“Holy shit,” I managed after a moment.
“Yeah.” His voice was muffled against my neck. “Holy shit.”
We lay there for a long moment, both of us trying to catch our breath, trying to process what had just happened. My body felt wrung out, used in the best possible way. Every muscle was loose and sated. I could already feel the ache settling into my hips, my ass, and I knew I'd feel this tomorrow. Would feel him every time I moved.
Good. I wanted to feel it. Wanted the reminder.
Finally, he shifted, starting to pull out, and I hissed at the drag.
“Sorry,” he murmured. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just sensitive.”
He pulled out completely, and I felt the rush of his come leaking out of me. The sensation was obscene and intimate and made my spent cock try to twitch with interest.
He disappeared into the bathroom and came back with a warm washcloth. He cleaned me up carefully, gently, and there was something so tender about it that made my chest ache.
When he was done, he climbed back into bed and pulled me against him. I settled against his chest, feeling the steady thump of his heartbeat, feeling his fingers trace idle patterns on my shoulder.
“So,” I said finally. “That happened.”
I felt more than heard his laugh. “Yeah. That happened.”
“Any regrets?”
He was quiet for a moment, and I felt my stomach tighten. Then he said, “No. You?”
“Fuck no.” I tilted my head up to look at him. “That was?—”
“Yeah.”
We lay there for a long moment, neither of us wanting to move, neither of us wanting to face what came next.
CHAPTER 15
OFF DAY
GRANT
Iwoke first, and the first thing I registered was warmth.
Not just the ambient warmth of the hotel room or the blankets we'd kicked halfway off the bed sometime during the night. This was body heat. Jace's body heat, specifically, because he was pressed against my side with his head on my chest and one arm draped across my stomach like he had every right to be there.
And the terrifying part was, it felt right.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, waiting for the panic to hit. Waiting for the guilt, the horror, the bone-deep certainty that I'd just destroyed both our careers. Waiting for the universe to punish me for crossing a line I'd sworn I'd never cross again.
But the panic didn't come.
What came instead was quieter. More insidious.
Contentment.
The word settled into my chest and made itself at home, and that was worse than panic. Panic I knew how to handle. Panic meant action, meant damage control, meant locking everything down until the threat passed.
But this? This warm, settled feeling that whisperedthis is what I've been missing—I had no idea what to do with that.
Jace stirred against me, his breathing changing from sleep-deep to something closer to waking. His fingers flexed against my stomach, and I felt the exact moment he realized where he was. His whole body went tense, and I knew he was deciding whether to pretend to still be asleep or face this head-on.
