My breath hitches.
Time slows way down.
I can hear my heart beating in my ears.
Jett strides back to me and cups my face with warm, large hands. “Sunshine, something happened to me when you came into my life. I need you. And you need me, too. I’m staying here until you get better and then I want you to come with me.”
Tears jump to my eyes. “Where?”
“Everywhere.”
He searches my eyes to gauge how I feel, then leans down and kisses me softly, holding my face like I might break if he’s not careful. My body responds. I can’t help but return the kiss. But as the feelings overwhelm me, I push him away. “Stop. Please.”
He backs off, hands in the air like I’m holding a gun on him. “Sorry. You need rest. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. You just woke up…” he turns away and runs his hands through his hair, but not before I catch sight of the tent in his faded blue jeans. “…today after three fuckin’ months and…I’ve waited so long.” He turns to look at me and there is real pain in him. “I thought you were gonna die. I thought…you were gonna fuckin’ die on me.”
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t try.
He goes back to his sorry excuse for a bed — not nearly big enough for a man of his size — and lies down, pulling the blanket over his body and glancing to his own erection. Licking his lips for patience and because his feelings have been stirred up in a lot of ways, he leans back and stares at the ceiling, fighting to get ahold of himself.
And I’m watching all of it.
“It’s so much, Jett.”
“I know,” he mutters.
“In my mind, we just met.”
He exhales and whispers, “Yeah, I guess it would feel like that to you.”
During the awkward silence that follows, he reaches under the blankets and adjusts himself, swearing under his breath.
The kisses and knowing what he’s done for me, has stirred my body, too. But I’m too weak to do anything. The urge to touch this man is strong. I’ve never had a reaction to anyone like this. He’s different.
But I’m not.
I’m me.
Still…I owe him. He’d never say that, but I do.
“Jett, would you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Well, it’s kind of…for you.”
He glances over. “I don’t need anything.”
A small smile tugs at my mouth as I purposefully scan his blanket, hovering over the place where his erection is, and then meet his eyes again.
“Yes, you do.”
He blinks. “What do you want me to do?” he asks carefully, and I can hear the curiosity in his voice. “Why am I gettin’ the feeling you’re gonna suggest sex? Because as much as I fuckin’ want to, there’s no way I’m risking’ it.”
“But you could take care of yourself.” He stares at me. I lower to a whisper, the idea turning me on. “Jett, stroke yourself in front of me. I want to watch you make yourself feel good.”
He sits up and leans on one arm, the muscles flexed under his weight. “You serious?”
“Mmmhmm.”
Jett glances to the door and rises up, walking to the curtain. He pauses and looks at me, then pulls it shut.
There’s a little bit of pain in his eyes as he walks to the side of my bed, like he’s needed this. I lay my hand on his hip, slipping my fingers under his shirt and pressing them into his skin.
“You really wanna watch me stroke it for you?”
“Never done that before.”
His eyes darken. “How many men have you been with?”
“You want me to ask you how many women you’ve been with?” I shoot back with a challenging smile.
But he isn’t smiling at all. “How many?”
“Seriously?”
“Yep.”
Sighing, I confess, “Very few, if you must know. Three.” At his surprise, I hold his eyes. “Men and I have a history, Jett. No, don’t feel bad. You didn’t bring anything up. I’m just answering your ill-timed question.”
“Just three before me.”
“Including you.”
He pauses and I can’t read his expression. In a low rasp he asks the thing that was bugging him. “Did you love them?” He covers my hand with his, pressing it into his body. I glance to his white knuckles and tell him the truth.
“I’ve never been in love.” Meeting his eyes, I ask, “You?”
Slowly unzipping his pants, he says with meaning, “Just once.” Before I have a chance to register that, his enormous cock comes into view, almost full. It twitches up to meet his hand as he reaches for it with his free hand.