Noah held out a hand to help them off the bed, and they were beyond thrilled when he didn’t let go of their hand all the way into the bathroom.
The room was tastefully masculine, with a matching navy-blue rug, shower curtain, and trash can. Aspen had offered to help him furnish his apartment, but he’d ended up going to a home goods store, picking one color per room, and that had been that. Aspen hadn’t let out their quirky interior decorating in their house with Ethan, but their apartment was an explosion of colors, patterns, and textures. Noah had complimented them on every room of the house, including their own bathroom, which had a rainbow chevron curtain, a tie-dye rug, and a yawning panda trash can.
“Is this okay?” he asked as he turned the shower on and pulled the curtain back.
“Babe, you’ve literally been inside me,” Aspen said, giving him an innocent grin when he made a scandalized expression. “Of course showering is okay with me. I don’t want to makeyouuncomfortable, though.”
Noah glanced down at his boxer briefs and then back at Aspen’s naked body. “I think as long as we focus on you, and not me, I should be fine.”
Aspen was more than happy to do that. They decided to take some initiative, and they got into the shower, allowing the water to roll down the curves and folds of their torso, cascading down over their dick and onto their thick thighs.
For all of Ethan’s flaws, he’d never failed to hype up Aspen’s larger body. They knew they weren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they loved their size, even when it sometimes challenged their androgynous styling.
As Noah stepped into the shower behind them, they turned and peaked flirtatiously over their shoulder, shaking their butt and their–yes, butterfly tramp stamp–at him. The way the blue in Noah’s eyes darkened as his pupils expanded made the butterfly in their chest go wild.
“Asp,” he groaned before surging forward to press his long, lean body against Aspen’s back. They were pretty sure they could feel his T–dick against their spine, but they didn’t draw attention to it. Instead, they threw their arms back behind his neck and arched as prettily as they could.
“So perfect… What am I going to do with you?” he grumbled, cupping Aspen’s tits and pressing them together, collecting a pool of shower water that fell to the floor with a splat when he released them.
“Well, for the next six months, you’re going to have amazing sex with me, go on fun dates, and be supported as you figure out what’s next for you—and us.”
Noah’s breath caught, and Aspen pressed back into his arms.
“Uhm, yeah. That…sounds perfect,” Noah said, burying his face in Aspen’s neck.
Aspen waited a beat to see if he had anything more to say before deciding it was time to lighten the mood. “But as far as what are you going to do right now, you’re going to tell me all about your week, and then feed me,” Aspen said, reaching for the shampoo as Noah dropped his hands to grip Aspen’s hips.
“We texted all week.”
“I know, but I didn’t get to see you! Let’s never do that again.”
“Never go without seeing each other for six days?” Noah asked as he kissed the side of their neck in a way that was definitely not conducive to them getting clean.
Aspen batted him away with sudsy hands. “Yes!”
“We used to go much longer than that when you were with Ethan.”
Aspen groaned and did a, probably ill-advised, trust fall back into his arms.
“Asp—”
“Let’s not talk about the bad times right now. How’s Charlie? You went to see him and the puppers this morning, right?”
While Aspen was relatively indifferent towards dogs, they knew how much Noah loved them and how much he loved Charlie. One day, Aspen would meet the infamous dog dude, but they’d been aware for a long time that this was one of the few things Noah did that was only for himself. Even if it hadn’t been Aspen’s intention, they’d had an entire marriage to themself. They fully respected Noah keeping parts of his life separate, even though Aspen had no intention of ever keeping anything for only themself again.
“Actually, I was meaning to talk to you about that. He might need some help with the shelter, and he asked if you'd be able or at all interested in lending a hand.”
Oh, well, so much for keeping them separate.
Noah went on to explain, in more detail than ever before, the background of the shelter, as well as Charlie’s financial situation and the rather bleak outlook for continuing to run the shelter as it was now. In that time, they finished showering, dried off, and Noah put on clean clothes while Aspen grabbed a random assortment from the pile of things they always seemed to leave at Noah’s house.
“So, all that to say, do you think you’d be up for helping with some of the marketing? I promise, you don’t have to walk, play with, or touch the dogs in any way. But maybe at some point, once all this stress with the loans and grants is over, you two can finally meet?”
Aspen had been sold on the idea the moment Noah brought it up, but the thirty-five-minute pitch and heavenly-smelling omelet he was making didn’t hurt his case. “Of course, babe, I’m happy to help. And I don’t hate dogs. I’ve just had some traumatic experiences walking them.”
They weren’treallytraumatic, they just sucked, and Aspen had done enough sucky things the past two years that they didn’t want to do anymore.
“I know, Asp, and again you don’t have to–”
