17. John

CHAPTER 17

JOHN

The following morning, I slipped out of bed and left Brent sleeping. I didn't remember him being such an octopus in his sleep, but I wasn't complaining. Normally I didn't care to be touched when I slept. But it was different with him. Even if I had to contort my body like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible dodging all those laser beams just to get out of bed. I even turned the pillows so that if he rolled back over, he'd have something to hug.

It all boiled down to no matter how clingy he was, I loved the feel of him in my arms, and how his squirming all night left his Joe Malone all over my skin. If I didn't think he'd flip the fuck out and run, I'd tell him how I really felt with all the words. But I knew the best plan of action was to let him come to the conclusion we belonged together on his own.

I slipped out of his room and headed to mine for some shorts. Brent had been exhausted last night after his massage and collapsed into bed. So when he woke up, I wanted to have breakfast ready for him.

I'd just turned the coffeemaker on when I got a glimpse of him heading toward the kitchen. Clad in only workout shorts, his eyes were barely open as he scrubbed his hands over his face. My eyes trailed down his chest before I turned away.

"Morning," he said. His arms slid around my torso, bringing his bare chest to my bare back. He leaned his chin on my shoulder as he pulled me closer. It was exactly the reaction I'd been hoping for.

"Morning, sweetheart." I tried not to give myself away.

"Whatcha doing?"

I smiled and turned so he was in my arms. "I was going to make you breakfast, but we don't have much to work with. Do you guys ever cook?"

"If by cook you mean heat up a frozen dinner, then no. We eat out."

"We need to fix that. How about I take you to breakfast then we head to buy some groceries."

Brent smiled. "You know how to cook?"

"I do. And I'm going to cook for us tomorrow. We've got that dinner tonight."

He leaned in and kissed my chin. "I think I owe you something this morning."

I kissed the tip of his nose. "No, you don't. Last night wasn't about that. It was me taking care of you."

"But I'm supposed to take care of your needs for the next ninety days."

I ran my right hand across his cheek before curling my fingers around the back of his neck. With my left arm holding him to my chest, I took a little chance.

"Brent, I enjoy taking care of you and having someone I care about in my life. I'm a protector and a caregiver."

He stared into my eyes, confusion still there. "What have I done to make you care about me, John? My own parents could give a shit anymore."

I leaned in and kissed him sweetly. "We're like peanut butter and jelly, you and me. We're good alone, but when put together, it's a perfect pair. You're addicting like sugar and I'm the savory balance to your sweetness. Jelly may run, but the peanut butter isn't going anywhere. We're meant for one another. You just have to let me get onto the bread."

I kissed his cheek as he took a deep breath. His chest rose and fell a little more quickly than normal. I hope I hadn't sent him into panic mode.

"What if my brand of jelly doesn't go well with your peanut butter?"

Smiling, I humored him with a response I knew the hurt young boy in him could live with. "The peanut butter and the jelly have a ninety-day return policy. If for some reason the jelly and the peanut butter don't work together, they can be returned. But the peanut butter wouldn't be the same without his favorite jelly."

A smile crept across his handsome face. "Okay. I can try to do this for ninety days."

I grinned and nodded. "Deal. But I might lose the receipt."

And I pulled his mouth to mine as he melted into me.

"This is going to be so much fun," Brent mused, rubbing his hands together like some kind of movie villain. We were early for the party, so I knew I had time to grill him.

"Why?" I asked, warily. "What have you done?"

He looked over at me. "Why do you assume that I've done something bad? Is the trust in our relationship already waning, Mr. Peanut Butter?"

I laughed at his put-out expression. "I know you, sweetheart. You will do anything to get a laugh. It's one of your superpowers. So what the fuck have you done? I need to be prepared."

Brent leaned back and looked at himself in the mirror in the visor. "I might have arranged for some surprise entertainment. I owe Daredevil a payback for sending you to the coffee shop. Especially when you used the special shampoo I'd made for him."

"But that worked out well in the end with you on my cock. Why do you need to get him back?"

He looked over at me with a devious grin. "Because it's my turn. And it's what we do."

I groaned and reached for the door handle. "You're gonna make me have to peel Dare off you, aren't you? I should have worn something different."

Brent caught my forearm before we got out of the car. "Relax. It'll be fine. And you look hot as fuck and smell even better. I just want to lick you all over."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't start something you can't finish and make me hard before we go into a room full of people."

He snickered. "Okay, fine. But I'll make it up to you tonight when we get home."

Brent wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, but I could see something else lingering there. Something he thought he could hide from me.

"What's on your mind?"

He nervously tapped his fingers over his lips. "I don't want to tell anyone about us for a while. Just don't want to look like a failure if this ends."

I knew I still had a lot of work to do with him despite his words earlier. But I gave him the assurance he needed. "I won't mention anything if you don't."

I refused to acknowledge his decree of the relationship failure part of his request.

"Okay," he sighed in relief.

I ignored it and got out of the car. My instinct was to reach for his hand, but I shoved it in my pocket instead. There would be a day when we didn't have to think about it. We'd just hold on to each other the way we were meant to.

When we walked into Bernardo's, we were met by the hostess who pointed us into the dining room. I didn't recognize many of the people in the room other than my teammates and Aidan, but I was sure that would change. Half of them were very big men that I assumed were from Greer's team.

"Hey, Commander, glad you could make it." GQ held out his hand for me to shake.

"Thank you for the invite."

"Let me introduce you to everyone, Commander," Dominick said. "Most of these guys are my teammates and their husbands."

I nodded as Brent put his hand on my shoulder. "What do you want from the bar?"

"Scotch and soda, please," I replied with a smile. Brent grinned at me before he realized what the fuck he was doing. I raised my brows and smiled.

"I'll be back," he said, moving away.

I watched for a moment, then turned back to Dominick. "Sorry."

"No. I'm glad he's playing nicely with others."

I chuckled and nodded. "That's to be determined."

Dominick motioned me forward and introduced me to Jackson Kincaid and his husband Simon. "Jackson is the reason I'm the kicker. Without his relentless efforts to find me a job on the team, I'd probably still be the water boy."

Simon smiled up at his husband. "That's just the way he is."

Dominick continued to introduce me to his friends until GQ interrupted the conversations in the room.

"The newlyweds are here!"

One look at Daredevil and Greer caused whistles and catcalls to fill the room. I'd never seen Daredevil smile like that before, but when he raised their clasped hands into the air, I saw the true happiness written all over his face.

I looked around for my ray of sunshine as he made his way across the room with our drinks.

"They look really fucking happy," he said, looking at them as he handed my drink to me.

Turning my gaze from him back to our teammate, I had to agree. "That they do."

We sipped our cocktails as GQ approached Greer and Daredevil carrying two glasses of wine. The conversation around us was low enough that we could hear them.

"It's good to see both of you happy. Makes me proud that I could play a part in that," GQ grinned.

"Under different circumstances, I'd bust your balls for that GQ. But this time, I have to admit you were right." Dare held out his hand to shake.

GQ was obviously proud of himself. "Can I get that in writing?"

"Maybe you should add matchmaking to the list of services you guys offer," Dominick added. "Dreamboat's the only one who isn't partnered up now."

Brent spit his drink out and started to cough. I patted him on the back, trying to keep the smirk off my face.

Daredevil snorted. "Yeah, we'll see."

Jesse looked at him like he already knew, then looked over to wink at me. Fucking hell.

It was amusing to watch this bunch together. They hovered around talking, and when one of the players put his hand on Greer's shoulder, I leaned to Brent. "Who is that?"

"You don't recognize him? Heisman Trophy winner Declan Miller? He's the running back."

I held up my hand. "Okay, super fan. I don't memorize the roster. I'm from San Diego. Ask me about those guys."

Brent rolled his eyes at me in faux disgust.

"How's married life treating you?," Declan asked Greer. "You know we're all going to need this story, right, boss? We had no idea you swung our way."

Declan grunted, then looked at the blond guy who had to be his husband. "Babe, why are you being mean to me?"

The guy sighed. "I swear to God we can't take you anywhere. It's none of our business."

"Oh yes, it is," Marcus added. I knew him. "We need the deets, boss man. We all thought you were sweet on Dr. Sanchez."

Greer's face turned red. "Um. Well. I do care for Eliana. Like a sister. She's a good friend. Not like my sister, but a nice sister."

Austin barked out a laugh, catching everyone by surprise. "All you gents need to know is I am a very lucky man." He leaned down to kiss his new husband squarely on the mouth, making Greer's cheeks heat again.

I'd been waiting for Brent to add his two cents' worth. "You aren't getting out of the story, Dare. We all want to know what happened to send you two down the aisle within a week."

He stepped forward and shook his hips like he did on the dance floor. "Bow chicka wow wow."

Holy hell. I reached forward and wrapped my arm around his shoulders to pull him back to me. "Settle down, lover boy."

"Oh, good!" Phantom added from across the room. "Your keeper is here."

Everyone laughed as Brent flipped him off. And much to my happiness, he didn't step out of my hold until it was time to sit down. The smile didn't leave my face for a long damn time.

Later, when the strippers showed up, I knew exactly what he'd done.