“Only if I can clean you,” he says with a grin as he turns me in his embrace to face him.

I hold my hand up, signalling for him not to come anywhere near me. “As much as I want you, I need to get clean first. I stink, and I’m all stiff after that long flight.”

“Do I look like I care if you stink? And besides, you don’t.” When I raise my brows at him to signal that I’m not changing my mind, he waves me away. “Go, before I change my mind.”

I laugh and shake my head at him. “Do you really think you had any say in this?”

Sighing, he admits defeat. “No, I fully admit that you wear the pants in this relationship, sweetheart.”

Grabbing a change of clothes and my toiletries, I leave him and jump in the shower. The hot water feels so damn good on my aching muscles and I stay in here longer than I normally would. I’m lost in my thoughts when I hear Jett’s voice.

“I’m sorry I was an asshole to you,” he says. The bathroom is full of steam so I wipe away some of the condensation on the shower screen to find him standing in the doorway with his hands gripping onto the doorjamb above his head. His eyes are on me and the look on his face takes my breath away.

Defeat.

I hate that look and I hate it on Jett.

It kills me that he feels that way.

I quickly rinse the rest of the conditioner out of my hair and step out of the shower. Without drying off, I go to him and take his face in my hands. “I was a bitch to you, too. We’re still learning everything there is to know about each other, Jett, so there’s gonna be moments like we’ve had. But we’re putting all that behind us. Clean slate, baby. Okay?”

He listens to everything I say and he slowly nods but I’m not sure he’s convinced, especially when he says, “Yeah, but I’ve been a jealous dickhead - ”

I place my finger against his lips. “And I’ve been an argumentative pain in the ass. We’re both at fault here but I don’t want us to start off like this; I want us to begin the way we intend to continue, so from now on when your jealous streak arises, I’m going to take a deep breath and let you be.” I smile cheekily at him and press my body to his as I say, “And besides, I bet there’s a million women around the world who would kill to have Jett Vaughn losing his shit over a guy talking to them.”

He smirks and tightens his arms around me. “You better fucking believe it, woman. You’re on a good thing here and don’t you forget it.”

I grin at him. “That’s more like the Jett I know.”

He grows serious. “You know I don’t mean to boss you around, don’t you?”

“Can we please forget all the shit I’ve said to you during our arguments? I’ve been so set on not wanting to get hurt again that I’ve forgotten how to take a chance on love and part of that manifested as me telling myself you would try and control me like Lennon did.”

A dark look crosses his face. “Fuck, I have no intention of trying to control you like that.”

“I know; it was just my insecurities coming out.” I lay my forehead against his. “This relationship shit is hard.”

His chest rumbles with laughter. “You’re fucking telling me.”

“Clean slate, yeah?”

“Yes,” he murmurs but his attention has shifted from our conversation to my body, and he says, “now talking of clean, this body needs to be dirtied up a bit.”

I whisper in his ear, “I never thought you’d notice.”

He kisses me and groans, “Baby, it’s all I do notice half the time. I walk around with a permanent hard on for you, it’s a wonder I haven’t been banned from public yet.”

I undo the button on his jeans and pull his zip down. A moment later, his jeans and boxers are around his ankles and his shirt is on the floor. Taking hold of his cock, I stroke it and murmur, “I’ve missed this. I’m not sure I’ll ever let you go away again.”

His eyes shut and he groans again. “I’m not sure I ever want to go away from you again.”

I stroke him harder and whisper, “So don’t.”

His eyes blink open and he sucks in a breath as I pull him harder and faster. “I can make that happen.”

I hold his gaze. “Are you going to boss me into going with you every time you have to go away?”

He dips his mouth to my neck and softly nips at my skin. “That might be something I should boss you around about.”

I squeeze him and then drop to my knees to take him into my mouth. After I treat him to my mouth and tongue for a moment, I let him go and take him back into my hand. Looking up at him, I suggest, “That might be something I would let you boss me around on.”

His hands grab me under my arms and pull me up. He lifts me and turns around to deposit me on the vanity. After I’ve wrapped my legs around him, he kisses me hard and growls, “I did consider bossing you into sucking my dick for longer but it turns out I want inside of your pussy more than your mouth.”

“Turns out I want that, too. You gonna take care of that or are you all talk and no action?”

His eyes flash heat at me and he hisses. Running his finger over my lips, he says, “I’ve fucking missed this dirty mouth. I’m not sure what I like more – the words coming out of it or the way it fits perfectly around my cock.”

I dig my fingernails into his back and pull him closer. “I tell you what, you hurry up and get that cock of yours inside me and I’ll treat you to both words and tongue all day long.”