Page 46 of Combust (Everyday Heroes 2)
“Thank you for the clothes last night.”
“It was either that or let you sleep naked. I thought you’d prefer the former.”
“It was very considerate. All of this is. You letting me stay here. Yo
u not telling Jett to get out, even though you should have. You pretending—”
“Not a problem.” He shifts his feet, and his eyes flicker to my T-shirt.
“Are we done here?” For some reason I follow his hand as he holds the towel together. But it isn’t his hand that wins my attention. It’s his dick, which is starting to fly half-mast against the thin piece of terrycloth.
“Yes. Sorry. I’ll let you go.” I snap my eyes up as his chuckle fills the room when he walks around me.
“Tonight I’ll make sure the window stays closed. That way you’re not so, uh, cold in the morning,” he says over his shoulder as he skirts past me and over to his dresser.
Cold?
It’s then that I look down to find my nipples hard and more than pressing against the fabric of his shirt.
With the buzz of coffee in our blood and the fresh air surrounding us, I’ve been able to shove down the tumult that Jett being here has caused and focus solely on the music.
If I keep my head down, if I don’t meet his eyes, if I don’t remember our past, I can keep this professional.
That’s a whole hell of a lot of if I’s and yet it’s what I need right now.
And so far it’s been successful since Jett and I have already powered through our second song of the morning.
It feels just like old times.
And yet nothing like it at all.
“I think we leave that one be, and we’ll polish it up when you come back next month,” Jett says as he flips the page of one of my notebooks and starts a fresh sheet.
“Next month?”
“Yeah. Didn’t Ava tell you?”
“I’m not coming back next month. More like two or three months.” More time away from you. But a call to Ava is needed and an explanation as to why she hasn’t told me any of this herself is required.
“Not going to happen. I told Callum you’d be there for the next scheduled studio time. In fact, he demanded it. It’s on the calendar so you better figure a way to get that cute ass of yours back to LA in time.”
“I’ll show up, but I’m not staying.”
“Yes, you will.”
“No, I won’t,” I groan. “Why is he so adamant I be there anyway?”
“He wants a progress report on what we have so far so they can direct us if they feel we’re off track on the vibe.”
“They what? Since when do they review the songs before they’re finished?” I’m trying not to get my hackles up here, but in all the time I’ve been writing for Excel, I’ve never had a babysitting meeting.
“Since you weren’t there and since I’m me.” He chuckles unapologetically like it’s funny when it’s anything but. “I had to promise. You know they have a lot riding on this release. With the state of the industry and singles selling far better than whole albums, they’re trying a new marketing scheme this time around. They want every song to be a hit.”
I look at him like he’s crazy. “Isn’t that always the goal?”
“Yeah, but you know what I mean. It’s a big—”
“You need anything, honey?” Grady asks as he walks onto the porch and presses a kiss to the top of my head. He leaves his lips there for a beat longer than the kiss lasts, and the warmth of his breath heating my scalp only serves to remind me of the heat of his body as he cuddled with me during the night.
