“Oh, does this mean I get to shove Mrs. Sparkles up your ass when we go out? Is that what you want? Or is it meant forme? You can do it to me first if you want. I wouldhappilywalk around all day with that thing inside when you’re in class, thinking about how good you’re gonna wreck me when you finally get home.”
He rolls his hips down again and my hands clamp down on his waist, jaw tight.
“Damn,” he groans. “That is one hot visual.”
With his eyes blown wide with lust, my mortification ebbs away like it never existed. I nudge his nose with mine and let my lips trail slowly across his, brushing, teasing. He moans and dives back in, hungry and warm and so veryhim. I feel him harden against me when his tongue slides along mine, and my hands drift lower, gripping his ass and pulling him tight into my lap.
“You can use it on me,” I murmur against his mouth when he finally lets me breathe for a second, “with one condition.”
“And what’s that condition?” he asks, licking my bottom lip before giving it a playful nip.
“That he’s calledMr. Sparkles. Not Mrs. Since I only like dudes up my ass.”
His laugh is breathless, surprised, and his eyes light up with heat and something softer, something a little more like relief. The fire’s back in them. The teasing glint, the spark I missed.
I’d take him riled up over that emptiness any day. That panic when he got here… it scared the shit out of me. And seeing it fade, seeinghimcome back to me, piece by piece, it’s the fucking best.
I rest my forehead against his, holding him close, like I never want to let go. Because I don’t.
“You’re okay, yeah?” I whisper. “We’re okay.”
His hands tighten on my shoulders, and he nods slowly, the tip of his nose brushing mine. “Yeah, I am now. And we are.”
And for the first time in what feels like forever, I really, honestly believe it.
I find his mouth again, and just like every time since he came home, it shifts quickly. It turns slow, unhurried. Like we’re trying to mend something raw and broken with every kiss, every brush of skin. We’re not rushing. We don’t need to.
Because this isn’t about sex.
Even though he’s hard against me, grinding gently, coaxing soft moans from both of us; it’s not about getting off. It’s aboutbeing. Being here, together. Touching. Reconnecting. Finding our way back to each other, one slow press of lips at a time.
He’s here. He’s home.And we’re one damn show away from having our four months together.
My fingers trace along the back of his neck, and he exhales shakily, like the last bit of tension is finally bleeding out of him. Like the remnants of the tour—the pressure, the chaos, the loneliness—are finally melting off his skin, piece by piece, under my hands.
And I would’ve let this moment stretch. Would’ve kissed him like this forever. Would’ve stayed like this for the entire four fucking months, tangled up in him, if the universe didn’t have other plans.
“TEN MORE MINUTES.”
Ev’s voice bellows up the stairs, followed by the unmistakable sound of his boots stomping and a door slamming somewhere as our friends get ready downstairs.
Jace groans and drops his head to my shoulder. “I swear, that guy has a sixth sense for cockblocking.’
I chuckle into his hair. “Don’t worry. Mr. Sparkles isn’t going anywhere.”
He chuckles, warm and loose against me, and it’s the best damn sound I’ve heard all day.
“You ready for tonight?” I ask as he lifts his head to look at me.
He swallows, and I see him steeling himself, his eyes sharpening with that quiet resolve I know all too fucking well. “I have to be.”
“I’ll be right there. In the wings. Always got your back.”
He nods slowly, but his jaw tightens. “You know we’re going to run into Mick…”
“Oh, I’m counting on it.” I press our foreheads together and breathe him in. “I’m fucking counting on it.”
He shudders and slides his fingers through my hair. “Thank you.”
