Tex (Hell's Ankhor #5) - Aiden Bates Page 0,74

then grabbed the soap and began casually running it over himself. Like this was something we did all the time—shower and chat in the morning. “What’s up?”

I fiddled with the shampoo and began to work it through my hair, mostly for something to do with my hands. Even though Tex looked relaxed, and clear-eyed, and generally not regretful, I still had to be sure. I couldn’t go into this blind or uncertain. What if he didn’t regret it—but he wanted something casual?

Because this wasn’t casual for me. It never had been, and it never could be. “It’s just—are you okay?”

He furrowed his brow. “Should I not be?”

I prodded him in the chest. “You kind of made a big deal about being straight. And what we did last night was—not so straight.”

Tex grinned a little sheepishly as he ran the soap over his chest. “Right. I mean—I was surprised. With what I felt.” He paused. “What I feel. I wasn’t lying that I’ve never been interested in men before.”

I nodded in what I hoped was an encouraging way, trying not to hope or panic too much.

“And honestly,” Tex said, as a flush spread from his cheeks down to his freckled chest, though it could’ve just been from the heat of the water. “I’m still not. I don’t see other guys and think, goddamn, look at that piece, you know?”

I rolled my eyes. “You think I do?”

“Uh, yeah, I’ve seen you do that.”

Okay, so maybe he’d seen me check out dudes at bars or on the beach a time or two. I snatched the bar of soap from his hand in retribution. Tex snatched it back with a grin, and then gripped my shoulders and turned me around and began to run the bar over the width of my shoulders.

“It’s just you,” he admitted quietly. “I only feel that way about you.”

I closed my eyes and tried to focus only on the sensation of his hands on my shoulders so I didn’t blurt out something stupid that Tex wasn’t ready to hear. I took a deep breath.

“You don’t have to label yourself,” I said instead. “You can just be want who you want. As long as you’re sure about that part, that’s all that matters.”

Tex hummed thoughtfully behind me. His hands paused, and he shifted a little closer. Maybe I was imagining it, but something about him seemed a little more relaxed, a little more open. He set the bar of soap aside and worked his hands over the tense muscles in my shoulders as the water rinsed away the suds.

He kissed my neck. “This is all still new for me,” he admitted, his voice close to my ear.

“What do you want?” I asked, trying to tamp down the flare of anxiety in my chest as I asked. “From this.”

After a long pause, Tex said, “I want to see where it goes.”

“That’s nice and vague.”

He flicked my shoulder affectionately. “I mean—I want this. I want to be with you.”

“A relationship,” I clarified tentatively, as the anxiety inside me unwound into something that felt a little like hope.

“Right,” Tex said. “A relationship.”

“All right,” I said. “We can do that.”

“Don’t sound too excited,” Tex muttered.

Affection flooded me, and I couldn’t suppress my surprised bark of laughter. “What, need me to throw myself at you?”

“What if I do?” Tex teased back.

I turned my head enough to capture his lips in a kiss again. This one was deeper, hotter than the previous ones, with a sharp edge of teeth. Tex walked me forward, out of the spray, and pushed me up against the tile. I shivered at the sudden coolness against my wet skin, but Tex’s body against my back quickly warmed me up again. He kissed my neck again, and then dragged his lips down to the curve of my shoulder, then to the center of my back. He fit his hands at my waist and gripped tightly, keeping me pinned to the wall.

God, it felt good being manhandled a little. I loved feeling the easy strength in Tex’s hands as he maneuvered me, and his mouth was white-hot dragging across my skin.

“Love this fucking tattoo,” he said between kisses.

I reached back to grab his hip and tug him closer to me. His cock was burning hot and hard where it pressed into my lower back. The sensation sparked a hot curl of arousal in my gut, and I was quickly just as hard, my cock hanging hot and neglected between my legs.

“Got it because