Page 6 of Exhale (Out for Justice #8)

D amn it.

Jordan could have kicked himself in the ass for his comment.

Granted, it had been said in anger, but Owen had closed off to him completely.

And he wasn’t sure how the hell to fix it.

They stayed at the Hyatt hotel just off the highway, and Owen disappeared into his room with a curtly spoken goodnight.

“Well, what do you expect, jackass?” Jordan admonished himself.

Owen was far from a grandpa. The guy was only forty-two. Granted, there was an age gap between them, but not that many years.

Okay, maybe to some, fifteen years would be a gap, but not to him, and it wasn’t that he preferred older men. It was the sole fact that he preferred Owen, plain and not so simple.

Jordan rubbed tiredly at his jaw and entered his own room next door. He showered and changed into track pants and a t-shirt, all the while thinking of how he was going to explain his remark to Owen.

Stepping back out of his room several minutes later, he walked the few feet to Owen’s door and knocked.

And waited. Silence greeted him, and the door remained firmly closed.

“Owen? It’s me,” Jordan called through the door, not sure if Owen could hear him or not. “Look, you took something wrong when I said it, but it was the way I said it that made you take it wrong. I didn’t mean it how you think.” He stumbled over his words.

Okay…now he sounded like a rambling idiot. He took a deep breath and placed his palm flat against the door and spoke quietly.

“You’re not a grandpa in age, you’re a grandpa with electronics. I bet if they still sold flip phones, you’d have one. That’s all I meant. It just…I’m sorry.”

A noise sounded behind him, and Jordan whirled around.

“Were you talking to my door?” Owen said.

Jordan’s mouth hung open; he snapped it closed and glared.

“I was. Did you hear any of that?”

“I heard it all.” Owen’s lips twitched.

“So, you know I wasn’t calling you a grandpa per se…I was pointing out the fact that you’re not tech savvy.” Jordan shoved his hands into the pockets of his track pants. His chest felt tight, and the last thing he had wanted was to hurt Owen.

Owen held up items in both hands, two water bottles in one and a pack of microwave popcorn in the other.

“Come inside,” Owen said and handed him the waters before flipping the keycard against the door lock.

“Ah, yeah…okay.” Jordan followed and placed the water down on the table while Owen started the popcorn cooking. “So…you get what I’m saying, yeah?”

“You’re saying that you’re younger, smarter, and savvier than me?”

“No!” Jordan said hurriedly and belatedly noticed the smirk on Owen’s lips.

He scowled.

“So, you’re saying the fifteen-year age difference doesn’t bother you?” Owen asked.

Jordan’s throat turned dry, and he cracked open a bottle, even if one wasn’t for him, and took several swallows.

“Nope,” he said, it was the truth.

“But me freeing up your day so you can help me does bother you?”

“No…yes. It was a small thing for Noah. I can do fifty things in a day like that. I have done fifty things in a day like that.” Jordan tried to make Owen understand. His brain worked like that. It fired on all cylinders. If he didn’t have enough to do, then he would go nuts.

He took a deep breath and drank more water. The scent of popcorn filled the room along with the soft popping sounds.

Owen had showered. And before the popcorn smell, the scent of Owen’s body wash or shampoo had washed over him.

Owen’s dark hair, which was usually swept away from his forehead, fell forward, curling and damp. Owen’s light, pale blue eyes studied him, and Jordan was very aware of the man’s jaw, rugged and scruffy.

A sexy tension filled the air, but it had to be on his part. Right? He’d never given Owen any encouragement in that area.

“Well…” Jordan hedged, suddenly nervous. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

The microwave beeped and stopped.

Owen cocked his head a bit, and the t-shirt the man wore stretched over corded muscles. Owen’s biceps were almost as big as his thighs. The size difference between them was significant. Even though Jordan was tall and kept himself ripped, Owen was taller, bigger, and had way more muscle.

“Jordan?”

He jumped at the sound of his name and realized he had been staring at Owen’s mouth the whole time he was checking him out.

Heat started in his neck, and he knew he had better get the hell out of here before he did something stupid.

Like jump his bones.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he asked the question he had been dying to know the answer to for a while now.

“Why did you try to kiss me in the pool?”

“Did I?” Owen smirked.

Jordan scowled. “You know you did.”

“Okay.” Owen shrugged. “But you didn’t let me.”

Jordan swallowed. Owen was right, he had gotten out of that pool in seconds flat after their brief exchange had been interrupted.

That day poolside at Kellum and Creed’s place came back to him crystal clear…

He and Owen had been standing by the pool in Creed’s backyard, and Owen was trying to ease his guilt.

“Jordan,” Owen said.

“Go away,” Jordan muttered. Nothing Owen said was going to make him feel better.

His careless words had hurt Kellum’s feelings, and Owen wasn’t going to be able to fix it. Why in the world had he made the stupid comment about sleeping with the enemy? Granted, Creed’s cupboards were way too organized, but how was he supposed to know that Kellum had categorized everything?

“No,” Owen said.

“You’re so fucking stubborn,” Jordan hissed and rounded on the bigger man.

“You have no idea,” Owen muttered, advancing closer.

Jordan stepped back, and Owen advanced again, but Jordan kept backing up.

“Shit!” His arms wobbled, swinging out wildly when his foot hit the edge of the pool.

Owen reached out and fisted the front of his shirt. Jordan couldn’t take one more second of Owen’s touch right then without his world imploding—so he jerked away, stepping sideways. Owen went forward, still fisting his shirt, and ended up going over and into the pool.

Jordan went with him, and water closed over his head. The first thing he thought of was his fucking phone. He yanked it from his pocket, and when he hit the surface, he tossed it up on the edge of the pool. Shoving his plastered hair from his face, he turned to search for Owen.

The man was just surfacing, having thought of the same thing, and placed his phone on the edge of the pool along with a wallet. Jordan carried his ID and cards in his cell phone case, so he didn’t have to worry about a wallet, and his iPod earbuds were on the dresser in the spare room.

Owen glared at him. “You did that on purpose.”

Jordan glared right back. “You…you…jackass.”

“Ack!” Jordan sprang through the deep water when Owen lunged toward him. If he hadn’t had his jeans weighing him down that day, he would have been much faster. Owen, on the other hand, didn’t seem hindered at all by the wet sweatpants.

Jordan was caught and caged against the edge of the pool by Owen’s muscled arms.

“Back up,” he hissed with a glare.

“No,” Owen said, and the husky tone had Jordan’s dick going hard.

“I mean it.”

Owen leaned in, his cheek close, his lips mere inches away.

Was he going to kiss him? Sliding past his mouth, Owen placed his lips close to his ear, and Jordan bit back the moan wanting to escape.

“And what if I don’t back up?” Owen said huskily, and the deep sound against his ear sent a shiver down Jordan’s spine.

On the verge of aching for that kiss, Ace’s voice had jerked them apart, and the moment was lost and never reappeared.

“What are you thinking about?”

Owen’s voice brought him back from the past and to the hotel room.

“N,… nothing,” he said, but he wanted to blurt out and ask Owen why he had never made another pass, but he was afraid of the answer.

Jordan backed toward the door, his hand on the handle.

Escape on his mind.

Owen had a different idea, though, and exploded toward him.

The partially open door cracked closed when Owen planted both hands on either side of his head.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Jordan gulped.

The heat of Owen’s powerful frame closed in on him, not touching but close enough to feel it. Like, really feel it, and Jordan’s cock thickened, tenting his track pants.

He closed his eyes and shook. He’d had sex with men for money, why in the hell was he so nervous now? Granted, back then, he’d had no choice, but he was experienced!

Parting his lips slightly, he gripped the edges of Owen’s shirt and waited.

When nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes.

Their faces were mere inches apart, if that. Owen’s head was cocked, lips poised to kiss. The man’s eyes were locked on his mouth, then flicked up to hold his gaze.

Gently, Owen brushed a kiss against his lips, and his whole world rocked.

Jordan wanted to scream. The kiss was light and nothing like he wanted. It was a taste, a tease, a promise, and he whimpered. The butterflies in his stomach turned into tornadoes.

Their gazes collided.

“We have a long day tomorrow,” Owen said huskily, and pulled down the door handle to ease the door open.

“Good night,” the man said.

The sexy sound of Owen’s voice punched need into Jordan’s gut, but then he was gently urged out into the hall and stared at a closed door.

Son of a bitch!

And then he ran.

He wasn’t proud of doing it, but he wasn’t going to knock and ask what the hell Owen was doing. He darted back into his room, breathless and aching.

Fuck! Shit!

Damned that man.

Owen ran a hand down over his face and then brushed his fingers against his lips.

His first kiss with Jordan had been just as sweet as he’d imagined. On the verge of slamming the man down on the bed in the room and pounding into his ass, Owen had to put on the brakes.

For one, they didn’t have condoms or lube. Even though all members of Dave’s elite teams received mandatory testing, he still needed supplies. There was no way he was taking Jordan fast.

At least, not yet.

He wasn’t sure what was in the cards for them, but a quickie here in the hotel room was not it. He wanted something that was going to last, and fucking Jordan tonight was not the answer.

He knew a little bit about Jordan’s past, not all of it, but the man had survived as a teenager on the streets, so it stood to reason Jordan had major trust issues, and Owen wasn’t sure that Jordan fully trusted him.

But he would, Owen silently vowed.

If he had any say in it, he would become the man whom Jordan trusted the most.