“ThankGod,” he murmured and kissed me again, softer now, almost gentle, his fingers fumbling at the button of my jeans. I grabbed for his tee and tugged it up, our bodies separating briefly to get it off and throw it aside, somewhere, didn’t matter. All that mattered was the way we came back together, how he cupped me through my jeans just as his mouth found my throat,and oh,fuck—scrape of stubble that made me gasp. Jesus. He was all skin and golden light.
I pushed at his chest, and he resisted for just a moment, the corners of his mouth hitching up. Then he fell back onto the bed, catching himself on his elbows. I followed him down and straddled his thighs, rolled my hips once—jean zippers catching in a slow grind that scattered stardust across my mind and made him arch up into me, his head thrown back against the sheets. Gorgeous, fuck. I pinned his wrists to the mattress and leaned down until our noses touched.
“Jesse.”
He made a loosely inquisitive noise and blinked up at me, eyes gone liquid-dark. A siren wailed somewhere in the distance, but here in his bedroom, the world had narrowed to just the two of us.
“What do you want?”
“No.” He freed his wrists so he could lace our hands, his fingers slotting into the gaps between mine. “What doyouwant?”
I ground down, sucked in a quick, harsh breath at how I could feel him hard even through two layers of denim. Stretched out under me, he made for a wet dream—more lean than broad, dark hair messed up already, sharply defined features and a soft mouth. “I asked first,” I said.
“Yeah.” His lips curved into a grin. “But I called the shots last time.”
“That washot.”
For a beat, he stared up at me—and then, with a sudden heave, he rolled us over and settled between my thighs, caging me underneath the length of his body. One hand splayed flat next to my head, the other gripping my shoulder. “Yeah?” he asked, voice the same shade of gold as the gentle wash of light across his face. “What was it that you liked?”
You.
True. But it’d been more than that.
“I just…” I skimmed a palm down the ripples of his spine. “I’d never been a sure thing before, I guess. Not really one for casual hookups either.”
“Sure had me fooled,” he muttered—amused, not reproachful.
I exhaled a chuckle. “Yeah, well. I was looking for a new me that night.”
Jesse’s eyes turned gentle. He stayed quiet as if waiting for more, perched above me, light playing along his jawline and the gentle swell of his biceps.
“But—” I glanced away and shook my head, hair whispering against the sheets. “Turns out that I still brought myself to New York.”
“Hey.” He pressed down, voice gone soft and low. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
I like you so much.
The thought flared like a starburst, sudden and too fuckingbright. I inhaled and realized I needed to answer him, fumbled for words that didn’t give me away. “Not like… I don’t know. Just, like—I kind of spent most of my life in relationships, so that’s mostly what I know.” Did that even make sense? I wasn’t sure. Wasn’t sure of anything other than his solid weight above me. “Too bad my taste in boyfriends trends toward assholes.”
“Their loss,” he said, suddenly fierce, fingers still curled around my shoulders.
Was it?
I tried for a smile. “Well, hey. Which is all just to say that when we met—I’d never done anything like that before.”
His mouth quirked into a wry grin. “Pose as a hooker?”
“That, too.” I paused. “But, yeah. Just—you probably have triple my numbers.”
“Got a few years on you, too.”
Six or so? I shook my head. “Hardly enough to matter.”
Briefly, silence stretched like something tangible between us, heavy with what we both knew—the age gap wasn’t the problem here. Jesus, how had this dipped into such serious waters?
“Sorry.” I fanned my fingers out against the small of his back. “Not sure how we ended up here. I didn’t mean to ruin the mood.”
“Mood’s not ruined.” He dipped to kiss the hollow of my throat, shifting his hips to make the point that—yeah,God. Still hard. Too many clothes. His teeth scraped lightly over my Adam’s apple, then higher, mapping the line of my jaw, his voice a low murmur. “Let me take care of you, Finn. What do you want?”
