Despite the cum coating his skin, I collapse against him, my stomach swirling with sentiments I can’t express. This man. This beautiful man who’s kissing my head, and stroking my back so tenderly. Who has offered me his home. Is risking so much for me.
Fuck I am so gone.
And the best part is, I think he is equally lost in me.
I press off his chest enough to see his face. “I’ve never?—”
He cuts me off with a kiss I feel in the deepest part of my soul.
“Me either.”
Tendrils of light reach through my ill-fitting blinds, caress my cheeks and wake me. As consciousness blooms, I realize I’m smiling. And naked. And not alone.
Cory stayed the whole night.
Now that the overwhelming emotion and pent-up desire has been released, I should perhaps be panicking. Jumping from the bed, shaking Cory awake and demanding he leave. But there’s not a shred of anxiety within me. Not a bit. Only certainty that this is it. Thatweare right. No matter how wrong it may be. So instead of tossing the beautiful man, who’s wrapped around me like a tortilla on a burrito, face cutely tucked into the crook of my neck, out, I pull him closer. Breathe him in, and fall back to sleep, for once, let me have something for me.
“Jamie, what the fuck?”
And there’s the panic.
Dislodging the warm body lying perfectly still atop me, I leap from bed then remember I’m naked. “Jesus, Jamie. Put some freaking clothes on. You too!” Faith demands. I think she thinks she’s pointing at Cory, but she’s blinded by the hand she slapped over her face, so she’s aimed more at a barren wall to the right of us.
“Calm down, Faith.” I laugh, picking up and slipping on my jersey. Predictably, she does not calm, and that may be because she’s copped another eyeful as she squints between her parted fingers. My top barely covers my junk, so I reach for my sweats and yank them on too.
“Calm down? Calm down? You’re naked in bed with a twenty year old student. A–”
“I’m twenty-one next week,” Cory adds, before shrinking back into the corner he’d retreated to.
“Your birthday is next week?” I ask, smiling ear to ear. “We should do something?—”
“JAMIE!” Faith is shrieking now. I’ve never heard her voice reach these heights. “Listen to yourself. He’s on the team. This is going to cost you your job.”
“I won’t let it.”
“I know it will,” Cory and I reply in unison, then freeze. Faith does too, so we just stare at each other like morons until Cory breaks the stalemate.
“What do you mean, you know it will. No one has to know, Jamie. We can keep it a secret until I leave and?—”
“You’re right,” I interrupt, as I make my way back to bed, back to Cory, who without hesitation, wriggles closer and leans into my side. “Wewillhave to keep it between us, Cub. But I’m not waiting until you go to Canada. There’s a month left of my placement, and once that’s done we can … you know. Do. Us. … If that’s what you want of course.”
“It is what I want.” Eagerly grabbing my wrist, he threads his fingers between mine then raises our joined hands to his lips, placing a sweet kiss. “I mean I don’t want to hide at all, but a month is nothing. A month is?—”
“A freaking joke!”Fuck.I pretty much jump into Cory’s lap, I’d totally forgotten Faith was here. “Are you kidding me? You honestly think you’ll be able to stay on the down low for weeks? And what, you’re just going to lie to everyone until then, and expect me to do the same?”
“Please, Faith.” Releasing Cory once more, I slide from the bed and edge closer to my sister. “I’ve been really unhappy for a really long time. Just give us a month. One month to sort this out. And I promise, should things go astray, and we get busted, I’ll take the heat and make it known you knew nothing. I’ll protect you. I swear.”
“Excuse me, Jamie, if I don’t take your promises to the bank. Not so long ago you promised me nothing was happening between the two of you, and here you are. Sneaking him into your room.”
“Don’t be angry at James, Professor,” Cory pleads. “This is the first time, and James didn’t sneak me in. I was really upset last night. My family is losing our home, and I needed someone to talk to. Jamie helped me. A lot.”
“Yeah, he helped you right out of your clothes into his bed. Very charitable of you, James.” Hands on hips, she’s about to release another tirade when a series of thuds from upstairs steal her focus. “Great. Dylan’s up and I’m totally out of routine now.”
“We can help.” Bending, I retrieve Cory’s clothes from the floor and toss them his way. “Dylan loves Cory. You can get ready and we’ll take care of Dyl until Manny gets here.”
“Damn straight you will.” She’s off before I can add anything further, stomping up the stairs like a two hundred pound ogre. “Bet you’re ass we’re talking about this later, James. And as for you, Mr. Malkovich. See you in class.”
And poof! The second the door closes, that calmness I handled that with vanishes. It’s done. Gone. Finito. “Holy shit, we’re fucked.” Gasping for air, I grasp my chest. The one that’s about to fracture from the intensity of my pounding heart. This is really it. I really am a goner.
