A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(105)

He leaned against the wall, folding his arms, and he watched me as I showered.

As I wet my hair. Shampooed my hair.

His gaze dipped low, moving up and down my body as I began rinsing the shampoo out, then applying some conditioner. After that, body wash, but he stepped in with me. His hands covered mine as I began to move the washcloth over my body, the body wash seeping out in bubbles.

No words were shared.

My whole body heated up, but I was still soothed at the same time.

I’d missed this from him.

I hadn’t realized that he did this to me. He made me feel okay. Protected. Loved. Just by being around me. I’d never gotten this from anyone before, and knew I wouldn’t again.

It was Trace for me. I wasn’t the type to open my heart for the next guy. There’d be no next guy. Trace got in, and that was an act of god by itself. As he began washing me, I reached for his boxer briefs and tugged them down. They dropped to the floor of the shower. He stepped out of them, but then his hands were circling me.

I was reaching for him.

His mouth found mine, and a few minutes later, he was pressing me against the wall and sliding inside of me. He held me as he pumped up into me. I held him back, our mouths tasting each other.

My mom would bitch about the water bill, but it was worth it.

Trace was worth it.





CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE


JESS


The whole house was clean. I’d gone through every room. Every shelf. Items were cleaned out, expired items were emptied, and the containers went into a recycling bin. Trace helped me. His shirt was wet from sweat by that afternoon, clinging to his very muscular and very ripped back, and I was starting to lose motivation about what we were doing.

Remembering the feel of him in the shower this morning, last night.

God. It was worse than it was before. I was just starting to feel how much I loved him, but it was full blazing by that evening. He helped with everything. Not one word bitching about it. He didn’t ask for anything. He saw what I was doing and moved to assist me.

“Don’t you have big bad Mafia stuff to do today?” I asked at one point, sitting back on my heels, my knees on the floor. I’d taken to scrubbing the kitchen floor because the grime between the tiles wasn’t coming out. He’d come to the doorway, seen what I was doing, and dropped down to use a washcloth on the other side of the kitchen.

He spared me a glance. “If you think I’m going to leave you when you’re terrified about seeing your mother again, you really have no clue what love means to me.” He paused. “It means being at your side in days like these.”

“If Ashton needed you—”

“I’m here. Stop trying to decide if you like me being here or if you want to chase me off. I’m not going to get scared off.”

My insides were all wobbly and bunched together. I gave him a shaky smile, reaching for my washcloth again. “I’m a bit of a mess.”

“I would be too. It’s fine. You can be a mess today.”

My smile wasn’t as wobbly. “Thank you.”

His eyes softened before he nodded. “I know you’re going to be pissed if you don’t scrub every inch of these tiles, so let’s get it done. Then we can move onto another impossible task before your mom shows up. I’m hoping we can clean up later too. Maybe another shower?” His eyebrows went up, and he flashed me a half grin.

We got back to work.





CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO


JESS


Headlights flashed through the house as a car turned into the driveway.

Jesus.

Fuck.

Christ.

I jumped up from where Trace had pulled me down to the couch, on his lap. Or more accurately, I leaped off of him. What were we doing?

Right. The house. Was everything okay? Cleaned?

It was. The place was sparkling, it was so clean. All the blankets were folded and put in the blanket basket she had in the corner. We’d cleaned out all of the empty booze bottles, and I meant all of them. There were a ton. Trace told me he’d scheduled a recycling and trash pickup specially for everything we’d sorted through today.

The house looked like it’d been given half of a renovation, it was that much of a change.

And dammit, I was almost shaking.

I could see her coming up the driveway. Bear was behind her, bringing her bags.

She’d gained weight. I turned to Trace, wondering if he saw that too. That was usually a good sign, weight gain. The skin would glow too. But he was watching me instead, and the love shining from him took my breath away.

I forgot, for just a moment, where we were. What was happening. It was him and me, and me feeling how he felt about me.

My lips parted, my whole body feeling like it was glowing instead, but then I heard the front porch squeak under someone’s weight.

They were coming in.

It was a matter of seconds now.

The key went into the lock.

I heard her say something to Bear but couldn’t make it out. The pounding in my ears muted everything else out, but the door was swinging open.

I moved to the middle of the living room, smoothed my hands down my pants. They were sweating.

She came inside and stopped. Her mouth parted as she took in the house. Her gaze went up, around, and slowly, so slowly, she found me.