He licked the back of his teeth, his tongue stud clicking. “You know, there’s a lot you still need to try in the sack.”
“I’d rather be discreet, regardless,” I added quickly. “I’m not the kind of person who goes and talks about my sex life with other people.”
Jet grinned. “You’ve been thinking up reasons to justify it.”
I chuckled. Fuck, of course he’d catch me on that. “Maybe.”
“Can we really do this, though?” Jet asked. “It sounds like Noah doesn’t approve.” He shook his head quickly, and the little silver chain around his neck bounced. “Not that I’ve ever needed anyone’s approval for my sex life.”
We kept using that phrase. Sex life.
A complicated, totally unexpected and messy sex life.
“We can do it,” I said quickly. “I mean, I can do something casual, if you’re into that. I understand that you only want casual things anyway.” I wasn’t foolish enough to think that solved all the problems. This could still end poorly, and with our lives entwined through Noah, avoiding each other might be impossible. But I also believed I was capable of keeping my feelings under control and enjoying my time with Jet for what it was.
I would be available for what he was available for, if that was the way to keep this going.
“Right,” Jet said. “I am very good at casual.” He had a funny look on his face, but he quickly shook his head. “Damn, I did not expect you to come by and tell me this, Peyton.”
I laughed. “Well, I wasn’t sure what you were going to think.”
Jet leaned back on the long couch, then pushed his foot out, bumping my leg. “I think that I’ve been remembering that night at the masquerade when you rimmed me. And if you’re going to come over here and tell me there’s more fun like that, that you need me to help you keep exploring that fucking sexy body of yours, Peyton, I’m not going to turn you down.”
I rubbed my beard, studying him. “You’re relentless.”
“Only because you like it.”
And I did. I liked the cocky grin Jet gave me, especially because he wasn’t being a conceited ass about his own looks. Instead, he was acting cocky about how hot he thought I was. It was confusing and still cocky! But I definitely didn’t mind it.
My mind went back to the dinner and the other things that had been shared that night. Jet found a way to have fun and enjoy his life, but that wasn’t because it was easy for him.
I tilted my head slightly to the side. “Hey, sorry your parents kicked you out, by the way. When you talked about your past before, I hadn’t realized that.”
Jet shook his head, then turned to mess with a little speaker on the coffee table. “It’s nothing,” he said, avoiding my eyes. The spark of energy between us had flickered, just as quickly as it burst into existence, but it didn’t burn out entirely. “I was a handful, trust me.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t mean they should kick you out.”
“Well, thanks. I wish the trouble stopped when I got out of there, but I’m afraid it took me a few years of struggling and substance abuse before I even started to figure shit out. I don’t like to be a sad story, though. I’m doing fine.”
I grunted under my breath. “No one likes to be a sad story.”
Jet grunted. “True, I guess.”
“I know what you mean, that’s all. When I was in high school, my friend Casey was kicked out by his parents. He came to live with me and my family, and it felt like practically the only gossip in town for weeks. And a few years later, when my father died, that defined our family to other people.”
Shit. I’d taken his flirtations and strangled them with something serious, more than I’d intended to share.
What the hell happened to casual?
But Jet’s face softened, and he didn’t seem to mind. “Sorry about your dad.”
“It sucked, but like you said, I’m doing fine.”
Jet pointed at me from across the couch. “You’re like my brother. When everything gets chaotic, you stay calm and in control. You’re like a rock for people, I bet.”
I tilted my head to the side. That wasn’t exactly how I thought about myself, but only because of how generous it was. I did try to be there for Casey in high school, and I’d done what I could to show up for the family after Dad passed. I wanted to be a rock for the people I cared about, and it felt deeply satisfying that Jet saw me that way already.
“A rock who makes some clumsy decisions about sleeping with my friend’s brother.”
