I glance up and through the open bathroom door just in time to see Bowen slip behind the shower curtain. His dick is at half-mast. I feel like there’s something wrong. An unpleasantness hanging between us, and this is not at all how I wanted the morning after to go. I curse to myself and grab my phone off the night stand and text Grant.
Chase:Gonna be longer than 5. Need a shower. Sorry.
He texts me back immediately.
Grant:Figured. We’re already at the diner across the street. Show up in time to pay ok? Because this is on you.
I shake my head, smiling, toss my phone on the bed and walk back into the bathroom where I strip naked and pull back the curtain just enough to poke my head in. Bowen looks at me over his broad shoulder. There’re water droplets peppering his skin. “This sucks. I suck. I’m sorry and I want to make it up to you.”
“Sorry for what?” He turns right around so the spray is at his back, and I can’t stop my eyes from taking a long slow look at all of him.
“Sorry I couldn’t tell Grant you were in here with me,” I reply, my voice getting huskier with every word. “Sorry I can’t tell him or Joe or the dude at the front desk when we check out that you let me fuck your brains out last night and it was the best experience of my life.”
That gets me a smile. A real, lazy but authentic Bowen Whitlock grin. “I’m not sure the front desk dude would be all that impressed.”
“He should be,” I say and then ask. “Can I join you?”
“What about the plan?”
“I have a new one. Sent Joe and Grant for breakfast across the street,” I explain, and my eyes drop to his hand which is covered in soap and tugging slowly on his now fully erect cock. “Said I needed a shower.”
“Then you should get in here and shower,” Bowen replies.
“Can I suck your dick first?” I ask as soon as my feet land on the slick porcelain bottom of the tub.
Bowen laughs and reaches for me, pulling me into a kiss, which I take as a yes and when it breaks, I lower myself to my knees.
* * *
It costs me twenty-two bucks to pay for Grant and Joe’s breakfast plus an extra twenty to bribe Grant into riding with Joe again, instead of switching with Bowen as he wanted. I would have paid triple. It was worth it. The car ride home with Bowen was supreme. I dropped him off right at his farm because Autumn has their car and is working a shift at the bookstore.
“You have to take the gig with Lacey,” Bowen says to me as I pull to a stop in front of his house. “I can’t do it with you, but it’s great money for the others and great exposure for future gigs that I can do with you.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, reaching across the small distance to lay my hand over his in his lap. “Because I, personally, have no problem steering clear of anything and everything political. I hate it all. No offense.”
“Hell, no offense taken. Woody has been campaigning for just two months and I’m already over it.” Bowen sighs and tips his head back against the seat. “I’ve refused to get too involved, but Autumn has gone with him to interviews. Everyone wants personal details on our parents’ death. Why didn’t they have snow tires? When did we realize they were missing? One reporter even asked him if he had regrets. Who the fuck doesn’t have regrets about their parents dying?”
I squeeze his hand. He looks positively anguished and I hate it. “I hope he told the reporter to go fuck himself.”
“Of course he didn’t,” Bowen sighed. “But I would have, which is why I’m not the one running for mayor. I don’t have the temperament. Woody might stutter and look a bit like a hillbilly, redneck, or whatever it is the polished business types call him behind his back, but the truth is, he’s levelheaded, and practical and smarter than his school records would indicate.”
“I really don’t want to do this gig,” I tell him.
“Yeah, but Joe has another baby on the way. On a teacher’s salary. So you have to at least give him the option, don’t you think?” Bowen opens his eyes and stares at me.
“I wish I could kiss you right now,” I reply.
His eyes dart toward the front porch of his farmhouse and back to me. “Woody wouldn’t tell even if he’s home and happens to be looking out the window.”
“You sure?” I feel fear start to beat in my chest alongside my heart.
“Of course I’m sure. My brother would never hurt me,” Bowen replies.
So I lean in, without even glancing around, which I desperately want to do. I kiss him like I’m not hiding anything. Like it’s six months from now. Like I’m free. And Bowen is the one who has to break it off because I swear, I could keep this up for hours. He pulls back slightly, panting but with a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “That was worth the risk.”
“Hell yeah it was,” I murmur and rub my thumb across his bottom lip. “Now get out of my car before I do it again.”
He chuckles and gives me the smallest, quickest whisper of a kiss before opening the door and getting out. I turn off the engine and walk around to open the trunk for him to get his bag. The thing about cars built decades ago is there’s no automation whatsoever and I can’t open the trunk from the inside. He grabs his bag and I slam down the trunk again and impulsively reach out and grab his face and kiss him again. It’s just as needy and just as perfect.
