“You too.” Jax batted Ari’s hands away to take care of his own clothing.
Once they’d shimmied out of their boxers, they came back together and pressed their naked bodies head to toe.
Jax fumbled to settle himself on top of Ari and lifted his face for a kiss as he began to grind his hips. The drunken coordination might have been amusing if Ari hadn’t been Jax-deprived for a month. But then Jax found his rhythm, braced his hands and knees on the mattress, and rubbed his cock into the hollow of Ari’s hip. Since that also had Ari’s dick rubbing against Jax’s hip and belly, Ari could hardly complain.
He grabbed Jax’s ass and held on.
Jax pressed his face into Ari’s neck, rubbed his nose and lips against the tender skin where it connected to his shoulder, and moaned into the hot, humid space. Ari tangled his fingers in Jax’s hair and breathed him in while Jax thrust his hips and let out happy, desperate noises as he moved. He was, Ari realized, almost unaware of Ari or what he was doing—Jax was chasing his orgasm, sleepy and horny, and anything else, including Ari’s own orgasm, was incidental. Which was hot as fuck.
Usually Ari would have flipped Jax over and either taken over the thrusting or swallowed his cock. But watching Jax single-mindedly get himself off was a new kind of pleasure Ari hadn’t known he wanted.
He pressed a free hand under Jax’s chin and lifted him up for a kiss. Ari needed that mouth right now, so he pressed his tongue inside and swept it against Jax’s to discover all his secrets, devour him, communicate to Jax just how much he was wanted.
“Ari!”
Jax came shuddering, gasping into Ari’s mouth, and Ari ran his hands over Jax’s body to ease him through it. Jax slumped and pressed his mouth to Ari’s neck again. He hummed softly, content, sleepy. And fuck no, Jax was not going to sleep just yet, not after that show.
Ari flipped them and settled over Jax’s body. He reached for Jax’s hand, and a fraction more awareness settled into Jax’s eyes as Ari guided his hand through the mess of come and down over his cock.
“Oh fuck.”
Jax was perhaps too tired to do the work himself, but that was okay. Ari wrapped his fingers over Jax’s and used his hand the way Jax had used his body, until Jax murmured, “Yeah, come on. Come on me, Ari.”
What else could a man do? Ari redoubled his efforts until he came all over Jax’s belly and cock, worsening the mess between them. He swooped in for another long, filthy kiss as he came down from the high.
“That was awesome,” Jax slurred. Now that Ari had also come, it seemed that Jax was no longer able to keep his eyes open.
Ari wanted to follow him into sleep, but he forced himself to get out of the bed to clean up. Jax was snoring by the time he brought back a washcloth. Thankfully he was still spread out on his back. Ari cleaned him up, disposed of the dirty laundry, then climbed back into bed and cocooned them both under the covers.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I LIKEhim,” Christine said over her cup of coffee.
She had checked into a hotel not far from Ari’s, and after Jax finally responded to her text that morning, she suggested he meet her for a coffee. She couldn’t stay long, she reminded him, as she needed to get back to her own teaching. So Jax tore himself away from Ari’s very nice hotel bed and headed out into the wild.
“Hm?” Jax eyed her over his hot chocolate.
“Ari. I like him. I wasn’t sure that I would after I saw you crying into your cereal over him, but he’s a good man. And it’s clear that he adores you.”
Jax blushed and tried to hide his face in his drink. “Good. Because I’m pretty sure he’s sticking around.”
“Good,” Christine parroted. Silence stretched between them. Hopefully that would do it for Christine’s awkward-mom conversation. “You’re looking good today, settled. I don’t think I’ve seen you so comfortable in your own skin in, God, years. Maybe not since you hit your teens.”
Jax refused to think about how painful those early years had been. Thirteen, skinny, too smart for his own good or for his peers, younger than everyone in his classes, and newly discovered pansexual. Not Jax’s best years. “Gee, thanks.”
Christine laughed. “I’m trying to say that you look happy in a way I’ve never seen. This is a good thing.”
“Yeah, well. I feel like I know me and what I want for the first time in a long time.”
“Oh?” She sipped her coffee. “Care to share any of your revelations with the class?”
“Well, for one, I’m done with academia. Maybe one day I’ll go back, but right now, I know it’s not what I want. Or what I will want in the near future.” He lifted his chin and looked her in the eye. He needed her to know he was serious.
She nodded slowly. “Okay. I can’t say that I’m surprised.”
“Good.” He swallowed. “I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing more long-term, but right now, for the immediate future, I just want to be with Ari, figure us out. It’s been a weird few months.” Between getting together, breaking up, reuniting, and Jax’s PhD, they hadn’t had a post-honeymoon domestic period to test out their relationship. “So I’m thinking I might just follow him around on his tour for a while.” He grinned cheekily. “Be a groupie.”
Christine snorted. “Well, if that’s what you want, dear, then I support your decision to be a full-time groupie.”
