14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Andy

What started out as a laid-back shift had quickly turned into chaos. We'd had call after call with barely any sleep at all. Shifts like that were rare here in Vesper, but when they happened, they were brutal.

Which was why, when Jesse showed up to get me, I was glad he'd been so insistent he was the one to pick me up. Any one of the crew at the station would've given me a ride, but it would have been out of their way, and we were all beat.

I grabbed my bag and stumbled out to Jesse's truck, using the oh-shit bar to drag myself in.

"Rough shift?" Jesse asked.

"You have no idea."

"Well, I was going to offer to take you out for breakfast, but now I'm thinking I should just get you home."

"Home sounds really, really good, but bed sounds even better." I paused, realizing what I'd said. "And I didn't mean that in a fun way if that doesn't tell you how tired I am."

A smile tweaked at his lips. "Well then, let's get you to the house."

The drive took about ten minutes, and I fought to stay awake the whole time. It wasn't just the lack of sleep but also the adrenaline crash from the last call we'd had. It had been a structure fire in the middle of the night, and we hadn't known for sure if anyone was home or not. They had a sticker on one second-story window indicating that it was a child's room, but the fire was too advanced for us to get there. By the time a neighbor informed us that the family was out of town and no one was home, we'd all been sure we'd been too late to save someone's child.

The absolute fatigue must have shown on my face because as soon as we were inside the house, Jesse turned to me and asked, "Do you want to eat first or just crash?"

"I need to feed Seph before I do anything else." I scratched her behind her ears. "We can't have her going hungry cause I'm tired."

"I already fed her, so you're good."

"Okay, thanks. Then I vote sleep first." I yawned, and I flopped down on the couch, my head falling back against the cushion. It wasn't my bed, but right now, it would do.

At least that's what I thought until I felt someone hovering over me. I slowly opened my eyes to find Jesse standing there. "You need good sleep, and you're not going to get it on the couch. Come with me."

He held out his hand to help me up, and I looked at it for a second.

"I feel like I should protest or something, but I'm just way too tired to argue right now." I took his hand, letting him pull me up.

"That would be a first." He laughed and led me down the hall into his room. He walked over and pulled the blinds closed, and the room went pitch dark.

"I love how dark it is in here," I mumbled as I fell backwards onto the bed.

"Yeah, I realized pretty quickly that working until two in the morning meant needing to sleep when it was daylight out, so I invested in the best room-darkening blinds and drapes I could find."

"Crap, that's right. You should probably be sleeping now, shouldn't you?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I was home at a decent hour last night, so I was able to get some sleep."

"Still, a nap wouldn't hurt you, would it? I'm super tired since we basically got no sleep last night at the station, but I bet I would sleep better this morning if you were with me. I know it helped me the other night."

Okay, so that was probably a low blow, appealing to his caregiver nature like that when he wasn't even mine, but the idea of snuggling up next to a strong warm body while I got a few hours of sleep sounded way too good to pass up.

He looked at me for a minute like he was trying to decide what to do, but finally, he nodded. "I'll stay in here with you until you fall asleep."

"Thank you." At least he'd agreed to nap with me. I was a snuggle slut in a big way. I'd survived the last year with random Grindr hook-ups, and they weren't exactly big on snuggling. Sleeping next to him Tuesday night reminded me how much I missed it.

"Don't let me sleep past noon. If I do, I won't sleep tonight."

"That's only a few hours. Are you sure it's enough?"

"It will be." I stripped off my shirt and crawled under the covers. "I learned early on that if I slept all day the day I got off, I would get my days and nights all mixed up, and then I wouldn't be able to enjoy my days off in between shifts."

"I'm the same way. Of course it isn't as bad now since we have managers we trust, but when we first opened, Vic and I were there every night until close, so we both mostly slept during the day. Now I try to leave at a decent hour most nights, so I only sleep half the morning away." He got in the bed as well, but to my disappointment, he left his shirt on.

"Yeah, Vic's the same." I yawned again and shifted a little, trying to get comfortable. I was all the way on my side when what I wanted was some cuddles, but I didn't want to push my luck.

"I thought you wanted me to nap with you. So what are you doing all the way over there?" Jesse asked.

That was what I wanted to hear. I quickly scooted over to him and snuggled in close, using his chest as a pillow, just like I had the night of the fire. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my temple. "Go to sleep, sweet boy. We have a big day ahead."

Jesse

I hadn't actually planned on going to sleep, but it was a good thing I'd thought to set an alarm on my phone just in case because the next thing I knew, it was time to get up.

I rolled over and looked at Andy laying there still asleep. I understood that he was a kick-ass firefighter, and that meant he was a pretty tough guy, but in that moment, he didn't look tough at all. He looked exactly like what he was, a boy who needed a Daddy to be his safe place after a hard day, and damn, I wanted to be that for him.

I knew he said he wanted to get up at noon, but he'd been so tired that I was tempted to let him sleep a little longer. Although, I'd promised to wake him up so that's what I would do.

I ran my hand up and down his arm. "Hey," I said softly. "Andy, it's time to wake up."

He sniffed and snuggled in a little bit closer. "Mmm," he said before letting out a breath and settling back in.

I reminded myself that I was only doing this because he'd insisted. I wasn't actually a mean person.

"Andy, sweetie, you need to wake up." I gave his arm a little shake, and he inhaled deeply and then shook his head, eyes squeezed tight.

"But I don't wanna wake up. I'm comfy."

"I know, but we need to go look at cars today, remember."

He sighed and opened one eye. "It could wait until tomorrow."

"Or we could go today. Come on and get up, and I'll fix you a big breakfast."

He opened his other eye and looked at me hopefully. "Can you make french toast?"

"I can."

"With strawberries?"

"I don't have any strawberries, but I'll get some for next time. I do have blueberries, though."

"Fine. I'll get up."

He looked up at me and I found myself staring into a pair of dark brown eyes that were so beautiful I lost my breath for a second. His tongue darted to moisten his lips, and I just couldn't resist. I leaned towards him slowly, giving him plenty of time to pull back, but he didn't.

His eyes fluttered shut just as our lips were about to meet. I cupped the side of his face with my hand and gently caressed his cheek with my thumb, and then our lips touched, tentatively at first, like the delicate brush of a feather.

That was all I'd planned to do, but the kiss quickly deepened, becoming more desperate, our mouths moving together with a growing sense of urgency.

His mouth was warm and insistent, exploring mine with a hunger that fed my own. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer.

I'd known I was hard as a rock, but when he rocked against me, and I felt his erection press against mine, just exactly what we were doing here hit me. If we were going to do this, and believe me, we were, we needed to talk first.

I pulled back, drawing in a breath. "I've wanted to do that ever since that first morning on the camping. trip."

"Fuck, me, too," he said, still slightly breathless.

"Okay, we need to get up now because if we don't, I'm not letting you out of this bed."

"I'm okay with that," he said, sliding his hand slowly down my chest.

I grabbed his wrist, stopping the downward motion. "I bet you are, but we need to talk before we go any further, and I need to feed you."

"Yeah, you do, but we don't have to get up for you to feed me what I really want."

I chuckled and slapped him on the ass. "French toast, remember. Now get your ass up, brat. We got some talking to do."

"Sigh, fine, I liked my idea much better, but if you insist on cooking for me, I won't argue."

"Good boy. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll meet you in the kitchen. There's a computer on the bar if you want to start car shopping while I cook."

"I should probably throw the ball for Seph for a little bit first. She gets lonely when I'm on shift."

"I bet she does, but we hung out quite a bit. I even took her for a walk. She's really well trained."

"I'm sure she loved that. Her favorite is to go on a run."

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "I'll leave the running to you. I'm more of a weights kind of guy."

He ran his eyes up and down my body and grinned. "I believe that."

"Go," I said firmly before I gave in and pulled him back into the bed.

He laughed and left the room, calling for his dog as he went.