The box I absolutelydid notwant anyone else in this house to touch.
When our eyes meet, Jace’s lips twitch with barely concealed laughter. He cocks one brow, like he’s been waiting for this moment, eyes glinting with mischief that’s as familiar as it is infuriating. There’s an unmistakable spark at the corners of his mouth. He knows. Of course he knows.
“Hello, handsome,” he drawls, throwing in a wink for good measure. “Your package has arrived. Well, besides this one, of course.” His free hand slides under the edge of his laptop, suggestive as hell, and that smirk of his blooms into something downright filthy.
There he is.MyJace. It’s good to see him like this again. Teasing, playful, just a little too pleased with himself. Because fuck, I hate how I found him the other night. When he wasn’t smiling, when he wasn’thim. When he was shaking and pale and barely holding it together, broken in a way I never want to witness again.
And yeah, it still hurts. Hurts like hell that his lips ever touched someone else’s. That there’s a video I never wanted to see burned into my memory. But I’m shoving that shit into the farthest, darkest corner of my mind, locking it behind steel doors and launching the key straight into the goddamn ocean.
He’s here now. With me. He chose me. He’ll always choose me. Hepushed.
And I’ll choose him, again and again and again, until there’s no more choosing left to do.
I drop the snacks on my desk, scoop up the box, and settle beside him. I hand it over and press a soft kiss to his cheek, my chest tightening with something fierce and so damn warm. Shit. The fact that I can even kiss him after all this time still knocks the wind out of me. Still feels like a damn gift I don’t ever want to take for granted. Not anymore.
Of course, the smug fucker turns his head at the last second so I graze his lips instead. Instantly, his hand finds the back of my neck, pulling me closer. His mouth softens, deepens the kiss with a damn flick of his tongue, and it rips a groan from me almost on impact, the sound needy, low and desperate.
I could never tire of this. Of him. How he ever thought I’d end our relationship is beyond me. Because I couldn’t. I could never walk away from something this perfect. Thisright.
Yeah, it hurt. It hurt like hell. Buthedidn’t hurt me.Hewasn’t the cause. I know with everything I am that he’ll never be the reason I fall apart. He’s the reason I’ll hold it together. He’s not my wound. He’s my fuckingcure.
When I finally pull back, he bites down on my lip like he’s not ready to let go, and it makes my grin stretch so wide it crashes right into his.
“Hi baby.”
He groans when I dive in again, slower this time, like we’ve got forever. I tug his bottom lip between my teeth on the way out, just to hear that noise again. That deep, helpless sound he only makes for me.
His eyes catch mine, sparkling up at me, all bright and breathless, and it floors me every damn time. “God,” he murmurs, voice rough. “I will never get used to that.”
I drag my thumb across his cheekbone, holding his gaze for a second too long. Becausefuck, he’s beautiful. And he’smine.
He presses one last kiss to my mouth, just a soft stamp of his lips, before leaning back against the headboard. The box withthe tape already half ripped off now resting in his lap, his laptop forgotten beside him.
He glances up at me with a grin as he gives the package a little shake, something inside rattling faintly.
“What’s in the box?” he asks, smug as hell. “Why did you need me to intercept it?”
“Are you gonna go fullSevenon me if I don’t tell you?”
“No,” he says, his grin widening. “Because youaregoing to tell me what’s in the box that has you all flustered. I already know it’s something dirty.”
“How?”
“Because there’s a return address. And I’ve heard of this thing called Google.”
So much for the site’sdiscreet packagingpromise.
“I’ve beendyingto know,” he says, bouncing the box once on his palm. “What’d you get from a sex shop? Flavored lube? A cock ring? Please say it’s a cock ring. We need cock rings.”
I snort and drop next to him, very pointedly not looking at the box I ordered days ago, before the shitstorm happened. “Just open the damn thing. I ordered it for your private welcome back party, anyway.” The corner of my mouth twitches when he dives in.
“Ohhh,both. Flavored lubeandcock rings. Look at you planning ahead.”
“Well… we’ve got four months together and you lo—”
I groan when he pulls out a sparkly black butt plug. Yeah.That. I didn'twantto order one with a big ass sparkly diamond on the end, but it was the smallest one.
While I die a bit on the inside, his grin takes over his entire face. He throws one leg up over me and sits down in my lap, grinding down on me and linking his arms around my neck.
