by M. A. Innes
Not wanting to drown myself by trying to have sex under the rainfall head again, I’d just turned on the regular head. It had a wide enough spray that, as long as we were close together, no one was standing out in the cold.
I moaned as the water started to beat down on me. Closing my eyes, I let the heat and water pound away at the remaining stress from the day. Noah chuckled. “You sound like the shower is the only thing you need to come.”
Smiling, I leaned into his touch as he wrapped his body around me and shook my head. “No, you are absolutely vital as well.”
Still finding me funny, I could hear the laughter in Noah’s voice as his hands started stroking over me. “I’m glad I’m that important. I’d hate to think all you needed in life to be happy was a hot shower and someone to order a pizza for you.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “I could always get one of those creepy listening things that will order pizza for me.”
He barked out a laugh, then ran his hand down my chest and wrapped his fingers gently around my cock. “But would it be able to do this for you?”
Moaning, I pressed myself against him and thrust my cock harder into his hand when his careful touch wasn’t enough. “Harder, damn it.”
More laughter rolled through him, but his fingers were still too gentle. “But I’m just here to wash you. Remember?”
My groan was filled with more frustration than desire when he slowly trailed his fingers back up my body. “You’re trying to kill me.”
He sounded entirely too pleased with himself as he chuckled. “I’m trying to help you relax.”
Noah’s body twisted against mine as he leaned down and kissed my neck. Letting his lips linger over my skin, he licked and kissed with a tender touch. “I want to help you relax. I want to take care of you.”
Love washed through me. I reached one hand back to wrap around him and gave him a tight half-hug. “I love you.”
His answer was another kiss. “Then let me take care of you.”
Nodding, because my throat was too tight to speak, I relaxed against him and tried to do my best to push away the need to rush and control. “Yes, baby. Thank you.”
I felt his body tighten, and he kissed my neck again. “Thank you. I love you.”
One arm moved away as he continued to caress me, and I heard the bottles on the ledge move around. When shampoo drizzled onto my head, the cool lotion had me shivering. Noah chuckled quietly which had me groaning in frustration, but as his free hand moved up to start working the soap through my hair, my sounds turned to pleasure as I started to moan.
For some reason, I always forgot how good it felt until he insisted on taking care of me again. Waves of tingling pleasure rolled through me, and I couldn’t help squirming against him. It was the perfect combination of tenderness and desire as he massaged my scalp.
When it was time to rinse my head, he turned me in his arms. Staying lax so he could steer me, I let him lean my head back. As the water beat down on my scalp, he skimmed his hand over my hair, working out the soap. The soft, soothing touch of his hands on me and the desire that kept teasing at me as his naked body caressed mine should have been at odds with each other, but instead, they combined into the perfect sensations.
By the time he was done with my hair and had pulled me back to rest against his chest, I was putty in his hands. When he brought the bath sponge he loved filled with body wash to my back, I found myself sighing.
I’d thought it was ridiculous the first time I’d seen him use one in the shower. I’d thought I’d hidden my surprise at seeing him grab it, but he’d just snorted and told me not to judge. When he’d shoved it in my hands and told me to try it, I’d had to quickly apologize. Noah had taught me more than anyone not to judge a book by its cover.
As he slowly dragged the soft sponge over me, I shivered as each touch only magnified the sensations running through me. When he turned me again so my back was pressed against his chest and started caressing my torso, I couldn’t help but reach down and start slowly jerking myself off.
Noah let me continue for a few minutes until he’d worked his way down to my dick. Gently nudging my hand away, he brought a soap-slicked hand to my erection and started slowly and thoroughly washing me.
As his fingers caressed and stroked, pleasure started to build until I was thrusting against him. The rocking motion only made things better as his hard cock ran over my crack and teased at my hole. When I started to shiver, the hand that had been holding me tightened so I was completely supported against him, and the hand that had been gently playing with my dick finally started to stroke me in earnest.
I moaned as my desire continued to mount and grow until all I wanted to do was come. Noah seemed to know right when my desperation was at its peak. Twisting his hand as he stroked my cock, he started teasing over the sensitive head. The change was just enough to push me over the edge.
I could hear myself crying out as my orgasm exploded through me, but it sounded far away. Cum shot out into the spray of the water as Noah continued to tease my dick and work every ounce of pleasure he could from me. When all I could do was lean against him and twitch as it all got to be too much, he finally released me and let the water clean away the remaining evidence of my pleasure.
I distantly heard Noah chuckle as he turned off the water and steered me out of the shower. As he dragged a towel over my wet skin, he cracked some kind of joke about sleepwalking and being too tired to function that didn’t make enough sense, but I smiled anyway because he was always funny.
After quickly running the towel over his own skin, he hung it up and gave me another one of his sweet smiles. Not understanding what he was thinking, I just smiled back and leaned into him. I’d figure it out once I got some pizza and possibly caffeine into me.
That would clear everything up.
Kissing me gently, Noah kept me pressed tight against him as he led us back into the bedroom. Instead of heading to the closet where my clothes were, we ended up at the bed. I must have looked confused because before I could find the words to question what he wanted, he pulled back the covers.
“You are going to relax for a few minutes until the pizza gets here.” He sounded so sure of himself I didn’t question him.
“Just a few minutes.” The bed looked too tempting to walk away from.
The last thing I remembered was his quiet laughter and the covers caressing over my still-naked skin as Noah pressed a kiss against my forehead.
Chapter 5
Noah
Tobias was nearly as nervous as I was. It was weird. It also made me question what he’d planned for us. In all my worry about my own plans, it hadn’t occurred to me to be worried about his.
We’d both been fairly normal when we’d woken up. He’d been a little fuzzy after sleeping so long and not eating dinner, but there’d been no signs of stress in the way he’d smiled at me. He might have complained about my tricking him and pouted that he’d been a terrible husband, but he hadn’t been worried.
As the day had gone on, that changed. For both of us.
Well, I’d been a nervous wreck from the moment I’d woken up, but I couldn’t figure out what his problem was. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask that without possibly opening myself up to the same scrutiny—and my nerves would not have held up under questioning.
A breakfast of cold pizza and coffee had started things off fairly well but hadn’t helped my slightly whirling stomach. Goofing off around the house and getting a few projects done filled the morning fairly uneventfully, but when lunch came around, I had to beg off because it probably wouldn’t have stayed down.
With dinner rapidly approaching and still not being sure how he would respond, I had a feeling I looked like a lunatic.
But Tobias seemed to be at the same level, so I felt a little better.
Thinking about that made me feel a little bad, though.
“Are you almost ready?” Tobias’s words had me jumping even though I should have seen him
in the bathroom mirror.
Straightening my tie, I tried to subtly take a deep breath before I answered. Nodding to buy time, I finally smiled. “Almost.”
I was more ready than I was letting on, but I felt like I needed a few more minutes to find my brain...and maybe my gumption, because I seemed to have lost it somewhere over the last couple of days.
“Are you sure I’m not overdressed?” The last couple of years we’d done nice restaurants, but nothing that would have required my best suit. It wasn’t quite a tux, but it was damned close. The fact that Tobias was wearing one of his nicest suits as well was good, but it felt like I was overdressed compared to what we’d done in the past.
But he’d been so damned insistent I hadn’t wanted to argue. The look on his face as he’d laid the suits out on the bed had been intent, like they had to be perfect.
His smile was genuine as he watched me in the mirror, but it was tinged with something that looked like worry. “Yes. You look incredible.”
“If you say so.”
I must have looked more worried than I thought because he came up behind me and ran his hands over my shoulders and down over the back of the coat. “Am I making you nervous?”
Lying wouldn’t have served a purpose, and besides, I was terrible at it, so I nodded. “Yes. Not knowing what we’re doing isn’t weird, but you seem worried.”
He gave a low chuckle and leaned his head against my back. “I’m just hoping I picked right. It’s...well, not conventional, so I’m not sure what you’re going to think.”
I froze.
If he ended up taking us somewhere kinky, I’d keel over dead.
“How different is it?” I couldn’t figure out how to ask what I was thinking, so I just did my best not to sound stupid.
I ended up sounding suspicious and slightly creeped out.
Tobias laughed, a genuine sound that made me smile in return. “Nothing freaky. Just...different for Valentine’s Day.”
Hmm, not helpful.
“If I ended up getting all trussed up so you could take us to McDonald’s, I might have an issue with that.” Then I started to worry. “The place wouldn’t matter, just the suit.”
Still laughing, Tobias hugged me. “No McDonald’s, but the food could go either way.”
That sounded odd. “You don’t know how the food will be? Weren’t there reviews you could read?”
Tobias’s laughter sounded a bit strangled. “Um, not really.”
Weird.
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head, slightly frustrated. “I’m going to stop asking questions because the answers are leaving me more confused than when I started off.”
Tobias seemed to be trying to get himself under control because I heard him take a deep breath and cough several times before he pulled away enough for me to turn around. He looked guilty about something.
“I’m not going to ask what you’ve done, but don’t think you’re pulling a fast one.”
Tobias’s eyes widened, and he gave me a sweet, completely fake smile. “Would I try to do something like that?”
It was my turn to laugh. “In a heartbeat, if you thought it was best for me or completely hilarious.”
He gave a careless shrug and grinned. “Maybe. But you’d love me anyway.”
I leaned in and kissed him slowly. “I’ll always love you.”
His smile was sweet and tender as I pulled away. He reached up and cupped my cheek. “I know.”
“Then we don’t have anything to worry about.” I leaned into his touch. “It’s just Valentine’s Day. This is supposed to be fun and romantic.”
Tobias chuckled. “Your idea of fun is interesting sometimes.”
I’d have argued about that, but he was right.
“Sometimes it works out.” I was desperately hoping this would be one of those times.
He nodded slowly, still caressing my cheek. “You’re right.”
Wrapping his arms around me, he kissed me tenderly. “Do you have something fun picked out for us to do later?”
That was the million-dollar question. “Maybe. I have something I want to show you, but it will be up to you if we actually try it.”
Tobias’s eyes narrowed as he turned the words over in his brain. “That was...weirdly vague for you.”
I shrugged, but held back my urge to confess everything right then. “No more questions.”
Or I’d tell him whatever he wanted to know. The stress of holding it back was starting to eat at me. What had I been thinking? I should have talked to him about this the first time I got curious about it. But no, I had to get creative. Valentine’s Day would be the perfect time to talk about it. He’d love it.
He was going to hate it.
Tobias gave me another kiss. “You worry too much. I’m going to love it.” Then he grinned. “Especially if it doesn’t involve any kind of amusement park.”
I smiled and shook my head. “We’re not going anywhere tonight, but if you like the first half of my present then I’ll tell you about the second part.”
“Now I’m really curious.” He took a deep breath and then stepped back. “Come on. We’ll never get out of here on time if I keep bugging you.”
As he walked toward the bedroom, we seemed to take deep breaths in tandem.
Valentine’s Day should not be this stressful once someone got married.
****
When we started driving in the opposite direction from nearly every restaurant in the area, my curiosity went up to a whole new level.
“Are we heading somewhere new?” I couldn’t resist questioning him.
Tobias looked mischievous but shook his head. “No.”
I tried to be patient and not ask him anything else, but that didn’t last more than a few miles. “I’m too dressed up for fast food.”
Unless he was driving in circles, the only places to eat the direction we were going were a few dirty fast food places that I refused to even stop and have breakfast at on the way to work, and a few gas stations that advertised breakfast burritos and hot dogs.
He chuckled but shook his head again. “No fast food.”
“No gas station hot dogs either.” I was starting to question his plans for Valentine’s Day. “A picnic?”
It was a little too cold and getting too dark for that, though.
“Nope.”
We drove on for a few more minutes in silence before I started to get even more weirded out. “Why are we pulling in here?”
My work?
I gave him a curious look, but he was carefully avoiding making eye contact as he parked the car in my spot on the side of the building.
As he turned the car off, he finally took a deep breath and turned in his seat to look at me. “Do you remember when I had to pick you up last month because your car was in the shop and they couldn’t get you a loaner?”
“Yes.” It’d been one of the last days he’d gotten off at any kind of reasonable time.
“Well, you weren’t quite ready when I got there, so I was hanging out in those chairs by your office waiting.” From his expression and the tone of his voice, the memory was very vivid to him, but nothing about the day stuck out to me.
“I think I remember that. Some kind of emergency in the kitchen, I think.” Between odd dietary guidelines the corporate office had set up and temperamental kitchen staff, there wasn’t a week that went by without a blow-up.
He nodded, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. “That’s what you said later. Well, while I waited, Mrs. Prescott...Abigail sat down next to me and started talking.”
My first thought was to break in and apologize, but I wasn’t sure why.
“She started talking about her husband and how they met and telling me all kinds of stories.” Tobias was starting to sound more comfortable with the conversation, but I still wasn’t sure where we were going.
Abigail and Albert were the type of couple I wanted Tobias and myself to be like. They’d been married for over sixty years
and had known each other since they were kids. She had all kinds of stories about their life together. They’d had ups and downs, but the way she described it, they were meant for each other and always ended up together no matter what they’d argued over.
“They’re cute.” I relaxed as Tobias nodded and smiled. “Did she tell you about their cruise trip around the world?”
That always left everyone in stitches.
Tobias was still smiling, but he got a wistful expression. “No, she had something else on her mind.”
What did any of this have to do with Valentine’s Day?
“What was on her mind?”
He sighed and glanced up at the building before turning back to me. “She wanted one of us to take her husband out to dinner on Valentine’s Day.”
“What?” I felt like I was missing something.
Tobias chuckled. “That’s basically what I said.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
He nodded, the sheepish look on his face showing he realized he was talking in circles. “Well, evidently a few years ago, after he had his second heart attack, he confessed to her that he’d always been curious about men.”
“No shit?” I kept telling myself that my funny old people couldn’t do anything else to surprise me, but I always ended up eating those words when they did something else that knocked the wind out of my sails.
Tobias chuckled. “No shit.”
“Well, okay...what did you tell her and what else did she say?” Dragging this story out of him was almost painful.
“She said that she wanted him to be able to go out with a dashing gentleman for Valentine’s Day.” Then he snorted and shook his head. “She said she’d tried looking up a stripper or, as she put it, a gigolo to take him out, but they were too expensive on Valentine’s Day.”
“So we were her second choice. I think I’m offended.”
Tobias laughed, relaxing back in the seat and reaching out to take my hand. “Yeah, that’s basically what I said.”
