Page 25 of The Fall Fix Up

Before Aiden’s head could catch up, a phone pinged loudly, sucking the air out of the room.

Janae took a step back. She turned away, grabbing a towel to dry her hands before reaching for her phone. Aiden looked down and realized he only had one dish left to rinse. He did it quickly before looking for another towel. When Janae held out the one she had used, he took it gingerly, shivering slightly when their fingers brushed again.

“I need to make a phone call, but we should sit and have dinner together again soon.” She looked up at him. “It’s nice to relax with someone as easy to talk to as you.”

“Yeah,” he breathed out. “I’d like that.”

Janae stepped away then, throwing him a final soft smile before heading to the living room. Aiden took a few centering breaths before deciding to make his escape. It wasn’t until he was safely in his room, behind a closed door, that he looked down at himself in annoyance.

“Fucking hell.” Getting hard in front of someone he liked wasn’t a new experience, but it was one he was usually good about combatting. Being a little turned on was one thing. But getting chubbed up while in front of a woman he liked when they weren’t even kissing? That was new enough to be concerning. Thankfully, Janae hadn’t noticed.

Aiden needed a moment to himself. With a groan, he made his way to his bed and dropped down onto it.

“This is ridiculous,” he whispered as he cupped his dick. “I can just ignore it. I’m an adult.” As if to push back against that assertion, his dick kicked, making him hiss. He groaned before freezing. He strained his hearing to make sure Janae wasn’t near. When he didn’t hear anything else, he unzipped his pants and glared down at his dick.

“We are not making this a habit.” He dragged a hand down his face with a soft groan. This was not a path he should be on. Janae was his roommate. He wasn’t even sure if they could fully be called friends yet. His body clearly refused to get that memo. If anything, his dick hardened further as he remembered how she’d looked when she laughed and how soft the brush of her fingers were when they passed the plates between them.

He shifted on the bed, not bothering to curb the direction of his thoughts. It was pointless now. He was fully hard, dick pressing against the fabric of his jeans, demanding attention. He shut his eyes as he squeezed himself, breathing hard as spikes of pleasure skittered over his skin. He was ready to follow his wayward thoughts when he was startled by a shout and a loud thud coming from next door, followed by the unmistakable sound of water hitting tile. But the gush of it sounded too harsh to be normal.

Aiden was up and off the bed, buttoning his jeans, by the time he realized Janae was shouting his name. His heart slammed into overdrive as he yanked open his bedroom door and rushed into the hallway.

“Janae?” he called out, sliding to a stop in the bathroom doorway. “Are you okay?”

“No,” she said, her voice high and panicked. “The water—I don’t know what happened.”

Aiden saw it then. There was water starting to pool on the bathroom floor. When he looked up, he saw Janae, still in her clothes thankfully, but soaked to the bone as water rushed over her. She clutched the useless shower curtain in one hand as she tried—and failed—to turn the water off with the other.

“I don’t know why,” she shouted, voice muffled over the sound of gushing water. “I just turned it and it came off and started spraying everywhere.”

“It’s okay,” he said, raising his voice so she could hear him over the noise. Aiden stepped in, ignoring the water on the floor. His brain was flipped into fix-it mode as he took stock of the situation. He reached then, ignoring the sting of water. “I got it. Don’t move. I don’t want you to slip.”

Janae nodded, but when she started to shiver under the onslaught, Aiden cursed inwardly and moved a bit quicker. He twisted the valve, gritting his teeth when the fixture protested. With a grunt, he finally brought it to heel, and the shower sputtered before going silent save for a few dripping echoes and his own panting breaths. When he straightened, he huffed out a breath.

“Okay. So, maybe next is upgrading the fixtures in here,” he said.

Janae looked at him for a moment, water droplets sliding down her cheek. After a moment, she let out a shaky-sounding laugh. “I’m so glad you’re here. If that happened and I was alone, I probably would have drowned.”

Aiden chuckled to hide the fact that his cheeks were warm at her words. “Well, I’m glad I was here too, because I definitely don’t want you drowning.” He forced himself to look at the state of the bathroom. “But the bathroom is—”

His words choked to a stop when he looked back at her and realized the precarious position he was in. Janae was wiping away the water clinging to her face, but that left him staring at her shirt. A shirt that was now damn near translucent after being soaked through. The fabric clung to her skin, showcasing curves that he’d tried his best to ignore. It had been easier to do that when she was in sweats, but now with the lines of her body on clear display, Aiden was confronted with just how attractive Janae was.

“Fuck,” he bit out as his brain misfired. When she glanced up at him, he turned too fast, not wanting her to catch the expression on his face. Any other time or place and he might have been able to make a clean getaway. But the floor beneath them was slick with water, and the socks on his feet were waterlogged, leaving him almost skating on ice. He felt himself jerk in place before he realized what was occurring.

“Watch out,” Janae shouted. She grabbed for him at the same time he shot his arm out to catch himself against the sink. Neither of them were successful in stopping what had already started and they went down together in a heap of tangled limbs.

Aiden’s breath rushed out of him and pain radiated from his back. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself on his arms, saving himself from a concussion. But when he realized the weight on him wasn’t just his crushing embarrassment, his eyes widened.

“Oh, shit. I am so sorry.”

Janae was above him, or rather on top of him. She’d fallen too, her knees on either side of his hips, her hands splayed out on his chest. She shifted, her fingers brushing over one of his nipples, knocking the breath from his chest. He wheezed to keep from moaning, suddenly remembering what he had been doing before he came to her rescue.

He hazarded a glance up at Janae and stiffened when water dripped from her nose onto his collarbone. Her dark eyes were wide and locked on his. This close, he could see the softness of her lips and feel her breath as it washed over him. The world narrowed to the lack of space between their bodies and the heat of her pressed against him. When she shivered, pressing into him, he swallowed hard.

“Oh, my gosh,” she breathed out. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s . . .” He trailed off when she shifted. “Are you okay?”

Janae looked at him like he’d asked a ridiculous question. “Am I okay?” Her voice was breathy and not doing anything for his dwindling self-control. “Are you okay? I fell on you.”