I thought my n-n-name was Fucking Moron, or Big Dummy. She made sure I knew every fucking day of my life that I was n-n-nothing and no one.”
His skin reddened, his face a mask of rage and humiliation.
“And this f-f-fucking stutter,” he seethed. “Are you listening to it, Thea? Is this the shit you want t-t-to hear?”
“Yes,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks and my voice quavering. “Yes, I want to hear it.”
“It’s fucking pathetic.”
“It’s not. It’s what happened to you and it matters.”
“Yeah, it happened, Thea,” he said, breathing heavily, in and out. “You wanted to know what it was like? That’s what it was like. That’s what I know. That’s life.”
“So is this,” I whispered. “You and me. Right here. Now.”
He stared at me and my heart broke for him, ached for him. Yet it filled with a fierce pride that he had endured all that he had and didn’t let it turn him rotten. He was still a good man.
The best kind. He deserves everything.
I moved in. My hands holding his face, my forehead pressed to his. His eyes fell shut.
“I’m going to fuck it up,” he said hoarsely. “Or your meds are going to fail.”
“Neither of those things is going to happen,” I said. “Or they both might. Or maybe I’ll fuck us up with one too many bad jokes. But we can’t live waiting around for that.”
He pulled back enough to hold me with his hands and his gaze. “I’ve never had anything as good as this.”
“Neither have I,” I said. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Ever.” I kissed him once. Twice. “I’m scared too. But let me…”
Love you.
“… take care of you.”
I kissed his lips. Each corner of his mouth.
“Please, let me. Let me be there for you the same way you’ve been there for me. You brought me back to life.”
“God, Thea.” He kissed me between words. “You’re doing the same.”
His hands came up, one in my hair, the other at the small of my back. Pressing me to him. I felt the need in him ignite under mine that roamed his back, his neck, his hair.
“We’ll take care of each other.” My head fell back as his mouth moved over my neck. “No matter what happens.”
His arms around my waist tightened. I took his strong, chiseled jaw in my hands and kissed him slow and deep, giving him everything. Sealing a promise to him.
He made a sound, deep in his chest, and then his kiss turned hard and biting. I whimpered into at the flush of heat that surged through me. Again and again, he took my mouth with his magnetic, sucking pull that made me dizzy and delirious. He stripped me out of my shirt. I tugged his over his head.
“Shower,” I murmured as his hands roamed me. “I want you in the shower. Like the rain of our first night…”
We moved to the bathroom, stripping each other of clothes as we went. I turned on the water, and we stood under the stream, skin to skin, wrapped tightly in each other. I felt his cock between my legs, huge and hard, but I forced myself to slip out of his embrace.
“I’m going to take care of you,” I said. “Right now.”
I moved behind Jimmy, ran soap over his broad back. He tolerated it for a minute, then turned, reached for me again. I gave him one brazen kiss—all tongue and teeth—while my hands indulged in the planes of his chest, the ridges of his abdomen, moving downward.
“Thea…”
I dropped to my knees and took him in my mouth while I stroked the immense, hard length of him.
He groaned. “Ah, fuck…”
The water fell over us, warm and clean. I tasted every inch of his cock with my tongue, then took him deep. His hand smacked the tile above me, bracing himself, and the sound spurred me on. I wanted his release for myself. Greedy for every sound, every low moan. He found my hair, his fingers tangling.
“Harder,” I managed.
His hand tightened in my hair, pulling, holding me there.
Yes, oh God, that.
Jimmy tensed and then spilled his release into my mouth. I drank it down, sucking and stroking to take every last bit of it, because it was mine.
“Jesus, Thea.”
Jimmy’s head dropped, the water streaming across his face to rain over me. It ran in rivulets over the cut planes of his body, the muscles of his arms and shoulders. Sheer masculine perfection. His eyes opened and found mine. My