And… he could always put this off. Could come back tomorrow. He didn’t actually have to ask Jo about this until then.
No. Yes. No.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he balled his fingers into his fist and knocked.
Jo startled hard, her gaze jerking up, eyes wide with surprise, and for a second he imagined he saw a softness to her mouth. But if it’d been there at all, it was gone in an instant, replaced with the same hard-set jaw he was so accustomed to by now. The same veiled expression of contempt.
He took a deep breath and managed a smile. “Hi.”
“What do you want?”
His smile faltered. Any thoughts of easing her in with small talk vanished, and he crossed his arms over his chest, as if a defensive posture could actually ward off whatever she might throw at him. “You’re using the telescope tomorrow night.”
“Yep.”
“And our advisors work together.” He paused, but the jut of her chin said she was waiting for him to tell her something she didn’t know. Right. Just get to the point already. “Lisa thinks some of the objects you’re looking at might be relevant to what I’m doing, too, and she wants me to sit in.”
“Sit in?” She visibly bristled, and aw crap, that was her dander getting up already.
“She didn’t really specify what she wanted me to do.” He resisted the urge to mop his brow or fidget. “Look, I don’t want to get in your way. But this is about work. I’ll have some more specifics tomorrow, but this is your experiment. Your show. I’m pretty sure I’d just be an observer, seeing what you’re doing and getting a peek at the data as it comes in.” He took a deep breath. “If you’re okay with it.”
That seemed to relax her a little, his granting her the power to turn him down. She gave him a long, appraising look, like she was judging him. And there was always something about the way her eyes lingered when she regarded him like this. Something that fueled his thoughts of her, his sense of heat when his skin felt cold and untouched.
She snapped her gaze to meet his, and he squared his shoulders.
“You come tomorrow night, you’re quiet. I’m working and I don’t need any bullshit interruptions.”
“You’ll hardly even know I’m there.”
“You don’t touch the computer or the sensors.”
“Scout’s honor.”
“Unless I tell you to do something, in which case you do.”
“Not a problem.”
For what might have been the first time ever, the corner of her mouth twitched up, making the ring through her lip glint and sending an odd little spark up his spine. “Then I’ll see you at twenty-two hundred, soldier.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned at her for real this time, and it felt like ice cracking when she didn’t do anything to make him frown.
Better not press his luck.
With a quick nod, he turned and headed off, striding all the way to the corner, well beyond her sight before letting his posture slip. He pushed his hair off his brow and shook his head at himself as he laughed with relief. He was going to get to use the telescope a full week early, and sure it was in a limited capacity, but it was still a good thing. A positive development.
The personal development felt even better, though. He’d said what he needed to say, and when Jo had shoved, he’d stood his ground, but he hadn’t pushed back. He’d let her have and keep the upper hand. As a result, she’d given him exactly what he’d asked for. Maybe that should bother the male in him, but it didn’t. Not hardly at all.
He pushed through the doors and out into the wet night air. It’d been a while since he’d made the trip to the house alone in the dark or since he’d done so without an anxious itch under his skin.
Because the prickle at his neck and in his abdomen wasn’t anxiety. It wasn’t that at all.
He swept past the guard station and up the hill, along the gravel path and over to the house. The lights were blazing at the girls’ place, while the ones in his were dark, and for a second he wavered, wondering if he should go say hello.
It wasn’t a difficult decision to make, in the end.
He let himself in and retreated to his room, closing and locking the door behind himself before flopping down on his bed and closing his eyes. A guy needed to be alone sometimes, and the past few days had been building and building toward this.
Rubbing his palm over the bulge in his shorts, he gave out a low sigh. It had been so difficult to let himself do this lately. He couldn’t think of Shannon without getting angry and he didn’t want to think about Jo. Had a hard time summoning up any of the other lifeless, expressionless celebrities and fantasies that had gotten him through in lean times before.
But today Jo had smiled at him. Jo had stripped him down with words and demanded his compliance, and then she’d looked at him as if he’d been worth her time.
She’d looked at him with intent. And there had been that one night, when they’d convinced her to come to dinner, when she’d walked right into him and put her hand against his abdomen and stared up at him, and he’d let himself touch her side.
With a barely suppressed groan, he opened his fly and pulled himself out. He was hard and leaking, and the first rough stroke over bare flesh had him pushing up into the circle of his fist. It had been days, days spent adrift and cut off and unsure, and this wasn’t going to take much time at all.
Because it could have all gone differently today. He could have gone to Jo, and she could’ve been difficult, and he could’ve bitten back. She could’ve risen to meet him and jabbed her finger at his chest, and he could’ve grabbed her wrist.
They’d have been so close, the space between them shooting sparks, his body hard and hers bristling. Until the tension finally snapped.
He muffled his own groan, slickness spilling from his tip.
Her mouth would be hot, the piercing an edge against his tongue, and he’d push her against the wall and get just enough of her clothes off. Touch the curves of her breasts and splay his hand across the ink he still hadn’t fully glimpsed but that he hoped sprawled the length of her spine.
Sink into her while she wrapped her legs around his hips.
He tugged at his balls with his free hand, arching his neck as he sped his strokes.
Her head would knock back against the wall, her hands scrabbling hard at his shoulders as he fucked into that tight, wet warmth. He’d shut her up with his mouth and with his cock, bring her to the edge over and over until she was begging, saying his name.
Except. Oh, wait, this was even better. He squeezed himself hard around the base, holding off his pleasure.
Because maybe she wouldn’t want to be pressed up against a wall. Maybe she’d want to be in control, be on top, and, God, she’d look good over him. Shirt off and tits bouncing. She’d lay him out on the floor of her office and ride him hard and fast. He’d grasp her around her hips, dig his fingers in until that pale skin bruised. She’d feel so good, and he’d get a thumb on her clit, rub her nice and fast, punishing really, because she’d like that—she’d love that. She’d sink her teeth into his throat as she came, and she’d squeeze him.
He pumped his fist over himself again, giving in to it this time, imagining her slamming herself down onto him even after she was done, little overwhelmed pants and whines falling from her lips until he thrust up hard and filled her and—
His vision whited out, his whole body bowing with the force of it, toes curling and jaw aching with the effort it took to keep silent in the darkness. Two more slow, careful pumps to milk the rest of it out of him and he let go, still pulsing weakly against his abdomen as he went limp.
He felt wrung out and suddenly exhausted. The stirring under his skin was sated, but there was a new kind of restlessness seeping in.