He shook his head. “All I do is try my best but still mess up. Brea told me my parents are treating me being gone like a joke, not that that’s new. They’re laughing about how long I’ll be able to stay away this time. She’s mad, and I love her, but—”
“She never sticks up for you,” I growled out. “Am I right?”
“Yes.” He shrugged. “It’s not her fault. They’d turn on her next. I think she feels it’s my responsibility to fix this without her. We’re Kalinskis. We handle our own problems.”
“That’s not okay.”
“It’s how they are. My parents and brothers.”
“You deserve more than that,” I said firmly.
He turned those deep brown eyes of his toward me, and the trembling in his limbs became more pronounced. He held himself tighter, like he was trying to keep from shaking apart.
“Do you mean that?” he breathed out and shifted on my lap. I glanced down. My stomach swooped as I noticed the needy hard-on shoving at the front of his suit pants. We’d been here before. I was an idiot. I never should have sat down with him.
The air seemed to simmer around us as I forced myself to look into his eyes. My cock pulsed and I made myself sit through the surge of heat that flooded it, instead of rubbing against him, though he could probably feel my bulge pressed against his ass. I had no control over the raw reaction he caused.
Knowing I was being irresponsible, knowing I shouldn’t, I tipped his chin up and softly kissed him. When we broke apart, my body buzzed with excitement.
“Yes, you do deserve to be cared for, Max,” I murmured. “Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”
Clearing my throat, I moved him as gently as I could, though it still felt like I was shoving him off my lap in a rude way that ruined the moment. Ignoring my demanding cock, I went back to making dinner. Throughout our meal he watched me, the hurt clear in his eyes, but I pretended not to notice, telling myself over and over that I was handing him off to Vic tomorrow.
Reminding myself of the facts didn’t help. I still felt like an asshole when I left him alone to work on his remaining online course after we ate. He seemed to like having company, and truth be told, I was hungry for intimacy. If only things between us had started differently, I wouldn’t have had a single qualm about moving forward with him.
He ticked all of my boxes.
Rather than try to hang around in a room downstairs just so I could keep tabs on Max, I went to bed early because my eyes had begun to itch and my nose was clogged. Vane had the luxury of fucking off while he felt bad, but I didn’t, so I’d try to sleep away the beginnings of the office crud.
I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, tissues on the pillow beside me, and tried to convince myself that everything would be fine after tomorrow when I dropped Max at the front doors of Triple X. Maybe once he was off the table I could go back to things the way they were.
10
Max
Iwoke up to another prepared breakfast, and like yesterday morning, JP didn’t have anything to say to me. He left immediately to shower while I ate, giving me time to contend with incessant thoughts that had me imagining going up to the bathroom and getting on my knees in front of him, taking his cock into my mouth and bringing him off. I was quick to shove away the fantasy. There was no way in hell he’d allow that, and he had made his position clear, even if he had kissed me last night in a way that had me melting faster than ice cream in the summer sun.
We’d had sex once and that was it.
I groaned and let my head fall on the table hard enough that it actually hurt. Between the conversation with Brea yesterday and this thing with JP, I was a confused mess of emotions. I wanted so badly to stay here with him, no matter how difficult it was to not imagine us having sex again, but at the same time, being here only made it harder—my cockandmy situation. It was JP’s fault I even wanted to explore this Daddy-and-boy fantasy.
After I’d finished eating, I took the plates and utensils to the sink, washing them and placing them on the drying rack, before I played with the bottle of dish soap until the label was facing out toward me. I yanked the cord of the toaster from the wall, which JP had obviously forgotten to do. Then, I prowled the kitchen and checked the rest of the appliances. Everything else was already unplugged.
“Are you ready to take a shower?”
Jumping at the sound of JP’s deep voice, I spun on my heel and smiled. “Sure.”
He raised his eyebrows and stepped closer, looking stylish in a cream wool suit. It was the kind of color you didn’t expect to look good on anyone, but JP pulled off everything he wore, even with the light brown belt and white dress shirt he’d tucked into his pants. “Did I forget something?” he asked, as though already knowing I’d checked all the plugs around the kitchen.
I shook my head, my cheeks growing hot as I smoothed my hands nervously over the shirt I’d worn to bed. “No.”
He cocked his head and didn’t need to voice the question for me to hear it.
“The toaster was still plugged in,” I whispered, my flush getting even hotter until I felt the heat on the tips of my ears.
“Was it?” He glanced in the direction of the appliance and then grimaced. “It’s going to take me a while to remember to pull them out after I use them.”
“You don’t have to,” I said quickly, pursing my lips when he frowned at me. “I probably won’t be here long. In your house. I appreciate you offering me a home, but I’m looking for an alternative.”
