Page 74 of Brace and Chase

Frozen, I hear his sharp intake of air, and the sudden tremble in his hand.

“Nikolay,” he whispers. The distress he packs into one word is all that’s needed to unfreeze me. I reach up to take his hand in mine, kiss his knuckles with closed eyes, and then I tell myself I have to face the music.

I twist around and see his pinched look as he stares at the windows behind me.

He’s freaking out too, I realize.

And I don’t want him to feel bad about what we just did. I don’t want him to pull away or doubt me. Doubt us.

So I get real close to him, until I can touch my foreheadto his, then kiss his lips so gently I barely feel it. It does the trick, though.

“We should take a shower,” I whisper. “Clean you up.”

His eyes move quickly across my face, as if searching for something, but I don’t want him to think too much about anything while we’re both so... fragile? Yes, that’s exactly how I feel right now. And I don’t want to think too much either.

“Come on,” I tell him and sit up, pulling him up as well and taking his hand in mine when we’re standing by the bed. “If you don’t want me to go with you?—”

“I do,” he interrupts me, and he’s the one pulling me that time.

When I see his bathroom for the first time, I wince at the size of the tub, but then remember that Charlie told me this was a rental when I first came here. It makes sense, then, why he’d have a tub so small there’s no way he could ever fit comfortably.

“I miss my baths,” he says glumly, noticing where my gaze is.

“We can stay at my place some days if you want. There’s no kitchen like yours, but I have a huge bath that’s more like a hot tub in my bathroom there.”

I mentally pat myself on the back at the suggestion because his eyes light up. I still keep it vague, though, because I haven’t told him about my suite—not the specifics anyway—and I might be putting that off for as long as I can.

“Really?”

All the tension and trepidation is gone, and I feel like I just won something that meanssomething.

“Whenever you want,” I say like a vow. That’s weird, but I decide not to dwell on it and close the space between us. Reach for the bottom seam of his shirt and ask, “Can I?”

His only response to my soft words is a nod, so I pull the fabric over his head and he helps me by raising his arms.

There’s a hint of redness on his cheeks when I step back, and I don’t even have to ask as he shifts from foot to foot.

“I, uh—” he clears his throat, looks away. “I thought about this before.”

“Did you now?” I can’t help the satisfied smirk on my face.

“Shut up,” he mumbles.

“Okay,” I whisper and kiss his warm cheek, then reach back and pull off my own shirt, and push down my jeans and my black briefs in one go. “Shower time,” I tell him, trying not to feel self-conscious about him seeing me naked for the first time.

Well, maybe not the first time, but the first time outside the locker room. It feels likemore. It is more.

I don’t look back when I hear rustling. Somehow I know I want my first time looking at him like this to be when he’s in the shower, droplets covering him.

It’s the horny teenager that’s never left my brain; he can’t help but want that visual.

I turn on the shower and I’m grateful the water heats up pretty quickly. I soak my hair, and when I feel the air shift behind me, I step aside and let him pass.

There it is.

It’s the best live porno I’ve ever seen in my life.

The big expanse of his back getting wet inch by inch, and I follow a trail of water making its way down to his ass.

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