And he makes good on his promise.
Even though he broke several traffic laws, I make it to work with five minutes to spare.
“Thanks for the ride,” I tell him when he kills the engine and I hand him his helmet, realizing a moment too late how that sounded.
“You’re welcome for the ride and for me getting you to work on time,” he replies with a wink. “See you tonight?”
“Only if Sean’s not there.”
“Fine,” Devlin agrees. Jaw clenched stubbornly before he puts his helmet on, he adds, “But I’m staying until we fucking finish, even if he comes home. I’ll park my bike out of the way, so he won’t see it there.”
“Okay,” I agree. It’s the least I can do after he’s been giving me rides. To work on his bike. And now rides in bed. “I’ll see you at six.”
“Damn right you will,” he adds before he cranks his bike and rides off.
Chapter Nineteen
Devlin
* * *
Over the next few weeks, I fuck Jetta in every position, all over the place – in the laundry room at the water park during my lunch break, in her shower before I take her to work, on every surface in her bedroom – walls, floors, dresser.
I’ve had her everywhere, and yet she still won’t let me sleep over all night or come over to my place.
In fact, she’s never even seen my apartment.
“Why don’t you ever come and stay with me at my place?” I ask Jetta while I’m still buried inside of her after fucking her from behind before taking her to work one morning.
“I don’t know.”
“There must be a reason,” I say while placing kisses on her shoulder blade. “We’ve been sleeping together for three weeks, and you’ve never even seen my apartment.”
“I guess…I guess I don’t want to sleep or fool around in the bed where you’ve been with lots of other women,” she admits, still face down so I can barely hear her muffled voice.
“I haven’t had a woman in my bed in weeks.”
“Weeks, wow, alert the press! Is that some sort of record?” she jokes while squirming out from underneath me.
“Probably, yeah. But just because I slept around in the past doesn’t mean I have any plans to do it anytime soon.”
“Right, like you could ever be monogamous for more than a few weeks,” she mutters. Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she grabs a baggy t-shirt and pulls it on.
“Why couldn’t I?” I ask.
“You, Devlin Boyd, are not exactly the type I see ever settling down.”
“Says who?” I scoff indignantly.
“Says me,” Jetta responds when she gets to her feet and gestures with her hands in my direction. “I mean, look at you!”
I playfully swat my hair over my shoulder like a diva. “I’m offended by your assessment based on my devastatingly good looks.”
“Convince me otherwise,” she says, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest.
“Okay, I will,” I reply confidently. “Get dressed and let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
“But I have to be at work in an hour,” she reminds me like I’m not aware of her schedule after picking her up and taking her to work every day for the last twenty-one days.
“I’ll get you to work on time. Now get dressed already!” I instruct her.
“I don’t think we have time this morning,” she says. “Can’t we just wait until tonight?”
“Fine! But no canceling,” I warn her. “You don’t get to judge me and then refuse to let me prove you wrong.”
“I won’t cancel,” she promises, but she doesn’t touch the part about ‘judging me as the type of man who doesn’t want to be in a serious relationship’.
In fact, it pisses me off because she’s the one who insists on us sneaking around to fuck, not me. If it were up to me, I would take her to meet my friends, then take her to my place where I have not only a toothbrush for her but also several drawers cleared out for her to bring over some clothes. That’s how serious I am about her. About us.
I’m just not sure if Jetta will ever agree to be more than a casual hookup.
Jetta
* * *
When Dev picks me up from work that afternoon, he’s not his usual playful self.
In fact, he looks pissed.
“What’s wrong?” I ask when he hands me his helmet. The fact that he hasn’t bothered to buy me one of my own just goes to show he doesn’t have plans for us to be together for the long term.
“Are you going to cancel? Because I made a bet with myself that you would come up with some excuse by the time I picked you up to avoid going with me anywhere other than your bed.”
“Oh, right,” I say. I had honestly forgotten about the deal we made this morning. “Let’s go. I wasn’t going to cancel.”
“You forgot,” Dev says, calling me out. “And now there’s no time to make an excuse.”
“Don’t be grumpy,” I huff. “I thought guys only got grumpy when they weren’t getting any.”
“Maybe I’m grumpy because I’m not getting anything else.”
“Huh?” I ask in confusion.
“Nothing. Just put the helmet on and let’s go before you change your mind.”
“Fine,” I agree, securing the helmet over my head and then climbing up on the back of his bike. I barely have time to wrap my arms around his waist before he cranks the bike and takes off.
We ride for just a few minutes through town before slowing in front of a two-story brown and tan stone Colonial in a nice, new neighborhood.
“Whose house is this?” I ask Dev after he turned off his bike.
“Nobody’s yet,” he says, nodding to the For Sale sign in the front yard. “But I’ve always wanted to live in a house like this one day.”
“You have?” I say in shock.
“Yeah. Come on. I’ll show you inside,” he says as he throws his leg over the bike and starts up the sidewalk.
“Devlin, wait! You can’t just break into this place!” I tell him when I climb off and follow him.
“I’m not breaking in,” he says when he reaches into his jean pocket and pulls out a set of keys. “I helped build it.”
“You did? Seriously?”
“Yeah,” he replies before turning to jam the key into the lock.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I know,” he agrees. “Not that I’m trying to take credit for the planning or anything. I mostly just helped with the frame and the roof.” The door pushes open, and then we’re stepping inside the home that smells like fresh paint and new beginnings.
“Wow,” I say as I take in the hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings and crown molding in the front room.
“I’ll give you a tour,” Dev says as he grabs my hand. Interlacing our fingers, he pulls me deeper into the empty house and provides details about each room we enter. I relax as we go, figuring there’s no harm in being in a house that no one lives in yet.