“I love you, Reid.”
“Gross,” Reid says with a wrinkle of his nose.
I sigh. “All right.”
Reid grimaces, then mumbles, “I love you too.”
“Have you ever thought about therapy? It might help. It’s helped me.”
Reid just rolls his eyes. “If you think Dante hasn’t already coerced me into therapy, you’re crazy. Webothgo. And then he rewards me with some very strenuous lovemaking.”
Disgusting. But good for them, I guess.
Jacob salutes me once Reid joins him at the bottom of the steps, then I watch them disappear toward their house, catching Reid turn around once to look back at me to ensure I’m still watching. Once they’re too far gone for me to track, I return to the house and lock the door, turning the alarm system back on.
“Want some of the pastina? It’s so good.”
Parker grunts in agreement with his eyes still closed tight. I run my fingers through his hair, smiling when he tips farther into my touch. He’s just as touch starved as I am. Both of us are in desperate need of tender care. The pastina is still warm thanks to the insulated bag they dropped it off in. After filling two bowls, I place one bowl with a spoon in front of Parker, then sit with my own bowl at the table, beside him this time.
He blinks his eyes open and gives me a strange look.
“This way I’ll be close if you need help,” I explain before taking a big spoonful of the pastina. Oh. Itisbetter than Mom’s. She made this so much when we were little, and often when I was in the worst of the chemotherapy. It was basically the only thing I could keep down for a few weeks. “Eat, come on,” I urge him.
By the time I’m halfway done with my soup, Parker has inhaled his entire bowl. Jesus. Before I can tell him no, he’s standing to wash his dish at the sink and place it into the dishwasher. He rummages through the cabinet like he lives here, then pulls out a bottle of standard pain reliever I keepon hand. He downs three of them dry before grabbing a bottle of cold water from the fridge.
“I’ll be in bed,” Parker says tiredly.
Once I finish my pastina, I wash my own bowl. Climbing the stairs to join him in my bedroom, I’m confused to find no Parker. Worry slashes through me for a moment. I force myself to take a calm breath and seek him out in the guest room. He stands there with some clothes in his hand.
He looks up when he hears me come close. “I was just grabbing some things to keep in your room.”
“Just move it all into my room.”
Parker stares at me. “Mason, that’s a little?—”
“I want you there.”
His jaw firms up. “You might not want me thereeverynight, so no, I’m not going to move my stuff in there just yet. But I’ll stay in there while it feels like I’ve been sent through a meat grinder, okay?”
That’s acceptable. “All right.”
“And once my entire body doesn’t feel like one giant bruise, you’re going to ride me until we come our brains out, okay?”
A hush falls over us. All I can do is nod, and Parker looks far too pleased at my reaction. I move aside so he can pass by me, obviously tired and worn out. Instead of going to the bed, he goes into the bathroom. Looking at me over his shoulder, he lifts an eyebrow in question.
“Should I brush my teeth?”
I feel my face flush with warmth and all I can do is nod. He takes off his glasses first, setting them on the edge of the vanity. Parker painstakingly brushes his teeth like he did the night before, like he’s going to be inspected. Once he’s done, I brush my teeth to return the kindness. While I do that, Parkerturns the shower on and then steps into the shower gloriously naked, the firm muscles of his butt making dimples appear at the top. I’ve never brushed my teeth faster.
Steam fills the bathroom, making everything hazy and very sexy. My heart pounds with the thrill of desire, not anxiety, and it’s such a welcome change that I feel a little dizzy with it. When I step into the shower, Parker’s standing under the water with his head tipped back, looking so sexy and beautiful that my mouth dries.
“Maybe in the shower jizz won’t freak you out?” Parker asks, voice husky.
Pictures flash through my brain of my cock in his mouth, his cock in my hand, our cocks pressed together—so many vivid horny images that my dick hardens at a speed I didn’t think possible. Parker’s gaze flicks down to my rapidly hardening dick, then back up to my face.
“I think maybe that’s a yes?”
“Let’s try.” I throw myself into Parker’s soapy arms, slashing our mouths together with a groan from the very deepest, darkest pits of me. “I want you so much it scares me.”
