Page 70 of Knocked Sideways

But if Jed wanted to play it this way, fine. He could handle it. He stood up and stuffed his hands in the pocket in the front of his hoodie. “I’m going to bed, then. I’ll see you in the morning.”

At that, Jed surprised him. He stood up, too, and pulled Remy’s hands out of the pocket. Tangled their fingers together and drew Remy close. Bent his head to whisper right into Remy’s ear, warm breath tickling over Remy’s skin.

“This isn’t what I really want, either. But practice being patient, okay?”

Remy dropped his head onto Jed’s shoulder, turned his face into Jed’s neck, and breathed deeply. Jed’s scent was like a drug, arousing him and settling him at the same time.

“Yeah. I can do that.”

“How about you get in bed and come once without me. I’d like to think about you feeling good.” Jed’s lips ghosted over the pulse pounding in Remy’s neck, and Remy shuddered. He might not even make it to his bed if Jed kept that up.

“Jesus, Jed. Okay. Yeah. If that’s what you want.”

“It is. Don’t make it too fast.”

Remy felt lips press against the side of his head, and then Jed was stepping back, steely blue-gray eyes tracing down Remy’s body like he was mapping out his plans for the next day. Remy’s body responded, of course. And Jed didn’t miss it.

“Go on, take care of that.”

“Okay.”

This was torture. Really, there was no other word for it. But Remy wasn’t a professional athlete for nothing. He maybe didn’t have the self-composure of a veteran goalie, but he knew something about discipline.

He swallowed, reached up, and gave Jed a quick kiss at the edge of his beard where his skin was soft and sensitive. And then he slipped around Jed and headed to his room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

JED

Jed was being tested. Truly. He’d never had this problem, the few times in his life when he’d kind of been seeing someone. He’d never found it overly difficult to put them out of his mind when they were apart.

Maybe it was because Remy was right down the hall from him. Or maybe—more likely—it was the sheer want in Remy’s eyes, the way he inhaled Jed like he could never get enough, that turned him inside out. Whatever it was, his self-composure was getting a workout.

It took him a long time to fall asleep, wondering if Remy had touched himself like Jed had asked. And then he’d woken up early, hard and aching and reaching out like he’d expected to find Remy in his bed. He forced himself to get up and push through an extra-long meditation and stretching session, and then he threw in a couple of miles on his treadmill for good measure.

By the time he came upstairs, Remy was standing by the counter, sleepily drinking his first cup of coffee out of Jed’s favorite mug. He knew it, too. He shot Jed a guilty glance and tightened his hand around it when Jed raised his eyebrows.

It was so damn cute that Jed just stopped and looked at Remy helplessly, feeling his lips twitch up in a smile almost against his will. Remy eyed him across the kitchen island like he had a few questions and didn’t know where to start. He was already dressed in a worn UVM hoodie and joggers, hair pulled back out of his face.

Jed wanted to reel him in and nuzzle his neck, but he wasn’t going to let all that willpower he’d expended not touching Remy last night go to waste. He settled for asking, “How’re you feeling this morning? Want me to drive Lily back to the airport?”

“My foot’s fine. My ribs are feeling a lot better, too. I can drive her.” Remy fiddled with one of the strings on his hoodie, like he had some nervous energy. “You must have stuff you want to do.”

“Only some e-mail and some more laundry. I let it pile up.”

“Okay, then. I’ll drive her while you take care of that.” Remy eyed Jed like he wanted to say more. But he finished his coffee and put the mug in the dishwasher before turning back around to Jed with his shoulders set and a determined look on his face.

“Look, I need to know what to expect. Like, when. I can’t—I mean, I can—I just—are you gonna make me wait all day again?”

Jed had never been with someone like this before, someone who asked out loud for what he wanted and made it so clear where he stood. Remy’s willingness to make himself vulnerable like that blew him away and turned him on like nothing else ever had.

For maybe the first time, he understood why some people did crazy, stupid things for sex, because he knew he’d do any crazy, stupid thing that Remy asked of him right now. And it was hard to think about anything other than making Remy feel that way, too.

Which is why the words that came out of his mouth were, “You’re doing so good, being patient,” because he thought he knew what would happen next.

He was right. Fuck, he loved that flush that was spreading across Remy’s cheeks and down his neck.

Jed was buzzing now. He didn’t want to wait to see Remy laid out naked on his bed where he could take his time learning how far that flush spread and what it would take to make Remy burn up all over.