could finally finish his sleeve; a couple of those nights I didn’t walk out of the shop until after midnight. The days I wasn’t closing, I was opening—ten a.m. appointments, eleven a.m. walk-ins, repeat. By the time I got home, I didn’t trust myself not to fall asleep mid-text, let alone invite him over.
I overheard Finn talking about a private event happening at Dragonfly this week. It seems Ms. Hannagin threw Mr. Hannagin a retirement party. So Beckett’s been in that world, and I’ve been in mine, and somehow a week disappeared.
So tonight, the little party Finn and Spencer are throwing for Mazie is the first time I’ve seen Beckett since he shattered what I thought I knew into a thousand pieces. And the fact that his little friend Lucas is here is why I’m standing in the corner of the room, thinking of grabbing Beckett and hauling him off somewhere private so I can force him to his knees and shove my dick down his throat until I come on his face, marking him as mine.
That’s… wow… I need to get it together. It’s a party for Mazie, for fuck’s sake.
But still, it’s a reminder that Lucas is moving in with him.
“Hey, Dom.” I look up to find Olly standing next to me, acting a little cagey if you ask me.
“Olly, how’s it going, man?”
Watching Olly and Jasper fall in love and seeing how their friendship helped make them equal partners… that’s what hits me the most. Olly never tried to change Jasper. He let Jasper work through his hang-ups and just supported him by his side. Never in front, never behind.
When I look out over the other couples in this room, it’s all the same. Spencer and Finn, and Jaxon and Alex, all the same. Nobody leads the dance, and nobody changes for the other.
