Page 32 of Devil’s Kiss (Sunset Cove #2)

After adjusting the lights to a muted glow, he turned on the faucet and dropped the Lush bomb into the tub, then he slipped out of his robe and dipped his toe inside the fragrant water with a sigh.

Yes… This was exactly what he’d wanted.

He sank down into the water and stared out the window to the bright lights below.

God, he was tired.

Over the last couple of months he’d had to scale back on his charity work, letting his mother take the reigns, and he’d hired two new property managers for the apartment towers.

Unless something else came along that he was passionate about, that was how it would stay.

For right now, he wanted to focus solely on his teaching again.

Maybe he would even offer up his services as a tutor this coming semester.

He took a sip of his wine and then shut his eyes as he let the warm water ease his body.

It felt amazing. Almost better than— Oh hell no .

His eyes popped open as the thought he’d been about to let slide into his mind was shoved firmly aside.

The day he thought a bath was better than sex, he might as well be buried beneath six feet of dirt.

But the truth was, it had been a while. A long while since he’d had really fantastic sex, maybe even before Stephan, and that was years ago… how depressing was that ?

In his defense, though, without a steady someone in your life, it took a lot of effort to get laid. You had to dress up, hit the bars or clubs, and even then you didn’t know if it would be fantastic. At best it would likely be average, so it wasn’t his fault that everyone lately had been ehh .

Wait…what? Ugh, what the hell is the matter with me?

He remembered a time when he couldn’t wait to go out to a bar.

Maybe I’m getting old , Jordan thought, and then shook his head.

No, he wasn’t old. He’d been bugging Brantley about going to Boyz just the other week, and, as usual, he’d refused.

So it’s not my fault. It’s Brantley’s. He was just exhausted, and that needed to change also.

He shut his eyes again, and as his mind drifted off to nowhere in particular, he heard his cell phone ringing where he’d left it in the other room.

No , he told himself. Do not get out and answer it. You can let the call go to voicemail and call whoever it is back…later. So he let his eyes become heavy as the insistent ringing ceased and he finally dozed off.

When he awoke a little while later, Jordan shifted and screwed his nose up at the lukewarm water now lapping his body. Geez, how long had he been in there?

He’d only wanted to relax for a little while, and now he looked like a glittery prune thanks to the intergalactic bomb. He laughed at himself as he stepped out onto the mat and saw the glitter covering his body.

Good God , he should bathe in that before he went out clubbing next time. Because he had no doubt he’d be sparkling for the next few days. He toweled off and then grabbed his robe to slip back into it before heading through to his bedroom to check the time.

After picking up his phone, he swiped the screen and saw two things that shocked him. First, he’d been in the bath for nearly an hour and a half. Damn, no wonder he looked like an eighty-year-old. And second, the missed call from earlier was from He-Man.

Derek? Derek had called him? What the…

It had been a long time since he’d allowed himself to think about Derek Pearson, and Jordan had figured he’d moved on.

Especially after the last time they’d seen each other and things hadn’t gone so well.

Actually, they’d gone horribly wrong. No surprise there, though.

It seemed to be the way between the two of them.

But now here Derek was, calling him like he used to back when he’d been in school, and in trouble, and fuck…he hadn’t answered.

Jordan sat his ass down on the bed and quickly hit the number, sending up a quick prayer that Derek was okay and that he would answer.

Just when he thought it was hopeless and he would never know what Derek wanted, the call connected and Jordan’s breath caught at the words he heard at the other end of the phone.

“You didn’t answer.”

DEREK HADN’T MEANT to say that, but when he’d called earlier and Jordan hadn’t picked up, he’d sat at his desk thinking those words on repeat.

He didn’t answer. Jordan didn’t answer…

That was a first.

But what was more surprising was how much worse that had felt than the years where they hadn’t spoken at all. Jordan not answering had made it feel final. It had made Derek wonder if he’d moved on and decided that he wasn’t worth answering for anymore.

“No,” Jordan said, breaking through his thoughts. “I know I didn’t answer. I was?—”

“With your boyfriend?” Derek asked, and immediately hated himself for it. There was a long pause, one where a fucking pin dropping on carpet could likely be heard, and then Jordan said softly, “No. I don’t have a boyfriend anymore. I was in the bath.”

Derek shut his eyes as he lay on the couch in his office and imagined the huge whirlpool tub in Jordan’s bathroom.

“Are you okay?”

As Jordan’s voice drifted through the phone, Derek sighed. “Yeah. I just…” He paused and laid an arm across his eyes. “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

He heard some rustling and thought it best that he not ask where Jordan was, because if he said “bed,” Derek knew his brain would remind him of the last time he’d been in that bed, years ago.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jordan asked, and Derek’s mouth split into a tight smile at the fact that even after all this time, Jordan was still where he’d always been. One phone call away, ready to talk him out of whatever mood he was in.

“Not really.”

“Okay,” Jordan said, remarkably good-natured for someone Derek had yelled at the last time they’d seen one another. “Then why don’t you tell me what you’re wearing?”

Derek started laughing at that and felt his worries lift from his shoulders, as they always did with Jordan.

“I’m serious,” Jordan said, feigning offense.

“I’m sure that you are, Devaney.”

“I am. I haven’t seen you for so long I’ve forgotten what you look like.”

Derek lowered his arm down to his chest and swallowed, debating his next words. Then he decided what the fuck , and said what he really wanted more than anything in the world. “Then maybe you should see me.”

The silence between them was rife with tension before Jordan said, “Maybe I should.”

Derek sat up on his couch, and tried not to read too much into Jordan’s words. Then he asked, “Are you serious?”

“Derek?”

“Yeah?”

“I think today is the day…”

As his words from the auction a few years back hung between them, Derek wondered if it was really going to be that simple. They’d been falling together, crashing into one another, since the first day they’d met. Why should now be any different?

“As in?” he asked, wanting clarification.

“As in…let’s take it slow. One day at a time, and see where it goes. If that’s something you’d want.”

Derek wanted to ask what it was about him that made Jordan want to take it slow when usually he was so damn confident. But not wanting him to change his mind, Derek kept his mouth shut. There was obviously a reason, and sooner or later he would find out what it was. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. Okay. Now what?”

Blood rushed around his ears as he waited for whatever Jordan would say next, and when he whispered, “Come to me,” Derek was hanging up the phone and heading to his Jeep as quick as his feet would carry him.