Page 57 of Tides of Discovery
My cock throbbed, trapped behind the zipper of my jeans. I opened my jeans one-handed, pushed them down, and jerkedmyself while sucking Jack. My rhythm on Jack faltered, but he didn’t seem to care.
“I’m…” he said, breathless.
I took him into the back of my throat and swallowed around him.
His body tensed, his muscles hardened, and his cock pulsed in my mouth. His load shot down my throat, and I drank him down. My orgasm followed, and I lost myself in the pleasure of both giving and receiving.
I’d just blown my best friend. My temporary boyfriend. And it was one of the hottest experiences of my life. Confusion and doubt should have been zipping through my mind, but all I felt was a sense of…peace. Of rightness.
I pulled off, pressed a kiss to Jack’s softening cock, and lowered my head onto his thigh. Coarse hairs tickled my cheek as I caught my breath. Jack’s fingers combed through my hair.
“Thank you,” he whispered. I raised my head to peer into his eyes. Something shone in them, as if he were thanking me for more than a blow job.
And maybe I’d given him more than a blow job. Our gazes held.
But then he grinned crookedly, and the moment was gone. “I guess we need to clean up the floor.”
I snorted. “Wait here. I’ll take care of everything.” I pressed a quick kiss on his lips.
I rose on unsteady legs, made my way to the bathroom, and returned with a warm, damp washcloth for Jack. He cleaned himself while I quietly took care of my mess with paper towels and spray cleaner.
Jack adjusted his jeans. “Are you opening the shop tomorrow morning?” His voice was soft in the quiet apartment.
“Of course.” I disposed of the paper towels, returned the cleaner to its place under the sink, and washed my hands.
Jack ran his fingers through his tousled hair, a gesture that was both vulnerable and endearing. “I should probably let you get some sleep.”
“Stay.” The word slipped out before I could consider its implications. Spending the night wasn’t part of our agreement, and there was no convenient power outage to justify sharing a bed tonight. But I couldn’t bear the thought of watching him leave, of losing the warmth of his presence beside me for the few hours before dawn.
His eyes found mine, surprise and something deeper flickering across his features. “Are…are you sure?”
I wasn’t sure of anything anymore—except that I wanted him here. “Stay,” I repeated, softer this time.
The smile that spread across his face was like the sunrise breaking over the mountains. “Okay.”
In bed, as we lay woven together in the quiet darkness, Jack’s fingers traced lazy patterns on my back. I felt simultaneously exhausted and more awake than I’d ever been. My body hummed with contentment while my mind raced.
What had just happened? What did it mean?
I should ask, should clarify, should say something. But the words wouldn’t come. I was afraid that speaking would break this perfect moment, would force us to define something I wasn’t ready to name yet.
So instead, I pressed closer to Jack’s warmth and let my eyes close as his heartbeat steadied beneath my ear. He tightened his arm around me and brushed a kiss against my temple that felt more intimate than anything we’d just shared.
“Sleep,” he murmured, and I drifted off with his fingers still tracing patterns on my skin.
My last coherent thought before sleep claimed me was a question I had no answer for: Was this still temporary, or had we already veered into something that would continue past ourdeadline? And did the difference even matter when being with Jack felt like the best relationship I’d ever had?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Cooper
Monday morning crept in gray and damp, the kind of day that seeped into your bones no matter how many layers you wore. The Coffee Cove smelled the way it always did—rich espresso, toasted bagels, the faint bite of lemon polish from the overnight cleaning crew—but today, the familiar comfort of it barely touched me. Business wasn’t bouncing back fast enough.
I wiped down the counter for the third time, not because it was dirty, but because my hands needed something to do. Nervous energy coiled low in my chest, tightening with every second that passed. Traffic had picked up after last week’s fake health inspection fiasco. I’d moved my green health inspection placard to the front window, but I still caught sideways glances from customers and hesitant footfalls outside the door before those steps moved down the street.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it from my apron pocket. A text from Jack appeared on the screen, and something in my gut loosened just seeing his name.
How does a tech guy drink coffee?
