Page 97 of Old Habits

“I may have been compelled to stop by the gas station on the way home…” I say, glancing over his shoulder at the plastic bag still resting on the bed’s edge.

Will squints as he leans back to take hold of it. I sit up on my elbows to catch his reaction as he reveals the red bottle of lubricant stashed inside.

He smirks and rolls it across the bed to rest near my arm. “Well, if there’s one thing Jovie Ross is always prepared for…”

“Considering what’s going to be on the receiving end, you’re damn right I came prepared.”

He laughs. “You sure you want to?”

I lie back down. “Sure, why not? There’s a first time for everything.”

His eyes fall to the space between us.

“What?” I ask.

“Just never thought that I’d be your first time for anything,” he says.

I grin. “You were my first for some things, Will.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Like what?”

I think back, biting my lip at the pleasant memories. “Sixty-nine,” I say.

He raises a brow as he shifts forward within reach. I watch him pop the button free on my jeans and he takes hold of my zipper.

“What else?” he asks.

I swallow through a shiver. “Uhh…” I chuckle. “You were the first to go down on me and not complain about it.”

He laughs. “Oh, that I already knew.”

“You were always so eager to please.”

He hooks my jeans and pulls them down to my ankles. “Eager to learn,” he adds. “I wanted to be that guy who could make a woman faint with one caress of my hand… In the end, I just wanted to do that for you. Only you.”

He runs a fingertip along my inner thigh, stopping a few inches short of my underwear and my core clenches.

“You certainly did,” I say, taking a cool breath. “You were the first man to ever care about what I wanted or how I felt.”

Will pauses, his eyes slowly gliding from my ankles and up. “Jove,” he exhales, “were you with anyone else? While you were gone, I mean.”

“Wow…” I say. “Don’t think I expected you to ask that anytime soon.”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” he says, “and I’ve mentally prepared myself for any possible answer you could tell me. I’m just curious.”

“No.”

He smirks. “No, you won’t answer? Or no, you weren’t with anyone?”

I sit up onto my knees to look him in the eyes. “No,” I say again. “I wasn’t with anyone else.”

He tilts his head. “Really?”

“I wanted to,” I continue, choosing words slowly. “Or, I thought I wanted to but… I didn’t want to make any mistakes more, so… No.”