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Shaking, I hurried to my suite. I cleaned myself out the best I could with the removable showerhead before scrubbing the rest of my body. At least I kept myself waxed for personal preferences regardless of my celibacy, which Drake had already seen. Did he like it?
He’d groaned enough over my scent and taste, so I had to assume he held no complaints over my hairless groin.
I should have eaten more, I realized as tremors continued to plague me, probably from low blood sugar. Dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, I hightailed it for the stairwell regardless of my weakness, quickly losing my breath even though I walked on a treadmill three times a week.
My pulse thrummed in my ears as I exited the stairwell onto Drake’s floor. A quick glance at the wall directly ahead showed me with golden arrows which way I needed to go. Left.
1650… 1652…
I stopped in front of his room and wiped my hands down my sweats. “I’ve got this,” I whispered to myself.
What I’d wanted since I was a young teen lay within my grasp, and every inch of me trembled from fatigue, adrenaline crash, and heady desire for what I was about to do.
Nothing was going to stop what fate had finally gifted me.
Chapter 15
Drake
I’d kept my focus on Preston throughout the long moments after our rescue. He’d been pale, flushing when our gazes met but back to seemingly weak and exhausted seconds after he would glance away as he always did after making eye contact with me.
His timidity broke my heart, as did the bond between us screaming for the right of visibility.
I wanted to wrap him in my arms, assure him that no one knew what we’d been up to, that things would eventually calm down, and he would once more be in privacy where we could act on our desire for one another.
First, I would love him. Give him what we both craved. And I would cuddle him, lavish my pent-up affection on him until he passed out and snored in my embrace.
He ate only enough to sustain him until morning, and all it had taken was Jacqueline’s starting to rant about suing The Bloomberg for me to draw the line. I’d had it—with the entire affair and how she’d clung to him like she suddenly remembered she had a child when she’d ignored him the whole time I’d lived with them.
Sure, sometimes it took almost losing what you loved to remind you that you had feelings for that person, but her actions still pissed me off. Probably because she had the freedom to touch him while I didn’t. Fucking jealousy could choke on a dick and not in the fun way.
Dad backed me up about getting rest, eyeing me a little strangely while doing so. Had he noticed the hint of beard burn around Preston’s mouth? Jacqueline hadn’t, or she wouldn’t have been so damned lovey-dovey with him.
Knowing Dad wouldn’t say shit until we had a moment’s privacy, I’d pushed to end the evening.
Preston had the balls to ride in an elevator again. I’d been sure he’d jump on the change of room Jacqueline offered to get for him so he could just take the stairs. But remembering the plans we’d made, three flights rather than sixteen would be worth the agony of being enclosed in another elevator. Without a second of privacy to insist on going to his room, I had to keep my fingers crossed he showed up.
I stood as close to his side as I dared, hoping my energy and warmth would give him the strength he needed not to panic.
He’d handled the elevator ride like a pro, but watching him turning his back on me—fucking walking away—stung like a bitch. Was that how I’d made him feel five years earlier? Even expecting he would be in my arms within the hour, I couldn’t stand the pain of him leaving me for a minute now that I’d gotten a taste of him.
Being separated from Preston was worse than any laceration or injury I’d sustained on the gridiron. There was no way we could only have tonight. Depending on Jacqueline’s plans, maybe I could talk him into a second night of sneaking around with each other.
Hell—Jacqueline never visited Boston. How would she know if we continued to hook up after returning home?
Hope sprang to life in my chest with a luscious ache, and I clung to the feeling, desperate for his agreement.
But first, tonight.
“Goodnight, son,” Dad said as I slipped past them onto the sixteenth floor. “I hope you get some rest.”
Jacqueline didn’t murmur a word to me or inquire about the obvious suggestion in Dad’s voice.
He fucking knew.
Had to with how I’d been unable to keep my gaze off my stepbrother. At least Jacqueline had been too wrapped up in her son to see how I stared at him with all the want in the world radiating from my eyes.
Same as with my sexual orientation, I trusted Dad with my secrets.
